Now that the site is finally (somewhat) functional, I can’t even create a user ID.  Trust me when I tell you I’ve completed all the fields marked in red.  From the looks of the message board, no one from the company is keeping their customers informed or answering their questions.  It seems that the community was very committed to the product, to their friendships online with other weight loss seekers, and to the message board and personal statistics.  Several members complained that their weigh loss tracking data that had been online since 2001 had been erased, with no explanation given.  With the current state of health the country is in, any effort to lose weight in a reasonable manner should be encouraged.  Granted, Slim-Fast is not the healthiest way to go about it - just take a look what is IN some of that stuff! - but it’s a start.

I am sad to say that the Slim-Fast product website is the worst I’ve ever witnessed.  They are losing customers, and not by the handful, or dozen, but by the thousands - and they don’t seem to care.  Hell, all you people are FAT and need our product, so do you really have a choice? Why, yes we do!  I’ve been looking at joining Jenny Craig, but money is tight and gas is expensive.  In the meantime, I’ve stopped purchasing any Slim-Fast items.  They just don’t get how business is supposed to work, and how it’s supposed to work on the web.  The social part of it, the community of it.  It’s about more than just your product.

P.S. - Unilever, once you get your act together, fire your back-end staff, hire a team that actually realizes that you should test your site before putting it live, and care about your customers … hire a *paid* community manager to help gain back the decades of trust you pissed away trying to be cheap.

Original post from the Reviews From The Radio blog. This post is an unpaid and unbiased personal review of the products discussed.  Subscribe now for more opinionated goodness!

Technorati Tags: Slim Fast, Slim-Fast, Unilever, Jenny Craig

Technorati Tags: Rick Springfield, Venus In Overdrive

My Flip Video Ultra is orange, realizing that my husband may have issue with using a pink one.  With that stated, I love this little video camera!  The resolution is 640 x 480 at 30 frames per second, and is more than sufficient if you are recording everyday memories (or even filming a video podcast).

When I first opened up the box, I was a bit startled to feel how light it is (without batteries).  Even adding two AA batteries (included) didn’t make it much heavier.  Also in the package was a soft black cloth carrying pouch and a silver wrist strap.  What I found lacking was a software CD.  Being I’m not a big fan of detailed directions, I busted out the Quick Start guide and found the ON switch.  Turned on the Flip, pressed the big red record button on the back, and started directing my own movie.  Easy-peasy.  If you’ve ever worked any sort of MP3 player or iPod, the buttons are pretty familiar.  Okay, now I had a movie, I just needed to figure out how to get it on my computer.  On the side of the camera there was a slide button that pops out the USB dongle and plugs right into a PC or Mac.  A quick double-click on my MacBook Pro of the mounted USB drive reveals that the software for using the Flip Video Ultra is ON the camera - that’s why there was no install CD.  Brilliant.  Now I don’t need to install software on other machines!

The software is pretty easy to use, and gives options for uploading to You Tube and AOL Video.  Also available is sending video cards via email, but I haven’t tried that option yet.  I did upload a quick test video to You Tube (below), and it was super easy.  It did take a few minutes on my end for the video to resize and compress before uploading to You Tube, but as it turns out it sent it right up in the correct format.  If you’ve ever used You Tube before you know if you upload a video in the ‘wrong’ format it takes awhile for it to be converted on their end and the video to show up.  Now the processing for that is done locally, and the end result is that the video goes right into publication. If you are a little more handy with video editing and the file system, you can bypass the Flip Video software completely and pull the .AVI files right to your computer.

A benefit I’ve found to the camera is that it has a zoom you can use it during recording.  While our digital camera can record MPEG4 videos at 320 x 240, you cannot zoom during recording.  It’s meant to be a camera, not a video recorder, so it’s even nice to have the feature.  The colors from the Flip Video Ultra come through nice, and filming indoors near a widow provides more than enough light.  I plan on filming in different environments (outside, indoors at night, etc.) to see how it holds up.

The only thing I see lacking is a stabilizer for those times my hands are full (with the baby) and the camera is shaking around a bit.  You can tell from the video below that moving around quickly causes the auto zoom to freak out a bit, but it recovers extremely fast.  I will be feeding my Flip a steady diet of rechargeable batteries because my family has a long history of electronic devices eating through AA batteries.

The size of the Flip Video Ultra is roughly the same size as my cell phone (HTC Mogul) and iPod Video, although I think it weighs less than both.  I am finding this is the perfect video camera for moms, or anyone that likes to capture quick memories and not lug around huge cameras.  It slips into my purse (with my phone and iPod) and is ready in under 5 seconds to record the next America’s Funnies Video winner.

Okay, I’m off to make more super videos!

–

Original post from the Reviews From The Radio blog. This post is an unpaid and unbiased personal review of the products discussed.  Subscribe now for more opinionated goodness!

Technorati Tags: flip video ultra, reviews, video camera

I should also tell you that I’m cheap. Frugal, yes, but most definitely cheap.  I am brand loyal to maybe a dozen items, but mainly if I think I can get a product for $0.45 cheaper, I’ll do it, or wait for my favorite brand to go on sale.  Some things transcend the Scrooge in me, and I will purchase it regardless of sales.  Cascade Complete is now one of them.

Strange thing, a few weeks back I was starting to notice that the dishwasher smelled like chemicals and so did all the plasticware coming out of it.  Things like the baby’s sippy cups, the only baby bottle we own, and the large straws we use for our Six Flags soda cups (we get $0.99 refills all season long with the cup at the park).  Nothing is more disgusting than taking a sip of Coke on a hot day just to find that the straw makes the soda taste like chemicals and you have to toss the entire drink.  I had gotten Sun Light dishwasher detergent on sale, but it was making everything I washed with it TASTE bad.

Then, the way that Karma works for me, I received an offer to try out Electrasol and Cascade Complete - how could I say no?  I was honestly having an issue with the dishwasher, and this was the perfect time to try something new.  A head-to-head comparison of the two, with the brand I had in my cabinet as a third.  I thought there would be no difference.  I was wrong.

I’ve been using all three now for a few weeks.  I got my mom in on the test since she’s been staying with us and helping with dishes after dinner. To our surprise, not only does the Cascade Complete not make my plasticware smell like chemicals, it gets the dishes clean without spots.  An added bonus, the dishes are DRY when I open the dishwasher and I don’t have to spend time drying them off by hand before I put them away.  That may sound like a little thing, but when you’ve got a baby crying for breakfast, taking an extra 10 minutes to dry dishes (that are supposed to be dry!) every morning is a pain.  The Electrasol cleaned the dishes well, but depending on how well I rinsed the plates or how much glassware there was determined how many spots showed up.  Plus, I almost always had water left on the plastic (not really the glasses or plates).  My Sun Light, forget it. Every time I run the dishwasher with it, I can smell the chemicals in my kitchen.  My only problem is now, I have two half-used bottles of dishwasher detergent that I really don’t want to use.

What stared out as a fun experiment turned out to make me into a brand-loyal customer. I guess “Cascade Recommended” is printed inside my dishwasher’s soap dispenser for a reason!

Cascade Complete:

• Pros: No chemical smell, clean dishes well, leaves no spots, removed some coffee stains from inside the dishwasher!
• Cons: Costs about 10% more than the bargain brands.

Electrasol:

• Pros: Cleans dishes well.
• Cons: Slight chemical smell, leaves plasticware wet even after ‘dry cycle’ in dishwasher.

Sun Light:

• Pros: Costs the least out of most major brands.
• Cons: Leaves plastic smelling strongly of chemicals!

–

Original post from the Reviews From The Radio blog. This post is an unpaid and unbiased personal review of the products discussed. Disclaimer: The Cascade and Electrasol were gifted to me to be able to write the review.  The Sun Light was already in my cabinet.  My dishwasher is a Whirlpool QuietTouch II.

Technorati Tags: Cascade, Electrasol, Sun Light, dishwasher detergent

The Silicon Valley Moms Blog and sister sites (of which I write on the New Jersey Moms Blog) is participating in a ‘virtual book club’, and has used the writing prompts of “Rules! Rules! Rules!” or “Good Enough” as our starting point. Be sure to check out the sites to read up on other mom’s take on the book. While I originally started out writing for the Rules! prompt, I see now that it covers a bit of both. Funny, parenting is like that too, you start on one path just to wind up realizing sometimes you need to mix things up to get the results you want

We were vagabond kids, with our greatest accomplishment being anytime we made it to the edge of the neighborhood and hit the grocerette for penny candy. We would walk out of there after spending two quarters each and feel like royalty, cramming our faces full of Swedish fish and Bazooka Joe gum from a brown paper bag. To this day I still have to eat the Swedish fish from a brown paper bag or they just don’t taste right to me.

We never asked our parents if it was okay to eat ALL the candy before dinner or told them who’s house we were going to. I never realized as a kid what this freedom meant, it just ‘was’.

Fast forward thirty years and if my daughter walks a few houses down to her friend’s house, I’m on the front porch watching her the entire way. If I call over at 5pm for her to come home for dinner, and she’s not here in 10 minutes, I’m freaking out. Keep in mind we live in a one-street neighborhood surrounded by commercial farms. There is no place else to go but another house on our street. Since we rarely keep junk food in the house, chips and cookies are always a big treat. If I give her three cookies, she will ask me at the start of each cookie if she is allowed to eat it.

How did my daughter get so cautious? It’s my fault to be sure, I’m always making sure she’s within arm’s reach of me or doesn’t go into a public restroom alone. But the bigger question is where did *I* come up with all these new rules? Why am I a stick in the mud when it comes to letting her be a kid and roam the neighborhood and eat candy before dinner? Yes, the world is a big, bad place (bigger and ‘badder’ than when I grew up anyway), but does that mean that danger is everywhere?

Up until now I thought I was doing my daughter a favor by helping her be cautious and aware of her surroundings, more specifically, aware of where I am at all times and teaching her that she needs my ‘ok’ for things to be safe. What I didn’t anticipate was that a good portion of her life would depend on my approval, my ability to make decisions for her. I thought I was helping her make those decisions herself, but I guess when she needed to go to me every time to ‘double-check her answers’ it really wasn’t helping, but enabling.

I’m trying to get her out on her own two feet, but slowly. She is a creature of habit, and will mindlessly ask me for my permission on the most basic of childhood joys, like playing with her friends, standing in the rain during a sun shower, or eating cookies. I’d like to turn her into a free spirit, just like I was growing up. I hope it’s not too late.

Technorati Tags: Writing Motherhood, NJ Moms Blog, Lisa Garrigues

My family doesn’t catalog shop at all. American Doll and Build A Bear Workshop catalogs arrive eerily near birthdays and holidays. The only exception to the ‘do not want catalogs’ is Penzeys Spice. Even then we order online. Having that catalog in front of me, along with the recipes they sneak in, inspires me to cook. I’ll review them sometime in the future, but in the meantime go check them out! Cake Spice RULES!

My hopeful mailbox savior? Catalog Choice. Plus they have a great blog - something I think 95% of companies should have. Catalog Choice is a free service that lets you (after a quick and painless - and free) signup page, helps you get rid of unwanted catalogs from ever being sent to your home. It would be easy to just check off most every box and say ‘decline’ but that’s difficult for the companies sending catalogs. Instead what you do is enter the information directly off the mailing label of the offending catalog. This helps companies zero in on the exact database entry to delete.

The website and service is sponsored by Ecology Center, so there appears to be no hidden agendas. Reading the FAQ is really helpful too, even though normally those pages make me snore. One good point to make is that Catalog Choice doesn’t sell your information or give your email address to the catalog companies you want to decline. So far I don’t see any listings for the grocery store fliers I get several times a week, maybe I’ll make a suggestion that it’s added.

It seems that companies voluntary sign up for the list, so not every mailbox stuffer shows up. Why would they want to waste money and paper trying to sell you a product that you aren’t interested in. This to me is a good sales tip - don’t try to sell to those who don’t want to buy.

I’ll keep you updated to see if it reduces the amount of dead trees in my mailbox, and clutter from my kitchen counter. Now, if only my daughter would stop leaving her toys and crumpled bits of paper all over my house…

–

Original post from the Reviews From The Radio blog. This post is an unpaid, unsolicited opinion completely inspired by a product, service, company, or website that I find worth writing about.

Technorati Tags: green living, junk mail, catalog choice, penzeys spice

There was a moon bounce, which my daughter always loves. A big hit for her was the Playdoh station where she got to make a pretty accurate Po the Panda statue. Her all time favorite was getting to play the XBOX 360 Kung Fu Panda game. She (almost) beat the pants off her dad playing the game. It totally amazes me how she (or any kid there) could pick up the controller and somehow instinctively know how to play the game. Finally learning how to use chop sticks was a huge help to me, as I don’t use them properly and really could never teach her! The girl that worked the candy counter and taught Kidlette how to pick up Goldfish and gummy bears with them should list that skill on her resume.

We are huge Jack Black fans, from School of Rock to Nacho Libre, and this movie will be no exception. Since the weather here in the Garden State will be swamp-ass hot this weekend (upper 90F) a movie theatre, some Cokes, and a hopefully quiet 7 month old will be enjoying the movie.

As for our trip into the ‘city’ with two kids, well, I could have planned better. My husband and I are used to working and commuting there from our house, but whoa brining kids is a whole different animal. Kidlette is easy, she’s just shy of 7. Besides making sure I throw a few bottles of water and some snacks in my bag, she’s good to go. The baby, well, breastfeeding lightens my bag by a pound or two, and a container or two of food for him as well as some diapers and a change of clothes and we were golden. But, then, THE STROLLER. The. Evil. Stroller. Not that I don’t adore the pack-mule-on-wheels, I do, but try getting around on NJ Transit trains and the NYC subway system with one. My first thought was to just carry the baby in the sling all day, but then realized what a wreck my back would be. Note to self, the subway system SUCKS for strollers or people with wheelchairs, period. Plus, traveling the subway on a weekend is hard. I’m guessing it’s when all the maintenance goes on, and the C line wasn’t running to/from where we needed it to, so instead of trying to figure it all out, we just grabbed a cab. Surprisingly easy with a stroller.

Next time we venture into NYC with the kids I plan on doing something that we can do at an easier pace (we were 30 minutes late for a 2 hour event). I can see the draw for some people to live in the city with kids. There are seemingly hundreds of things to do within walking distance and almost all of them interesting to both parents and tots. For now, I’m more than happy in my Garden State!

Technorati Tags: Kung Fu Panda, Jack Black, HP, Hewlett-Packard, Kidville, NYC, NJ Moms Blog, XBOX, XBOX 360

Originally posted at Lynette Radio

Ok…I ask if my husband’s business line fixed? According to him, that wasn’t on his work order (yes it was), but if he’s not too busy he can get back to me in 48-72 hours and give me a status. All I could envision is kicking him in the teeth. Not very lady- or mommy-like I agree, but the guy was an ass. When I asked about my husband’s ‘business’ line he gave me a snarky answer that it wasn’t a business line (technically no it’s not, it’s just another ‘residential’ line) but a home office line. “Well, then, now, it’s not a BUSINESS line, is it?” in a horrifically condescending tone. My thoughts race to buying the most expensive ‘Sex In The City‘ Manolo Blahnik heels and wedging them right back to his molars. He hangs up on me.

A few minutes later I hear the office line ring. Then my house line rings again. He tells me the other line is fixed, you are very welcome. Then he hangs up on me, again.

For more reading on Verizon and how their customers love them, be sure to check out The Consumerist. They *love* Verizon over there. Riiiight.

Note to Verizon: Get a clue. Comcast helps their customers. Maybe you should take a lesson.

Technorati Tags: Verizon

Originally posted at Lynette Radio

Our house phone and my husband’s business line have been non-functional FOR OVER A FREAKING WEEK. How is that acceptable? The best part is, last week, after waiting over four days to get a service repair appointment, I was required to stay in the house from 8am to 8pm and wait for them to show up. Honey, if I had a meeting with a customer and told them I’d show up sometime in a 12 hour window, the client would say ‘kiss off’ and get someone else to do the job. Plus, the technician didn’t even show up! When my husband called them on this, they claimed they were by and tested the line at 4:20pm and it checked out fine. Really? I was in my driveway at that time making chalk drawings with my daughter. I have the digital photos with time/date stamps to prove it. I would have noticed if a truck pulled up and someone walked across my lawn.

You say the phone is working? Then why isn’t it? In fact, last night at 11:30pm our phone started ringing - for someone else’s phone number. My husband got to listen in on a conversation between some guy calling his wife from a business trip. No, he didn’t stalk them, in fact it turned into a ménage à trois of phone company bashing. Not nearly as sexy a situation as I’d always hoped it would be.

Why don’t we dump Verizon and go 100% with our Vonage lines? Well, we have one item in our house that must run from a POTS phone line. I am doing research today to see if there are other solutions. What really got me all worked up was when I realized that I’m home alone with two kids during the day and have spotty cell phone service (living semi-rural does have some drawbacks). What if something happened? Besides, no one has been able to reach us in over a week - including the parents of the birthday boy yesterday that had to move up the party because of rain. My daughter would have been heartbroken if she missed the party.

So to Verizon I say, you SUCK. Just because your technician was too lazy to actually show up at a customers house and say “customer not home” does not give you the right to lie - and infer to my husband I wasn’t home when I said I was. I plan to spread this post far and wide, maybe some Google search will place this in your queue in 10 years when you finally get up to date and look for things like this. You SUCK.

And while you are at it, I need a gallon of 1% milk, Gerber stage 2 baby food, diaper wipes, butter, apple juice and a new coffee date with my girlfriends. Since I can’t leave my house for another 12 hours again today, running to the grocery store for me is the VERY LEAST you can do.

PS - Verizon YOU SUCK.

Technorati Tags: verizon, customer service

Originally posted at Lynette Radio