Domestic Geek

I became aware of a site to get t-shirts printed online called CustomInk.com a few years back while working at a screen printing shop. I fell in love with their straight-forward ordering process and "Design Lab" product creator is one of the best in the business. I often wondered with sites like this, why would people deal with the hassle of working like a shop like ours?

CustomInk.com has just about every product imaginable to put your design on: garments such t-shirts, tanks, baseball jerseys, sweats, polos, hats and fun stuff like umbrellas, mousepads, teddy bears. You need to check out the site to see the wide selection available. They're not selling cheap, junky shirts, either. Choose from well known brand names such as Hanes, Gildan, Champion, Anvil, Jerzees and many more.

I'm really impressed that they decided to upgrade the Design Lab. It only used to work in IE on windows, but it seems to work just fine in Firefox and on both a mac and pc. You can choose from their many stock images and font to create the idea you have in mind, or follow their detailed instructions to create art of your own and upload it. They also provide a great demo on how to use the Design Lab. You can save the design and send it colleagues who need to look it over. It's all very cool!

Marcus is wanting some new shirts for his gaming group. I know we'll be using CustomInk.com to order those shirts.

It never fails that when one bad thing happens, more come in a cluster.

The battery in my UPS died recently and it started a chain of battery failures. My camera batteries will no longer hold a charge. The motherboard battery on my mac is getting weak. My laptop's battery won't hold a charge for more than about 20 minutes (kind of misses the point of being portable when I always have to find a plug right away). I have to be really close to my car for my door remote to lock/unlock. Heck, even Marcus mentioned that he thinks he may need to get Watch Batteries soon.

It's frustrating trying to purchase these locally because even the nearby specialty battery store didn't carry my laptop battery when we stopped in. Fortunately we have the Internet and online stores like LowCostBatteries.com to make our life easier. I checked and they carry every single battery I need to replace right now. They even carry the hearing aid batteries that my father uses. I'll definitely be making a purchase from these guys in the very near future.

Do yourself a favor and save yourself the gas money and the headaches and just get your batteries online and delivered to your door. Do something fun, like draining the battery on your video iPod instead!

I love military surplus stores. They usually have so many cool things to purchase. There are a couple of good ones in the Denver area, but they are way over on the west side of town and that's quite the trek. With the cost of gas anymore, I'm finding I prefer to do the shopping online. There is also the added benefit of not having to deal with sales clerks. I found a really cool surplus store called Army Navy Mall that carries a lot of the same products I've seen locally plus a whole lot more.

If you haven't noticed, camo clothing is getting quite a resurgence in popularity. It comes in so many cool color combinations, too! You're no longer stuck with green — there are blue, gray, red, tan and even pink camo for the ladies. I'm thinking of getting myself a pair of camo sneakers or a hoodie for camping this summer. Boonie hats are good for keeping your head dry in the rain. I purchased one for Marcus a few years ago and he loves it. Army Navy Mall carries one in blue that I'm considering.

Besides clothing, Army Navy Mall carries camping and hunting gear, flags, military-themed gifts, police equipment, flashlights and optical equipment and so much more — all at very low prices! Their site is well laid out, so browsing or finding a specific item is incredibly easy. The shipping charges are in line with any other online retailer and in-stock items are shipped 1-2 days after your order.

If you're in the market for military or outdoor related merchandise, give Army Navy Mall a try.

A few years ago, I really started to become a Mary Engelbreit fan. She does such wonderful, colorful illustrations. I found out that she had a retail store and vowed that one day I would visit it. Well, for some reason, I had it in my head that it was was up North somewhere. Well, I was looking at her site yesterday trying to get inspiration for a project I'm working on and I found out her store is in the Galleria Mall in St. Louis, MO. The very same mall Marcus and I went to the Apple Store in when we spent a few days in St. Louis three years ago. D'oh! We even strolled around the mall for a bit, but didn't make it to the section that had the ME store. Argh! So close. Marcus promised that on the next trip to Tennessee to visit his folks, we can stay in St. Louis again so that I can go to that store.

Recently, Staples put one of their office supply stores on Colorado Blvd. here in Denver. I'm not sure when exactly, but I happened to see it driving home one day. I was looking for a couple of things related to the craft room clean-up and decided to stop in and see what they had.

Well, they didn't have what I was looking for, but on my way out I saw a bin with Easy Buttons. If you've ever seen one of their commercials on television, you know what that is. Anyway, I didn't stop to look at them, but when I checked their web site just now, it turns out they donate $1 of every purchase on those to the Boys & Girls Club of America. That's so cool! I may end up going back later to get one.