Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

I haven’t tried one of these powerline adapters in several years.   They have come a long way.    I plugged it in to a secondary switch which is 75 feet from the main router.   I then tested it in my basement which gets a weak wireless signal and in my pool house which get an even weaker wireless signal.   Both places showed 100mps.    It worked seamlessly.   I had to look to find outlets without surge suppression though.   I’m a firm believer in surge suppression.    When I have time I will try and plus a wireless router into this and see how that works.    In the meantime, this tested out just fine and for $50 it is a bargain.   There are just some places that wireless doesn’t work.     Addendum: Two weeks later, I have not been able to replicate my previous success.   I went to Actiontec's web site and their does not appear to be any technical notes.  I could not get a stea...

  DeWayne Connot’s the prince of pinstriping.   His company name is DOA Flatliners and his motto is “Pinstriping to Die for!”     DOA might mean dead on arrival for some but for Dwayne and his quirky sense of humor it means Designs On Anything.    The man has the steadiest hand I’ve ever seen.   He paints each and every stripe free hand.    A bit of the psychologist, DeWayne engages you in conversation and this helps him determine whether you are a black and silver kind of stripe person or a lime green and royal blue kind of stripe person.    In other words, your personality determines what colors are used for your stripes.   This is truly “on demand” work that is specifically done for each individual.    Did I mention that his prices are very reasonable?   They are!   BTW I don’t work for DeWayne and I got no discount or price break to write this review.   I am just a happy ...

Adaptive cruise control allows a driver to set a speed just like an ordinary cruise control.   The difference is that if traffic slows, adaptive cruise control will slow your vehicle as well.  If traffic slows dramatically, adaptive cruise will alert you to take action.   How many lives would be saved if that technology was required on ALL cars?   Gorgeous, but tough Luck If I Don't Want a  Hemi! BLIS or Blind Spot Information System lets you know with a visible or audible alert when there is something in your blind spot.   Wow, no more pulling out to pass and side swiping the motorcycle that came up behind you and was hidden in your blind spot. Cross traffic alert is when your backing up and you have a behemoth on either side of you and all you can see are hub caps.   It alerts you to traffic not just directly behind you but traffic coming from either direction. All of this is available right now but u...

This is a tough product to review.  I put it around the flowers in the pots at my pool.  I was having squirrels literally toss the flowers out, I assume looking for nuts from last year. Not being terribly squirrly myself I can't claim to know why the squirrels were yanking my flowers out but that is my guess.  I put this stuff around the flowers and have not had any issues since.  I am making a leap of faith that the granules are the reason why the squirrels have not returned.  They are still in the yard but have not bothered the plants. Since I am not sure that the product drove the squirrels away I can't give it 5 stars but since I am pretty sure, I will give it four stars.  BTW it does not have the strong odor I have found on similar types of products I have used in the past.   It has now been about three weeks after I poured this around one of my dogwoods.  The tree was being used by the squirrels to jump on my roof. ...

This is another storage solution from Seagate.   At $119.00 for two 2Tb it is a pretty good bang for the buck.   Seagate says that the drive is automatically recognized by Windows.   That is true but it doesn’t mention that it is not immediate.   I didn’t time it but it was recognized and useable on XP the quickest, Windows 7 not much longer and Vista substantially longer.  Once it was recognized it was almost immediately useable.   Since I have no equipment with a USB 3.0 I have no idea how much faster the transfer rate might be.   It seemed adequate with USB 2.0.   It does seem faster than the Hitachi, Verbatim and older Seagate USB hard drive that I have.    If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Spinsaver is another savings site similar to Groupon.   It provides discounted deals to promote businesses.    If you do decide to purchase one of their deals, I recommend registering prior to placing your order.    Just because you are getting their email does not mean you are a registered user.    If you register after you have entered your purchase, it defaults to standard settings and you may not get what you intended to purchase.    This happened to me and I was disgruntled over the process.    I emailed customer service and was surprised to get a phone call from both the chief of operations and one of the partners in the company.    They take customer satisfaction seriously and solved all my issues.     Therefore I recommend the service.    I got a 50% off deal on tickets to the Bucks County Playhouse which I’ve intended to check out since it changed hands and reopened.   Th...

Admittedly I like flashlights.  I like them by my bed, in my pocket, in my desk, in my glove compartment and anywhere else I can put them.  I DO NOT like stumbling around in the dark.  I’m guessing some repressed memory is the root of this harmless obsession.   This is a nice little flashlight.  6 hours of run time on a AA battery is great for any situation not just camping as their advertisement suggests.  It is small enough to be practically burden less and comes with a little carabiner clip to fasten to your belt or backpack.  All in all, a nice little flashlight. From their site: The water resistant Energizer Weatheready Compact 3-LED Flashlight is a great choice for camping and fishing. This durable has been drop tested to 1 Meter, and can stand up to harsh conditions. It's glow in the dark push button switch and reflective ring make this an ideal light for night use. With 6 hours of run time on just 1 easily changed Ener...

This is a cute toy but not very challenging.  My grandson enjoyed it but ended up using his Angry Birds launcher instead of this launcher.  He ended up combining it with his Angry Birds game which is very similar.  You build a tower and try and knock it down with various super heroes.   Considering the age group, I think some of the characters from that age groups TV shows might be more appropriate.  The only character he was familiar with was Spiderman.   The game is rated at five and up, I would rate it at five or six, it did not appeal to the eight year old at all.   If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.