Products I wholeheartedly endorse

[monster]

(not the wipers, the product you put on the windshield). The unnatural movement of the water bothers and distracts me, I think

[xoxoxoBruce]

It's the mathematician in you, it makes the water chaotic.

[Beest]

Our opinion here at work, after doing product and development testing, is buy the cheapest wipers, and replace them more often

[Gravdigr]

I don't like driving in the rain at night with the Rain-X. The beaded water turns into ten thousand little streaming white dots I have to focus past, and, after a while my eyes are strained.

[BigV]

I have had excellent experiences Rain-X. When it didn't go great, I was able to make it great but reapplying the Rain-X. But only after cleaning the glass very thoroughly and drying it completely.

The water does just... Leave. I can almost drive without the wipers it works so effectively.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The hard part is to get it on so you don't get glare driving into the sun with a dry windshield.

[Undertoad]

Right now rolling with the Rain-X wipers that apply Rain-X while they wipe. So far so good for the first 300 miles... I can't see how this will last more than a few months though

[tw]

Originally Posted by monster

(not the wipers, the product you put on the windshield).

That is why I spend a little more for wiper blades from Honda. Those wiper blades sold in auto stores (ie Anco, Trico, etc) streak when new - never last more than 3 months. My last Honda blades went over two years. Normally I get about 14 or 18 months before the blades leave tiny streaks of water - must be replaced.

[glatt]

I find that those little streaks of water are caused by specks of leaves or some other debris that is getting under the blade and that I just need to get out of the car in the rain and lift the wiper up and run my finger along the length of the blade to clean it off. Fixes it 90% of the time. The other 10%, the blade is shot and I need a new one. Or the windshield is pitted and I need a new one.

[footfootfoot]

I like rainex. You need to really clean the hell out of your windshield first. I also like the rainex windshield wiper fluid. I like the patterns of the water beading up, then again 90% of my driving does not coincide with other drivers on the road.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by BigV

I have had excellent experiences Rain-X. When it didn't go great, I was able to make it great but reapplying the Rain-X. But only after cleaning the glass very thoroughly and drying it completely.

The water does just... Leave. I can almost drive without the wipers it works so effectively.

Yesssss!!! Same here!

Originally Posted by tw

That is why I spend a little more for wiper blades from Honda. Those wiper blades sold in auto stores (ie Anco, Trico, etc) streak when new - never last more than 3 months. My last Honda blades went over two years. Normally I get about 14 or 18 months before the blades leave tiny streaks of water - must be replaced.

My Honda blades didn't last 6 months.

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

I like rainex. You need to really clean the hell out of your windshield first. I also like the rainex windshield wiper fluid. I like the patterns of the water beading up, then again 90% of my driving does not coincide with other drivers on the road.

Thisssss

[xoxoxoBruce]

When I first got my SSR the Chevy dealer used genuine Chevy part number blades. I'd have them replaced once a year, although they didn't always need it. Then the dealer started using auto parts store blades like the public buys and I couldn't get more than three months out of them.

[BigV]

Twil has generous tracts of land, and I enjoy roaming over them, drinking in the natural beauty.

*ahem*

And, I keep the lawn mowed. It's a good sized lawn, the front could host a vollyball court and the back could hold a tennis court and the bleachers. Late last year, the previous lawnmower died. I bought a replacement which I killed by shortening the stub of a four inch steel pipe previously used to indicate a bus stop. I'm over that now, and the mower is too. The video of me trying to unfuck the end of the shaft back into concentricity is pure tragi-comedy.

The next weekend, we went to Sears. Young people in the audience can google it. Twil basically let me pick and I picked the only Honda powered self propelled model they have. It was a few hundred dollars, waaaay out of my Goodwill budget, but Twil goes first class. I got it home, gassed it up and mowed the hell out of the lawn.

Twice.

And then I parked it under the rhodedendron while the rains came, having no room at the in, or the barn, or the carport. We had an accidental sunny day in January and she asked me, "is that the lawnmower over there?" I said yes, and moved it to the carport. Now she can't park her car as far forward as she could before, but then she just got a smaller car--problem solved.

Fast forward to today. I moved the mower to the driveway and opened the petcock, yanked the starter cord, once, twice, and rrrrRRRROOOOAAARRRR.

Third fucking pull after sitting outside since... August? Eight months? D.A.Y.U.M. No tire-inflation-fluid, no colorful language... I did put my beverage down, but that turned out to be an overabundance of caution.

Honda, I raise my glass to you! Your engineers have got *all* their shit in one sock, and I thank you for producing a first-fucking-class product, which I wholeheartedly endorse.

Kampai!

[monster]

Our 16yo Briggs and Stratton didn't start on the first pull, but after a second prime, it did start. I was pretty damn impressed

[glatt]

Something like 200 million years of instinct built up over time into my DNA tells me that when my alarm goes off at around 6AM and it is absolutely pitch black outside, I should go back to sleep. The only thing awake out there is saber tooth tigers, and they will kill me because I can't see them, but they can see me. Just go back to sleep. Do it. Go back to sleep.

But the beeping alarm reminds me about the shit modern world we live in where I have to drag my ass off to work and sit at a fucking desk all day, so I eventually rouse and head to the shower.

If only it wasn't so dark!

Enter the simulated sunrise alarm clock.

You can spend a few hundred bucks or you can spend thirty. You'll get basically the same plastic crap from China either way. I spent thirty.

Last night, I set the alarm clock. This morning at 5:30 the clock lit up just ever so slightly. Then it got slowly brighter and brighter over the next 30 minutes. Finally after 30 minutes, it was at peak brightness, and gentle wave sounds started playing.

I had stirred from my sleep when the light was just a little bit bright and the alarm hadn't sounded yet. I dozed back off. Then I stirred from my sleep again and was in that awake but not quite awake state as the light got a little brighter. Then bit later, the alarm sounded and I was awake and alert. Getting up was easy.

How bright is the light? Not super bright. Kind of like a desk lamp shining in your face if you have it on your bedside table. It's probably not bright enough if you have it across the room.