The Ordinary Review

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.

I have two bar stools standing (I was going to say ’sitting’ but thought it didn’t sound right) next to the wall of my bedroom. They are made of some sort of brown wood, and they have round, black cushions.

They look kind of like the bar stool in this photo, but the seats don’t swivel.

I give these bar stools a pretty bad review. They have been completely useless to me. In fact, I have not used them even once.

They came with the apartment, and thankfully they will remain with the apartment when I move out at the end of May. They are lazy, good-for-nothing bar stools that serve absolutely no purpose.

This review is biased because I have no bar or high table in my house. If I did, then maybe the bar stools would be useful, and maybe I wouldn’t give them such an awful review. I might even praise them. But as things stand at the moment, I have no reason not to insult them.

Color: A Natural History of the Palette is a book that my friend Marjorie gave me as a birthday present a couple of years ago. Here’s what it looks like:

Marjorie ordered it for me on Amazon because she found it on my wish list. I had completely forgotten about my wish list by then. So I was extremely surprised and excited to get it in the mail!

This book is about the history of various colors. The author travels the world in search of the sources of various pigments, in some cases having to convince the native folks that she is worthy of being told their guarded cultural secrets. She is an anthropologist who tells fascinating stories about each journey. She also finds out the cultural meanings of different colors, and she reveals how important and deeply rooted color can be in a society.

This book is a work of art. While reading it, I visualize all the colors that they describe, in my imagination. The book is written with such interesting and vivid descriptions that you can’t help it but see all the hues being described.

I have enjoyed Color: A Natural History of the Palette so much that it is one of the few books that I didn’t send back to my parents’ house. I can’t have too many things because I move frequently, but this book is one of the beloved items that I have chosen to keep with me.

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.

I have a blue and white flowered skirt that looks exactly like the blue and white flowery border at the top of this page. (Note to readers: if I happen to change the template one day, please remind me to update this entry.)

I would rate the way it feels very highly. It is soft and silky and the fabric feels cool to the touch.

It doesn’t look as good as it feels, though. In fact, it looked so weird when I wear it that I ended up trimming the bottom edge to make it look a little better. I didn’t even sew the edge after I trimmed it, and it still looks better than it did before.

I can’t complain much because I got it for free at a clothing exchange. A clothing exchange is an event where you bring in all the clothes in your closet that you are sick of, and you go home happier with a small bag of other people’s unwanted clothes.

So all in all, I rate the blue and white flowered skirt that looks like this blog template pretty well.

When I moved into my apartment, I was delighted to find out that it came with an old maroon leather sofa that wraps around. Sofas are luxury items for recent college graduates, so I was quite pleased.

The sofa is extremely comfortable due to its age. It is wonderful to sleep on and can accomodate two guests. The cushions are deep, so I would imagine that sleeping on this old leather sofa would be comfortable even for people who are obese.

This old leather sofa that wraps around is a bit ragged, also due to its age, but I don’t mind much. It is possible that part of the raggedness is due to the scratching of cats. To anyone with cats who is thinking of buying a sofa, I suggest that you choose a non-leather one because the leather will deteriorate quickly from cat-scratching.

One drawback is that the cushions get loose if I sit leaning forward. But isn’t that true for all sofas? I think so.

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.

Oh, my goodness. Puffs Plus with Lotion are the best tissues on the face of the earth. I wish I had better words to express the divinity of this brand of tissues.

My love for tissues with lotion began in childhood. Embarrassed by the soreness of my nose, I demanded that my parents buy me tissues with lotion. I had been using ordinary toilet paper, which was damaging both to the heart and to the soul. Sympathetically, my parents agreed to purchase a box of Kleenex tissues with lotion.

At the time, Kleenex was the dominant brand of tissues. It still dominates, but I have found it to be overrated. Puffs Plus Tissues with Lotion are of much higher quality, due to their additional softness and their generous dose of lotion. Puffs offers a much more generous dose of lotion than Kleenex, by a lotion mudslide. The folks at Kleenex are much more stingy with their lotion.

I never have to think twice when purchasing Puffs tissues. Regardless of the price, Puffs Plus with Lotion tissues are far superior to Kleenex Cold Care tissues, or whatever you call those lousy Kleenex tissues.

I have to say that generic, store-brand iodized salt is a must-have product for every household. There is no need to buy anything but the generic store brand version, because salt is salt is salt.

Salt is one of the best condiments because of its flavor, versatility, and cheapness. Salty food is almost always preferable to bland food. Sweet food is sometimes preferable, but who cares!

The particular generic brand of iodized salt in my house is called Shaw’s. Shaw’s is one of the grocery stores near my house. Shaw’s brand products are the only generic products that they have in stock. Fortunately, one generic brand is all I could ever want.