Thursday, October 26, 2006

More reviews

Dove Nourishing hand wash (cool moisture)
At first I was kind of turned off by the smell of this stuff. I can’t really figure out what it is about the smell that bothers me, but eventually I got over it and now I like the soap. It’s a nice consistency, doesn’t lather excessively, and leaves your hands feeling soft and not overly perfume-y.

Dove Ultimate Clear Cool Essentials antiperspirant
This isn't actually clear - it's white in the tube but "invisible" when you put it on. However, it failed to live up to it's promise to "Stay on skin, not on clothes," and left a white residue on my clothes just like ever other non-gel deodorant does. It has the same smell as the hand wash, which took a little getting used to. I used to use the regular Dove deodorant, and this is basically the same except that it's more expensive and doesn't smell as good. Thus, I think I'd stick with regular Dove or Secret invisible gel (which doesn't leave a residue on clothes).

Pantene Ice Shine shampoo and conditioner
I’ve never really been on the Pantene bandwagon, but so far I like this stuff. It seems to keep my hair nice and soft and straight when I use it with my straightening iron. I like it enough that it’s displaced my old shampoo and conditioner, which I had no complaints with.

Purell
This is such a great invention! It helps prevent the spread of infection in hospitals, it reduces school absences due to illness, it can entertain pyromaniacs... What can't it do?

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Nicer than disposable

Lately, I've been scoring a lot of free stuff, courtesy of CVS. Since I don't have much to post these days, I thought I'd post some reviews.

Schick Quattro for women
I usually use cheap disposable razors, so I don’t know how it would stack up against other similarly-priced razors. I have noticed that I haven’t nicked myself at all since I started using this, but it’s not like I was cutting myself all the time before, either. It’s nicer than a disposable, but I guess that’s not saying a whole lot.

Colgate Sparkling White Vanilla Mint toothpaste
The golden color is a bit off-putting, and I don’t taste much vanilla, but I like this toothpaste. It seems to have a bit of extra “grit” to it, kinda reminds me of baking soda toothpaste. Anyways, it’s a good amount of minty and leaves my mouth feeling pretty clean. It doesn’t really whiten, but does any toothpaste actually whiten?

Colgate MaxFresh toothpaste
It’s a toothpaste with mini breath strips in it. It’s a silly idea, and it really doesn’t do much for me. I definitely prefer the Sparkling White.

Oral-B Hummingbird flosser
Mike really wanted to get this, and it was on clearance for only $4. He seems to like it, but my big gripe is that the replacement flosser heads are ridiculously expensive. They’re like $3.50 for a pack of 15 at CVS. If you use one every day, that works out to $7 per month! Compare that to a pack of regular floss, which only costs $2 and lasts at least 3 months.
It’s a rip-off, but it’s still worth it if it gets him to floss regularly.

Reach Act Restoring mouthwash
Finally. An answer to my nightly dilemma: whether to rinse with Listerine or fluoride mouthwash. This mouthwash is BOTH! It has the alcohol to kill germs and the fluoride to do whatever it is that fluoride does. I got three different flavors, but I’m using the spearmint now and I like it.

Playtex Sport tampons
Okay, I realize that no one wants to hear a review of these. And to be honest, I haven’t even tried them yet. But there is one thing I want to say about these. WHY OH WHY is there a “Fresh scent” variety? Does anyone really need scented tampons?

Sunday, October 15, 2006

The Map Room.

Friday night, we went bowling. Afterwards, we decided to stop at a nearby bar called The Map Room. Turns out, they had four local bands playing that night, along with some pretty decent beer specials. So we decided to stick around, and had fun trying to guess what each band would be like, based solely on their name, apparel, and instruments.

The first band was basically just two solo artists who perform together. They were alright, but we only heard their last two songs, so it's kind of hard to judge them based on that.

The second band was named Rosemont. One of my guesses - Greendayesque - turned out to be pretty accurate. Mike's comment was "definitely pop-punk, with shades of Jimmy Eat World".

The third band was named April Invention. Mike thought they were going to play blues. I thought they might sound somewhat like the Killers. We were both wrong. Turns out they were Oasis imitators. Haven't heard that kind of music in a while. I really think it would have been better if they had played a cover or two, though.

The fourth band showed a great deal of promise right away. They were named The Fire Apes, and were wearing matching ties and jackets. They also had a synthesizer. Mike's guess was that they would sound like Fountains of Wayne, which was pretty much correct. They were awesome!!

The bar was pretty interesting - lots of empty space and a very eclectic crowd. Not enough maps to satisfy Mike, but it was a fun evening and I suspect we'll be back.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Extreme Akim!

Today, we went out to dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant. We walked into the restaurant and were immediately greeted by the sight of the one and only Akim Anastopoulo a.k.a. "Extreme Akim". He was there with his family. I suppose it was bound to happen at some point, since his law office is in our neighborhood. Anyways, he seemed to be enjoying himself and according to Mike, was flashing his American Express Black card. I really wanted to tell him that I like his new and improved "Bat of Justice," but I was too chicken.

If you've never seen "Eye for an Eye," it's kind of like a regular judge show (of which my favorite, by far, is "The People's Court") except that I'm pretty sure it's fake, and the case usually ends with the winner of the case exacting some ridiculous sort of revenge on the loser. I'm not really a big fan of the show, but I will say that Extreme Akim is better looking in person than he is on TV.











Extreme Akim!