I was hoping to do this post in time for Father’s Day, but unfortunately (or fortunately) hand-made products take time to produce. And this would have been an ideal gift for Dad. But you know what? It really doesn’t matter when you need a belt or belt buckle. I burn through belts about every other year, probably because they just aren’t well made or I’m bored with them. Now, I have a new belt and belt buckle to wear that represents HighTechDad wherever I go, thanks to the craftspeople at FosterWeld.
FosterWeld does metal and leather work . In my mind, that is pretty primal, almost harkening back to the Wild West days. Their main focus is on making belt buckles, but they also do cuffs and home decor. When I say cuffs, I’m not talking cuff links, I’m talking about leather bracelets that have metal buckles as well. And the home decor items consist of cabinets, tables and mirrors, for example. Their site lists this as coming soon, but the examples that they have are pretty darn interesting.
Probably the best hand-crafted service that FosterWeld offers, in my opinion, is that of their belt buckles. There are a few different types of milling processes to create these buckles:
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With Father’s Day just around the corner, we are all hopefully thinking about our dads. Dads have it tough, you know, compared to moms. We don’t have a clue about parenting, or so we are told regularly by our wives. And we don’t have that bond with our kids the way that mom’s do (“YOU didn’t give birth to these kids”). But we do have a special part in the family dynamics but that obviously varies family by family.
Dads come in all models with a variety of features. There are dads who are “checked out” or work all of the time and don’t spend much time with their kids. There are stay-at-home dads who watch the fort and the captives therein while the mom is out bringing home the bacon. There are hyper-engaged dads who do everything, work and take care of the kids, and make the rest of us look bad. There are jock dads who do a lot of sports with and without their kids. And, of course, there are HighTechDads where technology is considered to be “the other woman” (or at least that is what my wife says). Remember, technology is not a substitute for parenting. It is merely a tool that can occasionally make things easier or provide other experiences.
My dad is an “education dad.” He’s a professor of European History with a specialty in German History at Stanford University. He has taught all around the world including Northwestern, Princeton, and Oxford. He was the president of the American Historical Association and is a recipient of the Pour Le Merite order, which is a civil version of an order bestowed to the arts and sciences by the German government (there are only 20 German and 20 foreign recipients of this order at any given time and only when a recipient passes away does the order get given to someone else). He even has a Wikipedia entry which I think could use a bit more content.
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37 pockets, that’s what the “Expedition” jacket by Scott E Vest (“SeV” for short) has. I almost think that there are more but it could be the hidden conduits and other innovative design elements that were inflating my count. I have sort of a jacket addiction, always looking for that one that will be the one that I go to time and time again. There are a few that I bounce between either for comfort or utility or based on the weather. I now have one that may rise above the rest. The Expedition is now the one that I reach for first.
Yep, that’s me striking a “model pose”.
Scott E Vest clothes have long had a reputation of being extremely utilitarian. The company was formed about 10 years ago by Scott Jordan to provide a better way to store gadgets and gizmos than a backpack or “man purse”. This is a man after my heart. I love loading up my pockets or my backpack with all of my devices, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. If you are a parent, you know that any time you have to go anywhere with you kids, you need to lug along a ton of items to keep them happy or sustain them.
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by Michael Sheehan on June 1, 2011
in Apple, Consumer Electronics, Family, Gadgets, General, Hardware, iPad, iPhone, ipod, Mobile, Review, Sony
Father’s Day is almost upon us and I wouldn’t be doing my part for the Dads out there if I didn’t put together a Father’s Day Gift Guide. Gifts are obviously very personal in nature so I can’t tell you what to get your dad. What I can do, however, is provide some ideas on some things that might make your dad smile a bit more and potentially appeal to the “HighTechDad” inside of him.
I won’t be recommending things that I haven’t actually tried, used, reviewed or have myself. That would, honestly, be quite silly. I might recommend some things that I don’t actually possess but know a lot about, but I simply won’t recommend something I haven’t tried first hand. Also not everything that I reviewed is on this list; some gadgets or electronics are just a bit better than others. In most cases, the items below will be linked to my reviews (check the object title for the link to my review) so that you can get details on just about every gadget on this list. But, since blogging is interactive, I encourage readers to leave a comment recommending some other gadgets or consumer electronics that they think are worth mentioning. And who knows, I might see something there that I actually WANT.
The following products are in no particular order or preference or anything apart from being grouped by price range. Do note, the Amazon price listed is as of the day of the writing this article (6/1/11) and is linked to the Amazon listing of that product (an Affiliate link and yes, I get a couple of pennies with each purchase…but that is what keep this blog running!).
Note: all links within the descriptions below are to reviews that I have done in case you want more details and my thoughts on that particular product.
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