AquaGear Swim Shop Review

AquaGear Swim Shop Review

AquaGear.Com

Please excuse any typos and grammar issues.  I worked a 14 hour day yesterday and the morning coffee has not yet entered the bloodstream.

Julie (a representative from AquaGear.com) contacted me about a week ago to do a review of their store and some of their products.  They offered me $40 worth of free product in exchange for a honest review. 

At first I thought this was a targeted blog scam.  I did some research and discovered many other bloggers who were also contacted and did a review.  So I proceeded with caution and ask a few questions to put my mind at ease.  After some back and forth emails with Julie, I was satisfied this was legitimate. 

Before I proceed with the AquaGear review let me make something clear.  This is an honest review.  Yes, they gave me $40 worth of free gear (which was nice) but anyone who knows me knows that I can sometimes be honest to a fault.  You will see this when I do my review of my experiences with TriSports (who will never get my business again after the experience I had with them).

Customer Service: Grade A
It is so nice when you get great customer service.  It really sells you on a company.  AquaGear excelled in this area.  They had awesome customer service. Their email response time was extremely quick and useful. I was trying to pick out some cool new goggles and had no idea what I wanted.  I asked Julie about some of the goggle I was looking at and she gave me a very honest review of each of them.  She even suggested the cheaper of the two goggles. 

Shipping/Delivery: Grade A
My package was shipped the same day I ordered it.  It arrived in about 1-2 days (ground normal shipping).  But in all fairness they are located in West Palm Beach, Florida which is only about a 3-4 hour drive from my house.  But the package was shipped within 24 hours as advertised which was great.  Shipping is free on orders about $75 and standard shipping is just $5.99 regardless of order size.

Prices: Grade A
I did a quick price comparison of some of their products and it appears their prices are much lower than brick and mortar shops and at (or below) other online retailers.  I do not buy much swimming equipment so I am not the best to grade this category.

Website Ease of Use: Grade C
The left hand produce menu changes with nearly every click.  It seems to be context sensitive to what you are currently looking at.  This means you have to go back to the main website to find items not related to your current item.  This can be confusing.  It is also one BIG menu so it is easy to get lost.  The good news is if you know exactly what you are looking for they have a great search box on the top right.

Website User Reviews: Grade ?
One thing I found frustrating (and it is probably not AquaGear's fault) is the customer reviews.  It seems that no items actually have customer reviews.  This made the website seem like they have had no customers or just started their business. They should somehow encourage customers to place product reviews or they should place links to the AquaGear blog reviews on their website.

Merchandise: Grade A
They have a TON of quality and variety items to choose from.  You seem to carry most major brands.  They have EVERYTHING you should ever need for swimming.

Overall I think AquaGear is GREAT and HIGHLY recommend you doing business with them.  It was a joy working with them and I have no complaints.  It was a great experience.

BTW - HalfTRIing readers (all two of you) get an AquaGear 5% discount. The coupon code to use is fivehalftri5 This code will expire in about 1 year.

AquaGear Shipment Arrived

IMAGE SOURCE

AquaGear.com contacted me about a week ago requesting a review in exchange for some free goodies.  I first spent some time investigating if the request was legitimate.  Bloggers are always getting targeted SPAM that is not legitimate and at first I admit I thought this was the same. 

After some talks with Julie with AquaGear.com I determined the request was kosher.   Julie was AWESOME.  She answered all my questions and even suggested goggles for me try.  




!!FREE GOODIES TO REVIEW!!

I decided to try out the following:

1) Summer Solutions Swimmer's Soap - In hopes that it stops me from stinking of chlorine and gets rid of my natural stanch.

2) Barracuda Aquia Shampoo  - In hopes that it stops me from stinking of chlorine and makes my hair stop turning grey and falling out..

3) Aqua Sphere Vista Mask - In hopes that I can better see all the band aids, hair-ties and hair at the bottom of the pool

4) Aqua Sphere Goggle Case - To keep my new FREE goggles scratch free.

I hope to get a review out Thursday after my Wednesday swim.

In the mean time, check out AquaGear.com.  HalfTRIing readers get a 5% discount.  The coupon code to use is fivehalftri5  This code will expire in about 1 year.

See you on Thursday with the honest / unbiased review.   

Moving Soreness

I spent the entire day moving a friend yesterday.  You know you are good friend when you volunteer to move someone.  I was one of only two people who moved all the heavy items.  We started moving at 9:30am and dropped the truck off a 8:00pm and the move was only about 2 miles away.  I felt fine yesterday but today I am feeling slightly sore.

Yesterday while moving the
massive amounts of furniture I felt like this!

Today I feel more like this!
Calgon take me away.

I'm Alive!!

Sorry for the lack of updates.  My life has been crazy busy lately. 

So what has happened since last we talked:

1) The family took a trip to Canada.  We also went back to the states and visited the Jello museum.  J-E-L-L-O!!

2) Rotary International - I was voted the club's President Elect for 2013 - 2014.  I was also voted the clubs Secretary for 2012- 2013.  This is keeping me crazy busy.

3) HEAT TRAINING!!  I've been biking and running in the 105-110F Florida heat.

4) Working crazy hours at work. 

I hope to give a better update soon.  Sorry for ignoring you!!  :-)

Lance Armstrong, 1800 other professional and amateur athletes exposed to toxins at Ironman Florida 70.3

Wow!! Thank you WTC for not caring for their athletes.  I smell lawsuits and probably rightfully so. 

This is the event I just completed about a month ago.

Here is the article.  

I kind of like the side effects of the swim. 
!!KEVIN SMASH!!

TriBug 15% Off Coupon Code

TriBug 15% Off Coupon Code

(Image Souce)

The wonderful folks at TriBug.com have send my readers a 15% off coupon code.  They have also redone their website.  Free shipping for orders over $95.

You can see my review of Tribug here.

Just enter HalfTRIing during your checkout process.

PS - I have no relation to TriBug. I am just a happy customer who wants others to know about my great experience with them..

TRIBug Discount Promo Coupon Code * 15%: HalfTRIing

Fermentation Friday - Homemade Yogurt

Fermentation Friday - Homemade Yogurt

IMAGE SOURCE

Yesterday I decided to ferment something new and healthy… YOGURT.  I am a yogurt hound.  I eat way too much of it.  My dog shares my addiction.  He drools and stares at me like a zombie when I eat yogurt.  He is waiting for me to allow him to lick the cup.  He loves yogurt way too much also.  He will shove his whole face into the cup to get every last morsel of yogurt.  Like a kid, he hates for me to whip off his face with a napkin when he is done.

Bonnie and I ferment wine and cider for presents so I have a good understanding of fermentation and sanitation. But yogurt seemed scarier.  Something about purposely souring milk and eating it that scared me.  Maybe it is big brother telling me I will die if I do not leave it to the “professionals”.  Well screw that…Chewie and I want some real yogurt!!!

I wanted to make the real stuff for the first time so I went to the farmers market (in the rain) and pickup some raw cow’s milk.  It was marked “for pets only”  but the hippies around me said I would be fine.  Plus, Chewie is not getting ALL my yogurt.  I love him but not that much.  J The hippies said they drink raw milk all the time (that was not a confidence booster for me).  Worse case I end up looking (and smelling) like I have not take a bath in 2 weeks, grow dreadlocks, wear tie dye, smell like a college dorm room and dance around a tree in the middle of the night.

I was surprised how easy it is to make yogurt. There are a thousand blogs dedicated to this.  Here are two.  WorkingOutTheDetails and KeeperOfTheHome 

1. The first step is to clean everything you are going to use very well.  I then used a spray sanitizer to sanitize everything.  This step is probably not really necessary but I have the sanitizer lying around because of the mead/cider/wine making I do.  “Cleanliness is godliness”
2. Then place the milk into a sauce pan.   Any milk can be used.  Skim is good, 2% is better, whole is betterer, and  raw milk is more bettererist.
3. Heat the milk gently and stir continuously.  You want the milk to reach about 180F.  If you do not have a food thermometer (shame on you) heat the milk to just before it starts boiling (you will start to see small bubbles form on the side).
4. Take the sauce pan off of the stove and cool it down to about 110F.  I used an ice bath.  Again if you do not have a thermometer (go to Bed, Bath and Beyond cheapo) you can test it by sticking your pinky finger into the milk.  If it is warm and not hot then you are probably good
5. Now you need a bacteria source.  You can either buy yogurt bacteria (online or at hippie stores like Whole Foods) or dump in a cup of room temperature, store yogurt that has live yogurt cultures in it (read the sides to know).
6. Now comes the creative part.  You need to keep the yogurt around 110F.  There are tons of ways to do this.  You can find these online.  But what I did was pour the warm milk into my crock pot.  Placed the lid on the crock.  Removed the crock pot from the heating thingy and placed it into my oven that I barely warmed to about 110F.  My oven tells me the temperature as it heats up.  I just turned it off when it said 110F then let it cool down a little with the door slightly open.  I then put the covered crock into the oven (which is turned OFF), shut the door and left it there overnight to ferment.  I also left the light on to help generate some mild heat and keep the boogey man/monsters/zombies/Chewie away from my yogurt
7. About 6-12 hours (times seem to vary and not really matter) later you got yogurt.  I just want to bed and took it out in the morning. 
8. The yogurt is a little more running than you are use to (if you live in the US).  You can strain it using cheese cloth and a strainer for a few hours (the resulting liquid is whey which is great to drink).  People so add pectin, gelatin, powder milk, etc to make it thicker.  See here for thickening methods.  TheKithn & CulturesForHealth

The result is good and healthy.  It was fun and REALLY easy to make.  I did not save any money because raw milk around here is expensive but next time I will just a good quality store milk to save the money.  Don’t tell big brother I made my own yogurt.

What have you fermented lately?  Want more fermentation Fridays?  What should I ferment next?