jes's Profile

Don't get me wrong - I completely understand the appeal of not worrying about lost baggage, or avoiding extra baggage fees, or not waiting at baggage claim. But the trend towards every.single.passenger bringing on the largest allowable suitcase plus a stuffed duffle/backpack as a "personal item" (often in addition to a purse or laptop bag, which is like their second "personal item" - how does that work?) is increasingly annoying to me as I've traveled extensively in the last year.

It adds a ton of time in the security lines and in boarding and deboarding. And I find myself less and less polite about my fellow passengers who are just distraught that there's no room in overhead bins or feel the need to access their squished underseat baggage 73 times during a two hour flight. It just seems really inconsiderate and everyone's doing it.

Increased baggage fees are probably the main culprit, but even a few years ago things were noticeably better. I know this isn't a popular stance to take, but sometimes you should just bite the bullet and check a freaking bag! No worrying about 3 oz toiletries or items that can't go in the cabin. No lugging at ton of crap through security, through the terminal, and on and off a plane. Just sayin'...

I often travel with equipment that must be checked, so I don't have a choice. But in my experience I *very* rarely have trouble with lost luggage, and baggage claim is just not that unbearable an experience. It also feels like the very definition of streamlined to breeze through the whole process with a single, true "personal item" while everyone else is hauling around the kitchen sink.

I have been having this exact problem getting the fiberglass shell of my stereo egg chair painted. Conventional design/diy wisdom always says AB shops, and I can't find a single shop in LA that wants to deal with it. And no one seems to be able to name a shop that works on these jobs.

Others have suggested that I try custom marine shops or shops dealing primarily with custom motorcycles, even custom bicycle shops, as these are generally smaller operations that don't rely on slinging volume in and out of the shop. Haven't tried this route yet. I'll keep everyone posted.

Those are gorgeous! Nice selection!

The first thing I do in a hotel room is put away all the print advertising clutter left by the hotel; room service menus, guest guides, etc. It makes a big difference!

It appears that kayak.com and sidestep.com are kind of the same thing. Same page skin, same search engine. Just FYI. Cool though, hadn't heard of either before!

Snoopy - I thought the same thing about the vanity. I'm hoping to get to a store soon to check it out, but I'm thinking that in the world of flat-pack, assembly-required, you will probably be able to leave the mirror off. Hopefully while gaining a valuable hole to put wires for recharging my gadgets through. We'll see!

What thrift store is this?

I love it! The print collection is great, the whole space feels so uncluttered but still very comfortable. I love that you've managed to include a defined area for everything in such a small space. And kudos to having light colored linens and carpet with a black pet, I can't seem to manage it. ;)

The place is really lovely. It makes me want to spend time there, and I think that's the whole point.

I recently purchased some lanterns from paperlanternstore.com. I got the nylon versions instead of the paper so they would be more weatherproof, and this weekend I rigged solar lighting on the inside and hung them. They let off a subtle glow; it's nice. The site also sells battery powered lights made specifically for lanterns, so you could always light them that way. Supposed to get like a 40 hour life out of the battery, which is pretty good as long as you remember to turn them off when you're not outside! I'm going to post an instructable soon on the solar rigging, I'll post a link when I get that up.

aspw: I'm not sure if you have them in Chicago, but I always get those at Harbor Freight tools (it's a discount tool store). Sets of 4 are around than $15-20; they always seem to have some in-store on the garden aisle. Barring that, they have them at Lowe's and Home Depot too - there's a crazy selection at those large hardware stores. They usually come in multi-packs (4 or 5), and are pretty economical per light that way. There will also be the wired-in electrical types, which tend to be cheaper, so doublecheck that you are buying the solar version before you check out.