jmdobies's Reviews

Create Your Own T-Shirts, Coffee Mugs, and More

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

Ever wanted to desing your own t-shirts, but the local screen printer charged too much? Looking for unique gift ideas?

CafePress.com is the answer. Whether you are designing your own custom items, or choosing from the thousands of designs available on the site, you're sure to find something that suits your taste.

To paraphrase that guy on those old Hair Club for Men ads, I'm not just a client, I also have my own Cafe Press shop, The Florida Rocks Again! Swag Shack (cafepress.com/flarocksagain), where you can get all manner of cool stuff from my award-winning radio program (which you can hear online as part of the GaragePunk.com podcast).

I have been impressed with the...

Bargain-Priced Coffee Maker Makes Coffee While You Sleep In

Overall

Rated 3 out of 5

I have written over 250 reviews for Viewpoints over the past year, and the review that has gotten the most page views by far is the one I wrote for the Cuisinart Coffee Maker. After over five years of daily use, the drip mechanism broke, and unable to find the replacement part locally, I went down to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up another machine. Rather than dropping two bills on another Cusinart, I opted to spend $29.99 (minus a ten-dollar mail-in rebate) on this unit from Mr. Coffee.

While it lacks the aesthetics of the Cuisinart, and is constructed almost entirely of plastic, it still makes pretty good coffee, and has a timer function that allows you to brew up a pot without...

A Good, Cheap, Noisy Blender

Overall

Rated 3 out of 5

When I took a new job that was just a bit too far away to go home for a healthy lunch, I quickly found myself putting on the pounds from too many Butter Burgers at Culver's, Classic Tuna subs at Thundercloud, and other calorie-dense fast food delicacies. To combat my tendency to eat bad things, I went out and bought the cheapest blender I could find.

That blender, my friends, is the Durabrand TSK-9368AP, which cost me thirteen bucks at the local Wal-Mart. It only has six speeds, it's mostly plastic, and is noisy as hell, but I've already gotten my money's worth out of it.

It may not have the bells and whistles of other blenders, and it probably should come with earplugs, but...

Versatile Cell Phone with Many Bells and Whistles

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

I recently upgraded to the Blackberry 8320 when my wife and I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile, and I'm a big fan of this device. The list price of the 8320 is not cheap, but we got a sweet deal for switching providers (AT&T was gouging us pretty badly, but that's another review entirely).

This Blackberry has a metallic finish (cutomizable for a little extra $), the smallest and lightest smartphone ever to come with a full QWERTY keyboard, which makes texting much, much easier. Among the other features are email and text messaging, instant messaging, web browser, camera, media player, Wi-Fi capabilities, expandable memory, voice dialing (I haven't managed to get this function set u...

For Moms and Dads to Wear Their Babies in Style

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

Slinglings Baby Slings LLC is a home-based business located in Seattle, started up by Sara Jane Gower and her husband Stephen. There are several makes of baby slings on the market, and we've tried most of them, but Slinglings are by far the best.

There are a number of reasons to "wear" your baby. The closeness promotes the bond between parent and child, and  helps soothe fussy babies. Using a baby sling is part of Attachment Parenting, an enlightened approach to child-rearing that includes breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and "nurturing touch," which is specifically where baby-earing comes into play.  

I highly recommended it, even if ...

Delicious All-Natural, Gluten-Free Whole Milk Yogurt Satisfies

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

I used to swear by Stonyfield Farms Whole Milk Yogurt - the French Vanilla flavor in particular - until last year, when my wife decreed that our house would be entirely gluten-free. Unfortunately, Stonyfield Farms adds inulin fiber to their yogurt, so despite the fact that it is all the more digestible for it, their entire line is disqualified for containing small amounts of gluten.

I tried a couple of brands that were certified gluten-free, and in the process, discovered Brown Cow Cream Top Yogurt. It's smooth,creamy, tastes great, and is widely available. While I'm not a big fan of their vanilla flavor, usually opting to get the plain variety and sweeten it with honey, agave nec...

Affordable, Lightweight Laptop with Tons of Memory, Battery Life

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

Here's an affordable, easy to use laptop that costs less than 800 bucks, and provides excellent value for the price. My wife and I use it for a variety of purposes, including graphic design, and are very happy with it.I'm not sure if our laptop is more souped-up than the basic model (specs listed below), but we have 3 gigs of memory on our machine. It's pretty durn fast, putting my PC to shame. There are a bunch of programs that come pre-installed, so you have the option of keeping the ones you want to use and removing the ones you don't need. It comes with Windows Vista installed (you have to pay an extra few hundred if you want to install XP instead).Another thing that we really like about...

Spicy and Delicious Dressing and Dip Straight Outta Texas

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

I recently discovered Harriet's Original Texas Ranch Dressing and Dip, and I've got to recommend it highly for anyone who likes to kick it up a notch or three. While it is great on salads, it's even better as a dipping sauce for veggies, chicken tenders, shrimp, onion rings, or fried pickles.

Especially with fried pickles. And a beer chaser.

You can also use it as a marinade or to saute chicken or fish to add a little Tex-Mex flavor.

While it contains no cholesterol, MSG, preservatives, trans-fats, or glutens (if it had gluten in it, my wife wouldn't allow it in our house), it ain't exactly health food, as it contains 13 grams of fat in a two tablespoon servi...

Delicious, Ultra-Creamy, Super-Chocolatey, Great with Coffee

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

I first came across this milk when I lived in Florida, and when I moved to Texas, I noticed that Promised Land Dairy products are much more ubiquitous in the Lons Star State, as this is where the company is based. There used to be quotations from scripture on the label, but apparently they removed them so as not to alienate non-Christian milk drinkers.

While not organic, Promised Land offers a superior brand of milk, which comes exclusively from Jersey cows. They offer several different varieties of flavored milk, including Strawberry, Blueberry, Vanilla, and their awesome Midnight Chocolate. I use the Midnight Chocolate 2% Reduced Fat Milk as the creamer in my iced coffee, and it...

One-Stop Shop for Rare Movie Posters and Lobby Cards

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

MovieGoods.com features a vast selection of vintage one-sheets, lobby cards, and stills from the '30s through the present. So whether you're looking for the poster for Citizen Kane *or *Don't Mess with the Zohan, you will find it here, among the over 350,000 items offered for sale.Just search for the title of your favorite film on the site, and chances are that you will be able to choose from several different designs, from both US and foreign releases, and if the movie is old enough, lobby cards, 11 x 14 promotional items that would be displayed in the lobbies of theatres, hence the name.MovieGoods features both original items and "recreations." Both have their drawbacks. T...

A Groovy Gold Mine of Rare Vinyl and CDs, at Collector's Prices

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

If you've been looking for a certain rare 45 or LP, or maybe an out-of-print CD, and you can't find it on Ebay, this online record store is for you. Actually, it's more of an online record convention, as it features items from the private collections of some of the collectingest record collectors who ever collected a record.

Now you can lay hands on that elusive bit of vinyl, just by visiting musicstack.com, and doing a search for it. Doubtless you'll find it in several formats from several different sellers.

One thing I must interject here: it's gonna cost ya.

Expect to pay full price and then some, especially for that out-of-print CD. I ex...

Durable Drip Coffee Maker Brews a Fine Cup o' Joe

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

I have an older model of this excellent drip coffee maker from the good people at Cuisinart, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Whether you're brewing freshly ground organic Sumatran or something off of the grocery store shelf, the Brew Central will bring out the best in your coffee. Thanks to its gold-mesh filter, there is no need for those pesky paper filters that inevitably add the taste of wet newspaper to your morning eye-opener.

I can vouch for the durability of this machine, as I have been making coffee on it most every morning for the past five years, and it still works as well as it did on day one. I've long since used up the replacable water filters that came with ...

This Low-Budget Grill Will Rust Right Up on You

Overall

Rated 2 out of 5

A couple of years back, when my family and I were living in Florida, and I wasn't making  much money, we bought this grill at the local WalMart for around thirty bucks. Certainly, the price was right (I recently reviewed a grill that retails for thirty times that amount), and we got a lot of use out of it for the next year or so. The problem with this product is that, unless you're keen on asphyxiating on carbon monoxide, grilling is an outdoor activity, and after a year in the elements, this sucker was pretty well rusted. I know that rust never sleeps and all that, but why would someone make a grill out of cheap metal prone to rust?Basically, to separate the WalMart-shopping rubes like...

The Cadillac of BBQ Grills Will Smoke Anything and Everything

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

This is the biggest of the Big Green Eggs, the Cadillac Escalade of grill/smokers. It is the best grill I've had the pleasure of using, and worked equally well for smoking ribs as it did for straight-up grilling.The Big Green Egg is optimally designed for smoking meats and fish, and its ceramic construction prevents burns as well as rust. It also looks really cool. If you're in the market for a backyard barbecue grill, this one is the bomb. Apologies to Hank Hill, but propane is not the way to go. Charcoal, mesquite, and hickory all get it done a whole lot better, especially with the help of this ovular monster.It is also pretty durn expensive, going for betweena grand and $1600, but quality...

Grain-Free Premium Dog Food a Healthy Alternative to Most Brands

Overall

Rated 5 out of 5

Our house has been gluten-free for over a year now, as my wife and children have major tolerance issues. Unfortunately, there are traces of gluten in almost everything from white vinegar to blue cheese to oatmeal. Of course, bread, pasta, and beer are out, but we have also had to change the brand of food we feed our dogs. Evo Dry Dog Food provides superior nutrition without containing any grains, and thus no glutens.The ingredients include turkey, chicken, eggs, apples, garlic, and tomatoes, along with vitamins, minerals, and plant extracts. Sounds good to me, and our dogs certainly eat it with great enthusiasm.The regular, chicken-based formula is available in large and small bites, and con...