Walt's Corner

This cold therapy machine was the best collateral benefit of Carol’s knee replacement in January of 2024. The new knee, of course, being the actual benefit. At the that time, it cost over $200. Today this device still garnishes a high price tag at $169 and up depending on the accessories supplied. We call it, The Ice Machine.

It’s a cooler that you fill with water and ice. It has a pump that transfers the icy water to a cooling pad that you place over the recovering part of your body and deposits the used water back into the cooler. Instant cold. No need to store pads in your freezer. A trick we learned at the hospital was to place 4 frozen water bottles inside instead of ice cubes. Lasts much longer. We keep 8 bottles of water in the freezer. This way, we have plenty of bottles to use as the others are freezing again and placed into rotation.

A year later, almost to the day, Carol had the other knee replaced. Knowing what to expect this time around, she set up her little corner in the living room with items we knew would make her quality of life recovery a smidge better than last time. A 3-foot tong-like reaching/grabbing bar. A 3-tier shelf on wheels. Small physical therapy equipment/accessories. Crutches. Walker. The Ice Machine.

Just like last year, Carol spent the night in the hospital and was released the following afternoon. Nestled into her recovery corner of the house, I prepared The Ice Machine. Frozen water bottles – check. Fill to the line with water – check. Snap the pad into the water tubing – check. Plug in the power to the pump – no dice. Unplug. Plug back in. Nothing. Fuck me. Guess we are using the old-fashioned ice packs for now.

Turns out the pump died. And a quick internet search provided me with results I did not like. I could not purchase the pump separately. I would have to buy the cooler at a minimum for over $100. The pump unit is sealed. Taking it apart would permanently break it. Plus, it was not a submersible pump. I then turned to other types of pumps – submersibles. Fish aquarium water pumps would fit the bill. I found one on Amazon that offered delivery in the wee hours of the night. Perfect.

The pump arrived on time. I took the old pump out and made some minor adjustments to the piece that brings the tubing and power inside the cooler to accommodate the larger power cord/plug. The tubing was a perfect fit to the pump. My $11 solution worked perfectly. The pump contains a warning: do not use in water over 35ºC. I don’t think that will be an issue.

I have been using the Leaf Twig razor for over a week, and I can confirm, like many other satisfied users, that this is a worthy razor to have in your shaving arsenal. Leaf offers two razors in this configuration – the Twig and the Thorn. Leaf offers the Thorn for those who prefer a more aggressive cut than the Twig.

Twig/Thorn razors utilize a single edge blade (or a double edge snapped in half). I used one single edge blade all week long, shaving every day without feeling as though the blade was diminished in any way. The blade I used was a snapped in half RK Stainless. A pack of 100 double edge blades costs less than $15 from Amazon as of the time I was writing this. When used in this application, snapped in half, that gives me 200 blades for $15. Assuming I can use one blade per week or two, that is over 2 years’ worth of blades for $15. You cannot get that out of the disposable plastic cartridge blades going for $20 for pack of 5 at Walmart, or even the likes of Dollar Shave Club whose cartridges run from $6/6 pack of their Humble Twin to $10/4-pack of their Club series 4/6.

Changing the blade out is accomplished by twisting the stem clockwise, raising and twisting the blade catch out of the way. The small length and weight of the handle promotes effortless control of your blade. I was able to shave every day for a week without any noticeable razor burn. Whether you have not made the jump to a safety razor yet and are looking for a great starter or are seasoned pro looking for your next razor, you will not regret getting this.

Side note: my shaving brush is a Vikings Blades Dark Stallion comprised of synthetic Silvertip Badger hair, stainless steel, and acrylic obsidian. It weighs in at 126 grams. I have used this brush almost daily since June of 2019. Shaving soap of choice is Arko. It’s economic, super-lathery, and smells of a clean soap with a hint of citrus.

Have you ever come across one of those words where you are not sure how to spell it? You spell it out, but it does not seem right. Autocorrect throws some weird shit at you and you accept, but then there is some other color line under it now. Something is amiss. Great. Now I must perform a google search on fucking marshmallows. So, I did. And I learned something.

Before I even finished typing in the word “marshmallow,” the responses start auto populating on my screen. The first one of which was from WebMD and read “MARSHMALLOW: Overview, Uses, Side Effects, Precautions…” Um… NO. Not at all what I am looking for. The scrumptious candy should not be popping up on WebMB. I must have the wrong spelling. I keep scrolling down until I find the type of results I was looking for. Marshmallow. Marshmallow root. Marshmallow in Spanish. Marshmallow fluff. There it is. Wikipedia Marshmallow is a confectionary made from…” and that’s all I needed. I had the correct spelling.

But wait. What was all that stuff about marshmallow root? And WebMB? This required further investigating. The rabbit hole had opened. Also from WebMD: “Marshmallow is sometimes used to form a protective layer on the skin and lining of the digestive tract. It also contains chemicals that might decrease cough and fight infections. Don’t confuse marshmallow with the mallow (Malva sylvestris) flower and leaf.”

Holy shit. Do my s’mores marshmallows have an origin story? Turns out, they do. Here is what I learned from Wikipedia. Check it out if, like Paul Harvey, you want the rest of the story. My generic overview follows. The word marshmallow comes from the name of the mallow plant species Althaea officinalis. It grows in wetlands or marshes. Marshmallow. It appears the use of this plant for medicinal purposes goes back as far as ancient Egypt, 2000 BCE. The Egyptians would prepare this mallow root pulp  by boiling it with honey, straining, cooling and then using it for sore throats and healing wounds. My guess would to be to make it more palatable. But who knows their original line of thought. Certainly not this guy.

Fast forward to to the mid 19^th century and you’ve got the French adding sugar, water, and egg whites to it and whipping it up into a fluffy candy called Pâte de Guimauve. And that is the basic recipe still in use today with egg whites or gelatin used to hold the foamy structure of what you and I know as the lowly marshmallow. Minus the mallow.

In summary, today’s marshmallow is an ancient medicinal delivery system, minus the medicine. And now you know.

I’m a sucker for a nice safety razor, especially one that completely redefines the category. The Leaf is one of those razors.

For as long as I can remember, the classic safety razor has come in 2 flavors, both of which has the blade perpendicular to the stem, or handle. The blade is secured by either a butterfly enclosure that opens by twisting your handle, or the blade gets pancaked in between two portions of the head which is then squished together by the handle which holds it all together by screwing into the head.

When it comes to the underlying physics involved in these types of razors there really is no difference. The angle of your blade is offset about 90º from your handle. The skill of a baby bottom smooth (BBS) shave with these razors is knowing at what angle to hold the handle as you drag the blade down your face. Be careful! Too little of an angle and no dice. Too harsh of an angle and you have just sliced your face to shreds. The best type of these razors for me has been the Henson AL13 that I reviewed back in June of last year.

The Leaf has redesigned the safety razor from the ground up. Not only does it shift the angle of blade from that 90º, but it adds multiple blades in much the same fashion as your standard plastic disposable blade cartridge. You know, the ones that cost $20 for a pack of 4 – albeit at a fraction of the cost because it uses standard single edge safety blades. If you already have standard double edge safety blades you can easily snap them in half inside their paper sheaths before unwrapping them. Now you have 2 single edge blades that will fit the Leaf. I paid around $10 for a pack of 50 of these blades – 100 if you snap them in half.

You can choose to shave with one, two, or three blades when it comes to the Leaf. The razor seems like a solid slab of stainless steel but is comes in a variety of finishes. I always prefer chrome. Putting the blades in the Leaf is straightforward. A simple unscrewing of a knurled thumbwheel on the back will allow the different leaves of the blade holding system to turn up, revealing the spot to place the blade. There is even a small magnet that will hold the blade in place as your drop the 2nd leaf down to put your 2nd blade in, and so on. When done, it is as simple as turning the thumb screw to lock it all in place.

I do not recommend using this if you need to shave your upper lip, or for precise lines, as the blades are recessed on the sides and the large space above the top blade will prevent someone from getting a full swipe in on the upper lip. For myself who has a goatee, these shortcomings do not present a problem. In fact, Leaf suggests you use this for shaving your body, legs, and head. For facial shaving, Leaf has another version with an aggressive angle but holds only a single blade and is designed for more precise shaves. This version comes in two variations, the Twig and the Thorn. I will be trying one of those soon.

I have to say, using the Leaf on my face is exceptionally smooth and effortless. At first, I thought it must have been a wrong angle and did not shave anything. I felt like nothing happened. Upon further review, it had shaved and shaved well. I paid about $64 for the Leaf Triple Blade.

Have not watched The Six Million Dollar Man since I was a kid. It’s on Peacock streaming service so I thought I’d give it another go. Lee Majors was one of my childhood heroes. I even had his action figure. We were quite low on the economic ladder, my father bringing in $20/week salary (plus trailer was included), but he did manage to find this action figure for me at a handy discount. It was either a return or damaged product. Maybe a yard sale find? Who knows. I remember it had no box that it came in. But there it was. Nestled on my pillow upon my return from 1st grade school that day. It included none of the spare parts that was supposed to accompany the action figure. But I could look through his eye from the back of his head and roll up his fake rubber “skin” to expose the nuclear powered cy’borg mechanics underneath. Steve Austin and I had many boy-hours of fun.

I don’t remember the pilot episode specifically, so it was a pleasant surprise. Then there was the guest appearance of someone else who I have not seen really since childhood. I had to look the character up on IMDB to realize it was another character I had watched as a kid with my father – Darren McGavin as Kolchak: The Night Stalker; also available on Peacock. I guess I have a couple shows to rewatch.