Epinions Recent Reviews for jmr50

So much style, so little substance

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:13:56 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - It's easy to expect very little from a Manhattan hotel room: a little space, a clean bathroom, and service that doesn't make you want to run and hide. Still, Hudson delivers on none of those. It's stylish, sure, but style only goes so far: sooner or...

Great Marriott Location in Columbus Ohio

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:00:35 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Columbus, Ohio isn't the easiest town to find a great hotel in or around. Many of the downtown hotels are pretty run down, and the further out locations are somewhat sparse. The main exception is the Marriott at Tuttle Crossing and the Embassy Suites...

Finally Receiving a Much-Needed Face Lift

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:46:57 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Marriott Hotels run the gamut: there are outstanding hotels, and mediocre ones. This hotel had a bit of each, with tower rooms meeting the Marriott brand promise and other rooms... not so much. Starting last year, the Santa Clara location started a face...

Perfect Financial Center Hotel

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:25:44 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Smack dab across the street from the breathtaking 555 California Street skyscraper (with the Carnelian Room high atop it) sits the Omni San Francisco. I've always enjoyed the Omni chain as a great example of how a chain business hotel can remain anything...

Beautiful Alternative to the Chains

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:48:11 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - As a frequent visitor to downtown San Francisco, I've stayed at most of the major chain hotels in the area, and there's something comforting about their consistency, but it also gets rather numbing. Sometimes, it's nice to try something with a bit more...

Easy to use, Quick to clean

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:09:12 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - My expectations in a cooking surface are pretty basic: easy to use and easy to clean. The GE JGP945SEK meets both of those expectations with a well-engineered and simple design which has a few tricks up its sleeves. Near the top of GE's line of 30"...

Nothing Special in the Oven

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:43:49 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - There's a lot of interesting product on the market in the wall oven market. Whereas the old choices used to be essentially one oven or two, there are now a wide variety of choices. Some have a convection oven, or a microwave oven, or another alternative...

Efficient and Good Looking Alternative Fridge

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:26:49 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - In the universe of refrigerators, there used to be just two options: top-freezer models versus side-by-side. Each had their benefits: top-freezer was more efficient, and held pizza boxes and deli platters with ease, while size-by-size required less...

Top notch appearance, mid-range performance

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:59:02 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - I purchased a GE Monogram ZBD6880 in my new home mostly based upon the incredibly sleek appearance. It features an all-stainless front, all-stainless interior, and heavy steel handle. The interior has two levels with fold-down tines and is notable in...

Barnes & Noble.com: A perfectly nice online bookstore with a first-rate retail presence, too.

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 14:40:09 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - I've used Barnes & Noble's online store (bn.com) since it's inception in the late 90s. As a stand-alone web site, it is a poor second to Amazon.com, but when combined with the reach of the many Barnes & Noble stores scattered all over suburbia, it...

eCOST.com: Quick to Send, but Odd Prices

Sat, 3 Aug 2002 11:06:25 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - I ordered twice in the last year from eCost's web site, and found the process just an inch short of deceptive each time. When I had the item, and paid the bills, however, I almost always concluded I'd gotten a good deal, even if it wasn't always clear...

Chips & Bits Online Store: Awful Site can be Awful Cheap

Thu, 1 Aug 2002 17:17:33 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Their site is hard to use, their shipping and availability can give you a headache, but now and then, they have a price so good they're worth the trouble.

Chips and Bits is one of the survivors from the Old Days of mail order catalog...

TechStore Online Store: A Cut Above

Thu, 4 Oct 2001 11:50:34 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - There are a lot of mail-order computer retailers out there. Some are price-comparison site types - they lowball the prices, make it up somewhere else (shipping and handling) and mostly carry whatever the hot items are at the moment. Others are more like...

J&R Music and Computer World Online Store: Some Things Require the Human Touch

Sun, 9 Sep 2001 09:51:32 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - If you're familiar with the New York Times, you're familiar with the full-page advertisements for J&R (Everything) World. While J&R operates a fairly large physical store on Park Row in downtown NY, the same deals have always been available via their...

Sun Enterprise 450: Something Isn't Right

Fri, 1 Jun 2001 01:04:12 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Positioned near the top of Sun's workgroup-level servers, the E450 has an interesting combination of features. It supports quad-UltraSPARC operation, can install scads of memory, and twenty (20!) drives across three hot-swappable UltraSCSI backbones...

Awkwardly Positioned App Server

Fri, 1 Jun 2001 00:23:34 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - My company, then almost entirely a Dell shop for x86 hardware, came into possession of a half-dozen Compaq DL380s to be used as Linux boxen. We looked at the DL380s when we picked servers before, but opted for Dell 2450 due to their smaller size (2U...

Balanced Scorecard for a Well-crafted Car

Mon, 9 Apr 2001 01:17:30 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Buying a car these days is a study in compromises. As cars become more expensive, one must balance the things one needs for the things one wants. The frequent trend now is to strip the base model down to an imaginary price point, to get people into the...

Best of Both Worlds

Fri, 16 Mar 2001 11:55:30 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - I've been using my Sony STR-DB940 since May 2000 and the experience has been an excellent one. It replaced an older Sony STR-DE8xx receiver, which lacked some of the new features needed to make DVD really shine.

I was looking for a Sony...

Dell PowerEdge 2450: Dell's Best Rackmount Value

Sat, 20 Jan 2001 20:37:37 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Don't let the word 'value' in the title confuse you -- this server is all about power. But, at the very low price point this server sells near, you can't help but to agree it's a fabulous value.

I have purchased over a dozen for my company in...

Decent Card, but a Poor Overall Value

Sat, 20 Jan 2001 20:24:35 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Chase Manhattan and I have had a long relationship. They were my first savings account, my first checking account, and my first credit card. Then, they upgraded me to Gold, and later to Platinum. With these upgrades came a variety of features which added...

The best Covad DSL ISP out there, hands down.

Sat, 20 Jan 2001 20:04:12 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - I initially ordered service in March of 2000. Their representative didn't pressure me, and knew what he was selling. I got free PPP access and email set up within 15 minutes of my call.

Bell Atlantic of NY (now Verizon) had some problems -- I...

Columbia University: An Amazing Experience

Fri, 23 Jun 2000 01:51:34 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - I am a recent graduate (1999) of Columbia College. I did their BA Computer Science program, and despite a few shortcomings, wouldn't trade a single minute of it for any other experience.

Basically, I headed towards college unsure of who I...

Why get Wired?

Fri, 23 Jun 2000 01:10:39 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - I've read Wired on and off for several (4 or 5) years. In the beginning, it was an elite magazine for those on the leading edge of a revolution that hadn't quite hit. Then, suddenly, the revolution hit, exploded, washed up on the shore, and generally...

More Nag than Mustang

Sun, 18 Jun 2000 20:44:36 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jmr50 - Mustang Grill looks like the type of place that suits me -- it has a nice interior with a large bar area, a varied menu with haute bar food, and seems to attract a friendly young crowd. This in mind, I decided to try Mustang Grill on a quiet Thursday...