Product round up...

I have said that I do not blog to make money, and that is true. This blog is on the free blogger.com website. Any ads on it are the free ones they put there. I am not compensated in any way by any company (except my employer), so I hope that means that what I say about a product on this blog can be taken seriously (or at least as seriously as I treat it).

Your results may vary. My opinion is based upon my personal experience only, and should not be taken as a recommendation for or against any product or service.

Let's get to it, shall we?

First up, Marie Callender's Pot Pies

These babies are tasty. I have really only tried the chicken varieties, but they have all been pretty good. I first got interested when I was looking for something I could microwave for dinner at work, and I was sick of Hungry Man meals (the varieties at the store left me kinda... bleh) for the nights I did not have any leftovers to take.

As with any pre-packaged food, the devil is in the details. From a calorie standpoint, these things are a nightmare. And you better be ready fro a sodium spike. One of the larger pot pies will give you in the neighborhood of 2000mg of sodium, 80 grams of fat, and between 900-1300 calories, depending on variety.

As I said, I selected this, not for the nutrition so much, but for the convenience and the ability to enjoy a hot meal while at work. The larger pies are about 16.5 ounces (like the picture above), and the smaller ones about 10 ounces each. Also, note that the larger pies are meant to be two servings, not one.

If you are paying attention to calories, fat, and nutrition information like that, these aren't for you, at least not on any regular basis. But if those types of concerns are secondary to not even on the radar for you, these pot pies are a tasty consideration. Just be ready to exercise and drink lots of water to balance things out.

Another food item that has been added to the market recently is the Hungry Man "Power meals". These offerings from Swanson are all-in-one "bowl" type meals. They have the meat, a starch, sauce, and veggies in combos that are intended to be mixed. But the surprise with these is their calorie counts.

I consider myself a guy who needs to have quite a bit in me to function. I eat a large dinner when I am at work because I figure I'll burn a lot off, and need a bit to stoke the fire. As a result, I weigh more than I really should, and I carry the weight in the worst possible place, the belly. These "Power Meals" are a blessing. They offer lower calorie, lower fat meals that make me think I ate more than I really did. The drawback is, as with most pre-packaged food, the sodium. Depending on variety, you are looking at somewhere between 560 and 1300mg sodium. But the trade in caloric and fat intake is almost worthwhile. Each "Power Meal" tips the scales at less than 400 calories, with lower fat than you might expect, and good levels of protein. Each one is less than $3.00, making it a light selection for your money too.

With any food, home-cooked it best. You know what's in it, and can control the amount of sodium, fat, and calories, and really no one knows how to cook to your personal tastes batter than you are a spouse. But if you are looking for something that you can just heat and eat, and are ready to deal with (or not, how you live your life is up to you) the known evils of pre-packaged food, both the pot pies and the "power Meal" bowls are good options.

Stepping away from food, I'd like to talk about another product that I started to use because of work is one I never thought I'd try, let alone actually like.

First, Let me say that I use Axe shower products. I (and more importantly, Wyfster) like some of the scents. Their Shock scent is great, since it is basically menthol, and when I am feeling kinds stuffy, that helps to clear me up in the shower. But their shower gels are not what I am writing about. It's their shower "detailer" tool.

This thing is great. If you know anything about shower gel (because there are still people who use bars of soap in the shower), you know that lathering it helps. And using a mesh sponge is a great way to lather the stuff as you apply it to your body. The sponge also exfoliates, making your showering a little more effective.

The Axe shower "tool" takes this to the next level. At first when I saw it, I thought "what a waste". I figured I already had a mesh sponge, that should be more than enough. Why would I need a rubber grip that limits the area of the sponge, and why would I ever need the equivalent of sandpaper in the shower?

Well, turns out I was wrong. Yes, the tool has a grip that allows you to apply some force to your exfoliating adventures, but that rougher "sandpaper" side makes all the difference. In my job, I frequently find myself resting my knee on something that is, let's just say, a little less than clean. And since I work with oil, it tends to soak through my pants, and makes my knee all kinds of dirty. I can wash, and make it clean, but it is still "stained", and a regular mesh sponge just doesn't cut it. The rough side of the Axe tool works better than anything I have used, and is just gentle enough to not actually be uncomfortable to apply a little pressure with.

The last product I'm going to talk about today was one that I tried for a single day.

Recently, I was driving to work, and I was hit on the passenger side of the car by a deer. He (or she. I think she, because of a lack of antlers) did $2700 worth of damage. While my car was getting fixed, I needed a rental. I was given a Toyota Yaris 4-door sedan.

Worst. Car. Ever. It was very small, designed with someone 5 feet, 7 inches tall in mind. I couldn't get in or out without moving very slowly to avoid hitting my head on the car (I am 6 feet 1 inch tall). My 10-year-old daughter was able to touch the windshield from standing flat-footed in front of the front bumper of the car. There was a tiny engine under the hood that looked like it housed no more than 3 gerbils.

The interior ergonomics were just awful. The speedometer, tachometer, and fuel gauge were at the center of the dashboard, rather than placed in front of the driver. There were no cupholders in the center console. Cupholders were located to the far right and far left of the dash, right in front of the vents.

I would swear the steering wheel was smaller than a standard wheel. The shifter followed a channel that looked and felt like it was drawn by someone who was in the middle of a sneezing fit. The car itself handled well, and had enough power, I suppose, but my kids didn't much like the back seat, and Wyfster said that she was not pleased with how it felt to be a passenger in the car.

The only way I could see myself ever driving something like this again, at least with out a major redesign by Toyota, is if one were given to me, and even then, I would only drive it as long as it took to trade it in for something that makes more sense.

I was lucky that the dashboard had a failure in it (the hazard lights did not work, and I couldn't reset the clock, so it was off by an hour the whole time I had the car), and I was able to swap the car for something different (a Nissan Versa. I might write about that one in the future), otherwise I might have had a much less pleasant week than I did.

So, that's it. A few opinions about some random products I have tried. Like I said, your results may vary, but if they do, it's not my fault. Just keep away from a Yaris if you are taller than an Oompa-Loompa, unless you really want to make your chiropractor a rich man.