I was in a grocery store the other day and noticed that they were selling "Jar Opening Rubber Grippers." The grippers were actually just round pieces of rubberized shelf liner. So, save yourself some money, buy the shelf liner and make as many grippers as you want. By the way, you can also cut out small pieces of the liner and sew them to the bottom of your slippers for better traction. There are almost as many uses for rubberized shelf liner as there are for duct tape!

If you need to get grease, oil or some unknown substance off of your brick, concrete or masonry, use "TSP substitute." (The original TSP had phosphates that can be bad for the environment). I used some myself on a mystery stain on a brick fireplace hearth in one of my rental homes. It worked like magic. Just make sure you wear gloves and eye protection. You can find it at most hardware stores.

Motorcycle and scooter sales are booming thanks to high gas prices. Let me strongly encourage all of you new riders to attend one of the state-sponsored motorcycle safety courses. You can find out more about them at the Georgia Department of Driver Services. The nice thing about these classes is that you don't even need to own a motorcycle to attend. They provide the motorcycles. The waiting list is long so even if you're thinking about buying a motorcycle you need to sign up ASAP! Classes are currently filled up through October. One final thing: If you don't know what counter-steering is, you need to take this class.

OK, I haven't had a duct tape tip in a while so here are two: The next time you're getting ready to cut a rope or cable, wrap duct tape several times around where you're going to make the cut. The tape will keep the rope/cable from fraying or unraveling. Also, the next time you need to remove a cobweb from the corner of your ceiling, just wrap some duct tape, sticky side out, around a stick. Just move the stick around the cobweb.

I love using Google as my Internet search engine. However, there is a new search engine that I really like: searchme. Unlike Google, which just lists the results of a search, this new Web site actually lets you scroll through the pictures of home pages of all of the Web sites it finds. It's cool!

Tim Thompson lives in Gainesville. E-mail Tim your ideas for tips, tools or tricks.