Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

I never knew a cable company could make Comcast look so good!  My cynical nature wonders if someone at Comcast is paying NUVU to be so bad.   The TV service locks up and pixalates.  The Internet connection  is intermittent and when it is working it is at about 1/10th of the speed for which I am paying.    It took three days and multiple phone calls to even schedule a service call.  The jokingly refer to customer service as being a priority in the incessant recorded message.  That is a flat out bad joke.    So if  your association is considering NUVU, I would strongly recommend reconsidering. It is after business hours now but tomorrow I will be looking to see if I can get an alternative.      If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

This grill is suitable for smaller spaces and less cooking.  It is perfect for someone who rarely needs to cook more than a couple of steaks at one time.  I did get 12 burgers on it so it isn't tiny, it is convenient.   Firing up one burner the grill doesn't seem to cook any faster than non-infrared.   Firing up both burners on high and you get up over 550 degrees rather quickly.    The fit on the actual grill pieces could be better.  Cleaning it is a bit troublesome.  You have to pull the grills out to get to the tray underneath which is where you get half of your "infrared" cooking.   I like the grill having the tray under the grills.  That means all the goop that usually falls down into the burners and eventually clogs the burner and causes failure remain on the tray.   That should give the grill a longer life.  The yellow arrow points to where the grill does not fit well.  There ...

This is pretty little necklace.  I'm guessing the bulk of the price is in the sterling silver chain as CZs are very inexpensive.  I have no clue what value to assign to a simulated pearl but this is very nice looking.   It is very similar in appearance to the "real" I have purchased in the past.  It is a nice piece of jewelry for gifting to a preteen as it has a nice appearance and you won't feel badly when it is lost.  If it came in a cute little gift box it would be worth five stars.    $25.00 at Amazon. If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Band nose to nose is what glows! This is actually pretty darn neat.   The band around the ball (nose to nose) is very bright.   It seems durable but has not gotten a lot of play yet as it is too darn cold to throw it around outside.   It is a "nerf" like material that is relatively safe to use indoors.  (Don't pretend to be Manning going for the end zone.)  Inside is almost as good as a couple of glow sticks for lighting up a room.  In a power outage it could double as a night light.  I think it is a fun item and will be loads of fun out doors on a WARM night.   8" foam football that glows super bright with lightband technology Over 24 hours of continuous play Intense glow for long distance play Requires 2 CR1220 batteries (included) Ages 6 and up If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Hmm,  this is a basic, very basic first aid kit   I guess I expected it to be more inclusive.  It has 112 bandaids which no doubt will be used.   Perhaps in our litigious society the vendor felt it imprudent to include things like an EpiPen or benedryl or even rolls of gauze.   This is essentially a large economy size box of bandaids.   It would be ok for a day care center where they wipe the dirt off, put on some antiseptic, slap on a bandaid and send the kid back out to the playground.   Anything more serious would exceed the limitations of this kit.   Considering the cost of even store brand bandaids I guess it isn't a terribly bad value at $29.99    14- Antiseptic Wipes 6- Antibiotic Ointment Packets 16- Alcohol Pads 6- Burn Ointment Packets 16- 3/8"x 1/2" bandages 16 -1"x 3" bandages 80- 3/4"x 3" bandages 1-1/2" tape 1-triangular bandage 4-3"x 3" sterile gauze pads 1-Abdominal C...

You have to temper your amazement over all the features in a reasonably priced printer with the fact that the printer manufacturers continue to operate on the razor/razor blade premise of sales.   Give away the razor, soak them on the blades or in this case, price the printer (for it's features) reasonably and soak them for the supposedly less expensive ink cartridges.  The printer set up easily with the pictograph easy start guide.  Wireless connection worked well.   Setting up scan and remote print was less stellar.  I got the Windows 8 message of "Program Compatibility Assistant"  popping up a couple of times so I am not sure that it all installed ok.  The email/remote print tested out ok.   The instructions are rudimentary at best.  The QR code for Epson Connect worked on my smart phone but not on my tablet.   I was able to print from my tablet using email print.  I got the printer to print a g...

Mixed reviews on this but at this price, it may be worth the gamble. Read the reviews at Amazon. This seems like a really good deal on a 7" Jelly Bean tablet. I got a groupon kind of thing at $69.95 plus $10 shipping, this link is to Amazon where it is $69.95 and includes free shipping. This is just a FYI, I have no financial stake here. About NORIA T2 7" Android Tablet PC The Noria T2 7" Android Tablet features all the glorious capabilities of Google Android JellyBean 4.1, including: web browsing, video playback, music playing, Webcam and external camera and whatever else you can possibly pray for lies waiting in the thousands of apps in the Android marketplace. This tablet ensures that staying connected to your friends, your news, and your favorite sites is just a touch away. NORIA T2 comes preloaded with important and useful Apps: Google Play Store, Netflix, Skype, Google Chrome Browser and more. Specification Highlights • Powerful and fast X15 ...

VIZIO S5430W-C2 54-Inch 3.0 Soundbar Price:   $299.99. This is the third sound bar that I have tested.  While the $1000.00 Yamaha sound bar is better than this one for spoofing the sound direction, it is not substantially better in the face on front sounds.   BTW when they say 54" they mean 54" which with a 40" TV looks a bit silly.  Regardless of looks, the sound is great.  The setup was fairly straight forward and I had excellent sound in less than 5 minutes. Then it got more interesting.  The programming of the unit was pretty easy.   Getting it to run on my Comcast remote was not as easy as I hoped.   It took a few minutes to figure out the somewhat murky instructions.   I know have the volume and mute working with the Comcast remote.  I struggled to no avail to get the unit's on/off to synch with the Comcast remote.   That is not a terrible hardship as it has an econo mode which ...

Price:   $34.99 This is somewhat different than my other Dirt Devil and my Shark.  The Shark has good suction and decent tools but has no beater brushes.   My older red Dirt Devil has a removable hose and with a custom made, rube goldberg narrowing attachment I can use it to get into tight spots in my computers when I am too lazy to get out my computer vac.  This vac does not have the ability to remove the hose and put on attachments.  It does have a more powerful motor and a significantly stronger beater brush.   The filter is washable which is also a nice feature.   Emptying it is quite simplistic, just position your self over the trash can and flip up the release, shake (the vacuum) and the dirt does a gravity dive into the trash. Dirt Devil provides a suitably long cord so you are not tethered on a tight leash.   Pick up is again above average and better than my older model Dirt Devil.   Wh...

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