Cool Things

1. K-BAR - I knew a green beenie NCO who was always amused when soldiers spent good money on "goat stickers" as he called them. In his opinion your much more likely to use your blade as a screw driver or a pry bar then as razor sharp instrument of war. He shared my affinity for the trusty K-Bar. A relatively cheap, very well designed knife that is just plain cool.
2. Airedale Terriers - I love large terriers. Airedales are tough, cool looking dogs who have tons of personality. They don't shed and have the longest teeth of any terrier and are more than happy to use them on you if you don't belong to their pack.
3. Woolrich Hudson Bay Six Point Blankets - Even with all the modern fabrics available, nothing exceeds the warmth and practicality of an old timey wool blanket. They're beautiful, tough and most importantly genuine.
4. Wilesco African Queen - When I was a kid we always had a toy steam engine in the house. This one is quite the balls and for nearly $600 bucks it ought to be. It's a working steam engine on a wooden model of the boat from the Bogey/Hepburn flick The African Queen. As a adult if your going to play with toys they should at least be very cool.
5. Marklin Live Steam Train - Although I'm not really a train aficionado, I do appreciate quality and authenticity. Marklin is to toy trains as Mercedes Benz is to automobiles, which is to say they are arguably the best. This is a "toy" train that is actually a working steam engine that runs on butane.
6. Beck Speedster- Here in West Hartford there is no shortage of middle aged men and women of a certain income level lining up in front of local watering holes in Porsche Boxsters, Jaguars, Maseratis etc. They're all nice cars, except for the new Jags which look like Ford Contours, but there is no excitement, no umami. For less than what you'd spend on many fancy cars you could have a replica Porsche Speedster or Spyder that out performs most other sporty cars and even the originals. I love authenticity, but a foolish consistency being what it is and the difference in price being what it is, $500,000, I'd love one of these critters.
7. Dominica Bay Rum - To me there is nothing like splashing on some Bay Rum after a good shave and a hot shower, I may smell like someones grandfather but screw it, I like the way it smells. You can buy it almost anywhere, even the J. Peterman company, if you can wade through the description:

   Bay Rum has a fairly quiet scent, less strong than anything called perfume, less strong than anything called aftershave, but not so quiet as to be boring. It is, in fact, quite sexy. It is sexy the way skin begins to smell from strong sun, salt water, steel drums, breaking waves, moving palm branches and giggling coming from somewhere.

8. Fobus Holsters - I like these things because they are cheap, require no break in period and hold your heater securely until you need it. I have an expensive leather holster that smells great and looks great but even after several years it's still too tight to carry, what's the point?
9. Fighting Horses - Despite all the cool thing technology can make there is nothing cooler than an Iberian fighting horse, a Lusitano or Andalusian. Supposedly these horses entered Spain from Carthage more than 2000 years ago, since then they have been bred for intelligence, speed, beauty and courage.
10. Real Bull Fighting Swords - Wouldn't be fun to be able to deduct these things on your 1040? How can you resist this description:

    Bullfigther, these pieces, used in the Spanish art of I goad, they are distinguished by the elegance of its streamlined leaves that do them of a great
    value for the collectors and professionals of I goad.