This is how it gets done, boys.

*WARNING* If you know me, work with me, interact with me on a regular basis and you would rather not hear about my nose hair, see photos of my nose hair or read about how I got rid of my nose hair then you don’t want to read this post. Move along.

A few weeks ago I was on the Art of Manliness forum seeking advice for a nose hair trimmer. Nose hair is something that I’ve gradually noticed becoming a part of my life over the last couple of years, but recently it has become more of an irritation to me because my wife is now noticing it and it bothers her and it has started tickling. This being my first time to deal with the issue of nose hair, I went to my favorite source for all things manly, The Art of Manliness, looking for a solution that did not involve tweezers, scissors or that scary freaking electric hoob-a-joob that I see at the department stores.

Enter Al Dickman and The Bullet, the ultimate nose hair trimmer. Al provided a solution on the forum in the form of a pitch for his product. I was sold in an instant and quickly added it to my holiday wish list. Why did I take to it so quickly without even trying it?

• No batteries
  I hate charging my beard trimmer and the idea of having another charger to keep track of or another stinking gadget to fill with batteries is enough for me to want to swallow a whole car battery’s acid and get the whole thing done with. Plus batteries are bad for the environment.
• No plucking
  The Bullet’s website claims that plucking can lead to infection. That seemed like a stretch to me, plucking sucks because it hurts and that’s enough for me. Recently, however, my kids have been prescribed some sort of nasal swab for an infection they have in their skin. Now I’m no doctor, but if a doctor thinks swabbing my kids’ nostrils will clear up an infection like that, then there is no way I’m going to dirty things up with gaping hair holes inside my honker.
• Small footprint
  This thing is small enough to fit easily in a dopp kit or man purse. Awesome.
• Stainless Steel Construction
  I’m a sucker for stainless steel. My beard trimmer feels cheap because it’s made from plastic that creaks every time I take it into my gigantic man-hands. Stainless steel is tough enough for the abuse that I’m sure to bring upon it.

Before The Bullet

Soon after posting that The Bullet would be a welcome addition to my stocking, Al contacted me about sending me one in return for writing this review and reporting back to the chaps at the forum on my experience. I used the Bullet the night I received it. Here are my first impressions:

• This thing is crazy small
  It was much smaller than I had imagined it being. I could probably just store the trimmer inside my nose for easy access when I need it.
• It’s solidly built
  For the size that it is, it feels heavy. Not so heavy that it is cumbersome. Just heavy enough to let you know that what you are holding is a finely crafted, well machined tool for grooming. There are only three parts to The Bullet; the bottom cylinder which contains the blade slides into the top cylinder which acts as a guard to keep you from cutting yourself. The two cylinders are kept together with a single screw.
• I had no idea how to use it
  I admit I was intimidated at first. What if I cut myself? What if I damage something in there? What if it gets lost in my nose? Fortunately The Bullet comes with documentation that explains how to use it and clean it.

After getting acquainted with my new nose hair trimmer I nervously positioned myself in front of the mirror and prepared myself for an experience completely alien to me. The Bullet works by holding the top cylinder with one hand and twisting the bottom cylinder back and forth to engage the blades. The movement was very smooth thanks to a small amount of lube between the cylinders.

I quickly found out that you can’t just stick it in and twist to get the job done. No. To properly trim my nose hair required a bit more thought. I found the best results were had when I gently placed the blade guards against the skin of my nostrils and then turned the cylinders. After a short amount of practice I had succeeded in removing most of the offensive hair creeping out of my nose. The documentation warned me not to expect a cleanly shorn nose which makes sense since the whole point of nose hair is to keep you from breathing in saw dust or whatever else might be in the air.

When I finished using the bullet I brushed out the hair using my badger brush but a tooth brush will work too. The only maintenance it will ever need is a bit more lubrication later on. Easy work.

After The Bullet

After showing the results to my wife, I felt confident that The Bullet had done it’s job. It was painless and will become easier the more I use it, which will be more and more often as I get older. But that’s okay, the craftsmanship displayed in The Bullet will insure that it is with me until I croak or become so old that I don’t give a crap about nose hair. And in the case that I lose it, I know I can replace it for only $35. Not a bad price for something that once you start using it you’ll never stop.

Pros:
No batteries! No plucking, scissors or electric motors in your nose! Small size. Well constructed. Easy to maintain and clean. Well priced.

Cons:
Small enough to lose (but it comes with a case). More expensive than what you can get at a department store. May take some practice (but doesn’t everything?).

Price: $35

Where to buy: www.thebullet.tv

When I first started making breakfast I used a boxed baking mix like Bisquick for the pancakes. Since then, at the urging of my wife, I have begun to make pancakes from scratch. I’ve often been frustrated with pancakes served at home because they never quite tasted like the ones at iHop. I visited Google and soon came upon a top secret recipe for iHop pancakes. These pancakes are bad to the bone! Since finding the recipe I have altered it to use whole wheat flour and I ad a touch of vanilla extract. The result is a sweet pancake that tastes a little hardier and is nutritionally justified (somewhat) thanks to the whole wheat. I’ll admit a pancake breakfast isn’t the best thing to eat, but I’m trying to make it better by altering recipes, using turkey bacon instead of pork, and using low-calorie jams and syrups.

In the past week I have found two new resources to help me get better at cooking and, hopefully, do a better job feeding my family foods that will keep them healthy.

startcooking.com
I found this website via Guy Kawasaki’s blog. Guy has a recipe for his famous teriyaki sauce at startcooking.com along with dozens of instructional videos and tons of recipes. The videos are perfect for those with little attention span. Everything is shown to you quickly and the videos use stop motion, bright colors, and fun music which keeps things quirky and casual. The entire site is designed and written in this manner which puts me at ease and presents cooking as a skill that is accessible to anyone. The creator of the site and host of most of the videos, Kathy Master, is very personable and can totally be my friend.

Jessica Seinfeld: Deceptively Delicious
Okay, the above link is to Oprah’s website, but hear me out! I work with a lot of ladies. Ladies who are wise in the ways of feeding their kids and wiser now thanks to Oprah. Yesterday the ladies at the office were telling me about Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry’s wife?) who had a hard time getting her family to eat their vegetables. She punched this problem in the throat by sneaking pureed vegetables into foods like macaroni and cheese, brownies, and pancakes. She recently appeared on Oprah for some demonstrations and to pimp her new book. I have not tried any of these recipes yet, but I did download the sweet potato pancake recipe (find it using the link above) and this weekend I will modify my current pancake recipe to include pureed sweet potatoes (I’m thinking about just using baby food). I’ll let you know how it goes.

Oh and by the way, I’m still waiting for my Oprah connection to pay off. So if anybody with Oprah Infulence™ is reading, I’ll appear on the show at an affordable rate;-)

UPDATE: The sweet potato pancakes were great and the kids liked them too! I made a ton so we had them for Sunday breakfast with sliced bananas. Delicious! Also, thanks to startcooking.com, I am now an omlette master. I prepared bad-to-the-bone omlettes for the wife and I and they looked and tasted great!

I’m a sucker for free samples and months ago I signed up for samples from True Lemon. True Lemon makes crystallized powders from lemon, lime and orange juice that come in sweetener type packets. When I got my samples in the mail I added the powder to a beer (pretty good), a diet soda (good, but not really the point), to water (good again) and I sprinkled the lime over popcorn once with some chili powder (awesome).

These little packets make a bottle of water a lot more interesting and they do it without artificial sweetener. The flavors are very natural and bright tasting. As an added bonus, you can take them to restaraunts and use them in your beverage instead of having a sketchy, potentially filthy, lemon wedge floating in your drink. So, if you’re a sample junkie like me or are looking for an alternative to soda, check out that article and then visit True Lemon’s website.

Content at the new blog is sparse but then, it doesn not really launch for another month and a half. Good luck J.D.