The Grey NATO – 264 – The 2023 TGN Holiday Gift Guide
Published on Thu, 07 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0500
Synopsis
This podcast episode covers the 2023 TGN Holiday Gift Guide, where Jason Heaton and James Stacey each present five gift ideas spanning various price points and categories. They discuss their top gift picks, including practical items like a safety razor, headphones, charging stations, as well as more unique gifts like a coffee table book, a Lego set, and even the experience of getting scuba diving certification. The hosts aim to provide a diverse range of gift suggestions based on their personal experiences and recommendations.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 264, and it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and would like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is James Stacy, and I'm of course joined as ever by my friend and co host Jason Heaton. Jason, how are we doing? I'm doing really well. How'd you like that intro? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It seems strange to even mention our names, but Hey, probably have some new listeners out there every now and then. So good to, good to reacquaint. |
| James Stacey | Absolutely. Yeah. And, and to, to those of you who are new, especially if you're new for 2023, this is one of our longest running series. I believe this is the sixth year of the TGN holiday gift guide. And it's always a fun episode for me because it feels like a bit of a free for all. We always have a good time. I'm always like you and I have very like, we both like doing gifts for people, that sort of thing. We have an appreciation for gifts and what could work, and part of this is motivated by what you might wanna get or something we really enjoyed, and other things are just things you think would be a really good gift for almost anyone. Yeah, right. So we tried to do that. We'll get into the whole format for it and the rest of it, but look, we're fresh back from a weekend where you did your book launch for Sweetwater. |
| Jason Heaton | How did it go? Yeah, it was, uh, it was, it was mind blowing. It was, it was, it was just terrific. We had, uh, a much better turnout than I could have ever expected. I was kind of woke up the night before in a bit of a sweat thinking like, Oh my gosh, what if nobody comes to this? Or what if there's like five people there? And my gosh, there was no, no reason for concern. I didn't count, but, uh, I remember, so the brewery where we, we had the event at lake monster, uh, they had told me that the space that they allocate for private events holds 50 to 75 people, depending on kind of comfort level and seating and that sort of thing, like 75 at the top end. And it was, it was kind of wall to wall, like people standing. Like, so we probably got, I don't know, 60, 60 plus people. Oh man, that's awesome. Really diverse, interesting group of people. You know, Ghoshani invited friends. We had local friends from kind of our Sri Lankan community and her pickleball playing partners and friends. And of course a huge contingent TGN and uh, old high school buddy showed up and a, and a old boss of mine who saw my, uh, kind of my promo post a while back. I haven't seen him in 10 or 15 years. I mean, it's like, that's awesome. Yeah. It was like my head was spinning, you know? And then we had, you know, folks coming in from out of town. I mean, there were people from Indiana and driving up from Iowa and Tom place flew out from New York or New Jersey rather. And, uh, Matt and Patrick flew up from Texas. So, you know, just amazing. Yeah. I really, really felt the love and, and the support and it was, uh, It was a great time and sold a bunch of books, signed a bunch of books. Um, some people brought me some stuff. A guy brought me like a Lufthansa branded old coffee mug and someone else brought, uh, cool. Yeah. Someone else brought me, Anthony brought me a, a framed poster of all the bond, uh, movie posters. And it was just like, you know, just, just a fun kind of celebration, which is exactly what I wanted. I never saw it as, as kind of a sales event. It was more just like, Hey, let's, let's celebrate the kind of this, uh, the end of the long road to get to a printed book. So yeah, really good. And I just throw out a thanks to everybody that came and, and uh, you know, I've gotten some messages beyond that saying, Hey, come to, come to Seattle and do one and don't forget about Toronto and come to the UK. And you know, so if I don't have to ship hundreds of pounds of books, it could be a, you know, we can work around that. Maybe just skip the whole book part of it and just, just drink beer and celebrate, I guess we could do that too. |
| James Stacey | I like that too. I'm so glad that so many people went and that it turned out well. I was a little gutted that I couldn't make it down. That had always kind of been like my plan was when... Because I figured you'd do another one of these like you did for Death Charge, and I was hoping that the timing would work out, that I could fly in and show up. But I couldn't make this one, but we'll either make it up in Toronto, maybe when the weather's a little warmer, and the beer will still be cold, certainly, up here, so we can figure that out. But I'm super glad that you had a good time. And I wrote you when I finished it, because I finished the book. I finally had to Had to sadly get through the last 20% and just loved it. Congratulations. Good. I really, really enjoyed it. We'll definitely go back and do depth charge and, and Sweetwater again, probably, you know, sitting by the fire at the cottage this coming summer or something like that, but looking forward to whatever comes next, but it's a great one. And if you're on the fence or you need a great gift, or obviously we're talking gifts today. This is a good one. I don't know that Jason would probably have picked his own book as a gift. I did not. It's a pretty good deal, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we got some new watches to talk about as well. You want to jump into wrist check? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, let's do it. I mean, you've got kind of... Well, we both have kind of exciting watches that were released within the past four days, five days, both of them. Why don't you go first? |
| James Stacey | Just a couple hours ago for mine, technically. Yeah. Houdinki released another limited edition with longines that you'll remember they did like a sector dial, that really gorgeous sector dial model a couple of years ago. And when we did that one, I was fortunate enough to help in the production of these assets. So we had Julie Crowless, insanely talented watch artist. Julie was one of the three kind of personalities that were used to frame the sort of design elements and that sort of thing for the watch. And so I was able to shoot that and I thought it came out really well. And then this time around, I made the short list of possible personalities to help with the campaign. The past one had Ben, so there's like a Hodinkee element to the kind of campaign for these. So I actually ended up in it. My wife shot the majority of the photos. It was incredibly cold. That's why it looks like I'm wincing in most of the photos. I'm just doing my best to not be freezing. But if you've ever been to the Scarborough Bluffs in early December, we shot that just a few days ago. We were trying to wait for a window of good weather, and we just gave up and went and shot it. The watch, I think, looks incredible. So it's the Longines Spirit Time Zulu LE for Hodinkee. So it's based on the 39 millimeter spirit GMT. Um, but here it's in titanium case and bracelet and grade five. It has sort of a simplified dial design. That's like a matte dark black, um, with, uh, just a few small elements. It still has that, that sort of engraved looking ring around the outer track, um, applied markers, but now they're, you know, full Arabic's being, uh, uh, uh, spirit time and, uh, has a, like a yellow GMT hand in a, uh, steel bezel insert or titanium bezel insert that has 24 hour markers, and it's a rotating bezel. I think it looks great. I mean, it's basically the exact same color way as the Black Bay Pro in many ways. Aside from that, obviously, it's titanium 39. It's a little... It doesn't sit as thick as a Black Bay Pro, but it's very similar lug to lug. But yeah, so I got to be involved in it, shot some of the photos, was featured in the story alongside a couple other folks. And I think it came out really nicely. I like the watch quite a bit. I'm happy and proud of another great LE from Hodinkee. And they're making 500 and they went on sale a couple hours ago. So by the time this comes out, I have no clue if there'll be any left. Maybe, maybe not. Yeah. Sometimes these LEs sell out in minutes and sometimes they kind of have a run for a few days. Yeah. Or in the case of the Mido, you can still snap up the Mido if you want a GMT that's I mean, significantly less than the Longines. Sure. Yeah. I kind of like both in a very similar way. Yeah. But if you like the idea of the titanium with the bracelet, I think that's the big selling point. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. This one, you know, they couldn't be more different, right? I mean, the Mido has this, this like wow factor, this color and shapes and, and, you know, just sort of, it really stands out. And this one has, has a very you know, and I'm looking at the photos in the, in the post, besides the closeups, like on people's wrists, it has this almost vintage look because of the compact size. And then with that, the steel bezel, it kind of reminds me of some of those old, like Orus used to make like the kind of the smaller dive watches back in the, I suppose it would have been the nineties or something. And totally, but it makes me wonder, you know, Longines doesn't do a ton with titanium or am I wrong? I can't, I can't even think of another titanium Longines. |
| James Stacey | I don't think it's like, um, like a core thing for them. I think it's a bit of a, uh, and like an ancillary, but they definitely have done some titanium in the past. Yeah, yeah. It makes a lot of sense for a modern sports watch. But let's be clear, we're both kind of suckers when it comes to titanium, whether it's a scurfa, whether it's a Pelagos, like we're on board. And I have an implicit bias, literally in the campaign for the watch, and it's made by the company who keeps my lights on and that sort of thing. So take a look if you like. I really dig it quite a bit. It was an easy one to be to say, yes, I'd happily be part of, you know, make trying to make this a successful sort of campaign. Yeah, because I like the watch in the first place, and I enjoy the steel one quite a bit. But, you know, we had a lot of comments as that line first launched in the larger size and that sort of thing, which were this would be awesome if it was smaller, or this would be awesome if it was titanium. And then, of course, they made the smaller one, and now we have the titanium one. And yeah, I think it's handsome thing. It makes sense. It's you know, I've just really come to appreciate a nicely sized watch in titanium. Like my Pelagos 39, I would think wears in some way similar. It has a more of a delicate sort of dial. The Pelagos is so severe, stark, if you will. So it's an entirely different vibe, a little bit more, like you said, a little bit more of like a throwback feel to it. But I think it came out nicely. I like having the rotating bezel versus the fixed on my Explorer 2, or like we mentioned the BB Pro. Yeah. But yeah, another great GMT, can't really complain. And you know, there's only 500. So yeah, yeah, that's what I've got on. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It's a cool piece. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm a sucker for an oversized crown. You don't get that a ton. And I think it just looks just right on this. And then also the fact that that the bracelet tapers, I'm seeing that it tapers down to 16 at the clasp from 21, which is know that's something people are always asking about and then to see it on like a watch with like a really modern material with this very kind of retro vibe and size and a tapered bracelet I mean there's just nothing like it you know we're seeing so many like thick wide bracelets all the way around and this just really adds to the the appeal of this one. |
| James Stacey | Yeah and you get a quick release so while it is a 21 millimeter lug which at this point I'm used to because that means all of my Pelagos straps would also work on this watch. |
| Filler | Oh yeah |
| James Stacey | Um, but it is quick release, so you're not going to sit there and take big dense out of the titanium. It's just that that same system they have on on the other models where it's like a push button. It's not even like a little tab. It's like a nice button. Yeah, so I think that's kind of a thoughtful thing. I didn't have any trouble sizing it. It's got half links. It's very comfortable. I think it's what we measure 91.5 grams with most of the links in it, so it could even be a little bit lighter. Probably was a little bit lighter on my wrist than that. And I think sized, the steel one sized out for me was 140. So it's not a small difference. Um, especially if you're not really a bracelet guy like myself, like a titanium is the kind of thing that sells me on most bracelets on the, on the heels of that, or just before that we had a new release from Aqua star. You want to talk about what you've got? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I've got the, uh, the benthos H one, uh, which came out last Friday. I've known about this watch, you and I have known about this watch for a very long time. And in fact, a couple of years ago, Aquastar had kind of was ready to, to launch something that looked like this very much, but it had a different name on the dial that they had to pull at the very last minute. And so, you know, here we are a couple of years later and, and, you know, it was worth the wait. And this thing is, uh, I saw you've taken a couple of wrist shots. It's, it's just a, It's just a beautiful watch. And, and, you know, we, we shouldn't expect less, uh, from a brand that, that is run by Rick Mirai, uh, our good friend and, and, you know, being the owner of, of a vintage benthos and wearing them side by side. So I wore the old one on my wrist to the book launch on, uh, Sunday. And then Ghoshani was wearing an H one on her wrist and people couldn't tell the difference. I mean, until they got really up close or saw the pusher, on the vintage one, which has the kind of the creeper minute creeper, uh, central chronograph hand, you know, they, they look so much alike from a distance, but then like, I think the H one also kind of stands on its own. I think it's definitely a dead ringer for the old one, but it's just, it has such a crisp feel to it. And you know, the, the bezel and the kind of that castellated, you know, the, the grip on the side of the bezels, like it's, it's such a satisfying bezel. It kind of reminds me in many ways of the, of like the marathon bezels kind of tall and easy to grip. really satisfying clicks. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would agree. Yeah. It's, it's just a great piece. I mean, it's a big chunky watch. And in, in, in talking to some people about it on Sunday, I think kind of the consensus was, yeah, it's a big watch, but in that early seventies kind of dive watch way, you know, whether you're talking Doxa or Aquastar or some other brands like, or some of the old Omega Seamasters from that era, Ploprov, et cetera, like you kind of want it to be that way. It kind of, it leans into it. And yet it's very comfortable. It's that kind of C shaped case, very tiny, short, little kind of strap horns or lugs, if you even want to call them that, a nice curve to the case. So it wears really well. And you know, it kind of on the spec sheet, it kind of ticks a lot of boxes. You've got, you've got a kind of a now rare at a 2824 inside a Sapphire bezel inlay, which is nice, but fairly common these days and whatever. But then the case is made of 904L steel, which, you know, a lot of people overlook, but that's, That's the steel that Rolex has been touting in their use for, for many years as kind of a more corrosion resistant version of stainless steel. And somehow Aqua star managed to, to, to use that for this. And yeah, it's just a really satisfying watch to wear. And I keep going back and forth wearing the vintage one, which I believe comes from right around 1970 and this new one. Um, of course the new one is more, it's modern and therefore, you know, I don't mind, uh, bashing it about or getting wet or whatever else. But, uh, yeah, it's a, it's a fun piece. And we actually gave one away. Uh, Rick was kind enough to send a new one, um, that we raffled off at the book launch and, and people were, people really wanted it. You know, we got, we got a lot of tickets in the, in the bucket and, uh, our, our buddy Tom Boucher picked the winning ticket. and announced it and it went to a woman whose name I can't remember but but she was with her husband and and she quickly said you know John's gonna love this watch you know so uh happy it went to a good home he was there um he seemed thrilled um so yeah that was a fun kind of aspect to it and you know people are wondering what you know what's the random sort of connection between the watch and and the book launch it was the the in in my first book depth charge tusker the the protagonist wears his father's old bentos and it kind of plays a key role in the book and it pops up very briefly in in the second book in sweetwater and so you know just just thought it would be kind of a fun tie-in i asked rick if he'd be willing to do that and he was very graciously and then furthermore the first 250 people that actually pre-order the bentos h1 from aquastar will actually get a signed copy of depth charge with the watch which um which is a really fun tie-in and you know i gotta hand it to rick i mean you know the watch industry can be kind of a sterile, distant sort of ivory tower sort of scenario in many ways, a lot, a lot of times with the big brands, but that's why it's kind of fun to, to figure out creative kind of co-marketing approaches like, like we've got with Aquastar and, and a book. I mean, who else, you know, I mean, I suppose, you know, Doxa did something with, with Kessler not too long ago. And I think, you know, it was, it was really fun to, to work with Aquastar on, on kind of providing a signed book with, with the watch, which which hopefully people will get a kick out of. So yeah, it's a, it's a great piece and congratulations to Aquastar. They are calling it the H1, which stands for heritage chapter one. So if they're kind of taking a leaf from, from what Blancpain has done this year with their different chapters of kind of throwback watches or celebratory watches you know, we can probably predict what might be ahead for, for Aquastar with the benthos, but On its own, this is just, it's a great piece. And the pre-order price currently is $1,090, which will then go up to $1,390. So either way, I think it's a lot of bang for the buck. |
| James Stacey | Really, really great piece. Yeah. Great looking watch. Nice to see Aquastar move. You know, they've done such a good job with the chronographs and the expressions they're in. It's nice to see them do another thing from the back catalog that has a lot of fan base behind it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, are you in the gift giving mood? How are you feeling? |
| Jason Heaton | This was tough. I won't deny that. You know, we talked about like, okay, it's time for gift guide. People always ask us like, when's the gift guide coming? I'm counting on you guys for my gift ideas. And so here we are, it's our first show of December and we each had to pick five gifts, which is getting tougher every year, don't you think? |
| James Stacey | I think it is in some ways that you just want... I had to go back and look at all the ones from the previous several. So this is the sixth annual TGN Holiday Gift Guide. And the format is basically, if you're brand new, the format is we do each... Do four picks that are less than 150 bucks, and one that, quote unquote, breaks the bank. So no budget, that sort of thing. And the goal is usually to have these picks be informed by either our taste or our direct experience. I think we get a mix of those sorts of things in there. And in the past, and you can go to the show notes, I will link all of the five preceding years. You can go back and check. So there's actually a fairly long list. You'll get 10 picks today in this episode, but there's 50 picks behind as well. Actually, I think the first year we kind of did like well more than four or five picks each. |
| Jason Heaton | Young and naive. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. There's just a lot in there and that's fine. I think this format works pretty well. 2022 is episode 219 if you need it, but you can hit the show notes to find the link to all of these. And, you know, the goal is to pick something we've enjoyed this year that is not a watch. The show is basically a watch buying guide all year round. I don't think we we've ever done a watch in the holiday gift guide. And the other thing to make really clear is this is not sponsored in any way at all. And none of the brands or products that are going to be mentioned have been notified in advance. Right. We don't kind of give people the hat tip. So, I mean, if that's the explanation out of the way, Jason, how about you kick it off with your first of the 2023 TGN Holiday Gift Guide picks? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, definitely. So my first pick is, it's a product I do have direct experience with and something I acquired earlier in the year. It's a very utilitarian gift, but I think there's a certain, a little feel of nostalgic, I don't want to say luxury. It's a bit of a throwback product, but one that I've really enjoyed this year. And it's the Rockwell T2 Safety Razor. So, um, it may seem like a strange pick, but you know, for, for, for many years, for as long as I can remember, uh, for shaving, I always just used like those, you know, throwaway cheap plastic, what Gillette or whatever the other brands are, um, razors. And, and it's not a very satisfying experience. And they, you know, they, they get rough after a while, like you do, the blades are expensive and you know, you lose them or break them or whatever else. And, um, I was shopping actually at a Duluth trading company store, if you're familiar with that brand. Um, and they were, they were selling these Rockwell safety razors. So like they have a whole bunch of choices, but like, just, I think just kind of the simplest ones are really, you know, really nice. And I've just got one that I just kind of keep in the shower. I've got a fog free mirror in the shower. I'm just kind of pick it up and shave. And it has these replaceable kind of flat two-sided blades. Um, you know, it's, it's the kind of, it's like a, you know, we've talked about kind of a grandpa style pocket knife. I think this is kind of a grandpa style. uh, razor. And I think, you know, for our, our female listeners, you know, certainly would work just as well if, you know, like I said, they have so many different options. I kind of try to choose the most basic one or one of the most basic ones. It's the T2. The price is $135. It looks like it's on sale currently. I'm not sure how long that'll last. Maybe it's a holiday thing. Um, but it comes with, you know, the, the, the, the safety razor in your choice of finish. They have a few different colors to choose from. It's got like a leather sheath in case you want to take it traveling. And then they give you a five pack of these double edge razor blades. And there's a bit of a, there's a bit of a ceremony to it, to, to, to using it. You know, I actually enjoy replacing the blades instead of the plastic ones that kind of click out and you throw them away like this. You have to kind of disassemble the razor, fit the new blade in, tighten it down. And it has a nice weight to it in your hand, like anything like a well-made pen or a pocket knife. And I think, you know, for people that are kind of into the stuff that we are mechanical watches and a little bit of nostalgia. I think it makes kind of a nice practical gift and one that, you know, arguably is more environmentally friendly. You know, this is one that you could conceivably have for many, many, many years. So yeah, it's something I've enjoyed. And I think, you know, despite the fact that it's like a bathroom implement, you know, like a grooming tool. Yeah. I think it's gift worthy. I think it's kind of a neat, neat thing to give as a gift. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I think I totally agree. When, back when I used to shave, which at this point I did, I thought about this recently, would have been, I probably haven't done a clean shave since 2010. Oh my goodness. You know, sometimes I'll take the beard down to a very low setting, get really upset with how it looks in the mirror, and then it takes some time for me to forget how I felt about my face when it doesn't have the beard. But when I did shave back in the day, when I had a job where that was sort of expected, |
| Filler | Mm hmm. |
| James Stacey | I used a safety razor. I never really liked the Gillette, you know, Mac, yeah, seven things with all the blades. And if you cut yourself, it's going to be quite a cut. They just seem to cause too much irritation. And once I remember, you know, I was just like obsessed with like, kind of, yeah, like men's gadgets to certainly like watches were part of that, but also like a little safety razor that has a stand and the right brush to put the foam on, like to put on the shaving cream and all this kind of stuff. I think there is a nice little ritual to it. And if you shave, then it's something that you're probably super specific about. But this is like in every metric, this is a more luxurious sort of take on the department store razor. And there's no question, the quality of the shave is as high or higher than any 10, 20, 30, $40 disposable razor I've come across. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And you mentioned kind of the badger hair brush and the, you know, the little stand you can put it in and Rockwell certainly sells all of that as packages or add ons or whatever, but that kind of started to creep up past our $150 level. And this, this being 135 seemed to kind of be a good fit and you can add on as you want, but yeah. All right, cool. |
| James Stacey | That's number one. How about you? That's Jason's number one. Yeah. My number one, uh, this is actually the second time that I've picked at one from this brand. I recommended one of their, products last year, it's from Alpaca, they're like a gear case wallet sort of brand that I've really come to enjoy. They're my go to gift now, like the last time I saw our buddy Cole, I brought him, he's a tutor now, so I brought him like a red and black tech case as a little gift. They make a great gift, pretty much I think anybody can use them and because you can get them in now, like a lot of different colors. Don't get me wrong, they have a distinctly sort of masculine appeal like EDC sort of stuff, but I think that there's opportunities for anybody who does, especially people who travel. And so the specific one for me is called the Zip Clutch, and it's sort of larger than a wallet to the extent that I can... My favorite thing about it is you can put my passport in it. Oh, yeah. So it has a slide. It's basically like a large zippered sort of wallet that has a space for some other things. I can tuck a pocket knife into it, I can tuck a passport. Obviously, you can't take the knife traveling, But it's just kind of like a handy, I keep an air tag in there. I keep my, you know, various things. If I'm traveling on business, that's where my receipts go. It's a little bit bigger of a wallet, but I think like as a, you know, an adult, occasionally I need a little bit more than four or five cards. And once I get into knowing I have to have my passport, I'd rather it all kind of be together. And I don't actually mind the size because if it's in a pocket in my jacket, if it's in my back pocket, in my jeans, I can tell it's there. So you're not constantly doing the thigh touch to make sure the passport's there. And I recently transitioned to never not having my passport on me. I don't leave it in hotel rooms. It's just the likelihood that something happens in your hotel room is more likely than something happening to your person. And so this is maybe a little bit bigger than the footprint of my cell phone. So I you can hold it in your hand with your phone. I often wear a jacket with big pockets So that's not an issue or I have a bag. It's great in a bag, but these are $42 They come in a handful different colors. They're really nicely made and I think I just I like a bunch of their stuff I have a smaller one. That's like just for cards. It's like technically a normal wallet Yeah, and I prefer this one because it's a little bit bigger to get my hands into yeah The smaller one is just small enough that I have too much hand meat to like get one card out I kind of have to shake out all the cards pick the one I want you look like a weirdo doing that. It comes with a clip with a loop for a handle, I guess that's the clutch part. I don't need that, I took that off. But you could easily put a carabiner on that and then clip it to a bag if you wanted, or I've clipped it inside the MOLLE on my GR1, which is quite nice. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's nice stuff, I like it quite a bit. And whenever they have a sale, I always try and think, who do I owe a little gift to? Yeah, yeah. And I can pick that up. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that's a good kind of Stocking stuff or kind of small gift like you take when you're traveling and you're like going to meet people like you can hand that off and it's easy to pack. Oh, it's perfect for that. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Oh, that's great. Good one. All right. That was my one. Let's hear your second. |
| Jason Heaton | All right. Uh, my next one is from a brand we both love. You already mentioned that you have one of their bags. Um, it's from go ruck and it is their kit bag 2.0 32 liter. Um, this is, uh, This is a really cool bag and I've been eyeing it for a long time and I recently bought one. Um, you know, you and I always joke about how many bags, how many bags we have, you know, we're kind of bag whores, so to speak. |
| James Stacey | I don't want to answer that question. |
| Jason Heaton | Let's move on. Um, this one is exactly $150. So it just hits the upper end of, of our four cat, you know, category for the first four picks. So if you're not familiar with a kit bag, uh, it's based on like a flyers or an aviators, uh, kind of kit bag. And I actually have had one for a long time that I got as, you know, I think one of our recent Q and A's, someone asked about some of our best swag that we've gotten on watch trips. And one of my best was, was a aviator kit bag that I got from IWC. It was either on a trip or at, you know, SIHH or something many years ago. And I loved that bag. I still love that bag, but it's starting to get a little worn. It's over, Well over 10 years old, I think now, and the bits are starting to kind of fall off and fray and that sort of thing. But I always love the format of these. It's a very rectangular bag in all dimensions. So if you stand it on its side or look at it from the top, it has two big grab handles that kind of meet in the middle, fold over the top. And then it has a big shoulder strap that clips on. Nice padding on the shoulder strap. But the beauty of this thing is, is how wide it opens at the top. Like you can fit just a ton of stuff in it. And I think it would make kind of a perfect, uh, carry on bag. I really kind of want to get to the point where, you know, you, you and I have talked about the ideal bag to take on a plane. We've talked about totes. We've talked about backpacks. You've got your, your 10 buzz that you use for camera gear. And I was kind of, you know, I've, I've used the Topo designs, kind of the mountain briefcase and that sort of format. This is sort of takes it to the next level in terms of usable size without adding a lot of extra weight. It has a big zipper pocket on the outside where you could stick a laptop or an iPad or whatever. Then there's kind of two pouch pockets on either end that can hold energy bars or water bottle. And then inside it has some smaller zip mesh organization pockets. But then the, the main compartment is just this kind of big, big rectangle. And it comes in, you know, like a, A nice Cordura fabric with, you know, kind of a Velcro patch. You can take off the GORUCK patch that comes with it and stick on any sort of a Velcro patch you want. I opted for, they've got a few different colors. I've opted for the Ranger green with coyote, but there's a kind of a straight up black one. There's a armor gray, they call it, and there's what I consider a fairly ugly black and reflective spearhead design, which I would not choose. But yeah, so far I'm in love with it. I used it to haul a bunch of stuff to the book launch event on Sunday. And I think it's going to be kind of my go-to carry on bag and kind of weekender bag. And I mean, this is killer. It's, it's a great, it's a great bag and they actually make one. Uh, I think they call it kind of their heritage edition. That's made of like a waxed canvas, which was tempting, but it adds a few more bucks to the, to the price. And, and frankly, I think this is more usable and probably much lighter weight than that would be. |
| James Stacey | I have the GR1 in the Heritage finish, which is the Sand Heritage. I like the leather accents, but I kind of just wish I had just gone with the green or tan. But this Ranger Green with the Coyote looks real good. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's awesome. I looked at this thing and then I started getting social media ads for it left and right, which is impossible to escape. And then I just couldn't resist any further. Pulled the trigger. I've, I've never been unhappy with a go-ruck purchase. I've got a cap from them. I've, I've had the GR one for a long time and, um, uh, you know, they make really great stuff and, and this is a format that I like. I kind of like the, you know, that the whole kind of pilot aesthetic is kind of a fun tie in, um, throw it on with some aviator glasses and then, uh, and a big pilot or something you could, you could kind of look the part for Halloween, but, uh, yeah, fun. Good, good pick. I think, um, you know, for, for people in your life that are traveling, Or just need a good kind of weekend carry bag. I think this kind of ticks a lot of boxes. |
| James Stacey | Totally. Yeah. And like when, when I saw you in Chicago for windup, you had like a helmet bag. Yes. Right. Yeah. Uh, which, which I really quite took to that as well. And I feel like this is just that next level above it with a little bit more rigid, a little bit more plain. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, like you said, the great product. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Number two for me, let me think, uh, let's go with a little bit more. Let's go with some tech. So one thing that I would buy for... Definitely buy for myself, and I did, and I absolutely love it, is the Anker 747 charger. I technically have a 737. The 47 didn't exist or wasn't out yet when I got it, but I would go with the 747. I'm like a very, very needy, picky sort of person when it comes to chargers. Yeah. I don't like carrying more than one when I travel. And as long as I can get a charger with multiple ports that has a lot of power that's smaller than my MacBook charger, I'm happy. Yeah. Because the MacBook one is great. It's really, really nice, but it has one output. Right. The 747 is 150 watts of total, but it's four outputs, three in USB-C and one USB-A. Nice. Currently $110 is what I'm seeing. When I made the notes for this yesterday, it was 90. So just wait for a holiday sale. Yeah. I have, like I said, the one step down from this, which only has, it's I think 120 watt output and has two USBCs, one full power, one that's more like tablet, like 20 watts, and then a USBA that does whatever USBA does. Yeah. And I've used it, I mean every day, it's the charger that I keep next to my bed for my various items. And then when I travel, I just unplug it, throw it in the bag and it's good to go. If you wanna go the pro move, especially if you're buying for someone who travels a lot, the absolute pro move is one of these chargers and a lightweight, short, probably two, maybe even one foot. I carry one that's two to two and a half feet, an extension cable. Yeah. And the reason that's nice is you get on a plane and those dumb plugs are so worn out from use that they can't hold the weight of the charger. Yeah, you end up on the floor. I bought an extension cable for $2 at the dollar store that has a flat plug, so your leg doesn't catch it. It comes out like the wire comes out sideways rather than straight. Yeah. And then all you do is you can just, with your fingers, tighten the two prongs, so there's some resistance, and then cram it in there. I'm sure I'm making the problem worse with that going on, but if it doesn't hold my charger, it's like not having any power. Right. And that's really, for me, the move. The combo of those two pieces has been like an actual travel hack that has helped. Yeah. But I absolutely love these. If you're buying for someone who has sort of that lot of gear, digital sort of lifestyle, I think these are a really killer product and for what they offer beyond whatever came with your laptop, it's so handy to just have one item, a couple of USB-C cables and you're done. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is, this is awesome. And I think, you know, I, I feel we've got a bit of a pattern going here. Like you, you throw this, you throw your alpaca into your Gorak kit bag with your travel razor. Totally. And you're, you're on the road. Um, but, and you're launching travel watch. There you go. But this is, um, this is really cool. I always wait for your picks because I always kind of rely on you for my, my tech advice. And I think this is a, this is something I definitely need, you know, in our kitchen, it seems to be the place that Ghoshani and I charge everything. you know, Garmin watches and her phone, which is an Android, my phone, which is an iPhone and everything else in between. And like, I'm always like unplugging cables to fit, you know, her, she unplugs hers to put mine and et cetera. This could just live there then. Yeah. When it's time to go out the door, just grab it and go. This is a, yeah. |
| James Stacey | And if you don't need 150 Watts, then don't buy the one 50. They, I think there's like eight or nine of these in the series. There's one above this. This is the one that kind of felt like the best value for the $150 budget. Right. but they make smaller ones that have two outputs that do 60 watts. That's a lot of power if you're talking about tablet and phone. For a 16-inch MacBook Pro, I think it's 140 or 145 watts is what it wants. Obviously, you don't have to charge everything at full speed. That's one of the nice things about the whole sort of USB-C on-demand power delivery. It works really nicely. But yeah, I like these and I recommend them all the time when people, when it comes up, when I find out that somebody lost or broke their charge, I go, don't go buy the Apple one. There's nothing wrong with the Apple one. It just doesn't do enough. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Filler | Yeah. Good call. Love it. |
| James Stacey | Oh, it's sorry. And as I've been sitting here and refresh the page, it's 90 bucks again. So Anchor's website is playing a little fast and loose at the moment, but I think 90 bucks, I think it's a lot, a lot of stuff for 90 bucks. So that would be a, that would be my second pick. Yeah. Good one. This is great. What have you, yeah, the surprise is changing on the fly. They heard us talking about it. Uh, what have you got for the third? |
| Jason Heaton | All right. Third pick is, uh, this is a fun one. It's a book, uh, from Toshin, uh, the publishing house. Um, and it's a big, thick, heavy coffee table book called the James Bond archives. And this is the no time to die edition. I have an earlier version of this book and they, release this book. I believe they just do it every time a new Bond film comes out and they kind of update it by adding a chapter to it. And you know, what I love about this book is it's not just like, you know, it's not just like a picture book kind of nerdy thing, but it's like, they'll have interviews with the production designer or the director for each of the films. So it goes in order of all of the Bond films. So presumably this book just continues to get thicker and thicker as, as they release new movies. I mean, this one is, it looks like 648 pages. Um, so it's a big heavy book. This is $80. Um, and you know, not for everybody, but if you know somebody who's a big Bond fan or film buff, uh, I think it's kind of an essential because it has like a lot of cool behind the scenes photos from the production of all these movies, movie posters, uh, as I said, interviews, kind of shots of the director's notes or, uh, sort of a shot list for, for different parts of all the films. And it covers everything from Dr. No up through this one actually obviously includes No Time to Die. I think the one I have is through maybe Spectre. I can't remember when I got that one. But it's a fun book. It's great to have on the shelf. It's great to kind of pull out and thumb through every now and then. It's not the kind of book you sit and like read. It's the kind of book you peruse every now and then or if you have a guest over they find it on your table and get to thumb through it and enjoy that. I had first seen it When we were staying at Goldeneye down in Jamaica, they had it in one of the, probably in the lobby. And I think while we were waiting to check in, I started thumbing through it and I thought, okay, I need this book. So, uh, yeah, it's called the James Bond archives, the no time to die edition, $80 from Tashin. I'm sure you can also buy it elsewhere, but if you buy it right from Tashin, it's $80. |
| James Stacey | 80 bucks for Tashin book isn't bad either. I wasn't sure, like with the Tashin, you're not always coming in under 150 bucks. Yeah, true. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I was surprised at how reasonably affordable it is. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Great pick. That's a fun one. Definitely one I'd like, uh, like to check out at some point. Yeah. Um, all right, let's see, what do I want to do for, for my third? I think we'll stick with the tech. I've got another piece of tech. I will say that on this one, the pricing is all over the map. Currently 50 bucks is a, is what it is, but, um, you know, obviously one of my favorite pieces of tech out there in general is my AirPods pro. Yeah, they don't come in under $150, but I live with them in probably my favorite piece of tech that's existed like in the current modern era. It feels like something from science fiction when it works correctly. I really like them, but sometimes they die. Sometimes I end up on a flight that's significantly longer than, say, the six hours of battery life you get. And I like to carry a backup pair of wired earphones. These are sold by several different Chinese brands. If you're into the whole Chinese Hi-Fi, they call it Chi-Fi movement. These are like one of the things you'll see on a list of 10. Whether you buy these earphones or a different one, that's up to you. I bought these ones because I just wanted to pick one and Amazon had them. I think I paid like maybe 28 Canadian dollars for them. Currently, I'm seeing them for 50. So like I said, the pricing is all around, but they're called the LinSoul KZ-ZS10 Pros. And if you're listening to this and you're deep into the IEM world, I know that they're entry level, but the extent to which they sound so much better than any other wired earbud I've ever put in is insane. And I've owned three $400 Edemotics. I've owned pretty much any of the Shure 200 and 300s. I've been around the block with these wired headphones and pseudo IEMs. These are like full-on IEMs in-ear monitors and for the money, especially if you're talking more like 25 bucks. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed. They just, they sound amazing. I also find that I can listen at a much lower volume. Like if I go to edit TGN on an airplane, I'll use these. I don't need the noise canceling because they go like, they go fairly deep into your ear canal. So the noise becomes less of an issue. They do a good job of like blocking out the noise of the plane. but the fidelity that you get from them is high enough that I just run the volume lower, which is also kind of a comfort thing as well. I'm a big fan. Like I said, I think you can definitely go down a rabbit hole of the Chi-Fi stuff, because it starts at 10 bucks and then goes... IEMs go to several thousands of dollars, and then you get into custom molded tips for your ears and all that kind of stuff. But if you just wanna dip your toe, or if like me, you need a small pocketable backup that just gets thrown in a camera bag for when you actually want to watch a show or a movie on the airplane system or your batteries are dead in your wireless set. These are great. I really, really like them. And I've definitely bought more than one pair for gifts so far. |
| Filler | Huh? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that's a good, that's a good pick. I, I, the other day I was sitting at my desk and I didn't have my AirPods nearby and I got a call came in, I needed to have my hands free and I was like scrambling around looking for something. And I had my old, uh, I don't even, they used to call them AirPods back in the day, like just the earbuds that came with the iPhone with the, with the cord. Cause it's kind of scrambled and disentangled that the nest of, of cables in my drawer and plugged it in. But yeah, it is, that is a good idea to kind of just throw in a, a backup with a, with a cord. It's, it's not going to fail. You don't have to worry about the Bluetooth failing or the batteries do go bad on, on the, on the AirPods. So. Yeah, good call. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, and I often also find that I pack tight enough now that I don't necessarily have room, depending on where I'm going and for how long. I don't have room for my big Sonys. Oh, yeah. Which are... We'll cover any flight, I think the 30 hour battery life and can go wired if I wanted that. So these are a nice kind of option where you still get nice sound quality. I find them to be very comfortable and the price is great So I would dig around and see what you can really get for the pricing. Maybe don't buy on Amazon, which is the link that I found. It's a fun little rabbit hole, like I said, to go down the, the Chi-Fi stuff. Cause it's, it's like getting into, um, uh, like NATO straps for the first time. You're like, Oh, I can just, I can get a few of these for nothing. Right. Uh, and kind of mess around and there's whole YouTube channels devoted to IEMs and that sort of thing. So I had a good time with it and I, and when I was looking back on like things I bought in the last couple of years that I use frequently, these live in my camera bag. They're just always around. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is a bit of a tangent, but I'm curious for your input. You know, when I do longer flights overseas or whatever, I do sometimes indulge in the in-flight entertainment and you can't tune into the movie audio on a plane with your AirPods, at least as far as I know. |
| James Stacey | You can, you just have to buy, there's like a transit dongle you can pick up from like a third party. I don't remember what it's called, but I'll put it in the show notes. I'm sure I can remember it. And that plugs into the thing and your AirPods connect to that. It's a little bit of like a hack solution, but it does allow you to essentially run AirPod audio from any headphone source. |
| Jason Heaton | Cause I'm always bringing my Bose, you know, over ear big ones in the case with the cord and then my AirPods as well. But so anyway, bit of a tangent, I was just curious what the, |
| James Stacey | What the heck is there? The product we're thinking of is called an Airfly. I Googled it while you were finishing, and so I'll put that in the show notes. I've never used it, so that's an option, I guess. This would be sort of more expensive and more complicated than just having a pair of... Right. Yeah, good stuff. Nice product, not too expensive, makes a solid gift as well, because pretty much everybody needs headphones sometimes. |
| Jason Heaton | Alright, you, you know, everyone's going to think, Oh, you're gonna roll your eyes and think this is a bit of a shill, um, given who we are. Um, but I was talking to Ghoshani about like gift ideas and I was like, what about like a subscription, like a cool subscription or something? And she's like, well, what about like a TGN subscription? And I was like, yeah, but that's us. But the more I thought about it, I thought, and we mentioned it on every show, but, um, an annual subscription to the gray NATO, that's my fourth sub $150. Okay. I know it feels like a bit of a cop-out, but when you, when you think about it, like we, the people that are listening to this probably are subscribers already, but you probably know people that are either into podcasts, into watches, et cetera. And I can't tell you how many people have approached me and said how much they enjoy the Slack community and, and just kind of the community around TGN. I saw it on Sunday at the book launch. Um, and really what, what has happened with the gray NATO over the six years or seven years that we've been doing it is it's, it's just transcended the podcast. And I think that that is in large part to our subscriber community and what has been created, especially in the Slack community. So that is my, my fourth pick is a, is a hundred dollar a year subscription to TGN. And you can easily gift that to somebody. Um, if you're not already a subscriber, you can do it yourself, but you know, in addition to your choice of a 20 or 22 millimeter NATO strap, which, you know, it's, it's not the best deal for a hundred dollars, of course. Yeah. Um, you get early access to TGN merchandise. You get a 15% discount. You get the extra episode every month, the Q and a episode, as well as the, um, access to our Slack community, which has proven to be a real game changer for me in the past year. It's just been such a pleasure to get to know so many people and, and, you know, great place to buy and sell watches and get advice professionally or personally, or when it comes to watchmaker referrals, cars, gear, et cetera. Um, So yeah, sorry if it feels like a bit of a shill or a cop out, but I think for $100, it's well under our $150 budget and just makes a good gift for people. So yeah, that's my, that's my fourth pick. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I can't, I can't disagree. And, and, and certainly if we're talking about the success of the Slack, it's, we got to give a shout out to our guy, Chris Soul. Yeah. Moderator extraordinaire among everything else in his life. Yeah. Uh, and, uh, yeah, he really keeps the thing on the rails and keeps it going and, and really puts you and I in a position where we can just dip in when you have five or 10 minutes, answer some questions, you know, shoot it a little with a couple of the fellows and, uh, and, and just kind of enjoy the space. So shout out to Chris, uh, uh, speaking of somebody I owe Christmas gifts to. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. We'll figure that out for sure. Uh, that's a great pick a solid one. Not one I was expecting. We're not, we're not too, usually super self promotional, but I can't necessarily disagree. Yeah. All right. So for my fourth, I'm going in an entirely different direction. You know, I moved this year and one of the things that we've done is you start to reorganize the house, you've got new rooms and put things up and decide what you really liked and what you didn't like about some of your older stuff and that sort of thing. And the one that stands out to me that I really adore, and I genuinely think almost anybody could have some fun with, is we have these kind of, you know, like the Noguchi style rice paper lamps. Oh yeah. Essentially just a big orb that you hang from the ceiling. Right. So you can pick these up from hey.com. They are 90 bucks. And then if you want the pro move, add a 60 watt whiz bulb for $15. The one that we've got is actually from Ikea, but I don't think Ikea carries them or makes them anymore. And it's probably like two and a half feet across. It's like a nice big orb and sits in the corner It's so lightweight that you don't really need to do anything special to install it in the ceiling. You can get one of those screw in tabs that has the little hook on it and just hang the wire there and then run it down the corner. And I just absolutely love it. We have this type of lamp in a couple places in the house. We have one big one that comes from the ceiling. And I would say if you were buying one and you knew the person did not have any interest in installing something in their ceiling, you can also get ones that sit on a table. like have a little leg and sit on a table more like the size of say a basketball. Oh, sure. And then I've got a couple also from Ikea back in the day where they're like long oblongs that sit on the floor. I have like a stand. Yeah. And I like all of them. So that would be my suggestion. I don't know that there's anyone, I mean, unless it's like somehow very much just clashed with somebody's style, they have this sort of standalone aesthetic that like works if you're into the whole mid century nonsense, like my wife and I are. but also works in a lot of different spaces, and it just gives you a nice highlight that isn't the big light, if you know what I mean. There's nothing more hateful than having to turn on the big light. The place we moved into is only 20, 25 years old, and it has so many pot lights that are dentist office bright and white, 5200 Kelvin. And I'm a 3000 Kelvin man, maybe 3400. But yeah, I like these quite a lot. And if you add the whiz bulb, then you give them the ability to control it from their phone. It makes a great light to use for, it's the one I use to time, like to have a light on for when we're away from the home. Oh, sure. Like, like a vacation activity light. Yeah. All that kind of stuff is built right into the whiz app. So I think that's a pretty fun, and I wanted something that didn't seem exclusively like the stuff I've already offered. a little bit of a... I wanted something entirely different, because some of the people listening will have already bought all the stuff we're talking about, like they have it or they have something similar, because they're the same type of knucklehead. Right. And I thought this might give one more option. I've been kind of obsessed with some of the stuff on hey.com for the last little bit, because I've talked about those like neon tubes, the LED tubes. Yeah, yeah. That you can like... That's... They make the one that I'm probably gonna pick up at some point over the holiday season, after my test at making my own didn't work out so well, so... |
| Jason Heaton | I feel like we used to have one of like an old version of this type of hanging kind of paper globe lamp. Um, and I think it went the way of our, um, excited cats. I think they saw it as some kind of a toy, but now that we, now that we are catless, I think we could reintroduce something like that into our house. I think that's a, this is a great idea. I like this. I can picture an exact place where I would, I would hang something like this. |
| James Stacey | So yeah, good one. Yeah. They're just easy and really pretty. Yeah. So that'd bring you to something like 105 bucks for that. Yeah, yeah. Give or take. All right, on to the main event. All right. What's your break the bank for 2023? No budget. Break the bank. This is, yeah, so... I'm a little bit worried we might have picked the same thing. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, here we go. I'm pasting the link and you can see it. |
| James Stacey | Oh, no, we didn't. Okay. Okay. |
| Jason Heaton | I think we... I should have guessed this one, yeah. Yeah, so this is the Lego Icons Land Rover Classic Defender 90. It's $239.99, so roughly $240. You know, we've talked about LEGO models a lot in the past, and I think you and I both owned the new Defender version that came out a while back. I don't think you've done yours yet. You haven't built yours yet, have you? |
| James Stacey | Mine went to a new home. I was never going to put the 30 hours into building that. I didn't have a flat surface that could be, you know, delayed use for that long. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. I get that. And that's exactly why it took so long for me to build this one. I think I got it. I think Ashanti got it for me for my birthday, probably back in April. And we just built it last week and it was so worth it. And, and it's like, you, you have to have the right time period to build these things, whether it's the Saturn five rocket or whatever they have, obviously being a defender owner, this one was near and dear to my heart, but like it is, it is the best one I've built. It is, it was easy to put together easy in terms of like Everything fit together properly. The instructions were good. Definitely took, we did it over three days, uh, Gashani, myself and a friend. So the three of us, like every night for many hours each night, you know, just like having a drink after dinner, like sitting around the dining room table, building this thing, but it's so satisfying. And this one particular is so good. Um, it's a defender 90, you know, the old body style defender, it's got a snorkel, a hood mounted. spare wheel, a roof rack with safari lights, jerry cans, a toolbox with tools, a high lift jack that actually works, a working winch, rock sliders, a working steering linkage. I would say it's head and shoulders above the new Defender model, which is actually even quite a bit bigger, but it was very satisfying to put together. It's, uh, 2,336 pieces. So it's, it's, it's a commitment. It's a lot of pieces. Uh, you need the space to build it, but if anyone, you know, is a lover of. Land Rover defenders are just kind of cool vehicles and they're into, you don't even have to be into Legos. I'm not, I wouldn't even call myself a Lego guy, but, uh, I've done my share and, uh, and this was the most satisfying. So, yeah, I think for $240, it's not even that much over our $150 budget. So it's my break the bank, but I think it's still. still affordable, easy to wrap, comes in a nice box. Um, so yeah, that's my, that's my break the bank pick. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I know like you, I've always come down that like, I like the speed champions cause you're done in an hour. Yeah. Yeah. Cause they're small and you don't need as much self shelf space, but like if you're always going to build one, this is the one, look at all the bits and bobs that comes with. It's so good. It is the right color as well. When the color, the painted wheels is great. Um, Whenever I see these and I remember, I remember like I have a little bit of like stress from, from the techniques, one that I never built, that I just moved from one home to another. And, oh yeah. And, uh, it does remind me of like, you know, I've, I've spoken in the past over the course of the pandemic, I played through the video game, breath of the wild, the Zelda game on switch. Oh yeah. Yeah. And now there's a second one. And like the breath of wilds, the best video game I've ever played. So I definitely want to play the second one, but I refuse to buy it until I know when I'll play it. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I think I put like a hundred hours into the first one. Right. Right. So it's a bit of a morbid joke and it pleased me. I mean, like unless the world shuts down again, I'm probably never going to have that much time for video game until I retire. Yeah. Yeah. Right. But that's great. What a great gift Lego regardless of what the set is. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you got to give it to somebody, you know, fun to give so much fun to get. Oh yeah. And whoever you give it to, you know, you just have to warn them that it's going to, it's going to suck up like, like hours. I mean, I remember the first night I sat down, I think I sat down at four in the afternoon and I, I went till midnight and I was only a third of the way done. This was before I had, you know, the, the, the reinforcements to help out with it. But, uh, yeah, it's a blast. It's, it's fun. You can like, you can put a podcast on, you can listen to music, like you can do it with a drink. You can like sit, you know, by the fire and do it. So it's, uh, It's great. And this one particularly is just so fun. I mean, there's a fire extinguisher on the back, you know, like it's just so cool. |
| James Stacey | Assuming that your partner or your children are also in the same mode, you're not just getting them the end product, but the experience of like, you could all sit down and build it together, work on different parts or work on it together. And if you have a room, like I have family members that just adore puzzles, like jigsaw puzzles, and they just like have a table that's their jigsaw puzzle table. Oh, sure. |
| Filler | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And if you do that for the Lego, it makes a lot of sense. And in the new space, I do have room to build. So maybe, maybe I'll need to take on a more intense Lego build at some point. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, and what I like about this too, is that it's, it's, uh, it's more compact. Like I said, the new Defender one, it's a big one and it's really kind of hard to store. Like I've got it way up on top of a bookcase. This one fit nicely on, like in a cube bookshelf space next to my kind of Land Rover themed books that I have. So it fits nicely. You can display it nicely when you're done. It's not like a huge commitment of horizontal space. So yeah, that's good stuff. |
| Filler | That's a solid five. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I like it. So for my Break the Bank, we're spending a lot more than $240, but it's actually not as high as we've gone. Like some years in the past, we went pretty hard in the paint. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm going to say that we're going to put this somewhere around $800 to $1,000, depending on where and how you do it. Yeah. I just... I can't say enough about Sarah's experience, and we're gonna have Sarah on to talk about it probably just early in the new year, but about Sarah's experience of getting certified for diving on vacation. Oh, sure, yeah. So this is a two part gift. Whether you're a diver and you have maybe a partner or a friend who's always been keen that isn't, or neither you nor your partner and everybody's curious, you need to do the PADI Referral Program, which allows you to do your pool and class sessions wherever you live. the part of that process is you then do the other process, the, the, the four certification dives in a location that's maybe a little bit more hospitable to diving. Sure. Sarah could have gotten certified here. Sure. It just would have been more limited in terms of time. Like you, you want to go on vacation when it's cool here. Yeah. So maybe the timing doesn't line up so nicely, but, uh, the referral. So the class, the local sessions were 329 Canadian, which is about two 50, which I think is about standard ish for Patty pricing. And then the certification dives in Cozumel were an additional 370 US. Yeah. And then I'm adding some money, some loose money there because you'll almost certainly want to buy a mask and a snorkel and don't, don't go, go ahead and spend middle to upper money on your mask and your snorkel. The entry level stuff's not great. Yeah. I think a decent mask is probably more like a 50 to a hundred dollar purchase. And then they get pretty nice at about double that. usually with a snorkel, depending on your shop, that sort of thing. Snorkel, I'm less, I really just like the simple Cressy snorkel with the purge valve. I own five of them at this point and they're pretty much bulletproof with my daughters and that sort of thing. But yeah, I'm saying that the vacation part is up to you, where you go, what's local to you. But if you're just factoring for the diving part as a gift for somebody, maybe a gift for yourself, maybe a couple gifts, something like that, I think it's going to be about 800 bucks. And then my guess is, like we did, you'll spend the first couple days of your holiday doing the certification dives. You can probably do them in two days, two dives a day. Yeah. Then after that, you'll probably wanna dive some more. So maybe if you're budgeting, budget for a few more dives as well. But it's nice, because you can very easily call down to the shop that's gonna do the dives. and see if they have a deal, a plan, that sort of thing with maybe the resort that they're located on or that. Sure. We did it through the Iberostar in Cozumel, which has a dressel divers on site, which I really like, and it was a great experience. I don't know how long it would have taken if Sarah had done all the certification here, and I don't know that she would have necessarily loved her first few dives in cold water with limited visibility. Yeah. I did that. I wanted to dive so bad. You couldn't have told me it was a bad dive. but I lost my instructor, I lost my dive buddy, I couldn't see my hand if I reached out far enough. It was pea soup at White Cliff Park in Vancouver, and I think this is a... For similar money, I did private lessons with my cousin, Brendan, when we got certified, and it was similar money to this whole process. Obviously, you have to get to where you're going, but if you're gonna be on vacation and you like to go somewhere tropical, it feels like a cool add on to you know, you could, you could get there and even decide, you know, they offer usually free pool sessions or at least the resort I was at was every morning. If you didn't dive, you could, you could try diving in the pool. And then if you loved it, sign up. And this way you do some of the prep work and everything, and then just do your dives in nice warm water. I think it'd be an incredible gift for someone who's dive curious. |
| Jason Heaton | And boy, there, there are a lot of those people. Um, and I think the, Oh yeah. The approach to it is intimidating even more so than getting over any hesitation you might have or fear that you think you might have about diving. Like just, just the process. I mean, how many times have you been asked, like, I'd like to learn to dive, but I don't know how or where to start. And I think, you know, we've done a couple of episodes about diving. We'll have Sarah on to talk about her experience, you know, first person from that perspective. But yeah, this is, this is a great, it's a great gift idea. I think giving experiences and this is one that, you know, once you learn, um, you know, it just gives back for, for many, many, many years as, as we know. So that's a good one. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And especially the other thing is like in my mind, you have to decide at some point, not right away, but you have to decide at some point, like am I more of a vacation diver or am I just I'm going to dive wherever I can, wherever there's water deep enough, I'll give it a try. And that's they're just kind of two different modes for somebody, right? It's like it's kind of like the difference between owning a sports car and going to the track. Yeah, it's like two different things in terms of intensity. And if you think that what you want from this is to swim with colorful animals and enjoy some warm water, And you could do that a few times a year, maybe only once a year when you go on vacation. Yeah. I think this is a great way to learn if that's going to align. Yeah. And then if you love it so much that you have to go to the quarry where you live in the Northeast or, you know, go dive off of, uh, you know, the, the coast of, uh, New York or something like that. Sure. Fine. That's amazing. But I think this is a nice way to start. |
| Jason Heaton | Good pick. I like it. We should, uh, we should summarize before we move on, huh? |
| James Stacey | Absolutely. For year five, you had the Rockwell T2 safety razor, the GoRuck kit bag 2.0, the James Bond archives from Tashin, and a suggestion of possibly just gifting an annual subscription to TGN with all of the benefits that it comes with, including obviously a TGN signed NATO and access to the slack and all that kind of stuff. And then your break the bank was actually a pretty reserved, but awesome looking Lego set for the Land Rover Classic Defender 90 at about 240 bucks. That's a pretty solid five, I gotta say. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I'm pretty pleased. I think all of the gnashing of teeth and sweating palms in the past few days coming up with these was worth it. I think we got some good picks. And then on your side, you started with the Alpaca Zip Clutch for $42, the Anker 747 Charger for $90, the Linsole KZ-ZS10 Pro in-ear monitors for $50, which can also be found for less, Noguchi-style lamp from Hey.com, and if you want to add on, 50 watt whiz bulb, uh, for another 15, go for it. And then, uh, the final one is a kind of a Patty referral program, uh, dive certification process, uh, where that you tag onto, uh, maybe a tropical vacation this winter for. Anywhere between about 750 and maybe a thousand bucks, uh, give or take whether you add on gear and whatever else. So we've got some experiences, we've got some subscriptions, we've got some tech, we've got a fun kind of models to build. travel stuff. Yeah. Good, solid 10 picks this year, I think. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. The last thing I would add is if you're part of the TGN crew, you're in the Slack and you have a question about diving. Jason and I know a lot about diving. Jason knows probably double, three times what I know. And I'm a capable diver who spent a lot of time reading about it and learning about things. The wealth of knowledge that's in the TGN Slack is ridiculous when it comes to diving. Yeah. Sure. Maybe I started the podcast talking about diving. I'm a dilettante diver. It's not something I do professionally. It's, it's, I treat it like hiking. I just want to have a really good time and see something beautiful. And these guys are the best resource to, for gear, for, uh, considerations for teaching, for all of that kind of stuff. So if you're in the slack and you've got scuba questions, uh, let's get in there. There's a diving channel. And, uh, I think you'll be surprised by, uh, the, the level of acumen when it comes to, uh, the, the sport and its many permutations. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, definitely. All right. Let's, uh, That's the gift guide. Came a little late this year. What are we going to put this out on the 7th? It gives you a few weeks before those gifts. |
| James Stacey | I think it's just enough time. We usually shoot for the end of November, I think, in the past or very early December, but we can call it the last minute gift guide for these sorts of things. But yeah. All right. Let us know in the show notes, in the comments. Let us know on Slack if any of these kind of hit you nicely or if they're ones you have experience with or if you've got a go-to gift. that you're kind of leaning into this year, whether it be for friends or family or maybe even for yourself, if that's the mode. But otherwise, how about we jump into some final notes? Nice long episode so far. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, let's do it. Why don't you go first? You actually have one that's very relevant to this. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I just figured in the extent that you didn't like any of the 10 that Jason and I just talked about, or the previous 50 maybe from the previous several outings of the TGN Gift Guide, one of my go-to gift guides each year for interesting things that apply to like a pretty, it's like a really nice generalist offering that has kind of a techie side, which aligns with me quite nicely. It's the the verge gift guide. It's something I look forward to kind of every year, they put a ton of work into it. And the 2023 gift guide is like a very wide and variety pack sort of listing of interesting things to put on a desk of tech of, you know, all sorts of different elements. But I always find a couple things in there where I go like, Oh, that is pretty cool for 40 bucks or something like that. And It's definitely helped me find stuff for my brothers and other people on my gift list each year. So that's my suggestion, the Verge gift guide. They do such a great job because it's not small and it even includes, you know, Parchees on there. Holy smokes. There's a Lego. There's a Lego model. Streaming tech, Lego. Yeah. Yeah. Great chargers, great books. Yeah. Yeah. I always look forward to seeing it pop up and maybe learn about a couple of gadgets I didn't know about previously. Yeah. Good one. That's going to be, yeah. good resource. And how about you? What have you got for us? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, mine's a podcast. It's how to land a 787 in Antarctica. This is something, you know, it's popped up in social media and in the news a lot in the past few weeks. And it's because a Dreamliner Boeing 787 landed at Troll Air Base in Antarctica, a Norwegian-run research base in Antarctica recently. I'm not sure of the exact date when it landed, but Um, you know, typically when you, when you talk about aviation and Antarctica, it's usually like, you know, big C-130s or C-17s or something delivering supplies to remote air bases where they're landing on ice runways. But to land a Boeing 787 there, uh, was kind of a, a new task. In fact, this was the first time it's been done. It's the first time one has been flown to Antarctica and landed on an ice runway. And there's a podcast that I don't listen to, but I happened upon it as I was kind of reading more about this particular occurrence. There's a podcast called AvTalk that's from Flightradar24. And I'm sure many of you out there listening, if you're kind of avgeeks or, you know, into planes and transportation stuff, are familiar with this already. But it's, it's a good chat. They actually got on the commander, the flight commander from Norse Atlantic Airways, the flight chief, Olof Lindstrom. And he was the pilot. He was the one that actually flew it there and flew it back. Uh, they flew from Oslo to Cape town, South Africa, and then from there to troll air base in Antarctica. Any, the, the interviewers are, you know, knowledgeable guys. They ask some good questions. It's about a 40 minute podcast. So not too much of a time commitment, but they go over all the things about, you know, when you were flying out, did you, you know, how long did you have to warm up the oil in the engines before you could take off? And what was, what was it like landing on an ice runway as opposed to tarmac and You know, what were the kind of the mitigating, you know, like if you had to, if there was an emergency on route, like what was your plan, the backup plan and all of these things, even, you know, how to unload the cargo from the, from the plane, because they don't have the same equipment that you would at a conventional airport. So, um, really fascinating to actually get it from the mouth of the, of the pilot himself, Olof Lindström. And, uh, yeah, worth, worth checking out if you're, if you're into that or interested in this specifically. So AvTalk from Flightradar24, how to land a 787 in Antarctica. Just just just a cool. I mean just that title is like it's worth it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, it's not a crazy premise Yeah, I look forward to it. That'll be fun. Yeah, but look we've got a solid well over an hour episode going we've still got to record we're on our Continued marathon of Q&A's. I'll actually be editing the first one. We're recording the second one just after this So we've got to get to that as well while the voice still holds out You know, as always, thank you so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, maybe even grab yourself a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from Maya Angelou who said, I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. |