“Excuse me, I asked for no ice.”

Not to sit here and throw stones, but I recently bought some whiskey stones after seeing them on Uncrate– one of my favorite shopping blogs- and now I’m a bit disappointed.

They certainly *look* good, don't they?

These soapstone cubes are meant to be placed in the freezer, then into your favorite glass of whiskey to give it a bit of a chill; the whole appeal is that they don’t contaminate the drink with tap water like real ice cubes would, which is a pain for purists who like their whiskey neat.  Sure- these things don’t dilute the whiskey, but the company failed to mention that they don’t make the drink any colder, either.

I spent $20 on a set of nine of these sleek cubes (they look classy, I’ll give them that), but save yourself the money- and disappointment- and just use a chilled glass.

The Dyson Airblade: Two Dry Thumbs Up

I recently encountered the Dyson Airblade – let me relate my experience to you: I was washing my hands in a public restroom on the UCLA campus, and I saw this thing on the wall.  My hands were wet, and I assumed it could do nothing for me in the way of hand-drying, so I kept looking for paper towels. None to be found.  I was faced with a dilemma: wipe my hands on my shorts (not a problem), or inspect the device on the wall (requires novel thought).  What would you do?

It's pretty handy.

After some internal dialogue, I decided to go for it- it said Dyson on it, which conjured up the memory of the soothing voice of that nice British man from the vacuum commercials.  It had a diagram telling me exactly what to do. I did it. My hands were met with a wonderfully massaging nonstop sheet of air.  My hands were dry within seconds- much faster than the push-button hot air jets, and much faster and less wasteful than a fistful of paper towels.  No doubt Dyson was prompted to invent the airblade out of frustration with the weak-sauce push-button hand dryers that exist in practically every English bathroom.  You know the type- your hands get nice and warm but you still have to rub them on your shorts.  Honestly?  Not gonna fall for that one, queenie.

The Dyson Airblade is a party for your hands.  Use one, it’ll change your life.