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The Uncommon Life

The Uncommon Life

For the Love of Dad

June 8, 2010

Ask anyone what comes to mind when they think of Father’s Day and I’ll bet you a shiny nickle that at least one of these five things will be the answer: ties, grills, sports, watches and/or cufflinks and potato salad. Alright, so maybe I’m the only one who constantly thinks about potato salad.

But you get my point. While Mother’s Day is filled with tears, touching cards and over-the-top gifts, poor old dad is usually stuck with a hideous tie. Not this year! Dads, hold on to your grills because this year UG is gonna shake things up!

For the boozer:


On The Rocks Drink Chillers

On the Rocks Set


cognanc glasses

Cognac Glasses


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The Uncommon Life

Striking Out

June 8, 2010
Melody Lanes

Last Wednesday, I am proud to announce that I won the very prestigious worst bowler award when the UncommonGoods team went bowling at Melody Lanes. And let me tell you, the competition was fierce, given that only two people managed to get a score higher than 150.

kira

Also, many claimed that the greasy food (pizza, zucchini sticks and curly fries) made it difficult to hold onto the bowling balls. But in the end, no one could match my complete and utter lack of bowling skills.

food

In one round, I managed to heave the ball down the alley, only to have it end up in the gutter. No surprise there, except the ball was moving so slowly that it stopped and started to roll backwards! It lost momentum in the middle of the gutter, and our brave CTO Casey ran out to fetch it, not realizing that the floor is really slick! He didn’t fall, thankfully, since an injury might have made him the worst bowler by default.

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The Uncommon Life

Introducing: The Scrap-Cycler

June 4, 2010

composter

After three weeks of  educating the community about composting, reviewing 94 amazing submissions and figuratively being up to our elbows in compost – the ultimate composter has finally been chosen!

Congratulations to Gail Loos, who designed this countertop kitchen scrap grinder, with removable bin and biodegradable liners. UncommonGoods, Quirky and the LES Ecology Center loved the thoughtfulness put into Gail’s design. A fun fact from Gail: “While testing my homemade prototype, I was able to reduce the volume of my kitchen waste by 80% or more! But the ultimate benefit is this: it wildly increased the speed at which kitchen scraps were converted to compost by exposing more surfaces to worms and other composting agents.”

Thanks to everyone who voted and participated in Compostapalooza…but your work is not done yet!  Before this composter goes into production, we need you to influence the final design with your opinions and feedback. Hop on over to Quirky and complete this quick and easy product research survey. Not only does your opinion really, really matter, but you will also get a small percentage of the product sales because you influenced the design!

The Uncommon Life

Bottles Ahoy!

June 4, 2010

plastiki

While a lot of us dream of setting sail for a few weeks, few people would dare to do it on a plastic boat! Last March, a crew of brave souls set sail from San Fran to Sydney, Australia. Plastiki, the vessel made of 12,000 reclaimed plastic bottles, took 38 days to make the voyage  but arrived safely at Christmas Island on April 27th.

Read more about the day-to-day life, hardships and adventures of the crew here on the NY Times.

The Uncommon Life

Gift Lab #4: Speaker-Easy

June 2, 2010
Balloon Speaker - Ameet

Product Name: Balloon Speaker

Background Research: I love to listen to music, but find headphones constricting. I want to be able to listen to my music throughout my house and when I travel.

cute little speaker

Hypothesis: I’m hoping that the balloon speaker will be just as easy to use and carry as headphones.  I also like the idea of sharing my music with others, but am skeptical about sound quality.

Experiment: I’d like to test speaker out around the house, in the kitchen and the bathroom, and bring it with me on trip to New Orleans.

Results: The balloon speaker is remarkably easy to use. I just opened the box and connected to the headphone jack in my iPod, and instantly I had music!  I was also impressed with the battery life (5 hours of continuous play) and it can be recharged by connecting to your laptop.

Fits in suitcase

It’s even more lightweight and portable than I imagined. It fits in a cute little pouch (about the size of my hand), and has no issue getting into a suitcase or getting past airport security.

It’s also super cute! Did I mention it looks just like a clown’s nose?

Music in the Kitchen

I’ve especially enjoyed using the balloon speaker in the kitchen and listening to podcasts of This American Life while I am cooking.  It’s here I really appreciate the size of the balloon speaker, considering the small size of my apartment’s kitchen.

I’ve also used it while getting ready in the morning – taking it with me into the bedroom and the bathroom (note: unit is not waterproof).

Sound quality was pretty good. It’s a great alternative for headphones, but does not replace a home stereo. For parties or more “serious listening” I’d recommend an iPod Docking Station or our Ceramic Speakers.

Conclusion: I love my balloon speaker!  I’m not someone who collects a lot of stuff, but this is a really cute and practical item. I definitely plan to take it on my other trips this summer – especially the beach. I think it’s a great gift for any music lover and it’s priced under $50.

The Uncommon Life

Compostapalooza — It’s Feedback Time!

May 28, 2010

compostapalooza

With 94 brilliant entries, the Compostapalooza challenge is off to a great start! Now we just need your input. Vote for your favorite composter idea (you get up to three votes), submit comments on how ideas could be improved or just take a peek at the competition. Hurry– get to Quirky and start influencing!

The Uncommon Life

A New Kind of Corporation

May 27, 2010

UncommonGoods has been a proud member of B Corporation since back in 2007. But lately, it seems the whole world has been catching on to this sustainable, economical and just plain remarkable trend! Click on this Forbes article to see what the experts had to say about this shift in the way corporation leaders view their responsibilities.

Bcorp