My wife had a conference in Paris last week and asked if I wanted to tag along, see the sights, relax in the cafe ect. I said sure, sounds great, but in truth I had only one thought on my mind, METRIC TAPE MEASURES
Yes friends like the “Royal with Cheese” France is all metric. As soon as I had the opportunity, I took two subway lines and walked a kilometer to the nearest “Bricko Depot” their version of a HD complete with orange apron and cap.
I finally found my all metric tape, and just as icing on the cake I found it in my favorite case design. Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then. You can see the fruits of my quest below.
Do you think I can write off the whole trip as a business expense now? 🙂
Justus
Edited 4/23/2003 9:52:10 AM ET by Justus
Replies
Behold!
Justus Koshiol
Running Pug Construction
Nice. Reminds me of going to London on my honeymoon, and wanting to spend all our time in the steam engine section of the London Science Museum.
Seriously, I too appreciate the metric tape. I always wear a Stanley 10' / 3m combo tape on my belt, (and a leatherman wave) and I work in an office. I get crap for it all the time, but you never know where you'll be when you want to measure something. The metric / imperial combo serves me well. I found mine at a hardware store called Dickson Bros in Harvard Square, Cambridge MA. Didn't have to go to Paris. But next time I am there, I will definitely remember to look for them!
(But I will call mine a "Freedom Tape")
Edited 4/23/2003 10:58:10 AM ET by alecs
Yeah, I've got several metric/english tapes, but I run into the problem of never having the right numbers on the right side. This has been a personal quest for quite a while.
While we were over there I had a long conversation with a friend of mine from France. I brought up the whole "Freedom Fries" issue, she reminded me that about 30% of english comes directly from French. We might be in a pinch if we decided to remove all their words from our language. At the same time there is a lot of America bashing going on over there too. If it helps they are just as vocal about the problems in thier own goverment as they are about ours. We just don't see it in our press.
Cheers. Justus Koshiol
Running Pug Construction
In Canada we have metric tapes, and in Quebec, patate frites. I prefer the expresion "American Fries" over "Fr. fries"
An ex-boat builder treading water!
Don't forget the poutine.
can also be used as flooring glue.If at first you don't succeed...try again! After that quit! No sense being a dam fool about it! W.C.Fields
FWIW Lee Valley Tools sells metric tapes. Some can be found in left and right handed versions (numbers not upside down for some of us users) And you dont have to go all the way to france
http://www.leevalley.com
Lee Valley just started carrying (or I just noticed) the yellow handled "Dogyu" hammers that my builder friends love so much (Fiberglass handle, cleverly designed head for maximum force, minimum size and the top of the head includes 'nail set' with magnets for starting a nail at arm's reach and a 'side hammer' shape on the side for driving a nail in a very small space).
I travel to Japan frequently and would always bring back a couple of those hammers for them ($25 in Japan). That was about a 12,000 mile tool run!
It is interesting to me that Lee Valley charges the same price I used to pay ($25), except that now I don't get to say "yes" to people who ask me why my luggage is so heavy, "what, do you have hammers in there?"
Norm
"Dogyu" means "Bull" in Japanese, as in "Bull tough tools", I guess.
Norm
I've seen the Lee valley tapes, but unlike the rest of their products they don't seem to be very well made. Then again I've never held one in my hand. There is a true value right here in town that sells all metric tapes but they are absoulte crap.
But anyway the post was just for fun.
Cheers. Justus Koshiol
Running Pug Construction