There are lots of wonderful features about Amazon.com, but the one I use and rely on the most is their product reviews. Over the years Amazon has built up a huge database of user product reviews and these reviews are an indispensable tool when looking at products. Take this weekend for instance...

I am tired of always borrowing my 11 year-old son Jeremy's ipod mini when I go running, so I'm always on the look for a low priced mp3 player with a decent amount of storage. This weekend while looking through the Circuit City ad, I saw the Go Video Rave-MP 2.5 GB player for $99! A 2.5 gig MP3 player with an FM tuner for under $100 certainly caught my eye and so the first place I turned was Amazon to see what others are saying about the product.

According to users over at Amazon, the reason the Go Video Rave-MP 2.5 is so cheap is that it's a total piece of crap. I knew the $99 price tag was too good to be true and it's much nicer to find out the skinny via the woes of others rather than buying one myself.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Technology | Comments (2) | Permalink

My friends Jeremy and Aubrey over at New World Tea are always turning me on to cool new teas, so much so that the only time I make coffee any more is when I have friends over who ask for some.

With the heat of summer officially here, of course the tea drinking turns to iced versions. The other day while visiting Jeremy and Aubrey, they turned me on to a great tasting iced tea made from Roman Provence Rooibos, an exotic tasting rooibos (a South African herbal tea from the Red Bush plant).

Go get some Roman Provence Rooibos and tell them Scrappy sent you.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Food-Cooking | Comments (0) | Permalink

Teenage Fanclub

I am excited to see that two of my favorite bands have just released new albums.

The criminally underrated Pernice Brothers released their fifth album, Discover A Lovelier You of which Amazon says: "...no one can breath breezy, sun-splashed melodies into three-minute fits of aggravation and despair quite like songwriting maestro Joe Pernice."

Only Joe Pernice can sing lyrics like "There's a train wreck picking up survivors from a plane crash/on the TV life and it's a sad static quotent waiting for the sky to fall" in a way that makes you want to bop your head while singing along with the top down.

Meanwhile, the more well-known but still underrated moody power pop gods Teenage Fanclub released Man-Made, the group's first record of new material in five years. According to All Music Guide, Man-Made "is near-perfect Teenage Fanclub and is therefore near-perfect guitar pop."

Because albums from both the Pernice Brothers and Teenage Fanclub made my top 10 of 2003, expectations from Scrappy are quite high for both these rekkids.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Music | Comments (0) | Permalink

After seing James Taylor on the TV last week I started thinking that I hope I look as good as he does when I'm 56. I swear that guy's taking whatever Dick Clark's been taking for the past 25 years.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: General | Comments (0) | Permalink

From Sarah, we have links to these two ultra-cool Range Hoods:

WC23 - Waterfall Design
RM53000 -Fashion Chimney

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Cool_Sites | Comments (0) | Permalink

It's officially summertime, the longest day of the year!

Go for a bike ride, for a run, a walk - go smell the summer flowers. Have fun!

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Anyone who knows my tastes in books, knows that Nick Hornby is my favorite author these days. The author of the brilliant "High Fidelity", "About A Boy" and "Fever Pitch", with his offbeat sense of humor and his passion for music (and the fact that he's the same age I am), makes him feel like a kindred spirit. Those who have read or have seen "High Fidelity" understand Hornby's deep love for music and the mix tape.

Regarding "Songbook", a collection of essays about 31 songs he loves, Hornby says,
"Mostly all I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don't like them as much as I do."

Hornby appeared on yesterday's Fresh Air to discuss his newest novel "A Long Way Down", and so I thought I'd list all the NPR links to stories about Nick and his work...

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Literature/Words | Comments (0) | Permalink

This morning I spotted the first Morning Glory in my yard. Awfully early to see them bloom. Many folks are fans of morning glories, but they are taking over my yard. I have to weed the little suckers out of my vegetable garden every morning. Beautiful but very invasive flowers.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Gardening | Comments (0) | Permalink

Noah Adams in Winslow,
AZ, site of Scrappy's
famous flat bed Ford ride.

Last summer I marked a cool piece from NPR's "Day to Day" and had meant to publish it here, but I didn't end up making the entry live. Now that the summer driving season is once again upon us, I thought I'd finally put up the entry.

In the piece, Noah Adams took a leisurely route from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, following much of the storied Route 66. At one point, Adams stops at a corner in Winslow, Arizona, the place popularized in the Jackson Browne song (performed by the Eagles) "Take It Easy".

I've always had a liking for that song because 26 years ago, while hitchhiking across the country, I *was* standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona (although I wasn't a fine sight to see) and a Native American Family in a flat bed Ford slowed down to take a look at me. Maybe not as good as a girl in a flat bed Ford, but I ended up riding with them for a few 100 miles, sitting in back with their dog and much of their possesions. But I digress...


If you have a hankering for some summertime travel but are chained to your desk, or if you're an old hippy dreaming of his days on the open road, check out
"How Many Miles You Got on That Thing?"

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Travel | Comments (3) | Permalink

Because this site is getting so many hits from people looking for information on Tim's wife, Robina, I asked Tim if there was anything he wanted me to post here and he said,

"Scrap, post my email address so people can contact me if they want to."

So if you want to contact Tim, he can be reached at: canhead-at-bcglobal.net

robin marchesi-hittle, robina marchesi, robin marchesi, gumby dharma

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Family | Comments (1) | Permalink

Marv and Rosie

I'm just back from a quick weekend visit with Marv Foley and Kim and Nancy down in Bloomington, IN. The weather system that has covered a large part of the Midwest dashed Marv and My hopes for a long bikeride in the country, but we still covered lots of ground on a long drive out by Lake Monroe. One of the highlights of the trip was the traditional vist to Rosie's Diner in Hedricksville for the best artery clogging breakfast and peanut butter, rhubarb, pecan and berry pie to be found in the Hoosier State. Gas down there was $1.96 a gallon, the first time I've seen sub $2.00 gas in a long time.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Travel | Comments (1) | Permalink

I just attended the Slauson Junior High School graduation and I wanted to say congratulations to my girl Sasha who's officially on to High School.

Sasha graduated with a straight-A average and was the recipient of the History Award. I couldn't be more proud of her.

Posted by Scrappy| Category: Family | Comments (0) | Permalink