I’ve been drinking good coffee for some time now. My buddies Brian, Craig and Josiah have really opened up my eyes to quality coffee. However, while my mother-in-law is here she requested Folgers’ coffee because it is cheaper and less intense on her stomach than the stuff I was buying (Peaberry’s FlatIron blend). I just brewed a pot of Folgers… blah. The flavor is just sad. I can’t recommend this in even the slightest. While I don’t like Starbucks’ burnt beans I just can’t stand this stuff. You buy a tub o’ grounds and lament it if you can handle it. But such is life… its time for me to get back to work.

We just bought our house nearly 4 months ago. The week after we moved in I bought a DeWalt drill. That has been the best $130.00 I’ve spent so far (besides the refrigerator so we could store fresh foods and left-overs, and that cost nearly ten times as much). Last night while assembling Abby’s new playthings all of the instructions had large circles with slashes through them – over a power drill. I laughed. Why? Because my DeWalt has tension settings so that I could avoid the problem with less expensive power drills: stripping out the plastic with the threading on the screws. The instructions said no power tools but I can’t imagine hand cranking a 2.5 inch, finely threaded screw X 4 X 4 [16 times].

Then I put up the cabinet doors for the kitchen and while I was frustrated with a few of the doors themselves, the screws went right in, and the magnetic tip held the screw in place so I could hold the door in place with my other hand. Do yourself a favor and buy a good drill when you get into various repair and home improvement projects. In the world of power tools, money buys lasting, quality tools. Don’t eat out a couple times in a month and spend the extra money on the upgrade to your tool package, you’ll thank yourself many times over.

I got a DeWalt sander a month or two ago for a refinishing project I never got to (Yes! My first non-started project for the house). However, yesterday I got to use it on our kitchen cabinet doors and it rocks! Actually, it doesn’t rock. It sands smoothly with very little vibration. I have used several different sanders in the past and this one by far holds the record for the most useful sander with the least user fatigue.

If you find yourself needing to sand something and don’t need an orbital or belt sander for the project (and you better find out what kind of sander you need or you could be sorry) this is a very, very nice sander.

I don’t know if you’ve assimilated another 3M product into your life, but I have added the Command strips to my office arsenal. The ubiquitous 3M Post-it pads are great for… lots of stuff, their tape is just as ubiquitous, and the command strips are great. They have cable cord holders which keep the underside of my desk more organized, and what’s even better is that I can mout the wireless mouse and keyboard receiver I have underneath my desk with them: no screws, no clips, just two Command Strips. Smart products by a smart company.

The way the Command Strip works is brilliant. It is like foam with a sticky surface on both sides, and when you are done sticking whatever you’re sticking where it is stuck, you pull one end of the sticky tab and it comes off the wall, desk, window or surface you have applied it to [see the video at the site link at the beginning of this article].

Just a side note and piece of trivia: you may have 3M products in your mouth right now, they’ve got a dental division that makes crowns and adhesives. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a 3M Command Denture Strip? :) Oh, and they have them at Amazon.com – what’s funny is this: the text says used & new. I’m going to stick with the new ones :)