But as it turns out, Klein Tools wasn’t satisfied with a Torpedo Level that was merely awesome – the had to go and upgrade it to amazing. Meet the latest incarnation: the Klein Tools Magnetic Lighted Torpedo Level.

Klein’s Lighted Torpedo Level has the same 3-vial configuration, rugged housing and incredibly strong Rare Earth magnets as its predecessor, but with a few new perks that really take it to the next (wait for it….) level. Sorry, I was cringing as I wrote it and realized the pun, but it was pretty much unavoidable. Anyway, back to the latest features, which happen to be a laser-etched ruler along the bottom edge of the level, as well as a v-notched frame that helps the level sit more comfortably on round pipes and conduit, and LED lighting in each vial window, so you can get accurate readings even if the ambient light you’re working in isn’t the best.

Contrary to the way “New and Improved” can often make you never want to buy the product in question again, Klein Tools has, in my opinion, totally nailed this overhaul! Looks like I might have to upgrade, too.

Like both our old friend Billy Joel and the new wave of obsessive couponing that’s spawned a rash of Sunday circular thefts from coast to coast, the world of Gadget Protection tends to go to extremes (Billy, please forgive me for dragging your name into the same sentence as extreme cheapskates… ummmm, I mean couponers). Pocket- and full-sized electronics are still the most widely-owned gadgets out there, so they have tons of covering/carrying options available, but those somewhere-in-the-middle tablets, Netbooks, and iPads don’t have it quite so easy yet.

Luckily, Pelican has looked kindly upon midsize gadgets, with their breakable screens and too-big-to-fit-in-your-pocket designs, and has put together a little something special to keep them safe when you decide to take them on the road with you (and who doesn’t?). The company’s new 1075 Series HardBack™ cases give your tablet or Netbook (or several smaller gadgets) near-indestructable protection that can be slung over your shoulder and carried along for the ride.

If you’re not familiar with the hallmarks of Pelican cases, let me drop a few key words to give you the idea. Watertight. Crushproof. Impact-resistant. Buoyant. Self-equalizing. They’re basically equipped with everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more. One time, we actually took one of their earlier, mini-sized models out into the company parking lot, repeatedly ran it over with a large SUV, and the case suffered nothing more than a few surface scratches. If you’re going to put your precious electronics into anyone’s hands, I strongly suggest they be Pelican’s.

But back to the details. As their name and my earlier description imply, HardBack™ cases are constructed of a rigid outer shell, which is lined with customizable foam to create the perfect cushioned fit for any device. An o-ring seal keeps moisture out, so much so that you can submerge a closed Pelican case to a depth of 3 feet without any problem. Elevation changes aren’t an issue, either, thanks to a built-in pressure equalizing valve that automatically balances internal air pressure.

Kind of makes you wish they made a Pelican Case in your size, doesn’t it?

During this little flashback, I found myself back in the middle of a home repair project we were working on that involved hanging a much-heavier-than-it-looked metal cabinet onto a bathroom wall. To make things even more interesting, the section of wall that the cabinet was going on happened to be above a toilet, in a very narrow bathroom alcove that didn’t allow for the use of little luxuries like step ladders. Hmmmmmmm.

So imagine, if you will, my husband standing (and trying to balance) on top of a somewhat unstable toilet, with a power drill in one hand, and a fistful of screws in the other. And me, squeezed sideways between the toilet and side wall, desperately trying to hold up and balance that stupid cabinet, arms shaking under the weight. Awesome. I won’t get detailed with exact quotes from the exchange we had in the process, but suffice it to say that it was heated and liberally laced with profanity, especially when the studs turned out to be in locations other than where we had originally calculated.

At that point, I was sucked back into present day, and found myself staring at the 3rd Hand, wondering where it had been all of my marriage/DIY career.

FastCap’s aptly-named 3rd Hand universal support is made for jobs that usually require a second person (who possesses that requisite third hand) to hold up – and keep steady – cabinets, molding, and other heavy fixtures while someone else does the fastening. It’s adjustable from 5 to 12 feet, can manage up to 150 pounds, and can even be used in conjunction with plastic sheeting to create dust barriers between rooms. Add to that the fact that you don’t have to pay it hourly wages and that it doesn’t get pissed off and storm out if you yell at it during a particularly tense moment, and you have the perfect assistant for a multitude of jobs.

Of course, these examples are purely hypothetical (yeah, right). But apparently I’m not the only goof-up out there taking one step forward, immediately followed by one step back. It’s not something that might be obvious from the get-go, but any sort of through-wall work (cable runs, conduit additions) can turn a necessary but annoying-to-repair drywall cut into an even bigger mess. Think of what would happen if you were to put pressure and friction on the cut edges of a work hole with wiring or pull tape, and how banged up things would get of you kept hitting it with tools and material as you worked. Not too pretty.

That’s where the BES Drywall Protector Plate comes very much in handy. It’s exactly what it sounds like – a plate that installs over drywall cuts to reinforce work holes and provide a protective shield against assault by tools, materials, and hands. Just line it up with your drywall hole, slide the adjustable tabs to lock it in place, and go about your work without constantly worrying that you’re dinging up the sheetrock more than you should be.

The drywall protector plate works with wallboard that’s anywhere from ½ to ⅝ of an inch thick, and is completely reusable. And the best thing is that it maintains the status quo for post-job restoration. There are no screw holes to patch, and no excessive drywall damage to contend with – just repair the work hole (as you expected to do), and enjoy the lack of nasty last-minute surprises.

Chocolates? Sorry… they melt on fingers, and then smudge up computer keyboards. Flowers? Hellooooooooo, not unless they have a Web interface. A romantic dinner for two? Impossible: that would require forcible removal, possibly surgical in nature, from one’s laptop or smartphone. Looks like we’d better give you a few suggestions on how to spark gift-induced romance with your geeky sweetheart.

Being the crew of tech nerds that we are, a few of us at CableOrganizer.com put together a list of His and Hers Valentine gifts with a decidedly techy twist. From iPhone cord organizers and Bluetooths (or is it Blueteeth?) to solar chargers and USB hubs, our Geekentine’s Day gifts are creative, affordable, and may be just what it takes to score a non-virtual smooch or two.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

But despite its softness and lack of sharp edges, split wraparound sleeving can, like wire loom, be quite a pain in the tokus to install. It’s no hard to do, per se, just time-consuming… especially when long lengths are involved. That’s why Bentley-Harris is making an ingenious little device known as the Woven Wraparound Installation Tool.

Let me just say that inserting cables into split wrap by hand versus using a gadget like this is like trying to clear 6 inches of snow off your driveway with a toy beach shovel instead of using a snow blower. You can do things the slow and hard way, or zip through the job (literally) with a wraparound installation tool. Your choice.

The wraparound sleeving tool does a couple of things at once. First, it keeps your cables gathered together for insertion, so that you don’t have to wrestle with them individually. Then, it “zips” them into the sleeving all at once. No inching your way along – just wrap the tool around your cables, insert the tool into the end of the sleeving, zoom it through, and you’re done. I’m serious – I’ve used tools like this on several occasions, and they’re great… you can’t go wrong. Paying around $5 for one of these is way more than worth it when you consider the time and frustration you’ll save.

Not to go on about my travel-induced neuroses; the point is that when you have to take your show on the road, things are always more complicated, and it can be a little disorienting when you have to repeatedly juggle your stuff. It’s one thing to do that when you travel home for the holidays, but when your job depends on it every single day, well… you’ve gotta have a way to keep your act together. Especially if you’re an on-the-go phone or network installer who works on the road, and has to truck around all of the tools and parts needed to tackle each job.

That’s why I really like the IDEAL Telemaster Kit for RJ11 and RJ45 cable terminations. Whether you’re dealing with RJ11 or RJ45, this all-in-one kit has a multipurpose crimp tool that works for 1, 2 and 3-pair RJ11 plugs, and 4-pair RJ45s, as well as assorted stranded modular plugs (45 total) that come separated into their own compartments, so you never have to guess which kind you’re grabbing for. One of my favorite things about the plug compartments is that they make it easy to keep track of inventory – they let you see, at a glance, how many of a certain plug type you have left, which definitely beats scrounging around the bottom of your tool kit for just one more RJ45 connector.

I ended up packing the darn thing in the exact middle of an oversized laundry basket full of clean, folded clothes. But I wouldn’t surrender it to the boys who were tossing the rest of our stuff into the back of a pickup truck – instead, I gave the laptop-padding laundry basket the passenger seat of my car, and then personally carried it into the new digs and unloaded it myself. Ridiculous, I know, but how would you feel if your notebook computer was destroyed?

Luckily, apart from moving, it stays home and doesn’t travel, but I’m starting to feel for people who have to regularly fly with a laptop, or even multiple laptops. That has to be a little stressful – plenty of businesspeople have their entire lives (or careers, at least) stored in their notebooks. Luckily, the designers at Gator know a thing or two about electronics transportation, and have come up with the perfect solution: the Roto-Molded rolling laptop case.

Granted, the since the Gator Rolling laptop case can accommodate up to 8 laptops, it’s more than most solo business travelers need, but it’s perfect for government and military transport, or for traveling to trade shows with multiple company-owned laptops. The rotationally-molded polyethylene outer shell is super tough, and the case’s interior is lined with dense foam that’s compartmentalized for 8 laptops, as well as accessories. And just because they knew that these cases will most likely be flying, Gator has equipped them with built-in release valves, which equalize internal and external air pressure during altitude changes. Pretty smart.

This past weekend, my husband and I finally got around to hitting the local farmers’ market, which we’ve planned on visiting for months. We bit the bullet and shirked the dumb grown-up responsibilities (like working out and home maintenance) that have shackled us for the past 8 or so weekends, headed downtown, and dove into stand after stand of deliciousness. And do you know what? Everything came twist-tied. Yep. We picked up a couple of bunches of basil from a group of up-and-coming young chefs who are about to open their own “farm-to-fork” restaurant, and grow their own herbs and produce. Twist ties. And then there was that huge loaf of artisanal multigrain bread from the extremely hip pseudo-Italian bakery in the next town. Twist ties.

Same thing for flower bouquets, bunches of carrots, bags of cookies, blown-glass pendants attached to display cards – you name it. It was like Twist Tie Mania out there. Someone must have had some pretty sore fingers and wrists from twisting all those things. Unless…

They had something like the Tie-Matic HD, an automated twist tie machine that closes bags and bundles cables in a second (literally), but gives your wrist a break from repetitive twisting motions. This, as it turns out, is how food companies turn out bagged products in high volume without paying little elves to sit up through the night, fastening twist ties. You just keep the Tie-Matic HD filled with rolls of ties, hold your bag (or coiled cables) in the allotted space, and let the automated tying machine spring into action. It reduces labor hours, prevents frustration and repetitive-motion injuries, and saves a lot of money in general. Sounds almost as good as farmers’ market baked goods, doesn’t it?

Add it all up, and that means some serious cable protector hauling every time you need to set up, break down, or just change configuration. Not that having to break a sweat every now and then is a bad thing, but seeing as how most cable protectors are at lease 3 feet long, they can be a little unweildy to schlep, considering their weight. Moving more than one at a time is, in most cases, not advisable. Now, I know that there are a few people out there (I may or may not be one of them) who think that making multiple trips is lame, and would rather overload themselves in the name of efficiency than have to go back a second or third time. These people tend to end up in pain shortly after entertaining these thoughts. These people need to get a cable protector transport cart.

You heard me. The Yellow Jacket Cord Protector Cart. It can hold up to 12 of the biggest and baddest cable protectors at once, but lets you roll them from Point A to Point B in comfort, instead of juggling them like an idiot and sweating like a pig. And in the event that you just need to store the cord covers for a while instead of immediately setting them up in another location, the cart doubles as the perfect storage rack. When it’s time to put the cable protectors back in action, just wheel them wherever you need them. I hate to say it, but sometimes the “lazy” way really does end up being the smarter way.