Hello DIYers and Tool Lovers! It’s our first Tool News Nirvana of 2012, where we bring you industry news, contests and special deals that especially appeal to handy homeowners and professionals in the construction, real estate and home building business. Should you have a hot tip for us, you can contact us and give us the scoop! If it’s interesting enough, we’ll write about it (and if it’s not, it will be filed in the same folder we keep the emails from estranged relatives who forward us all-caps messages with subject lines like “PROOF THAT NOBAMA IS A TERRIRST!”). So, here’s what made the cut this time! [click to continue…]
Here is an organization that is really near to my heart, as I’m sure it is to many of you (so excuse my lack of overt humor on this one). Helmets to Hard Hats is an organization that is committed to helping retiring and honorably discharged service men and women find work in the construction trades. Between my love for building and my full time job on an air base, I have had the pleasure of working with a number of wonderful men and women, some of the finest that our country has to offer. According to Helmets to Hard Hats, over a quarter million service men and women are discharged annually from the military. And as we have only recently finished pulling out of Iraq and we begin to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, that number may increase. These troops will need to find jobs, but since the job market is flooded these days, finding a job can be tough even for highly trained men and women.
When I was about ten years old, I found a super cool button on the street. On it was a picture of a smiling balloon surrounded by hearts. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but not much back then did anyway (it was the late ’80s). Despite this, I decided to pin it on my jean jacket and wear it around town. It wasn’t until about five days later – days in which I had gone to school, grocery shopping and to the mall, and attended a friend’s piano recital – that my mom finally noticed what was adorning my jacket. And just like that, my button of the friendly balloon – which turned out to actually be a smiling condom with the caption “No Glove, No Love!” beneath it – was yanked from my jacket and whisked out of my life forever. [click to continue…]
I was an early adopter when it came to LED flashlight technology. Like most early adopters, I also experienced some of the inadequacies of the first few rounds of products. I still have a LED pen light I bought eons ago that was just slightly brighter than a match. Even the cool and versatile Joby GorillaTorch we reviewed left a bit to be desired with a CREE LED that was blindingly bright at the center of the beam, but much dimmer around the perimeter. When Coast sent us their HP7 LED flashlight and their HL7 Headlamp I expected to see similar limitations. While LED has huge advantages in terms of efficiency and durability, beam and light quality just wasn’t an area I’ve been impressed with. [click to continue…]
For many of us working schlubs, the idea of the man-cave is a dream, flitting around us just out of reach. But just because we can’t reach it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy another man’s man-cave. For those who don’t know, there is actually a Man-Caves TV show, staring former Raven’s lineman Tony Siragusa and contractor Jason Cameron called “Man Caves.” This DIY show follows The Goose and Jason as they create some pretty awesome caves for some pretty crazy people including Snoop Dog and Artie Lang. [click to continue…]
