The Ordinary Review

While taking pictures of my sofa, I found my remote control. Many thanks to Michael for asking me to take pictures of the sofa. If it weren’t for him, I might never have found the remote.

A month ago, I would have given the remote control a fabulous review. It just makes life so much easier, because you can just sit around without ever having to touch the TV directly.

But now I give the remote control an average review. I realized during the past month that I really didn’t need it. I sit about 10 feet away from the television, which isn’t much of a distance to walk in order to change channels. Furthermore, I don’t really like to change channels. Channel surfing makes me feel like my life is a meaningless waste of time, but that’s really not true. I promise that’s not true! Please believe me, despite the fact that I spend a lot of time updating blogs like this one which seem like a waste of time.

The other point against the remote control is that it is dusty from being under a sofa cushion for so long. I did not bother to clean it off, because I am a busy, busy person. Dusty objects automatically receive a lower rating than clean ones, because they irritate my sinuses.

To summarize this review, I give the remote control an average review. I would have given it an excellent review a month ago, but it is less appealing now that I have lived without it and since it has gotten dusty.

The Black & Decker Dustbuster vacuum gets a bad review from me. It vacuums for less than a minute before running out of power, no matter how long you charge it for. I had been charging it for months, but clearly that meant nothing.

True, I only have the 4.8 volt version. 4.8 volts is nothing; if you think about it, one of those rectangular 9-volt batteries has almost twice as much voltage.

Why is it described in volts, rather than amps? Because the vacuum would probably be an embarrassment to Black & Decker if it was described in amps. There are vacuums for sale that draw over 12 amps during operation, and so “4.8 volts” sounds better than “0.1 milliamps”, which is probably closer to the actual amount of current drawn by this helpless little vacuum.

I tried to vacuum up some ants today, but the silly little vacuum just couldn’t do it.

So don’t buy this vacuum. Be wary at garage sales. I wouldn’t buy any model of Black & Decker vacuum, not even a more powerful one, because I feel overcharged and offended that they sold me this little useless vacuum.

I have a Sony Trinitron television that is probably a few years old. I use it frequently, and it works well enough for my needs. It came with the place, and I’ll have to leave it behind when I move out.

My Sony Trinitron TV has a few problems. First, it constantly hums a high-pitched sound. The sound is much louder than the hum of other televisions; so loud, in fact, that I cannot leave it on mute while talking on the phone.

Second, the lower half of the picture is distorted. Its colors come out strangely and incorrectly. You might imagine that it would be a big problem, but I don’t expect much and I’ve gotten used to it. Come to think of it, the colors of the entire picture are somewhat wrong. But again, it doesn’t bother me.

Third, the lettering on the front panel has smeared off from use over time.

Fourth, I lost the remote. I think it’s deep under the sofa. I’ve tried to find it, but I have had no luck for the past few weeks. One thing I’ve learned from this experience is that although I’m too lazy to look deeply for the remote control, I still do exert the effort to walk up to the TV and turn it on directly, so in reality I’m not entirely lazy.

Fifth, the Sony Trinitron television is heavy. I get scared when I have to crawl under the television to reach for something in the storage space behind the TV/VCR shelves. The TV seems like it would fall on me and kill me.

To summarize this review, well, the Sony Trinitron TV is tolerable for my purposes, but if I needed to buy a TV and had money, I’d get one of those new lightweight flat TVs instead.

My Toshiba Satellite laptop is the most expensive item that I currently own. It also happens to be my most prized item.

The large screen is its best feature. I can open 2 windows side-by-side and still be able to read the text normally. I can watch widescreen movies using the entire width and height of my computer screen.

The weight and bulkiness is its worst feature. It gets tiring to carry, so I rarely transport it. It is difficult to bring on airplanes. Taking it out during airport security checks can be awkward.

Another drawback is the overheating. The Toshiba Satellite is highly prone to overheating. Furthermore, its largest cooling vents are at the bottom, so you have to keep it on a hard, flat surface at all times. If you work on your bed, on a rug, or on your lap, you will block the vents and it will become very hot.

When the Toshiba Satellite becomes too hot, it automatically shuts off. This now happens to me extremely, extremely rarely, but before when I used to block the bottom fan openings by mistake, it would shut off by itself frequently.

I bought my Toshiba Satellite laptop in December of 2003, when big laptops were rare. At the airport, they were amazed at how big my laptop was. “Have you ever seen a laptop this big?” I heard one security person ask another.

Finally, the laptop is sort of fragile. My CD/DVD writer stopped working within a year.

In summary, the Toshiba Satellite laptop has a great advantage with its extra-large screen, but its weight and overheating problems are larger drawbacks. I would recommend that you try to find another laptop brand with a big screen that is also lighter and more durable.

The Epson Stylus CX4600 is the first printer that I have had in awhile. I bought this printer soon after I graduated from college, because I no longer had access to the free on-campus printers.

I bought the printer for $130 (minus $30-50 in rebates). I don’t know if this is still the case, but at the time all of the electronics and computer stores were waging a printer price war. So I walked away with a pretty amazing deal.

The Epson Stylus CX4600 has a built-in scanner and copier. You can select black & white or color copies, which is nice because it saves you ink. Also, there are 4 separate ink cartridges, so you can just replace the color that runs out without replacing everything.

This printer is fabulous because you can print photos without needing a computer. Just insert your memory card or stick into the appropriate slot (it accepts all the common memory cards/sticks) to print contact sheets. Then fill in the SAT-style bubbles beneath the pictures that you wish to print, and finally put the contact sheets into the scanner window and press the button.

One problem is that you have to clean it frequently, because the printouts start to have lines across them. Cleaning is easy and automatic at the press of a button on your computer screen, so it’s not a problem, but it does waste your ink.

I highly recommend this printer for both novices and advanced users. I see no reason to buy a more expensive printer, unless it is a pricey color laser printer.