Gadget Alert, "Money Melons," and Other Musings

The real money melon.

Krusty the Clown once said that honeydew is the "money melon." Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski and I might have a few things in common, but our views on sweet round fleshy fruit cannot be more different.

For me, cantaloupe is where it's at; "it" meaning "melony goodness" and "at" meaning "juices running down my chin."

The problem with cantaloupe — or any melon, for that matter — is getting through its protective shell, eliminating the pits that trip you up and spoil things, and reaching the good part. I could use that last sentence as a profound way of explaining how that also applies to the mystery of interaction and what makes human relationships truly human, but quite frankly whenever someone says "melons" I can only think of boobs.

I found a gadget that helps tackle the melon-carving problem. If you're looking for a gadget to help you get more boobs, you'll have to seek advice elsewhere.

Silly Gagdet Alert: Fiskars Momentum Reel Mower

I'm not sure why I'm calling this series of posts "Silly Gadget Alert." The gadgets I buy are certainly not silly. Some of them are definitely impractical and eventually unused, even if I acquired them with good intentions, like the FoodSaver that lingers as a dust collector in my basement.

Considering my love/hate relationship with lawn maintenance, I became very frustrated when my attempt at do-it-yourself mower maintenance techniques — changing the spark plug and air filter for the first time in my John Deere's nine-year history — did nothing to improve its performance.

When my gas can went empty and I computed how much it would cost to fill, I finally decided to take a plunge I'd wanted to take for years: buying a reel mower.

Silly Gadget Alert: Zoku Ice Pop Maker

Hell yes.

This will be the first of a series of posts where I discuss gadgets and gizmos that I have bought and (I hope) do not regret buying.

I was in a Williams Sonoma, the kind of place I can get lost in the way a automobile fanatic can lose himself in a Maserati showroom, and I spotted a curious device that stirred in me a need I didn't realize I had.

Namely: I need a machine that makes ice pops in under 10 minutes!

I enjoy ice pops. They're not my favorite frozen treat, but they're very handy (and cheap) in a pinch. Just toss into the freezer a handful of Fla-Vor-Ice pops from the large box of ten thousand you can get at Costco and within a few hours, you're good to go. They don't have many calories (if you refrain from eating them by the dozen, as I've sometimes done), and they can be more refreshing than a glass of water.

But I realized that I wanted something more from my ice pops...