Safety First!

  • by Drew

As my daughter zeroes in on the ripe old age of 4, I can’t help but think about her teenage future. I mean, she’s such a handful now… am I doomed? What about when she starts dating or GASP! heads off to college. Well, I think Daddy’s Little Lady will rock it in www.safetygirl.com style!

Dude! Or maybe in this case I should keep it pink and say Dudette! My sweetie can carry a pepper spray gun in hand while looking particularly sporty in her pink work boots!

And seriously, I’m not making fun. I think it’s really cute, of course, but that doesn’t reduce the importance of safety gear – whether it’s work boots or personal protection devices. The touch of femininity, if that encourages women to wear protective gear or carry saftey devices, I think it’s cool.

Derby Days

  • by Drew

Speaking of the upcoming Pinewood Derby, I’m not convinced that we have to go plain and simple and old school. We’ve been talking about kicking this thing up a notch or two. I’ve got hese ol checkerboard sheets from when I was a kid, for example. I think one of those is going to be tricked out into a quickie collapsible photo booth. All we’ll need is a camera and a kid with a car and FLASH instant winner’s circle!

New Track for the Cubbies!

  • by Drew

If you know anything about Cub Scouts you know that one of the biggest events of the year is the Pinewood Derby. Ours is coming up this week and I’m pretty psyched about our newest addition. We picked up a new aluminum track. This weekend I got together with the Cubmaster and set it up in the garage. Well, we started in the garage and it went right out onto the driveway. 32 feet long… that’s a lotta feet!

So this year our Pinewood Derby event may be in the same old cafeteria with the aluminum bleachers and stage the kids can’t go on, the linoleum floor and improvised track protection barricades, but the track itself – shiny and new!

Going for the Gold

  • by Drew

Lately I’ve been thinking more and more about the whole gold market. I don’t have a reliable gold bullion resource or anything, but I have been thinking hard about investing in gold as a savings platform. Sure I’ve got 401k and IRA stuff kicking around, but the way the markets are sucking like a baby on a bottle with no real end in site, I sometimes wonder if gold isn’t a way to go.

Ultimately, if we get hit with a zombie apocalypse, gold isn’t much more useful than a stock portfolio or paper money. Well, I guess you can melt the gold down and make bullets or a really shiny dagger or something, but that’s about all. Still, it sounds cool to have a bunch of gold, right? Then again, with my fortune I could probably buy a quarter-sized gold coin. While it may be worth a few bucks, it’s way pathetic compared to those big ass bricks in bank robbery movies.

I need me some gold bricks. Maybe it’s time to plan a heist.

Back to the Pack

  • by Drew

You know, a while ago I was writing about my new found excitement with the outdoors. Camping, hiking, etc. I’ve been building up a real gear jones lately, and that isn’t dissipating. I don’t necessarily want to be the perfectly tailored sportsman or anything, but kitting myself out right sounds… well, it sounds pretty alright. It always cracks me up when you see the hard core wannabe guys with expensive rain slickers and $500 boots that give them blisters. That’s not for me. But I like the really functional stuff that looks good functioning.

Can you dig it?

Or more to the point, can you dig WITH it. If not, I’m probably going to be leaving it home in favor of a more useful tool.

Making the Connection 3

  • by Drew

So the wet and hot reality is that I was looking at one of my better acoustic guitars acorss the room in its case and thinking that I probably have to check its humidity. Yup. That’s it.

You did know that humidity is incredibly important to the health of a guitar, right? Particularly old acoustics stored in a basement that slowly goes from Summer heat to Winter chill. Well, being in the closet under the stairs helps protect all of my instruments from abrupt temperature change, but still… these things are made out of wood and wood needs some care to keep behaving over time.

Sorry if you thought Louisville real estate was going to play into this whole round of nonsense. I just couldn’t help myself.

Making the Connection 2

  • by Drew

So you see my Durham law and raise me real estate highlands NC. Really? That’s the best you can come up with? Another hot spot located due south of little ol’ me? Well, to each his own I guess, but really… I expected more. What else can I say?

And anyway, I told you it wasn’t THAT sort of humidity that I’d been talking about. Actually, the cigar thing made me think of humidors. Humidors. Does that make more sense? Humidity being key to the longevity and general health of the big old brown roll of tobacco.

Making the Connection

  • by Drew

So you want to know what my personal connection between humidity and cigars is? Seriously? You don’t have anything better to worry about?

Maybe it’s a southern heat thing. You have a Durham business lawyer? You might need one before we’re done here.

Not really, though. It really has nothing to do with the weather. Well… not directly. I think. Actually, I guess humidity has everything to do with the weather. Even in this case, though this is really a microclimate issue more than overall “Weather” with quotes and capitals. But now I’m just rambling.

Indie Printing

  • by Drew

As the king of indie nonsense, I am a huge fan of cheap business card printing. I have musician cards to hand out to baooking agents and club owners, I have Mad Science The Card Game Cards for distributors and retailers, I have Skateboard Heroes cards for comic book industry folks and readers. I should probably get into the printing business myself. Then I could have business cards for my business card printing business. Makes perfect sense, right? I bet you wish you’d thought of it.

Scouting

  • by Drew

I want to get a kickin’ backpack for hiking and camping. I was never into hiking and camping before, but now that my kids are so involved in scouting, I kind of want to get some decent equipment. Yeah, we have some tents that are pretty alright, and foam pads and fairly standard sleeping bags, but… I don’t know, some part of me wants to be the mega-trekker I never was in my youth. You know, zero degree mummy bag, dehydrated peanut butter, water backpack, magnesium fire starter. The hard core. I’m all about the hard core.

Just not sure my 7 and 10 years olds are ready for the ride.

© 2026 Drew Bancroft. All rights reserved. Totally.