I’m not really a chocolate snob. Or at least I wasn’t.

I used to love white chocolate and milk chocolate, but now that I eat a very clean diet I can’t even imagine eating that amount of sugar. So I eat a chunk or two of very dark chocolate every day.

Cacao is actually very good for you, so dark chocolate is a pretty decent snack. I think that each chunk of this stuff has less than a gram of sugar in it. The rest is cacao.

Anyway, I’ve tried a bunch of these and the Dolfin is my favorite. It is super smooth and has very little bitter aftertaste. To eat the chocolate you break off a small chunk (which gets bigger as you get used to it…) and let it melt in your mouth.

The flavor is amazing. It’s far more interesting than the simple flavor of milk chocolate which is essentially sugar with some cacao mixed in. Try a bar and you’ll probably be hooked.

Other good ones:

Dagoba 87%
Lindt 99%

The Lindt was surprisingly good. I also tried a 100% baker’s chocolate and it was totally disgusting. It wouldn’t melt in my mouth and when I bit it it was overpoweringly bitter.

At first I tried to get a VPS (virtual private server), which is basically a chunk of a real server. This was great until some idiot on my server kept doing SOMETHING that brought the server (including my sites) to its knees.

After that I realized that I didn’t want to have to worry about anyone else screwing up my sites. If they were going to be screwed up, I’d be the guy to do it.

I looked high and low for cheap dedicated servers. Most cheap ones were $60 or so from companies that had just sprung up last month. Reliable companies seemed to have them for $100-300.

Then I found Server A Day. They’re part of OLM.net, who has been hosting for a LONG time. Over 10 years. Every day they offer one configuration at a fantastic price.

How fantastic? Here’s my server:

P4 1.9ghz
18gb SCSI hard drive x2 (one for backups)
768mb RAM
100mbit port
2500gb bandwidth per month

$25/mo

This isn’t a high end server by any means, but it is many times faster and better than shared hosting like dreamhost.com. I also have full control over it and can even run my own nameservers (nerd stuff).

This deal is significantly better than the daily deals ever are. Here’s how to get the best deal:

• Check the comments. They often offer freebies for buying one of the last few, or for signing up for a year.
• Check on Fridays. In the comments section they post side deals that are usually better than the main deal.
• Ask them for what you want. If you want today’s deal but you need a second hard drive, often times they’ll just give it to you if you ask before ordering.
• Ask for a custom deal. This is what I did. I posted in the comments exactly what I wanted, and they posted a side deal that matched it exactly.
• Pay for a year in advance. They knocked off $5/mo and gave me an extra 256mb of ram for doing this. There’s no disadvantage really because they will prorate your refund if you decide to cancel (you probably won’t).

The one caveat is that these are unmanaged servers. That means that you have to do EVERYTHING yourself. I’m not a linux guru or anything, and I was able to figure it all out by searching around online. Then again I’m pretty technically inclined and I enjoy stuff like that.

If you order one, tell them Tynan sent you. They jumped through a few hoops for me and I appreciate it.

Serveraday.com

I love Lenovo/IBM/Thinkpad to death. I’ll write more about their laptops soon, but for now I’m going to talk about this new power adapter.

My old one broke in Panama, so as soon as I got to the US I ordered this one. Shipped overnight, it was expensive but worth every penny.

It’s very thin, which makes it easy to pack. Just wedge it in next to something else. I had a similarly shaped one from Targus many years ago but it broke and I could never find a replacement.

Even though it’s super thin it can also be used in cars and airplanes, unlike my other one. This would have been very useful on my trip to Tokyo, but United Airways doesn’t have power jacks for some reason.

You can also buy an adapter to simultaneously power a phone or mp3 player.

If you have a thinkpad (it even works with the older ones), get this thing. It’s great.

Roboform has two main functions which are totally separate.

1. It automatically fills forms on the web for you. You put in your name, address, phone number, age, etc. and it will fill out any form on any page with just one click. This is insanely helpful for doing things like signing up for forums or buying things online. You can even put multiple addresses.

2. It remembers all of your login information for every site. When I tell people about this they invariably say “Yeah, firefox does that automatically.”

It’s very different, though. Roboform also remembers the login page, so you just click the name of the site you want to go to and it goes there and logs you in in one step. VERY convenient.

The whole thing is password protected and encrypted, so you don’t have to worry about anyone else seeing your info. It can be used on Firefox, Internet Explorer, or many smartphones.

There’s also a feature called SafeNotes which lets you keep short notes in the same place that are password protected. I use this for things like my Fedex # and frequent flyer numbers.

You can try a free trial at Roboform

I usually buy ridiculously gaudy sunglasses with rhinestones in them. However, when getting ready for the 2008 trip around the world I knew I’d need something a little more practical.

After extensive research, I picked the Maui Jim Titanium Sports.

I was initially heavily biased against these glasses because I think the name “Maui Jim” sounds like something only tourists with Polaroid cameras would wear.

However, these are serious performing glasses. The lenses are very high quality and are polarized. This is no gimmick - they completely eliminate dash glare on even the most freshly Armorall-ed cars. Roads look black even during blinding sunlight. It’s pretty amazing.

They weigh only an ounce or two - so little that I always forget that I have them in my pocket. Then I take a nap and crush them. So far they have yet to get bent out of shape.

Best of all they have no springs so you don’t have to worry about little adjustments while you’re traveling. The titanium sides just bend to the appropriate size.

They look cool, perform well, and weigh as much as a few candy beans. I love them.

If you have a back, then you probably need a Deuter Futura 28.

This thing is the best small backpack you could possibly imagine. I’m on a year long trip around the world right now, and this is my sole piece of luggage.

What makes it great?

First, it’s small enough to pass for a regular backpack, so it can be used around town or in the wilderness. It’s not one of those huge bulky bags that hardcore campers wear. At the same time, it is built by a hardcore camping company.

The big feature is that it has a lightweight spring steel frame built in. This keeps the bag off your back, so your shirt doesn’t get all sweaty and gross. This also distributes the weight properly to the hips, so it’s very comfortable to carry around.

It has one large compartment that can be accessed from the top or bottom (VERY smart), or you can zip one zipper and convert it into two compartments.

It has a built in rainfly that zips out of the bottom. I would personally prefer that the whole bag is waterproof, but this is almost as good. That would be my only suggestion to Deuter to make this bag even better.

The bag has all of the other extras you’d expect from a high end backpack: adjustable straps with chest and waist belts, space for a hydration pack, a smaller front pocket with lanyard, and mesh side compartments for a water bottle or other gear.

Razor Blades - Merkur platinum coated. NOT feather, which are good but not as good.

Monospace Font for programming - Bitstream Vera (free)

Toothpaste - Tom’s of Maine spearmint

Floss - Tom’s of Maine wax coated

Stock - BRK.B (Berkshire Hathaway)

Stock Broker - Scottrade ($7/trade, awesome personal service)

Nail Polish - OPI

Have a great weekend!

It’s Arrested Development.

This show was on Fox through 2006, when it was cancelled. This fact alone has taken away any faith I have in other humans. The show is the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen. Sometimes I randomly start chuckling during the day because I’ve thought of a single line from the show.

Despite it being the funniest show in the land, it does take a few episodes to get into it. The magic is in the characters, so you have to get to know them. When I first heard about it I watched three episodes and then lost interest.

My brother assured me it was hilarious and that it was worth continuing. I did so and was then fully hooked.

I’d give you a little synopsis of the show, but it doesn’t actually matter. In some episodes the plot is almost nonexistent, and in others it’s totally off the rails. It has nothing to do with the hilarity of the show.

I tried to find some youtube clips as samples, but I think they got flagged and removed. Just trust me… stop S-ing around and get the DVDs or download it today.

I knew I needed a digital camera for Life Nomadic, my 2008 trip around the world. But which one should I get?

Point and shoots just don’t cut it. The trip was planned to bring me to some of the most amazing places on earth, and there was no way I wasn’t going to capture them in the best quality possible.

I tried to find high end point and shoots - some costing as much as $500. Still, they just don’t have that rich feel that SLRs (the big ones) have.

Here’s why:

1. Pictures are made out of light. The more light you get inside the camera, the more information the camera has to make the picture, and thus the higher quality it is. Megapixels are a bit misleading once you get past 4 or 5. The size of the lens and the image sensor size matter a lot more. Point and shoots have tiny sensors and tiny lenses.

2. Small lenses have no depth of field. Depth of field is when the camera only focuses on a narrow plane, so everything else is out of focus. This sounds bad, but is actually good because it helps define the subject of the image. Pay attention and you’ll see that every professional picture or video has it.

Ok, so no point and shoot.

What about SLRs? One problem:

1. They’re freaking huge.

I’m traveling with a tiny backpack - and that’s it. An SLR would take up a good third of my alloted space.

The only solution seemed to be the Sigma DP-1, a camera had been rumored to come out for years but never surfaced. It combined a bigger lens with a bigger sensor. Not SLR, but not point and shoot either. It was pretty compact and seemed like a good compromise.

But… we had our tickets for January 7th and there was no indication that the camera would come out before then. I waited and waited.

Eventually I realized I wouldn’t get the camera before I left. I researched desperately for weeks until I finally hit the jackpot.

There’s yet another kind of digital camera, called a Digital Rangefinder. Why hadn’t I heard about it before? Because there are only TWO models ever produced.

Digital Rangefinders use the same size sensors and lenses as an SLR, but are far smaller. This is because SLRs have a large moving mirror in them to reflect light from the lens to the eyepiece. Digital Rangefinders have a separate smaller focusing method.

The two Digital Rangefinders are the Epson R-D1s and the Leica M8. The Epson costs around $2500 and the Leica costs about $4000. I didn’t really want to spend either amount of money, but eventually caved and bought the R-D1s.

And I couldn’t be any happier.

It is incredible. Looking at it is like looking at a piece of art. It has no digital indicators at all until you flip around the stealthily hidden screen on the back. The top analog gauges show battery life, pictures, white balance, and image mode. Looking at it, most people would mistake it for an old film camera.

The pictures it takes are nothing short of stunning. It’s even thought to be better in low light situations than the more expensive Leica. I’ve never taken a photo with a real camera before, but now my shots could be confused for a pro’s.

The only apparent disadvantage is that everything is manual other than white balance and exposure. You set the F stop, focus, and aperture manually. You can also set the exposure manually if you want.

At first this takes some getting used to, but truthfully not as much as you’d think. Now I can shoot all day and forget that it’s not automatic. This, of course, gives me a lot more control over the photos.

To see some shots I’ve taken with it, check out our Flickr Account for Life Nomadic.

If you think life’s to short to not take amazing pictures of it, check out ebay deals on the R-D1s. As I write this there are a couple for under $2000, which is a very good deal. The normal “best price” is around $2100.

P.S. The R-D1 is an earlier model that’s pretty much exactly the same. A free firmware upgrade makes it identical.

What I wanted was something reasonably good looking that packed the most function in it as possible. My friend Todd had a Casio Pathfinder which packed a lot of features. I ordered one of those and kept looking.

Then I spotted the Suunto X9i watch. It has a GPS, Stopwatch, Altimeter, Barometer, Thermometer, Compass, three alarms, dual time, and will even calculate the sunrise and sunset based on your location. WOW!

Best of all, it’s actually a pretty decent looking watch. I ordered one of those too.

Then I found out that Suunto also made the X9Mi, which was the military version. The only practical difference is that the X9mi had an inverted screen (white on black) and a red backlight for better night vision. I bought one of these as well.

All three watches came, I tried them all, and returned two of them. It should come as no surprise that the winner was the X9mi, although I will say that the X9i was MUCH easier to read.

Before ordering these watches I read a bunch of reviews. Most were negative. After using the watch and rereading reviews, I can tell you one thing : most people are morons. They weren’t using the watch properly, so ignore all of their reviews. On my recommendation Todd bought an X9mi as well and agrees that those reviews aren’t written by smart people.

The GPS is awesome. I use it for two things mainly. When I run it keeps track of my total distance, pace, and a few other stats. I can plug the watch into the good old computer and see my actual route! I also use it when I travel to find my apartment or hotel. I just set it as soon as I get here, and then I’m never lost.

It has tons of other useful features. I used the altimeter when I went skydiving and it was accurate the whole way. It calculates the sunrise and sunset time, which we used when going to a beach in Panama. I use the compass when I’m stuck in a dense urban jungle and can’t figure out which way is which.

The ONE problem with this thing is that the bezel isn’t glued on very well and mine started to come off after six months. Suunto will ship you a new one with instructions to repair it though, so it’s not all bad.

Battery life is good. With heavy use I get 3-4 weeks per charge which only takes a few hours.

Bottom line? If you have a wrist, you should get one of these. If you don’t, you should get a hook.