Reviews and More

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve started playing my Nintendo DS a lot more than my PSP. I forgot how simple and fun the games for DS are. They’re really for the whole family, and now that I’ve got a young son, I am definitely more attuned to family-friendly products. I saw Mario Kart DS at the store the other day, remember how much fun I had playing it on Super Nintendo many years ago, and decided to buy this latest version. Here’s what I think of it.

The basic premise of Mario Kart hasn’t changed over the years. You get to choose from one of eight Mario-related characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong, and then race around different tracks in go carts. This would be fun enough as a driving game, but that’s not all there is to Mario Kart. The best part of the game (in my opinion) is the way you can collect “items” while you’re racing. The items can then be used to attack your opponents to give yourself a bit of an advantage. For example, you can throw turtle shells at the carts in front of you to knock them over or you can drop a banana peel behind you to cause carts to spin out.

There are three different cart sizes to choose from (50cc, 100cc, and 150cc) and approximately 32 (?) different tracks to race on. Some of these are available right from the beginning, but others have to be “unlocked” by winning races. As you move up from the smaller carts to the bigger ones, your opponents become faster and more aggressive, so winning becomes increasingly difficult.

Unlike other driving games, controlling the cart in Mario Kart DS is easy enough that anyone (including my 4-year-old) can pick it up and start playing within minutes. Even so, there are advanced techniques that will take more time to master and thus give you something to shoot for.

Other features of the game include head-to-head as well as online play, and various “missions” that you can go on while in single player mode. I haven’t tried any of these extras yet because I’m still having a blast with regular gameplay.

Overall, I think Mario Kart DS is an awesome game for people of all ages and skill levels. I give it 9.0 stars out of 10 and highly recommend that you buy it!

I will never forget my first hand of blackjack in a “real” casino. I had just turned 18 a few months before, and a good friend of mine took me to a gaming establishment on an Indian reservation in Minnesota. I sat down at a $5 table, and then my friend walked me through the process of how to cash my money in for chips.

I placed one in the betting circle, watched how other players used hand signals to indicate whether they wanted to hit or stand, and made my play when it was my turn. I won, and couldn’t believe that I now had two $5 chips in front of me instead of just one. The whole thing took less than a minute — and I was hooked!

Ever since that time, I’ve been playing blackjack both at home and at the casino. I take gambling seriously and like to stay in practice even if I don’t have plans for a live gaming session anytime soon. I’m one of those people who enjoys playing hundreds of hands at home just for the sake of testing out a new card-counting system or keeping sharp with basic strategy.

Because I practice so much, I’ve been thinking about investing in one of those home game packages that will give my rec room a more casino-like feel. Right now I just have a felt blackjack table layout and a dealing shoe, but I have ALWAYS wanted a real blackjack table to practice at. I saw a beautiful one on the ExecutiveGamingMonthly.com site and would love to own it someday. Maybe I’ll start setting aside some of my winnings towards the purchase!

Until then, I’ll just have to keep muddling along with my felt layout and a notebook to record unusual hands and outcomes!

Thanks to March Madness and other programming, there hadn’t been a new CSI episode in more than a month. Fortunately that changed last night as viewers were treated to “Empty Eyes”, which was episode number 7×18. I was a bit surprised to see a parental advisory disclaimer at the start and wondered what exactly was in store for us. Here’s what happened on the show.

The entire team is called upon to process a grisly crime scene were multiple murders were committed. The location was a house formerly occupied by six Vegas showgirls, all of whom were found bound and gagged, with their throats slit. Well, that was the reason for the parental advisory: they showed the horrible gashes and all the blood. Yuck.

Sara is in one of the rooms looking for evidence when she hears a noise under the bed. She goes to look and it turns out that one of the dancers is still alive — but barely. Sara immediately tries to find out what happened, but the girl can only give fragmentary answers that make no sense at the time.

Most of the episode deals with evidence collection rather than tracking down possible suspects because the team can’t find any leads to work with. Finally, they get a break when a man is attacked outside a bar in the same neighborhood as the victims’ house. The new victim has his throat cut in a similar (but non-fatal) fashion and a nearby knife turns out to be the same used on the previous victims.

But while Sara is processing the latest victim, she notices that his fingerprints are similar to the ones found all over the original crime scene: they were calloused and didn’t have distinct ridges. It’s then that she realizes this man is the killer. Brass gets a confession out of the guy, and that’s that.

My Reaction: I thought “Empty Eyes” started out well enough. It’s been a long time since CSI dealt with a mass murder scene like this, so it was good to see a different type of case come along. But the lack of suspects and suspect interviews ultimately made the show boring to watch. It wasn’t any fun not being able to make guesses as to who committed the crime, so I started losing interest towards the end.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some great scenes in last night’s show. For example, I really liked the way Warrick went back to his old neighborhood to personally tell that woman that her granddaughter was one of the victims. I also thought it was nice that the writers mentioned Greg’s civil lawsuit again — I always give extra points for continuity. But overall, the pacing of the episode was uneven and I have to say I didn’t like it very much.

Another original episode will air next week, so I hope CSI comes back with something better.

As a freelance writer, I know how important it is to back up my data frequently and to store it in a safe place. In addition to the numerous articles I write, I also have to record and back up any financial transactions related to my writing gigs, as well as maintain copies of other relevant documents and receipts.

Of course keeping these electronic records in my home doesn’t ensure that they are 100 percent safe. They could be destroyed by fire or flood, or someone else might accidentally delete them without my knowledge. That’s why I think storing important business files online is a better solution.

I heard of a website called DataDepositBox.com that offers precisely what I’m looking for. At DataDepositBox.com, I can get online data backup, secure and reliable storage, and full-time access to everything. Furthermore, the cost of this service is VERY affordable (just $2/GB, which is all I would really need) and it’s easy to get started. Oh, and long-term contracts? Forget it! DataDepositBox.com is strictly pay-as-you-go, so I can opt out at any time.

This sounds like a great service, and would be even more important for small business owners who have to keep more detailed records than I do. Be sure to check out DataDepositBox.com today to see if it’s a good fit for your needs.

A few years ago my family took a trip to the Grand Canyon for our summer vacation. While it wasn’t exactly a spur of the moment thing, we didn’t plan it as carefully as we should have and, as a result, had a lot of trouble finding decent hotels to stay at. The good ones were all booked, so we were stuck having to pay $85+ for motels that should have cost half that price.

It was an awful experience, so if we ever go back to that area again, I’m going to make sure we reserve rooms at the best Arizona hotels first. I’ve heard that the travel section of the Azcentral.com website is a great resource for finding hotels and planning trips. I just visited the site and liked what I saw, so I’ve bookmarked it for future reference.

Let’s hope our next trip to the Grand Canyon is a lot better than our first one!

I’ve heard a couple of rumors that two of the TV shows that I watch regularly, The New Adventures of Old Christine and How I Met Your Mother might both get cancelled after the current season! I haven’t been able to verify these rumors one way or the other. The HIMYM rumor came to my attention via a post on TV Squad and I saw a petition to save the show right here.

I don’t have any leads at all on Christine, so if you’ve seen recent a blog post or petition about the possible cancellation, please let me know.

Thanks to some major corporate accounting scandals that brought down companies like Enron, there have been several new laws enacted over the last few years that affect electronic record keeping and public disclosure. Chief among those laws is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, commonly referred to as SOX.

It’s critical to the sustained success of all large corporations to ensure Sarbanes Oxley compliance , but until recently, that task was easier said than done. Now, however, Q4 Web Systems has developed a software solution that handles all corporate disclosure in accordance with SOX. The Q4 solution is a fully automated, cost-effective means of helping organizations achieve and maintain SOX compliance while minimizing their exposure and risk.

I viewed a demo of this product on the Q4 website, and have to say that I was impressed with its capabilites and ease of use. Apparently, creating trackable records for electronic documents is as simple as writing an email, and Q4 customers maintain complete control over all aspects of their corporate websites at all times. This allows for real-time disclosure and transparency, which of course is a must for public companies these days.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance software from Q4 Web Systems, please visit their homepage to view their demo or to contact a customer service representative.

I used to watch ER back when it was part of NBC’s “Must-See TV” lineup on Thursday nights. I stopped watching back in Season 4 (or thereabouts), but couldn’t remember what made me stop. At any rate, I’ve of course heard bits and pieces of news about the show over the years, most of it having to do with the various comings and goings of the different cast members. For example, I heard that Eriq La Salle left, then I heard that Anthony Edwards’s character was killed off (at his request), and finally that Noah Wyle left.

I’ve always meant to go back and watch Season 8 to see what happened to Dr. Mark Greene, but couldn’t bring myself to watch all 22 eps. So finally, I decided to just watch the final eight installments of the season, thinking that those would be enough to bring me up to speed with what was going on with Dr. Greene.

As soon as I turned ER on again, I was hooked. I loved seeing all the familiar faces (Dr. Weaver, Dr. Lewis, Carter, Dr. Greene, Jerry, Dr. Romano, the nurses) along with plenty of new ones. The writing was excellent and the episodes were compelling. Then, I suddenly remembered why I stopped watching ER: it’s not because the show went downhill after so many years on the air. It’s because I can’t stand all the blood and gore! ER totally makes me feel so fragile and mortal, and I end up worrying about the various ailments and accidents that might befall me on any given day. No thanks.

Anyway, I was right about eight episodes being enough to bring me up to speed with Dr. Greene. 8×15 starts out with Mark in NY to receive another diagnosis from a specialist who informs him that his inoperable brain tumor is indeed back. From there, we see Mark first try various therapies and treatments, and then finally accept his fate. He decides that he doesn’t want to spend his limited time hooked up to machines and whatnot; he’d rather have two good months of real living instead of four months of agony.

So he goes to Hawaii with his daughter, and is later joined by Alex (his wife) and his other daughter. He shows Rachel where he grew up, teaches her to surf, and tries to give her some advice before he dies.

We first receive news of Mark’s actual death in episode 8×20, called “The Letter”, when Carter reads a faxed letter from Hawaii. My initial reaction was, “WTH? Dr. Greene dies off screen??? What kind of departure is that?” But then the next episode, called “The Beach,” showed what happens to Mark after he leaves the ER for the last time and tells Carter that he needs to set the tone now, and that’s when we see all the Hawaii stuff.

Let me tell you, those episodes were very well done, and I thought the writers actually did Anthony Edwards/Mark Greene some justice. It seems a little silly to say this, but it was incredibly sad to watch that great TV character slowly die. Even after not watching the show on a regular basis in more than a decade, I was still hugely affected by the stories I saw.

Man, I tell ya, if I could take the blood and guts, I’d definitely start renting more of these ER DVDs!

If you haven’t done your taxes yet, then it’s time to get on the ball. There are only a few weeks left until April 17, which means you’ve got to gather all your documents and receipts, find the appropriate IRS forms, fill the forms out properly, and then mail everything before that filing deadline. That sounds like a lot of work, so you might want to consider using online tax filing software instead of the traditional paper-based methods in order to expedite the entire process.

One online tax filing site that I recommend checking out is eSmartTax.com. eSmartTax has some of the lowest electronic filing rates I’ve seen, and there are absolutely no hidden costs associated with their services. The prices they advertise on the very first page of the site are the prices that you pay, period. So when they say you can file a 1040EZ for $7.95, then that’s what it’ll cost you. Moreover, that price includes free resubmission (if necessary) and free printouts all the way until October 15, which are two benefits that very few other tax filing services offer.

And if you run your own business or are a payroll manager for a larger company, you might want to check out eSmart Payroll (a self-service online payroll filing site) or Simple Payroll (a full-service payroll software site). Both of these sites are operated by C&S Technologies, which is the company behind eSmartTax, so you can count on getting great service there as well.

April 17 is approaching quickly: it’s time to tackle your taxes right now!

One of my four-year-old son’s recent movie selections was the 2006 Disney-Pixar production Cars. This movie featured the voice talents of Owen Wilson (infinitely more tolerable when I don’t have to see his face on screen), Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, and Larry the Cable Guy among others.

In this movie, all of the characters are cars. It’s a cute gimmick for kids, and my son was definitely transfixed by the rich visualizations throughout the film. The story revolves around a speedy, hot-shot race car named Lightning McQueen (Wilson) who has a chance of becoming the first rookie to win the coveted Piston Cup championship. The regular series ended in a tie, so there will be one final race in California to decide the winner. If Lightning wins, he’ll get the major sponsorships, the money, and the fan adoration that he covets.

On the way to California, Lightning gets separated from his Mack hauler and gets a speeding ticket in the small town of Radiator Springs. When Lightning tries to run after getting a parking boot put on, he tears up the road, gets caught, and then is sentenced to repair the road before he can leave again. During his five days in the town, he gets to know its inhabitants, including Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), Sally (Hunt), and Doc (Newman) — who turns out to be the legendary Hudson Hornet, a successful racer in his own day.

Lightning’s short stay in Radiator Springs is enough to teach him many lessons about what true friendship is all about. The rest of the movie deals with this theme, and the race becomes a secondary plot line that’s all but forgotten until the final 15 (or so) minutes.

My Reaction: As an adult, I thought the animation looked incredible. The cars were beautiful, and I loved how their personalities really came out. There was a lot of detail, too, including a goatee on the hippie VW bus. These things just added to the whole experience and really enhanced my enjoyment of the film. Of course I thought the storyline was wholly predictable, but it’s a kids movie, so there was really only one way it could go.

My son didn’t understand the whole friendship theme, and I think he was a little disappointed that there wasn’t much racing action in the movie. But he did like the cars themselves and sat still for at least half of the film before asking to take a break from it.

Overall, I give Cars 7.0 stars out of 10. It’s definitely a family film, but I think your kids have to be older than 5 to enjoy it.

Things have just been so stressful and hectic for me in the last couple of weeks that I’m ready to get away from it all. I think a relaxing vacation is in order, and this time I’m not going to bring any of my electronic devices with me. It would be so nice to just disconnect from the Internet, email, and my websites for a couple of days to do nothing but relax and recharge my batteries. I know that an extended vacation isn’t my cup of tea, but I could definitely use at least two or three days to myself.

I took a look at a site called Vacations.net this morning and saw a bunch of all-inclusive options to choose from. A quick trip to Cancun or a Caribbean island would be wonderful right about now. All I have to do is sell my husband on the plan and then we’ll be good to go!

I’m getting a bit tired of the plain-Jane look of my current WP theme, so I’m going to spend some time this weekend looking for another one. I think I’m going to change to three-columns so that I can put more blogrolls and useful links up on the front page. I really want to work with a designer to get a custom theme made, but that won’t happen soon. In the meantime, I hope I can find something decent from one of the free WP theme sites out there.

I just read over on Zap2It that the Ashton Kutcher TV show Punk’d will be ending after its eighth season. Of course, if you’ve followed the show then you know that this rumor has been spread before. Some people think Kutcher and Co. purposely talk about the end of the show in the hopes that celebs will let down their guard, thereby making it easier to punk them.

I actually liked watching Punk’d (I just view clips on YouTube instead of trying to figure out MTV’s ever-changing schedule), but I would be happy to see the show end its run. Recently the pranks have been kind of boring and repetitive (and sometimes just plain mean-spirited), so it wouldn’t be a major loss, IMO.

I know a couple of people who work as real estate agents in my area. One person does this as a full-time job, while the other does it on a part-time basis to supplement her family’s income. In both cases, the agents’ biggest concern is making sure that they reach as many prospective home buyers as possible in order to keep a steady stream of clients flowing through their doors.

Of course these days the approach to home buying is completely different. Traditional real estate advertising methods such as classified ads and radio spots don’t deliver the kind of results they used to. Instead, home buyers are more likely to make preparatory searches on the Internet, which means that targeted search engine marketing campaigns would be much more effective for giving you the exposure you need in order to stay competitive.

If you’re interested in launching an ethical SEO campaign that will improve your rankings in all the major search engines, then you should definitely check out the CustomerMagnetism.com website or call toll-free 1-866-798-3862 for a free keyword report and a custom proposal.

Did you hear that the cover art for the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series was unveiled today? I’ve seen three different covers so far, one for the children’s edition in G.B./Europe, one for the children’s edition in the U.S., and one for the adult edition. The one below is the U.S. children’s edition. I think all of them look great, and I can’t wait for July 21 (the worldwide release date, of course).

It goes without saying that different websites take different approaches to marketing their products or services. Obviously, some of these marketing techniques are more successful than others, which is why some websites prosper while others go down the tubes in a relatively short time. One of the best means of marketing these days is through short, interesting videos that are capable of generating sustained buzz across the Internet, and it’s clear that the site BackgammonMasters.com understands precisely how viral marketing works.

BackgammonMasters.com is the premiere destination for backgammon players of all skill levels who want to get in on some online games or tournaments. I’ve been hearing a lot about BackgammonMasters recently (even though I’m not a player myself) thanks to their popular video series featuring an animated tiger named Jean-Claude, who happens to be the world’s #1 backgammon player.

These Jean-Claude videos are designed to illustrate the widespread appeal of backgammon to people of all walks of life — and in this respect, I think they’re a success. As if the blinged-out street-smart tiger in 70’s clothes wasn’t enough to keep people coming back to the site, BackgammonMasters.com has many other attractive features for their players. For example, you can win prizes by answering trivia questions about Jean-Claude’s videos or for suggesting great script ideas, and of course you can play exciting games online, including backgammon, poker, and Perudo (Liar’s Dice).

Interested? Then check out an example of one of these Jean-Claude videos by following this link (and be sure to take a look at BackgammonMasters’ 3-in-1 download too!):

Life According to Jean-Claude

The episode of 24 that aired on March 26, 2007 featured events that took place between 8:00PM and 9:00PM. Here’s a quick recap of 6×15.

Jack: There was plenty of Jack this week as he was out in the field following up more leads on Gredenko’s whereabouts. We were introduced to a couple of new characters, a man named Mark who works as a security specialist (or something) for a nuclear power plant and his autistic brother Brady, who is a computer whiz. Well, Mark has ties to Gredenko, who calls him and orders him to hand over some schematics for the power plant. CTU intercepts the call, and Buchanan tells Jack to get to Mark.

Mark gets shot when CTU storms his house, so Jack has to use the autistic brother to draw Gredenko out in the open. Mark calls Gredenko and says he won’t be able to make it to the handoff, so Brady will do it instead. When Gredenko arrives, he can sense that something’s up since Brady appears so nervous. He orders the young man to be shot as soon as the plans are done uploading, but Jack overhears and is able to have his men take down Gredenko before Brady can be harmed. Now Gredenko is in Jack’s custody and is about to be questioned.

CTU: Some random guy who knew Doyle in Denver handed him a device that proves Nadia wasn’t the mole, but isntead that someone accessed her computer from the outside. This evidence could land Doyle in a lot of trouble since he jumped the gun on accusing Nadia. But the guy owes Doyle a favor from his Denver days and decides this is the way to pay up. He won’t say anything about the device and will let Doyle cover his ass.

After the two return to CTU, the guy from Denver (sorry, I didn’t catch his name) approaches Milo and tells him that he gave Doyle evidence that will clear Nadia but that Doyle is suppressing that evidence in order to protect his job. Milo immediately runs up to Doyle and starts accusing him of wrongdoing, but then Morris pipes up and says Doyle gave him the evidence to verify that it’s authentic. So Doyle managed to get out of that situation intact.

Oh, and after that, Nadia is finally released from the holding cell and Bill convinces her to stay on the job. Then, Milo grabs her and kisses her right there in CTU… by way of apology, I guess.

White House Bunker: Karen convinces Sandra Palmer to order the doctor to wake Wayne up from the induced coma. VP Daniels gets word of this and tries to intimidate the doctor into not going through with it, but the doc does it anyway.

Meanwhile, Daniels is still meeting with Lennox and other officials about the proposed nuclear strike against Assad’s unnamed country. Daniels wants the strike to occur within the hour, so some general or other starts moving the necessary ships into position. However, just when Daniels gives the order to strike, the general reports that the ships have already been ordered to stand down. Who gave the order? Wayne Palmer, who is miraculously awake, aware, and running the country.

Daniels isn’t going to take this lightly. As soon as he hangs up with Wayne, he orders his assistant to get the Attorney General on the line. Daniels doesn’t think Palmer is competent, and wants to have the President removed from office.

My Reaction: I thought this episode was okay — not too good, but not too bad either. I liked the misdirection with the Doyle setup (maybe the guy isn’t as bad as we’ve been led to believe) and wonder what he has in store for the dude who tried to frame him. Milo and Nadia? Meh, not interested. At all.

The Jack action was decent. It was nice to see him show a human side with the autistic man, and I’m glad Brady was able to make it out of the situation unharmed. Now let’s see what Jack can get out of Gredenko!

Still not interested in the political angle of the show, although I have to say that I thought Powers Boothe (VP Daniels) was awesome tonight! His expression after hearing Wayne’s voice on the phone for the first time was just priceless. I’m not even going to comment about how improbable it is that Wayne is awake and coherent….

On average, I’d say that I watch between 3-5 movies per week. That probably seems like a lot to you, but I need to do this in order to keep posting new reviews to my blog. Up until now, I’ve been renting my DVDs the old fashioned way by going out to local stores to browse through their selection and hope that they have what I want. However, I’m getting tired of that method and am thinking about switching to an online service that will deliver DVDs right to my mailbox.

I don’t know anything about the various companies that provide online rentals, so I had to do some research first. That’s when I came across a website called Bilihost.com and discovered all the information I was looking for right there in one place. Bilihost.com compares the pros and cons of the major online DVD rental services in detail and lays out the most important information in easy-to-read tables. This made evaluating all the different plans a snap, and now I’m pretty sure which company I want to sign up with.

Speaking of signing up, I can do so right on the Bilihost.com site, which is yet another point in their favor.

Overall, I think Bilihost.com provides a useful service. I found their reviews helpful and unbiased, and will sign up with an online DVD rental company based in part on what I read on the Bilihost site. If you’re in the same boat I am, you might want to head on over to Bilihost.com right now to study their reviews.

I usually don’t read many nonfiction books these days, but I’d heard such good things about Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods that I couldn’t pass it up. The book was first published in 1999, so all the real buzz about it has long since dissipated. I didn’t even really know what the book was about, except that it had something to do with nature. At any rate, I picked up an electronic copy for my PDA and managed to get through the whole thing.

As it turns out, A Walk in the Woods is about the author’s attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. First of all, I had no idea that such a trail existed (call me ignorant, I guess), so I was glad that Bryson took plenty of time to explain the “AT” in such a thorough fashion. Basically, it’s a man-made hiking trail that extends from Springer Mountain in Georgia all the way north to Mount Katahdin in Maine — a total of 2,174 miles (give or take a few). Apparently, this is a very popular hike among hard-core outdoor enthusiasts, and lots of people attempt to do the whole trail, which can take three months or more.

That was Bryson’s ambitious plan, and A Walk in the Woods records the highlights (and lowlights) of his attempt. He was joined on this journey by Stephen Katz, an old high school friend that Bryson hadn’t had much contact with in the years preceding the hike. There was definitely an interesting dynamic between the two men, and that really helped carry the story along.

Even though this is a nonfiction book, there were basically two different plots throughout. First was the one dealing with the actual hiking saga. But there was also a second one that really gave a lot of background information about the AT, as well as info about the various governmental and non-profit agencies that have been in charge of preserving and maintaining the AT over the years.

I found that the parts of the book that covered the actual hike and the interactions between Bryson and Katz on the trail were funny, touching, and interesting. I blazed through those chapters and couldn’t wait to read more.

But then, Bryson and Katz (unexpectedly, given the nature of the book) decided that they simply couldn’t do the entire AT after all. From there, the book went downhill in terms of interest. That’s when Bryson starts giving long histories of animals and plants found along the trail, as well as information about various conservation projects. Plus, he lets loose with several long-winded tirades against the the National Park Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies, all of which I found extremely boring.

Finally, in the end, Bryson ends up driving around (solo) to different points of the trail, hiking for a day or so, then going back to his car to find another section to hike. Even though I don’t know anything about the AT, I think I can safely assume that it wasn’t meant to be “hiked” in that way. After a long absence in the middle of the book, Katz makes an appearance at the end. But it’s depressing in that he continues to act like a noob (throwing away essential food and water because his pack was too heavy) and ultimately causes the two men to quit without reaching any of their goals. How Bryson could write that they “hiked the Appalachian Trail” is beyond me, because it seems as though they fell short of every single goal they set.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about A Walk in the Woods. On the one hand, I liked the way Bryson capture the adventurous spirit of setting off on such an incredible journey and the way he dealt with the reality of how difficult hiking the AT really is. On the other hand, as soon as the book deviated from that path and went off on tangents concerning the governmental agencies, it became a snooze fest. So I’m going to give the book 6.5 stars and recommend that if you do read it, you just skip past the pages that don’t deal with the actual trail. Trust me, you won’t be missing out on much!

In a retail sales environment, the POS equipment that you use is critical to achieving a wide range of financial goals. That’s why it’s important to develop a working relationship with a company that can deliver real point of sale solutions tailored to fit your specific needs. Vision POS is just such a company, and their solid track record with national powerhouses like Aeropostale and Regal proves this point.

So what makes Vision POS Systems different from the rest? It’s their commitment to providing all customers with outstanding end-to-end service that exceeds expectations. First, Vision POS offers a wide range of top-quality refurbished equipment from manufacturers such as Fujitsu, NCR, IBM, and Symbol. Second, Vision POS provides a variety of services, including installation, project management, maintenance, life cycle upgrades, and de-installation or removal of POS equipment. And finally, Vision POS provides unparalleled customer service every step of the way to ensure that retailers utilize their new equipment properly, thereby maximizing the potential ROI.

If you’re a retailer in need of POS equipment, I recommend visiting the Vision POS website to read more about their products, services, and the unique Vision process. I think you’ll agree that Vision POS is a cut above the other companies out there!