Here are some products I like. Maybe you can compare them to products you like:

 Wintergreen Altoids. Grandpa Rudy Engstrom always has rope licorice in his truck. I like to have wintergreen mints in mine. They are “curiously strong.”

 Ford trucks. Some people like hot rods. Some people like muscle cars. Some people like souped-up compact cars. I like trucks. I drive a 2002 Ford Ranger. I used to have a beat-up 1977 Ford F150 with a 400-cc engine and with running lights on the roof. I like running lights. As a teenager, I drove a 1977 Ford Ranchero with a 400 in it. I don’t have a dream truck, but it would probably be any Ford from the early 1950s or late 1940s in running condition. My dad worked the parts counter at Carver Ford in Rockwell City, Iowa, when I was a young boy.

Pens that say things on them. As cub reporters, a friend and I would collect the pens from our various sources. Well, “collect” sort of implies keeping them. We would use them and lose them. As reporters, we were good at helping companies, nonprofits and government agencies spread their promotional pens to other sectors of the community. It was our duty. However, I still possess one highly cherished pen from the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board office in Des Moines.

Cookies. I don’t have much of a sweet tongue for candy bars or gum or even cake, but I do like cookies. All journalists do. All kinds. Chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter, oatmeal, raisin, M&M, cinnamon crisp, walnut, ginger, you name it. In fact, if you ever try to bribe a reporter, forget money. My suggestion is to try pens and cookies.

Dr Pepper. I know we aren’t supposed to drink pop. And I have truly cut back on pop in my 30s. But when I was a teenager and then a 20-something, I drank Dr Pepper. I was a Pepper. Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper, too? Now, when I want a pop, I’m still a Pepper, even though it isn’t healthy. Besides, all pop doesn’t taste as good as it did back in the early 1980s. There is too much corn syrup in it nowadays. Sugary pop was better. By the way, my no-caffeine choice is Squirt. One of my grandmas always had Squirt in her fridge. You know what? She still does.

The TV show “Futurama.” Created by Matt Groening, “Futurama” is a cartoon sitcom set in the future, as the name implies, and parodies just about everything about our views of the future and the present. Pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry falls into a cryogenic chamber in 2000 in New York and remains frozen until 3000, when he gets to know New New York. His best friend is a robot named Bender, and his love interest is a cyclops named Leela. The series aired from 1999 to 2003 before some brain-dead Fox executives canceled it. The show had high ratings in reruns and great DVD sales. Four straight-to-DVD movies also sold well. I am thrilled that Comedy Central has ordered 26 brand-spanking-new episodes to air starting in 2010. The show just has too many loyal fans. Groening, as you might know, is the creator of “The Simpsons.” The Fox executives who canceled the series? They were fired, beaten up, killed and ground into a fine pink powder called Torgo’s Executive Powder. It has a million and one uses.

Lever 2000. I know soap is pretty much soap. I’m not picky. I’ll lather up with whatever is available. But if a store sells Lever 2000, I like to buy it, particularly in the winter, because this soap seems to avoid drying out my skin. My Scandahoovian skin can get itchy in the dry winter when using some low-grade soaps.

Salsa Lisa. I have been pitching this salsa to everyone I know. I am a broken record. I avoid buying salsa in the chips aisle anymore. I go to the refrigerated aisle and get Salsa Lisa from the cooler. It is very good, very garden fresh salsa made in a little city we all like to call Minneapolis. I am such a devotee that if a store fails to carry Salsa Lisa, I fail to go to that store.

 Cabernet sauvignon from Cave B Estate. Sorry, you can’t get this in Minnesota or hardly anywhere, and I have only one bottle left in my basement. Lisa and I brought some with us when we moved from Washington state in January 2006. Last year we wiped the dust off a bottle and drank it for a meal with Leo and Sara Aeikens. (Sara watches our son sometimes and is an honorary grandmother.) It was so good. The tannins were so smooth, and the terroir was pure Columbia Valley. Mmm. We need to order more online. Minnesota law allows wineries to ship no more than two cases.

Apple computers. I don’t even want to get started on the PC vs. Mac debate. Just let’s say I prefer the user-friendly approach of Apple Macintosh and am wowed by its sensible interface. However, I feel Apple’s demands to upgrade come too soon. Still, I call Mac the R&D for the rest of the computer industry.

Trek bicycles. I once had a bike rack that failed to hold a Trek bike. The bike hit Interstate 90 at 70 mph near Guckeen. I was able to get a replacement — for the bike rack. The bike was fine. Just a couple of small scratches and somehow the chain assembly was untouched. Trek bikes are the best-built out there.

Tribune Managing Editor Tim Engstrom’s column appears every Tuesday.