The Chronic Consumer

My husband and I purchased an expensive (close to $600) Dyson vacuum cleaner in April of 2006. Since we have two dogs in the house, one being a Beagle that sheds pretty heavily in the summer months, we have to vacuum every single day otherwise the floors get disgusting. So needless to say, our Dyson has gotten plenty of use in the past 2+ years.

Then last week, the cord unexpectedly shorted out. I was using the vacuum and the thing just suddenly died. I checked the cord and discovered the short, which resulted in part of the plastic coating melting to expose the wires. The vacuum was still under warranty, so we took it back to the store we bought it from, and they packed it off to Dyson for us. We were told that it could take up to 10 business days to get it back.

Well, we got it back yesterday (after 6 business days) and the thing is as good as new — probably because it mostly IS new! Not only did Dyson replace the broken cord, but they also replaced just about everything else!

We have a canister-style DC11 model, and the only original part that we got back was the canister that houses the motor. According to the work order (and verified by my personal inspection), Dyson replaced the head, hoses, motor, and telescoping handle. We didn’t request any of these replacements, Dyson just did it on their own!

I have to say that in a time where customer service is sorely lacking just about everywhere, Dyson really came through. I am completely satisfied with their products and the way they honor their warranties. I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be a Dyson customer for life!

My five-year-old son is a big fan of the entire Mario franchise, and loves playing Nintendo games featuring that character and his friends. From New Super Mario Bros. to Mario Party DS and Mario Kart DS, they are by far his favorites. So when we heard that Mario Kart Wii was coming out at the end of last month, you better believe we made arrangements to buy it right away. After playing the new title every day for a couple of weeks, I’m finally ready to give a review.

Overview: Mario Kart Wii is an updated version of the beloved Mario Kart franchise. As with previous titles, you race karts as Mario or one of his friends around cool tracks while hammering each other with various weapons. In Grand Prix mode, there are 8 different cups to compete for, with each cup consisting of four 3-lap races at different circuits. That’s a total of 32 unique tracks (64 if you include “mirror mode”, which allows you to race the same tracks in the opposite direction), so that’s quite a variety. There are also Balloon Battle and Coin Runner modes, minigames that provide a nice change to all the racing, along with WiFi mode that allows you to compete against players from around the world.

Characters and Karts: From what I’ve read, there are 25 characters available in this game, with more than half of them being “unlockables” that you have to win by achieving various milestones. You start out with 12, and work your way up from there. In addition to the usual crowd, we get the baby versions of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy, plus the ability to play as Miis.

There are a wide variety of karts to choose from and unlock as well. I think I read that each character can have up to 12 karts and bikes (that’s right, you can even ride motorcycles in this version!), but we’re nowhere near that number yet.

Controls: Mario Kart Wii comes packaged with a Wii wheel that houses the regular Wiimote. With the Wiimote placed in the wheel, you actually “drive” around the tracks, which is hard to do at first, but players quickly get the hang of it. I had to help my 5-year-old turn for a couple of days, but now he’s playing with the Wii wheel all by himself. The game can also be played with a Wiimote and nunchuk setup, a classic controller, or a GameCube controller. We haven’t tried any of those, though, so I can’t say how they work.

Gameplay: There are a couple of notable differences in gameplay in Mario Kart Wii compared to past versions. For one thing, it’s much, much harder to gain a turbo boost by drifting. I was very good at drifting in Mario Kart DS, where it’s relatively easy, but here, I can hardly ever do it, so I just use Automatic drift mode whenever I play.

Also included in this version is the ability to do midair tricks and stunts that end up giving your character a turbo boost when you hit the ground again. To accommodate for these tricks, almost every track now has ramps and halfpipes scattered throughout the landscape. This is actually a very fun addition, and now when I play the DS version, it seems kind of boring without tricks.

Finally, there are a few changes to the items you get from the item boxes. Now included is a mega mushroom that grows your character and vehicle to giant size and flattens anyone you hit; a POW box that sends everyone in front of you into a spin; and a thunder cloud that will zap you with electricity and shrink you unless you pass it off to someone else by bumping into them. The mega mushroom is fun, but the other two are kind of annoying while playing — especially since they seem to appear A LOT.

Online Play: The WiFi mode is fun and seamless. There’s a points system that automatically places you with players of like skill level instead of having to manually choose beginner or expert, so that makes things much more even. Plus, since it’s nearly impossible for people to “snake” their way around the track with mini turbo boosts, WiFi gaming in Mario Kart Wii is a lot more fun than in DS.

Verdict: Mario Kart Wii is an exceptional game that will lead to hours upon hours of fun for the whole family. Players of all ages and skill levels can quickly get up to speed on how to handle the karts and bikes to start racing, and everyone can win at some point. This game was a great purchase for our family and is highly recommended!

I’ve had braces for about 18 months now, and have had all kinds of problems keeping my teeth sufficiently clean. I’ve used special orthodontic toothbrushes, Crest Glide threader floss, and even a Dentek dental scaler to help clean in and around my brackets, but it just wasn’t working. Every time I went in for my monthly adjustment, I’d get a mini lecture about proper brushing and flossing techniques. So I finally decided to check out an oral irrigator instead, and settled on the Waterpik Ultra Dental Water Jet.

After using my Waterpik for two weeks, I’m kicking myself for not getting one sooner! This is the best home dental product that I’ve ever purchased, and that’s saying a lot!

I considered a few other Waterpik models during my comparison shopping phase, but I eventually decided to buy the Ultra based on the number of great user reviews the product has received. The unit cost me around $52, which is not a bad deal considering how pleased I am with the results.

The Waterpik Ultra Dental Water Jet comes with a variety of interchangeable tips that perform different functions. There are two standard jet tips that are used for basic cleaning, a Pik Pocket tip for cleaning periodontal pockets, a tongue cleaner, a toothbrush attachment, and an orthodontic brush attachment. I mostly use the standard jet tips and the orthodontic brush for my daily cleanings.

It took a couple of days to get comfortable using the Waterpik, as I have to lean into my sink when it’s on so that water doesn’t splash everywhere. That means I can’t look at what I’m doing in the mirror, and have to more or less feel my way around — not an easy task when a water jet is pulsating into my mouth!

But now that I’ve been using my Waterpik Ultra for two weeks, I’ve got the hang of it and don’t make a mess anymore. It’s fun and easy to use, and best of all, IT WORKS! I love how clean and fresh my mouth feels after using this thing. It washes away food particles and debris that my toothbrush misses, and is way faster than trying to get my threader floss through my braces. Again, I just can’t believe it took me this long to buy one!

Overall, I am absolutely thrilled with the Waterpik Ultra Dental Water Jet that I recently purchased. It works as advertised, leaving me with cleaner teeth and healthier gums. This product is HIGHLY recommended!

One of the biggest problems with being a Chicago Bears fan (besides the fact that the team hasn’t won a Super Bowl in 23 yeas) is that I don’t particularly like the way a majority of the team’s fan apparel looks. Many items feature orange as the dominant color, but that shade just doesn’t look very good on me. As a result, I end up buying a lot less team gear than I’d like.

That’s why when I recently found a white Chicago Bears Equipment Tee, I immediately snapped it up even though it wasn’t on sale. The shirt is an officially licensed product made by Reebok, just the kind I like. It has the words “Chicago Bears” lettered across the front in high-density navy blue ink (meaning the letters are somewhat raised on the material). Just below that, the word “Equipment” appears in smaller orange lettering. Then the familiar orange “C” logo is right under that.

The t-shirt has the NFL Equipment shield just under the collar, and a Reebok logo on the left sleeve, both of which designate the shirt as an official product that NFL players themselves wear.

This Reebok equipment tee is made of 60% cotton and 40% polyester, and set me back $19.99 at an online retailer.

I’ve worn this shirt several times already, putting it through the washer and dryer each time. I’m happy to report that the white hasn’t faded to eggshell or grey yet, and there hasn’t been any noticeable shrinkage from drying the material on high heat. Also, the lettering has not started to deteriorate, so the shirt still looks as good as new.

The bottom line: This Chicago Bears Short-Sleeve Equipment Tee is a definite winner, and is another part of my growing collection of this product line from Reebok.

I’m not the kind of person who can eat plain steaks. I have to have some kind of marinade or sauce on them, and would even go so far as to use ketchup if nothing else is available. My preference, however, is for Heinz 57 Sauce, which I like far more than A1 or other steak sauce brands.

I like the fact that Heinz 57 Sauce is thick and has a rich flavor. I cannot stand those watery, runny sauces that hardly add any taste at all. If I’m going to put something on my steak, I want the taste to be noticeable, know what I mean?

I’ve also been known to add a bit of Heinz 57 to my baked potato or dip my fries in there. Yes, the taste can get overpowering after a while, but as long as I don’t drench my food in it, Heinz 57 is great.

The only problem is that this stuff is pretty expensive. It’s nearly $5.00 for a 10oz. bottle, which is more than other brands charge. But I guess it’s worth it, since I can’t really eat steaks any other way now!

Oatmeal is pretty much the only healthy food that I can stand to eat on a regular basis. In fact, I have a bowl of instant oatmeal for breakfast nearly every single day, and when I get tired of that, I reach for a handful of Quaker Oatmeal Squares instead.

One serving of Quaker Oatmeal Squares packs the same amount of heart-healthy soluble fiber found in an equal serving of hot oatmeal, so I’m not losing any nutrition at all. Plus, I love how crunchy and sweet Quaker Oatmeal Squares are… it makes me feel as though I’m eating a snack, not something incredibly healthy.

Speaking of snacks, I’m making an effort to grab these Oatmeal Squares instead of potato chips or pretzels whenever I crave something crunchy. To be honest, Oatmeal Squares don’t always hit the spot when I’d rather have some junk food, but on occasion, they have been successful in warding off my cravings.

Anyway, if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like hot oatmeal cereal, then I recommend checking out Quaker Oatmeal Squares. They’re pretty awesome!

I’m not a huge music fan, so I very rarely buy music-related products. Once in a while, however, I’ll come across a band that I really like, in which case I do start purchasing a few extras.

For the past few years, one of my favorite groups has been Linkin Park. I love that whole “rap rock” sound (or whatever you want to call it) and think that Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda are amazing musicians. So when I was out shopping the other day and saw the Linkin Park — Live in Texas CD/DVD Combo on sale, I couldn’t resist buying it.

This is an old product, dating way back to 2003. Nevertheless, I hadn’t seen it before, so I figured it would be worth the money.

The DVD shows Linkin Park playing at Texas Stadium and Reliant Stadium over two different days as part of the Summer Sanitarium Tour (with Metallica and Limp Bizkit). The guys play 17 different songs, and we get to see the full-length versions here. The songs are:

1. Don’t Stay
2. Somewhere I Belong
3. Lying From You
4. Papercut
5. Points Of Authority
6. Runaway
7. Faint
8. From The Inside
9. Figure.09
10. With You
11. By Myself
12. P5hng Me A*wy
13. Numb
14. Crawling
15. In The End
16. A Place For My Head
17. One Step Closer

The CD contains 12 of the songs:

1. Somewhere I Belong
2. Lying From You
3. Papercut
4. Points Of Authority
5. Runaway
6. Faint
7. From The Inside
8. P5hng Me A*wy
9. Numb
10. Crawling
11. In The End
12. One Step Closer

I already have all of these songs on my iPod, so I didn’t buy this product for the audio CD. I was far more interested in the DVD.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what I expected. For one thing, there were only a few backstage shots, and no band member interviews at all. I don’t know if that’s normal for concert DVDs, but it just felt like something was missing.

In addition, the sound on the DVD seemed to be “canned”, as though the producers laid the studio audio tracks over some concert footage. I could barely hear the crowd, and every single song sounded exactly the same as the radio version. It was pretty weird because I thought for sure the songs would be at least a little bit different.

Overall, however, I guess I can’t complain too much. This CD/DVD combo is on sale at Amazon.com for $13.97, which is what you might expect to pay for the CD alone, so it’s still a good deal. I paid more than that at the store I got the set from, but I don’t feel ripped off or anything. This Linkin Park — Live in Texas DVD definitely could have been better, but I still think it’s something hardcore fans will enjoy.

As part of my preparations for the Super Bowl party I hosted last weekend, I stopped into a gourmet food store to pick up some different snacks. Two of the items I grabbed were from the Pretzel Pete Gourmet Pretzel Nuggets line: a bag of Honey Mustard flavored pretzels and a bag of Garlic & Cheese flavored pretzels.

Flavored pretzels are some of my favorite snacks, so I was really looking forward to trying these. I’d never even heard of Pretzel Pete before, but I’m definitely glad I discovered them! I found their pretzel nuggets to be some of the best I’ve ever had!

I’m specifically talking about the Honey Mustard variety, which I absolutely loved. The pretzel nuggets are a good size (not too big or too small), and they’re not too hard on the teeth (unlike Snyder’s, which I used to eat pretty regularly). The honey mustard flavor was just perfect — not too overpowering like with some other brands — which made for a very tasty treat.

I wasn’t as fond of the Garlic & Cheese flavor, as there was a bit too much garlic for my liking, but my husband enjoyed it.

The bottom line here is that I will definitely be buying Pretzel Pete snacks again, even though I have to go out of my way to the gourmet food store to do so. If these are available near you, I recommend that you try them!

With two dogs in the house, I’m very much aware that pet odors can quickly become a problem. I don’t want visitors to walk in the front door and be assaulted by overwhelming pet odors, so I work hard to keep my house in tiptop shape. I vacuum every single day and open the windows to circulate fresh air (yes, even in winter!), but sometimes that’s not enough to combat particularly strong “doggy smells”. So I also keep a bottle of Febreze Pet Odor Eliminator on hand for daily use.

Febreze Pet Odor Eliminator pretty much works like ordinary Febreze, except that it’s specially formulated to attack pet odors. So I spray this on my dogs’ bedding and their favorite spots on the carpet where they lie down and sleep in the sun. Neither dog is allowed on the furniture, so that’s not an issue for me.

I honestly don’t know whether Febreze Pet Odor Eliminator is any more effective than original Febreze at getting rid of smells, but I like it. It keeps the dogs’ bedding smelling fresh and clean between launderings, and that’s exactly what I want!

Febreze Pet Odor Eliminator is a good product to have if you’re worried about pet smells taking over your house.

When it comes to video games, I prefer an arcade feel to realism. What I mean by this is I like games that are easy to play, that have fun and whimsical graphics, and that allow your characters to do things that can’t happen in “real life.” So while my husband insists on playing realistic fare like the Call of Duty series or the Gran Turismo racing games, I would rather stick with Mario Kart and the like.

It should come as no surprise, then, that one of my favorite games of all is Hot Shots Golf. I originally bought my PlayStation Portable (PSP) specifically for Hot Shots, and haven’t really used the handheld for anything else. So when Minna No Golf 2 came out in Japan a couple months ago, I begged my mother-in-law to send me a copy in her next care package. (Fortunately, PSP games are region-free).

Gameplay: Like its predecessor, Minna No Golf 2 is ideal for both beginner and advanced players. For beginners, it’s easy to get started with the game. Just work through a couple of the tutorials, play a practice round or two, and you’re ready to go. That’s all it takes to master the basics, such as stroke power and club selection.

More advanced players can fine-tune their game by learning how to put spin on the ball, by manually choosing clubs instead of using the ones the caddy chooses, or by learning how to read the wind and greens.

Game Modes: Minna No Golf 2 comes with several different game modes: training, tournament, match play, and a hole-in-one mini game (which is surprisingly addictive).

Unlockables: As with the first Hot Shots Golf game, this one relies heavily on unlockables — items that you “win” by winning your matches. These can be accessories, such as clothing, balls, or clubs, or characters and courses.

Reaction: Overall, I think Minna No Golf Portable 2 is a fantastic game that lives up to the reputation set by the original. The graphics are phenomenal, the learning curve is user-friendly, and I think there’s enough variety to appeal to both casual and hard-core gamers alike

I’m glad I was able to get ahold of an early version, because I have no idea when this game is set to come out around here. Whenever it does, I recommend that you buy it because it certainly is quite a lot of fun!