As y'all know, I'm a bit of a gadget fiend... Tools, electronics... if it beeps, buzzes or goes bang, I love it.
There's just one thing that ruins my gadgetal (is that a word? Well, it is now) bliss: Plastic clamshell packaging. That horrible bubble, hermetically sealing your goodies away, and damn near impossible to open.
...And what satanspawn decided to seal the tools used to open them, in the same type of packaging you needed the tool to open? It's a conspiracy I tell you.
It's so bad, they even make a little tool just for clamshells: http://www.myopenx.com/home.htm
There is however a better way: I cheat.
I have a 9" bandsaw that I picked up for a small project. The saw didn't do the job I needed it for too well, but it's just dandy for opening clamshell packaging. Run the blade around the edges of the plastic just inside the heat sealing, and it opens a clamshell quicker than you can scream "Where's all that blood coming from".
The saw isn't much use otherwise (it can't make a true cut to save my life); but after opening a few dozen clamshells with it, I've got more than my hundred bucks worth.
Note: this is a very slightly edited form of my submission to Toolmongers writer search. They got back to me saying my writing was good, but not in their style; which is a valid point.
