Mouthwashes - Alcohol Vs Alcohol Free

I have posted on mouthwashes before, but this time I was trying out the alcohol free version of Crest mouthwash.

I even compared it with Scopes' cool peppermint, and I must say I prefer the alcohol free mouthwash from Crest. It was waaaaay better tasting and I could feel a definite difference in terms of how clean my mouth was afterwards. Longer laster flavour too.

Tried both of them for over a month, got way better satisfaction from Crest.

Cancelling Rogers Internet

Two days ago I cancelled my Rogers internet.

Had it for 7.75 years. Would have been 8 years in February.

Made the change because I was moving into a new apartment and frankly, Rogers wasn't giving the best quality service.

See all previous complaints about Rogers internet crashing, going down, etc.

Don't get me wrong, most of the time Rogers worked perfectly. And it was fast. I give Rogers internet 5 stars for the speed I was getting with respect to downloads and so forth.

But "most of the time" doesn't cut it when I need my internet to be working constantly for work reasons.

And then there was the customer service... which was a combination of computer system and whatever poor saps work in the customer service department. I feel sorry for them, I really do. That is a horrible job.

Big corporation customer service is often less than stellar. I give Rogers customer service 2.5 stars out of 5.

There are other factors too that I didn't like.

Hidden fees on my bills that come out later.

The email spam / snail mail they send customers.

Their insistence on trying to get everyone to sign a contract for a year or more for service.

Overall I give Rogers 3 stars out of 5. Fast, but not reliable and very annoying.

So who am I replacing Rogers with?

Bell.

Which I have tried before and it was "okay". 3.5 stars out of 5 if I recollect correctly. Marginally better than Rogers.

It does make me wish there was more internet companies wooing Canadians than just Rogers and Bell. Or rather, more internet companies with lots of speed and GOOD or decent prices.

For example TekSavvy is a newer company that sells internet connections via dialup, cable, and DSL.

They advertise their prices as being competitive. And it sounds good on paper, but the prices in the commercials and advertising is for their BASIC rate.

Meaning if you want more speed, more bandwidth, etc... well then you need to pay extra. They also charge you extra for the cable activation fee if you don't purchase a modem from them. (And if you don't like their service, they don't take back the modem and refund the difference.)

Cost of the modem? Between $99 and $120, depending on the type you purchase. If you don't buy the modem then they rent it to you. So you end up paying for it either way.

If you go over on bandwidth they charge 50 cents for every GB over.

So TekSavvy is just as much a money grubber as Rogers and Bell.

One of these days a new company is going to come along, offer internet service for a fair price - set a really high limit on the bandwidth, and have 100% uptime. At which point nobody will complain about the customer service because they won't need any customer service. It will just WORK the way it is meant to.

And then maybe Rogers and Bell will start taking the quality of their service seriously.

UPDATE!

Rogers is overcharging me on my final bill. No surprise there. Booooo Rogers! Boo!

Apple Vs Windows - The Screen of Death Statistics

If you Google various combinations of "screen of death" you get some interesting results as to which products people complain about the most when it comes to their computers / devices failing to work / load properly.

102 million for iphone blue screen of death

70.2 million for android black screen of death

58.9 million for apple white screen of death

54.7 million for windows blue screen of death

34.3 million for windows 7 blue screen of death

26 million for windows 8 blue screen of death

16.4 million for android black screen of death

6.76 million for windows me blue screen of death

5.48 million for linux screen of death

3.13 million for mac white screen of death

1.56 million for windows xp blue screen of death

546,000 for windows 3.11 blue screen of death

276,000 for windows 3.1 blue screen of death

Feel free to do your own research into this topic. Draw your own conclusions as to which operating systems are the most reliable / best for your computer / phone needs.

Please note that some products have larger market shares, and yet have less complaints about them.

Wireless USB Adapters

I just spent the last half hour browsing wireless USB adapters.

I am heading to Best Buy soon to pick one up.

I have decided I want to get one that is dual-band (for added speed), has an actual antenna (for better range), and a five star review.

Which means I will be spending $50 - $70. But it will be worth it to get the added speed.

It was this or running an ethernet cable all the way from the living room to the office. And buying a rug to hide the cable on the floor.

Some of the reviews I have been reading say they get a strong connection from 3 floors down. I am curious just how far away I can get such a strong connection... Maybe the laundry room in the basement? Lets find out!

New Steel Toed Boots

By Charles Moffat.

Every couple of years I buy a new pair of steel boots. This is a bit of a tradition I have been doing for 16 years now, ever since I worked in a welding shop when I was 18 years old. I got addicted to wearing the boots and with time I just didn't notice the weight any more.

In the photos further below you see my old Dakota steel toe boots that I got in December 2011. They lasted almost 2 years before the heels / ankle bits started to fall apart and needed to be replaced.

So I got a new pair of Dakota steel toe boots, similar model. Price? At Mark's Work Warehouse they were $119.99 + $15.60 HST. Total 135.60. (Thanks to the elimination of the penny in Canada we now round up regularly.)

Design wise they are basically the same pair of boots. With minor differences. The blue around the ankles, different holes for the boot strings, the sides of the ankles are higher on the new boots. But whatever, essentially the same.

I think I have an even older pair of Dakota boots somewhere in the closet. I should throw them out. Never going to wear them again I am guessing.

The old pair above saw me through two winters and literally hundreds of trips to the archery range, hiking trips, trekking across muddy fields and more. They have seen wear and tear and look like they went through a battlefield.

The only reason why I even chose to replace them was because the ankles / heels were falling apart. Cleaned up (the mud makes them really bad) they look almost brand new except for the rips in the blue ankle bits.

Judging by the hard life that my boots live, the fact the lasted almost two years was pretty amazing.

And the wear on the ankles is my fault. I don't untie my boots regularly, I just tie the laces semi-tight and then yank them on my feet, which damages the ankle of the boot over time. So they're not meant to be yanked on like that so they're bound to take damage.

Price wise these aren't even that expensive by steel toed boots standards. They pass all safety requirements for steel toe boots, but they're relatively inexpensive compared to the $200 to $400 steel toed boots you can buy.

The trick is however is that I KNOW my boots will be treated harshly. I don't see the point in shelling out an extra $100 to $300 on boots that I am just going to wreck anyway.

I gave my old boots to the cashier at Mark's Work Warehouse and told her to toss them in the trash. Although I did briefly make a joke that the company might be curious in analyzing the boots for defects, but honestly they were NOT defective. They simply lived a hard life.

But they stood up to the test which is why I got a new pair from the same company. Huzzah!

Mugwarmer

By Tamyka Bullen

* Illuminated on/off switch

* No-mar, no-slip feet

Recently, I bought the mug warmer from the Canadian Tire store. It costed me $12.99 but with taxes it was $14.68. I did the little experiment with it. I decided to turn the warm drink cold, then placed it on the mug warmer to see if it could heat the drink. I left it for a short time, it didn't heat the cold drink, but it didn't prove that it didn't heat it enough because I turned off the mug warmer less than 30 minutes. The instruction said that it was NOT designed to heat drinks anyways. I placed the warm drink on it and left it for more than 30 minutes, behold and lo it was still warm. Other time, I left the warm drink on it again, still it was warm. It seems that it is designed to keep warm drinks warm. 

I read the information about the mug warmer. It said that the mug warmer will keep warm drinks at the ideal temperature. If you have the 110/120 volt electric outlet, it will work. 

Personally, I really like it a lot because first of all, it keeps my drink warm and it is perfect for any places that I can use as long as there are plug outlets. BUT it will torch plastic or styrofoam cups! It also can keep soups warm!!! Yummy!

 

(Note, we admit it does look a bit like a toilet seat.)

Milk Chocolate Vs Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds

Honestly, they are both good.

I recently tried both. Dark chocolate covered almonds from Bulk Barn (a large bag of it at a fair price) and a 330 g container of milk chocolate covered almonds made by a company called "M&L Quality Snacks".

The milk chocolate covered almonds were sweeter(higher sugar content), but the dark chocolate covered almonds were more chocolatety - more flavour due to more cocoa in it.

I cannot decide which one I like best, but I am leaning towards the dark chocolate because it is healthier and has a stronger flavour.

Chocolate Milk II - Low Calorie Edition

This is my 2nd post about Chocolate Milk... and it is delicious!

And it is brought to you by Sealtest 100 Calories Chocolate Milk. Why? Because it has less calories than the regular 160 calories per 250 mL chocolate milk - which is tasty, but has sugar added for sweetness.

The 100 Calories Chocolate Milk has no sugar added (instead it uses Splenda for sweetness), which means more wholesome milk without all the sugar. Still tastes great, but it is healthier for you.

PLUS the 100 Calories Chocolate Milk has more 14% protein. The 160 calorie / sugar added version is 28 grams of protein per 1000 mL. The 100 Calories Chocolate Milk version has 32 grams of protein. And lots of other healthy good stuff in it too.

So huzzah for healthier chocolate milk!

A&W Bacon and Egg Sandwich

Tried A&W's bacon and egg sandwich this morning.

$2.10, including coupon and tax. (Not sure what the regular price is without the coupon.)

Not bad for a breakfast sandwich. Really hit the spot.

 430 calories, and a whack load of sodium (790 mg) according to the A&W website.

PayPal Credit Card Not Available in Canada

I really hate credit cards.

I admit they are handy to have, but they're also very annoying when they get out of control.

Let me explain...

Let's pretend you make the average amount an American makes per year, which is $50,000 per year, but you max out your credit card and it has a really high spending limit of say $60,000. And you only pay the minimum each month which is 2% of the total.

Note: The average American has $15,185 in credit card debt (2011 stat). Some have no credit card debt at all, some have a lot more so the number of people out there who have $60,000 or more in credit card debt is a fair amount.

2% of $60,000 is $1,200 per month.

Now when you are only making $50,000 per year, $14,400 is a lot to be spending just on your credit card.

And then there is the interest. 19% on $60,000 is $11,400 annually (in reality it is compounded monthly so it ends up being a bit more than that).

So $14,400 minus $11,400 = $3,000 paid off the total amount. The rest is all interest.

It really makes you realize what a huge ripoff credit cards are.

Try doing the math on your own credit cards sometime. They're just a huge waste of money.

Lets pretend for a moment you have the same credit card debt as the Average American, which is $15,185. So you are paying minimum payments of $303.70 every month or $3,644.40 per year. And paying $2,885.15 in interest per year. So in reality you are only paying off the total by $759.25 per year and the rest is all interest. (Which means you only need to use your credit card for $63.27 each month and you are right back where you started from.)

Credit cards are basically a huge scam designed to entrap people and make them slaves-for-credit for the rest of their lives. Even elderly people have sometimes huge credit card debts!

Now if you pay an annual fee you can get a lower interest rate of 10% - which will save you thousands per year in interest.

However you are better off just consolidating your debt, and getting a line-of-credit at a much lower interest rate of 3 to 5%, depending on what your bank is offering. And you are better off doing it sooner than later, because if it grows out of control you may be looking at a 2nd mortgage, losing your home, or bankruptcy.

And then once you have cut up all your credit cards, pay off that debt and become credit card free (and DEBT FREE!) so you can go on with your life and use cash regularly.

I made the switch to cash years ago and I am loving it. Cash is so easy to use and there is a feeling of security with knowing I have lots of cash on me. (And live in a city with a really low crime rate.)

However I still sometimes purchase things online, using PayPal - which I love because it means the cash is already in your PayPal account and it is not credit, it is more like a bank debit card.

Which is why I LOVE the idea of a PayPal credit card, which allows you to buy things either online of offline and the amount comes straight out of your PayPal account in the same way a normal bank debit card works.

However in trying to apply for the PayPal credit card I learned a disappointing fact...

The PayPal Credit Card is Not Available in Canada.

Very disappointing PayPal. Why is it not available in Canada? I would seriously like to know.