Happy I Need To Buy A New Camera Day!!!

Stick Figure

Sorry there isn’t a review today…Um…I REALLY need to buy a new digital camera because mine went kaput the other day.

It was a Nikon 3100 I bought a year and a half ago.

I’m not sure how it broke, but it happened when I was just about to take a picture of a new candy bar. The camera’s LCD screen suddenly went black with white lines going across it. I tried various things to fix it, but I didn’t have any luck.

Too bad the warranty is only good for one year.

So right now I can’t take pictures of products without a digital camera. I thought about using a regular 35mm camera, but I hate waiting for film to get developed.

I also thought about drawing the products, but I can’t draw…except stick figures (see drawing on right).

Oh crap! I can’t even draw decent stick figures.

So today I’m off to go shopping for a new camera.

Ooh, I can review my new camera!

Oh wait, how am I supposed to take a picture of my new digital camera with my new digital camera?

Bah, I’ll figure that out later.

Happy New Year!!!

Since I must prepare myself to be the designated driver for this New Year’s Eve, there won’t be a review today.

I was going to review the year 2004, but I don’t remember much besides the U.S. presidential election, the war in Iraq, and the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series.

Instead, since it’s the end of the year, I decided to list my Top 10 favorite Impulsive Buy reviews from 2004.

10. The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People
9. Mountain Dew Pitch Black
8. Ice Breakers Liquid Ice
7. Mrs. Butterworth’s Little Dunkers
6. Jamie Cullum – Twentysomething
5. Firefox 1.0
4. Jello Oreo Instant Pudding
3. Maruchan Creamy Alfredo Instant Lunch Ramen Noodles
2. Sexy Hair Concepts Hard Up Hair Gel
1. Chips Ahoy Cremewiches

Happy New Year!

USPS Automated Postal Center

USPS Automated Postal Center

Editor’s Note: Next Christmas, will someone please remind me that I MUST NOT upset the Line-Waiting Gods.

So I had to go to the post office the other day because I had to mail a CD that someone bought from me on eBay. Unfortunately, when I got to the Post Office there was a very long line of Christmas gift shipping procrastinators.

At first I thought, “Hell no,” but then realized that my eBay rating was too precious to ruin with the possibility of a negative rating.

While waiting in line I noticed a machine semi-hidden by the patrons in front of me with the words, “Automated Postal Center” on it. I wondered what it exactly was. As I got closer, I realized that it was an automated postal center (duh!), which I could use to ship packages, buy stamps, or check a zip code.

At first I wondered if it was broken or something, because none of the other thirty patrons were using it. Then I took a closer look at the other thirty patrons and realized that I was surrounded by senior citizens, who probably have technophobia and have no idea how to set the time on their VCRs.

I looked at the long line and then I looked at the Automated Postal Center. Then I looked at the long line again and decided to give the Automated Postal Center a try.

The Automated Postal Center has a touch screen, which allows you to make selections. There’s a scale on the left hand side of the machine to weigh your package/envelope. Just select the type of postage, weigh it, type in the zip code, slide your credit or debit card, and wait for the postage label to print.

I thought this was so fast and easy. I was glad to be surrounded by gray-haired technophobes, who probably have no idea what a blog is.

While the label was printing, which takes about 30 seconds, I was doing the cabbage patch and kept saying in a taunting tone, “I don’t have to wait in line. I don’t have to wait in line.”

Of course, this drew the attention of all the senior citizens waiting in line and I got many dirty looks from them, but I didn’t care because…”I didn’t have to wait in line. I didn’t have to wait in line.”

After the postage label printed, I stuck it on my package and placed the package in the gigantic bin next to the Automated Postal Center. Then I looked at all the senior citizens in line and again began doing the cabbage patch and taunting them as I walked out the door.

That same day I had to go to the big red electronics store to pick up a gift card for a friend. The lines there were just as crazy as the line at the post office. Unfortunately, I had to wait in line since there wasn’t a machine I could buy gift cards from.

So there I was waiting in line with about 15 people in front of me. Twenty minutes passed before the person in front of me got to the cashier. This was when things got worse.

The customer in front of me told the cashier that the Playstation 2 memory card was on sale, but the sale price didn’t come up on the register. The cashier said it wasn’t on sale, but the customer insisted that it was. Then the cashier looked through the newspaper ad, but couldn’t find anything. She then went to talk to another cashier, who also said it wasn’t on sale. Then another worker who overheard their conversation came up to them and said it was.

Their little employee conference took about five minutes and eventually the customer got the discount.

In my head, I thought, “My goodness could this get any worse?”

Apparently, it could.

Finally, when I got to the cashier, I asked her if I could get a gift card. She then said the worst four words she could possibly say, “We don’t have anymore.”

So I waited 30 minutes in line for nothing and I was about to be angry, but then I realized the Line-Waiting Gods were just getting back at me for my actions at the post office.

Damn frickin’ karma.


Item: USPS Automated Postal Center
Purchase Price: FREE to use (Must pay for postage and stamps)
Rating: 3 out of 5
Pros: Ship small packages and envelopes without waiting in line, unless there’s a line for the Automated Postal Center. Open 24 hours. Able to purchase stamps from it. Easy to use for some.
Cons: Never make fun of those who have to wait in line. May scare senior citizens with technophobia, which is probably about 99 percent of them. Can’t ship large boxes. Damn karma.

REVIEW: Glad ForceFlex Kitchen Trash Bags

Glad ForceFlex Kitchen Trash Bags

Editor’s Note: Sorry for the late review today. The Impulsive Buy had to do some extra testing with today’s product to see if they would make great ghost costumes for kids. Long story short, they definitely do not, especially if the drawstrings are pulled.

The Impulsive Buy’s goal is to be just like the 800-pound gorilla of the product review world, Consumer Reports.

However, it’s hard to be like them when we aren’t very thorough with our reviews, some of the reviews contain sexual situations, we don’t have good grammar, and we like to excessively use the word “BOOBIES.”

Heck, we aren’t even as good as those compulsive reviewers at Amazon and Epinions, who have written reviews for hundreds of products.

Actually, to be honest, we really don’t want to be like Consumer Reports. I know we just said we wanted to be just like them, but all we want is their kick-ass multi-million dollar testing facility.

They have goggle-wearing scientists, state-of-the-art machines, and a frickin’ car testing track. Oh yeah, let’s not forget the white lab coats, beakers, and test tubes.

Here at the Impulsive Buy we have ONLY ONE lab coat that I stole when I was taking Chemistry 151 Lab.

But alas, the Impulsive Buy doesn’t have a kick-ass multi-million dollar testing facility, so we have to be creative when testing products.

For example, take today’s product, Glad ForceFlex Kitchen Trash Bags. I’m sure in the Consumer Reports kick-ass testing facility they have scientists who use state-of-the-art stretching machinery that can exactly determine how much the Glad ForceFlex can stretch.

Here at the Impulsive Buy, we have bupkis. So because we don’t have a computerized stretching machine, I decided to test the Glad ForceFlex using the demanding test of trash bag races. You know, like potato sack races except with trash bags.

I didn’t think conducting a trash bag race would’ve given us an accurate measure of how stretchable the Glad ForceFlex is, but it sounded more fun than some expensive machine.

So to accomplish this, I called up some friends who I thought might be interested in helping me for the greater good of consumers.

Unfortunately when I called them, all I heard was, “No way,” “That’s so lame,” “Um, no,” and “You know the restraining order prevents you from calling me.”

Since no one wanted to participate in the Glad ForceFlex trash bag races, I had to do it on my own, just like my sex life.

What makes the Glad ForceFlex so special is the unique diamond texture that stretches around objects to help prevent rips and tears. That diamond texture sure did stretch around my feet as I placed them into one of the ForceFlex bags.

So after stepping inside one of the bags, I hopping around the Impulsive Buy like a rabbit on crack for several minutes. Despite my constant hopping, the ForceFlex bag didn’t tear. But my constant hopping did cause me to become very winded, very quickly.

So what did I learn from my experiment? I learned that these Glad ForceFlex bags are very durable and that I’m out of shape.

Item: Glad ForceFlex Kitchen Trash Bags
Purchase Price: $5.99
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Drawstrings. Durable. Stretchable.
Cons: No ForceFlex trash bag relay races. I’m out of shape. Makes bad ghost costumes for kids.

REVIEW: Pop-Tarts Frosted Caramel Chocolate Snak Stix

Pop-Tarts Frosted Caramel Chocolate Snak Stix

Sharing is one of the important lessons we all learned while growing up.

Some of us learned sharing from our parents, some of us learned it in school, some of us learned it from Sesame Street, and others learned it from passing around a bong.

Thanks to my parents, I learned sharing at a young age and throughout my life I have passed on this lesson to others.

In kindergarten, I shared my crayons.

In grade school, I shared my glue.

In middle school, I shared my toys.

In high school, I shared the answers for the multiple-choice part of a history test by pretending to scratch my back, but really showing with my fingers what the answers were.

Finally, in college, I shared my heart. Unfortunately, I never got it back and ever since then I have roamed this planet as an empty shell, not being able to feel emotions or show love.

Sharing is a wonderful thing and the Pop-Tarts Frosted Caramel Chocolate Snak Stix is a wonderful way to promote sharing. Each Snak Stix can be broken up into three parts, thanks to the perforations on the pastry.

After you break it up, you can share it with your kids, friends, or your fellow stoners, who probably have a case of the munchies.

As I have done with previous Pop-Tarts, I tried the Snak Stix both frozen and toasted. Usually, freezing the Pop-Tarts creates a nice chewy snack. However, with the Frosted Caramel Chocolate Snak Stix I ended up with something that was significantly harder than the other Pop-Tarts flavors I stuck in the freezer.

Whether frozen or toasted, the Frosted Caramel Chocolate Snak Stix was damn tasty, but it wasn’t good enough to dethrone my favorite Pop-Tarts flavor, Hot Fudge Sundae. Although, it’s definitely somewhere in my top five list of favorite Pop-Tarts flavors.

If there was a problem with the Snak Stix it would be that the box came with ONLY six Pop-Tarts. A regular box of Pop-Tarts comes with EIGHT of them.

Having two less Pop-Tarts may not seem like much, but my stoner friends tell me that when you’ve got the Mary Jane-induced munchies that difference turns out to be pretty big.

Item: Pop-Tarts Frosted Caramel Chocolate Snak Stix
Purchase Price: $1.99 (on sale)
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Easy to share, if you want to, but you should. Tastes pretty good. Perfect for stoners.
Cons: Not the best Pop-Tarts to freeze. Only comes with six pastries.