Greater Milwaukee Men

Beer and Gears (ok chains) make a great combo It's that time of the year again, holiday shopping season. What used to start on the day after Thanksgiving now starts on the day of - I am sure you can guess my thoughts on that - or earlier, especially for those who shop online. We men know that shopping can be hard for us in general, but especially if the gift giver wants to be socially conscious. Each year we try to highlight products for men that not only don't harm but actually help like this story from last year. This year will be no different, an updated guide is in progress and as we see things we will post hem over the next month, starting with these great gift ideas from ReBike - Quality products, handmade in the USA from recycled bicycle parts - great for the bike lover or any man really in your life.

Community-operated workspaces, a sort of coop for people with various creative interests, have become popular around the county, and Milwaukee has been right there with the movement. Called hackerspaces , makerspaces (I like how this site compares them to libraries for community and checking out materials), hacklabs, or hackspaces these locations provide not only space but also equipment for a reasonable price for entrepreneurs and creatives to work on anything from computers to machining to art, even start a business. In addition to workspaces they often have meeting spaces for small meetings to large events, they may provide space for education or even spiritualual pursuits. There are many in Milwaukee, but one of the leaders in time and impact has been  Bucketworks . Bucketworks has helped the community allowing many creative and entrepreneurial people achieve their goals, I myself have experience with them helping a project, but now they need the community's help.

My brother recently tipped me off to a very cool website - Kaufmann Mercantile . As the name implies it is an online store, but it is much more than that. It is a veritable resource for a man's live, and all with a very Well-Met outlook. Forget rum, whiskey is the real man's choice for cologne  First and foremost Kaufmann Mercantile is an  online store  for 'carefully selected, long-lasting, and well-designed goods'. These are simple, well-made, form follows function, not overly-designed products many of which are all-natural, sustainable, or otherwise 'green' in manufacture. There is lots of leather and metal along with wood. Categories include Accessories, Office, Grooming & Beauty, Tools & Outdoors, Home, Kitchen, Grocery, and Garden as well as all New products. Pricing varies from extravagant to reasonable but considering the quality of make and materials even the expensive items I am sure are worth the price. For the women out ...