It’s been over a couple weeks or more since my wife (Sarah), son (Saud) and I have come back from England. It was a wonderful trip. Got to catch up with family and take a break from the work grind. Not that I got anything against Washington D.C. for being the original “Chocolate City” but Cambridge in England is the “REAL” Chocolate City. New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, and Atlanta got nothing on Cambridge. Okay folks, I’m not talking about people, but chocolate. Although Cambridge has become a bit more “beige” over the years due to more diverse cultures moving into the neighborhood, chocolate is still king.

Let me put it plainly, Sarah and I are chocolate fanatics. I probably wouldn’t pause for a second if someone offered me an intravenous drip of chocolate into my veins. England, not to mention Europe in general, is somewhat of a “chocolate paradise”. It’s Willie Wonka’s for adults. Every type of chocolate exists. Go into the average corner store and their chocolate selection looks like the cereal aisles in the U.S. supermarkets. It’s not only their chocolate, but all the other cakes, ice-cream, candy, cookies, croissants, etc that utilize this wonderful chocolate in the most ingenious ways. Even their KitKats taste better than ours. I wish I took more pictures of all of our chocolate adventures but below is a slideshow of some of our favorites.

[Show as slideshow]

Table of Contents

1. My Umbrella Story
2. Windproof Umbrella Conspiracy
3. Now tell me what windproof umbrellas and diamonds have in common
4. Conclusion
5. Related Sources

My Umbrella Story

I know these two products seem like quite the odd couple, but when I finish this post, you’ll see the similarities. About 3 or 4 years ago, I bought this great black windproof umbrella from the Walgreens right around the corner from my house. It was raining like cats, dogs, giraffes, elephants, tigers, and dinosaurs at the time so I was ready and willing to put down some good money for an umbrella, and when I say good money..um that’s about $15.00-$20.00 dollars. Normally I get those cheap-o street vendor $5.00 dollar “I’ll last about 10-minutes in the rain then evaporate” black umbrellas, and when it eventually meets it’s short demise I kindly dunk it in the nearest garbage can with the rest of the $5.00 dollar umbrellas that have been imploded or exploded by the wind or rain.

So I walk into Walgreens and I’m looking at the umbrellas. One side (left) has the the $7.00 – $9.00 dollar umbrellas and the other side (right) has the $13.00 – $15.00 dollar umbrellas. The umbrellas on the left side seem enticing because I know these umbrellas are better then the street vendors and that extra $2-3 dollars will be well spent. I then look over to the right side and see a set of windproof umbrellas and instantly forget I was looking the first set.. I give it a couple looks, test it out for a minute or two and I’m sold. I now own my first windproof umbrella. This umbrella was a champ. No matter how windy or rainy, it held up. No more inverted umbrella embarrassment, no more charging forward and jousting with my umbrella in the wind looking to attack the next pedestrian, and no more buying cheap umbrellas. I have officially upgraded.

A year later I mistakenly left that wonderful black windproof umbrella at a spot I used to get my locks re-twisted (at the time) and the young lady who does my hair (who now cornrows my wife’s hair) found it. I decided to part with my first windproof umbrella and let someone else reap the benefits. I’m pretty sure it was her first windproof umbrella and nothing would make me happier than passing down the legacy. So I go back to the same Walgreens to buy a new windproof umbrella and they only have blue and white (think New York Yankees). I really enjoyed my stealthy black windproof umbrella but I decided to go with the NY Yank themed windproof umbrella and I still have it till this day.

I know at this point you are asking..”Can we get the the diamond part already?”. Yeah, we are almost there, the finale is coming. Like most people you accumulate umbrellas at home because:

1. You forgot that it was going to rain today
2. You didn’t think it was going to rain even though the weather man/woman said it was going to rain (usually he or she gives a T-storm or isolated T-storm type of forecast and you say..”I won’t need it”)
3. You forgot your umbrellas somewhere. Normally when you go out you bring your umbrella because it’s raining. You reach your destination but when you are ready to leave it’s no longer raining. You are either going to remember “Oh its not raining let me bring my umbrella” or “Oh its not raining anymore [internal thought: I did not remember that I had an umbrella because it's no longer raining]

Then you get caught in a rain storm and you need something really quick. So you go with the cheap-o street vendor brand to prevent looking like you just jumped into a pool with your clothes on. Then you bring “I needed an umbrella urgently” no 846 home and soon the section where you keep the umbrellas looks like the area where people put their umbrellas at the door of a hotel. To your benefit, when company comes over and you need to go outside while it’s raining you can just pass them the cheap-o umbrellas while your “top notch top shelf” umbrellas remain in the special section that only you and your family know. It’s like a family secret. “shhh..don’t give them the good umbrellas”.

So a couple weeks ago…yeah you guessed it..I get caught in a rain storm with no umbrella. Damn you weather man. You should by hung, drawn and quartered for your weather prediction blunders. Sorry I digress. I go to my favorite Walgreens spot and I go straight to aisle 7 to pick up a windproof umbrella and to my surprise not one windproof umbrella. I’m shocked. I feel like a 3 year old kid that has been stranded in the airport. Now what? Okay, I’ll just go to your competitor Duane Read which is right around the corner and get it there. So I walk straight to the umbrella section and once again…no windproof umbrellas. I can’t believe this. I’m shocked. So I settle for some umbrella that is worst than the cheap-o street vendor umbrella but I have no choice. At this point, time is short and I don’t have the luxury to shop around.

So where did all the windproof umbrellas go?

Windproof Umbrella Conspiracy

To be honest I’m not sure where they all went. They went from being available like a kit kat in the candy section of any drug store to being scarce like looking for Scarface on VHS in BestBuy. However, I have a couple theories:

1. They fell out of fashion. Like any trend, there was a huge push then for some reason no one wanted them. A simple act of supply and demand. No malicious intent there.
2. Did those stores see a drop-off of their non-windproof umbrellas sales because the windproof umbrellas held up a lot longer? In my case, I usually have to buy several umbrellas a year because they get smashed by strong winds and rain. However, since I bought my windproof umbrella I haven’t had to buy another umbrella. It’s literally been 3-4 years. Let’s do the math:
   1. Hypothetical non-windproof umbrella sales if I didn’t buy my windproof umbrella:
      Roughly 2-3 umbrellas a year at $5-$10 dollars a pop for 3 years = $45-90.00 dollars. Now lets multiply this by several thousand because obviously I’m not the only one buying non-wind proof umbrella. Let’s just say 2,000 people for one store for each year. That’s anywhere between $90K-180K over 3 years.
   2. Hypothetical windproof umbrella sales using my windproof umbrella buying pattern in part a.
      So in 3 years I had to buy 2 wind proof umbrellas because I lost one. For the sake of this exercise, lets say the average person buys 1 wind proof umbrella at the price point I bought my windproof umbrella which was roughly $13 bucks over 3 years:
      1 wind proof umbrella at $13 dollars over 3 years = $13 dollars. Using the same 2,000 people for one store each year that’s 26K over 3 years.

   As you can see the hypothetical gross revenue of the windproof umbrellas is 40% less than the lowest revenue estimates for the non-windproof umbrellas and 85% off the highest revenue estimates for the non-windproof umbrellas.

   I was a lot more careful with my windproof umbrella because of the following reasons:

   1. It was extremely valuable/reliable (product value)
   2. I paid a little bit more so I didn’t want up another $13 bucks where $5 bucks (cheap-o non windproof umbrella) I felt less obligated to be responsible. Not to mention I knew it was going to implode any minute so my care for my non-windproof umbrella was a lot lower and reckless.(behavioral value based on price and quality)
   3. I was also less likely to forget my windproof umbrella at random places because it was a good umbrella.

Now tell me what windproof umbrellas and diamonds have in common

The point of this whole entire hypothetical economic exercise is to demonstrate several key economic and behavioral conditions that impact our buying decisions and patterns. In this scenario (I believe) windproof umbrellas and diamonds are both impacted by artificial or false scarcity.

In this specific case, I believe that windproof umbrellas are experiencing a certain type of “artificial scarcity” because it is less profitable at the low to mid-tier umbrella market to sell windproof umbrellas next to the non-windproof umbrellas. When I say “artificial scarcity” I’m stating that companies are purposely making the availability of windproof umbrellas more scarce because it is less profitable for them in regards to umbrella sales. My wife was just looking for a windproof umbrella and literally had to hunt every single pharmacy (i.e Walgreens, CVS, Duane Reade, etc) in NYC and could not find 1 windproof umbrella. She just happen to be in Home Depot at the time and on a whim looked for a windproof umbrella and found a few. Same price as the one I bought 3-4 years ago, $13 dollars. Even when you go to direct umbrella manufactures and suppliers windproof or wind resistant umbrellas are seldom mentioned. I’m not exactly sure if the distributers and suppliers are in direct “kahoots” with one another, but clearly the availability of windproof umbrellas has been minimized from the manufacturer to the distributer.

So in the case of the diamond industry De Beers buys up tons of diamonds off the market to lower the total amount of available diamonds globally, hence making them “artificially scarce”. Just imagine the natural amount of water that existed in the world was 5 trillion gallons. Then a water corporation, let’s call them De Water, would selectively buy hundreds of millions gallons of water out of the total 5 trillion gallons then put those hundreds of gallons in a water container. Over time the total available gallons would decrease hence making it scarce which means the price per gallon of water would slowly go up. In the case of De Beers just swap out water for diamonds and you’ll get a sense of what we are up against.

Since the late 1800s, De Beers has regulated both the industrial and gemstone diamond markets and effectively maintained an illusion of diamond scarcity. It has developed and nurtured the belief that diamonds are precious, invaluable symbols of romance. Every attitude consumers hold today about diamonds exists–at least in part–because of the persistent efforts of De Beers. Moveover, by monitoring the supply of diamonds throughout the world, De Beers has introduced and maintained an unprecedented degree of price stability for a surprisingly common mineral: compressed carbon. Such unique price stability lies within the cartel’s tight control over the world’s supply of diamonds. De Beers’s operating strategy has been pure and simple: to restrict the number of diamonds released into the market in any given year and perpetuate the myth that they are scarce and should therefore command high prices.

For more details on scarcity and marginality you can go to these great articles from Mises.org on marginality and artificial scarcity.

So simply, prices are impacted (excluding misnomers like government and cartel price controls) by the natural ease or difficulty on the availability, including cost of production, distribution, and manufacturing; of a particular product or resource. In addition there is also “subjective value”, which falls into the area of behavioral economics. (i.e. I prefer the windproof over non-windproff) In the context of diamonds, De Beers, who own roughly 60% of the diamond market have been accused of creating “artificial scarcity”. I don’t disagree with this accusation. They also put together one of the most successful marketing campaigns in history for their diamond business:

Over the last century, De Beers has been highly successful in increasing consumer demand for diamonds. One of the most effective marketing strategies has been the marketing of diamonds as a symbol of love and commitment.
A young copywriter working for N. W. Ayer & Son, Frances Gerety, coined the famous advertising line “A Diamond is Forever” in 1947.[31] In 2000, Advertising Age magazine named “A Diamond Is Forever” the best advertising slogan of the twentieth century.[32]
Other successful campaigns include the “eternity ring” (as a symbol of continuing affection and appreciation), the “trilogy” ring (representing the past, present and future of a relationship) and the “right hand ring” (bought and worn by women as a symbol of independence).

De Beers is also known for its television advertisements featuring silhouettes of people wearing diamonds, to the music of Palladio by Karl Jenkins. A 2010 commercial for Verizon Wireless parodied the De Beers spots.[33]

Conclusion

There are a multitude of psychological, marginal and environmental factors that go into a point of sale for any product. When products are sold there are a multitude of “micro” decisions and conditions that are related to psycho-science and economics. Or in this case, “neuralnomics”, if you will. Some of these decisions can be driven on a subconscious level. If you read how supermarkets sell their products, it reads like some white paper out of psychological science magazine. In many instances the line between psychology and business has become increasingly blurred.

As you can see I find the topic of behavioral economics and the roots of scarcity quite fascinating. You probably had no idea that something as random as windproof umbrellas have been brewing in my mind like this. Although this is a very simplified example, it’s just one example of how many variables can impact the sale of just one product.

• Thanks to Ads, Kids Won’t Take No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No for an Answer
• Tag Team: Tracking the Patterns of Supermarket Shoppers by KnowledgeWharton
• What Does Marginality Mean? by Robert P. Murphy
• IP and Artificial Scarcity by Stephan Kinsella
• From Louis Vuitton to the local street-corner brand, umbrellas tested. by Aja Mangum
• Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

So the cost is quite moderate (relative to most gym memberships), you can go to amazon and get the package for about $150 bucks (including s/h and taxes). There are about 12 DVDS which are the following:

1. Chest and Back
2. Plyometrics
3. Shoulders and Arms
4. Yoga X
5. Legs and Back
6. Kenpo X
7. X Stretch
8. Core Synergistics
9. Chest, Shoulders and Triceps
10. Back and Biceps
11. Cardio X
12. Ab Ripper X

P90x is the most intense workout I have ever done. It pushes you to the edge, and creates a regiment that allows your body to maximize it’s fullest potential. What is great is it’s a perfect balance of high intense gut wrenching cardio and muscle blasting/building techniques. There are tons of strength training exercises. If you want to go heavy and build more mass, you can do that, but if you are looking for a more lean cut you can do that to. It’s engineered for that. It has a diet plan but it’s extremely healthy and hearty.

So what do you need

1. P90x ($150.00)
2. Pull up Chin up bar ($30.00)
3. Hexagon Dumbbells (This will run you about $150-200 bucks because you need 4-5 sets of dumbbells [I'll explain shortly])
4. Extra Long Extra Wide Yoga Mat ($25)
5. Recovery Drink ($40 a month)
6. Protein bars ($30 a month)
7. Exercise Bands ($40)
8. Towel
9. Water
10. A Chair

So the first thing you might be saying to yourself is “The hell with this, it’s too expensive. All this dang equipment and food costs”. The first thing you have to say to yourself is, Is it too expensive (you can’t afford it), or it’s too expensive (I didn’t think it would be that much and I only wanted to pay X amount of dollars because I thought it would cost around x dollars). Some of this equipment you might already have but I’ve been working out for over 10 years so most of this stuff I have, except for the extra wide extra long yoga mat and a set of 25 pound dumbbells. Most of these are one time costs except for the monthly costs. Another question you should ask yourself is, how much is your health worth? $200? $300? $400? Can you really put a price on health?

So let’s talk about dumbbells for a moment. the $150-200 bucks is assuming that you don’t have any dumbbells at home. I use 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 paired dumbbells for my workout. Depending on your strength and how fit you are you might need a lower or higher range. A general rule is whatever weight you can curl (standing dumbbell curl) comfortably four about 8-12 reps, get 4 pairs down and one pair up, so if you can curl 25 pounds comfortably you would get 5, 10, 15, 20, and one 30 pound set dumbbells. This is a general rule and can change based on your level of strength.

To be honest I don’t follow the program to a “T”, but I do 95% of the dietary guidelines. I might have missed a protein bar here or there, and I don’t use any recovery drinks because I was getting huge migraines from the recovery drink (Endurox R4), so I just use a whey protein with a glutamine/amino acid supplement for my recovery drink.

The biggest value to P90x is it encourages a healthy lifestyle change. I was pretty healthy before but now I’m taking it to another level. I feel so amped and pumped every day. Make sure that you heed to all the warnings because this is a serious workout. Make sure you do the P90X fitness test, and take your time. I stumbled a lot in the beginning because the program is very difficult, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get through it and be successful. I have two words for you. BRING IT!

• Official Site from Beachbody: P90x
• Hexagon Dumbbell sets
• MaxMat™ 1/4″ Extra Thick, Extra Long, and Extra Wide Yoga and Exercise Mat
  (84″ x 36″)
• Kulae Hot Yoga Hand Towel Ocean
  (I know it might seem a bit insane to spend about $18 bucks for one hand towel but this towel is insane. The amount of sweat that will be pouring off you, you’ll need it. You can suck up the Atlantic Ocean with this towel)
• Recovery Drink Reviews

One thing I realized about the usefulness of any product is if you bring it home and you immediately start using it, you clearly have made a smart purchase. The first set of awesome products we reviewed had a more “baby product’ feel to it. These set of products have more of a “fitness” feel to it. As I stated on I got Purple on the Brain, my wife and I are getting serious about our health and now the time has come. So lets “carry on”, shall we?

Garlic Crusher/Press

There is something very magical about this press. Very similar to the apple corer/slicer, you say to yourself, “Something so simple can’t possible do what it says it does?”. Well it does and very well. Not only does this thing make mincing garlic a no brainer, but it peels the thin skin off the garlic too. No matter how many times I press I want to find more garlic to press. Sometimes I don’t want to take out the food processor and this makes for a quick chopping of garlic in less than 3 seconds. Like many products that have been around for ages, many companies have added ergonomic accents (rubber handles, hand shaped metal, etc) to make mincing garlic even more effortless. Press, crunch, your done!

2-in-1 Lemon and Lime Squeezer

My wife and I use a lot of lemons in our cooking and one of the most annoying tasks is squeezing lemons for lemon juice. Many times your getting sprayed in the face by rogue spurts of lemon spritzes and by the time you’re done squeezing, you feel like you’ve been peppered sprayed in the face. Not anymore. This tight little tool allows you to squeeze every single drop of lemon or lime with no rogue splatters from the squeeze. It has holes right in the bottom of the metal squeeze cup so juice comes out nice and neat. It’s a bit on the pricey side for a kitchen gadget of it’s size (Retails 19.99), but it’s worth it. Your eyes don’t have to sting anymore.

P90X

Welcome to the “mother of all workouts”. I bought P90x about 2 years ago and I was so out of shape that I failed the initial fitness test. Of course I tried to do the program at the time and ended up imploding my body. So I took a hiatus from P90x and now I’m back on the program. I have not had anything that has pushed me so hard as P90x. It’s a complete end to end exercise program that can slim you down or build mass. Coupled with a proper diet, you don’t really need to do anything else. I’ve been doing the program for almost 2 weeks and my endurance, strength, and stretching are up on all levels. If you are really interested in a true exercise challenge, this is it.

Extra Large/wide Yoga Mat

I bought this because my current yoga mat did not accommodate the space needed for P90x. I can do big moves and still stay on the mat. It’s wide, long, and is thicker than most mats so when I land on it, my feet don’t make a sound. I have hard wood floors so this mat is critical for my high intensity workout. Even if you don’t plan to buy P90x or some other intense workout regiment (i.e. Insanity) it will give you the needed space if you are tall or you just want ample space for your Tittibhasana pose (Firefly).

Over the Sink Grippboard Cutting board with Pop up Strainer

Yet another product that has transformed our kitchen. It’s like adding another counter-top to your kitchen. One of the most annoying tasks is washing and cutting vegetables/fruit. Usually I have to take out the strainer, then take out the cutting board while watching the water drip off of the veggies or fruit flooding the entire counter-top and sometimes rolling off the counter top then onto the floor. There are so many benefits to this “frankenstein” strainer/cutting board I don’t know where to start. First thing it’s rubber no-slip ergonomic handles/edges make it easier to grab and place right over your kitchen sink. It will fit most standard sized kitchen sinks. Obviously you get this nice big cutting board space (almost 1 3/4 ‘ feet of space). The icing on the cake is this nice rubber collapseable pop-up strainer that you can use to wash your fruits and veggies. Keep in mind that you can remove the strainer too. Sometimes I’ll use it as a temporary garbage collector. Like when I’m cutting strawberries and I can cut the cap/stems and dump them in the strainer. When I’m done, I just remove the strainer, flip it upside-down and dump the stuff in the garbage. This nifty tool will add a certain level of “Mickey deez” efficiency to your food preparation time.

Munchkin Powdered Baby Formula Dispenser

If you’ve ever tried pouring powdered baby formula from a plastic bag or the scooper that comes with the container in an opening of a baby bottle which is a little bit bigger than a quarter while inside a moving vehicle or subway, you’ll look like you rolled around in flour for about 15 minutes. The Munchkin Powdered Baby Formula Dispenser not only allows you to have some dignity while not looking like you’ve hung out with Tony Montana for 5 hours, but it allows you to safely get all the baby formula into the bottle. It has 3 separate compartments which allows you to carry the exact amount you need for each feeding. This has truly been a great buy.

Schwin Spinner® FIT Bike

My wife Sarah is a spinner fanatic. She actually taught spinner classes in Saudi Arabia and from what she tells me, people hated her spinner passion. Not hate in a “I hate your guts, I wish I could smack you with a rusty screw driver” type of way, but hate as in “Oh no, Sarah is going to push us to the edge until our legs separate from our body and start running away from the spinner class”. I think I noticed a subtle change in personality when my wife talks about spinning. Her eyes light up with spin wheels of excitement. Kind of the same way I’m about P90x. You would think I was a spokesperson for Beach Body. However we just ordered the bike and it’s on the way. Sarah has been looking for an efficient way to get her fitness level up and rather than going to the gym (which is almost impossible with a child at home), we decided to bring the gym to the house.

Ottoman (not the empire)

My wife and I have three ottomans in the living room. It’s really a nice and stylish way of dealing with a space problem. One of the great things about ottomans are they come in a thousand different textures, styles, and sizes. With some proper digging, you can find the right style for the right price. I’m pretty sure we’ll be on our 4th ottoman purchase down the road. We’ll probably be looking for a ottoman to store our Saud’s toys and books.

Here is a bit of history about the ottoman: Traditionally, it is believed that the ottoman takes its roots from the divan, which is essentially a long, backless seat or padded bench with cushions to lean against. In fact, in some parts of world, the terms “divan” and “ottoman” are still interchangeable. The divan style of furniture was popularly used in the Middle Eastern council chambers of the government agency called Diwan, from which it got its name. The ottoman, at least as we know it today, is not believed to have been invented by Ottoman Turks, but was called so in deference to its exotic roots. In point of fact, the ottoman most resembles the Moroccan (North African) pouf, which is a thick cushion used as a seat. (word for word I copied all of this from here.

Multi-position pull up chin up bar

If there is one piece of exercise equipment that should be the center of your day-to-day workout, it’s the a door pull-up bar. The now popular Iron Gym Chin Up Pull Up bar has become quite popular but before the Iron Gym there was a long hot water pipe in the basement of my mother’s house that I wrapped with old t-shirts for each hand which I used to do pull-ups on when I was in high school. Also known as “Da Pipe” among my brothers, this was literally the first “Iron Gym” for me. The pipe cut across the entire length of the basement. It was very stable. One of the issues with “Da Pipe” is the circumference of the pipe was thick so you had to knock out your reps before your hand started slipping. I wrapped it with t-shirts for gripping and to protect my hands from the heat. Nowadays you have tons of different manufactures improving on the door pull up chin up bar. It’s perfect for strength training and is the ultimate upper body workout. Just about every muscle is used to do a pull up. Unlike pull up bars in the early days, you don’t need any screws. You just have to check the width of your door to make sure the pull-up bar of choice fits. In addition to this, I would chose a multi positioned pull up bar (in the picture). If you compare the Iron Gym to the Iron Gym Extreme you’ll see what I’m talking about. More positions equal more parts of the back you can work out.

Reebok Push Up Bars

I just got these push up bars last week and for years I’ve shied away from push up bars because..well…I thought they were short-cuts to doing real push ups. I said to myself “Nothing will be better than using your own hands to the floor, this is the real way”. Then the first time I used a push up bar I realize that it’s a lot more difficult to do push ups with a push up bar, not to mention you can get way lower because your hands are raised about 4 inches from the ground. The Reebok Push Up bars have 3 levels and this really spongey grip so you stay focused on the push up and not the discomfort in your hands or wrist. The position of the push up bar makes doing a push more natural and for those push up enthusiasts, know that your wrist can go through a pounding over the years. This is yet another P90x accessory but I use them even when I’m not doing P90x. What is also nice about these bars are they are sturdy and they don’t tip over if you want to go wide. There are a multitude of companies that manufacture push up bars but Reebok has clearly done their research and know what works.

Honorable mentions

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt

I’ve have been using this “secret” seasoning for years to spruce up the flavor of many my dishes. Mostly I use it as part of a collection of other seasonings to pre-season my lamb, beef, or chicken the day before I cook the meat. Other than some weird chemical called Tricalcium Phosphate (prevents caking) most of the ingredients of Lawry’s are stuff you already have in your spice cupboard. I want to send a shout out to Lawrence Frank and Theodore Van de Kamp for being so creative and imaginative with your spices. If you your interested in the history you can go here and if your that big of a seasoning salt fanatic you can join the fan group on Facebook then not have any more friends after they find out you are part of the Lawry’s Seasoning Salt Fan group. Amazingly they have over 600 members.

So over the last couple years, my wife and I have collected a set of really nifty products that have just…well…made our life easier. I would even go a step further and say these products have transformed how we do things at home. Some of the products were gifts from different family and friends, while others were products we bought ourselves. If you don’t own them you should go to the store and buy them..wait a minute…that was kind of Jonesee-ish thing for me to say. First, make sure you have the cash, don’t buy it on credit cards (unless you are going to pay for it immediately) and don’t buy it because you want to be my friend. If you have fulfilled all these requirements..go for it..now here is the list:

Immersion Blender

To be honest, I have no idea where I heard about this product, but someone told me that we should own a hand-blender. The first time I saw this product, it reminded me of the handle of a lightsaber. However, over time this product has become a staple of our kitchen. I use it for porridge, smoothies, sauces, mixing, etc. I think my mother gave it to us as a housewarming gift. The key to the blender is all the extra gadgets that come with it, especially the chopper. We use this to cut up our veggies (garlic, onion, pepper, ginger, etc) for our meats. It will cut your food preparation time in half.

Space Bags

The first time I saw the infomercial for this product, I said “What a Scam”. Then we realized that we were running out of space in the closets and we were scrambling for space. I was like a junky (literally because I had so much junk in my apartment) looking for a “space” hit. Enter the Space Bag, and it completely changed our life. This thing really does work, and it’s cool seeing all your clothes, comforters, and children just shrink 20% of it’s normal size. Okay just kidding, our son Saud does not go in the bag and I wouldn’t advise using the space bag for this purpose. Now keep in mind that the infomercial really exaggerates (just like the picture) the space capability of the bags, but it’s pretty darn close. The key to the space bag is to not create more space so you can buy more junk. In conjunction with getting rid of stuff you don’t need and using the space bag, your spacial needs will increase exponentially.

Baby Bjorn: Active Carrier

We just recently bought this wonderful product and we replaced our old baby carrier by Mothercare. Before I get into how smart the product engineers are for Baby Bjorn lets first get into how the product engineers from Mothercare need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to product design. There are so many straps on this thing and in the most odd places that only a human octopus (if there was such a thing) would be able to put this thing on. Now lets go to baby carrier bliss, with the Baby Bjorn Active Carrier. Not only do we use this when we’re on the go, but we also use it to put Saud to sleep. I’ll just put him in the carrier and sway him, and nighty-night. Not to mention my wife uses it with Saud while she is doing things around the house. It’s the greatest thing since slice bread. Easy to put on and easy to take off. This is a one person job, you don’t need two people to do this. The straps are colored coded with snap-in safety locks so you know that everything is strapped in perfectly. This really changed our life, and with a child running around at 9 months, it’s even more of God send. Alhamdulilah.

Breville Juicer Elite

Okay there is one problem with me listing this product…uh I don’t own it now, but I will own it soon. The current juicer I have, the Jack Lalanne Power Juicer is good, but I know it’s on it’s way out. After using it roughly 2 times a week for a couple months, I can see it that it’s about to go. I’ve heard great things about the Breville juicer and if you are really into juicing, best to go with this model. BTW, I don’t work for Breville, I just think this juicer is great. I mean look at it…it just makes you want to not only juice your veggies and fruits, but probably juice your socks, books, batteries, etc. I mean look at that thing…it can probably juice steel.

Apple corer/slicer

This is one of those products that when you look at it, you just can’t believe that it actually does what it says. In it’s simplicity is where the genius is. This has come very handy for making my son’s food, as we make all his baby food from scratch. What is really nice about this product is it’s cheap, sturdy, and effective. With all the new product design science and ergonomics flowing into the kitchen gadgetry industry you can find a corer/slicers that have nice rubber plates with palm-friendly handles to make it real easy to put all your force on top of the apple to core and slice it in one clean swoop. You can also use it for picnics and gatherings because it allows you to core and slice a lot of apples or pears in a short amount of time.

Logitech Illuminated keyboard

One thing you notice when you have a new baby in the house is you have to be extremely quiet. Every single thing wakes the baby up. A creak of the wood you step on can wake them up. A thought of worrying about waking them up, can wake them up. Now that my wife and I have self-trained ourselves under the school of house robbery and ninja techniques, we can probably walk through a lion’s den drenched in lambs blood and go unnoticed. The Logitech Illuminated keyboard was the answer. Being the techno-addict that I am, I’m always on the computer. Sometimes my wife would be feeding Saud in the next room and my relentless typing would wake the baby up. At the same time we’d have to keep the room darker than darth vadar’s helmet so Saud would remain sleeping, once it was time to put him in his crib. With the Logitech’s laptop-silent keys and keyboard light show I was in techno paradise. Even if you don’t have a child, get this keyboard.

Titan Peeler

This is the second infomercial product that made the list, and once again, I had my doubts. First off, this peeler is insane. Titan is really an understatement. You can peel in any direction. This thing can probably peel rust off of metal and keep on peeling. It’s quick, sharp, and easy to clean. It comes with two peelers, small and large. And when they show them peeling Pineapples, it’s not a joke. You can really do that with the Titan peeler. Great addition to our arsenal of kitchen utensils and gadgetry.

Libman Tornado Mop

It took some time to find this mop, but this is my second Libman Tornado Mop (got rid of the first one because the mop head got really dirty but didn’t realize I could of just bought the mop head replacement and not the whole mop). However, what is really nice about this mop is it has 3 green scrub bands sown right into the mop head to prevent tangling and it really uproots that dirt that just doesn’t want to budge. If that wasn’t enough it has this ratchet design lock that allows you to twist and hold the mop head in a squeeze position to squeeze out the water without touching the mop head. I mean…who wants to get all down and dirty old-school style while breaking your back and hands squeezing putrid water from a mop? They really took all the hard work out of mopping and engineered it into a mop with ease.

ACME Bags™ Workhorse

In our quest to “get green” my wife and I started searching for the ultimate reusable shopping bag. I saw the insulated ones at Whole Wallet..oh I mean Whole Foods, but I didn’t want to be a walking advertisement for Whole Foods. It’s enough that they take all my dollars. I don’t need to give them free advertising. So we were looking for a nice reusable bag that was strong and durable while keeping an eye on costs. After looking at Baggu and ACME, we decided on ACME. As you can see in the picture this ingenious little bag folds into a tiny bag smaller than the size of deck of cards which is stitched into the inside of the bag. If your going to look for “go green” products I would suggest going to reusablebags.com. Although the Workhorse edition of the ACME Bag is great, you will probably need a couple ACME Bags™ EarthTote bags to round out the all the reusable bags you’ll need for grocery shopping. The workhouse edition can be easily dropped in a pocket or handbag. It’s actually one of things that I carry with me when I leave the house. So when I do the three pocket check (now the 4 pocket check), it’s house keys, wallet, cellphone, and acme bag. It’s kind of cool just rolling up to the register with my little pouch and then…BAM! it’s bag. You should see the stares. Sometimes I wonder if people think I’m unfolding a mask to rob the joint. However, it’s a great bag and very durable.

Da Innanet’ (the Internet)

Although the the internet is not necessarily a product, it’s more of a service that you have access to (home, workplace, public, etc). I have the internet as my 10th product because without it I wouldn’t be able to find all these great products. I only knew they were great products after scouring the net for reviews from various sources. Not to mention finding great books that can give you insightful information on just about anything you want to know. The internet is your friend. Use it wisely.

Honorable mentions

Northface Women’s Arctic Parka

Let’s get right to it. My wife hates the cold and since she’s been in NY, she has been shivering every since. We bought different jackets, but nothing worked. So this past December, Sarah (my wife) bought the Northface Arctic Parka. You want to know how warm this thing is? Well my wife doesn’t even know whether it’s cold or not outside anymore..Yeah that’s how warm it is. You want to know how warm it is? When people stand next to my wife and she is wearing the parka, people next to her get warm. (like those outside restaurant lamps). You want to know how warm it is? The sun goes to Northface for warming tips and techniques. There must be little nanomites creating mini campfires in the lining of the jacket to keep my wife so warm. She loves her parka.

Beaba: Baby Cook 4 in 1 Food Prep & Blender

As you can see I have quite a few baby related products on this list. Before I bring this post to an end, I have to mention this genius of a product. This cute little blender allows you to create baby food from scratch. Whether you are using meat, veggies, fruits, whatever, this blender can do it. As a matter of fact the recipe book that we bought with the blender are meals that you can probably make for yourself, and not just your baby. It will cut down on the cooking time and you know where the food is coming from because you made it yourself. With all the preservatives and chemicals in a lot of food (including baby food), we figured this was our best option. We buy organic veggies/fruits/halal meat and make the baby food with this machine. It’s bit on the pricey side, but worth every penny.