Reviews and More

While I don’t suffer from full-blown insomnia, I often have trouble falling asleep at night. I then wake up feeling more tired then ever, with back, neck, and shoulder pain to boot. At first I thought the problem was with my mattress, so I went out and spent over $1,000 to get a brand new one that offered better support. That helped a little, but I still experience restless nights from time to time, and my neck pain is worse than ever.

Now I’m thinking that perhaps my pillow is as much to blame for my sleep problems as my mattress. I’m just using a generic polyester pillow that’s at least five years old, so perhaps it’s time for a change. I was reading about something called the mediflow pillow today, and have to say that I’m very intrigued by this product.

The Mediflow pillow is a unique bed pillow that utilizes both a water base for support and a polyester layer for comfort. I can adjust the firmness of the pillow to suit my own needs simply by regulating the amount of water I put in there, which ensures that I get the amount of support I want. This can really make all the difference in the world as far as getting a good night’s sleep goes, so I’m all for trying the pillow.

As if I needed any more reasons to buy a Mediflow, I also read that this pillow was rated the best in all “quality of sleep categories” in a clinical trial over at Johns Hopkins. Participants who used the Mediflow pillow fell asleep faster and didn’t wake up as much during the night compared to participants who used other pillows.

I know how important it is to get quality sleep every single night, so if the Mediflow waterbase pillow can help, I’m all for giving it a try! If you suffer from the same sleep problems that I do, I recommend that you visit the Mediflow website for more information about the waterbase pillow. They have video tutorials, customer testimonials, a link to the Johns Hopkins study I mentioned, and a lot more, so do check it out!

I’ve been getting a bit lazy about writing up recaps of the Cagney & Lacey eps I’ve been watching on DVD. The main reason for that is the fact that I haven’t really come across anything worth writing about. I’m getting tired of saying the same things over and over again for each ep, so I decided to wait until I either saw a great episode or simply piled up enough that I’d just have to write about them. This entry is actually a combination of both.

Episodes 2×05-2×10 come from the recently released DVD box set entitled “The True Beginning,” but as I’ve mentioned before, are actually from the second season of the series. Anyway, the episode titles are “Hotline,” “Internal Affairs,” “Mr. Lonelyhearts,” “Conduct Unbecoming,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and “Recreational Use,” respectively. Here are a few thoughts from this group of programs.

– I was just a kid when Cagney & Lacey originally aired, so I didn’t get most of the stuff that was going on. When I watch the shows now, I have to admit that I’m surprised by some of the issues that were raised: homosexuality, drug use among cops, Cagney as a sexually active single woman… I imagine this stuff was pretty new to TV back in 1982!

– I loved the episode called “Recreational Use” because it showed just how close Cagney and Lacey had become. In the earlier eps, they were little more than two people who happened to work together and saw each other on a daily basis. They knew a bit about each other’s personal lives, but it didn’t seem like they discussed the personal stuff all that much. But the comforting hug at the end of “Recreational Use” spoke volumes about how their relationship had changed, even though no words were said. That was a quality episode, and I hope it marks the beginning of an upward surge for the rest of Season Two.

– I thought Lacey finding a dead rat in her desk in “Internal Affairs” was rather over the top and cliché. It made me laugh out loud, even though I’m sure it wasn’t intended to be funny.

– Harvey is kind of annoying in these early episodes. I know he’s supposed to come off as supporting and caring, but he doesn’t. Also, is he a house husband? Does he have a job? I know he’s supposed to work in construction, but I don’t understand why he’s home all the time. Does he have trouble finding work? Was this explained in the first season (when Meg Foster played Cagney)? I’m confused.

– I like the Lt. Samuels character. He actually seems pretty complex in the early going here, and I know I didn’t pay this much attention to him when I first watched the show as a kid. Isbecki and Petrie need to be involved more, though.

That’s about all I remember from this block of eps. Even though I haven’t seen anything too spectacular, I’m going to keep plodding along with the DVDs. After all, I want to see what compelled thousands of people to join a write-in campaign to save Cagney & Lacey all those years ago!

I can’t stand it when other people waste my time. Whether it’s the friend who’s constantly late for lunch outings or the doctor who’s running 20 minutes behind schedule on the entire day, I hate being left to think about all the other productive things I could be doing instead of just waiting around. I also apply this philosophy to my media consumption. I record all my favorite TV shows so I don’t have to sit through commercials, and I do the same thing with news programs so I don’t have to suffer through a hundred Paris Hilton stories in a single day.

Obviously, having control over my time is very important to me, which is why I’m glad I found Thoof.com. Thoof is a website where users can get truly personalized news without any of the extra stuff that they don’t want. You create a “history” simply by clicking on stories that you’re interested in, and from there Thoof uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine which other stories you’d likely be interested in as well. This algorithm then kicks in on subsequent visits and places similar articles right on the front page for you. How cool is that?

I was looking through the site today and found a neat article about what’s inside Red Bull energy drinks. My husband drinks Red Bull constantly, and I’ve always had a feeling there was some pretty nasty stuff in there. It turns out I was right, as Red Bull apparently contains meat sugar and bile! Yuck!!

Anyway, Thoof.com definitely looks like it’s going to be a keeper for me. I’ve already bookmarked it and I can’t wait to start building up my history. No more wasting time looking for interesting things to read!