Station 1, Pompton Lakes
Small footprint combining music, books, movies, and games. Exceptionally curated intake means the New Arrivals bins are usually flush with good stuff at reasonable prices, but the size of the shop limits the actual amount of inventory.

Flipside Records, Pompton Lakes
Yes, it’s like 200 feet from Station 1. Been there since 1980, and to hell with footprint size— get ready for an eye popping, wall to wall digging experience. Loaded way beyond the gills with inventory, with stuff literally all over the place, this claustrophobia-inducing shop has some wildly good picks if you are up for the dig. Old school and a 180° on Station 1 in terms of presentation, but worth visiting both when in town.

Scotti’s, Summit
Good selection, kinda hangs in the rock/pop world with a little focus on jazz. Keep your eye on prices; sometimes they will have two of the same record marked differently if they got them in at different times.

Factory Records, Dover
New shop with deep pockets. They have a huge space and have a massive inventory for being a fresh business, but there is also a ton of middle-of-the road titles and some strangely off the wall pricing (like, they have some perception that particular albums are worth way more than their going rate). Large selection of hard rock / sludge metal. I want to like this place more than I do for a bunch of reasons, but they have a lot of titles.

Sound Exchange, Wayne
This longtime, small-footprint spot in a strip mall along Route 23 has recently undergone a complete revival— it used to be on par with Flipside Records for a beyond overstuffed store that was literally impossible to canvas through. Shoe-wide paths through the store, overflowing bins, records impossible to view without damaging other records; it was the best shot of finding a kickass punk or metal album that had been lost to time, but infuriating to visit. Well— that is all changed. Owners thinned the on-floor inventory and it is now a pleasure to sift through. Really great spot if metal, punk, hardcore are on your radar. Prices average.

…but, I saved the best for last—

The Second Saturday Record Show, Wayne
For over 3 decades, this show assembles on (you guessed it) the second Saturday of each month. It’s at the Wayne Police Athletic League— 1 Pal Drive, Wayne— and the next one is on 10 December from 10-3. Dozens of vendors and just a huge, huge volume of records and CDs; you can haggle prices with the vendors and dig through bins of varying organization to try to find something you’re looking for in particular. Pretty hard not to walk away with at least a few things, as it’s the best opportunity to find all sorts of used vinyl (there’s a couple vendors with some new stuff, but used and vintage are where it’s at.)

Why not go to an actual hill instead? Seems like this venue is cramped and has almost no terrain diversity; it’s more of a gimmick than anything.

Campgaw in Mahwah is probably a good place for beginners, as it is a wholly beginner hill so there is not a lot of intimidating terrain or riders.

Shawnee in Pennsylvania would be my suggestion for lessons; the hill is a great size for beginners but offers incrementally difficult terrain. Learn in the group, practice in the learning zone, then you can take your new skills and try a bunch of beginner routes before moving up to intermediate and advanced terrain (the advanced is relative to the park as well, so it’s manageable after a handful of trips).

Camelback in PA would also be a good option, and it is a bigger hill with more trails than Shawnee. It does favor ‘intermediate’ skiers and ski runs, so may be a better option after you have a few lessons under your belt.

Mountain Creek has a reputation for crammed slopes and disrespectful riders, and despite it being in Jersey I have to share the sentiment; I am experienced at skiing but will avoid Creek due to the amount of people; bodies seemingly laying all over the trails (I think a lot of new riders misjudge their skill and end up sitting/laying on trail); and a bunch of poor lift etiquette.

But I digress— American Dream really only offers a single route and, after your lessons, doesn’t give you a trail to ski/board on your own that has any variety of terrain or comparison to a natural hill. I feel like one of the above hills will give you the ability to spread out and learn in a beginners area, and practice without interference with/to more advanced riders.

Don’t hit anything.

The old-school diners are frickin outstanding at delivering an order of home fries, well done:

Summit Diner, Summit
Bendix Diner, Hasbrouck Heights
Salem Oak Diner, Salem
Manville Diner, Manville
Angelo’s Glassboro Diner, Glassboro
Mustache Bill’s, Barnegat Light

I’ve been using a pair of D3 Armor All Clad skillets for years. These things will outlast me, 100% certain.

Don’t bother with a bunched set, as there will undeniably be pieces you’ll seldom use (this applies for kitchen knives as well).

All of our daily-use essentials are from either All-Clad or Made In, and are stainless steel made in the USA. None of it is flashy copper and we don’t own any nonstick surfaced cookware; you want something that will take abuse and be exceptionally functional for the rest of your life, not some glam showpiece whose value is in its aesthetic.

I would put together a piece-by-piece set of:
Large pot, medium pot, 2 small saucepans (Made In)
Two 12” skillets (All Clad)
4qt Saucepan (All Clad)
Half and quarter sheet-pans (Made In, get a few of each!)
An 8” and 12” cast iron skillet (either look for a vintage Wagner, Griswold, or buy new from a company like Stargazer, Smithey, Field Company)
Cast iron griddle (smooth one side, ribbed on the other; Lodge makes a great one)
Enameled Dutch Oven (Le Creuset— make sure to get one made in France, as some are made in China these days I believe)

All of this stuff is made with care from ethical companies and will outlast you— and, most importantly, will kick ass in the kitchen and not need to be babied.

This is worth your analysis:

http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-East-Orange-New-Jersey.html

Personally, I wouldn’t want to ever live in East Orange, but if this is the area your budget allows and you have some good common sense street smarts, you can keep yourself safe.

Yes, sorry, was typing on the fly and didn’t think it through. Just any kind of account that will accrue tons of value through their lives is where my brain was going.

Agree with this poster 100%.

This stuff is sentimental to YOU and being imparted on your child; when your firstborn is old enough and gets handed a box with 18 gold roses in it, chances are that they will either feel obligated to hang on to it despite no attachment, or just sell/donate them.

Make retirement IRA accounts for these kids, and put money into it annually. In 18 years it’ll be worth way more than a handful of roses and baseball cards, and way more useful to your kids.

Thank you, but the big issues is that these (and almost all) donation bins are for clothes and shoes that can be washed and then given to another person to wear.

I have a bag of pants with HUGE rips; shirts that were for yard work and are now nearly destroyed, and so on. If one of these donation companies sees tattered clothes they will just chuck ‘em— I am hoping to find a group specifically focused on repurposing textiles that are no longer functional.

Which is a huge part of the problem.

I can design a rad sign with my dog’s name on it, blanket my town with 1500 fluorescent orange and dark blue signs, and probably get an old hound elected as mayor.

This is one thing that truly bothers me— these campaigns will put 1000 signs along the road in my town with people’s names, but it is wicked difficult to find out their platform or intention for running. I had to do a lot of digging to find info on my town’s BOE candidates, but in the digital era it should be way easier than this.

Spend less on signs placed every 20 feet in the median of a highway. Design them with a huge QR code that takes you directly to a well designed, organized website that gives all pertinent info about the candidate. Place signs in tactful positions that will allow drivers stopped at intersections to capture the QR.

Or, at least SOME WAY of providing more context than hoping that quantity + bright colors will make some bonehead vote for you without knowing anything about why you are running for a political position.

Ah, but it’s not like that!

The window for postcards is usually April 1-April 15, and they start drawing names on the 16th. If they draw (or see) a duplicate card, you’ll be disqualified for the season. Yeah, that means that if you get pulled, and called, your reservation is set, and they find another card from you— they’ll call back to cancel the res!

I give credit to Erin and staff for the old school system to keep it honest and give everyone a fair chance. They have way, way, way more demand than they can serve, and I remember seeing an interview where she didn’t want to let the reservations come down to someone who writes a script to pinch reservations online before humans can click through.

I would venture to say it’s one of the most exclusive reservations in the US, and I think that The Lost Kitchen has done a decent job to keep it fair on getting a spot for dinner.

My wife and I have been twice— once in 2017 and a second time in 2018. The rise in popularity has been atmospheric starting with the lead-in to the 2017 season, and at this point I take Erin and her staff at word that it is a straight-up lottery to get a dinner reservation.

Leading into the 2017 season was a feature article in Maine magazine which put the radar on for a lot of people— way more than TLK’s staff expected. It was a phone-in reservation system, with the line opening at midnight on 1 April. We, and thousands of others, flooded the voicemail to the point where even catching the mailbox when it was being cleared was a matter of persistence. I woke up at 4am to call in and got to leave a voicemail, and was called back a couple days later to schedule a reservation (for October, mind you). The staff were up for over a day straight just logging voicemail callback numbers and clearing the mailbox, which led to the current postcard system.

In 2018 my wife and I each made a snazzy artsy postcard, and mine was drawn early on— still, I feel like it was a random pull and had nothing to do with the appearance of the card. During our dinner she had the cards all laid out of that day’s guests, and some of them were very basic (while others were straight up beautiful, with watercolors and awesome hand lettering).

Since then, my wife and I have both made rad cards each year but have not been pulled. Keep in mind— there is one seating per night, 4 nights a week, with a capacity of 40 diners. That’s 160 diners a week. By and large, most reservations will be for 2-6 people, so the actual number of reservations is at least half that number. The season runs from early May to the end of October, so 6 months / 24 weeks of service.

At best case, you are talking about 1,920 available reservations for the entire year, and any 4-top or 6-top tables bring that number down. By all accounts, and with the popularity of a TLK TV show on Magnolia, she probably gets well in excess of 30,000 postcards in the spring. So yeah, do the math there— even if every res was a 2-person, and she only received 30k postcards, that’s still only a 6% chance of being plucked.

We will continue to send in postcards every year, and heck, we may never be able to dine at The Lost Kitchen again in our lives, but we know it’s all just a lucky draw from here on out—

Agreeing and echoing with the above comments.

I have a heavily insulated Mountain Hardwear winter jacket that is close to 20 years old, but looks like new as I’ll only use it to bicycle commute to work when the temperature is below 10°F— it is just too damn warm for any kind of exertion.

From a lifetime of camping and skiing, the answer absolutely exists in layering. Even on cold-ass winter days, I am super cozy wearing
moisture-wicking t-shirt
Merino wool base layer (Smartwool have been my go-to)
Arc’teryx lightweight hoodie
Either a Helly Hansen or Mountain Hardwear outer shell (non-insulated).

If I get too warm while shoveling, biking or skiing I can peel a layer before I start sweating, and add it back if the chill creeps in. A single super insulated coat doesn’t give you any flexibility to regulate your temperature.

Also, same goes for the bottoms; usually it’s underwear, wool long underwear, and outer pants— never an insulated pair of pants straight-up.

We had ours catered by Courtney from the Maine Lobsterbake Company and it could not have been any better.

She brought everything she and her small team needed out to Peaks Island, and we were served homemade clam chowder, white wine mussels, and a proper lobsterbake for $55 a head (this was 6 years ago mind you). She also had dessert options which we passed on in favor of Whoopies pies we sourced ourselves, and had a chicken entree for non seafood eaters.

Incredibly easy to work with, lots of avenues to tailor the menu and schedule, food was outstanding, and I thought the price was stellar for the type of menu (plus it was a lobster and seafood meal out on Peaks, I mean c’mon).

Not sure if she can tie in with an alcohol vendor (we DIYed the drinks from Allagash and Maine Craft Distilling), but if this would suit your vibe and you’re getting hitched roundabout Portland it is worth looking into!

Straight-up Jersey pie: Pizza Town, Elmwood Park

Tomato pie: Cambiotti’s, Landing

Boardwalk pie: Maruca’s, Seaside Heights

Fancy pie: Razza, Jersey City

Just-outside-of-Jersey pie: Split Oak at Westtown Brewery, Westtown NY

Pushing all those filters to the limit.