Pittsburgh KM

Archive for March, 2010

Amazing how quickly these devices become “indispensable”. Incredibly useful training tool, allowing one to guage intensity of effort and track progress over time. My only major knock on the Garmin is it’s longevity. I’ve had 4 units over the last few years. There seems to occur some malfunction or other when the unit is about 18-20 months old. The tech support people are very helpful in attempting to resolve the issue on-line, but I have invariably had to ship the unit to Kansas for exchange. The last problem was data transmission to the pc. Before that, on two occasions the unit just wouldn’t power up. Still, I really enjoy using it.
Vivitar Series 1 High

We picked this up after reading that this was recommended by Consumer Reports. It works way better than my old vacuum and is not that much louder than the old one either. If you’ve researched this at other places like I did, you may see that it comes with a check bag indicator…well, it doesn’t. I expected a check bag indicator and called Hoover when the vacuum arrived without one. The Hoover rep said that the newer models don’t have an indicator. This vacuum has the switch on the body, I never realized how convenient the foot switch was until I got this. I usually have a baby in one arm so a foot switch would be more convenient.
Century Optics 55x Wide

Kingsley Travel Cosmetic Bag

This is the best game that I have ever played. The shipment was on time and I would score amazon service as 10 in a scale from 0 to 10. I’m satisfied! you guys are the best!
Pyar Tune Kya Kiya

Kathryn Stockett has created a story in The Help with an updated reflection upon a time in our nation when there was a divisive chasm between the races. A time when Americans, especially the “gentile Southerner”, felt superior to their fellow black citizens. A time when our generation can now only hang their heads in shame for what an earlier generation did, said, felt and acted upon fellow black Americans.

Stockett’s fiction creatively twists the story so that the reader can only ponder along with the story’s characters if this story is indeed fiction or not. Her ability to tickle our psyche is genius.

The characters are fresh and easily identifiable while the language puts the reader right in the room with the characters. Her ability to put the reader into the character’s mind in each chapter is equally intelligent as we become the thoughts of the character very readily. She enables this transference without the use of quotations of the character and uses the language of the character in their musings. (Such as when a character is thinking: I gone take that breakfast to her. Not: I’m going to take that breakfast to her.

Nice read, somewhat compelling with the reader wanting to discover the outcome of the book Skeeter submits for publication, what the locals reactions will be, will there be repercussions with the contributors and what will Skeeter’s life path become.

Read it, read it. Great book.
Glasser X Series Carbon

For the money this is a very good vacuum. The bags fill up fast so buy extra, also buy extra belts they will come in handy. I would buy this vacuum again.
Delsey Helium Pilot 32

Great product. Books download quickly. Books are less expensive than hard cover.

Glad we bought it.
With The Admiral Of

Artemis Fowl is a genius. He’s also a criminal master mind. He’s also twelve. When faced with the loss of his family’s fortune, he does what anyone would do. He kidnaps a fairy commando and holds her for ransom.

This is a great book for readers of all ages. While entertaining for most older elemtary school kids, the snappy dialog and and action packed plot twists make it a great read for adults too.
Mainstream Rock Guitar Play

99 01 Yamaha R1

Water for Elephants is an interesting text because it is not especially well written, the story is pure soap opera, and yet it is an enjoyable read that at times evokes a long gone era. I think it suffers from overly effusive praise and so many readers are bitterly disappointed once they get through it.
First, let’s look at the strengths of the novel. I enjoyed the evocations of circus and train life. Gruen clearly spent some time working on these descriptions of circus life and there are little Depression era details that were nice historical jewels for the reader to mine. Also effective was her characterization of old Jacob. His voice was witty and biting and he provided the most pleasure of any character in the text. Chapter nineteen of the novel is the saddest depiction of rest home life I have read in literature. A man is forgotten by his family, and the scene is heartbreaking.
Now to examine the reasons why this book is unsatisfying. First off the characters from the 1930s parts of the novel are some of the weakest characterizations I have seen in a book in a long time. They are stock characters at best, and the villains are the mustache twirling men from melodrama. It is hard to care about any of the characters because they are so transparently fake. Even more distracting then the weak characterization is the incredibly insipid (and modern sounding) dialogue Gruen puts in their mouths. She has such nice historical details in the setting of the text, why couldn’t she also use it in the dialogue?
Many readers have found the ending unsatisfying, and although it is ridiculous, it fits the novel so I won’t argue with it. The cloying depiction of animals is also a little beyond the pale, but again, I simply had to come to terms with the novel for what it is. It is popular fiction. It is a melodrama you will get caught up in. And for those purposes it is adequate. Don’t go into it expecting more than what it is capable of giving and you will be satisfied.

The Catholic Encyclopedia An