Soloflex

The machine that revolutionized the home fitness industry, Soloflex, is still around and selling their wares.  I bought a used one many years ago for around $100 - a fantastic deal!  I bought a new set of bands from Soloflex as the used ones had some wear.

The unit itself is built of very heavy duty steel, almost indestructible.  And you get a fantastic spotter-free workout with minimal room required.  And of course, it's made here in the US.

And check out the new Soloflex Buddy app for the Soloflex too!

Brushtech & Weber

Summer is approaching and it's time to start grilling.  I pulled my Weber Q series grill (made in USA!) out last week, took the cover off, and realized that the cooking grate was in desperate need of cleaning. At that moment I remembered that I threw out my grill brush at the end of last year - it was beat.

A quick search and I found Brushtech, a domestic maker of many types of brushes, including brushes for the grill.  Ordered it on Amazon Prime, and it promptly arrived two days later.  Now I'm ready to grill.  :-)

Shapeways

After cracking my iPhone 4 screen from a drop onto ceramic tile, I decided that a case for my iPhone 5 was necessary.  I also thought it'd be cool to "empty my pockets" some.  I have a Jimi wallet (also made in the USA!), so I had already reduced the number of cards I was carrying to 4 (ATM card, two credit cards, and my drivers license).  All other cards I scanned and put into an album on the Photos app, which has worked out just fine - though the librarian always looks at me funny when I hand her my iPhone with a picture of my library card...

Anyway, I thought it would be great to have a combination iPhone case/Jimi wallet.  Apparently some others have come to that conclusion too, and have a design that you can print out on a 3D printer!  Shapeways is the company that hosts the designs, and has the printers.  You select the item, select options to customize it, purchase it, Shapeways prints it in New York and ships it to you.

So, I ended up with the Tank Tri iphone 5 case w/ 3 CC 1ID holder.  Love it!

Greenfield Industries

My son needed a kickstand for his old made in USA Cannondale mountain bike.  When I Googled for a replacement kickstand I added "made in USA", and Greenfield Industries came back in the search results!  I picked it up via Amazon.

It arrived in a couple of days & installed easily.  It's extremely well made, and priced great.

Tablelegs.com

We needed a larger kitchen table (essentially to try to separate the boys from bugging each other during meals...).  Trying to find a table made in the US is hard - and when you do, they're pretty expensive.  So I decided I'd build one.

I got Ikea's Numerär in oak for the top, and a custom table base kit from Classic Designs by Matthew Burak in Vermont (aka 'tablelegs,.com').  On the tablelegs.com website it states:

      "98% of what we sell is made right here in our Vermont woodshop."

Awesome.

We got four large hepplewhite style legs (also in oak), plus the apron custom sized for the top.  The company was fabulous to work with - I sent dimensions, they sent a quote.  I ordered it, it shipped quickly, I sealed (with MinWax Wipe-On Poly, also made in the USA!) & assembled it.  It looks great, and best of all, my wife likes it!

Tippman

Got a cool toy for myself this Christmas: the Tippman TiPX paintball pistol.  Has a cool design, has great reviews, is priced right, and is made here in the USA.  I hope to have some fun with it in the backyard.