I'm glad the wheat is wholesome

I love cinnamon rolls. Despite always being disappointed by cinnamon roll flavored things, I decided to give these a shot. Yet again, another miss.

These are just cinnamon flavored. A cinnamon roll is more than cinnamon. It’s a perfect blend of brown sugar, vanilla, cream cheese, and cinnamon. I think they assumed the existing frosting on the mini wheat would cover their bases. They were wrong.

Though not close to a cinnamon roll flavor, they still tasted fine. Too much cinnamon for my taste, but not the end of the world.

I would rate original Frosted Mini Wheats at 4/5. This cinnamon roll variant is worse. 3/5.

Review

Not going to lie, comparing it to an iPhone 15 Pro Max is not favorable to the iPad mini. The screen doesn’t look as nice as the OLED and feels slow. And I definitely notice the jelly scrolling.

Despite the lackluster screen, it is pretty great.

I enjoy having a slightly bigger screen for watching things. I think the mini size is much better for casual activities than the 11” I had before.

There are rumors of a refresh in the fall, but pretty much just a spec bump that may fix jelly scrolling. I’m not terribly worried that I bought close to the end of this generation’s life. For what I’m using it for, it’s pretty good.

4 out of 5.

LMK when there’s an OLED version though.

Review

For a few years, I worked for what I consider and overly-restrictive company. I was unable to do anything on my work computer. As a result, I ended up using my phone for everything—messaging, social media, podcasts, YouTube, etc. It was always on me and always available if I had 15 seconds to fill.

I got an iPhone 15 Pro Max in 2023 and decided that was good enough for me. I sold my 11” M1 iPad Pro and been iPadless since.

Recently, I’ve noticed an uptick in my phone usage and a downtick in my overall attention. I’m a pretty easily distracted guy. In what some might call an “overreaction”, I deleted pretty much everything off my phone. Currently sitting at 23 apps. In a shocking realization, I don’t need my phone on me all the time. This is helped by the fact that my current job lets me put pretty much whatever on my work computer. Instead of my phone with me all the time, my Kindle is now with me all the time. A welcome change of pace.

But, sometimes, I do want to do things other than read. After selling my iPad, I would sometimes use my MacBook whenever I felt like I wanted a bigger screen. But, even with a 14” screen, that’s a bit cumbersome when I’m just sitting on the couch and want to look at Mastodon or whatever.

This is when I started missing my iPad. After years of trying to use an iPad for school, hobbies, or any number of things it’s not well-suited for, I have finally seen it for what it was meant to be—a couch computer. I gravitated towards an iPad mini, the perfect couch computer. I started second guessing my “need” for an iPad as I was shopping for one. If I’m not really using my phone anymore, why not just put things back on it and use it for leisure too? Will I just start using the iPad all the time and just be back where I was? At the end of the day, it’s a self control problem, not a device problem. I decided to ignore myself and buy an iPad mini anyway. I kinda just wanted one.

My current thinking is that dedicated devices for specific activities can help with attention and self control. That’s the hope at least. I ultimately decided that I don’t want time wasting stuff on the phone because I don’t want it accessible when I’m out and about.

So here’s where I’m at:

• iPhone for communication and necessary apps for when I’m on the go.
• Pocket notebook for writing down ideas and thoughts.
• iPad for watching stuff, social media, and other time wasting activities.
• Kindle for reading.
• MacBook for working.
• PC for games.

While I’ve always like the idea of pocket notebooks like Field Notes, they never really clicked with me. Probably user error, but I have a hard time writing in pocket notebooks. The spines are so stiff, that it takes effort to keep them open while writing in them. As an alternative, I started using some imported index cards instead, and loved it. But then they’d get flipped upside down or shuffled and I’d get lost.

Enter the Life Noble Mini Ring notebook. I just received another restock of these today, so figured it was the right time to write about these.

The JetPens description sums up why I love them so much:

This mini-sized notebook is perfect for carrying in a purse or pocket. Its twin-ring binding lets you fold the pages back completely and to tear out individual pages when you need to.

Pros

• The paper is pretty great. I’ve used pencil, gel, fountain pens, and fineliners. Handles them all great.
• Size is perfect—it fits perfectly in my front shirt pocket.
• Can just tear paper out. Since it’s ring bound, ripping a paper out won’t ruin the binding.
• They stay open. Plus, open all the way to easily hold in one hand. Small and compact, all the time.
• Cream-colored paper. Might be a con for some, but white paper feels so bright to me. Cream-colored paper feels soft and friendly—character.

Cons

• I worry about the rings scratching things if I throw it in a bag.
• Expensive. $5 each is not cheap. Worth it for me, but not everyone.

This is not my only notebook, but it might be the most important because it’s where a lot of ideas start.

Uses

Codelia by Yoshi Omagari is hands down my favorite monospace font. I use it in all my editors and made a nerd font version for my terminal. I found Codelia because I came across Comic Code. I was looking for something different, and less boring. I was real close to buying Comic Code when I saw Codelia. I love that Codelia has some of the roundness and softness of Comic Code, but still looks “professional.” It has character, and that character actually helps me read my code.

If I could afford a license to use on my website, I would. Instead, I use Comic Mono here. If you’re looking for something free and different, check out Comic Mono.

Uses

Here’s a gripe of mine—companies that act as if their products are incredible, but do no have warranties or the customer service to back that up.

Recently, I bought a Bellroy phone case. I ended up returning it because it felt like a cheap leather case, but I noticed on the back of the box. It said “Made to Last” and then right under it, “Backed by a 3-year warranty”. To me, those things do not go together. Is it made to last, or is it made to last 3 years? Granted, I’m probably not going to have a phone case for more than 3 years, but still. I have a Bellroy bag and really like it. For the most part, it does feel “made to last,” but I don’t love that if something fails after 3 years, my option will be buying a new bag.

Similarly, Our Place says “We stand by our products,” but only has a 1-year warranty. When the handle of our highly lauded and recommended Always Pan exploded after a little more than a year of use, customer service said buy a new one. No way I’m doing that now.

On the flip side, checkout Patagonia’s warranty:

We guarantee everything we make. If you are not satisfied with one of our products at the time you receive it, or if one of our products does not perform to your satisfaction, return it to the store you bought it from or to Patagonia for a repair, replacement or refund. Damage due to wear and tear will be repaired at a reasonable charge.

I have bought a lot of Patagonia stuff over the years? And you know what? I’ve never had issue with any of it. So not only is it incredibly well made, if I were to have an issue, I know they’d work with me.

I’m sure it’s just a money and liability thing, but a time-limited warranty, with no option to even pay for repairs, does not instill confidence. Now, I don’t expect everything I buy to last the rest of my life. But I do expect a frying pan to last more than a year and a bag to last more than 3.

Companies like Patagonia make my life as a consumer much easier. But I guess it’s up to me to do more research and less impulse buying 😅.