November 15, 2006
I love this commercial!!
Someday, I'm going to get one of these so I won't get lost so often!
Posted by Beth at 07:23 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 17, 2005
An Endorsement
I'm sure that my regular readers - all three of you - (Hi, Jim, Joanie and John - no really, there might be a couple more) are aware of the fact that the Donovan household is something of a menagerie.
8 kitties, 3 doggies, John and I live in the house - then of course we have our 2 equine family members, Willie and Petey.
Our house is ... shall I say furry? Yes. It is very furry and dusty and hairy.
It is so dusty, hairy and furry that I have gone through many vacuum cleaners - cheap ones, expensive ones - hypoallergenic ones.
My last cheap vacuum broke last weekend - it did pretty well, lasted - oh, maybe 8 months before it died a death of clogged fans, motors and hoses. John did what he could to save it, but there was no hope.
So. I have tried Eureka, Hoover, Dirt Devil, and every other brand you can imagine - but I had not tried the Dyson.
I will admit - the commercials were a bit too much like infomercials for my taste, and I have been burned by more than one infomercial - just ask John about my nightmare with the stuff that was supposed to remove hair from personal places. No, don't ask him - it was embarrassing, and he frankly doesn't care if those private places have hair or not.
Oh, yeah, back to my hairy house. . .
I knew I had to do something drastic. I searched the web and checked reviews.
I decided to try a Dyson
And I am very impressed. This thing could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch.
I vacuumed only two rooms and completely filled the vacuum three times - about 12 *pounds* of critter hair, fur and dust.
Oh my. And the floors look cleaner than they have ever looked.
I am very impressed. If you are in the market for a good vacuum, don't get the Hoover turbo thingy (been there, done that) or the Eureka turbo thingie (been there done that) Look for one of those Dysons.
And I'm not even getting paid for this endorsement!!!!
Posted by Beth at 09:24 PM
August 12, 2005
My new toy came today
And yes, it is an expensive toy. When John and I were in Orlando last winter and went to the Wild Kingdom, I realized that we each need a very good camera. We were trying to take turns with the Canon Rebel
I tried a nice little Olympus digital, but it's not an SLR and it was pretty inexpensive, and I think I'll try to sell it on Ebay at this point - and I had trouble taking pictures without a viewfinder.
So, knowing that John and I will be visiting San Diego in a week (where we will finally get to meet Da Goddess and maybe the Cheese Mistress and Lt. Smash), I decided to get myself one that I will not have to share.
So, this is the Rebel XT
I am very impressed so far. There is a redeye setting in the camera itself, and it works beautifully! Normally, when I take a picture of Houdini, his eyes are crazy dog red - with this camera, they are beautiful brown. Very impressed, I am!
Pictures will follow!
Posted by Beth at 04:26 PM
July 01, 2005
More gadgets I love
Remember a few days ago when I revealed that John *finally* complimented my hairstyle for the first time ever?
Part of the credit goes to Lyndsay, my hair stylist. And the rest of it has to go to Revlon Ionic Hot Air Brush
The thing honestly makes my hair soft, yet thicker looking. You can ask John - I have at least 6 hot air brushes and 4 hairdryers in the bathroom. I have been trying for years to get something that doesn't make my hair go flat.
I guess I should go through away all the extras. Don't need them anymore.
Posted by Beth at 10:30 AM
Confessions of a Gadget Queen Part II
As I've mentioned before, I love gadgets of all kinds - especially gadgets that are supposed to make life easier.
Last summer, I bought a roomba
It works beautifully on hardwood floors with area rugs. It is a true time saver. I can turn it on, set its perimeters and then come back to my office to work, and an hour or so later, roomba
Glenn Reynolds has been harping about his bad experience with Roomba for a couple of years now. He had an older version. He really should give up his griping and go buy a new one. Of course, my area rugs are probably not as fancy as his rugs, me being a lowly technical consultant and all.
Posted by Beth at 06:14 AM
May 31, 2005
New toys for home office
Since I will be working at home when I'm not traveling, I decided to buy a copier/fax/printer/scanner. It is pretty darn cool, and it is just amazing what you can get for under $200.
I really like it so far. I am setting it up as a network printer to make it easy to use with our wireless laptops. I think I will have to figure out the best way to hook it up as a fax machine - I only need a fax occassionally, and then only when I am faxing something to someone else, so perhaps I'll just hook up the phone line when I do need that function. Just think back ten years - who would have thought then that you can get now for a low price something that does so much?
Posted by Beth at 06:37 AM
May 17, 2005
Lousy Appliances
I truly love gadgets and appliances of all kinds. When I see something that looks promising, I buy it.
Well, some don't work out - don't waste your money on them!
The Black and Decker Gizmo cordless can opener is just awful. It does not have the power to open anything after about 2 months - even if it is in the charger. Waste of money!
Posted by Beth at 05:32 PM
November 23, 2004
Well, darn
I had to return my Sattelite Radio. The guy who sold it to me on Sunday assured me that if I brought it in during the week, it would be a two hour wait until the job was finished - max.
Liar.
They told me to expect at least 6 hours because of the holidays. Wow, I thought I was being proactive, buying it before Thanksgiving.
If I could have made an appointment with them, I would have, but they don't do appointments, and I definitely don't have what would probably be an entire day to sit in their dingy waiting room (no bathroom, no coffee).
So I'll take my business elsewhere. My hope is that some smart shop will make appointments for customers who don't have the luxury of hanging around for 6 or more hours for an installation - the actual install is about 45 minutes.
And if no one in the Kansas City Metro area will take appointments, well, I'll look around when I'm in Oklahoma City for the week of December 5th. And if no one there will do it, then I'll survive just fine without Sattelite Radio.
Posted by Beth at 06:41 AM
November 22, 2004
Got my Christmas gift a little early
I have close to a one hour commute each way when I'm not traveling. Local radio, be it AM or FM, pretty much sucks. There is one station that does play the alternative music I like, but after this past election season, I can't stomach their DJ's who spent more time shilling for Kerry then they did playing music.
The AM talk radio stations are not a lot better.
I do have a cd player in our new vehicle, but I don't have a huge cd collection, and I don't particularly want to hear an entire album at a time.
So, we bought an XM Sattelite Radio receiver. I will get it installed today (at lunch if things at the office are not too crazy) and I will have my choice of non-interrupted music or talk radio or weather. Unfortunately, there is no traffic report for the Kansas City metro area available on sattelite radio. This is both bad and good. Bad for the obvious - I'll have to turn to AM to check traffic - good because the metro area is not humongous. I never want to live in a humongous metro area.
Hmmm. Maybe I should name the new cat XM? No.
Posted by Beth at 06:15 AM
May 08, 2004
Oh, boy. New camera!
Our new Digital Canon Rebel EOS came this week. It is pretty cool. I bought it because I have a 35 milimeter Canon Rebel, and the lenses are interchangeable, and because it is a really cool gadget.
Now, though, I have to learn how to use it. I bought a 1 gig memory card for it, so I can actually do some avi's of more than 3 second length.
When Andy was a baby, I used to be a half-decent photographer - I practiced all the time, and as a result I have a huge box of baby pictures, but that was a long time ago. Now I have to get the manuals out and remember how to use an SLR camera.
So, y'all can expect a bunch of pictures this weekend. Probably of my little herb garden, strawberries and other stuff in the yard.
Speaking of the yard ... we have had a very wet few weeks, and the ground has not been dry enough to mow, so we have more of a pasture at the moment. I'll have to whip John and Andy into shape and make them mow.
I used to mow the lawn myself, but my allergies have become so bad, that I can't anymore.
Posted by Beth at 06:40 AM
April 05, 2004
I have no tea kettle!
I decided to boil some water yesterday to make some ice tea. As usual, I did not think ahead, so I had no sun tea steeping in the sun. I realized that I no longer own a tea kettle. It was old and nasty and ugly, so I threw it out several years ago.
I decided to start looking for a new tea kettle, and I think I'll order this one.
Comments, anyone?
Posted by Beth at 07:10 PM
January 24, 2004
Oh, what a cool gadget
I may have to buy one of these: George Foreman USB iGrill
The low-fat, high-bandwidth solution to your networked cooking needs is finally here. The George Foreman USB iGrill conveniently connects to your home or office PC using USB 2.0 technology, and provides a sophisticated web-based cooking interface.
Wow, I had no idea...
Posted by Beth at 06:17 PM
Gadgets worth the money
Here are some of the gadgets/ small appliances that work as advertised, or close enough that they were worth the money.
Now, don't laugh - some of these are those obnoxious "As Seen On TV" kinda things, but heck, I travel a lot, and sometimes those infomercials are the most interesting TV I get.
My favorites:
1. Kitchen Aid Mixer. Oh, my - this is my very favorite kitchen appliance. Get the 5 quart one - I had the smaller (4 qt bowl) version for years, but when John bought me this, well, I never touched the smaller one again. I think I gave it away. It is great for cakes, frostings, cookies, mashed potatoes, whipping cream, beating egg whites, lots of stuff.
2. For the smaller jobs, this gadget performs way above my expectations. It is the Braun Multiquick Professional Hand Blender. I use it to chop nuts, onions, green peppers, garlic and fresh herbs. It does a great job of beating a couple of egg whites for smaller recipes, and it has enough power to whip up some potatoes - but not too many, and with milk, cream or butter added. It's also great for mixing drinks quickly. The only drawback is that it is difficult to store.
3. The Rabbit Corkscrew.
I have tried a lot of fancy corkscrews, ones that pump air thru a needle, etc., and this is my preference. For one, I'm not going to stick myself with it! It is very easy to use. I highly recommend it. I give them as gifts.
4. The Cuisinart Food Processor. In the past, I have tried all the inexpensive ones - Sunbeam, GE, Hamilton Beach - I found that you get what you pay for - this cannot be beat for power.
5. This is one we use every day. Again, I have tried a lot of other coffee makers through the years, but this one, the Capresso Coffee Team, makes the best freshly ground coffee of any of them. We had a Cuisinart combo coffee maker/grinder, but it did not last more than one year. I paid more for the Capresso, and again, I got what I paid for. It is great, and I highly recommend it.
6. Okay - here is one you can laugh at. I got sucked in big time a couple of weeks ago when I was watching an infomercial. I bought one. It came in last week, and I have been trying it out this weekend. The Scunci Steamer. Go ahead and laugh. It shoots out a powerful bunch of steam and does clean a lot - not quite like you see on TV - but enough to make it worth the cost. I was able to steam out stuff that is in the corners of rooms, and clean the part of the toilets that gets really icky - where the hinges are and down around the floor. It also works wonders on any faucets, door handles, anything metal. I even 'dusted' some resin figures with it, and it did a superb job.
That's all for now. I'll do some more at a later date.
Posted by Beth at 04:00 PM
Confessions of a Gadget Queen
As I have mentioned before, I have a failing for buying all kinds of kitchen gadgets and appliances. To be honest, I'll buy almost any gadget or appliance, if it looks cool enough.
Sometimes I screw up. I bought a very expensive Hoover Wind Tunnel vaccum cleaner - the one without the bag and with a Hepa filter, and it is a giant pain in the ass. Dirt gets stuck in the hose that is between the beater bar and the place where the dirt is supposed to go on a regular basis. Then John has to take it all apart and put it back together (because he has more patience with things like that than I do - not that he does it with a smile on his face). I had an earlier version with the Hepa filter only with bags, and it did a great job - I just wore it out with all our critters shedding all over the place.
Another bad purchase was a rotisserie. What a mess to clean up. It is hard to put the chicken or whatever in it, and though it does a great job of cooking, it is such an ordeal to clean all the parts that I only used it once. It is going to the GoodWill - maybe someone with more patience than I can use it.
I thought that this would be a really nice thing to have - but it is hardly a true convection oven - it actually takes longer to bake cookies in than a conventional oven. It has already gone out in the trash. Worthless POS!
Now, though, I see that Cuisinart has a convection oven out - but I'll check reviews before I buy that one!
This grill was a big mistake too - I should know by now that you can't make a good appliance that is supposed to do 5 tasks well.
Next time, I'll talk about cool things that really work as advertised that I have purchased.
Posted by Beth at 01:01 PM