1.  A friend recently purchased a nearly 100 year old home.  I helped him move. There were rooms in that house that had ceilings that were roughly 6 1/2 feet tall or slightly less.  After two nasty head bangs, I finally got the idea.  The basement of my home has a large beam that I have to duck for, but thankfully that’s about the only thing in the house.  Not that I don’t bang my head on it occasionally anyhow, I guess I never learn.  You’d think with as much damage as my forehead and brain have suffered since I reached adult height that I would have figured this out by now.  Apparently not.

2.  Content?  What content? I’ve got some great articles partially written or completely in the can, but they aren’t exactly “timely” for our current season.  They are more or less for summer sports and things that don’t really apply to those of us in North America who are currently starting into our winter months.  Over the next few months, I’m scheduling time to head up to the Detroit Auto Show (again) as well as the International Motorcycle Show at the IX Center in Cleveland.

3.  Speaking of the Detroit Auto Show… It’s always unforgivably crowded, and often hot as hell inside the Cobo center.  I plan to go again this year and do reviews of the vehicles I test on the show floor, and I’m hoping my friend from Chicago will be able to meet me there again this year.  He served a few purposes that were somewhat helpful.  First off, he tells me when I just look plain stupid in something because I’m cramped.  Secondly, he’s pretty average size, so he will sit in the car with me so that I can gauge weather a passenger would be comfortable in the car riding with a Big and Tall guy.

4.  But we need to go to a few other auto shows, as well. I plan to hit a few of the regional auto shows here in the Midwest simply because they are significantly less crowded and I can get more seat time in vehicles that are generally impossible to get that same time in at the Detroit show.  Consequently, these smaller shows usually don’t have the brand diversity that an international show will have, so there will be drawbacks to these shows as well.

5.  Ski gear for the Big and Tall is gonna be a tough one to write.  I need to spend more time collecting information as well as get to a few gear outlets to try some stuff on.  If I can’t find what I need to write a decent article, I may just make some footnotes about what I bought and post the information.

6.  I still haven’t gotten the 5.11 Tactical Pants hemmed yet to give them a full review.  I’ll try to get to that next week.

7.  Zappos.com is giving away free VIP level account upgrades to both new and existing members. They sell Big & Tall shoes and have a pretty good selection.  I’ve never purchased from them, but have heard good things.  With the new VIP status I’m hoping to get a pair to try out and do a review of their site.

Happy Holidays!

Categories: Largely Miscellaneous
No Comments »

I really need to keep writing and update this site more, however I’m not going to commit to the yearly phenomenon known as National Blog Posting Month.  What I am going to do is commit to getting out posts on a more frequent basis with my day-to-day thoughts.  I still intend to do structured reviews and articles, but this will be a way for me to get my thoughts out there that will never really make it to the stage of a structured article or post, yet keep the site moving forward with new-ish content.

Therefore, I bring to you:  Largely Miscellaneous.  My collections of random thoughts related to (but maybe not always) being Big & Tall.

1.  Known by some and a huge surprise to others, but my wife and I used to own and autocross (a form of amateur timed racing) a MINI Cooper.

The car was my wife’s daily driver, my occasional fun-car and boy was it a hoot to drive.  However, as all things do, it got old and had a lot of miles.  We had a baby and thus it was time for a change.  After long deliberation, we chose a vehicle and sadly were forced to trade it in on a gently used 2007 Honda Element.  I’ve been lusting after an Element for a while, and even gushed about it on this site, but other things always took priority.  I’m glad we finally took the plunge.

2.  The 5.11 Tactical Pants I ordered from L.A. Police Gear on clearance have arrived.  I talked about them in a previous post here.  After trying them on and wearing them around the house for a day or so, I have to say I’m pretty impressed…  however only time will tell once I’ve spent a full day wearing them with a belt on and trying to do my everyday job with them.  Also, they come un-hemmed in the larger waist sizes, so I need to have them hemmed by my tailor before I can do a full review.  I’m impressed enough to order another few pairs in different colors and do a long term review.  But then again, when I find something that fits well enough to warrant purchasing, I usually buy 2 to 3 if quantities are available.

3.  Follow @sizeoflife on Twitter.  My updates are protected, but just request a follow and let me know that you’re a reader from the site.

4.  It’s time for new ski gear, mine is done for.  My ski boots were purchased second-hand and the straps are finally to a point of being unrepairable.  Looks like I may be writing a new article on this as I go through the purchasing process.  My friends and I usually do a ski trip sometime in February, so I need to get this done soon so I can spend a few days on the local hills getting used to the new gear.  If you’ve got any recommendations, let me know in the comments line…  I’m specifically on the hunt for new boots, the bindings and skis should come pretty easily.

That’s all for now!  Questions, comments or rude remarks always welcome in the comments section below.

Categories: Largely Miscellaneous
No Comments »