Saturday, August 29, 2009

Things I'm sorry I bought

1. Wal-mart "chocolate" covered Espresso beans. Apparently the nasty chocolaty stuff they use is cheaper than the miniature beans they cover. I don't remember the brand, because I threw the mostly-uneaten container in the first rest stop trash can I came to. They were a mix of brown and white--if anything the white ones were worse. I'm not being a chocolate snob here-M&M grade chocolate would be more than adequate. I usually get a 12 ounce box of Trader Joe's espresso beans for $3.99--certainly not a super luxury price.

2. Diet Coke Plus. Advertised as "diet coke with vitamins and minerals", I bought it because the store was out of regular diet coke. It tastes like someone dissolved a children's chewable vitamin into a coke--The funny vitamin pill taste, mixed with a hint of artificial fruit flavor. I drank a few sips, and gave the rest of the 12 pack away--I'd rather have generic diet cola.

3. Eco-nation speakers 'made with up to 80% recycled materials', another Walmart purchase. (What does "up to 80% mean in this context?) Folding pyramid-shaped speakers, they fit together like a cardboard cut-out toy, 'tab A in slot B" style. I didn't expect much from them--all I wanted was something to make the tiny, tinny speaker in my generic GPS a little easier to hear. Even with my low expectations, I was sadly disappointed. Although they did reduce the distortion a little, they also reduced the already low volume considerably, so much that even taped to my headrest, they were harder to hear than the built-in speaker from the windshield mount. I've tried them on my laptop, and on my Ipod touch. While they are less tinny than the Touch's built-in speaker, they are not as good as the laptop, and are quieter than either.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:38 PM

    Wow I bought Eco nation speakers and they work fine for me

    ReplyDelete