Guppyzine Blog

Archive for October, 2010

If you use really hot (I use boiling water) this machine does a great job of cleaning carpets. I do not think it was built for more than the occasional (2-3 times a year) cleaning. This is my second unit and the same problem that I had with the first one has arisen with this unit also. The brushes stop rotating. I am sure it probably happened because when I use the hand wand I did not disengage the brushes. Something I should have probably done. A little better design like brushes automatically disengage when wand is used would prevent this from happening, especially when this was a problem with the previous version. If you need something for the in-between the major steam cleaning by the pro’s, this should fill that need.
Multipet s Floppy Moppy

I had gone through 3 Bissell Pro-Heats before trying this Hoover SteamVac. I was lucky if I could get more than 2 full house (~1700sf house at the time) cleanings before the Bissell’s would break. This Hoover can keep up with my needs. I now have a 3600sf house with mostly white carpets, and it’s still going strong.
RAM Mounting Systems RAM

I have had several pedometers, some of which did not last, some which were not accurate, and some which kept resetting themselves without warning. So far this is the best pedometer I have ever had. It does everything it claims it can do. It has been extremely dependable. I keep track of every step I take, for the Move program at the VA, and average approximately 12000 steps per day. This pedometer has yet to miss a step.
Nature Babycare Size 4

The iPod Touch arrived as promised and everything went smoothly. It was for my 11-year-old son and he is really enjoying it!
Introduction to Network Modeling

Choose MicroSLOP Office 2007 because it is licensed to be installed on 3 machines. So my wife and I can have Office 2007 running on each of our computers. on this license. Big money saver, because apparently Office 2010 is a single installation license. Thanks Bill…

Paris Skyline

This was a very interesting book. Definitely tailored toward the female audience. Girls can definitely relate to Bella’s low self-esteem and her need to belong. She is definitely every girl. Not a book for most guys unless they can overlook the fact that it goes against their ideals of how a vampire should be. My husband is very much one of those guys who believes you should not deviate from the norm. I, however, applaud Stephanie for her imagination and courage to go against the norm on this.
Eucerin Daily Replenishing Lotion

Bought this product for my son who competes in triathlons. He loves it and uses it each time he trains and competes. He is constantly thanking me and telling me how much he enjoys using it. He is able to show me his routes while we chat on Skype and he can share his training and competition information with his friends on Facebook. Two thumbs up for this item!
DBTech Mini Wireless Bluetooth

This can be used anywhere from recreational purposes to eduction. The sleek design is makes it thinner than its predecessors. There are both the 8gb and the 64gb out there but this is a good median for the price.
Grip 3 8 Professional

Great product, use it to stream radio, search the internet more than play music. It can do so much that I haven’t learned yet (like my Mac book pro).
Casio Men s G300ML

I have to agree with a lot of the mediocre and low star reviews. As many have said, it is a very interesting subject, but it could have been done much better. I’ll preface this by saying that I hardly ever read contemporary fiction, so perhaps I’m just not used to the modern style of writing. Most fiction I read is from the era when a book could not be published if there was too much “obscenity” or if it was too graphic.

Nonetheless, here’s where I felt this novel fell short:

As others have noted, it felt too contemporary. Some of the language didn’t seem to fit the times. I know the “f” word and other swearing has been around forever, but I almost never hear people from that generation use it. Also, young Jake laments being a virgin so much, but from talking with people who came of age before the sexual revolution, it was pretty much expected that one would remain that way until marriage. Even Hugh Hefner was a virgin until his mid 20s.

The character of Jake was not convincing. I didn’t get a good sense of who he really was as a young man, and the young Jake and the old Jake could have been two different people as far as I could tell.

I didn’t find the old Jake to be very symphathetic. I felt bad for him for being trapped in a nursing home, but he gave the nurses a hard time and picked fights with another male resident which canceled out a lot of sympathy I would have had for him. Also, I had trouble with Jake’s situation. If he couldn’t even remember his family members who came to visit or the names of the nurses who took care of him, how come he could always remember the names and details of his fellow residents with no problem?

A lot of reviewers had trouble reading the scenes about animal cruelty. I love animals, but I didn’t have that much trouble reading them because I wasn’t really convinced by the writing.

As many others have said, the ending is unrealistic. Some people may not be bothered by this, but that’s one thing that irks me.

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POETS IN PERSON A