© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc. This feed is subject to our terms of use: http://www.epinions.com/help/rss_terms http://www.epinions.com/user-scmrak Recent reviews written by member scmrak en-us 121 37 http://www.epinions.com/ http://img.epinions.com/images/epi_images/logos/epinions_121.gif http://www.epinions.com/content_443689635460?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Life has not recently been kind to Cason Statler. Once a Pulitzer-nominated Houston reporter, Statler wasted a promising career on an overactive libido and too many Jim Beams with beer chasers. An Army hitch in Iraq didn't straighten him out; it just... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~443689635460 Thu, 4 Sep 2008 18:00:42 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_443689635460?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_443474742916?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Murphy's Law of Furniture states that "The length of time between acquisition of a piece of furniture and its first scratch is inversely proportional to its cost." The Universe ruthlessly enforces that law in any house inhabited by children or... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~443474742916 Tue, 2 Sep 2008 18:58:52 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_443474742916?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_443213975172?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - I am Patti Black. That's Patricia A. Black, age 38, TAC officer in the Chicago Police Department; the woman some call the most decorated officer in the history of the CPD. That may be so, but sometimes my Sunday afternoon rugby matches feel... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~443213975172 Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:11:16 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_443213975172?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_443106889348?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Sometimes I think the greatest inventions since sliced bread simply has to be the flash drive - what some people call a "memory stick." They're darned near indestructible - I've heard tales of drives intact after surviving both the wash and dry cycle in... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~443106889348 Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:54:45 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_443106889348?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_443008126596?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - The bumper-sticker of the 1980s said it all: "It Happens!" Well, it didn't say "it happens," it said... errr... "Poop Happens!" And if you have an indoor kitty at your house you know for certain that kitty poop happens, ‘cause the... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~443008126596 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:24:24 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_443008126596?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_442887671428?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Anyone who's ever climbed a ladder knows that feeling of panic that seizes the gut when the ladder shows the first signs of slipping. If you've never experienced that feeling, it's one I suspect you'd rather leave off you life list - whoever does your... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~442887671428 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:43:56 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_442887671428?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_442723962500?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - I belong to that fraternity who believe that a good whiskey (and even more so, a good whisky) must never be adulterated by mundane substances. Early in my "career" as a sipper of fine single-malt whiskies, a woman in Heathrow poured me a sample of... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~442723962500 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:25:03 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_442723962500?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_442605932164?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - There are some names you just simply don't associate with the Martha Stewart lifestyle - you know: frilly curtains, tons of throw pillows, crocheted tea cozies, and potpourri. One such name is Stephanie Plum; big-haired gum-crackin' tight-jeans-wearin'... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~442605932164 Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:32:19 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_442605932164?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_442239520388?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - I'm carrying a BlackBerry® now: I guess that means I've finally joined the real techie generation. And it's not an everyday BlackBerry like I see the college kids using on the plane (in full defiance of the FAA, I might add); it's a - gasp! -... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~442239520388 Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:44:53 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_442239520388?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_442336382596?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - It's been my observation that men change wallets much less often than women change purses (and I'm married to a woman who does that pretty rarely, bless her heart). For me, it happens perhaps once every ten or fifteen years - most recently a few... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~442336382596 Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:03:30 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_442336382596?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_438642642564?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - In the ten short years since the PeaceMaker virus brought commerce and communications &#150 and darned near civilization as a whole &#150 to a halt, the US economy and infrastructure alike have collapsed in a heap. The divide between haves and have-nots... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~438642642564 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:00:45 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_438642642564?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_442092326532?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Abigail Campano walked in the door of her Atlanta home to find a young man bending over the battered body of her teenaged daughter while holding a bloody knife. So she did what any good mother would do in the same situation: she wrapped her hands around... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~442092326532 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:27:12 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_442092326532?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_441853447812?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - The lovely old facades of nineteenth-century buildings in the French Quarter of New Orleans can hide termite damage so severe that it's a wonder the buildings are still standing. Let that be a lesson to you; beauty has never been and never will be a... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~441853447812 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:41:26 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_441853447812?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_441400004228?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - OK, all you Joanna Brady fans out there, the word for today is "relationship." Whether we're talking your relationship with your mother, your spouse, your siblings, or anyone else; J. A. Jance's Damage Control is all about damage to those... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~441400004228 Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:29:02 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_441400004228?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_441230790276?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - You get what you pay for, or so I'm told, and within certain limits that sentiment is usually reliable. So if you don't want much, then you shouldn't pay much; and in this particular case, the old saw held true. I wanted a pair of cheap headphones that... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~441230790276 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:08:19 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_441230790276?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_440929980036?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Ever notice how police officers walk around with so much hardware on their waists they could use their belts for weight on scuba outings? The modern business/technogeek would probably look like that if the smartphone had never been developed. Imagine... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~440929980036 Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:51:48 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_440929980036?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_440660889220?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Three years ago Lionel "Lonnie" Byrd had dodged a bullet. Charged in the murder of a young prostitute, Byrd had been released from custody thanks to legwork by The World's Greatest Detective, Elvis Cole. Just a couple of nights ago, though, a... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~440660889220 Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:08:59 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_440660889220?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_440426139268?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Freya Nakamichi is about as close to perfect as a woman could get (at least in certain, more hedonistic circles): she&#146s beautiful, willing, uninhibited, and readily available. Of course, Freya isn&#146t actually a human woman, she&#146s a... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~440426139268 Fri, 8 Aug 2008 16:45:34 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_440426139268?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_440269573764?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - We used to own two microwaves, for reasons we long ago forgot. So you'd think that when I moved into temporary quarters while waiting for the great formerly white elephant on the edge of the prairie to sell that I'd take one of 'em with me. You'd think... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~440269573764 Thu, 7 Aug 2008 12:26:01 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_440269573764?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_439795682948?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - A hoary techie joke says that there 10 kinds of people out there: those who understand binary and those who don't (rimshot). In this age of digital photography, some say that there are 10 kinds of photographers as well: those who want a... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~439795682948 Sun, 3 Aug 2008 22:44:19 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_439795682948?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_438983757444?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Texas brewing icon Spoetzel Brewing is approaching a milestone: in 2009, the company will have been slaking the thirsts and wetting the whistles of Texans for a nice, round 100 years. In the leadup to their centennial celebration, the folks down in the... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~438983757444 Sat, 2 Aug 2008 11:16:14 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_438983757444?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_439088090756?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Ever wondered just how many gigabytes of data about your life are stashed away in a gazillion different places out there? Your credit card purchases alone show where you've been and what you did while you were there. "Loyalty cards" - those cards from... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~439088090756 Fri, 1 Aug 2008 09:59:24 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_439088090756?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_438730591876?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - After four years of a job where I was discouraged from traveling (the jefes didn't want to share the frequent-flyer miles), it appears that I'm to be a road warrior again. The gorgeous hardshell suitcase I bought in June of 2001 is pretty useless for... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~438730591876 Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:56:19 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_438730591876?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_438701035140?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Emily Kramer awoke to find the other side of the bed empty; her husband of twenty years had not come home the night before. Emily's day may have started badly, but it went downhill from there... by noon she had learned that she was a widow and that her... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~438701035140 Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:18:58 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_438701035140?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_437822525060?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author scmrak - Mary Roach is the kind of science writer who really gets into her research, although for Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex one might more accurately state that her research gets into her. Literally (and I mean that in the true sense of... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~437822525060 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:03:22 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_437822525060?linkin_id=8003929