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April 4, 2007

Ice Dozer Recap

Filed under: Content, Reviews, Water & Ice, Weather — roclar @ 7:50 am
Ice Dozer Left View I originally bought the Ice Dozer shortly after I posted it with the full intention of reviewing it. Over the past two winters we have certainly had some frosty days, but no real ice storm that has required the full ice removal power the Ice Dozer is reported to deliver. Since we have had a couple of days with temperatures in excess of 80 degrees, I am guessing the ice threat is gone until next winter so I might as well post whatever I have. First here are some additional shots of the scraper that I took whil it was still in its packaging: left view, right view, front view, and top view. Innovation Factory (the creator of the Ice Dozer) has a good instruction page and I have a local copy of the Ice Dozer Manual. My observations after the break.

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April 2, 2007

Temperature Sensitive Faucet Light

Filed under: Bathroom, Content, Reviews, Water & Ice — roclar @ 8:00 am
LED Faucet Red side view About a year and a half ago, I posted the LED Faucet Light. At the time, I thought it was a neat and inexpensive way to add a little flair to an existing fixture, but it didn’t really add a whole lot. Just a static blue light whenever the water ran. When I saw that they had added a temperature sensitive version I couldn’t resist any longer. I have only had this installed in my kitchen sink for a few days, but I have been pleased with the addition. Given that hot water has to travel accross the span of the house in/under my cement slab, it takes a while for it to reach the kitchen sink. The Faucet Light gives a nice visual cue that the hot water has arrived. The Temperature Controlled Faucet Light is available from Think Geek for $20 where you can also score the blue only version for $13. Mini-review after the break.

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December 15, 2006

Super Mario Advance 2

Filed under: Content, Games & Related Links, Retro Gaming, Reviews — roclar @ 8:00 am
Super Mario Advance 2 Super Mario Advance 2 is Nintendo’s 2002 Game Boy Advance re-release of Super Mario World. Super Mario World was originally released in 1991 in the states. Unlike its sequel, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, I did play this growing up on the SNES but nowhere near as much as I played Super Mario Bros. 3. I have to admit that playing through it again after NSMB, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 and Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 I was left kind of underwhelmed. Its quite possible that I am just burning out on Mario, besides Tetris DS, the Italian plumber has been occupying nearly all of my gaming time. Still, there are a couple of things that irked me playing through Super Mario Advance 2. For one, the addition of Yoshi seems like an afterthought at times. There are a number of events and powerups that force you to leave your new-found dino-companion. I was also bothered that there were certain instances when you had to figure out secrets to successfully complete the game. I will touch on both of these points over the course of the review which starts now.

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December 11, 2006

Super Mario Advance 3

Filed under: Content, Games & Related Links, Retro Gaming, Reviews — roclar @ 7:55 am
Super Mario Advance 3 Super Mario Advance 3 is Nintendo’s 2002 Game Boy Advance re-release of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island which was originally released in 1995. Since my console days virtually ended after I went to college until this past August, I had never played nor heard of this sequel to Super Mario World. Since I have been going through quite a Mario phase of late and Yoshi’s Island DS was set to be released (Yoshi’s Island DS came out on November 13 here in the states) , I decided to see what I missed. The cartoony graphics and baby Mario concept threw me at first in addition to not realizing the game was auto-saving it took me a little while to get into the game. Once I made it through the first world though, I was hooked. Since I will be playing the sequel and its relatively similar to the original, I didn’t get every trackable coin, flower and star and unlock the extra levels. With all of that being said, on to the review.

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November 28, 2006

ingenuiTEA Teapot

Filed under: Content, Kitchenware & Utensils, Reviews — roclar @ 8:00 am
loose leaf tea starter set from Adagio.com

Tagline: The most convenient teapot you will find anywhere - we guarantee it.

This is the teapot that got me into loose leaf tea after using it at DrFaulken’s house. You just have to heat the water to the appropriate temperature, add the right amount of tea, pour in the water, allow the tea to steep and place the tea pot on top of your preferred drinking container causing the tea to drain and discard the used tea leaves. This teapot has not one but two US patents: US Patent 5,826,493 - Infusion coffee maker and US Patent 6,058,827 - Structure of a tea flushing device. As per DrFaulken’s Adagio.com review and recommendation, I bought two of the pots (one for home and one for work) as part of Adagio Tea’s starter set for $19. They sell the teapot by itself for the same price go figure.

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November 21, 2006

Sirius Satellite Radio and the JVC KT-SR2000

Filed under: Content, Music, Sound & Speakers, Reviews — roclar @ 7:04 pm
Sirius Logo DrFaulken suggested that there might be some interest in my take on Sirius. Being that I have been a subscriber for almost two years, I know a little about the service. I have a JVC KT-SR2000 Sirius receiver installed in my truck and occasionally listen to the service via the internets (which is available with Sirius for no additional charge). Given that a bad commute day for me is ten minutes, I probably don’t listen the service enough to justify the $13 a month subscription fee, but I like having it available both on the compies and especially for long trips.

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Super Mario Advance 4

Filed under: Content, Games & Related Links, Retro Gaming, Reviews — roclar @ 3:15 pm
Super Mario Advance 4 Super Mario Advance 4 is Nintendo’s 2003 Game Boy Advance re-release of Super Mario Bros. 3. Super Mario Bros. 3 was originally released in 1990 in the states and I remember countless hours playing it on our NES growing up. As evidenced by some of the lists I have linked here such as the NES Top 100 List and Some of the Best Levels of All Time I am far from being the only person with fond memories of the game. I finally decided to play all the way through the game and finished it last week at some point and thought I would post my experiences since I finish console games so rarely these days. In fact the only other game I have beaten since getting a DS Lite back in August was the DS native New Super Mario Bros. (NSMB). Anyway, on to the review.

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November 20, 2006

Western Digital Lighted Extreme Series II 250GB Hard Drive

Filed under: Computer Related, Content, Light & Illuminated Objects, Reviews, USB — roclar @ 8:41 pm
Western Digital Lighted Extreme Series II

Tagline: Fun, Funky, SERIOUS Storage

Since DrFaulken has done a couple of reviews of external hard drive enclosures, I thought I would give it a go with my latest purchase of a Western Digital Lighted Extreme Series II 250GB Hard Drive. The twist is that while he reviewed enclosures where you add a separately acquired hard drive, I ended up chosing an all in one solution with some flair (re: some extra, unnecessary lights). This was done primarily because the price differential between buying the enclosure and drive separately vs. together doesn’t seem to be as great as I at least remember it used to be. I got this external hard drive from NewEgg for $120 where as an internal WD 250 GB SATA drive goes for $70 and a good enclosure costs about $40. I also don’t have any need to change the drive out unless it fails. Also, lets face it, I like blinky lights. For full effect, I am writing this review with only the Harbor Breeze 52″ Neon Light Ceiling Fan, the Western Digital and the 20″ iMac providing illumination (though I think the iMac is providing most of the actual illumination).

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October 6, 2006

Rainguard Automatic Downspout Extensions

Filed under: Content, Reviews, Water & Ice — roclar @ 12:58 pm
Rainguard in white Ever since I bought my house, the downspout extenders that conveyed and the one I had to replace because Isabel took it away have always bothered me a bit. Here are pictures of those to be replaced: old gutter #1, old gutter #2, and old gutter #3. Not only do they look ugly, but they also kill the grass and are annoying to mow around. I cannot remember where I first heard of Rainguard Automatic Downspout Extensions be it some random web advertisement or an infomercial on TV, but when I saw I could get three of the 4′ variety for $15 I figured I had wasted more money on much less.

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October 23, 2005

The Amazing Nyfork

Filed under: Content, Kitchenware & Utensils, Reviews — roclar @ 9:51 am
Nyfork Icon Background & Purchase:When I first saw the Nyfork, I was intrigued and amused. Given the relatively low cost of the device, I knew I had to have one. I ordered mine from Miles Kimball. No problems with the order process or delivery. Once I had the product on hand, I was able to get more information. The Original Nyfork as it is called is distributed by Innovative Products, Inc.. Its unique design is patented (D425,376).

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