Father’s Day is Sunday, June 21st. There’s room in any budget for a thoughtful, fun Father’s Day gift. These are my 10 favorites for 2009.
If your Dad’s anything like mine, he could use some more exercise, but the idea of a treadmill or stationary bike sounds more akin to waterboarding than invigorating. Nudge him towards the outdoors with Geocaching, a hobby that combines three of a man’s favorite activties: playing with electronic toys, hiking in the outdoors, and finding hidden treasure. The Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver ($130) is just the handheld to get him started.
As I’ve mentioned before, a good chef’s knife is a must for any man’s kitchen. The Victorinox 8″ Chef’s Knife ($20) is an affordable, extremely capable knife in even the most novice cook’s hands. If a more portable cutting tool is more his speed, try the Kershaw Ken Onion Mini Mojito ($52). It’s “Speed Safe” feature allows incredibly fast, one handed opening and its innovative lock and release mechanism is sure to impress.
Men aren’t exactly known for the variety of fashion accessories available to us. Sure, you could get your Dad a nice set of cufflinks, or a nice pinky ring (if you’re in the Mafia), but most men wear little more than a wedding band and a wristwatch. I don’t know anybody who’s got the extra scratch for a multi-thousand dollar Swiss creation, but you needn’t buy a Rolex or IWC to avoid a crappy Japanese department store watch. Check out Christopher Ward, a British watchmaker that primarily sells his wares online. A great choice from his lineup is the Malvern automatic ($325), which features a sapphire crystal, Italian leather band, Swiss internals, and absolutely classic styling. It’s nearly impossible to find this level of craftsmanship in another brand without venturing into the four figure range.
Real men know that a good beard needs proper grooming to stay looking sharp. A Norelco T980 Trimmer ($40) is just the thing. It vacuums up the hair as you go, so that’s less mess for your old man to leave on the sink and get yelled at for later. Speaking of cleanup chorse, it’s the 21st Century, unless you missed the memo. It’s no Rosie, but the iRobot Dirt Dog ($130) is specially designed to handle rough vacuuming tasks, like garage and shop floors.
There isn’t a man on Earth who doesn’t want to feel like the king of their own domain. The Self-sufficient Life and How to Live It ($20) is the perfect gift for the Dad who daydreams about moving to the country, disconnecting from the grid, and giving it a go the old fashioned way. If moving beyond civilization isn’t in the cards, he can at least participate in one of humanity’s oldest traditions with Midwest Brewery Supply’s Brewing Basics Equipment Kit ($60) and any one of the number of recipe kits ($20-40) to match his preferred style.
If all else fails, your budget can’t take the hit, or you just plain forgot to buy something, give your old man a call this Sunday. You and I both know that sometimes hearing a genuine word is all the thanks we need.
It’s not unusual for the Men Seeking Women section at Craigslist to contain potentially offensive, weirdly misogynistic entries that are easy to make fun of. To be fair, that’s what I went there looking for. Instead, I came across this:
I’m seeking women (any age, race, and body type) with long saggy tits. Tits that hang down to your stomach. I would love to take pictures and play with them .
With Joe Wessels taking a break, at least until Fall, we’ve got even more proof that print media is crappin’ in its own bed as we speak. In his final-ish column, he makes the point that the public needs to care at least a little bit that newsrooms are going down the tubes:
As newsrooms, including CityBeat’s, cut back and struggle, will the public ever realize that this lack of resources actually does matter? Will they understand that without journalists their elected officials and public companies aren’t held accountable?
Gonna miss you, Joe.
I can’t say that I disagree with the sentiment, but I don’t know that there’s anything we can do to make people understand that the accountability of our public officials comes from journalism other than putting their feet to the fire in as public a forum as possible on a regular basis. And this is something, sadly, that our local media seems to fail to do with any measure of clarity or regularity. If we read our local newspaper, we might get a sense of what’s going on, or who our public officials are, but there’s no depth to the reporting and there hasn’t been for quite a long time.
This, of course, can be attributed to the lack of resources that our media sources have available to them. Who do we blame for this lack, and how do we fix it? Not a simple question to answer.
How soon will journalists start their own magazines, newspapers, and so on? The technology is there. The existence of more advertising outlets is probably good for businesses locally and more specialized news media is the way the web is taking everything right now anyway, so why not quit your jobs to start your own newspapers, journalists? Oh, right. Costs. Crap. Good thing I’m not a businessman.
Seriously, though, has anyone posited this question: why aren’t there more of us doing our own hard journalism? If there are some of us doing that, then where are they? There’s stuff we all need to know. Where’s it getting said?
Northside is an interesting Cincinnati neighborhood, known for its quirky bars, restaurants, yoga studios, and other such retail spaces. Straddling Hamilton Avenue just north of I-75 at the base of the Clifton gaslight district, hipsters on fixies hang out and drink PBR and try not to get mugged by locals from other less savory nearby neighborhoods. Although it’s just about as safe as any other urban area in the city, the perception can largely be out of whack with the reality.
Be that as it may, there are a whole host of gems hiding in this strip. Among them is Melt, a self-named “eclectic deli.” It inhabits a hole-in-the-wall type storefront immediately to the right of the quite popular Northside Tavern and serves a variety of vegetarian and carnivore friendly sandwiches, soups, and sides. A typical meal (sandwich + side) will run you about $10 plus tip.
Most of the sandwiches are, as the name implies, served hot and gooey with plenty of cheese. Some are open-faced style, others pressed like a panini, and in my multiple trips for dinner there, all delicious. My favorite has to be the hilariously named “Joan of Arc” – roast beef, roasted red peppers, roast garlic – are you sensing the theme here? Any sandwich named for a burned-at-the-stake martyr is fine by me. Did I mention how goddamned delicious it is? They also serve an awesome Sunday brunch, from what I’m told, though I’ve never visited myself.
On a final note, and this is one of the best perks, I think; you can order your sandwich at the counter in Melt and mosey next door for a pint at NST, and they’ll bring it over and deliver it when it’s finished. How sweet is that? Just make sure to tip, you cheap bastard.
Whaddya want to bet that this gets a whole bunch of news play over the coming days? This is proof that the Internet news beast is a giant a-hole. Also, the interviewer would totally touch the Presidential wiener if given the chance. “Nice!” he says. “That was very good.” So, Obama is now this guy, apparently.
If your Dad’s anything like mine, he could use some more exercise, but the idea of a treadmill or stationary bike sounds more akin to waterboarding than invigorating. Nudge him towards the outdoors with Geocaching, a hobby that combines three of a man’s favorite activties: playing with electronic toys, hiking in the outdoors, and finding hidden treasure. The Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver ($130) is just the handheld to get him started.
Men aren’t exactly known for the variety of fashion accessories available to us. Sure, you could get your Dad a nice set of cufflinks, or a nice pinky ring (if you’re in the Mafia), but most men wear little more than a wedding band and a wristwatch. I don’t know anybody who’s got the extra scratch for a multi-thousand dollar Swiss creation, but you needn’t buy a Rolex or IWC to avoid a crappy Japanese department store watch. Check out Christopher Ward, a British watchmaker that primarily sells his wares online. A great choice from his lineup is the Malvern automatic ($325), which features a sapphire crystal, Italian leather band, Swiss internals, and absolutely classic styling. It’s nearly impossible to find this level of craftsmanship in another brand without venturing into the four figure range.
Real men know that a good beard needs proper grooming to stay looking sharp. A Norelco T980 Trimmer ($40) is just the thing. It vacuums up the hair as you go, so that’s less mess for your old man to leave on the sink and get yelled at for later. Speaking of cleanup chorse, it’s the 21st Century, unless you missed the memo. It’s no Rosie, but the iRobot Dirt Dog ($130) is specially designed to handle rough vacuuming tasks, like garage and shop floors.
