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Last year, I stumbled upon Ira Mitchell's blog, Glassyeyes.com, which is all about buying inexpensive eyeglasses from online retailers. Here's a recent Minneapolis Star Tribune article about Mr. Mitchell and his blog. Here's an excerpt:

Ira Mitchell of Eagan has nothing against eye doctors. It's the markups on frames and lenses that make him rant about the high cost of eyeglasses on his blog, which he began last November. "Eyeglass stores are for suckers," he wrote.

Indeed, the markup on glasses can easily exceed 500 percent, according to EyeglassDirect.com. In his photo at Glassyeyes.com, Mitchell has the look of someone who is not going to pay a 500 percent markup anymore. So when he broke his frames and found that a pair of frames and lenses at LensCrafters would run $400, he did what few people had done before -- he shopped for eyeglasses on the Internet. Judging from the 250,000 sets of eyeballs that have viewed his site, he's not alone.

Since discovering Glassyeyes, I've ordered prescription eyeglasses from two different online retailers, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. You need to have a current prescription handy, which means you need to get an eye exam. The optometrist probably won't want to give you the prescription, because he/she will want you to buy glasses from him/her instead of going to a cheaper place. Insist on getting a copy -- say your insurer or employer requires it.

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When I ordered a pair of glasses from Optical4less.com on July 23rd, I didn't know the company was based in Hong Kong. It wouldn't have made any difference. I paid a total of $70, including shipping for two pairs of prescription glasses (regular and sunglasses) in my favorite Clark Kent style. The box arrived, loving wrapped in brown paper with beautiful bird stamps on it.

The return address is A. Poon, Shop 137, Chung Fu Shopping Center, Tin Shui Wai, N.T., Hong Kong. Thank you, Mr. Poon!

I like these sunglasses even more than the $200+ pairs I have been buying for years. Note the nifty day-glo cases they are stored in.

A perfect fit! I couldn't be more delighted with my purchase.

Optical4Less's plastic frames page is a good place to start looking. They charge $29 for single vision eyeglasses using these cool, chunky framed glasses. Link

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Mister Jalopy gave me this cake of Tio Nacho. It's a medicinal soap made by Bustillos in Mexico.

Take a look at Tio Nacho ("Uncle Tio"). He's undeniably related to J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, the holy figurehead of the Church of the SubGenius, of which I am a devout member. Here they are, side-by-side. Can you deny the resemblance?

It's safe to say that Uncle Nacho was J.R. "Bob" Dobbs' uncle. This fact alone was enough to guarantee my lifelong brand-loyalty to the soap, no matter what was in the box.

Of course I was eager to open it anyway. Could it be that Tio Nacho's active ingredient was the sacred herb habafropzipulops (or 'frop, as it is known in the street)?

J.R. "Bob" Dobbs' pipe bowl is stuffed with this beneficial plant, which, according to Everything2, is

The revered and despised grief-easer of the mountains, the warrior against pain, the healing herb. Whether taken as smoke, liquid, food, or as "Bob's" pills, it, above all other medicinal substances, "spells relief." From the hearty young stalks protruding from the Himalayan snow to the white 'frop-dust that settles on the rim of "Bob's" Pipe, it is the closest thing to the untainted essence of ODIN on Earth. Habafropzipulops is not merely safe, but beneficial -- nay, even necessary -- to bodily health. We encourage our children to partake of it copiously, to their little heart's abundant desires.

Amen to that! The side of the box has a list of ingredients:

Pine tar...................... 1.80 G
Sulphur....................... 1.80 G
Resorcinol.................... 0.90 G
Neutral Soap
(Sufficient to complete) .... 90.00 G

After looking up Resorcinol on wikipedia, I'm certain it is the resin of habafropzipulops. (Please don't email me in an attempt to convince me otherwsie, as my mind is made up on this matter.)

As soon as I opened the box, I was struck by a powerful aroma, one that was both sweet and burned. I detected hint of cloves and granny perfume. The soap came wrapped in a piece of paper emblazoned with the emblems of various expos dating back to 1880 (Silver Medal winner at the Pan American exhibition in Puebla):

Also of interest was a fold-out instructional pamphlet enclosed in the box. The cover featured a 50s-style cartoon character reading the very same pamphlet, but unlike the famous infinite regression Borden's Dairy Cow logo, the little pamphlet the man was holding was blank. It really should have had the same drawing of the man reading the pamphlet. I was disappointed.

The other illustrations in the pamphlet were excellent, though. I don't understand Spanish, but it looks like Tio Nacho is good for six things:

1. Washing babies. It also makes fun bubbles!

2. Google translates "En la piel cabelluda" as "In the hairy skin." I'm taking this to mean it promotes hair growth. At $1.95 a cake, it's much cheaper than Minoxidol.

3. I don't need Google Translate to tell me what's going on here. This loving couple has contracted a serious skin condition. The fact that they are a couple makes it pretty clear that this particular disease is contagious. Judging by the expressions on their faces, I'd say the girl gave it to the guy, and not the other way around.

4. Itchy Scalp. Now we're talking. If I skip a day of washing my hair, I go out of my mind with itchiness. I often wake up in the middle of the night feeling like my hair is infested with crawling bugs, Charles Freck-style.

5. Dandruff. I use Neutrogena coal tar shampoo to control my dandruff. It works wonderfully, and never in my life have I smelled anything as delightful as coal tar. When I die, I want to be entombed in a tank of it.

6. Excessively greasy hair. That's me! My head is itchy, flaky, and greasy. Please help me, Uncle Nacho.

The soap is brownish red. The color reminds me a bit of Neutrogena shampoo. It's a good color, but wouldn't jet black be the best color for this soap?

Now it was time to put the soap to the test. As soon as it got wet, it released the smell of sulphur. The odor overpowered the other smells it had. It reminded me of the chemistry set I played with as a kid. It's not a bad smell, but after a while it gets to be a little obnoxious. I washed my hair with it once, twice, rinsing it with the coldest water I could stand (cold water rinses out soap better than hot water.)

When I was done. I could still smell the sulphur, but my scalp felt good. I scratched my scalp over a black sheet of paper, and some small flakes fell out. So the soap isn't perfect. Maybe it takes several applications to fully kick in. I'll let you know.

If want to try this product, be sure to heed the warning:

"AVOID GETTIN IN EYES AS IT MAY CAUSE TEMPORARY SMARTING."

$1.95 at Del Sol

I like my iPhone very much, but I was unhappily surprised to learn that it doesn't have iChat and AIM built into it. I suspect this is because AT&T wants you to get used to paying for SMS. But I just learned about a service called JiveTalk that lets you use instant messaging on your iPhone. I tried the alpha version it and it seems to work well.

JiveTalk for iPhone (alpha) Features:
• Multiple IM networks, multiple accounts per network: AIM®/iChat, MSN®, Yahoo!®, GoogleTalk®, ICQ®, and Jabber
• Automatically reconnects in case of data service disruption, including phone calls, loss of cell coverage
• Real-time chats, quick switch between multiple simultaneous chats, intuitive chat interface: - click to browse, call, or send an email directly from the chat screen
• SSL encryption of all over-the-air data transmission

Future versions promise to include buddy list management, privacy controls, and the ability to email your chats. Link

I've tried out a number of different iPhone protectors/cases/holsters and the Griffin Elan Holster is my favorite so far. Yes, the iPhone has a glass touch screen, and it's remarkably scratch resistant, but I am terrified that it'll get gouged, so I want a solution that offers screen protection when I'm carrying the iPhone around.

The Elan Holster, made of leather and lined with a "no-scratch-lining" covers the screen when not in use. To use the iPhone, you pull it out of the holster. This means while you are using it, it's unprotected. If you're afraid of dropping your iPhone when you are using it, this is not for you.

I like using my iPhone without a cover or rubber sleeve, because it feels good in my hand in its naked form. When I'm done using the iPhone, I slide it back into the holster, which has a clip that can be oriented vertically or horizontally.

My friend said it looked "too old man," for his taste, but I consider that a recommendation. There are plenty of smart old men out there, and they are smart enough to use one of these to keep their iPhone's display from getting scratched. $30 from Griffin

Before I start a new painting, I usually draw what I want in Adobe Illustrator, and then transfer a printout of that drawing to canvas or board to paint. I've tried opaque projectors, but the image is faint (at least on the el-cheapo version I use) and I don't really have room to set it up. I've also tried using a piece of paper that I've rubbed pencil or charcoal on, but that produces a blurry line.

Like an idiot, it wasn't until a couple of days ago that I considered the possibility that there might be a transfer paper for artists. Of course, there is one. It's called Saral Wax-Free Transfer Paper, and it works like a dream. It comes in five different colors, but I can get away with blue and white. It leaves a clear, thin line that erases easily and doesn't mess up the color of the paint I use. I'm already hooked on it for life.

If you send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Saral, they'll send you free samples in all five colors. Link

I enjoy listening to podcasts and audiobooks on my iPod, especially in the car. I typically use an earbud headset, but with only one bud, keeping the other ear free for sounds of traffic.

Last week, though, I started using the tiny Griffin iTrip Pocket instead. It plugs right in to my iPod nano, and plays through the car's FM receiver. The three buttons along the bottom can be set to any unused FM frequencies.

I've tried FM transmitters before and have been disappointed. For some reason, the iTrip Pocket does a better job of transmitting a clear signal. I rarely get static.

The one downside to this is how quickly it drains the battery. I am guessing it'll exhaust the Nano's battery in under five hours, which could be a problem on long trips. But for driving around town, it's great. Link

I have two young daughters with long hair. Combing out the tangles after they've taken a bath has been a painful experience. My three-year-old ran when she saw me coming towards her with a brush and a bottle of spray detangler.

The pain is over since we started using this rechargable electric detangling brush. The motor makes the eight plastic protuberances oscillate at a high frequency. The brush goes through tangled hair like a hot knife through butter. Well, maybe not that quickly, but it is so much better than a comb or brush that there's no comparison.

I learned that a Nokia phone charger recharges the brush, too, which eliminates the need to take along an extra charger on vacations. Link

Reader comment:

Erica says:

Thanks for the advice; I've been looking for something like this forever! On your recommendation, I ordered one, and I am already completely in love with it. I have three feet of extremely fine hair that is FULL of tangles every morning when I wake up, and this comb-thing is already making my mornings MUCH happier. Also, a wonderful aside, it came with an "important safety instructions" card that says to keep it away from water, even though they tell you to use it on wet hair, and to "Never use while sleeping."

We have a fig tree on our property that produces dozens and dozens of sweet, fat figs every year. They're delicious, but the problem is they all get ripe around the same time and I can't possible eat all of them before they start to spoil. I suppose I could give some of the figs to friends and neighbors, or allow the creepy fig thief lady to sneak over and steal them, as she is wont to do, but I am greedy when it comes to figs. I want them all to myself.

I thought about canning them, but that takes too much effort and I also don't want to add extra sugar to them, because they're plenty sweet already. So I decided to dry them. I paid $30 for the Ronco Food Dehydrator, which has five round shelves that stack on a heating coil. It takes about two days to dry a big batch of figs, and now I can store my figs for a long time, eating them whenever I want. Sometimes, when my wife and children are very nice to me and I'm feeling especially jolly, I'll give them a dried fig, but I usually regret doing so afterwards. $30 on Amazon

As much as I like iPods, I am dismayed by how easily they collect scratches. The displays become gouged by anything that happens to be brushed over them (are they are made of wax?) and the mirror-finish on the back of the iPod is a cruel trick on the part of Apple. Within hours of use it becomes noticeably scuffed.

Why can't Apple design the iPod to look better as it ages, not worse? Make the case out of wood, or leather? I know there's a heat transfer issue, but c'mon!

I suppose I should just let my iPod become scratched to hell and forget about it, but I can't bring myself to do it. When I bought a Nano for my daughter, I also bought a product called Invisible Shield, a thin, tough, plastic film that does a wonderful job of protecting the iPod's oh-so-delicate exterior. You spray some kind of liquid supplied in a small bottle on the film, slide it into place, and then squeegee out the bubbles. It becomes all but invisible, but it's there, silently doing the grim job of protecting your techno-bauble from environmental insults. Invisible Shield, I salute you! $22.95 on Amazon

It's grapefruit harvesting time at my house, and our tree is loaded with big, fat, sweet grapefruit. I can eat six a day and still be hungry for them. In the past, I used a broom handle with a metal hook (this weird implement came with the house when we bought it) to knock the fruit out of the tree, but the handle wasn't long enough to reach the fruit at the top, and when the grapefruit hit the ground the peel would crack open, spilling precious juice on the ground.

I finally got around to getting a fruit picker like the one shown here. It's very easy to grab the fruit and pull it off the twig. The fruit falls into the basket, safe and unsplit. I think I'll use it right now. $30.99 at Amazon

It's well-known that printer companies make most of their money selling inkjet cartridges. I pay about $30 for a color cartridge, which contains a few millimeters each of yellow, blue, and magenta ink. It's a rip-off.

I no longer buy ink cartridges. Instead, I buy refill kits. They cost about $20 and come with enough ink to refill a cartridge at least six times. It's fun to inject the ink, and even more fun to save that money.

Hewlett Packard feels so threatened by refill kits that they attack it on two fronts. They run ridiculous ads on the radio warning people that non-HP ink will smear, making critical information such as driving directions and boarding passes impossible to read. How often does that happen?

Worse, HP's printers also record the unique ID stored in a chip in the printer cartridge, and once the printer determines the cartridge is empty, it will insist it is empty even if you refill it. How evil is that? To get around this barricade, I keep two old color ink cartridges in a desk drawer. After I refill a cartridge, I insert and remove the two old ones, one at a time, and then insert the refilled cartridge. That's because the printer can only remember the IDs of two cartridges at a time. How long will it be before HP puts more memory into their printers, making this trick unworkable? $20.99 on Amazon

Now that we are in the middle of summer, flies have moved into our house, expecting to foul our food and bump clumsily into lampshades. But as I explained last year, with the Amazing Bug Zapper, they don't stand a chance. These things are like TiVo -- you don't know what you're missing until you have one. $7.45 on Amazon

When my 8-year-old daughter got a case of poison oak, I went to the drug store to buy a tube of Zanfel, a poison ivy and poison oak soap that is purported to get rid of the urushiol oil that causes the itching and blisters. I'd heard good things about the stuff. People claim it stops the itching instantly. When I got to the drug store and saw the price tag -- $40 for a one-ounce tube of soap -- I hesitated. That's a lot of money for such a tiny container. I bought it anyway, figuring that if it didn't work I could ask for a refund.

I got home, squeezed a 1.5-bead on my wet palm and rubbed my hands together until the stuff formed a gritty paste. I then rubbed the paste on my kid's legs for about three minutes. She told me the itching was gone. The rash even looked like it had subsided. By the end of the day, the itch had resumed, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been earlier. One more application did the trick. The stuff is worth the price.

Note: Zanfel doesn't get rid of poison oak if you have a systemic case -- that is, if the urushiol has gotten into your bloodstream or lymph nodes. You can tell you have a systemic case if you keep getting new blisters al over your body. You need to go to a doctor and get a shot of steroids to take care of that. $39.95 for a 1 oz. tube

As much as I love the classic Moleskine hardbound black journals, the newer, cheaper, cahier [kaa yáy] version is even more lovable. The raw brown cover begs to be gocco'd, silkscreened, stamped, and stickered, and the last 16 sheets of each book are detachable. They come in sets of three, and are much more affordable than the hard cover versions. $9.50 on Amazon

The I-Sight is a mini LED flashlight that fits comfortably on your ear. It throws a fairly powerful beam, given that it's so small. I have been using it to read books at night. I usually read books on my Palm handheld when I wake up with insomnia and can't get back to sleep (which seems to happen almost every night for the last decade) but I'm having so much fun re-reading all the Philip Jose Farmer books I read as a teenager, that I'm willing to put up with real books and a flashlight to read them. I've tried book mounted night-lights, but this is better. $12.95 on Amazon

After buying a chainsaw last week, my yard is now filled with huge piles of branches and cut stalks of bamboo. I knew I could pick up the phone and hire a crew with a gigantic gas-powered wood chipper to come out and make short work of the piles, but for some idiotic reason, I decided I wanted to do it myself, even though the temperature here in the San Fernando Valley has been over 100 degrees for the last several days.

I went on Amazon and looked for chippers. They're pretty expensive, as I expected they would be, but I found one model for under $200: the Cummins Industrial Tools Chipper Shredder. It was $149.99, and the shipping was about $45. For that price I was willing to take a chance.

When it arrived, I was disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that I had to bolt the legs on it. It wasn't that hard to do, especially after I realized that the printed instructions were crappy and wrong and that I could simply look at the hardware and figure out what to do with it.

Within 20 minutes I was shoving branches into the wood chipper's whining gullet. I'd been nervous about how well it would be able to deal with the bamboo, because the stuff is as hard as iron, but the chipper happily sliced the bamboo into discs that were so wafer thin they would make a Benihana chef envious.

The maximum rated branch size of the machine is 1.25 inches, and that dimension is enforced by the blue plastic funnel on top of the shredder, which has a hole that limits the diameter of the stuff you can shove into it. Being both naturally curious and recklessly stupid, I removed the tamper-proof screws securing the funnel to the chipper and tried sticking larger branches into it. It accepted them greedily, as the blades are designed in such a way to pull branches into the machine. It was dangerous business -- I imagined my hands getting caught in some branch twigs and then watching in horror as the machine devoured my arms in a scene reminiscent of Fargo. I put the funnel back on and intend to leave it there. All in all, I'm pleased with my purchase. There are a few branches that are too big for the chipper. These will taste the oiled blade of my new chain saw. Sme of the drier, larger branches can jam the machine, which irks me to no end. But I refuse to call out the professionals, no matter how long it takes. $149.99 on Amazon

This thumb sized gadget contains a piezoelectric crystal, which emits a high voltage (low amperage) spark. You hold it against a mosquito bite and click several times. The theory is that the electricity breaks up or inhibits the histamines that cause the itching and swelling.

I've been doing a lot of yardwork and the bugs are biting like crazy, so my hide has plenty of itchy bumps on which to try this thing out. And it really works. I zap my bites when they itch about 20 times, and the itching goes away completely for several hours. This is my new magic talisman. 8.95 at International Health Care Products

Bare Bones software founder Rich Siegel (creator of the indispensable BB Edit), calculates that my Aeropress coffee habit costs me at least $1700 a year in time I could be spending earning money.

But it's so much fun making coffee with the Aeropress, that it's worth it, if you ask me. If you can't have a little fun once in a while, why live? Link

I needed to cut some lumber for some bookshelves I was putting up in my office. I was planning on using a tree saw, but when I was at Home Depot buying the lumber, I saw Skil 5500 Circular Saw on sale for $30. I've never owned a circular saw, and this seemed like a good chance to find out about them.

It cut the pine lumber like butter, was very comfortable, and the "Accu-Sight" feature (a piece of clear plastic with a line printed on it) helped me make straight cuts. It also makes angle cuts, but I haven't tried that yet. The big plastic storage case is a nice way to keep the sharp blade away from my kids' curious fingers. $62.45 on Amazon

As the saying goes, when your only tool is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. A corallary: when your new tool is a chainsaw, your property is about to lose 50% of its biomass.

The Remington Pole Saw Wizard is a small but mighty electric chain saw that can be attached to a telescoping pole to give you an 8-foot reach. Off the pole, it chewed through the iron-hide bamboo growing rampant along the perimeter of our house. On the pole, it made short work of the ugly twigs fractaling off the branches my olive trees. (I hate those olive trees. I tried to cure some olives a while back, but the olives were loaded with worms. Maybe I'll chop them down.) $100 at Ace Hardware

The Skype Internet Phone Wizard from Actiontec lets you make long distance phone calls using Skype on your ordinary phone. The unit itself is tiny -- smaller than a little Moleskine notebook, and you plug it into a Windows computer with the included USB cable. The USB connection powers the device, so there's no need for a power adapter. (You don't know how happy that makes me. Power adapters are depressing to look at.)

You have to install some software on your PC, which works with Skype to let you make calls. Then you plug your phone and phone line into the device. To make a regular phone call, just dial the number. To make a Skype call, Press ## first and then the speed dial number of your Skype buddy.

If you sign up for SkypeOut, you can make Skype calls to regular phone numbers. Right now, Skype has a deal that lets you make free calls to regular phones lines anywhere in the US or Canada until the end of the year. (The regular price is 1.7 cents a minute).

I love this little box. $48.95 on Amazon

From the makers of the Aerobie line of flying toys, comes the Aerobie Aeropress, a brilliantly simple device for making the smoothest cup of coffee I've ever had.

It's a lot of fun to make coffee with the Aeropress -- you pour a little water in the piston and put it in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Then you put a microfilter in the cylinder (you get a "years supply" with the Aeropress) and a scoop of ground coffe. The you put the cylinder on top of a cup (the company recommends using a clear mug to make the process even more fun), pour the heated (not boiling -- it'll make the coffee bitter and sour, they say) water, stir for 10 seconds, and press the piston down. A few seconds later, you have a wonderful cup of silky smooth coffee. I'm taking this with me when I travel. It costs about $30. Link

Update: I shot of video of how easy it is to use the Aeropress. Link

About five years ago, I payed $800 for a portable DVD player so my kids could watch cartoons when we took long trips. After many drops on the floor, the player is in bad shape and barely works. Today I use my PowerBook (and Video iPod) to watch videos, but I am reluctant to let my astonishingly destructive three-year-old daughter use either, especially unsupervised. So I looked around online and found this 3.5 inch kid-friendly portable DVD from Coby for about $100. It's a big hit. She loves to grip its sides and kick back with a Dora the Explorer DVD.

It comes with a nice case, kid sized headphones, an AC adapter to recharge the batteries, and a cigarette lighter adapter. $107.31 on Amazon

Startech's MP3 AirLink Wireless Audio Transmitter and Receiver uses the same frequency spectrum as a Wi-Fi network to transit your music from an iPod or computer to a stereo. The system comes with two palm-sized rectangular cubes — a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter has a button to let you scroll through eight channels, helping you get a clear signal.

Startech advertises the range to be 100ft in the clear, and 30ft through walls, and that seems about right to me. When I connected the transmitter to my desktop computer in one room and the stereo in another, I experienced some dropouts, until I moved the transmitter and receiver around.

The AirLink has become my preferred way to play songs from my computer to my home stereo, because I can control the songs from iTunes.

Advantages: You can control the songs from your iPod or computer; sound quality is good.

Disadvantages: Each device is powered with an AC adapter, but if you don’t need portability, this isn’t a problem; getting good reception can be tricky, range is limited to 30ft through walls. $64.38 on Amazon

This is the only Wi-Fi detector I know of that can tell you whether or not an in-range Wi-Fi access point is open or closed.

That means when I'm in a hotel lobby, airport, or other public place, I can keep my notebook computer in its case and use this little gadget to find out if there's any usable Wi-Fi wafting through the area.

It's also the only device that tells you how many wireless access points are in range and the names and signal strengths of each. It requires no set-up and has just one button. Truly, a useful tool. $54.99 at Amazon

I've been looking for a cutlery set for a while, and when I checked the wonderful Amazon.com "Outlet" department (where everything is discounted at least 70%) I found this Cuisinart 6-Piece Cutlery Set for $39.99 (with free shipping), a 79% savings over the retail price of $195.00. Seems like a great deal to me. Link

For $70, this is a nice solution for playing your iPod through your home stereo system. You plug the cables coming out of the dock into the aux jack of your stereo. (You also have to plug a wall wart into the dock in order to keep the iPod charged.) I appreciated the ease of use -- I didn't even need to use the manual.

The remote allows you to jump from one playlist to another, and skip forward or back by track, but there's no volume control. Also, the remote uses infrared not RF, so you need a line of sight to the dock to skip songs, which is not idea for my set up (I hide the stereo system and HiFi-Link in a cabinet, so I need to keep the cabinet doors open if I want to be able to change a song.)

The HiFi-Link also hooks up to a TV, so you can view photos and videos (if you have an iPod Video) with it. I haven't tried that yet. $70.99 on Amazon.com

I'm angry that I didn't buy this 20-inch Apple monitor for my 12-inch PowerBook sooner. All those wasted days of dragging and clicking windows on a cramped screen!

I really like the fact that I no longer dread doing things that require copy and pasting information from one window to another. My productivity has truly gone up since I got this. It's a bargain. $749 on Amazon

It's commonly known that the displays on iPod Videos and iPod Nanos scratch if you look at them cross-eyed. I tried taking good care of my iPod video, but the screen got scratches all over it in a matter of days. Whatever they are using for the display, it is one of the softest materials known to man.

Being good at closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out, I bought a Macally IP-P802. It's a bad name for a nice product: a sheet of clear plastic that wraps around the iPod, protecting the display. The neat thing about it is that the plastic (or the undetectable adhesive on the plastic) covered up the scratches so that I barely notice them. I don't know how long this stuff will hold up to scratches, but at least they're cheap. Until Apple starts playing nice, you need to protect your iPod's display. $7.98 on Amazon

After reading this piece by Getting Started in Electronics author Forest M. Mims III on how dry air on airplanes is a big reason why people catch colds, I bought humidfiers for the house. I got my two daughters these adorable animals humidifiers. My girls love the way the fog comes out of the elephant's trunk.

The air in our house gets really dry in the winter and the girls have been coughing off and on for months. They've stopped coughing since I've put these in their rooms. Coincidence? I think not. $29.99 on Amazon