The Consumer’s Corner

Been a huge Combos fan since I was a little kid, they bring back a lot of good memories for me. Fun for a child to play with, almost like a savory Oreo; try to get the outer part off and get to the good stuff inside. Yum! The Pizzeria Style Pizza was always my favorite (not the pretzel version, but they’d do in a pinch).

Found these today, and they jive well with my new fascination with Mexican food; these are ‘Zesty Salsa’ flavored. The outer shell is supposed to taste like a tortilla chip, but that didn’t come across to me too well. If I hadn’t read the label, I’d have just figured it was the same cracker crust as the Pizzeria version I cherish so dearly.

Inside, the paste is delicious! Has a very authentic (mild) salsa flavor, with none of the stuff I don’t care for in real salsa (chunks of veggies). They have just the slightest bit of a kick to them; with a touch of vinegar ‘twang.’ Superb!

Not very diet friendly; 140 calories per ounce serving. It’s not difficult to eat the entire 6 ounce bag, so you do the math. That’s half of some people’s calorie allowances. 7 grams of fat, 3 of them being saturated, but no trans fat. Empty calories; no ‘good’ nutritional value to speak of.

If ‘Zesty Salsa’ Combos sound interesting to you, I highly recommend them. Mine cost me $2.19 in a fairly expensive convenience store, but I don’t regret the purchase what so ever. Eat up!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

A few days after I wrote an article complaining about my oily skin, I received this product in the mail. Someone is paying attention to what I write, apparently! Thanks, who ever you are! Hope it was someone I knew; kind of freaky thinking someone has my address.

This blogger is a big fan of body washes; haven’t bought one bar of soap since these became popular. Never tried anything real special; just what was on sale that didn’t smell like flowers. I figured ’soap is soap.’ I was wrong!

Popped the cap on this to wash my face one morning (rest of my epidermis is actually ‘dry’), not at all buying it’s claim that it could control my oily skin, and proceeded to scrub. My mug remained shine free for the entire day! Might not sound like a big deal to many of you, but it was nice not having to soak my face in irritating chemicals 2-3 times the rest of the day! It did wear off after about 8 hours, but that was more than I could have asked for, and far more than I expected!

I found very little info on the web about this, and I haven’t seen it in a store yet, but I’ll update this article with more details at a later date. Unless it’s ridiculously high priced, this will be a permanent fixture in my bathroom. Highly recommended for other people with ‘well lubricated’ skin

Gillette Has An Official Site, But It’s All Shaving Stuff

–Jeremy Hobbs

I’m sorry about the no-post yesterday, I was having internet access issues. At this point I can say that I no longer endorse Clearwire as a viable broadband solution, at least if you have other options. The lower prices are not worth increasing inconsistent connection and data transfer rates. Expect an update on that article later.

–Jeremy Hobbs

‘Peach’ hasn’t ever been my favorite flavor of anything, Bacardi Silver included, but that’s not really Bacardi’s fault. But for a peach flavored beverage, I did enjoy it at least as much as I have enjoyed any other peach flabored things. This tastes very similar to a peach soda I used to be known to sip on every now and then; just stings a little bit more going down the hatch.

Not too much, just more than the soda. The ‘Peach’ reminds me a lot of the ‘Big Apple’ Bacardi Silver (to be reviewed later); more ’sweet’ flavor, less ‘bite.’ I guess it’s hard to have both? I like knowing that there is some alcohol in what I’m drinking while I’m drinking it, keeps me from getting stupid, but I really don’t taste it in this. At all. You may love that, a lot of people will, and if you do, that is all the better for you. Either way, it’s a good tasting peach drink. Fans of that fruit should enjoy this, easily.

Alcohol comes in around 5%. That’s 20% more than most beers, so don’t let your drinking buddies give you any crap while you’re drinking this and they’re sipping a Budweiser. Why should they care if you like things a little ‘fruity?’ To each his own. Oh yeah, the alcohol/volume percentage may vary a little bit by region. Just an FYI for you.

Calories are prohibitive if you’re a dieter, it takes a lot of sugar to make these not taste like beer. 230 calories worth of sugar, actually. Also, I’m going to ask very nicely that you always drink responsibly, especially if you have intentions on driving anything heavier or more powerful than a bicycle. Babies, either in fetus or nursing stages, do not need to be exposed either. Think of the kids! Otherwise, drink up; I feel safe recommending these.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

The nice folks at Oscar Mayer sent me some sandwiches to review; new products in their Deli Creations line. Never tried these before, so I was kind of excited. The images on the boxes looked tasty!

First up, we have the Fajita Beef and Salsa. In the box you get a piece of flatbread, beef strips, a package of 2% low fat cheese (4 blend; Monterey Jack, cheddar, colby, and mozzarella), and a small cup of salsa.

Super simple instructions, all you need is a microwave. Only deviation I made was I heated the salsa separately; I’m picky about salsa and didn’t want to ruin what was looking to be a good sandwich if I didn’t care for it. So I used it as a dip instead; it was quite tasty!

The beef & cheese had a nice zing by themselves; just a little spicy but not enough that it should turn anyone off. I was surprised at the quality of the beef; top notch, especially for something coming out of a microwave. Overall, it was an excellent meal!

It’s straddling the road on nutrition; only 280 calories, 9g of fat. 900mg of sodium is a little much, but you have to expect that from prepackaged foods. 20% of calcium is a nice plus! Anyways, for $2.49 this is an amazing lunch ‘kit,’ especially if you’re in a hurry. Total prep time, including the microwave cycle is no more than 3 minutes. If not on your grocer’s shelves now, keep an eye out; it wont be long. Highly recommended!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

Jolt Energy Mints started it, then Icebreakers kept my obsession rolling with ‘Restore,’ and ‘Energy.’ Now, I can go nowhere without a package of mints, or go into a store without looking for a new variety. Found these at the neighborhood convenience store.

Tasty, but nothing special. No vitamins, no caffeine, no particular strong and/or orginal flavor. These fall very much in line with TicTacs, just a wee bit bigger.

The ‘creme’ flavor is the only thing that distinguishes them from a number of other products, but you have to suck on them to even notice it. If you’re like me, you’re chomping down on your hard candies, mints included, within 5 seconds of inserting them in the pie hole.

Mild recommendation; they taste good and offer some breath freshening benefits, but at the end of the day, they’re not anything all that special. Price point is decent, $0.79 for 9 servings. Not enough calories to mention. Comment back with your opinions!

Could Not Locate Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

I like for the Consumer’s Corner to be a place to read up about the latest and greatest products on the market place, and offer advice here and there on ways to stretch your dollar. Also, I exposing my readers to some things that they otherwise might find out about. That can be a dangerous proposition for me, I have to dig through a lot of coal to find  just a few diamonds.

This album, ‘Oracular Spectacular’ by the band ‘MGMT’ (formally known as ‘The Management’) is one of those diamonds. This is certainly a case of ‘don’t judge a book (err, CD?) by it’s cover.’ Had I actually seen the cover before hearing some of the music, I’d have passed it right by without a second thought.

Their music, self described, is ‘psychedelic pop.’ Very heavy on electrical ‘instruments,’ not something that I’m usually all that fond of, but it works well on this disc. To my ears, I hear a lot of influences from 70’s rock, to modern electronica. It all blends together very nicely, offer a surreal listening experience.

Lyrically MGMT is very poetic, and I enjoyed that. Anything thing that speaks to me, rather than at me, is golden. All ten tracks had me looking back over my own life, looking towards the future, and inspecting myself. Job well done.

The album is in (very well stocked) stores now, and you can find some samples and videos on the website linked below. I’ll be the first to admit, that while I immensely enjoyed it, ‘Oracular Spectacular’ will not be for everyone. You need to have an eclectic taste in music to appreciate it; if you never turn off the top-40 stations this is not for you. Otherwise, I give it a pretty solid recommendation.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

I used to go ‘ooooh’ and ‘aaaawwweee’ whenever I found a new ‘limited edition’ product sitting on the shelves of my favorite grocer. Now? It’s almost odd not to find something being introduced. Everyone is trying to innovate I suppose!

‘Wildly Cherry’ (why not just ‘Wild Cherry?’) M&M’s were what popped out at me this time. Almost passed them over, the packaging is very similar to the ‘Razzberry M&M’s‘ I reviewed a while back.

The similarities didn’t stop there; just like the Razzberry variety, the cherry flavor was very mild, and didn’t over power the familiar milk chocolate profile that the little M’s are known for. The size of the candies were also the same; around twice as big as the originals. You get two colors per bag, a deep red, and dark brown.

They were nice to sample, but I guess I’m getting a bit old fashioned; I wont be buying these over the originals. Wildly Cherry M&Ms were good though, and I can give them an endorsement if you see them and get curious, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Prices will vary wildly by store, 210 calories per 1.5 ounce serving, 10 grams of fat.

Official Site

Nice review from Candy Addict

–Jeremy Hobbs

I really enjoy a good barley wine, so I was undeniably excited to pick up the 25th Anniversary Expedition Edition of the 2008 Bigfoot Barley Wine by Sierra Nevada. It was served in a pint glass at cellar temperature and is a very interesting big brew.

‘Bigfoot’ pours revealing an amber hue with a head that dissipates quickly into a thick film. The smell is intoxicating and has hints of pine, citrus and dark malt. I could tell this beer was going to have some fruity esters. Taking a sip is intense. My initial impression is that the beer is very hops forward and the esters give it a fruity note like apricots. It is a heavier brew, light on the carbonation, no heavy alcohol fumes, and the lack of hops “brassiness” common in barley wines makes it very drinkable. The bitters in the finish linger making this an excellent one to sip on all night.

I paid $9 for a 6-pack. I highly recommend the 2008 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine.

Official Site

–Matt Scheerer (of Red-Icculus.com)

If you’ve been using some version of Microsoft Windows for nearly your entire life, it can be down right scary to boot up another operating system on your precious computer. Especially Linux. You’ve heard great things about it, but you’ve also heard it can be a geeks paradise, and you might need a computer science degree to operate it.

Then came Ubuntu. It’s a Linux distro that I’ve been paying attention to the past couple years, even going as far as to beta test their in-Windows installer, Wubi. Ubuntu is ‘Linux for human beings,’ meaning it was designed to be used by children and grandmothers alike, and Windows/Mac converters. The idea is to be able to be up and running without a mile long learning curve.

The latest version of the software has just recently been released, and I took it for a spin yesterday, using a LiveCD. A ‘LiveCD’ is a disk image of the Ubuntu operating system that you can run from your CD drive, so you can try before you ‘buy.’ I was really impressed, and I’m very tempted to attempt to turn my system into a dual-boot machine.

Everything loaded very quickly, as far as I could tell all my hardware was recognized, my wireless card worked(!), speakers, everything. And even despite the fact it was running off of a CD (well, I used a DVD), it had my computer just humming. Never has it ran so fast in a ‘Windows’ environment.

No one at this point could tell someone with a brand new computer that Linux is the way to go, and you’ll be just fine formatting your hard drive and doing a dedicated install. There are still limitations, and getting certain things to work in Linux will be infinitely more difficult than in Windows. That will continue to be the case until software and hardware manufacturers embrace Linux as a whole.

So who do I recommend this for? People who have a spare computer lying around in the garage, that became orphaned after an upgrade. Or disgruntled Windows users who either deliberately pirated XP, or were unfortunate enough that someone decided to upgrade them at a repair shop. Right out of the gate, without any tweaking, Ubuntu can make an unused machine productive again; it handles the basics of word processing and internet browsing with ease. As you get more comfortable, you can try some more complicated tasks, but there is zero need to open a command prompt to do your more common, remedial tasks.

The best thing, it’s completely free, completely legal. It is ‘open source’ software, so it experiences a constant flow of updates, as there are huge teams of people that do nothing but fish out bugs to squash. I look forward to dabbling in the future; I have a dusty XP system with decent specs that is going to get a face lift soon!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs