20Q - 20 questions electronic game
SUMMARY: Fun for kids and fun for adults! It is surprisingly good at guessing what you are thinking about. Inexpensive as well.
My aunt one of these at her her house, but unfortunatly the batteries were dead so I didn’t get a chance to play with it at that point. But she was telling me how cool it was. So when I was at the store, I found one, and gave it a try. The controls are exposed so you can play with it in the store. It asked me 20 questions, and guessed at what I was thinking of. Thus far it has succesfully guess correctly more often than not. Whats kind of funny is that many times the questions it asks seem to have nothing to do with what you are think of. It has correctly guess things like flower pot, potato chip, aluminum can, dinosaur, and playing card. It missed things like electric toothbruch (it got close with electric shaver), and zip-tie. When a co-worker was playing it, he was thinking of his ring, and the 20Q guessed jewelry, but hadn’t specified ring. That actually surprised me. It is a lot of fun trying to stump the little game, and it is amazing when it gets the answer when asking goofball questions like “Is it heavier than a duck?” And at a price of about $10 it would make a great stocking stuffer, or something for the office gift exchanges.
Read more…
My Losing Season by Pat Conroy
SUMMARY: Pat Conroy fans will love this. Basketball fans will enjoy it. People interested in The Citadel military college will find it interesting as well.
I am a huge Pat Conroy fan, and have read all of his books multiple times. I have a signed first edition of this book, and most of his other books as well. (I don’t have a first edition of The Boo…yet, and neither of my first edition copies of The Water Is Wide is signed…yet). Having read his books, you get little glimpses into his life as all of his books are based on his real life. The Water Is Wide is non fiction covering a time in his life when when he was teaching poor black children on a remote island. My Losing season covers the part of his life when he played basketball with it’s main focus being his senior year at The Citadel. Conroy’s novel The Lords Of Discipline was based on his time at the Citadel, but this book details is actual experiences.
I also have this book as a Book-On-Tape, but seeing as I don’t currently have a tape player in my car, I got the Book-On-CD from the library. This is a wonderful book, and I think almost anyone will enjoy it.
Read more…
Beltronics will not honor my warranty!
I bought my Beltronics 925 Express radar detector new from an online retailer (goelectronic.com) about a month ago, so I have actually had it less than a month. Yesterday for some reason the LED display started wigging out making the H (for highway) look like a 4. The one element of the LED display was working intermittantly. I have been happy with the radar detector since I have gotten it. I was not happy with the thought that I might have to pay to ship the unit back to Beltronics for repair. I called Beltronics, and the lady there told me that they will not even honor the warranty at all since I bought the unit from an unauthorized reseller. She told me that most online retailers are not authorized resellers of their radar detectors. She said they will not honor warranties for radar dectectors bought from Amazon or eBay. I can see eBay since you are buying from Joe Schmo. Or Amazon if you are buying from a marketplace seller or something. But I bought a brand new radar detector. I found the seller via Froogle. This ticks me off! The only sellers I could find on Beltronics website were Radio Shack (I amazed they are still in business), and Circuit City. Radio Shack is selling an Express 795. What is that? Is that like 2 generations older than the Express 925 that I have? Circuit City seems to have the Express 935 for $150, but not the Express 925 that I wanted. (The only difference between the 925 and the 935 that I have read about was a fancier display, and about $75).
When I had my older Whistler radar detector, they were very friendly and helpful when I had problems with my detector (it started false sensing laser when I got my car tuned up). They worked with my mechanic, and then took my detector in to the shop several times before finally sending me a free radar detector from the previous generation that didn’t have the issue. Apparently Beltronics does not have the same business ethic.
The best new show of 2005 is the CBS show How I Met Your Mother! I was originally intrigued by the pre-season teasers. I have been a fan of Alyson Hannigan since seeing her in American Pie. She is very talented, and very cute! Her band camp geek character from American Pie was just hillarious. Her quirky character Lily in How I Met Your Mother is also very funny. Frankly I would watch Alyson Hannigan reading weather reports and probably enjoy them. The main character Ted is likeable and funny. I can’t help but seeing Neil Patrick Harris and still see Doogie Houser sometimes. I do like his “Have You Met Ted” game. I not aware of having seen Combie Smulders in anything else. A quick check of IMDB reveals a short list, none of which I think I have seen. She is very cute, and very funny as Robin. I enjoy the chemistry between Robin and Ted. I like the little bits with Ted’s future kids as he is telling them the story of how he met their mother. God knows if we will ever find out how he actually met their mother.
If you have not seen this show, check it out on Monday nights on CBS prime time TV.
A day after I posted my thoughts on why GM cars suck, Motor Trend named the new Honda Civic as Car Of The Year! Congratulations Honda!