Essentials: Cafe Quality Cappuccino at Home

For years I never really drank coffee, and when I did I made sure it was loaded up with cream and sugar. Caffeine doesn’t do much for me, and all the coffee I had tried tasted terrible by itself, so I didn’t see much point. This all changed after I finally went to a good local coffee shop and ordered a cappuccino. It was incredible, even without sugar— that taste you imagine when you smell coffee brewing. Not burnt and bitter, but roasty and rich. It turns out there’s a big difference between bad coffee and good coffee. Imagine if the only toast you’d ever had was stale and burnt: you’d think it was terrible, and you could only eat... Read More

Today in our Essentials series we’re going to take a look at something that's beginning to take off for adults in what was once a child dominated field: electric scooters. If you walk through the streets of cities like Austin, Paris, St. Louis, or (especially) San Francisco you'll inevitably see rechargeable electric scooters wherever you go. Scooters have become a unique and relatively inexpensive way to quickly explore a city. For clarification, we're not talking about the large electric Vespa-like scooters, we're talking about simple two wheeled kick scooters (like the Razor brand scooters) with an electric motor. It's pretty easy to get started... Read More

In our Essentials series, we like to feature things that may seem difficult at first but are rewarding once you get into them. And as always, we weren't paid to feature any of these items - they're the products we personally use and have found to be the best. Today, we’re going to take a look at what you need to get started with great teeth and fresh breath. Have you ever gone on a date and realized your breath wasn't fresh or, possibly worse, went in for a good night kiss and immediately felt a pang of regret because of improper dental hygiene? You're not alone. After a quick Google search I found a random article that... Read More

Today, we’re looking at what I think is one of the greatest hobbies of all-time. Now, I’m a little bit biased since I’ve been collecting baseball, football, hockey, and basketball cards since I was four years old – but there’s a reason for my bias: this hobby is fun, exciting, and can even lead to some real financial gain. This article is going to be a brief overview of the hobby with some of the key points of which to be aware, and some links for deeper learning. We hope you enjoy! And if you really love what you see please join us at the National Sports Collectors Convention this summer – it’s a blast, and we’ll be on-site doing some... Read More

In our Essentials series, we like to feature things that may seem difficult at first but are fun and rewarding once you get into them. Today, we’re going to take a look at what you need to get started with a great cup of coffee at home. I recently visited Italy with a few friends, and it was my first time in the country – and my first time trying their coffee. I’ve always been someone who believed that most coffee tastes the same and as long as you add enough sugar and cream you’ll be able to enjoy any cup of ‘joe’. After trying more Italian coffees than I can count, my mind was changed. Once you have a good cup of coffee, it’s hard to go... Read More

In our Essentials series, we like to feature things that may seem difficult at first but are fun, rewarding, or both once you get into them. Today, we’re going to take a look at what you need to get started with cigar smoking. Recently, I took a trip to Havana, Cuba and spent some time in one of the La Casa del Habano stores on the island. These are locations that are owned by the Cuban state tobacco company and the only place on the island that you can be assured that you’re buying a genuine Cuban cigar - there are a lot of fakes available, even in Havana. Cuba is known for making some of the best cigars in the world, but there’s a... Read More