The Frug recommends

10 things you should know about great dive bars

By Brad Beckstrom

Years ago I worked for Miller Brewing Company. Part of my job was visiting wholesalers who were independent distributors of our beer. I worked in marketing, so after my pitch on the latest programs from the brewery we would visit key accounts including bars and restaurants in the market. We’d say hi to the bar owners, buy some beers, discuss what the competition was up to, and how our programs were stacking up in retail.

Many of these beer distributors were in small towns. I visited places like Snoqualmie WA , Cumberland MD, Ocracoke Island NC, and Harpers Ferry WV. As a recent college grad, this was a great opportunity to see the country and spend time with experienced business owners.

The distributors would take brewery reps like me to their best accounts. These were generally taverns that sold a lot of beer. They were always independently owned (not chains) and had a large local following. The formula in all of these accounts was remarkably similar. Keep it simple, sell ice cold beer and great food. Keep it relatively dark and cool inside and hang a lot of interesting stuff on the wall. These were classic dive bars.

In search of local dives.

Fast-forward many years and true dive bars with good food are getting harder to find. This is especially true if you are living in the suburbs. Around Arlington, are always plenty of places to eat including chains, ethnic spots and high-end concept restaurants owned by restaurant groups and celebrity chefs. Some of these restaurant groups even do a nice job at re-creating the feel of an Adirondack Tavern or a Nantucket Sailing Club. Sure you may feel like you’re in a hundred-year-old tavern, but you’re paying for it.

There’s nothing wrong with this once in a while, but just because you enjoy something like a great bottle of wine at an expensive restaurant, doesn’t mean you need to try and recreate that experience every week or even every month. In an expensive area like Arlington Virginia, trying to recreate this dining experience weekly can add up to a couple of car payments every month.

This is where the local dive becomes important. They’ve spent very little on decor. There is no wine list, just what’s on the table tent. The focus is on value. If you’re a Frug, you need to seek these places out. You need to support them. I’m not talking about hipster dive bars. These are very easy to spot. I can find any number of them over the bridge in DC. They may look like dive bars but they charge eight to ten dollars for a cocktail or seven dollars for a microbrew. Sadly they are often the victim of location (high rent district) and no short supply of urban hipsters. More power to them but they’re off my list.

How to spot a true dive. These are getting harder to find.

It’s coveted by the locals. Reputation and repeat business from regulars is what keep these places going. Ask around.
The floor may be dirty but the dishes and glasses are clean. Serving ice cold beer or a cocktail in a perfect spotless glass is a true dive bar’s bread-and-butter.
The menu is simple, and generally unhealthy, but the quality is there.
The price is right. They should offer a good selection of old-school domestic beers like Miller High Life and PBR for about three dollars.
The taps are clean. If you get a funny tasting draft beer, be suspect. A good dive bar will have very clean beer lines, just like a great Irish pub will pour a perfect Guinness.
The customers are definitely more interesting than those you may find at a local chain restaurant,
The hipsters may have discovered it but the owner doesn’t care,
A good amount of the decor has been provided by local beer and liquor companies. Some of the stuff hanging on the wall is over 50 years old.
It’s not well lit, which helps hide many imperfections.
The kitchen is simple and clean. You can hear the cook complain about your order.

If you like to go out once a week or so, try seeking out the best local dives. Heres how.

Explain to your wife, friends or significant other that you want to try something different and that this will be a new experience.
Do your research. After all if you find your favorite local dive you may be going there for 10 years or more (like we have) so it’s worth a little bit of effort.
Start with Yelp or Foursquare. If you don’t have the app it’s just as easy to visit Yelp.com. Create a free account so you can bookmark your dives.
Do a search for dive bars or dives. Look for 4 star ratings on Yelp and Google Maps or a rating of 80 or higher on Foursquare.
Don’t just stop there, browse some of the food comments this is always a good indicator of the quality of the dive.
Do a test dive. Don’t just show up for dinner on a Saturday night. Maybe stop by for happy hour and try some chicken wings to get a feel for the place.

It may turn out not to be a place you want to eat but the drinks and bar food may look great. While you’re trying it out share your thoughts on the yelp app or foursquare.

Keep searching. Like most other things in life, you only need to find one.

To get you started here’s a list of my favorite dives, http://goo.gl/kgWvkl

The Frug

How to create your own personal search engine and remember everything.

01/14 by The Frug Leave a Comment

– Brad Beckstrom- Thefrug.com.

Have you ever scribbled a quick note, found something on your smartphone or online and bookmarked it, only to never find it again? Sure, the bookmark in your browser worked fine, it’s just you’re having trouble remembering some of the details, like what it was you thought was so great about the company, idea, article, gadget or piece of information in the first place. If the thought comes to you again this certainly makes it hard to find.

This can be especially frustrating at work. What was the name of that company that makes that free widget? Wazzle, Ziplot, Xplant. Search even becomes more difficult with all of the similar sounding Web 2.0 names out there. There’s just not enough information in most domain names or descriptions to make bookmarks very useful.

I have hundreds of bookmarks, dating back years. They are basically useless broken links from companies I don’t recall much about. I’ve found a better way.

On May 9, 2009 at 10:07 AM, I discovered Evernote. A free note taking, smartphone, web and desktop app linked to the cloud. I remember this because every note is automatically annotated with a date time and location. I took a picture of a place I wanted to stay at the beach. The photo automatically included a map and was now searchable by the address, name of the property, date time month location etc. Even the text in the photo of the sign was automatically synced and searchable. This included text in logos like Sunspot below.

I was just getting started. I also added the free Evernote App to my iPad , Google Chrome, and the desktop version for my Mac. All of these sync with one free Evernote account. This is where the personal search elements really come in handy. Once you add Evernote to your browser, you can clip and quickly tag information on any webpage. Evernote then saves all kinds of information to help you find that page in the future. You can add your own tags like “Taxes” or “Vacation“ or “To Do.” This browser plug-in / extension is available for most modern browsers and is super convenient for quickly saving a simplified version of any article, stripping away all of the extraneous screaming headlines and other unrelated information like banner ads with dancing monkeys.

For traveling, I like to add the airport code as a tag or note to make things easier to find. like PDX for an upcoming trip to Portland. The Frug likes to make reservations way in advance and this comes in handy when trying to instantly pull up flight, hotel and event details I lined up four months ago. It’s also helpful when you visit a city several years later and want to pull up your old info, like a cool restaurant or hotel you found. You can also clip any type of information and attach it to a to do or reminder in Evernote. Example: book this hotel next May.

The greatest feature of Evernote is the search function. You can obviously search in the app or in your Evernote account but the most useful feature is the search plug-in for your browser that displays all of your past related notes directly in your Google search results. So, if I search Dewey Beach not only do I get that note I created back in 2009, but also some important info related to a client program and a hotel reservation.

After a very short time, you will find yourself remembering everything and being of great assistance to friends, clients and family members who can’t remember the name of that thing we found or place we stayed. Because you’re primarily searching just your results, there’s much less muck to dig through to find what you’re looking for.

Here are my five quick steps to creating your own personal search engine with Evernote:

Go to Evernote.com and create a free account.
Download the desktop app and browser plug-in available for most computers.
Activate the browser plug-in or extension, Evernote calls this web clipper.
Get the smartphone app.
Start clipping, snapping, tagging and sharing anything that interest you. You’ll be glad you did later.

You’ll also be able to get rid of all those notes and scraps of paper that pile up on your desk and in your wallet.

Foil Speedcams, Avoid Traffic Jams, and Save $0.30 per gallon on gas with the updated WAZE app

12/13 by The Frug Leave a Comment

My wife and I are not speeders. Unless you call driving 8 to 10 miles per hour above the posted speed limit, just to keep up with traffic, – speeding. In the DC Metro area driving at the speed limit can be dangerous. We have both also been “unfairly” nailed by speed cams in DC.

To solve this problem, we recently installed the WAZE app. Wayz in addition to being a solid GPS app also allows users to share speedcam, speed trap and driving hazard info. These alerts then show up as icons with warnings. This also comes in real handy for avoiding accidents and bad road conditions. You can look at traffic reports along your specific route which makes spotting and avoiding bad traffic a lot easier.

After you’ve been using WAZE for a bit you can create your own icon which shows up on the map. The icons are a lot of fun, but in busy metro areas like ours the screen can get a bit crowded. These can easily be turned off in settings.

One additional feature I’ve recently discovered It is the gas option. To be honest, I don’t look at gas prices very often because I don’t drive very much. Playing with this app I’ve been amazed at the difference in gas prices, just on one main drag near our home. It’s not uncommon to find .30. .40 and even $.50 variances per gallon nearby. It’s like getting a free lunch with every fill up. Just don’t buy any of that gas station sushi.

If you’re planning a trip you can take a quick look at the live map in your browser before you head out. https://www.waze.com/livemap

Waze was recently bought by Google for just over $1 billion dollars, so I think they may be onto something. Google paid 1 billion but you can get it for free here

Crush your ADD tendencies using a Pomodoro.

11/13 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Crush your ADD tendencies using a Pomodoro.

ADD. Attention Deficit Disorder. You hear this term so often now “She’s so ADD” or “Oops, that’s my ADD kicking in again.” Seems like many people have just self diagnosed. I believe most are just suffering from ADD tendencies created by our time crunched, multi screen lifestyles. The constant stream of Facebook updates, Twitter streams, and 24/7 streaming video, news, weather, celebrity updates. It’s difficult even for the most focused of us to get stuff done. There are a lot of “get stuff done” systems out there. Sure!!!! Just add one more checklist or website I need to go to to get stuff done, right? No thanks.

The High Intensity Answer

I’ve stumbled upon what I believe is an excellent solution for those with ADD tendencies. The answer lies in high-intensity training methods. Recently, I switched from traditional workouts, maybe two or three times a week to daily workouts, incorporating high-intensity training for short 20 minute periods.

This has been very effective for several reasons. When you know you can get something done in 20 minutes, there’s less dread involved in the task. Using high-intensity training, my workouts are so quick that they’re over before they feel like they’ve gotten started. The big advantage here is that I can always find 20 minutes to squeeze one of these in daily. This versus the two or three days a week I was trying to fit in a 60 minute workout which was significantly more difficult.

This worked well for me, so I began thinking about how the theory behind high intensity training could be applied to other everyday tasks. In my search, I came across the Pomodoro technique.

Are you ready, because it kicks ass.

The Pomodoro technique was named after a popular kitchen timer called the Pomodoro. This is a basic 25 minute kitchen timer. The Pomodoro technique involves focusing on single tasks in 25 minute intervals. The technique is designed to block and manage distractions during these intervals. (Don’t worry, you don’t need to set a kitchen timer on your desk. You can use any timer, or your smartphone, to time your intervals)

The technique works by training you to block distractions during, and completely focus on, the single task at hand during each 25 minute period or “Pomodoro.” Once you start a Pomodoro, you’ve committed to avoiding any distraction until the 25 minute period of focus is completed. It’s fine to mentally acknowledge a distraction and then train yourself intentionally avoid it. See – just now I acknowledged a distraction to search for the Molly Cyrus Wrecking Ball video I heard someone talking about. By the time I finish typing this, that distraction may be forgotten. If not I can just get to it after this interval.

Over time you learn to use these Pomodoros effectively, assigning one or more to each project you need to get done during the day. You’ll learn to quickly estimate how many Pomodoros certain tasks will take. For instance, this blog post may take two Pomodoros with a break in between.

Eliminate Burnout

Just like in interval training, the breaks are important. Essential to the Pomodoro method is the notion that taking short scheduled breaks while working helps eliminate task burnout and keep you focused.

Conclusion

The endgame is you get more done and take more breaks. You’ll find that the 25 minutes of focus makes it a lot easier to ignore phone calls, tweets and other distractions while that timer is running. It also helps you identify the distractions. When I first started using it, I had to set my phone, with the timer running, in clear view so if I had the urge to check something online or pick up my phone, I quickly saw I had X number of minutes left in that interval.

The more you do this, the better you’ll get. Check out the video and read the book on becoming a Pomodoro Master. Clearly something you’ll be able to brag to your friends about. “Wow, who would’ve thought Brad would ever become a Pomodoro Master.”

“One Man’s Trash” My 5 year experiment with Craigslist

11/13 by The Frug Leave a Comment

And 10 Tips on selling stuff from an adman.

Starting with $60 for a grill I couldn’t give away.

My first experience with Craigslist was about 5 years ago. We had an old Weber Genesis 1100 grill. This thing was about 15 years old and we had it for about 10 of those years. A neighbor had given it to me in fair condition. We put it to good use, and it showed. The bottom was rusted out and various other parts had started to give way. Ours was actually in worse shape than the photo above.

Curb Alerts

I’d heard about other people listing old couches and other various items on craigslist as a curb alert. Curb alerts are for things generally not suitable for sale or donation to charity. Our grease covered rotted out grill was definitely in this category.

To my surprise, in searching craigslist, it turned out that this grill was a “classic” and there was an active market of people who purchase these, paying from $40-$80 then use the parts or completely restore them. Here is an “after” photo I found of one of these restored grills on craigslist.

Restored grill for sale as seen on Craigslist.

As they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” and this sure beats a trip to the dump. Also, call me a Frug, but I feel bad just chucking something that may have a few more years of useful service in it. So I took the leap and created my first post on craigslist, included two photos, grill info, and listed it for $60, a price well beyond its scrap value. My thinking was maybe someone would want to restore it like the one above.

Craigslist a powerful tool in my war on stuff.

I was a bit concerned about getting mocked, spammed, or receiving offers for escort services in response to my ridiculous first attempt at a craigslist ad for a rusty grill. But, based on the immediate responses, my inner ad-man had come through and created a successful post. By that afternoon, not only did someone reply, but actually arrived at my home to pick up the grill with no negotiation. Just three crisp 20s and a thank you!

Craigslist has become a powerful tool in my war on stuff. Here are a few tips to make getting rid of stuff on craigslist easy:

Always use multiple photos. Just like any other customer, craigslist shoppers want to see what they’re getting, even if you are giving it away for free.
Try to get a good photo by placing the item outdoors, or in a well lit area, without distractions or “other junk” in the background.
For quick posts. use a craigslist app. Once your account is set up it’s easy to just snap a photo with the app then add a headline and a good description.
Good headlines work, something like “Vintage Peugeot French Road Racing Bike.” I used this description to sell my 12 speed bike from 10th grade that was still in my garage until about a year ago! Another “classic vintage” item that had retained all of its value 30+ years later.
For more expensive products, it’s always good to paste in a quick description from the manufacturer. Just do a quick search including the model number and you’ll get a bunch of options. These more detailed descriptions will also make your item easier to find for searching shoppers.
Avoid using photos from the manufacturer’s website unless what you’re selling is brand-new. People will be disappointed if your sale item differs from the photograph.
There is no need to include your email, phone or home address in the post. Just use your craigslist mail ID which forwards to your email box. This helps you avoid spammers.
If someone asks you to deliver the item, just say no, unless you know them. The time involved in this negates any benefit you get from using craigslist. Think of this more as a garage sale. People should just take things home and leave you with the cash.
When you come up with your price give yourself about 10% to 15% negotiation room. People who purchase on craigslist generally like to ask for some small discount from your list price.
If you are getting rid of stuff that is in really bad shape just do a quick curb alert, Craigslist has some good mapping tools so you can just drop a pin on the curb location and it will be gone in no time.

Zach Galifianakis presents Craigslist Joe

Once you start playing around with craigslist, you’ll find there’s a whole hidden economy involved. It goes way beyond stuff, and includes fantastic vacation rentals, computer repair services, handyman services, on and on. Check out the film Craigslist Joe about the guy who travels the country relying solely on the support of the craigslist community.

Unloaded anything crazy on Craigslist. I’d love to hear about it.

The_Frug

Put a Knife in the Heart of your Junk e-mail

10/13 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Do you hate unsolicited e-mails? I’m not talking about straight up spam, I already know you hate that. I’m talking about e-mails you may have signed up for intentionally or unintentionally. It kind of works like this, you purchase something online, donate to a political candidate, request some information from a company like healthcare, banking services, widgets etc.

The Hook

You may have even checked off the please do not send me any more information box at the bottom of the from. Somehow they find you. The biggest abusers are often companies you gave permission to. So, for instance, I may follow my favorite hotel for special offers, the next thing you know I am receiving offers from three or four other hotels in the same chain.

Or, I may have donated to a certain political candidate and now I’m receiving multiple e-mails from candidates and other talking heads in his party. I definitely did not want to hear from these people. I could haplessly search at the bottom of these e-mails for the minuscule hidden unsubscribe link. Then login with more information and attempt to unsubscribe, often a fool’s errand. I could just mark the e-mail as SPAM or JUNK, however, I may be blocking actual e-mails I want to receive. This also often fails to block or trash e-mails from others in this group.

The Suckiness

Okay, regardless of how many ways I describe this, it sucks. It’s also unfair to bloggers, organizations and companies that spend some time creating newsletters, offers, and information you actually want to receive. This pisses some people off so much they declare e-mail bankruptcy and just shut off their e-mail address only to create a new one and start all over. Another trick I’ve used in the past is to use a “junk persona” or just a working junk e-mail address on Yahoo or Gmail, for those times you need to receive confirmations or links but don’t want to use your personal e-mail. This is also a pain in the ass.

The Solution

Now that I’ve completed my rant, I will share a FREE solution I’ve been using for the past year. It’s called Unroll.me. Once you sign up it scans your in box automatically searching for e-mails that you’ve subscribed to either willingly or unwillingly. Unroll.me then asks if you would like to consolidate these e-mails into a single rollup.

Unleash Your Inner Ninja

This is where the fun starts. This is where you get to exert your new found knife wielding powers on your unwanted e-mail guests. Unroll.me will present you with a list in alphabetical order of all of the e-mail subscriptions it has found in your e-mail account.

You don’t need to deal with them right away. They will stay in your inbox until you mark them as,” add to rollup” or “unsubscribe” you also have the choice to select “keep in inbox.” As you can see, my work e-mail was out-of-control. I actually unsubscribed to 174 lists so far. As far as all the other lists they go, into the roll up which is sent to you once a day allowing you to quickly scan any of the e-mails you’ve chosen to keep. My current rollup includes 481 lists. Some of these lists you may only hear from a couple times a year and they will neatly be placed in the roll up. My daily rollup averages about 5 or 6 rolled up messages. You can always unsubscribe or move them back to your inbox at any time.

Here’s what the subscription page looks like so you can quickly go through and unsubscribe, add to roll up or keep an inbox as new lists appear. You will be amazed at how many lists you’re actually on.

Some of these lists you will want to keep in your inbox and others you’ll have never heard of, and can dispatch them immediately forever with a click of the mouse. Generally, I won’t recommend something that I haven’t used for quite a while. I can say that Unroll.me is really onto something here.

End Game

If you’ve ever been distracted by an e-mail, this is the tool for you. It allows you to batch all of this less than important stuff into a quick daily single e-mail you can quickly scan through or trash. There are definitely organizations, companies and bloggers I want to hear from but don’t need them filling up my work inbox.

As you click on items to read in your daily rollup, you will be taken to a page where they are all consolidated by day. You can also sort them by category.

If you’re not sure about this, try it with a personal e-mail or one of your old junk e-mails. You’ll quickly see the value in unsubscribing and working lean with a much trimmer inbox.