Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

The build quality of this dresser s very nice, much better than many other brands of knocked down furniture I have assembled. (My previous life we sold a fair amount of kd furniture for computers and generally assembled it for the client.)   The finish has some areas that the stain needs touched up.   The openings around the drawer have almost a framed look due to the lack of stain making a lighter color line.    There are a couple of scratches on the finish that appear to have been there when the product was stained.    They are scratched but since they are stained, I have to guess it was done prior to staining.    The drawers insert easily and they move quietly and easily    The finished piece has a good look to it.   Assembly should have been easier.  Printing part numbers on the sheets the parts were adhered to would helped to avoid errors.   On the plus side there were actually all the screws and piec...

I f you have ever tried to clean a motherboard with a standard vac and it's attachments you will truly appreciate this little kit.   The adapter worked just fine on my Dirt Devil.   The itty bitty little crevice tool was small enough to go between the vanes on the cpu fan.    The heat sink is often where dust collects and normally all you can do is blow out the dirt which   generally means you are just pushing it elsewhere in your computer case.   There are two sizes of brushes and they too are ideal for cleaning in tight computer spaces.    This is a handy little item and after 25 years in the micro computer business I learned that dirt is a great insulator and dirt on your computer parts can dramatically increase the operating temperature of your computer.   This little kit allows you to get   into those hard to reach spaces and pull the dirt out rather than just blowing it around.   Digression:Never use your laptop (a tr...

I have been reviewing a few watches lately.   I really like this one primarily because it has a band that is easy to put on and off.   It also offered no challenges as to how to utilize it.   I know that sounds ludicrous but I have looked at a couple of watches from two different manufactures that had mystifying connections with no documentation on how to use them.    Now that I have seen a couple, I can figure it out but the first one took 15 minutes to figure out the clasp.   This is a vey good looking watch.  It has a band that is thick and heavy and appears like it would take significant abuse.   The watch itself is heavy and as I am not a diver I was wondering about that.  My diver daughter-in-law told me that she has had several diving watches and they were all very heavy due to the need to make them waterproof.   This watch says it is water resistant not water proof.   My pool is currently closed for t...

This is significantly easier to use than my vacuum pump stopper.  This uses the same principal but does not involve a separate cork and pump.  I tried it on both screw cap and normal wine bottles and it worked well.  $8.00 at Amazon.  ·                         Simply plug it on half empty wine bottle, keep pressing the top of the pump until the air inside the bottle is vacuumed out ·                         This Vacustopper by Visol does both tasks: Vacuums the air out and works as the bottle stopper. Keeps wine from oxidation ·                         Wine can be preserved for up to 2 weeks after pumping air out ...

What it really looks like.  This is a nice shirt.  It is described as blue and white but that doesn't do it justice.  It is a nice tight gingham look plaid with light blue, darker blue and navy.   The fit is accurate.  The sleeves and body are somewhat fitted, not at all loose.  It says in the Amazon description that it is 100% polyester and 100% cotton.  It is really 60% polyester and 40% cotton.  Hopefully that will eliminate the need for ironing.  I will update this with results after it has been through the wash.   It uses Oxford in the name which may lead to an erroneous belief that it is Oxford cloth, it is not.  It feels more like a broadcloth.  I like the shirt. ·                         100% Polyester; 100% Cotton ·          ...

Canon provided this printer for review purposes and posed a few questions. Vine Questions and Features:   1) How easy was it to connect your mobile device to printer with Wifi direct? 2) Experience of opening of the box and taking out the printer. 3) Being able to print or scan photos or documents from your mobile device, using Canon Print? 4) The capabilities of being able to print from Instagram, SlideShare or Facebook? 5) Easily print and be creative on your smartphone or tablet through Creative Park .  1:  It was very easy to connect my Samsung tablet to the printer.  I downloaded the Canon ap for the Playstore and it worked immediately. 2.   Opening the box and taking out the printer, hmm, that was not taxing, not sure why they would question that. 3.   Not a good experience.  I tried doing my printer registration with cloud print and it printed out a barcode and url.  I scanned in the bar code and it said I wa...

I like electric toothbrushes.    I find that they are more thorough and consistent than my own brushing motion.    These brushes use two AA batteries.    I am not sure if that is why is seems significantly more powerful than the current brush I am using or if there is a larger motor in this brush or a combination of both.    This brush has a spinning head that seems to get into the nooks and crannies.    I like that it comes with two replacement heads and they are easy to install.    Replacing the batteries may take more oomph that you anticipate.   Although once the battery case was open, it was easier to open the second time.   This multi pack includes two toothbrushes, two replacement heads, 4-AA batteries and a tube of tooth paste.   There is no price currently listed on Amazon so I can't comment on the price practicality of the item.   The use factor seems very positive though. About the Produc...

Yowsa!  Plug and play is finally plug and play.  I opened this, read the quick install and Eureka ! it actually worked right out of the box with no hassles.  I am impressed.  I tried it in the house and then went down to my pool cabana and tried it there.  This product worked beautifully.  I had a strong, viable network connection and Internet connection at over 100 feet from my router.   This is a product that has finally come to fruition.  I opened up my browser, could surf the net and see my network.  No laborious configuration and no hassles.   $44.99 from Amazon at the time of testing.  From the vendor: Expands your home network by establishing a Powerline connection with one TL-PA4010 and one TL-PA4020 adapter 300-meter range over electrical circuitry for better performance through walls and floors Plug and Play with no configuration required Speeds up to 500Mbps for seamless HD video streaming and onli...