I bought this knife when I was about 12 years old. I still have it. As you might guess, it’s a little too bulky to carry around in my pocket. But I do throw it in the luggage when we’re heading for an overnight.
When I bought it, I was under the illusion that bigger was better. And at the time, the Victorinox Champion was the biggest and most feature-laden model available. I paid $19 for it, which was a lot of money to me back then. (The latest equivalent has a few more features and costs $99.)
I am amazed that the basic design has remained the same over all those years. The seventh-generation Porsche 911 looks similar to the original 1963 model. When a design is good, it’s worthwhile to explore deeply the reasons for changing it, before a re-design.
What is the thing you’ve had longer than anything else?
Growing up in the late ’60s and early ’70s, we kids knew there was a condition in our home for watching TV. Our dad had a firm rule that the commercials had to be turned down! As this was before the invention of remote control devices and “Mute” buttons, it involved jumping up from your seat as soon as a commercial break started, running to the TV set and turning the volume knob counterclockwise all the way. Then the whole process would be repeated in reverse once the show was back on. He did this because he wanted to spare us (and the adults) from the experience of having commercial jingles running in our heads (or humming them around the house). In those days, most commercials contained a jingle (song) written specifically for the product, and they were indeed quite catchy. A few must have snuck through from those infrequent times when commercials weren’t turned down – to this day, I can sing you the opening bars of “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” or “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.” (Yes, cigarette commercials were allowed on TV for part of that time.)
When you buy a car, you have a choice to make: fun or practical. Fun = expensive. Practical = saving money in the long or short run.
Last summer we went to Paris.
One surreal moment was seeing scores of Chinese people getting wedding pictures taken in front of the 
I love writing. As in, taking a pen out and dragging it across a piece of paper. It’s a dying art.
It’s hard to operate a remote when you’re asleep.
I love digital cameras. I’ve owned something like eight different cameras over the course of roughly ten years. I keep upgrading, as they continue to get more powerful. My latest is a 
On Christmas afternoon, we went sledding near Genesee, Colorado. The hill we chose is about 20 minutes’ drive from our house. The sledding was in the shadow of the “Sleeper House” – named that after its appearance in 
