Giveaway Oops

I made a mistake the other day when I sent you over to Products & Places, my review, freebies, and giveaway blog for our first little giveaway. There wasn't a giveaway going on then, but there is now. Somehow, in all the rush to get things done, I had completely forgotten to publish the post for the giveaway!

If the response is good for this giveaway, we'll up the ante over there with even better prizes and goodies.

But it's up now, so go on over and have yourself a look see! *smile*

Don't forget, there's a slew of samples about twice a week, and great reviews on products you may be interested in. Remember, every review is fully honest, whether good or bad, and many of my reviews could save you a pretty penny or three.

Review: Ground Xero Is Teh Coolness

When I'm in the mood for a heavy beat, good conversation, and free WiFi, I like to take myself and my little laptop over to Ground Xero to work. It's Springfield's only gamer-friendly club, hosting gaming nights twice a week, great goth/industrial/techno music and concerts from both local and internationally acclaimed performers and bands. There's plenty of room to dance, ample seating, and two lounge areas if you want to feel a bit secluded. Offering four different juices and soda, I can stay for a while and still not let liquor touch my lips, but if you want a drink, Zac at the bar mixes a mean Bloody Mary. The drink prices are fabulous, the decor perfect, and there's always time for a little one on one chat.

A little known night club on north-central Springfield, Ground Xero is the only locally-owned bar that started up with less than $75,000, but you wouldn't know it to look at the place.

So come on in for a visit, I'll be the dreaddy chik with the laptop, typing away and talking loudly over the music with old friends, and new comrades.

You can find Ground Xero on Myspace at GXProductions and on Second Life via the link on their website.

[where: 1107 east commercial, Springfield, MO 65802] Map

Smart Strips: As Seen on Oprah

Miftik saw a new product on Oprah, and shared her "green" discovery with us. Smart Strips are power strips that turn on and off all of the devices using the strip for energy supply when you turn on one main device. Simply plug a control device into a specific spot of the power strip. Then you plug in the peripherals in the other plugs. When you turn on and off the control device, such as a computer, the extras are turned on and off as well.

I went to their site to check the product out, as I'd never heard of it before, and $40 for a power strip isn't my cup of tea. And while the refurbished ones are a little less than $30, there are none available on the site at this time.

You can save even more energy (and money) with a regular surge protecting power strip than you can with a Smart Strip, however. They do have a great marketing strategy, because some people are just too lazy to flip a switch at the end of the day after shutting down their computers, so I can see a use for it for those folks, but it is not a product for the radically frugal or eco-conscious.

How can you save more energy than using these expensive devices, you may ask? Computers, Televisions, and many other electronics suck 40% of their full operational power, even when turned off. The "control" device is the DVR, Computer or other device that you plug into the master plug on the Smart Strip, which allows the main machine to continue to pull it's "powered off" standby-mode electricity. When the power demand raises in the master plug (caused by turning on the device), it turns on the rest of the strip, allowing power to the other things plugged into it, and thus turning them on automatically. It does turn off all power to the extras, as far as I can tell by the website, so it will save a bit of electricity if your peripherals are also always-on-standby-type machines.

Even the lowest cost surge protecting power strips can be turned off with a button and shut off all power to everything plugged into the strip. This stops not only your peripherals from sucking power as the Smart Strips do, but also stops your computer from doing it as well, saving you a good $1 or more per month, per computer, even in low power cost areas. Add to that the fact that a power strip that can do what I mentioned is about $4 at the local hardware store, and you will save a good chunk of change immediately.

Method: shut down computer, flip the button on the strip (with your foot if it's on the floor). We do this with the constant-on-standby kitchen appliances too, with a power strip on the counter. It feels really good to be able to prevent most an entire room from drawing electricity when you aren't using it.

Miftik thinks the green revolution is likely to fail, and with hundreds of products like the not-so-Smart Strips being toted as the greenest option and advertised on popular shows like Oprah, it doesn't look good for the average joe to learn how to do it right.

(UPDATE 5/6/08 : I recently discovered that the Smart Strips have a protection policy. Products plugged into the strip are insured from electrical surge damage for up to $30,000, which is nice, but insurance of this type is rather to be expected from a power strip of the Smart Strip's price range.)



Technorati Tags: smart strips, power strip, oprah, green, green living Del.icio.us Tags: smart strips, power strip, oprah, green, green living Bits Smart Strips Awards, Bits

Happy New Blogs!

In honor of the first day of 2008, I have gone public with two great new blogs for your enjoyment.

Bathroom Ramblings & Stallside Prose is a graffiti blog capturing and sharing the anonymous art and wit expressed in bathrooms around the world. As public project blog, you are invited to snap a photo of your favorite bits of wisdom or silliness with your digital camera or camera phone, and email them to me at the address listed on the blog's sidebar. What great fun we will have together!

Products & Places is a review blog of places and products I've experienced. Guaranteed to be blatantly honest, well balanced, and full of information. I will be accepting products to review, and there will be periodic giveaways. Regardless of the source of the product, I promise to remain loyal to my non-biased form of reporting and reviews. Location reviews are currently restricted to the Springfield, Missouri area, but this will change and grow by far when we finally get rolling in the new RV.

Happy New Year!

Technorati Tags: product reviews, place review, food, shopping bathroom graffiti, bathroom, toilet, graffiti, photo, humor, satire, new blog, blogging, blogger, blog, blogs Del.icio.us Tags: product reviews, place review, food, shopping bathroom graffiti, bathroom, toilet, graffiti, photo, humor, satire, new blog, blogging, blogger, blog, blogs

Product Review: Fly Fusion Pentop Computer

As I expected, the new Fly Fusion Pentop Computer from Leap Frog is the best educational toy available for it's target age group (middle school & high school). When we were offered the opportunity to get this from BuzzAgent, I jumped on it, as I knew it was going to be a superb piece of fun & educational technology.

The only "toys" that make noise we allow in our home are made by the Leap Frog company, but this one has the added bonus of a headphone jack so you won't disturb people nearby while using it! In addition to all of the educational software available, the ease of use, the games, music maker program, translation software, and recording capabilities, it is also really durable. My 13yo has been dragging it everywhere with her in her junk-filled purse for the last 3 months, and it still works like new, despite a couple of small scratches. For additional protection, you can buy a Fly Fusion carrying case, but it is so sturdy, we haven't bothered. On the other hand, with all the other crud Ladybug carries in her purse, it keeps getting turned on on accident, so it may be a good idea just for the sake of not having a magically talking purse. *chuckle*

I really like that the handwriting recognition insists on basic legibility like proper letter formation and spacing between words. This pen has been the only thing in the past six years that has made my daughter want to practice her handwriting. Thanks to the Fly Fusion, I can now read and understand what she writes!

When you hook the pen to your computer via it's USB cable, it starts charging the battery automatically, and you can sync with the included pen management software (upload pen info to comuter). You can choose to either keep the handwritten look by saving it as an image, or let the software digitize it and turn it into a word document.

The FLY World application is included with the pentop, and is how you manage your notes by viewing, saving, printing or even e-mailing your notebook pages. Transferring your data is seriously simple; just plug in your pentop and upload your notebook pages. After your pages have been uploaded, they are permanently deleted from the FLY Fusion.

The way the FLY World application manages your notes is incredibly slick. For example, when converting a page that includes handwriting and drawings, you can highlight the drawings to tell it not to make those areas text. The FLY World Application has a search function which will search your notes for keywords too, which is really handy.

If this wasn't amazing enough for a "kids' toy", the Fusion does tons more. It can do basic and advanced math problems, translate Spanish and French to English (and vice versa), play mp3s, and more. The available programs list is very comprehensive, and they are adding new stuff all the time. To find out more about the software offered, check out the FLY fusion website at www.flyworld.com. Some of the software is included with the pen and preloaded for use straight out of the box, and some you have to purchase. I strongly recommend getting the subscription to the fly download store when you get your Fusion. You will be very glad you did. There are programs for all ages available, and new ones being added constantly.

You can upgrade the memory on the pentop with the Fusion memory expansion cartridge so that it can hold nearly every program currently made for it, and you need no technical expertise to do so, because it just snaps onto the back of the pen. You can also easily replace the ink/writing part of the pen with no mess or fuss, and inks come in several colors.

The high-powered internal battery lasts about two days on a full charge with constant use, and recharges either with the cord that comes with the pen to hook up to the computer, or you can charge your pentop with the AC wall charger, automobile charger, or dynamo-style hand-cranked charger with adapter set 1, made for a Motorola RAZR phone. It is the same charger-type and plug, and with how often my kids forget to do important things like recharge their toys before they leave the house, it is a real bonus to have an on-the-go option for powering up the pentop.

Like most Leap frog products, the Fly Fusion Pentop Computer is fun and educational for a lot wider age range than it's target demographic. The 6yo had a blast with it playing games, and we parents refused to give it to my daughter until about an hour after we removed it from the box, when we were done playing with it ourselves. As an adult, I can honestly say that I want one of these for myself to do scheduling, notes, doodles and more without having to drag my notebook computer everywhere.

It does have some negatives: You have to use special paper that the Fusion recognizes (160 page notebooks run around $8), and the pen is a bit bigger than your average fancy writing utensil. I don't think you can reload your notes back onto the pen from your computer once you have synced. It also only works on PCs for now, with no mac or unix support, but I'm sure they're working on that.

Product Review Update: The Fly Fusion has No Lead paint!

Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

Technorati Tags: fly fusion pentop, fly fusion pen, fly fusion, leap frog, , electronics, hot toys, christmas, yule, holiday, gift, computer, education, homeschool, unschool, tool, home school, fun, playFlickr Tags: fly fusion pentop, fly fusion pen, fly fusion, leap frog, , electronics, hot toys, christmas, yule, holiday, gift, computer, education, homeschool, unschool, tool, home school, fun, play Del.icio.us Tags: fly fusion pentop, fly fusion pen, fly fusion, leap frog, , electronics, hot toys, christmas, yule, holiday, gift, computer, education, homeschool, unschool, tool, home school, fun, play Furl Tags: fly fusion pentop, fly fusion pen, fly fusion, leap frog, , electronics, hot toys, christmas, yule, holiday, gift, computer, education, homeschool, unschool, tool, home school, fun, play

PATEOTU

The Poi turned out fabulous!

Lots of people showed up for the event.

1984 brought a video game, and Metagames brought the burgers, brauts, veggieburgers, and hot dogs.

Even grandma got involved.

PATEOTU rocked pretty hardcore this time, and there was a great turnout for this being only it's second event. About eighty or so people attended this time, there's always a lot of fun and great folks to talk and play with, and the food was great. Ladybug did a great job with her demo speech and had a good many attendees.

I can't wait to see what next year will bring! *grin*

Advert: Practice poi for sale, only $15 a set. Made by homeschoolers, all profit goes to funding educational pursuits.

Odd Rest, Good Movie, Bad Circus

I slept late.

Oh the glory of sleeping late.

Well, to be honest, I slept until about 8am, moved into the living room floor, slept another 30 minutes or so, then found a sleep mask and returned to the bedroom for another hour, but that counts, right? After all, I haven't had the time to be lazy in weeks.

The kids were quiet and peaceful.

Later, we went to see a movie at the library. If you are interested in accurate history dramas, reenactments, or similar, Give yourself a treat and rent a copy of "A More Perfect Union: America Becomes a Nation". It's all about the work, passion, and devotion that went into forming the constitution. It was very well acted, well made, and while not quite riveting, held our attention quite nicely for the duration and is good enough to share. *grin* Ladybug, Keebler and I really enjoyed it, while Littlebit was a bit young for it and spent most of the movie playing nightlight with her Timex at the back of the room, albeit quietly.

Since she was so good, we let Littlebit play at the kid's section when we left, and I got a chance to use some WiFi in order to download some internet video for later viewing. Only thing I like about winblows XP is the hibernate function. I've become pretty reliant on it these days, with all of the moving aroud and activities we take the kids to.

Then on home we went to grab the circus tickets we were given so that Faith & her family could take all the kids to the circus. We had these buy1 get1 free tickets for adults, and free tickets for kids. The tickets lied. The adult tickets were $20 each, and the kids tickets were only good to 11yo kids, or so read the sign at the entrance of the circus. The tickets said an older age, but I wont go into that. It was fun enough, I was told, but not nearly as good as the less expensive (and more professional) circus that comes to town every year. The animals all looked and acted terribly miserable, which I'm sure they were. Circus animals are never treated all that well. And last but not least, the ushers and concessions people didn't speak English. *sigh* I feel really bad that their family had to spend $20 for a show they didn't really enjoy. I wish I would have known, or checked the website, or something...

Ya know what they say about hindsight, but it doesn't make me feel any better.

Before bed, I spent a while goofing off on a forum that a friend reminded me of. I had never posted on it, but I'd joined about 3 months ago, and his talking about it got me going again. It was a lot of fun reading their silliness on the board, and a good note to go to end the day with.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Spoiler Free Book Review

J.K. Rowling ends the Harry Potter series of books in grand style in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.

Along with the usual action, adventure, subterfuge and running desperately through hallways that are included in each and every book in the series, readers will be pleased to find themselves right and angered to find themselves wrong on nearly every prediction they made about the book. While nearly every speculation I had heard about the book before it's release was proven both correct and incorrect simultaneously by the end of the book, this only goes to show that Rowling's capacity to jerk the reader around has really developed nicely.

Murder, pride, deceit, glory and more await those who have not yet finished the book, but you already knew that. *wink*

All in all, I will have to say that despite the many times I had to stop reading aloud in order to take time out to cry, this was a perfect ending to the series.

Product Review: OFF!

Recieved some new products in the mail to try the other day, and I decided that it is wrong of me to not share my opinions here on the blog as well as elsewhere.

Today, I'll talk about the new OFF! brand products I was sent. Now I'm sure you all know I will have nothing to do with DEET, and I'm not a fan of OFF! brand one teeny tiny bit, mainly because none of their personal bug repellants are DEET free.

Well, they sent me their new repellant; OFF! Skintastic Family care Smooth & Dry. It is all sorts of DEETful, so of course I didn't try it. This new type is supposed to be all soft and not feel gross on your skin like "those other bug repellants". I wouldn't know, 'cause I'm against toxic chemicals on and around my family, and I refuse to even try it.

I also recieved their new OFF! Powerpad Lamp. I had never heard of the main ingredient; "d-cis trans allethrin", so I looked it up. I had promised Faith that she could have it if my research returned negative findings. Needless to say, this lovely chemical is also horribly toxic, and I won't allow that around my family either. Off is right, off it goes to it's new home!

This web site says it short and sweet;

"D-cis/trans allethrin: eye and skin irritant. Can cause sudden swelling of face, eyelids, lips, mouth , and throat tissues, as well as hay fever-like symptoms. Neurotoxic. Use in some pet flea-control products.

deet: Eye and skin irritant. Sensitizer Neurotoxic. Readily absorbed into skin. Used in mosquito and insect repellents, as well as pet flea-control products."

Reminder: I am a Buzzagent. I get products for free in order to try them and tell others what I think of them. Most things I get from Buzzagent, I just love, but this crud? I'm sure it works great for it's intended purpose, sure... This crud is just... eew!

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

A few weeks ago, Faithib sent me an email about a promotion for a free Senseo single serving coffee machine. I must've been too caught up in dragging my new toy all over town, bragging about it in person, and loosing myself in cup after cup of delicious, frothy goodness, because I seem to have forgotten to blog about it somehow. *blush*

The Senseo is, above all, a gourmet coffee machine that saves you money and time. Making 1-2 cups of creamy, frothy coffee in less than a minute, and starting at as little as $30 (with a coupon), it is one of the most frugal deals in fine home beverage creation. I literally have not had a better cup of plain, simple coffee, even at a gourmet coffee house.

I was truly amazed by how easy it is to clean! All of the removable parts are dishwasher safe. The silver drain cover comes off to reveal a reservoir for spilled coffee that can be easily removed and dumped without having to drag the whole machine across the kitchen or office. It also has two different size inserts available for your machine so that you can adjust the strength of your brew by varying the number of pods you use. I could even send the 5yo into the kitchen to brew the coffee if I wanted to because the buttons have pictures instead of words under them, and the process is so simple. (not that I would, hot=burney badness, but I could) . We also like to use it to heat water for hot cocoa, hot vanilla, and spiced cider.

Heating the water only when needed, only in the amount needed, and turning itself off automatically after a bit saves electricity too.

There were some things I didn’t like about the Senseo, don’t get me wrong. The default reservoir is bit too small for my liking, holding only 4 cups worth of water. When the button says one cup, it means one cup, the measurement. I have to push the button for two cups under it to fill my huge mug for my morning ritual of thanks to the great and mighty goddess Caffeina. *wink*

I'm frugal to a fault, so when I saw that you had to buy specially made pods for the Senseo, I decided there had to be another way. I must have frothy tea too, I reasoned, I don’t want to pay that much for coffee when I can’t have my own custom blend, and I want my own primo coffee to be brewed this nicely. I needed to create a reuseable brewing pod for my machine! After talking with Ameryth about the idea, a couple of things came to light, I was going to have to sew, and this could get messy.

As usual with a difficult project, I set the idea on the back burner to stew for a while by itself. Only I wasn't alone in my idea. On a trip to the dreaded big box store, I found the Presto Mypod, a holder for your coffee that fits into your Senseo machine! Unable to resist, I bought it as well as the 100 pack of Mypod filters , which I will be making for myself out of regular coffee filters as soon as this pack runs out. It's a great adapter, low priced, and super-easy to clean like the rest of the Senseo, but I missed my 1/4" of froth at the top of my beverage. It is great for non-frothy things like potions and simple teas, but it doesn’t have the “frothing chamber” that the Senseo brand parts have, so I renewed my search.

I found the coveted large water tank for making more gourmet coffee with less trips to the sink (a must for entertaining), the Quick Cup refillable pseudo-pod that replaces the premade pods for the machine, and the Ecopad . Now the Ecopad is what I was really looking for. The idea that started the search in the first place. It is refillable, easy to clean, and replaces the Senseo pods seamlessly, allowing the full joy of the Senseo to shine through, froth and all. I’m so excited, I’m not even upset that somebody beat me to it. *smile*

After reading Faithib's blog post about her Senseo, I expanded my search and discovered a milk frother and a travel version of a frother that could be handily carried in my purse as well. Add in some heavy cream, natural cane sugar, and a flavor shot, and we’re getting into some seriously high-end coffee enjoyment that I suspect would rival even the most decadent coffeehouse treat.

Of course, the promotion for the free machine is now closed, so sadly I can’t tell you how to get your own for free, but you can still get a $20 rebate when you buy your new Senseo, even when you purchase the Senseo with gift pack that comes with extra gourmet coffee pods, a thermal travel mug, and other goodies.

I really wish The Radish had a Senseo with a large water resivoir and some reuseable Ecopads. It sure would save them a lot of previously wasted coffee, time, and electricity if they did. (Hint: give the perfect gift to your local infoshop, drop off a Senseo)

I know I sound a bit gushy here, but this machine gets better with each week I have it. Starting with amazing on first sight was pretty hard to beat, but the people at Senseo know what they are doing. The introduction of new gourmet flavored coffee pods on a regular basis, tea pods, and more, have made owning the Senseo an experience worth bragging about.

Freebie: Try Sumatra Blend for free! Sign up to receive a free individually wrapped coffee pod of Sumatra Blend.

Tags: senseo single serve coffee single serve coffee machine coffee pod gourmet coffee coffee frother coffee froth hot cocoa hot vanilla spiced cider review product review energy saving coffee refillable coffee pod reuseable coffee pod refillable tea pod reuseable tea pod free senseo machine free senseo free senseo coffee sumatre blend free freebie free stuff free coffee

Healthy Additives For Your Blog

I like to keep track of what is happening to my blog outside of the what I personally put into it. With the following tools, I can do just that, and increase my readership as well. Below are a few of the tools I use to work the magick.

I recently wrote about Gather.com and how I use the free social networking service to both drive traffic to my blog and earn money with my posts. I won't cover that again here, but it is an effective tool.

Then there is the Social bookmarking maker which I can use for a good many of the social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and digg. It is a code that is installed in your blog's template that automatically places the code (whichever you choose in either drop-down menu or list format) for the post-specific links into each post automatically.

I have talked before about Technorati and how it has assisted me in better tracking my stats and the links to my blog, but it always helps to have ways for people to search out your blog as well. With Blake's Technorati tag creator I can do just that, adding search tags to each post individually with a minimum of fuss. I have to open up an additional page when I am writing a post, but it is well worth it for the time saved.

Blogrolling.com is another great way to do social bookmarking and find out who has bookmarked your blog in a way that is not tracked by any other service. While I do not display my blogroll on my blog, I do have one on a private page on my desktop that I refer to that displays those sites that do not have a feed.

RSS or ATOM feeds. You need these, seriously. The new rage in keeping up with oft-refreshing media sources like blogs, weather, and news are "feeds". A feed sends the content directly to a centralized location or "feed reader" such as Google homepage. There are many other readers out there, I just can't recall any specifics at the moment. Most blogging platforms now have a button to turn on your feed such as Blogger, and many others just provide a feed automatically, like LiveJournal. Honestly, I look at the items on my feed list a lot more often than I do the ones on my blogroll or social bookmarks. Very easy to use, very important to have.

Google Analytics I've also talked about before, and I have found it to literally be the most effective and thorough stat tracking program on the market today. Allowing you to track multiple sites with the same account is only the first of it's many perks, however, those with slower connections may want to click out of the first page and move to other, less graphic intensive pages for faster information tracking as the "map overlay" takes quite some time to load. Still, I'd be completly in the dark without it.

Feedburner is a vital tracking device for your web feed, as it allows you to check the stats on who is subscribing and how many hits your feeds get. Truly, it is a beautiful thing.

Tags: Google Analytics track multiple sites Blogger livejournal LJ google homepage google rss atom feed feedburner feeds web feed blogrolling blogroll blog roll technorati technorati link generator social bookmark social bookmarking social bookmarking maker social link link bookmark template gather additive blog blogger blogging optimization optimize

Sudbury School

Went to a fundraising meeting for Springfield Sudbury School recently. Sudbury is this great option for parents who want their kids in a democratic child-led learning enviornment, but don't feel that they can provide that at home for whatever reason. It is truly a beautiful thing. The kids are a part of the literal operations of the school, including decision-making and rule interpretation, and they can also decide what, when, and how they learn, or don't learn for that matter. As a strong proponent of unschooling, I have to say that if I ever sent my kids off somewhere to learn, I would send them to a Sudbury.

I find it exciting that a Sudbury School existing in Springfield because of what it does for the city's image. These schools are for free thinkers, people who cherish freedom and choice and embrace learning as a lifelong journey of exploration. They respect all people as equals regardeless of age, gender, or religion, and, well, it is truly a beautiful thing. Simply having a Sudbury in this town will attract more open-minded and active members to our community.

Not only is Sudbury a great place for kids, and a fabulous new educational option that we should support, it is also a potentially amazing boon for the state of our community at large!

Tags: sudbury private unschool private school springfield missouri subbury school missouri springfield unschool child led learning homeschool community sudbury valley school springfield sudbury school

Downtown Reviews: Queen City Cycles

Queen City Cycles is a full service bike shop, and Springfield's exclusive dealer of Kona and Marin bikes. Located just seconds from nearly every campus in town at 301 W. Walnut, they will gladly do tune-ups, major repairs, sell you some parts or a new or used bike, or just answer your questions. They also have an eBay service for bicycles and bicycle equiptment/supplies.

Our visit was prompted by a bike trailer seen parked in front of a pizza place right off of the square. We stopped and ogled the trailer like we usually do to get ideas for design when we build our own, and the bike owner tells us where the trailer was purchased. Since we were in the area, we decided to stop on in. *smile*

Informative, professional, slightly aloof personnel with a good spacious sales floor and minimal clutter make for a pleasant, but not overly friendly shopping experience. The easy to find customer assistance and helpful advice really tacked down the best products for our needs with a minimal of fuss and time taken. I'll take efficient and aloof over friendly and slow any day!

Open Tuesday-Saturday 11AM-8PM
417-831-0800
http://www.queencitycycles.com/
(photo copyright Queen City Cycles)

Tags: bike bicycle bike shop bicycle shop kona marin queen city cycles bike trailer trailer bicycle trailer store review place review downtown springfield springfield missouri [where: 301 W Walnut St Springfield, MO 65806]

Downtown Reviews: The Moxie Theater

I started writing this review a couple of months ago, and just couldn't put into words how amazed and pleased I was by my experience. As you can tell by the rest of this, I am still unable to do the Moxie proper justice with my simple words, but I cannot delay any longer. My sad lack of prose is nothing compared to my need to share this wonderful place with you.

The Moxie is a family-owned theater showing independent films and other movies you won't see in the local mainstream theaters. The very personal & friendly workers are the owners, and they are happy to see you and share a movie. Showing only one movie at a time, it is never too crowded, and their fine choice of select micro brewed beers is something you will not find anywhere else in town, including the finer pubs in the area.

Before each film begins, the owner comes onto the small stage in front of the screen to welcome you, tell about upcoming features, and share a bit of interesting information about the movie you are about to watch.

The Moxie supports the community by allowing only local businesses to advertise on their screens before the movies and during the intermissions. The pricing for advertising is relatively inexpensive, making it highly affordable, even for small businesspeople. Funny ads and silliness fill in whatever spaces there are between the ads before the main feature, and an intermission happens half way through the film, so that they can switch reels while you get a beverage and have a bathroom break in either of their gender-neutral bathrooms. If you don't have to use the restroom, be sure to take a peek at the reel-changing. It's a sight you won't get anywhere else.

There is always more to the Moxie, like their community bulletin board in the front of the theater, their full selection of popcorn flavorings, and their gallery entrance hallway featuring local artists.

As the only local theater that takes movie suggestions from the customers and sells fine beers, the Moxie is the best place to watch a film in Springfield.

Technorati Tags: Moxie Movie Theater Reel Movies Film Films Springfield, MO Springfield Missouri Downtown Indie Films Review Art Gallery Beer Gender Neutral [where: 408 W Walnut St Springfield, MO 65806-2042]

Snyde Reveiws of Products I've Never Even Seen in Person

I saw a commercial on TV today, an unusual occurrence in its own right, and saw a new toy advertised.

There's a new dolly to outshine all other dollies. While Barbie in all her nauseatingly pink glory is scooping pretend dog doo(that doubles as doggy treats, eew!), toymakers have decided that synthetic friends are the best friends. Introducing "Amazing Allysen". She has an articulated animatronic face, voice recognition, and sensory technology. Fully interactive, this toy comes with items she can "interact" with. The company says that spending "endless hours" alone in your room playing and socializing with an enhanced furby is "lifelike, nurturing play" Whoo boy howdy, that's a doozey! The Allysen doll is described as "a child's best friend" and comes in both Caucasian and "Ethnic" (because the only ethnicity out there is African, right?) *rolls eyes* Just once I want to see "ethnic" portrayed as Hispanic, Jewish, Indian, or Native American, Ya know what I mean?

Of course, if your little angel isn't quite ready for the advanced nature of sharing ringtones and chatting with a peice of plastic that operates on AA batteries, there is another choice! That's right, it's never too early to spoil your child rotten and infect them with affleunza and social disorders of the most vicious type early on! Don't wait, you can buy your younger children the ever popular "Ethnic" or the usual Arian coloration you see everywhere in the "Amazing Amanda" dolly! She isn't much different than her older sister in her electronics. Holding conversations while she is on the potty (because we want to encourage our children to walk in on us while we're "indisposed" right?) and pretending to eat are her claims to fame.

Act now and you can destroy all hope of creativity from your child now! Only $99.99 Order now and you can have your child's problem solving skill destroyer wrapped and ready for the holidays early! Listen to your mother and do the sensible thing. Beat the holiday rush and the huge January credit card bills and buy NOW! *gag*

Technorati Tags:Barbie Amazing Allysen Amazing Amanda Ethnic Satire Doll

Product Reviews: La Loo's Goat's Milk Ice Cream

La Loo's Goat's Milk Ice Cream Company
www.goatmilkicecream.com
(free coupon on the website)
Flavors tried; "Deep Chocolate" and "Vanilla Snowflake"
No artificial colors or flavors and a simple recipe unite to make one of the richest frozen treats we have ever tasted. The chocolate was similar in flavor to the Hagen Das "Mayan chocolate" without the cinnamon, only richer with a somewhat creamier texture. A robust and solid nearly dark chocolate flavor that explodes on the tongue.

The vanilla on the other hand is a serious case of creamy goodness. Exceedingly rich and bursting with flavor, it is almost buttery, a truer vanilla than any I've ever tasted, and completely irresistible.

60-85g of cholesterol, 50-55g sodium, 17-18g sugar, and 6g of fat make this ice cream a daunting treat for the health conscious, but the protein count of 5g per 1/2 cup serving is a surprising benefit to an otherwise health-bomb of decadence.

The first time we tried this, we sampled it in the car and downed the entire pint between the two of us (the kidlettes were at grandmother's house) within 15 minutes. To top it off, we were eating it slowly, savoring it while I drove us around town on errands! It is simply that amazing!

My personal suggestion would be to serve this at a dinner or cocktail party as a delicate dessert. A melon ball sphere of this ice cream on a natural brownie would be a prepare-ahead frozen delight few could (or would) resist.

Price: $7.90 a pint
Where to buy: Health food store

Downtown Reviews: Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches

322 East Walnut 65806 832-0500 832-0504 Mondays-Sundays 10a-2p http://www.jimmyjohns.com/

Pricing is reasonable with 8" subs less than $4, giant club sandwiches averaging $5, slim sandwiches priced less than $3, and their largest, most expensive sandwich less than $7. Sandwiches are made with high quality ingredients, but are nothing really special in the flavor department. 'Course I shouldn't expect amazing for those prices I suppose, but in my opinion, any place that advertises as gourmet aught to reasonably have food that is high flavor, with great texture.

Sandwiches should be juicy and make my taste buds dance. These didn't. I can make four sandwiches of the type we had here (all three different kinds) that taste 100X better, are more flavorfull, juicy, and delicious, for about half of what we paid for three sandwiches at this restaurant. (That's including going out and buying all the ingredients premade, for those of you who know how much a tightwad I am).

Of course it IS a great place downtown to get something healthy to fill your belly, as most of the other places in the area are much more expensive, not to mention slower to serve. The service at Jimmy John's is very fast helpful, & friendly. It is obviously a great place to work, as the employees were friendly, smiling, laughing and joking with eachother.

There was a lot to amuse a person there while waiting the full 2 minutes (max time we waited for a sandwich, which included verifying questions) for their meal to arrive.

Tons of funny signs and other neat things to read and look at on the walls.

Very loud music & lots of conflicting colors in bright lighting makes it hard to think or concentrate. It might help to go into the store, grab a menu, then run back outside to decide what you want before you go in to order. Not suggested for anyone with heart or anxiety problems. Have someone else go in and get the food for you.

Funny sign , especially considering that there was nearly no aroma whatsoever in the store.



The sign for the bathroom was fun to decipher, and it was nice to see that the store had a community bulletin board.



As with every review I do, went to the website to see if I could get more information about the place. The Jimmy John's website is entirely flash. Very annoying interface, nonintuitive navigation, lots of noise and movement. Website and store integration and similarity very well accomplished, as both the store and the website are garish, loud, obnoxious, and make me feel like I need to escape.

Maybe the loud garish atmosphere is to make people just come in to grab their food & leave? It seems like a logical idea with such a small store, but I KNOW that can't be the reasoning for the website to be so terribly annoying, as any business worth it's salt wants people to stay and browse the website for a bit. My first visit to the website, I had my speakers turned on (big mistake). When I clicked to go forward into the site from the flash screens, my computer couldn't handle the load, had a fatal error, and rebooted. I have a 1.5mhz computer with 256 megs of ram. Website is DEFINITELY NOT backwards compatible or legacy compliant in any manner whatsoever.

Final verdict: Healthier than a burger joint, cheaper than other places nearby, fast, friendly service, grab & go only.

[where: 322 E Walnut St Springfield, MO 65806-2302]