Posted in reseña, tagged gadgets, office products, reseña on December 25, 2008| Leave a Comment »
The Officejet J5750 is my first home-office move into an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/scanner device. I’ll never go back to multiple options.
That is not to say that the J5750 is the sturdiest or most reliable HP product I’ve ever owned. It is not. The simple HP1012 and 1200 printers, for example, easily outpace the J5750 on both counts. But then they don’t shoot for the same degree of difficulty as the all-in-one does, either. (more…)
Posted in reseña, tagged music, Point of Grace, reseña on December 24, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Point of Grace‘s extraordinary 1998 release displayed the formula working at full strength. Tight harmonies, Bannister-ish orchestration, flawless execution from start to finish, this was an album of Big Songs. There’s not a lot of angst or soul-searching in this album. PoG would only rarely go in that direction. Instead the four women of that era’s PoG majored on encouraging Christian messages with which `positive radio’ makes hay. (more…)
Posted in reseña, tagged office supplies, reseña on December 22, 2008| Leave a Comment »
When Hewlett Packard introduced the ‘XL’ version of its Inkjet printer cartridges, I was skeptical. If it’s that easy to fit three times the ink into a cartridge designed for my printer’s unforgiving cartridge socket for roughly twice the price of the standard size, why did HP start out with the smaller size in the first place?
Truth be told, the question still lingers. (more…)
Posted in reseña, tagged office supplies, reseña on December 22, 2008| Leave a Comment »
When Hewlett Packard introduced the ‘XL’ version of its Inkjet printer cartridges, I was skeptical. If it’s that easy to fit three times the ink into a cartridge designed for my printer’s unforgiving cartridge socket for roughly twice the price of the standard size, why did HP start out with the smaller size in the first place?
Truth be told, the question still lingers. (more…)
Posted in reseña, tagged office products, reseña on December 22, 2008| Leave a Comment »
This economical little black-and-white printer may be the most reliable laser printer I’ve ever owned, and I’ve known a few. Our family networks to this printer from several computers scattered around the house via a wireless hub. This assures that it will print small, casual print runs as well as business items from my home office downstairs.
Short story: it never fails.
No alignment problems, no eternally processing virtual logjams, no blurring. Just one sharp print run after another. If HP ever alters the recipe, let’s hope it’s in the direction of some concrete improvement that I cannot at this imagine. Because right now, everything works
Posted in fauna, reseña, tagged birding, fauna, reseña on December 21, 2008| Leave a Comment »
With the size and appearance of a slimmed-down Reader’s Digest, the less famous Bird Watcher’s Digest is a chirpy little optimist of a magazine not so very different from, say, a black-capped chickadee.
Short and moderate-sized articles cover specific species, how-to/techniques, choosing the right birding equipment, and joy-of-birding anecdotes.
Advertisements abound but do not overwhelm. Some are quite helpful.
BWD is a perky standard for birders both casual and serious.
Posted in reseña, tagged music, reseña, Sting on December 21, 2008| Leave a Comment »
The unhurried pace of `When We Dance’, the opener to a decade’s anthology of Sting’s best work, could serve as an icon for the artist’s contribution to serious popular music. Pensive, elegant, emotionally resurgent, the song captures the burden of the man’s music. Perhaps the highest compliment this reviewer can pay the collection and the reservoir from which it was drawn is just this: unlike the figures in Sting’s balladic poetry, the music refuses to grow old. (more…)
Posted in paterfamilias, reseña, tagged reseña, sports on December 18, 2008| Leave a Comment »
The two principal articles in the December 22, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated number that lies before me are why SI remains the uncontested leader in North American general sports periodicals. Jim Trotter’s ‘D As in Dominant’ connects the dots between the Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain of yore and its present day top-ranked NFL defense. Joe Posnanski’s noir take on the winter baseball meetings in Las Vegas (!) captures the pathos and ridicule that are both required for a full understanding of this off-season institution.
Both are simply great sports writing. (more…)
Posted in my hometown, reseña, tagged music, reseña, The Aaron Pelsue Band on December 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »
The Aaron Pelsue Band has become a fortunate fixture on the Indianapolis worship music scene. From its `home stadium’ at the Circle City’s East 91st Street Christian Church, the band has developed a dedicated following among Christian worshippers who appreciate—in addition to some rockin’ music—the band’s ability to play alternating lead and supporting roles in that spectrum of Christian experience that unites biblical instruction to the emotional expression of corporate worship. As an occasional visitor to East 91st Street Christian Church, this reviewer is a card-carrying member of TABP’s enthusiasts.
Though this live CD provides a glimpse of the energy TAPB brings to live worship, it undersells the bands other strengths. Unimpressively mixed, the album fronts Pelsue’s voice at the expense of the band’s broader sound. This is, of course, an occupational hazard of both live and debut albums. At points on TAPB LIVE, the band seems to have reaped the downside of these twin liabilities. (more…)
Posted in reseña, tagged Camilo Sesto, music, reseña on December 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »
This collection of twenty of Camilo Sesto’s hits from the 1970s and 1980s is an excellent introduction to the Spanish-born love balladeer’s work. Largely unknown in the English-speaking world, Sesto is a mega-star with a voice well suited to the stage.
His lyrics are all about women and the love they inspire, reject, nourish, and protect. Rich orchestrations back up a strong, supple, capable voice. In the Spanish-speaking world now middle-aged people often locate formative experiences in their young lives by pegging them to a Sesto song the was current at the time, much as might happen among English speakers via the music of the Eagles or, say, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. More than one young love will leap to mind when a Sesto ballad arrives unexpectedly over the airwaves.
Though the genre is not my favorite, one has to respect Camilo Sesto as a master of it.
Canter Bridge 