Friday of Firsts: Sleep Mask, New Jeans, and Ice Spheres

Ya know how lots of Bloggers and Podcasters main-it-in on Fridays or put out a newsletter on Fridays with all their “best of” stuff from the week? I’m gonna do that. You’re reading the first installment of “Friday Firsts” where I’ll quickly give some highlights from the week-that-was of things I did for the first time. Things I experience for the first time. Or whatever … you’ll see.

Sleep Mask:  Sleep experts say total darkness makes your sleep most restful. But our homes have so many little lights … nightstand alarm clock. Night lights. Lights from outside (my house and neighbors houses). I go to bed at a different time than my wife, so her nightstand light is on and then she comes up and reads. Got myself a cheap sleep mask and noticed IMMEDIATELY. Now I might start obsessing over sleep masks.

The Perfect Jean:  My stylish friend sent me a link for a referral-first-time-buyer discount and said, “best jeans I’ve ever owned.”  I think all clothing and all new, cool, life-changing brands are just the same clothes over and over … I gave them a shot. To my other point … do we REALLY believe the guys behind Muggsy Jeans, The Perfect Jean, Mizzne + Main jeans, Lucky jeans, Ash & Erie, Collars & Co were all in their basement with a sewing machine and were testing and researching and all of them … poof … changed the blue jeans world? And do we also think Levi’s, Abercrombie, Lee, and Wrangler jeans are so outdated and old school that we should NEVER buy their jeans?  I personally think, for the most part, jeans are jeans. I’m a short guy with thick legs and The Perfect Jean caught my eye because they recognized, yep, some guys are short and stocky and not short and skinny, nor tall and skinny. The Perfect Jean makes a “Slim Thick” jean …which I think should be called “I think I’m skinnier than I am or that I’ll ever be” and my pair arrived just in time for my big-Friday-night-out-on-the-town. Initial try-on … positive.

Warm Shower Right Before Bed:  Until a rich uncle leaves me $15,000 in his will to buy a hot tub, I’m obsessed with sleep and in addition to the sleep mask, the last thing I’m doing before bed is a hot shower. 

Micro Plastic Elimination:  A man’s gotta obsess about something, right? So I’m gonna start obsessing about eliminating microplastics from my life. Wood cutting boards. No plastic spoons. Glass food storage containers for bringing my lunch to work. By my calculations, this will add about a week or week-and-a-half to my life. It’s wild when you start an obsession like this … the whole world is plastic. So I’m just gonna start by cutting down on plastic that touches stuff that’s going in my mouth.  Three words:  Paper. Milk. Cartons.

Perfectly Brilliant Crystal Clear Ice Spheres for Drinks: I like a good glass of bourbon. One glass. My recipe is 3 parts (ounces?) of bourbon and 1 ounce of Barsmith Old Fashion mix. Basically a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio. If I don’t have Barsmith Old Fashion mix, I’ll use the sweetest vermouth I can find. I believe in ice spheres over ice cubes that melt too quickly. I like the look of a crystal clear ice sphere. I nice bourbon drink …yes, a single drink … sipped and savored is relaxing. I’ve tried various methods over the years and finally found an easy and perfect technique. Crap. I should be better and have a video. But I use a thermal tumbler. A silicone mold. I fill the tumbler with water and fill and flip the silicone mold upside down. Freeze for 36 hours and no more than 48 hours. Pictures and video to follow.

There. What a week, right? This new Blog feature’s gonna make me super famous.

Have a great weekend.