What I Read: December 2017

It's such a great feeling to know I read so many cool books this year. I managed to round out the year by reading 44 books in December, putting my total for the year at 222. That's probably the most I've read in a year throughout my whole life. It was fun, but I definitely won't be reading as much next year. I'm going to be doing another post soon where I talk a little more about my favorites of 2017 and some interesting stats of what I read. Let's get into some of my favorites and disappointments for the month of December.

I finished 6 graphic novels of The Walking Dead like I've been doing for the past few months. The ones I finished in December were Volumes 18 through 23. I'm very happy to be almost done with them. I've enjoyed these last few ones more than the ones at the beginning of the series, since it's finally stuff I've never seen happen before.

The only two books I rated 5/5 stars this month were The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer and Matilda by Roald Dahl. The Chemist was so good and had me on the edge of my seat for the majority of the book. I liked most of the characters, and how the plot follows this secret agent type person that is on the run. It's one of my favorite reads of the year. Matilda was really neat, since I've seen the movies a few times as a kid. I thought it was a cute and fun story. I'm trying to read all of Roald Dahl's books in the new year.

Next up, these are some of the 4/5 star books I read. The one I just recently finished is Bonfire by Krysten Ritter. She's an actress in a few of my favorite TV shows, like Jessica Jones, and this was her debut novel. I really enjoyed it! It follows an environmental lawyer that is trying to uncover the truth of what is happening in her small hometown. There's a lot of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. I hope she continues writing more books. I Can't Make This Up by Kevin Hart really surprised me. I didn't like Kevin Hart much before reading his memoir, but I've got a lot of newfound respect for him. He worked so hard to get where he is today, and I can respect that. It was funny and interesting to hear more about his life. I also enjoyed American Sniper by Chris Kyle. It's always cool for me to read about people in the military, as that's something I'll never join. The last one I'll mention here is Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I knew nothing about Norse mythology before reading this book. I thought Gaiman did a good job putting together a knowledgeable and entertaining read. He's an author I'd like to read more of in 2018.

Moving onto 3 star books, I'm not going to go that in-depth with each one, as this post is already getting pretty long. I read World War Z by Max Brooks, which I thought lacked action. I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This one had a lot of potential, but I thought there was quite a bit of unnecessary info. My expectations were very high, so I think that was why I was ultimately disappointed with it. Artemis by Andy Weir was a fast-paced read, yet there were quite a few cringey moments. Some other ones I got to are Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis.

Lastly, let's round this post out with my biggest disappointments that were 1 or 2 star books. I read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood with very high hopes, but ultimately found it very boring. The writing style was not my thing, and I hated the characters. I rated that 1/5 stars. I also read 1984 by George Orwell and was disappointed. It got 2/5 stars from me. I liked the concept, though I found the main character to be annoying and whiny. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt was another 2 star read. My biggest problem with it was how much unnecessary information there was. It was the longest book I read this year, and it devoted so much time to things that didn't advance the plot. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson tried too hard in my opinion. I thought his advice was stupid. There are definitely more motivating self-help books out there. I gave that book 2/5 stars.

I'm going to end it here. I hope you've enjoyed all my reading posts this year. I'm going to have a 2017 wrap-up up soon where I'll be going over some of my stats and favorites of the year. This was by far my best reading month of 2017. Thanks for looking!

Recommended EDC Gear of 2017

Now that 2017 is almost over, it's time to talk about some of my favorite gear I've used this year. I've had the chance to try a decent amount of gear throughout 2017, so here's what I've really enjoyed carrying and using.

I'd say this was the year of Victorinox for me. I've found that I always reach for one of their knives on a regular basis. My most used tool this year was the Victorinox Classic (link to Amazon here). I think it has finally beaten my Spyderco Ladybug (link to Amazon here) out as my go-to tool. I still love my Ladybug, but I didn't find myself reaching for it that much this year. I've started using Victorinoxs in the kitchen a lot too. The Alox Pioneer (link to Amazon here) and Alox Bantam have come in very handy. I love the Bantam for chopping vegetables, since it's such a slim tool. The Pioneer is quickly impressing me as a multitool with its great toolset. I don't have many other multitools with an awl, so it's nice that the Pioneer has one. I would say I prefer the Pioneer over the Cadet. 

As far as other knives go, I've loved the Ontario Rat 1 and 2, and the Spyderco Cricket. The Rat 2 (link to Amazon here) is easily my best purchase and favorite knife of the year. The Rats are such smooth, quality knives that function great for EDC. The Rat 2 stays in my college backpack at all times, while the Rat 1 (link to Amazon here) goes in my hiking bag. I really regret not picking up a Rat earlier. I thought they were extremely overhyped, but boy was I wrong. The Cricket (link to Amazon here) is probably my favorite knife design I picked up and used this year. It looks so cool with the reverse S blade. I love the form factor and the slimness. 

Onto the last few things, my favorite light would have to be the new FourSevens Preon P1. I surprisingly think I'm starting to prefer it to the Classic Preon I loved for so long. I think that's mostly because I love having tailcaps on my EDC light. They're much more convenient and easy to use than a twisty light. I also started EDCing a headlamp this year, so that's been a favorite. This is one I picked up on Amazon for like $15 (linked here). I love the convenience and all the modes that it offers. I'm still loving my Case Logic camera pouch that I use to carry my EDC in. Lastly, I've got a newfound appreciation for my Pelican 1120 case this year (link to Amazon here), as I'm constantly traveling back and forth between my college and home. I brought all my gear to college this year, so having the Pelican with me has allowed me to easily transport all my gear.

That about wraps up my favorite gear I've tried this year. I highly recommend you pick up any of these things. I've really appreciated having them as part of my EDC this year. It'll be interesting to see what makes the list in 2018. Thanks for looking!

Some Of My Favorite Video Games

This is going to be a post about some of my favorite video games of all time. I'm going to mostly focus on PS4 with a 3DS game mixed in.

My favorite 3DS game would have to be Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I've played Animal Crossing on the GameCube as a kid all the time, and I fell in love with the DS and 3DS versions. It's such a fun game. It doesn't really have a true story, but it's one of those simulation games that's so addicting. You get to earn money, decorate your home, be the mayor of your town, etc. There's always something you can be doing. I picked up a Switch earlier this year and am hoping Nintendo has a version of Animal Crossing coming out for it soon. I've easily spent hundreds of hours playing it.

The PS4 is one of my newer console pickups. I got it for Black Friday a few years ago, but I don't seem to play it as much as my Nintendo consoles. I'm a bigger fan of handheld consoles, just because you can play them anywhere. I use the PS4 mostly for sports or shooting games. I'm a huge football fan, so I've played a lot of Madden 16 over the years. My favorite shooting game would have to be Mafia III. As the title suggests, it deals with the Italian mob where the main character is a Vietnam war vet. I love the graphics and the open-world. You can drive around in super cool cars and explore the city. I played Mafia II back on the PS3, which I do actually think is better than Mafia III. I do still enjoy Mafia III, because it's got a different vibe than Mafia II. I still need to work on finishing it, so hopefully I can do that over my winter break. My newest game that I can already tell will be a favorite is The Sims 4. I've been a huge Sims fan ever since I was a kid. I was beyond stoked when they announced they were bringing it to consoles. It's another life simulation game. It's hours upon hours of fun. Check out one of my previous posts with my first impressions if you're interested in hearing more about it. Stay tuned for some more video game posts in the future! Thanks for looking!

Guyot Designs SplashGuard Thoughts

I used to hate drinking out of the wide mouth Nalgenes. I'd always end up spilling water all over myself. I found out about this splash guard made by Guyot Designs and figured it was worth a try. It has solved all the problems I had with the wide mouth Nalgenes. If you're not going to read any further, definitely pick one up if you're not the biggest fan of the wide mouth Nalgene.

So this is basically just a silicone insert that you put in the mouth of a Nalgene. I'm not sure if this could fit in any other bottles. You can find them for less than $5, so it's not going to break the bank either. It's nothing fancy, but it works so well. Its sole purpose is to help restrict the flow of water, and it does extremely well at that.

I've been using it for a few months now, and I've had no problems. It's a BPA-free silicone that is very easy to clean and use. It holds well in the mouth of the water. I thought it might slip into the bottle, but it always stays firm. It doesn't get in the way of screwing the bottle open and closed. I love that they come in all sorts of different colors and designs. I like the little alien head on mine. Honestly that's about all there is to stay. I didn't know they were a thing at first, so hopefully this post at least helps expose you to them if you're like me and hate widemouth bottles. It's turned a bottle that I never thought I'd use into one that I use all the time. I highly recommend it for sure!

What I Read: November 2017

The second to last month of the year is over. I'm happy that 2018 is almost here. I managed to read quite a bit in November. This year has been a very good reading year for me, because I'm finally making it a priority. I'm not wasting as much time on the internet. I will say I'm not spending as much time on my other hobbies, which kind of sucks, so I definitely think my reading will scale back next year. At this point, I just want to see how many books I can read in a year. With 33 of books read this month, my total so far is 177. I'm hoping to hit 200 by the end of 2017, which I do think I can pull off. November has definitely been my most productive month reading wise.

My favorite book this month was Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham. I rated it 5/5 stars. She was one of the main actors in Gilmore Girls, which is one of my favorite shows. I finally finished the show and the reboot they did recently this summer. In this book, she talks all about filming Gilmore Girls, the reboot, and everything in between. I learned a lot of cool things about her life that I didn't know. I listened to audiobook version that Lauren Graham narrated. It was so good! Celebrity-narrated audiobooks are among one of the reasons I started listening to audiobooks. I definitely recommend this book!

I also really enjoyed The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. It was a really cool mystery/thriller that had a different plot than what I expected. I also rated this one 5/5 stars.

Moving on to some great but not amazing books. The following will all be ones that I rated 4/5 stars. I listened to Hunger by Roxane Gay. This was a memoir about a woman's experience with her body and how things that have happened in her life have affected her. It was a very honest and real look at how sexual assault can change your life. It's particularly relevant with all the men getting exposed for sexual assault right now. I also listened to Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. This was all about saying yes to things even if you are an introvert and nervous. It was very funny and offered some good tips throughout. Black Edge by Sheelah Kolhatkar is a fantastic insight into how corrupt Wall Street is. I don't wanna make this post too long, so here's a quick list of some other good ones I read: Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil, Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, and Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher.

I'm still chugging along with The Walking Dead graphic novels. I finished volumes 12 through 17 this month. As I keep mentioning, they're not anything special, but I do like to see the similarities and the differences with the show.

Last but not least, here's some mediocre (3/5 stars) and disappointing reads (2/5 stars). The mediocre ones were A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, and Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. Two disappointing ones were Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut and Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Here's to finishing out 2017 strong! It'll be interesting to see how many I can finish before January 1st. Thanks for looking!

The Sims 4 On PS4 First Impressions

Hey everybody! I've mentioned in the past that I play video games. This has been such a good year for video games, and I'd like to start bringing more posts about them onto the blog. One of my favorite games as a kid was The Sims on PC, so I was super excited when I heard they were bringing Sims 4 to consoles. I picked up Sims 4 on PS4 the day after it launched and have put a decent amount of hours into it so far. I'm very happy I can finally play Sims when I'm at school. I don't have a computer good enough to play Sims on, so I've only been able to play on breaks ever since I went off to college. I've enjoyed this version so far and highly recommend you pick it up!

The PS4 version is pretty much the same as the PC version, where the only major differences are in the controls. It took me a little while to get used to the controls. I do think they're pretty good and make sense for the console. Using the joysticks instead of a mouse was weird at first. If you've never heard of The Sims franchise before, it's essentially a life simulation game. You can create characters and their homes. You can move them through life so they get jobs, acquire skills, have a family, etc. There's no story plot or end game. Basically you're controlling virtual people. It's not for everyone, but I've always found it to be kind of addicting. There's a lot of customization available too, so you can make characters like yourself.

I don't have any major complaints so far. I already mentioned my issues with the controls at first. When it launched, there were lots of issues with saving and losing hours of game play. I've had no issues with saving whatsoever. I save frequently anyways, so I'm not sure what specific issues others were having. A patch for the saving issues has been released, which means that should be all good now. There's some glitches that happen every now and then, but nothing to ruin the experience. I've had so much fun playing thus far. It has taken everything that made The Sims great on PC and made it accessible to play on the PS4 or Xbox One. I paid $50 for mine. Considering how many hours of game play I'll get out of it, I do think it's worth it. With Black Friday and other holiday deals, you should be able to find it cheaper. If you're looking for a fun, mindless game to play, I do recommend you check it out. I find myself playing games on consoles more than on PC, so this release couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks for looking!

EDC Update: End of November 2017

Hey everybody! I haven't done any sort of EDC update on here in a while, so I'm going to talk about some of the changes I've made to my carry recently. At the top of the photo minus the green Preon P2, I've got my current EDC: Spyderco Ladybug, Victorinox Pioneer, Fisher Bullet space pen, FourSevens new Preon P1 and Victorinox Classic. I just swapped in both the Pioneer and new Preon P1. The purple and blue combo looks so cool! The most used piece of gear from my rotation currently is the Classic. It's easily surpassed the Ladybug in terms of pure usage. I surprising haven't had much need for the Ladybug recently, but it still is my favorite knife. I've also been occasionally carrying a mid-sized knife, mostly the Benchmade 705. I'm going to start researching compact pens soon. I still love the Bullet, but it'd be nice to have another option to rotate.

The FourSevens Preon P2 is in the photo, because I'm considering taking it out of my backpack. Usually I'll keep it in my college bag 24/7 as a backup, but I've had issues with accidentally bumping the tailcap and turning on the light without realizing it. I either need to put it somewhere else in my bag, or replace it with a some sort of twisty light. I didn't get why people would complain about the tailcaps so much in the past, yet I finally get it now. 

The headphones are a replacement for a crappy pair of Apple earbuds I had. I've been wanting to pick up some wireless headphones, and thanks to a sale and some reward certificates from Best Buy, I picked up these TaoTronics ones. I believe the model is the Deimos. I ended up paying $10 for them overall, and I will say I got what I paid for. The sound quality is probably some of the worst I've had ever in headphones. There's lots of static, and I've had issues with the range too. The battery doesn't last long, so I've got to charge them every day, which is pretty annoying. They're surprisingly bulky too. I have a bigger pair of wireless, over-the-ear headphones from Sony that I love, but I don't like to wear them around campus. The Sony pair is definitely superior to these ones. I honestly just wanted to see if I liked the concept for in-ear headphones. Once these die, I can see myself upgrading to a nicer pair. 

Last but not least, I add my Olight i3E to my keys for when I come back to my apartment late at night. Now that it's getting darker earlier, I figured it was time I finally added a dedicated light to my keys, so I don't have to go digging through my bag for one. It's been working well on my keys so far. That's about all the major changes I've made to my carry lately. I've do have a college backpack EDC update in the works. Stay tuned for that soon, because there's been some changes since last year. Thanks for looking!

Benchmade 705 Thoughts

I've had the opportunity to try out this Benchmade 705 for the past few months, courtesy of my friend Laura. Huge thanks to her! I've enjoyed carrying it as an EDC knife, but I will say, it's nothing fancy. The materials aren't going to blow you away by any means. The design is simple and is one of those ones that just work for EDC without looking that cool. I will say, if you're looking to buy this knife, you won't be able to find it easily. It has long since been discontinued, and when I tried looking it up on eBay, I didn't find any for a decent price. I'm sure they pop up occasionally on Instagram and eBay if you would like to pick one up.

Blade wise, there's nothing that stands out. I've got no huge complaints about it. I like how simple the blade shape is. It's a nice mid-sized option, coming in just under 3" at 2.95." The steel on it is 154CM, which isn't amazing in this day and age, but it's still perfectly adequate for my needs. I'm not typically a fan of thumbstuds, but I like these ones. Paired with the Axis lock, this knife is a joy to flick open and closed. The smoothness on all Benchmades is unlike any other blades I've tried.

I do have a slight issue with the handle. Where your thumb rests, the handle swoops upward slightly. It's a nice touch, but that means it isn't flat where the spine of the blade meets the handle. I've found that there is only one real way to comfortably hold this knife, as the handle will jab into you if you try to choke up. I wish Benchmade had just smoothed out where the spine of the blade and handle meet. Besides that, the ergos are just okay overall. I'd say this knife is on the smaller side of mid-size blades. The handle is 3.8" overall, which is a decent amount of space. For some reason though, it feels kind of cramped to me. I have smaller hands, so I can only imagine how cramped it might feel if you've got bigger hands. I can still fit a four-finger grip, yet there's just something about it that feels kind of weird. The scales are G-10, but they don't feel like G-10 to me. They've got a smoother texture that reminds me of FRN. This is an old knife, so maybe the G-10 has worn down over time. There is some jimping on the thumb ramp and where your first finger goes that help add some extra grip. There's also couple of grooves in the scales that only function cosmetically. I think they look kind of dumb, but that's just me. The clip is a standard clip and works well. The knife doesn't feel all that light to me, yet it always seem to disappear when I carry it. Like I mentioned earlier, the Axis lock is tons of fun to play with, and it functions well as a lock too. There's some side to side blade play on this one, but I'm sure that could be fixed by tightening the pivot.

Overall, this isn't a flashy knife by any means. It'd be a nicer, classy option for sure. Though this model is discontinued, the 710 is still being produced by Benchmade and is essentially the bigger brother to this knife. The 707 is also kind of similar design wise, but I think Benchmade also discontinued that one recently. I don't think I would've bought this for my rotation. I had fun giving it a try though. I'm not sure what it went for back in its time. Knowing Benchmade's ridiculous price, I'm sure it was over $100. Personally, I wouldn't pay that much for a bland knife with just G-10 and 154CM. I will say, giving this knife a try kind of makes me want to pick up another Benchmade just so I can play with the Axis lock. If you're absolutely in love with the design, I say it's worth the effort to track down. Honestly, you can get a better knife material wise for a cheaper price nowadays. There's lot of other G-10, mid-sized blades out there on the market now. Thanks for looking!

FourSevens New Preon P1 First Impressions

I managed to pick up this FourSevens new Preon P1 for $12 during a sale FourSevens was having. I love my classic P1 so much that I knew I'd eventually pick up the upgraded model. I did get the opportunity to try a new Preon P2 at the beginning of the year and liked the design changes overall. I still prefer the look of the classic Preons, but the upgraded ones have their own appeal. 

So the two biggest differences between the classic and new P1 is the grooves and the inclusion of the clicky. The grooves feel pretty cool and aren't as noticeable as you'd expect. I absolutely love to have clicky lights in my EDC, so I'm happy the new P1 has one. It does have the temporary on, which I do like. It'll be interesting to see if it's easy to accidentally turn on. I know that was a huge complaint with the clicky on the classic Preon P2. 

The clip seems a little too big to me. I love the blue! It's not as vibrant as the classic, yet it still looks very nice. FourSevens has implemented different configuration levels on all their newer lights. It's a pain the butt to switch the modes, but I did get mine set up the way I wanted. The default mode is High/Low, and I ended up changing mine to Low/Medium/High/Strobe. I will say it wasn't as annoying to change as the twisty Mini Mk. II I had. At least now I won't have to change it again. The output seems to be pretty good. I think max output is 100 lumens, which is pretty typical for a AAA light. It'll be fun to carry it, and see how it compares to the classic. I'll definitely get up a comparison post once I've carried it enough. Stay tuned for more posts on it in the future. Thanks for looking!

Kershaw GTC Hops Thoughts

The Kershaw GTC Hops is an interesting, little knife. It's an okay knife overall, but I don't recommend it unless you're really in love with the design. 

I've had several issues with Kershaw's quality over the years, but this blade is perfect quality wise. It's a budget blade coming in at $25, so I was pleasantly surprised there were no issues. 

Design wise, I think you really have to love the design to appreciate this as a knife. I've never heard much of GTC, whom Kershaw collaborated with on this blade. I would assume a lot of their knives are reminiscent of this. The dual tone metal handle is not really my cup of tea. I saw various photos online that looked a lot better than it does in person. It's not the ugliest knife in the world, and I wouldn't say it's the prettiest either. It does function adequately for EDC though.

Blade wise, this is what you'd expect from a budget Kershaw. The steel is 8Cr13MoV, which isn't anything fancy obviously. It's been perfectly fine for my usage The blade is just under 2", so that's cool. 

As far as the handle goes, the ergos are decent to bad. I've had better ergos on other small knives. This is a three finger knife, which I'm not typically fond of. It does work out well enough on this knife. The worst part of the ergos is where the lock is cut out. Right above the finger groove, there's a jagged piece that digs uncomfortably into my hand all the time. I don't know if that's the way it is on all of them, or if it's just the way mine was cut. The clip also seems to dig into my hand quite a bit as well. If you have bigger hands, I don't think this knife would feel good in your hands at all. The finger groove is pretty small, so I can only see it fitting well in smaller hands. 

I absolutely hate how the handles are made of metal. The metal helps contribute to the poor ergos, since they're pretty squared off throughout the handle. The handles also make this knife extremely heavy. This knife is too heavy considering how small it is. The various cutouts honestly look stupid and don't contribute any extra grip. There's no jimping anywhere on this blade. I don't mind that at all.

To cover a few other things, the pocket clip looks cool, yet it's too tight to be practical. I'm sure I could get it looser over time. I like that Kershaw made it blue for a nice splash of color. The framelock is fine. There's no issues with lockup. There may be a tiny bit of play, but nothing that makes the knife unusable. 

I will say I didn't think I'd like the spring assisted action, but it's pretty neat on this particular knife. With a blade this small, there's less distance for it to travel upon opening, so it seems to whip out much faster than all the other spring assisted knives I've tried. The flipper is easy to use, but I wish it didn't have the weird cutout. Kershaw intended it to function as a bottle opener too. I can't say how well it works, since I never need to open bottles. It just seems like a waste of effort. 

For $25, this is exactly what I'd expect. It's an unremarkable knife. I don't really recommend it. As an EDC knife, it'd suck. It's too heavy, and the ergos suck. The Spyderco Ladybug is a much better alternative for $5 to $10 more. I like that Kershaw is trying to do more small knives, but this one was a waste of their time. Do not pick this blade up. Thanks for looking!

Deal Alert! FourSevens Flashlights

Hey everybody! If you've been thinking of buying a FourSevens Mini Mk. II or the new blue Preon P1, check out FourSevens website right now. They're doing a Fall Cleaning Clearance sale to get rid of some of their limited edition models. The deals are insane on those two models. I just picked up the blue Preon P1 for $12! That's 70% off the original price. The limited edition Mini Mk. II combos are either $37 (for copper) or $42 (for rainbow titanium or titanium). That's 50% off for a light that does almost 1,000 lumens. Check out the link here if you want to check out all the current clearance deals. Huge thanks to my buddy Laura for the heads up! Once they sell out, I think that's it, so jump on it quick if you're interested. At the time of this post, all of the models mentioned are still in stock. FourSevens does give free shipping too, so honestly it's too good of a deal to resist. It's pretty unheard of for the manufacturer's website to have the cheapest prices. Thanks for looking! Stay tuned for the new Preon P1 unboxing soon!

What I Read: October 2017

Hey everybody! Another month ending means another wrap-up of what I've read. The tail end of this year is really flying by. It's crazy to think it's almost 2018. I managed to to read quite a bit during October. I've been finishing some series that I wanted to read as a kid and a lot of shorter books. That's allowed me to read tons more quantity wise this month. All in all, I read 26 books which puts me at 144 for the year. 6 of those were graphic novels, and 4 of those were audiobooks. Everything else was either a physical or e-books. Going forward with these wrap-up posts, I'll be putting my rating out of 5 stars in parentheses after the book title. Let's get into some of my favorites.

I finished probably one of my now favorite series, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I finished the second and third books, Hollow City (5/5) and Library of Souls (5/5). They were both so good. I loved all the main characters, and the adventures they go on. I also read Born A Crime (4/5) by Trevor Noah. I didn't know much about him, but his book is always highly recommended. It's a memoir about his life and being raised in South Africa. I thought it was quite interesting, and it had some funny parts. Some other good ones I read were So You've Been Publicly Shamed (4/5), We Should All Be Feminists (4/5), and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (5/5).

Getting onto some disappointments, I had to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2/5) for a class, and I thought it was pretty bad. I had such high expectations considering everyone loves it so much. It had some redeeming parts to it, mainly the character Marvin. I also had to read The Dispossessed (1/5) for that same class, and it was utterly terrible. I finally got around to reading The Man in the High Castle (2/5). I was hoping for more. The writing style wasn't the greatest, and a lot of the characters were annoying. I'm going to start the TV adaptation soon, so it'll be interesting to see how it compares to the book.

Graphic novel wise, I read Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 1. I didn't even know this was a thing until I saw the cover on the app I read graphic novels on. It was great! It was easily one of the better superhero graphic novels I've read this year. I hope there are more coming out in the future. I'm also still working on reading The Walking Dead graphic novels. I finished Volumes 7 to 11 this month. They're not anything special to me, but I'd rather read them than watch the dumpster fire the TV show has turned into.

That about wraps it up for this post. I read a lot of other mediocre books this month, and I don't think they're worth talking about in detail at the moment. I'll probably do a post at the end of the year that has the whole list of everything I've read. I should get lots of reading done in November too, since I'll have a week off from school for Thanksgiving break. Thanks for looking!

My Issues With Recent Phone Trends

I think that most of us can agree that a cell phone is a pretty big part of our EDC. I know I've become increasingly dependent on my phone as I've gotten older. Our phones have become so much more than just a means to call or text people. They can do so much now that it's kinda crazy. Finding some of the perfect EDC gear is pretty easy for me, but I don't think I'll ever find the perfect phone. There's so many aspects to consider, and it simply isn't possible for a company's latest and greatest phone to align perfectly with my needs. I've had my phone, an iPhone 5S for several years now, and I know it's on its last legs. I really don't want to upgrade it, but at the same time, I do. Every year I wait to upgrade, I know I'm going to be more and more unhappy with what phones are out there. I wanted to talk about some of the recent phone trends that I don't necessarily agree with. These are all my personal preferences.

I absolutely hate how huge phones are getting. The majority of new phones out there have screens that are bigger than 5". That's incredibly ridiculous if you ask me. I do not need that big of a screen for a cell phone. For women especially, this big phone trend is horrible. First off, we simply don't have the pocket space for a phone this big. Of course, most women have purses to carry this huge brick of a phone in, but there's also the issue of hand size. Most women have smaller hands, so it's very hard to hold and be able to use a huge phone one-handed. As phones keep getting bigger and bigger, my question is when will they stop? I don't need a tablet sized cell phone. Sure I watch videos on my phone, but I don't find myself yearning for a huge screen to watch things on.

I also don't like the movement to make phones so thin. It's not necessary at all. I'd rather have a slightly "thick" phone than one with terrible battery life or no headphone jack. Why the heck does the headphone jack need to go away? Some of us out here do not want to switch to wireless headphones. With wireless headphones, that's one additional thing I need to charge. The headphone jack removal will not save that much space. We're talking about a matter of millimeters here. I will take a phone that's a few centimeters thicker overall if I can have headphone jack and a battery that lasts at least a week. The thinner phones get, the less there is hold and the higher chance of dropping it. I do not want a phone that's as thin as a piece of paper. I care about function over looks in pretty much everything I buy, so I wish more phone companies would stop focusing on making the most beautiful phones.

I absolutely hate Apple as a company now, so when my phone finally craps out, I know I'll definitely upgrade to some sort of Android. The Google Pixel was pretty appealing to me, but the Pixel 2 that was recently released has no headphone jack. Again, that's not something I want to give up. Some of the most important aspects I'd like in a phone are great camera, long battery life, compact size, front facing speakers, and a headphone jack. I don't think those demands are too unreasonable. I hope I can find my dream phone eventually, but I think I'll have to settle for something before that happens. Thanks for looking!

What Gear I've Been Using Lately

Hey everybody! Super sorry that there hasn't been any posts here in the past month or so. I just haven't gotten around to getting posts together. Here's a quick update on what gear I've been using lately. It's not much, but it's a lot of gear that I didn't expect to use as much as I have.

Since I'm living off campus this year, I've been making all of my own food. The kitchen knives I have are crap, so I figured I'd give some of my own knives a shot at food prep. I've been using the Victorinox Alox Bantam to cut vegetables, and it's been working out wonderfully. I figured I'd use some sort of Victorinox, since the blades are so thin and sharp. I was worried that the blade might close on me, but I've had no issues whatsoever. I will definitely continue using it for food prep going forward. I've also been using the Victorinox Pioneer's can opener. I've never used a multitool can opener to open cans before, so I was intrigued to see how it would work out. It could not have been easier, so I think I'll continue using the Pioneer for my can opening needs.

Another category of gear I've been using a lot lately is lights. My headlamp and flashlights are getting a lot of use. I use the headlamp at night when I'm reading a book. The flashlights get a lot of usage for those times when I don't need my main lights on, but I need enough light to see something for a second. I'm pretty cheap, so if I don't have to use the main lights in my apartment, then that's a win for me. I'm getting more use out of my flashlights than ever before, so I'll take it.

The last things I'll mention are what knives I've been using. Honestly, I have not reached for many of my blades lately. I use the Victorinox Classic almost daily, but that's about as far as my knife usage has gone. I have been carrying the Benchmade 705 that I've got on loan from my friend Laura. That goes in the waistband and makes me want to carry more of my knives that way. I always seem to go through phases where I really want to carry a knife in the waistband and then I don't feel the need to at all. I need to get more usage out of my knives, so I might get a rotation set up to motivate me to do so.

That's about all the gear I've gotten use out of the past couple months. It's not a lot, but I am happy that I'm broadening the tasks I use my EDC gear for. I never would've imagined using my knives for food prep, so it's always cool to see how my EDC and usage changes over time. Stay tuned for more posts soon! Thanks for looking!

What I Read: September 2017

Hey everybody! Thanks to some terrible WiFi in my apartment, I have tons of free time to read. This month was cool, because I've started listening to audiobooks. I listen to an hour or two of music around campus daily, and now I can turn some of that time into reading time. I'm really digging it so far and was able to finish four books from simply listening on bus rides or between/before classes. I'm also in a class where I read a book a week, so that helps me read more as well. This month I've finished 17 books, so my total for the year is 118. Five of those were graphic novels, and then all the rest were novels.

Some of my favorites this month were A Life In Parts by Bryan Cranston, Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. I would rate all of these 4/5 stars. A Life In Parts was awesome. I love reading memoirs written by celebrities, as it's cool to get a look inside their lives. Bryan Cranston has had such an interesting life. I didn't expect much of Kindred, because I had never heard of it before, but it was great as well. It's a science fiction, time travel story that I read for one of my classes. I thought the plot was really unique, and the characters were interesting. The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest finish off the The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy. I think Stieg Larsson has a problem with rambling on for too long, but I love the main characters so much that I don't mind too much. I just found out that another author is continuing the series, so I'm excited to check those out. I also finished The Hobbit, and while I didn't think it was an amazing read, I did enjoy it more than I expected. I thought it was very predictable, yet the characters were what kept me interested. I'm looking forward to reading The Lord of the Rings eventually.

I'm still making my way through The Walking Dead graphic novels. I finished volumes 4, 5, and 6 this month. They're much faster paced than the show, and it's cool to see the differences between the two.

To round this post off, here's a few of my average reads: Gumption by Nick Offerman, Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari, and Wild by Cheryl Strayed. None of these books were horrible by any means, but they didn't meet my expectations. I enjoyed parts of each of them, yet as a whole they weren't that great. Thanks for looking!

My Preferred Book Format: Physical/eBooks/Audiobooks?

It's kinda cool to see how technology has affected the format of books. A few years ago, I only ever read physical books. I couldn't imagine reading a book in any other way. Now though, I'm at the point where I'd rather read an eBook than a physical book. I've recently got into audiobooks to try to maximize my down time a bit more too. If I had to rank my book format preferences from best to worst, I'd say it'd go eBooks, physical books, and then audiobooks.

I'd like to talk about audiobooks first, since I'm still pretty new to them. I like the idea behind them, but I have very particular standards when it comes to who is narrating them. Some of the people are incredibly boring, sound like robots, etc. I figured out that I really like audiobooks narrated by celebrities. I gravitate towards actors that I've enjoyed in TV shows or movies. Memoirs are great to listen to, because it's like this celebrity is telling you about their life as if they're your friend. I recently finished A Life In Parts by Bryan Cranston and really enjoyed hearing Bryan narrate it. I loved his acting in Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad and hearing him talk about some of that was awesome. I definitely recommend that book by the way. He's had such an interesting life. I also recently finished Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari. Hearing him narrate it was awesome as well. Aziz is in Parks and Recreation, which is one of my favorite shows of all time. I've completely skipped over why I've started listening to more audiobooks. Basically, I listen to a lot of music when I'm on campus. I'll listen to stuff on the bus to campus, before/between my classes, driving 3.5 hours home, etc. I didn't realize how much time I was spending on this, but every bit adds up. I'd rather listen to a few minutes of a book then a song I've heard a billion times. It's easier for me to listen to a book off my phone than lug around the book and have to put it away all the time. Honestly, listening to audiobooks is allowing me to get reading in where I wouldn't have been able to before. Once I find the right ones, I think I'll be set. I wouldn't switch over all my reading to audiobooks, because at times I zone out and completely miss everything that was read to me. It's then kinda hard to go back and find what you missed.

I still do love physical books as well. There's obviously just something special about physically flipping the pages of a book. I enjoy being able to physically see how much of a book I've read. This is the way I've read books for my entire life, so it's what I'm the most accustomed to. At times, books are better suited to a physical form if they've got pictures or lots of footnotes. My biggest issues with physical books are the size. Most are too inconvenient for me to carry around now. My school bag is already heavy enough as it is, so I'm not too inclined to add another somewhat heavy thing to it. Some books also get really heavy to hold after reading for a while, especially hardcovers and really long books. Lugging around a book can be annoying with having to constantly take it out/put it away.

Lastly, something I've gotten back into more recently is eBooks. I got a Kindle a few years ago, was really into it, and then didn't read as much for a few years in high school. I really liked the concept and experience of them, but for some reason, I moved away from it. Since I got back into reading tons of books this summer, I brought he Kindle back out. I've loved every second of it. One plus is the fact that I can have a huge number of books on a device that is the size of a single book. It's not heavy after hours of reading. The screen doesn't strain my eyes like a physical book will sometimes do. I didn't think I'd enjoying reading off a screen, since I already have to spend so much time staring at screens for school. Honestly though, the screen is a matte finish and looks very natural. It's so nice to be able to have access to tons of books when I'm out and about. I also love the accessibility of it. It's so easy for me to quickly read a chapter or so. Kindle can figure out your reading speed and then tell you how long you've got left in the chapter and book as a whole. I always like to read a chapter at a time at least, so it's nice I don't have to estimate how long it'll take. The biggest plus I have with eBooks is the fact that I can check out/return all my books from the comfort of my own home. I no longer have to go to the library to check out books, which is awesome. Sometimes it's nice to go to the library to browse the shelves, but most of the time, I already know what I'm looking for. I can just search the book on the eLibrary and have it on my Kindle within minutes. There's never a risk of me paying overdue fines either, as the books automatically return after the end of the loan period. I seem to read more with my Kindle, since it's so easy for me to do. I definitely recommend you try an eReader out if you're really into reading.

I believe I got to everything I wanted to stay. I didn't expect to enjoy eBooks or audiobooks at all, yet they've really changed the way I read books. Sorry this got so long winded. I love reading, and it's cool to try out new ways to enjoy it. Thanks for looking! Stay tuned for my September reading recap in a few days!

Updates!

Hey everybody! Sorry for the complete lack of posts the past few weeks. The fall semester just started, and I haven't gotten around to getting some posts up obviously. This post will kinda fill you all in with what to expect over the next few months. Videos and posts will be coming pretty regularly, probably every 5 to 7 days. I might take a brief break from the blog until October and then resume with the regularly scheduled posts. I'm not 100% certain on this though.

As far as what's coming, I have some review type posts I still need to get together. I've also got a lot of new ideas involving EDC gear, books, videos games, etc. One big video I have coming is my college EDC bag. The contents of my bag are all set. The only thing left for me to do is to find a good spot to film in my apartment. I also would like to show my gaming setup that I've got in my college space. I'm going to keep everything else under wraps for now, so just stay tuned for some cool stuff.

I also will be having a small sale soon with the SOG Snarl and the Kershaw GTC Hops. I've got this filmed too and need to upload it when I've got a chance to go to the post office. Don't expect to see any new gear for the next few months. College is draining me of cash at the moment, so I'd like to get some funds built back up before I jump into anything new.

Other than that, expect to see pretty much what you've been seeing lately. Once I sit down and do some planning, I should be good with posts and videos for a month or so at the very least. As always, if there's anything specific you want to see, just let me know. Thanks for all the support! Keep an eye out for some more posts and videos!

SOG Snarl Thoughts

I've absolutely hated carrying and using the SOG Snarl. I think it's a terrible option for EDC usage. I've still yet to find any decent, small fixed blades for my EDC. The Snarl is an awful knife all around. This will be a pretty short post, as I just want to say my major issues with this knife.

My biggest issue with the Snarl is how chunky and hefty it is. I'd never want to carry something with a blade that is this thick. I don't think it needs to be this overbuilt of a knife. With the added thickness of the knife, the knife is insanely heavy as well. It's not something I'd want to carry in the waistband for an extended period of time.

My next biggest issue is the ergonomics. They are absolutely terrible. I have yet to find a single comfortable way to hold this knife. I've tried using the handle without the holes, strictly the holes, and a combination of on the handle and in the holes. Nothing feels good at all. It's an incredibly awkward knife to use. The ergos alone make this knife unusable for me.

I will say there is one thing I like about this knife, and that is the sheath. It's a solid plastic sheath with a belt clip. Most sheaths don't come with a belt clip already attached, so that's a really nice touch. I like that it's a clip opposed to a loop, because I don't wear a belt that often. I can easily clip this to my pants and be good to go. One gripe about the sheath though is that it can only be carried horizontally. I don't have a wide frame like all you dudes, so carrying this horizontally makes this knife jut off of me a fair bit. I wish SOG had given the option to carry it vertically as well. I also dig the wharncliffe blade. It's a great blade shape for EDC tasks.

All in all, this knife is not worth your time or money. It's a piece of garbage, and one that I do not recommend at all. I don't understand how Brous blades are so popular. I've got a video coming soon that'll go a little more in-depth than this post. Thanks for looking! Sorry this was so short.

What I Read: August 2017

The final month of my summer has finally ended. I really prioritized reading this summer and read a lot of cool, different books. I've read a lot this month, since I knew I wouldn't have as much free time once school started. I read a bunch of real books and graphic novels. I like graphic novels because they're always so short and fast paced that I can just blow right through them. I've also checked out a lot of interesting books from the library, so those have been fun to read. This month I've read 28 books and that puts me at 101 for the year. Keep in mind 13 of those were graphic novels, while all the rest were actual books. I've hit 100 books for the year which is awesome! I'm not sure what my next goal should be, so I think I'll just keep reading lots of stuff and see how many I can get to before the end of 2017.

One graphic novel series I've started is The Walking Dead. I've read the first three volumes and liked them. They're not anything crazy to me, but they are fun to read and it's cool to see how they compare to the show. I stopped watching the show a few episodes into season 7. The show has really gone downhill, and it feels like they're dragging it out. Robert Kirkman is the dude who created The Walking Dead, and he really likes to drag things out too. There's like 20+ volumes of the comics, which is kind of ridiculous to me.

Some of the other graphic novels that I've read are volumes 3 through 6 of Ms. Marvel and volumes 2 and 3 of Paper Girls. I really enjoy both those series, as it's nice to see comics written with girls as the main characters. I recommend both series for sure! I also read book one of Preacher, which is somewhat interesting. It's not my favorite in the world, but I do think I'll continue the series.

Going onto actual books now, probably my favorite book I read this month was Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children. I loved the story and all the characters. It was a really fun, adventurous story. I'm excited to read the rest of the ones in the series. Another book I thoroughly enjoyed was To Pixar and Beyond. It's written by a guy who helped bring Pixar to prominence. I grew up watching tons of Pixar stuff, so it was really cool to hear all the struggles of the company and how they overcame them. The author did a really nice job of writing the book in a personal way that really connected with me. I didn't think the ending fit into the rest of the book, but everything else was great.

Let's get into some major letdowns. The first would be The Girl on the Train. I thought the plot was really stupid. I hated the characters and thought the book was really overhyped. It's really not that good. I also really hated The Devil In The White City. I did another review type post with all my thoughts in a separate post, so check that out here if you want to know why I didn't enjoy it either.

Last but not least, let me go through a quick rundown of some stuff I did and didn't enjoy. I loved Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. I enjoyed The Power of Habit, Grunt, and Paddle Your Own Canoe, while some "eh" or average books were Dangerous Minds, The Caped Crusade, and Good Clean Fun. I'm on a Nick Offerman kick at the moment and am trying to read all his books. He's hilarious, and his books really showcase his personality. Both Paddle Your Own Canoe and Good Clean Fun are his books. Good Clean Fun is more of a guide to how to do woodworking stuff, so it wasn't as applicable to me, but there were some nice anecdotes. I highly recommend Paddle Your Own Canoe if you're a fan of Nick Offerman at all. That's a wrap for this month. It'll be interesting to see how much I can read in September with school starting back up. Thanks for looking!

Lots of New Gear!

So this looks like it'll be the final gear haul type post of the summer. I don't anticipate buying new gear for the next few months, as college starts back up and I've got textbooks/food/other crap to buy. I have gotten to try a lot of gear over the course of the summer, so that should at least tide me over for a little while. I got a package in this past weekend from my good friend Laura. She's been watching my channel ever since I first started, and we've been giving gear back and forth to each other over the years. She's always super generous and sent me a heck of a lot of cool gear for my birthday! She's also loaning me a Benchmade to try for a little bit, which will be awesome. Huge thank you to her, because she definitely went above and beyond! I really appreciate it girl!

So from Laura, I got a sick variety of things. The Benchmade I've got on loan from her is the 705, which she was telling me is the older version of the 707 sequel and a smaller version of the 710. Initially, I like this 705 a lot. Benchmade's are always so smooth and the Axis lock is a joy to play with. The smaller size is super nice for EDC too. I'm excited to see how it carries. 

The other black knife is the Sanrenmu 681. I've heard a lot about Sanrenmu over the years, but never tried one for some reason. They make nice budget options, and I believe a lot of them are on the smaller side. This one is great quality and has super smooth action. The ergos are pretty comfortable, and it even has a clip, which is something you don't see a lot on smaller knives. 

She also threw in a SingFire 348 flashlight that reminds me a lot of the design of the Preon. It's a very sleek and simple light that is pretty bright. I like the design of it, so it'll be interesting to see how it carries. 

Laura is super awesome and threw in three different Victorinoxs: the Pioneer, Minichamp, and the Adventurer, which has a locking blade. I love the alox on the Pioneer/Minichamp and really dig the camo on the Adventurer. I had an alox Cadet a few years ago, but sold it because the tool set wasn't that different from what I usually carried. The Pioneer seems like a better option, since it's got an awl, which I could see being very handy. I'd never seen the Adventurer before, but it really intrigues me. The fact that it has a locking blade is really neat, and I could see myself throwing it in my hiking bag. It has different ergos than most Victorinoxs, which is pretty neat. It feels pretty comfortable in the hand. The Minichamp is a tool that I've wanted to try ever since I first got into knives. I love the size of my Classic, so the Minichamp seemed like a natural choice to pick up. I'm really impressed with the toolset they were able to fit in such a small package. It'll be cool to see whether it can knock the Classic off as my favorite multitool. 

And last but not least, on the same key ring as the Minichamp is the CRKT Snailor and a cool paracord lanyard. I've never gotten into paracord much, but I really dig the pattern and size of this one. The Snailor came out this year and is so much tinier than I expected. I think it looks really cute. Not sure how it'll function as a bottle opener, but at least it looks cool. They're pretty affordable too, less than $10 I believe. 

Again, thank you so much to Laura for everything! I can't wait to carry everything and see how it works out in my carry! I've also got one other thing to show you all that I picked up on Amazon. I'm trying to revamp my EDC bag and haven't been happy with how I've got everything organized within it. I've tried so many different pouches and cases, but nothing is exactly what I need. I need a case that is both versatile enough to hold a wide range of things and compact enough to not take up a ton of room in my bag but still hold a lot. You never know what you need to carry in an EDC bag, so I need something with a lot more versatility. I've absolutely loved the little Case Logic camera pouch I use to hold my EDC, so I decided to look at what they offer as a brand. I found two different camera cases that seem like they'd work out for me. I couldn't decide between one over the other and figured why not try out both. Both were around $20, so not like they'd break the bank. I think whichever one I prefer will be used in my EDC bag, and the other will actually be used as a camera bag for my GoPro, since that is what they're meant for. I'm not happy with the camera bag I currently use for my GoPro, so this purchase has the opportunity to be a double whammy. Here's a quick look at the one I'm thinking I'll use in my EDC bag. I really like how the organization is done. Camera bags always seem to be designed well with tons of versatility, so I'm thinking it will work out quite nicely. Stay tuned for a bag loadout video within the coming weeks once I get my bag all organized.

I'm super impressed with this case for the money. I love the bright orange interior! It looks cool and helps you see the contents inside. It's so bright I actually had to change my camera settings so you all could see it clearly. I'm very excited to see this thing full once I get it organized. I think I'm really going to like it. Thanks for looking! There will be tons of new videos on all this stuff sometime soon!

Monetization

Hey everybody! For the sake of full disclosure, I wanted to let you all know that I have started to monetize my YouTube videos. I've always sworn to never monetize my videos since ads are annoying, but as I put more and more time into making videos, I'd like to get a little bit of monetary value for my time. Every dollar I make will be put directly back into the channel for buying gear and what not. I'm not trying to turn this into a job or anything by any means. Being in college takes a lot of my extra spending money away, so this will just help supplement what I've got so I can keeping trying out new gear. Everything will stay the same with my videos, but now you may see some annoying ads. If you're not a fan of ads like me, install an adblocker on your computer so you never have to see them. You never know, I may find they aren't worth it as far as money making goes, so I may take them down. Stay tuned for more videos in the future! Thanks for all the support!

Spyderco Cricket Thoughts

The Spyderco Cricket is one of those knives I've always had my eye on ever since I joined the knife community. I always held off because they were a little too expensive for me, but I finally just went for it and picked one up earlier this year. A lot of stainless steel or titanium framelocks are super popular right now, especially the budget ones like the CRKT Squid and Pilar. The Cricket is an older knife, but it's everything the stainless steel framelock should be. I absolutely love mine and highly recommend it.

As with all Spydercos, the quality of this knife is great. I've had no problems with it at all. The design is very unique, and I love that about this blade. It might not be the most practical for EDC, but it has functioned well for me.

The blade shape is the most noticeable feature about this knife. That reverse S blade is so sick looking. It may not be the most practical, but it looks dang cool. This is a smaller blade with a blade length just under 2". I love the size and find it's nice as a backup knife. The steel is VG-10, which is fine for EDC tasks. It's not the fanciest steel by any means, but it works. The Spyder hole is great as you'd expect. There's no jimping anywhere on this knife. I honestly like that a lot, as the knife feels a lot cleaner and classier.

The stainless steel handles are surprisingly nice. I've always hated any sort of metal handles, but I've become a fan of these. The scales are very slim, which helps keep this knife on the lighter side. The handles are obviously very smooth and slick. I've never had any issues with not being able to hold onto it or have it slip out of my hand. The ergos are great. I can fit a full four finger grip on this knife. I do have smaller hands though, so for you dudes with bigger hands, it might be a three finger knife for you. It's super comfortable in the hand, and it's got the choil so you're more choked up. Lockup is very solid with the framelock, so no complaints there. The clip is tip-down and right side only. I don't mind that at all, but I know some people are more picky with their clips. The clip is the typical hourglass clip, and it carries quite well. This knife is so slim and decently light that I don't really notice it when I'm carrying it.

The only real complaint I have about the Cricket is the price. All of Spyderco's crazier designs always seem to be more expensive. This knife retails for around $70 on Blade HQ. I think that's ridiculous considering you're only getting stainless steel and VG-10. It's a cool knife, but I'm not sure it's worth that much. Luckily, I got mine cheaper. Otherwise, I would have never gotten the chance to try it out.

I love my smaller knives, and the Cricket is a great option for me. My only real complaint has to be the price, but the knife itself is as close to perfect as you can get. I love the design and how slim it is. A lot of stainless steel or titanium framelocks tend to be on the beefier side, so I'm glad this knife is so slim. I think this is one of the better options to get if you want something cool looking and classy. It's infinitely better than something like the CRKT Squid. I've really enjoyed carrying mine, and the form factor is great. I've seen some people use these as money clips, which is a really interesting concept. I definitely recommend you pick one up if you find it for a good deal. It's a super neat knife, and one that I enjoy carrying a lot. Thanks for looking!

Ontario Rat 1 Thoughts

The Ontario Rat line is one of the most well-known knife lines in this community. I've always hesitated to pick up a Rat 1 or 2 before, but I'm glad I've finally gotten the chance to try one. This is a fantastic knife, and one that I highly recommend.

For a $30 knife, the quality of this Rat 1 is great. The fit and finish is good, the action is super smooth, and there are no quality issues. I was shocked at how smooth the action is. Most budget blades have kind of gritty or tight action, but that's not the case with this blade.

The overall design isn't anything fancy. It's a design that just works and will function well with whatever you throw at it. I don't think the Rat 1 is the best for EDC, just because of how big it is. However, I'll be using mine for hiking/camping and for those times when I need a beater knife. It would really excel at those purposes, as this is a beefier and bigger knife.

The blade shape is simple and looks nice to me. It's a bigger blade, over 3.5" overall, but the actual cutting edge is only 3.25". That's a lot bigger than something I'd typically carry for EDC. Again, that's why I think this knife is better suited for camping and beater type usage. I personally wouldn't necessarily want to carry something this big everyday. The steel on this version is AUS-8, which is a perfectly adequate steel. I know there's lots of steel snobs out there, so if you want a slightly better steal, spend the extra $10 and get the D2 version. The one thing I wasn't the most excited about with the blade was the thumbstuds, but I've grown to like them a lot. Since the action is so smooth, using the thumbstuds isn't that big of a problem. I do occasionally miss the thumbstud when I'm trying to open the blade, but that's more my fault. There is also some jimping on the thumb ramp that nicely adds some extra grip.

Handle wise, the Rat 1 has killer ergos. The knife feels like it just melts in my hand. The edges of the handles are rounded off, so there are no sharp corners digging into your hand uncomfortably. The scales are a plasticky type material, which I'm perfectly fine with. I know some people hate plastic scales because they feel cheap. I've grown to love them, since they make the knife lighter, can have added textures, and have a wider range of colors. They've got a a slight texture to them, but they still feel pretty smooth in the hand. The lock on this knife is a liner lock, and I've had no issues with it. Lockup is pretty solid. The clip isn't anything special. It's your typical clip that carries well. This knife is on the heavier side, but surprisingly when I carry it in the waist band, I don't feel it all that much.

Like I mentioned earlier, this is a budget blade coming in around $30. That's a phenomenal deal for this awesome knife. I'd definitely pay that for a knife that will last you forever. There's all sorts of color variations if you're not into the plain black. You can also buy the $40 D2 version if you want a better steel than AUS-8. I like that Ontario has so many options with this blade.

All in all, this is one of the better knives I've tried this year. I don't have any complaints about it at all. I've got this particular one on loan from a fellow knife YouTube guy, Hydra572HQ. I was so impressed with this knife when I first got it from him that I went out and ordered one for myself immediately. I've had the chance to try out a few things on loan from different people in this community, and this is the first time I've ever actually gone out and bought whatever I had on loan. I think that kind of speaks to how great this knife is. I was always on the fence with picking this knife up, because it seemed so overhyped. Luckily, I was wrong, and I found a great blade. This is one of the better mid-sized knives I've tried in a while. I really liked the Native 5 I had, but the Rat 1 beats it for sure. The Rat 1 is cheaper, has better action, and has better ergos than the Native 5. I highly recommend you pick up a Rat 1 and even a Rat 2 as well. I'm even more impressed with the Rat 2 I picked up alongside the Rat 1. You can expect to hear my thoughts on the Rat 2 soon as well as a comparison type post. You can't go wrong with a Rat either way. This is one of those knives that I think every knife lover needs to own. Thanks for looking! Also, huge thanks to Hydra572HQ for loaning me this! Go check out his YouTube channel here!

Book Review: The Devil In The White City

I just finished The Devil In The White City, and I'd have to say I was utterly disappointed with it. If you've never heard of this book before, essentially it's about a serial killer that struck Chicago in the late 1800's. Since this is regarded as one of the better true crime books out there, I expected to love it a lot. Honestly though, it's more so a history of the World Fair that took place in Chicago with the serial killer as a mere afterthought. Sure it talks about the killer, H.H Holmes as he most famously went by, some, but not nearly enough to call this a true crime book. I think the author and publisher wanted to sell this boring book and needed some kind of hook to grab people's attention.

I would have been fine with reading a book about the World Fair in Chicago, since Chicago seems like a cool city. Though since it was advertised as being all about the murder, magic, and madness at the fair, I expected it to be primarily focused on what the serial killer did. The book flips perspectives throughout, but the two main focuses are the main architect of the fair and Holmes. I kept waiting and waiting for it to jump into how the serial killer picked his victims and eventually got caught. This book went on and on for hundreds of pages before you get into the juicy part. My favorite pages where H.H. Holmes is finally caught by a detective take place within the last 50 pages of the book. That's not what I signed up for. Granted, it was probably hard to find many sources and first hand accounts of what happened since this all happened more than a hundred years ago. The author obviously put a lot of time and energy into researching the fair, but I don't think there was enough about Holmes to have him be a part of the story.

The parts about the fair were interesting, but were long and rambly in places. The author dropped a lot of names at once in the beginning, and I never really understood how they were intertwined with the life of Holmes. I think the two events, the planning/building of the fair and the murders by Holmes, were just two events that coincidentally happened at the same time. To me, the title made it out like Holmes actively went to the fair ground to stalk and catch his victims. That wasn't the case at all. Holmes was psychotic dude for sure, but he was kind of underwhelming if that makes sense. I recently finished the epitome of true crime books, Helter Skelter, which talks all about Charles Manson and his cult's killings. Finishing Helter Skelter before this book probably didn't help the matters, because I found Manson's story so intriguing. Hearing Manson's side made it that much darker, and I think The Devil In The White City really lacked that more personal feel. Obviously writing this book in that way would be impossible, since it happened way back when.

All in all, this was an underwhelming book. I was so psyched going into it, but it never have got to be what I had expected. I don't recommend it unless you're big into the history. If I had to give it a rating out of 5 stars, I'd give it a 2/5. Thanks for looking!