Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

    After a recent visit to the Pittsburgh area, I was once again delighted with the friendliness of the community.   The folks working in the stores and malls we patronized were exceptional in making us feel glad we patronized said businesses.   It wasn’t that they were obsequious, it was that they seemed genuinely friendly.    I live in a suburb of Philadelphia.    It seems the closer I get to Philly the less civility I find.    This isn’t a blanket condemnation but more of an observation based on experience.    Our suburban area is friendly but not nearly as friendly as I find the Pittsburgh area when I visit.    The civility makes for a more pleasant environment but….it also increases sales!   We bought more, partially because the people selling to us seemed to be genuinely interested in what we wanted.    That should give you food for thought.   Not only is civility more ple...

This seems like a very capable program.    Installation was a bit tedious.    They have a 27 digit serial number on FaceFilter Studio 2 which came with the package.    It didn’t seem to matter what I put in, the installer didn’t like it.    It kept telling me there were no Is or Os in the serial number.    I never inputted any I, I did put in Os which I then changed to 0 but to no avail so I have no idea whether FaceFilter and the other programs on the second CD are any good.   Somehow it doesn’t seem that hard to either use a shorter serial number or avoid zeros and ones due to their similarity to I and O.    Of course they could always have a slash through the zero to clearly identify it as a zero.    Doesn’t seem like rocket science.    One has to wonder too about a 27 digit serial number, really!    It may be great software but I won’t know. The program itself seems relati...

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Due to restricted vision at night (I can't sleep in my glasses.) I find it highly annoying when I can't see a clock. My two fold up for travel clocks have no back lighting. Since I am a firm fan of marital bliss, I avoid turning lights on at night, particularly any near the bed. The normal back lighting on this is more than sufficient to see in the dark. Even more, if you hit the snooze button, you get a blazing light (only seems like that in the dark) that will illuminate your nightstand but not much further. My only regret is that they don't have one that has a cover that folds over the buttons to make it easier to pack. I really like this little clock. BTW if you think I'm some sort of pollyanna reviewer, check some of my other reviews. I call them as I see them and believe me not everything gets five stars.   Wish it was made in the good old USA. Battery-powered digital alarm clock; equipped with Night Vision for unobtrusive green-lit display...

I'm not a knife guy.  I read a lot of reviews by guys that appear to have money to burn on buying knives and a large closet to keep them in.  I always carry a small pocket knife due to a severe lack of finger nails.  This blade is substanially bigger than my fingar nails.  During the recent Sandy debacle I was trying to hold up a 15' evergreen with a rope looped around it.  I needed to cut the rope while continuing to keep the tree from blowing over in the driving rain. I was able to pull this knife out of my jeans due to the very nice clip which kept it accessible.  Then I was able to get it open with one hand while still keeping the *&%)# tree from pulling me over.  The blade holds a great edge and two short strokes the rope was cut, I was able to tie the tree off and get out of the rain and wind.  So a larger knife is handy, this is a good one at a great price.  Now if they make one that is one quarter the weight I might b...

Panasonic ES-Sl41-W Shaver, Milano Men's Rechargeable with Nanotech Blades, 3-Blade Arc 3 Wet-Dry, White I got this slick little razor to review.    It is the first electric I have used in years.   It can be rinsed clean and used in the shower.   Not being a shower shaver that selling point is moot with me.    I was pleased with the ergonomics of it.   It felt like a large blade shaver and not an unwieldy electric razor. I got a decent shave but not a great shave.    The literature states you need to shave with it for a week to get the best results.   Apparently you have to train your beard.   I have visions of “sit up, beg, roll over” which are more an indication of a demented sense of humor than a clear concise review.   I liked the razor and think it did a good job.   From the vendor: Panasonic's Men's Wet/Dry Electric Cordless Shavers are loaded with smart features. The ES-SL41-W electric ...

  This little four port switch integrated right into my network.   I didn’t read any directions,   I plugged it in, put a cat5 cable in the WAN port, hooked up my laptop and bingo, it was there.    I must say that is so refreshing, considering the number of supposedly plug and play devices I have looked at lately that were anything but plug and play.   The device comes with a rack mount bracket that can be removed.    I left it on   because it gave it enough height so I could situate it behind my KVM switch and still see the lights.    This is a nice little switch. ·                      Connects to a Category 5e Voice and Data Module with Category 5 or Category 5e patch cords ·                      Cascade additional ...

R.J. McDonnell's   Rock & Roll Rip-Off, named 2010 Mystery/Thriller of the Year by Premier Book Awards, is free 12/4/12 through 12/6/12 on Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Rock- Rip-Off-My... This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

This router set up beautifully.    Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder but in my eye if it sets up without biting me in the butt I am happy.    This did. I followed the quick installation guide and surprise, surprise it was actually quick.    My Amazon Fire, my laptop and my phone all attached easily.   The signal was stronger than my current Linksys router.    I have a meter ap on my phone and this puppy was pumping out a much stronger signal.     It has two USB ports that supposedly will allow you to plug in a drive and a printer for sharing.    That is not as simple as the bare bones installation and I will have to update this when I have time to test that.    I did not see any increase in performance on the hard wire end but I don’t have any gigabit network cards in my systems either. First glance, this installed easily and pumps out a very strong signal.    I ...

The Thirty Three Days of Christmas eBook GiveAway  Starting the day after Thanksgiving there are thirty three days until Christmas.   Each day I will give away three Kindle eBook for a total of ninety nine in thirty three days.   To win a copy all that is needed is to request a copy by email at wbentrim@hotmail.com or to comment on one of my blogs or website and mention the Big33 and which book you would like.   The daily winner will be chosen by time stamp as to who requested first.   If there are simultaneous time stamps, the winners will be chosen by a random number generator.    If you do win a copy if you would be so kind as to review the book on Amazon I would be appreciative.    Winners will be announced weekly. The books are in .mobi or pdf, please note which format works for you.    The   books I currently have on Kindle are: Ø       The Christmas Knot Ø ...

Even in periods of recession, people continue to seek the American dream. Some are filled with hope, but others fall into despair as each goes daily to provide for his or her own needs. The fortunate find their lives filled with abundance, but the less fortunate many remain cold and hungry through the dark nights. Entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers and other professionals are successful and appear to have the best that life offers. Some of the less fortunate attribute their success to luck, and accuse them of not caring for the poor, but they are wrong. Any less fortunate person needing medical attention can find it in almost every community because doctors and nurses volunteer their time and services. Many attorneys provide pro bono services for those who cannot afford legal fees. Professionals and tradesmen in all fields find time to help their fellow man. Although busy entrepreneurs spend most of their time planning and overseeing their businesses, they do tak...

Like many of us, I have found myself increasingly dependent on my phone.   I get positively paranoid if I forget my phone on my desk.   My palms get sweaty when I find my self evaluating the time left on my phone battery.   I feel the remaining time in excruciating detail as I wait for my life to go black!   Reading his over, I am increasingly despondent on how fixated I have become on cellular reception.   It isn’t just to chit chat, Oh No!, nothing as simple as chit chat. I want to find the best price on gasoline with GasBuddy.    I want to check on Roethlisberger’s condition.    Arrghh! I want to check the stock market or ball game score and I can’t do any with a DEAD battery.    There is hope and it isn’t expensive.   This is the perfect item when you find yourself charger-less.    Those of you who have never, ever left your charger someplace you wish you hadn’t may cast the first stone. ...

I plugged this into my Win7 system and it was seen and functional in about 60 seconds.    For whatever reason my old reader was incompatible with Win7 so it was nice to have that flexibility of use again.   Of course my machine has a SD card slot that worked just fine until one of those overnight Microsoft auto-updates and now it doesn’t work.   Microsoft states stoutly that it must be some other issue since their auto update couldn’t have done anything damaging.     I know it didn’t hurt the hardware but as far as the driver is concerned there is a problem and I have the most recent driver from ACER.    So I bought this tiny little reader for a whopping $8.00 on Amazon rather than waste any more time trying to fix a MS generated problem.   Description from IOGears site: IOGEAR's 12-in-1 Pocket Card Reader / Writer is an ideal solution for hi-speed, bi-directional image and data file transfer between your computer and multimedi...

Some of my product reviews or recommendations are thinly disguised rants.   I’m afraid this one is less than disguised.   I have used Glide Pro-Health Deep Clean floss for years.   The last three packs I have gotten have had dismal strength.    By strength I mean that it breaks before the cleaning is done.   I end up using 6 or 7 feet of floss because I can only get a couple of teeth before the floss breaks.    I don’t know what happened to this product but the quality has gone down hill in a large way.   I have switched to Oral-B Complete which is made by the same company, Oral-B. It gets through my teeth without breaking and does a nice job.    Ironically it is cheaper and works better.   Incidentally I got the best price at Giant Supermarket, better than any online store I found.     If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my re...

Image from http://www.steelernation.com/forums/content.php After a recent visit to Pittsburgh I was once again reminded that the Steeler Nation is a truly vibrant and lively community that encompasses a large chunk of the world that does NOT live in Pittsburgh.    I happen to sit through the miserable conditions of the Monday night game on November 12 th , 2012 at Heinz field.   I can deal with dry and cold or warm and wet but cold, wet and windy was pretty darn uncomfortable.    The Steelers beat Kansas City but it wasn’t pretty but hey, a W is a W.    The next day driving back to eastern Pennsylvania I ran into two guys from Jersey wearing Steelers gear.    Noting my hat, they asked if I had been to the game.    We commiserated over the lousy weather and expressed concern for Roethlisberger.   Another gentleman stopped to ask if we had been at the game and wondered what the heck happened.   A...

No Nifty Blue cord like on th e P793. The P4000 is very similar to the P793.   They both fit the following criteria below.   I could not get the mAh out of Motorola chat to know specifically why the P4000 is considered more “beefy” than the P793.    It is larger, the same size as my DroidX as opposed to the P793 which fits on the screen of the Droid.    The “chat” person said it has greater charging capacity.   Motorola claims you can even charge your tablet with the P4000.    It does NOT come with an AC charger.   You can use your AC phone charger to charge it or the included USB cable.    It will charge your phone much quicker than the P793.    I guess I can’t give it a raving review because I can’t accurately determine how much better it is than the P793.    If it is more than twice as quick or will charge more devices, it may be worth the double and some price tag of $79.99 at Amazon. ...

WE ARE WATCHING! I’m still in my pjs as I write this.   You seldom see me writing about politics or religion but frustration can motivate changes in behavior.   I’m annoyed and cranky!   The election is really not even over and already some &%$#@)(&**  politicians are stating there will be no compromise.  Frankly the Presidential election was moot.   Unless our do nothing Congress can start to compromise and cooperate, nothing will change.  We are not red and blue, we are all red-white and blue.  Any idiot knows if we run a sack race, we tie two legs together and run in the same direction.  Apparently our Congressional leaders missed the memo, both runners have to go in the same direction or they go in circles and get no where.   It is up to us, the voters, to get cranky and let our representatives know that doing nothing is not acceptable.  If we can’t break these bozos to the...

This a pretty cool puzzle.    It is more like a Lego set than a puzzle.   The big difference is you can’t build anything besides the lighthouse.   It is more complex than the ball type puzzle that Ravesburger also has.    This puzzle was challenging for my 3 year old puzzle crazy grandson however with help he was able to do it.   The age on the box suggests 10 and up, I think a manually dexterous 8 year old would be fine.    This is a lot more fun than a flat puzzle.  I did receive the puzzle for free for evaluation purposes and absolutely has no bearing on my review. If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

This review is going to be a basic rerun of the TP-Link N750.   I even went to the TP-Link site to try and determine what the difference is between these two routers besides price.    This router was $66 at Amazon and the N750 was $83.00.    Oh, the N600 only has two antennas instead of three.   I emailed the sales department at TP-Link since I wasn’t willing to incur a long distance charge to Australia on my phone.   I will post back here whenever they respond.   This router set up beautifully.    Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder but in my eye if it sets up without biting me in the butt I am happy.    This did. I followed the quick installation guide and surprise, surprise it was actually quick.    My Amazon Fire, my laptop and my phone all attached easily.   The signal was stronger than my current Linksys router.    I have a meter ap on my phone and this puppy was ...