BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

15Aug/150

New Café Cap Accessory For My Klean Kanteen

The other day I bought the Café Cap accessory for my Klean Kanteen.  I am considering it a solid purchase.

I've had my Klean Kanteen insulated for a good two to three years now.  I generally use it to sip hot tea, or on occasion, coffee out of.  It's been the best hot beverages mug I've ever had, hands down.  I recommend purchasing one of these if you are on the lookout for a new coffee/tea tumbler for your hot beverages.  While it will also keep beverages cold, I actually prefer to use a Tervis Tumbler.  I'm on the verge of purchasing a new one of those for my iced teas that I've been making in the mornings.  Some other people I've chatted with on the insulated hot beverages container subject said they prefer customizable ones that let you put your own names or logo on it (which I don't think Klean Kanteen does), or ones that they can push a fancy button and sip and then upon letting the button release, they can toss the tumbler in the air and over to a friend without it spilling a drop.  I'm not sure the exact situation playing catch with a coffee tumbler would come in handy, but hey, who am I to question such things?

The biggest problem with my Klean Kanteen through the years I've had it though, has been that you can't sip on the go (yes, I'll admit it would be nice to have some way to keep the liquid where it belongs in the container, opposed to on my shirt for example).  The cap that it comes with is a screw on/off cap with a loop on the top.  So you can't actually sip while you're driving or walking, or wheeling around from one office to another at your workplace in your office chair and pretending it's a race car as someone pushes you from behind in the chair and you both make race car noises (I've only done this once... Twice).

Here's a picture...

Original Cap

Original Cap

http://www.kleankanteen.com/products/stainless-wide-loop-cap?variant=860360503

So that's the original cap in the photo above.  You can click on the link if the photo doesn't show up for some reason, or you want to know more.  But the deal is that you have to unscrew the entire thing exposing a container of hot coffee or tea.

 

Enter the Café Cap.  Behold!

Cafe Cap

Cafe Cap

http://www.kleankanteen.com/products/cafe-cap?variant=860365019

Ok, you aren't impressed.  But TRUST me.  It's fantastic.  Ok I guess it's not THAT fantastic, but I like it a lot.  As the label on the product packaging warns, it's splash proof, but not spill proof.  So if you tip it upside down it will leak.  So those of you that wish to play catch with a hot cup of coffee may want to seek out altnerative solutions.  For anyone simply looking for a way to keep your hot coffee or tea hot and be able to sip at it through the day.  This is for you.

Click on that link for more photos and to see more details about the cap.  The thing I like most about it is that it's easy to clean.  The cap comes apart so that I can use soapy water to really scrub it well.  Another cool thing is that my regular Klean Kanteen is the same size for the cap.  So if I wanted, I can swap them.  Like if I had hot tea then I finished that and I wanted to sip on water.  I could swap the caps and then just sip on water out of my regular Klean Kanteen once I finished sipping out of my Klean Kanteen.  So, there you have it!  Like I said, overall, I'm quite pleased with my purchase.

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8Aug/150

I Can’t Seem To Get Enough Of This Song (Song Of The Week)

 

I just can't seem to get enough of this song.  I've been listening to it over and over again all week since I first heard it.  It's "Show Me Love" (ft. Kimberly Anne) by Sam Feldt.  It makes me feel.  It makes me a tiny bit emotional.  I love it.  I love songs that make me feel something real.  It's a remake cover song of a song from the 90s.  I like the original as well.  But this refresh of the original is just great.

The video is super cool too.  I love the part where they are drawing hearts in the air in the dark and that giant love sign in the background too.  I feel almost like these are scenes from a movie of some sort but it's not one that I can figure out.  Or that I know is currently out in theaters, or may have been out, or is coming out soon.  I can't seem to figure out the beginning where maybe she's met this guy after some kind of tragedy has happened in her life?  But the video is very emotional as well. It just gets me.

Well, I just wanted to share this song because I've been listening to it sooooooooooo much.  I definitely just can't seem to get enough of it.

 

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2Aug/150

My Favorite iTunes U Course So Far

I've listened to a lot of iTunes U courses.  They really make my runs very enjoyable.  I love to download educational content and listen while I run.  The latest one that I'm JUST about done is called How To Start a Startup from Standford University.  It was fantastic.  Even if you don't plan to start a startup I recommend listing to it.

Here's the link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/how-to-start-a-startup/id951932247

This course is probably more interesting to me because I love entrepreneurial things.  I'm a fan of learning in general so I kind of geek out about anything educational.  But I also some day want to start a business of some sort, so it's especially interesting if you have an idea for a business and are considering starting your own.  One of the things I learned that I think most people don't actually consider is the amount of dedication is really takes to become a founder.  Most people think of it in terms of, oh if I'd only had that idea myself I'd be rich.  Not so fast, 99 percent of it isn't the idea.  It's the work to get the idea off the ground.  It's the 12 to 14 hour days nearly 7 days a week for 2 or 3 years to get the business up and running.  And it doesn't stop there.  Some of the largest companies, that still have the original founders involved in running operations aren't them just sitting in a lawn chair, a lemonade in hand type of life.  Most of those individuals STILL work 60+ hour work weeks.  They love what they do and they love the organization they started.  And that's the biggest lesson to take away.  If your goal in starting a start up is to just make a million dollars and retire, you're better off doing something else with your time.  It takes a lot of work and you really have to be passionate about the product or service you are trying to introduce to the world.

There's also just some fantastic basic information about business things like managing organizations and teams, marketing, growth, support, sales, development, how to motivate people, legal and accounting aspects of the business world.  And there's even a few witty jokes and antecdotal stories thrown in there.

One of my favorite presenters talked about how they were getting a cleaning business off the ground and early on to get clients they went to a street fair and handed out bottled water with their contact information on the bottle.  I thought that was pretty innovative and creative as a way to market.

My favorite lecture by far was Facebook growth and how they spoke about this 'Magic Moment' concept.  The moment when you realize you can't live without a product or service.  The moment when you love it.  You fall for it.  It's sometimes different for people, but it's sometimes universal.  If you can figure out what it is that hooks people in, you'll get retention and retention will help with growth.  I love it, to me it's super fascinating, but like I said, I geek out about learning new things in general.

I found a lot of the content to be very pertinent to my day job, even as an employee of an organization.  Even if you don't plan on starting your own business it is definitely worth checking this podcast out.  The people that give each guest lecture are just very motivating people in general.  I feel all kinds of fired up and ready to change the world just thinking about it!  I'm going to have to listen to some of the lectures again.  I think the information could easily be applied to anyone in the workforce at any level of any organization.  So if you have the time, check this podcast out for sure!

 

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