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 pleasant, it can be more profitable!   If reviewing a product, it may have been rec

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 relatively intuitive.    I have been using programs similar to this for over 30 years so if I can’t

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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 be able to clip it to something besid

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 shaver has three sharp blades, a multi-fit arc foil

  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 switches or hubs from any LAN port with auto-detect uplink, designed for up to 253 connections ·                      UPnP (universal plug-and-play) allows automatic discovery and configuration of the Gateway ·                      Built-in NAT firew

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.