Hello Jeff! Thanks so much for your comment on my web site, (below) I am really jammed on time right this minute, but as soon as I get a while, I will e-mail you detailed instructions for preparing and painting new residential drywall. I will approve your comment, of course, but I am attempting to find a way to reply to it right on the site, which is not readily available on Word Press. Sorry for the delay. I hope you are not in a hurry.

Thanks,
Ed Kimble

Wow, wasn’t expecting that. To be honest, I was barely expecting an answer… bloggers typically don’t even bother. The next e-mail I got was this:

You came to the right place with your question, Jeff.

I have some time now to answer you. Sorry for the delay.

Fist, inspect all joint tapes to see if they are smooth and flat. Don’t just look at it, run your hands over it. Sand lightly and apply spackel as needed. Let dry fully and check again and repeat above as necessary. Use a new white dry cotton cloth to wipe the wall down, and make sure that there is no spackel dust left on the wall. Do not wet the wall or wash it. Many instructions recommend this, but this is not good. Now you are ready to start priming and painting.

You can prime the wall with a high quality latex drywall primer. I recommend this. I recommend only Latex products for bare drywall, not oil base. In a pinch, and to save money, you can actually use a flat latex finish coat paint as a drywall primer. Not as good as the actual primer, but OK.

Now you need to inspect the wall again. The first coat will highlight any defects in the spackel, which you will need to correct like I explained in the first paragraph.

If you intend your finish coat to be flat, you can simply apply two coats of a high quality latex flat paint. Semi gloss and eggshell finishes, and any finish with a sheen to it are much more difficult to finish properly. They highlight and magnify any defect. Another problem is that the drywall
tapes and any spackel spots will have no sheen whatsoever, instead be dead flat spots. Many instructions tell you to spot prime tapes with an oil
base primer/sealer. This does not work. The spots need to be primed with a flat latex paint. I will also share with you a trick only I know. Contractors who have been in business for years struggle with this, and they are never going to get it. If you are painting with a tinted (color) finish, the only way to completely hide the tapes and other repairs is to get a quart of flat latex paint tinted exactly the same color. This is a completely unknown trick.

Please let me know if I answered your question to your satisfaction. I will approve your comment once I have exhausted attempts to add to it myself directly on the site.

I think your web site is great, and the link will be published in your comment on my site. Also please consider publishing my link (below) on your site and social
networking sites.

Thanks, Ed Kimble.

This was a greatly detailed response which he spent more than a few minutes creating. He asked for a backlink at the end which is smart but not necessary in my case. For being so helpful, I was going to do it anyway!

Ed, here’s your backlink and thanks for being a great blogger.

Interior House Painting

1. Protein shakes. Pack a few servings in some tupperware. Just add water, mix with spoon. Or use a shaker bottle if you want that luxury.

2. Rolled oats. Great complex carbs. Pack in tupperware, and eat them dry.

3. Tuna. Bring a manual can opener in your vehicle and eat right from the can.

4. Protein bars. These are expensive and not great for you, but better than most fast food. You can also see how to create your own with a little Youtube searching, which can save you money and put you in control of the macronutrients.

5. Beans. Kidney, black, refried etc. Keep a few cans of these in your ride and open them with your manual can opener. Throw what you don’t eat out, unless you want a case of the stinkies.

6. Wheat Germ, Flax Seeds. These are good by the spoonful and have a decent amount of calories to supplement a mobile meal. Extra health bonuses too, but I can’t remember what they are.

7. Hormel turkey chili, kinda high in sodium but packs a nice punch with the protein content.

8. I should also mention Dried Soybeans, although I haven’t actually found anyone who carries them.

That should be a good start. Keep a box of these goodies in your trunk and you can easily steer clear from fast food. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know.

1. Less traffic around stadium before and after game – Time is money
2. More money in your pocket due to Cheaper ticket prices… You’ll also be less inclined to go to the games resulting in savings on overpriced hot dogs, nachos, beer, & apparel
3. Far less bandwagon fans to get annoyed by
4. Less pointless game recollections at the office, saving time to talk about something that’s actually relevant to your actual life

• Driving With Disney – For the little girl. Well, the songs on this 2-cd set are probably more suited for my wife than my daughter since my wife grew up watching the movies that feature these songs. I am interested to hear Yo-ho yo-ho, a Pirate’s Life for Me, which is on this.
  
• Weezer’s Red Album – This is a great summer album, which we blasted throughout the summer of 2008. We really like this one.
  
  
• Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown – Looking forward to hearing this one, their single was recently released and has a good feel to it. Skimmed through the whole album this week and I think this will be one of their best.
  
• Morrissey’s Years of Refusal – I have been meaning to check out more Morrissey, as I love “How Soon is Now” and “First of the Gang to Die”. He’s got to have some more great songs. This album is his most recent.
  
• The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - Can you believe I’ve never listened to this one? I figured I’d give it a listen since it topped the Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums of all time. I’m not a huge beatles fan by any stretch, but I’m anything this groundbreaking has to be worth a listen.
  
• The Smiths’ Sound of the Smiths – More Morrissey, but this is a collection of his greatest hits while he was with the Smiths. I’m sure many of these songs will be new to me.
  
• Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited – This one also ranked very high on Rolling Stone’s top 500 of all time. Not a huge Dylan fan either, but wanted to check this out.
  
• Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds – #2 on top 500 of all time, plus wife & her parents like them. I really only like “Don’t Worry Baby” but who knows, there may be more that I like on this one.
  
• The Clash’s London Calling – Don’t really know anything about this group, but they ranked high on top 500. This is kind of my oddball pick based solely on that Rolling Stone list.
  

Any comments on my playlist? Which new album do you think we will like the most? Comment below

Here’s an example. This summer, I purchased an on-demand coffee maker from Wał-Mart on a whim. While I was in the coffee maker aisle, I whipped out my phone and easily found said item using the search feature on the home page. I saw Amazon’s price, which happened to be higher than Wal-Mart’s, and then saw the average review score and a list of the actual reviews by consumers like myself. After reading a
few pages of the reviews, I made the decision to purchase the coffee maker, and the reviews were spot-on.

Please keep in mind that Amazon makes it relatively easy to “game” their reviews. This means that companies who manufacture the product might make some reviews about their own product. A competitor might also write a fake bad review and suggest their product instead. Generally, you should mentally filter out one-sided reviews that don’t have any legitimate pros or cons about the product. Few consumer products are perfect these days, and you should keep that in mind. Also, you should be especially wary of a review which turns a bad point into a good point (i.e. “My only complaint about this product is that it is so beautiful that it takes the attention away from my new granite countertops”).

Let’s analyze some real Amazon reviews for fun. We’ll use a product that I own, the Xbox 360 Wireless Headset. This happens to be an pretty good product, so we’ll take a look at a good and a bad review.

Review 1: 5 Stars

I have had this headset for over six months now, and have only good things to say about it. The chat is clear, and the controls are well placed. I often run up a floor to grab a mid-game snack and can still participate in the voice chat with my comrades. If you are serious about taking your chat to the next level, I suggest you buy this. Its battery life runs for about eight hours, which is more than enough for all but the most serious (and socially deprived) gamers. It has a rechargeable battery which I have found recharges in about 3-4 hours. It is fairly well made, and has withstood numerous drops and even a game induced frusturated throw or two.

This reviewer seems to be honest in his review, but there is a lack of any bad points in this review. In my experience, a walk just slightly out of range from the console produces an awful buzzing noise which is only audible to the people in my party, resulting in them screaming at me to reset my mic. If this guy is going down a floor, he has probably experienced this phenomenon at least once, as it is a very common problem with this headset. I’m not saying this is a fraudulent review, but I would probably filter it out if I didn’t know more about the product.

Review 2: 1 Star

Do no buy this product from the same seller. Product was advertised as new and came in just “as is”. Not in original package and does not have an instruction book. Not happy with sale at all. A annoying beep also happens when the headset is turned on and happens even minute. You are better off keeping your original headset.

This unhappy reviewer rated the product based on his dismal transaction with what is probably one of Amazon’s partners. The “annoying beep” he’s referring to is the sound that happens when his headset is muted. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t know this because the manual wasn’t included. This review is unfortunate because he rated the product poorly based on his transaction, which unfairly dragged down the product’s average review score.

So, those are some examples of some reviews that would at least take with a grain of salt. Here is an example of a good review that you should consider most highly

Review 3: 4 Stars

I’ve had my 360 since Christmas 2007 and just went Live earlier this week. My corded headset crapped out the FIRST time I used it so I went out and bought this wireless unit.

The unit I purchased is one of the newer models that come with the USB charger. Not a bad feature, but I’d prefer an AC charger. Charge time is pretty slow, taking up to 6 hours for a complete charge. Fortunately I tend to play at night so if my headset dies, I just plug it in before I go to bed and it’s ready to go when I get up.

The sound quality is pretty good. I hear everyone clearly and have had no complaints from other players about me sounding strange or about static over the connection. I would like to see future models add a quick mute function. I liked that feature in the wired headset.

My other little complaint is that the earpiece(s) don’t fit my ears well. This could be user error, or it may be because my ears are a bit larger than average. The unit never seems to fit securely, but has yet to fall off so can I really dock it points?

All in all, despite a couple small complaints, this headset does what it sets out to do; give gamers the ability to communicate with others clearly, without the hastles of being wired to the controler. I would recommend this to any 360 Live users.

This review features valid good and bad points, so this is an example of what I consider to be a good Amazon review.

One more advantage of using Amazon’s mobile site is that you can often find better information than asking a clueless retail sales representative. Even if the rep isn’t clueless, he might suggest a higher-priced item in hopes of getting a higher commission, depending on where you shop.

Save some money or change your mind about a purchase from using this site? Let me know by commenting below.

I find it humorous that the same people who make these claims are the same ones who spend an even greater amount of time vegetating in front of a television. Video games promote hand-eye coordination, logical thinking, problem solving, and human interaction on online services; all which actively involve the end user. TV, on the other hand, assumes you are an unintelligent blob and constantly spits out brain-numbing commercials, infomercials filled with insulting sales tactics, and television shows which are produced for the LCD of viewers. This dumbs-down the experience for you, the viewer, and encourages you to zone out while watching. This is not good.

Let’s dig a bit deeper. Basically, people play video games as a form of “escape”. Escapism, in my opinion, is thought of as “play” or “fun”. There are many different forms of escapism, including TV watching,  video games, daydreaming, listening to music, drug/alcohol abuse, mindless web surfing, reading, etc. When a human  seeks an escape from their day-to-day, it shouldn’t be viewed as a bad thing. I mean, “All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy”. As humans, we need a way to release, relax, and do something that makes us feel good after a long day of doing things we wouldn’t prefer to be doing.

Here’s when video games (or any other form of escapism) becomes a problem. If an adult gamer decides to level his player to 45 in World of Warcraft instead of making sure the rent/mortgage is paid, then that is a problem. In my mind, it’s the same as the person who would rather read the last chapter of a Grisham novel before bed, procrastinating on finishing the load of clothes which will now need to be done the following morning, resulting in them being late for work the next day without a valid excuse. What it boils down to is simple time management. Being an adult comes with a fair amount of responsibility, and those responsibilities need to be taken care of before you should engage in an act of escapism.

I think that video games get a bad rap with the older generations of American society. They think that video games are for children, probably because that’s what their children asked for when the Holiday season came around. What they don’t know is that there are many games coming out with an “M for Mature” rating. Would this be the case if there was not a huge market for mature gamers? I doubt it. There are also online communities for older gamers like 2old2play with over 15k community members, and The Older Gamers with over 34k community members. The gaming age survey found here states that the average US gamer age is 35 years old.

Let’s end this misconception. Escapism is escapism, so don’t let your grandmother tell you that video games are a waste of time while she spends an hour a day on the penny slots at the casino. She’s just jealous

• Website Development
• Music (Rock, Hip Hop, and Electronic)
• Sports (NFL, NBA, Fantasy Football)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Business (Entrepreneurship, Ownership, Management, Survival)
• Life in the New Orleans area
• Home Ownership and Renovation
• Balancing Work and Family
• Good Deals I Find
• Video Games

I know that not many people will be interested in all of these topics, so I’ll have a category list for easier navigation. I like it when people comment, so I’m hoping to get a few of those as well. I hope you enjoy the site.