I was asked to write a review on some vitamins that I purchased and instead of ignoring the request I actually went online and wrote my reviews. It turned out to be much more fun than I initially anticipated when I realized that 1. I have opinions, 2. Someone at some point was going to read the review and they might appreciate something slightly out of the ordinary, and 3. Humor is not forbidden in the review -in fact, I could put practically anything I wanted in the review as long as I kept it 'clean'.
So, after getting my feet wet with the vitamin reviews I have decided to review other things. Not mind you that anyone has asked me to review these things, but hey, this information needs to be shared. How else will you find out about:
The Atlanta Georgia Airport
I would have to give this airport three and a half out of five stars. Now mind you I truly appreciate the fact that the airplane did not crash, but let's face it. That was primarily due to the talent of the pilot, although I do concede the whole runway necessary for landing issue. Actually it is possible my pilot could have landed us in a field for all I know. He sounded quite competent as he addressed us with his southern drawl periodically throughout the flight. The flight being totally uneventful in the way of emergency landings means we will never know his capacity in this regard and quite frankly I am happy to keep it that way.
The reason the Atlanta Georgia Airport does not get five stars is because they failed to tell us that we needed to get on the shuttle in order to avoid walking the approximate 1.4 miles to get to baggage claim. Others might point out the availability of the shuttle as we first exited the plane and the eagerness of our fellow passengers to embark on the shuttle journey, but there was no actual sign saying "Hey, if you don't get on the shuttle you are going to be walking a long, long, long way". Nope nothing like that. There were many opportunities for such a sign to exist as well as we hiked from terminal E to D (bypassing another shuttle entry point) on to C, B and A, each with their own shuttle access. No we didn't get on the shuttle until it seemed we could not walk any further and then we got on the shuttle and it ran for about 10 seconds before depositing us at the end of the line for Baggage Claim approximately 20 feet from where we entered it. So that dropped this review by a whole point.
The other half point dropped away when we actually entered the long sought Baggage Claim and there were more than a dozen carousels, each with a vast display of flights associated with them, but all of them positioned in a way that you had trouble reading them from a distance. I am sure the big sign board with all the flights listed should have helped us figure which carousel was ours, but this airport did not list our flight the way our tickets had listed it. This meant we had to walk down to a helpful person who patiently showed us how the airport worked. He gets five stars because I am sure helping exhausted people who cannot read a huge sign board might become old after the ninetieth time you have done it, but he seemed genuinely supportive of our quest to retrieve our luggage.
So overall, a good score but slightly less than perfect. I am sure based on this review they will get right on these issues.
Computer Tablets
Okay, this might be a preemptive review since I have not actually purchased one yet, but I think a review is valid on the actual quest I am going through. So far I would have to give it a three out of five stars since I have been searching all day and still have more questions than answers. I will post this review format in the way I have been reading formats all day:
Pros
- I am not oblivious to the fact that this is potentially a product that I want and need and I am grateful they have created such a product.
- They look shiny and new and have all sorts of features.
- Some of them don't cost too terribly much.
- They weigh less than a desktop computer and even less than my old laptop.
- I saw someone on the airplane playing solitaire on one and that is something I would totally do if I were on an airplane.
- I saw someone on the airplane reading a book on one and that is something I would totally do if I were on an airplane.
Cons
- There are way, way, way too many different types, configurations, operating systems, dodads and things to make this an easy comparison shopping experience.
- They have many features, but they are not as functional as a laptop.
- The ones that have all the best stuff cost more than I want to spend.
- They may not weigh very much but I bet they will break if I drop them.
- The major application I would use them for would be getting on the internet which would cost an additional fee.
- I would probably only be using this thing when on trips, and based on the cost of the initial tablet and internet fees I would be paying quite a bit to have a portable solitaire playing, ebook reading and email checking device.
Of the cons, the one that is the hardest to get around is the enormous amount of variation of devices. I am definitely not an early adopter and this means that I often avoid getting the initial lemons, but I am left with a task of figuring out the good from the bad in a very large pool of available products. What this means for me is that I have to research and take notes and research and take more notes and then make a decision before all my research and note taking becomes obsolete.
Another con is that although I want this device so I can be less weighed down on my various airport hikes and I can check my emails and look at websites whenever I want, neither of these are actually necessities. I did just fine this last trip without my laptop. The hotel had a media center where for a small fee I could get online. I had an actual paper book I could read on the plane. Mind you I was not able to play solitaire the entire time I was gone, but that was mostly because I didn't think to bring a pack of cards with me.
So, one star lost for being such a pain to figure out and one star lost because I can't actually say I need this thing more than I want this thing.
To be continued...
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