Below are the 9 most recent journal entries recorded in dctgibson's InsaneJournal:

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
1:45 pm	Sports Watch Basics - What You Need vs. What You Want Out searching for a top-notch sports watch? Doing so just is not the simplest thing to do. Sport watches today are often feature rich with a pile of gadgets and such making it harder to figure out which watch could be the real deal vs. the wannabes. What guidelines do we use to find out a really good sports watch? For starters, we just focus on sport watches that have the options that an athlete will need. With us, this means the watch needs to have the following: 1. Stopwatch Chronograph which can be easily read from arm’s length 2. Memory Storage Capabilities - to keep information from a day’s exercise routine 3. A Timer Heart Rate Monitor Features A heart rate monitor commonly includes a chest strap that ties around your chest and monitors your heart beat rate, following it in real time and relaying that data to your watch. Tetherless heart rate monitors are on the market too, but they are normally a tad bit more costly. The standard measurement of a heart rate monitoring system is the amount of beats per minute your heart is pumping at a given moment in time. Your heart rate allows you to establish how intense your training session or workout is. Low heart rate signifies a very good fat burning session. Your heart rate really should be at a comfortable level making it possible to complete a long, sustained workout or fatburning session. A high heart rate suggests maximum performance, however it may not be sustainable if you want a long, fat-burning session. Just something you should consider before your workouts. And another reason why you should look into a sports watch that has the ability to monitor your heart rate. GPS and Pedometer Capabilities The newest sports watches like the Motoactv can track speed, pace and distance via a GPS system and pedometer. This is definitely a good choice for long distance runners. In planning for a marathon or during a training session, you definitely want to know how fast, how many steps, and how far you have gone. Having a watch that tracks those units is recommended and must be a feature of your watch. Synching Ability Top athletes choose to be able to store, organize, and analyze their workouts in an effort to boost their sessions as time passes. Therefore, your watch should be able to permit data transfer to any laptop or computer via software which is a feature of the Motoactv . The transfer process should really be simplistic and quick. The data should be readily available for sharing if needed. Memory Storage If you're somebody that prefers to have your whole workouts recorded, then you will require a sport watch that includes a good amount of memory. The watch should be able to store and organize your workouts by date stamp and offer the capability to dig deep into a workout as needed. Bang For The Buck Please do not mistake the statement above with hunting for a low-priced sports watch. We want the top sports watch. Cost should only be a consideration for those who have narrowed down the options to two sport watches. Cost should also be considered when there is a expensive watch with capabilities that may not be relevant for an athlete. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 20th, 2012
2:19 pm	Gas Powered Generator Should Be An Essential For Your Home - Read Why Before April 27th, 2011, I by no means gave gas powered portable generators any serious thought. Why should I? After all, I live in Alabama and we do have some severe storms once in a while. We've even had some snowstorms that have been fairly bad. Even as a youngster living in Oklahoma, I can remember some hellacious thunder storms, a few of which spawned tornadoes, but we didn't have any power outages. From severe thunderstorms to lightning storms to hail storms to snowstorms to winds storms, I have seen it all. All of which have knocked the power out at some point or another. Through all that, we have gone without power for as long as 1 full day……but that was before April 27th, 2011. That day will remembered as one of the worst tornadic outbreaks in US history. We received serious alerts days before stating that there was an extreme likelihood of long track, destructive tornadoes for the area (northern Alabama). I checked to ensure we had our emergency kit filled and ready - not thinking of the need for a gas powered portable generator and that would come back to haunt me and my loved ones. The night before, I told my lady that our kids wouldn't be going to school that day and I would be leaving work around 1p.m.. Our alarm clock went off at 5:50a.m. the next morning and we were off to the shower as usual. We could hear it rain “cats and dogs” outside along with some rather powerful winds. Nothing, though, to suggest that there was a tornado nearby. Abruptly, the tornado siren sounds…..that was the first of twenty-two tornado warnings for our town. That morning our family saw a funnel cloud over the field next to us. Later that morning, I saw a funnel cloud across the street from my workplace. That evening, my family and I saw a rapid moving funnel cloud passing above us. But, later that evening, the Athens tornado struck badly damaging Browns Ferry electric plant and there went the electricity for the city. We figured the electricity would be back on in a day, because that is what typically happens, right? Why think otherwise…one day went by. We had to make some changes because of the electricity being out, but hey, we thought it would be for only one day. Day two yet still no electricity. Starting to get a little hard without it….the fridge is out, no lights, ATMs no longer working, street lights out, no internet, no TV, no power for our netbooks, can’t charge the phones inside the house, running water is cold. Things weren't too fun during those days. We discovered that the electricity would be out for up to a week. Wow!!! Totally not ready for that. Thanks goodness we all stayed calm and cool through such a trying period. I recall going to Home Depot only to discover that every one of their portable generators were out of stock (this after they were able to make arrangements for their customers to pay cash). One neighbor down the street had a gas powered portable generator which kept his place bright and lit through the night. His house was just like a star shining in a dark sky. It really is amazing the way we think traumatic things always happen to other folks. In this situation, it did, but we were included too. Anyways, after that extremely tough period, I chose to acquire a gas powered portable generator at the earliest opportunity. Some basic research led me to the ETQ TG32P12 gas powered portable generator. I’m comforted because it’s pushing 3250 watts, has a 7HP engine, may give me 13hrs. of run time (very nice), and isn’t too noisy at 65db. I tested it once during the day to just get a peek of what it can do and it performed perfectly. I tried it with four one hundred watt lights, my laptop plugged in, giant screen tv on, the refrigerator running, and the generator made its typical lawn mower-like sound, though not as loud as our neighbors generator. It kept these things I had using electricity running as normal. Now it did take some time to get things setup, but it was not a difficult process- about 20 minutes or so. Overall, I believe this gas powered portable generator will come in handy if we have to see any stormy weather similar to those of April 27th. I'm hoping and pray we don’t, nevertheless, you never know. (Comment on this)
2:15 pm	Wireless Pet Fence Lives Up To All The Hype Prior to buying our wireless canine barrier, there was your typical metal fence encircling our yard (front and back). Once we moved into the house, one of the first things we wanted taken away was the metal fence. That fence, as compared with our neighbors’ fences, was basically aged and outdated. Most of our neighbors either did not have fences or had gorgeous wooden fences surrounding their homes. And then for their dogs, they had custom dog houses therefore the idea of keeping that metal fence was something which made us shiver. Our preference would be to have an open yard for our children and pets. But we understood that the young children were a bit too young to not have some sort of fence surrounding our yard. So, we decided to have a wooden fence setup around our house. With having a small pet and also the spacing between the pickets was a bit much allowing Snookie to slip out of the yard. Well, we had to find something which complements our wooden fence and is effective in keeping Snookie from wandering. After doing some research, we found out that a wireless pet fence would be a good, solid solution. But what must we consider when searching for a canine fence? Initial thing to think about was a fence that's created for pets 8lbs and up. The fence should cover an area of just about ½ acre. The canine fence ought to provide a safe static correction whenever our pet attempts to stray outside the coverage area. A few nice, little extra features would be: simple to set up and configure, portable just in case we need to take it somewhere, waterproof and includes a warranty. We found a fence that met those specifications and we chose to dive right in and get it. Well, I will tell you we're so glad we did. Once the fence arrived, I meticulously read the instructions; mapped out a coverage area, setup the canine fence, and tested it with Snookie (who else would I have tested it on?). It took me about twenty to thirty minutes to setup and configure…no issue. I was just a little anxious to verify that the static correction didn’t bother Snookie a lot. If it did, I was bound to get a refund. Well, the very first time Snookie strayed out the area, she just kinda stood straight up and looked around as if surprised. She stayed in that position for about ten to fifteen seconds and then backed away from the fence. The second time she attempted to stray, she did the same thing. The correction didn't seem to bother her a lot and over time she got used to it. The picket fence combined with the canine fence provided a perfectly blended coverage acceptable for our kids and pet. Whenever we had neighbors over for a barbeque, they were amazed that Snookie did not hop on them when she saw them. We wanted to make it seem like Snookie was just a genius…and she is, but eventually we informed them that it was the pet fence that did the trick. We're so glad we made the move to purchase the pet fence and we would recommend it to other canine owners. (Comment on this)
2:13 pm	Park Tool Does The Job Of A Repair Shop I've been the kind of person that enjoys biking, camping outdoors, and a lot other things relating to an adventurous trip. From the time I was a child, I had a knack for being a little too adventurous….at least, that is what my mom mentioned. But, I also had a knack for repairing stuff like my bicycle. I appreciated observing my father switch my bicycle’s tire or remote control plane or remote control car. My father would go into his garage, grab his toolkit from one of the counters he installed, put whatever was broken on his workbench and fix it. Too me, it was awesome to observe what he did. How he would take apart whatever it was he was working on, swap the thing that was damaged, reassemble the item, and view the huge smiles on our faces. How we enjoyed what he did for us. His passion for repairing things rubbed off on me and now I find myself wanting to fix things throughout the house on a regular basis - which brings me back to the Park Tool Repair Stand. My daughter and I went on our weekly bike ride through the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. There’s a ditch we like to ride through and over each time we get near it. Well, on this occasion I wanted to really push it and see if I still had it in me to do a “wheelie” after striking the ditch. My plan was to accumulate enough speed, hit the ditch at an angle and when coming up, try a wheelie. Things went well as I gathered enough steam, keep my balance, hit the ditch at an angle and then, boom! I'm sure I hit a small rock which through my balance off and caused me to crash soon after. I had some scars as well as some bruises, but it was my bike that I was worried about. My bike’s wheel was damaged and clearly needed to be replaced. So I carried it home, pulled out one of the best tools I ever purchased, a Park Tool, setup my bike on the stand and made the wheel replacement without issue. You could say, “Well, that’s no big deal”. If you have had to change a bike wheel the old fashioned way, you no doubt know how challenging it could be to get the job done. Needing to steady the bike on its seat and handle is not easy in any way. Possessing a resilient, stable, sturdy, and strong Park Tool is important with regards to repairing a bike. I like my Park Tool….so do my friends. This park tool can handle just about any bicycle with odd-shaped tubing…doesn’t matter what it is - mountain, racing, etc. The tripod legs are long and robust. The clamp provides a good grip and again, is capable of holding any kind of bicycle. Take a look at a few of the features below: • Cam-type clamp permits single action clamping of tubes (7/8 to 3 inches) • Clamping force is fully adjustable and jaw covers are replaceable • Composite top tube for smooth 360-degree clamp rotation • Quick-release height adjustment (39 to 57 inches) • 3-point leg system with reinforced center yolk for remarkable stableness • Folds to 41 inches for transportability and storage • Sliding retention rings fasten folding legs (Comment on this)
2:10 pm	Bike Trailers Makes My Life A Little Easier As A Parent Being a fan of cycling, imagine just how much excitement it was to have the children join me for my regular bike rides. To see them pedaling so well and having a great time was something special to me. Now, needless to say, I had to adjust my bike path to suit them, but to look over to my left and see the smiles on their face while they tried their very best to stay with their “old man” - that’s me. I'd have them swoop into the ditches, ride over a handful of humps, speed down some hills, and try to get up a couple of hills, too. It was fun and the family had a good time together. Their bike training was a piece of cake as compared with how my siblings and I were trained to ride bikes. Man, it wasn't fun at all. My mother and dad would have us in the park early Sunday morning learning how to ride our bikes. Dad would help balance the bikes until we started pedaling then he'd let the bike go. Mind you, the bike seem like some huge motorcycle to us and any speed seemed just much too fast back then. Any bumps we hit…down to the ground we went. Any hills we hit….down to the ground we went. The very thought of trying to pedal any faster was just flat out foolishness to us. I was terrified each and every time we went to the park to bike ride. Yes, at some point we did get past that stage and learned to ride our bikes. And as a kid with brothers and lots of friends, located in an area with hilly streets and having a bike was so thrilling. So we will skip ahead to 2009. The time came for my wife and I to instruct our children how to ride their bikes. I had flashbacks to when I was a kid finding out how to ride a bicycle and I absolutely did not want our little ones to experience the pains I had. Not to take anything from my dad….he made the most of what he knew about teaching his kids how to ride a bike and he made the most of what he had a that time. I wanted them to get the bike riding experience early on. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to see what a bike trailer was about. I recall looking out the window one evening and looking at what I thought at that time was some form of self-made bike contraption going by our house. A bike with a hitch is a touch better way to describe what I saw. It was kinda cool as the little kids sat on the back area of the bike while his father was riding the main part. I believed if my wife and I both had that little hitch (which we now know as a bicycle trailer) on our bicycles, that will be a good method to get our little ones adjusted to riding a bike. And, yes, it worked….bike trailers can be a cool method to get young kids used to the bicycling experience. Nearly all bicycle trailers are easy to connect to the post of your main bike, they possess a rapid release, are well-built, and also have handles which can accommodate the height of many young children. I can say that buying the bike trailers was really worth the investment and I'm sure you are going to feel the same. (Comment on this)
2:07 pm	Rotisserie Grill Steals The Spotlight At Our Barbeque Too barbeque or not. That is the question. If you ask me that question once daily for a year, I might say yes each time. Barbequing is one of my favorite pasttimes. I can recall being a child and the excitement that my siblings (and our neighbors, too) and I felt when dad would tell to get the grill ready. Now, don’t misunderstand me, cleaning the grill wasn't any fun in the least. Man, oh, man, all of that rubbing, and rubbing, and even more rubbing just got on my last nerve. We didn’t enjoy it in anyway. Not only did we have to clean the grill, but we were required to help setup the patio, cut the grass in the backyard, cleanup the pool, trim round the fence, clean the kitchen, and much more. All of that took away from us spending time with our good friends. Needless to say, if we asked them to help out, for reasons unknown, they had to go and do a little “out of the blue” homework. How interesting? However, when it came time to eat, they were right there and right on time. Later in the afternoon, dad would have the grill going and out came the steak, fish, chicken, peppers, and on and on. One of the best dishes, though, was the rotisserie chicken that my mom would make. Not on the grill, though. Nevertheless, once she put the chicken on the table, I’m telling you that it would disappear in a heartbeat. The chicken was moist and flavorful. I don’t know how she did it, nevertheless it was outstanding. After getting married, I had my mother teach my wife how to make rotisserie chicken. My wife learned well, but the only thing I didn’t like was the fact that she'd be inside while we were outside enjoying friends. Granted, a few of her girlfriends would hangout inside with her, but I really wanted her out with us. So, I began checking into charcoal rotisserie grills to see if that was something we would use. Well, before buying any sort of rotisserie grill, we had to make sure the right one could fit into our 22.5” kettle grill. It had a heavy-duty electric motor, a one-piece spit for power, a wooden rod handle, together with a warranty. We found one that fit our requirements and chose to purchase it. Am I glad we did. The charcoal rotisserie grill we paid for works well for us. Once the holidays come around, out comes the grill and out goes our waistline. My spouse has grown to become a professional at making rotisserie chicken. What I'm saying is she does it perfect. Now, we have our kids do what we used to when we were little. Cleaning the grill, cutting the lawn, setting up the outdoor furniture and more. And I will tell you they appreciate it….yeah right. But, in general, we love barbequing. It clearly does bring the extended family and pals together. (Comment on this)
2:04 pm	Garbage Disposers Deserve A Little TLC As Well - Sounds Crazy, Huh? Let’s see..how often do you think of your sinks continuous feed disposer commonly known as the garbage disposer? I’m speaking about outside of the times you need to dump your leftovers down the sink. Once a day…once a week….once a month…once a year maybe? I would hope it isn’t daily as that might be creepy. Well, actually, in case you are having thoughts about your continuous feed disposer more than once a month, I would think something is wrong “upstairs”. If you know what I mean. Certainly, other things around the house like your refrigerators, stoves, ovens, water heaters, and so on certainly get our attention when they go out due to the cost of having to fix or replace the appliance. Nonetheless, last week I found myself thinking quite a bit about the garbage disposer in my sink. Early last week, while i was getting rid of some food via the disposer, I attempted to turn on the disposer, but it never came on. Now, I'm definitely not a handyman or a Do-It-Yourselfer. But, I knew just enough to be dangerous. So, I made certain the disposer was turned off and I put my hand down the disposer to clear it out as best as I could. That was a disgusting moment I tell you. I tested the disposer and it still wouldn't come on. So, I called my landlord and he had his handyman visit and ensure the machine was indeed broken. I really could not believe it as we had replaced the unit about three years ago. I thought that having to replace a garbage disposer twice in three years was a bit much. I just do not use it very much for it to be broken so often. So, I chose to view some continuous feed disposers myself. Wow, how exhilarating, huh? Yeah, right. Spending time trying to learn and understand what makes a good continuous feed disposer. Believe it or not, there are certain things you need to take into account just before purchasing a garbage disposer. You should be sure the garbage disposer is stainless steel - the advantage of having a stainless steel appliance speaks for itself. Verify that the grinding chamber is comprised of a glass-filled nylon that helps to prevent corrosion. It must be easy to setup, however i am uncertain the best way to verify that before selecting one. Finally, it has to come with some form of manufacturer’s warranty and that is extremely important or at least it needs to be crucial to you. So, equipped with the info above, I went to Home Depot and bought a continuous feed disposer that met all the criteria. And, I just installed it myself. Can you believe that? I still cannot to this day, however, when I dump my leftovers and turn on the disposer, it’s like music to my ears. Not really, but it is good to know that I was able to tackle replacing the disposer on my own. If I am able to do it, you can too. You know what to search for in a disposer so learn more about continuous feed disposer here and do it yourself. (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	BOSU Exercise Ball Continues To Work Miracles I can close my eyes now and picture a time when my weight was the cause of my anguish and frustration. I recall after having my kid, I told myself it wouldn’t take long to drop all the weight I put on while pregnant. I figured it might take ninety days, six months, but definitely just around 9 months. Well, that was fifteen years ago….you hear me? Fifteen freakin’ yrs ago. My weight has been the greatest challenge I've had at any time during my life. If you are not over weight, then you certainly don't know how difficult it is to live having an issue such as this. The looks…the sneers…the jokes…and from time to time, the humiliation. It could actually wear you down physically and also mentally. I can recall the look of disgust on some individuals face when I went to the beach or simply just went to dinner or spending time with my husband. Thankfully my spouse and kids love me for me for whom I am. But, in spite of all of the love, there was still a sense of discouragement, pain, isolation, and a bit of depression. A couple of things had to change: 1. I had to discover how to love myself. 2. I had to shed the weight, period. Well, I had all the details that I needed to shed the excess weight. It was a matter of building my passion and desire to get integrate healthy eating and exercising into my daily routine. First things first, I had to alter my mentality of how badly I desired to be healthy and balanced again. I had to ask myself “how serious was I about seeing my children become adults?” That question was raised while I was holding my baby. That hit home big time. Did I want to stay out of shape and overweight all of my life? At that weight, clearly there was no guarantee that I would live a long and balanced life. But instead, faced diabetes and everything else that comes along with it (cardiovascular disease, heart failure, etc). I was determined to not allow that to happen. There was absolutely no way in the world that I would let that happen. So, the day came to get what I was required to workout. Lo and behold, I remember walking through the gym (in my attempts to get back in form) and seeing these trainers “pushing” two or three folks to finish some crunches on an exercise ball. It looked sooo strange. Once they finished their workout on the ball, I had the lady giving me a tour let me do a couple of crunches on the ball too. It was challenging to be honest, but I could feel the work out focusing on my core. I asked if that is the only work out you could do on the ball and she (the trainer - person giving me the tour) said no…there is so much more you can do with it. After she pointed out all the different kinds of workouts which you could do with the ball, I decided to do some more research and investigate the pricing.I ran across it on Amazons site plus it includes a training video. Great. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
4:42 pm	Swiss Gear Family Outdoor Tent Is Made For Camping Elegance Well, my family and I happen to be road warriors now. In the early stages of our marriage, we traveled hardly any. Perhaps one excursion per year at most. This was caused by either absence of funds or my demanding work schedule. Hate to use that as an excuse, but it was the facts. I knew this was difficult for my significant other because she was a vacationer before we married nearly eighteen years ago. I assured my spouse we would start vacationing to see the country soon after we got married. That was my goal as that time and dream I was determined to see come to fruition. A few years after we had our first child, we setup a summer trip to visit a camp ground in Maine. We originally wanted to get a RV to take to the campground, but decided against it and ended up purchasing an outdoor tent. After a little initial online and in-person research, we proceeded with investing in a Swiss Gear Family Outdoor Tent. And it was a great investment….right off the bat we liked the design and sturdiness of the tent. But not only did it look great, but we were happy with its ruggedness. The tent did not use up much space when we were packing and it was not hard to put together with the aid of the instructions that came along with it. Now, I have to admit that I wish they would have placed more label on the items themselves, but all in all the setup went on without issue. Wouldn’t it be my luck that our first camping trip started on a thunderstorm filled day….just great. I mean, when the weatherman says there's only a ten percent chance of a thunderstorm, you would think the storm would take place someplace else and not directly over you. Well, although the storm was brief, the amount of wind and rain released was a more than what I was expecting. But, our Swiss Gear Tent held up well throughout. Granted, we did get a little wet, but what would you expect even with the water-resistant polyethylene floor? Outside of the rain event, the tent had other nice features such as a divider to separate areas within the tent. More side rooms for extra space, as needed. We had plenty of room to move around and get better situated. The ceiling was mesh and so were the windows which provide plenty of ventilation. The truncated corners provided tent stability as experienced in the thunderstorm. The tent came in handy through out that camping session and for our most recent camping expeditions. The price wasn't bad either…affordable. With the tent being manufactured by Swiss Gear, we knew it has to be rather well-made and it was. We are looking towards adding more pieces to our own camping equipment stock as we are preparing for an important vacation to Montana this upcoming summer. We're more likely to make the trip with family and friends. We know it’s going to be exciting and look forward to sharing with you our Montana experience. Appreciate your finding the time to read through this post and review on the Swiss Gear Outdoor Dome Tent. See more Product Reviews. (Comment on this)