Things I like a lot

Hey, guys, I'm no Debbie Downer. So after posting two negative reviews--a great production of a play that shouldn't have been produced in the first place, and a bad production of a play that should--I thought I'd write about stuff that I like. In the past year or so, I've bought a few things that have made my life much, much better. The kinds of things you tell your friends, "You've got to get one of these!" So, since I consider all of my readers to be friends, I am going to tell you about them. And if there are products that you, too, truly love--be they high-ticket items or humble little conveniences--please share them in the comments!

1. Silicone no-stick baking sheet

I bought this at Crate & Barrel to make cookies for a neighborhood cookie exchange this Christmas. The cookies sucked, and of course I was initially irritated that I'd spent $20 on this one-time-only item. But as it turns out, I use it almost every day! Cookies are clearly not my forte, but I love roasted vegetables and baked tofu, and it's so much easier to make these with a Silpat (that's the most popular brand, I think mine is something else). You just place the sheet over a regular baking sheet, pop your veggies or tofu cubes down, season them, and bake. No need to grease the sheet, or scrape fused-on parsnip off your roasting pans. When they're done you just wipe the Silpat off with a sponge. We have a really awful kitchen with little storage space, so I am VERY conservative about buying kitchen gadgets--I can only afford to have things that I'll use a lot, so when I say a kitchen gadget is worth it, you know it is.

2. Neti pot

My neti pot, which I extolled here, is a little plastic cheapie that looks like Aladdin's lamp. Apparently, however, they come in a range of designs, including a few that really resemble bongs. If you already own a bong, you probably don't want to get a neti pot that can be confused with it, as running bong water through your sinuses would, I imagine, be a truly disgusting experience. (I love the picture of "Our son Connor using a neti pot." There's no way I could have survived having my parents put a picture of me draining my nostrils on the internet, but maybe Connor has higher self-esteem, or a more compassionate peer group, than I did as a kid.)

3. Light box

The light box wasn't a purchase for me, but for Mr. Improbable, who suffers from insomnia. Or, perhaps more accurately--I suffer from his insomnia. He's been that way since adolescence and is fairly used to it. Sitting in front of a full-spectrum light box for 20 minutes every morning hasn't entirely cured his problem, but it's helped immensely with his sleeping habits, improved his mood, and makes him actually awake in the morning. (He'd been one of those people who take about two hours to fully wake up.) I got a rather high-end one, because I figured that if I'd gotten a lesser version and it didn't work, then I'd be unsure if it wasn't working because it wasn't ever going to work or if I just didn't get a powerful enough one, and then I would probably have wound up up getting a better one anyway. The less expensive ones are probably fine (to be honest, at the point when I bought this, I was feeing rather "I Married a Zombie"-style desperate). The model I got has an automatic timer that shuts it off after your prescribed dosage of light, and of course you don't have to just sit there staring at it the whole time--you can eat breakfast, read the paper, catch up on e-mail or whatever.

They're not the most elegant addition to home decor, but entirely worth it:

4. GPS

Oh, we all know the love story of Miss Conduct and her little GPS now, don't we? Having had it for a couple of months now, I can say it really is the gift that keeps on giving. The danger of some technologies is that they allow your skills to atrophy (calculators are a good example here)--the GPS is different. I really understand how a lot of parts of Boston and environs connect in ways I didn't before. I'm a much more confident driver than I used to be. The GPS has made me more independent, not dependent upon it.

(Please note, however, that I no longer want a version with Alan Rickman's voice. I now want one that sounds like Edward James Olmos on "Battlestar Galactica." I could drive around all day listening to that voice!)

5. Clogs

Yeah, clogs. If anyone ever wanted to make a Boston-based version of "Sex and the City" featuring me and my girlfriends (Verena, the Traveling Psychologist, History Girl and her daemon Johnny Cash, the Fabulous Bureaucrats, Amazing Genius Science Girl, etc.), not only would the dialogue be a lot funnier and the problems more realistic, but strappy stiletto Manolo Blahniks would be completely displaced by Dansko clogs. (And frilly pink drinks by a decent single-malt whiskey or a full-bodied Shiraz.)

Except for me. I have these weird tall Lego feet, and Danskos don't fit me. To my delight, I recently discovered Sanitas, which do. Now I, too, have joined the clog club. What's not to love about shoes that can be worn with dress pants, jeans, or skirts; bare feet, stockings, or socks; that you can walk in for hours but are still good-looking enough that you don't mind being seen walking in them for hours? They're also great travel shoes. And I have the impression that they will never, ever, wear out. I realize I'm incredibly late on the clog bandwagon--there was even a recent New Yorker cartoon about their ubiquity--but if you've been holding out agains the trend, it's time to give in. And if you, too, have feet like Barney Rubble, give the Sanitas a try.

Now it's your turn. What products have made your life better?