Review: Big Skinny Wallet

In a break from my normal tech reviews, he's a review for the average Joe.

Before we left for New York, I emptied many items from my wallet and saw that cards became much looser, so I had to rearrange things a bit. While we were in New York (as seems to happen in most cities we visit), there was a street market with people selling all kinds of junk. We passed a few places selling wallets, but I couldn't justify spending $10 on a cheap wallet when I had only paid $15 for my wallet at Mervyn's (RIP).

On our way back, we saw another vendor selling Big Skinny Wallets, so we stopped. These wallets were different from the others we saw and my wife asked if the cards would fall out when there were fewer cards in it. The vendor said no and turned a sample wallet upside down. That was only the icing on the cake. He also had a comparison with a normal, leather wallet and the thickness difference was stunning. I asked the cost and he said $20. I was sold. My wife reminded me that I balked at $10, but jumped at $20. Oh well, the salesman was pretty good.

I've now had the wallet for about a week and a half now and I keep thinking I'm going to lose it because all my back pockets are stretched to fit my old leather wallet! While the salesman was good, I was a bit cautious in my enthusiasm when I bought it. Well, so far, I'd buy one of these wallets again without hesitation (provided it holds up).

Pros

• Very thin
• Cards stay in when the wallet is turned upside down

Cons

• A little more expensive than the average wallet I've gotten
• Unknown lifetime

Summary

I have absolutely no complaints with this wallet. Every time I pick it up, I'm amazed at how thin it is. I'm hoping that it lasts; all other reviews I've read have also given it high marks.

Post paid gas stations still exist?

On Saturday, we were doing errands and stopped to get gas. The gas station was busy, so we had to wait. The person in front of us pulled up and started trying to pump gas. He pulled the handle and nothing happened; he thing went over to the automated kiosk and looked quite confused. By this time, I saw a space open up, so I zipped around and got to a pump. I went inside, pre-paid for my gas (I decided against using the kiosk that took cash; many of the kiosks around don't take cash).

When I was done pumping gas and got back into my car, the guy still hadn't started pumping gas. At first when we saw him, we couldn't understand how anyone couldn't know how to pump gas (he appeared older than me). While I was pumping gas, my wife was analyzing the situation and saw that he had a Boise State shirt on and surmised that he might have been on vacation.

OK, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. So, the question is, where do you pay for gas after you pump it? I've lived in California for the last 18 years (with a small stint in Portland where you can't pump your own gas) and all I can remember is paying for gas first; my memory could be foggy.

I read some forums and people complain about pre-paid gas when you're using cash as you have to go into the cashier and then afterwards to get change (if needed). I frankly never considered this a problem; maybe I'm just used to this process. Hmmm.

Acura car service clarification

I heard back from the W Hotel today regarding my post about it's complimentary Acura car service. Apparently someone forgot to tell the concierge how it works. It is available on a first come, first served basis, so when I asked for it the following day, the concierge was happy to arrange a limo for us for the $78 fee. I specifically said Acura and pointed at the sign on the desk. A simple, "it is available on a first come, first served basis; just goto the front door to see if it is there" would have stopped this nonsense and made complete sense to me.

If the W wants to stop nasty email messages from ticked off guests, it would make sense to put a sign at the entrance as normally people going to just hail a cab instead of go to the concierge to arrange transportation that is needed right at that moment.

While I guess the W is off my "bad" list, that concierge ranked a zero in my book.

I do contend, however, that the Web site is misleading as there is no asterisk next to this feature indicating that there are conditions for its use.

New blog focus

As some of you may have noticed, I've started writing more reviews of products. While I'm not a huge fan of reviews that some people review (I don't believe their unbiased or fair), I'll let my readers be the judge of the value of my reviews. For the most part, people don't send me products nor ask me to review software. These reviews are for products that I purchase; I do my own research and, of course, read other reviews before purchasing products.

If you have any questions about what I review, please ask and I'll do my best to answer them. I'm quite critical of products as I don't like wasting my hard earned money. If you like my reviews, please use the Amazon link on the right to make purchases.

If you think I own a product that you'd like reviewed, please let me know. I don't review everything I own as I'd bore myself.

If you have a product you want me to review and aren't afraid of my honest feedback, contact me and I'd be more than happy to review it.