Furminator Review: deShedding Tool for Cats and Dogs

Every now and then I find a product that exceeds my expectations - making it worthy of a blog entry. This particular product is the FURminator!

A friend from work told me about how great the FURminator to remove hair from pets, and I was a bit skeptical. After all he said it was an expensive brush but borderline "life-changing". I had to give it a try. When I went to buy the FURminator I was surprised how expensive it was, after all we have a bunch of grooming tools already - but based on the raving review of my fellow pet owner I bought one. I remember telling Meghan it was $40 and she thought I was crazy - until she used it!

Enter Manny - one large hairy cat. Our cats are big and the shed all of the time. Meghan grooms them quite often to try and keep the hair balls down, especially when they shed a seasonal coat.

Meghan had recently brushed Manny with our metal wire brush, but was AMAZED at how much hair was removed. The pile of hair was almost the size of Manny! And he LOVES being brushed with the FURminator!

You might think that with the amount of hair it takes off that it might be rough, but it really is "specially designed" to remove the under coat and leave the top coat. It is worth every penny and if you have a cat or dog I highly recommend the FURminator! I wish we had one when we had Shelby (our beautiful yellow lab who shed like crazy too!).

Above are pictures of the actual hair pile from the very first use - and YES, that is just from one cat! The hair just kept coming and coming! (I think we could make hats out of the fur).

Below is information about the tool and then some YouTube videos of people who LOVE the FURminator. The design really is above and beyond any other pet hair brush we have ever had.

Amazon has the best prices on the FURminator, cheaper than PetsMart and cheaper than the FURminator website directly! You can select the size for your pet and their hair length by using the links below.

FURminator Hair deShedding Tool for Cats		FURminator Hair deShedding Tool for Dogs

You Tube Videos!

Dog Example


Cat Example

Triathlons and Why the iPhone is Amazing (Reason #567)

So I did't post about this yet - but a few weeks ago a large portion of Meghan's family competed in a Triathlon here in town. For those that care about the details it was a 6 mile canoe, 5.5 mile run, and 18 mile bike.

I was impressed to see Meghan's Mom, Aunt, Sister, Cousins and Mere-Bear all compete in the triathlon - so I decided I would compete in the next one in October. Now I have to tell you I am a sprinter and I not only do I not run distance, but I don't enjoy it.

So I had to geek out my training so I would enjoy it!

Enter the iPhone app: RunKeeper (for FREE)

Most iPhones now have a GPS in them (not to mention a digital compass powered by a built in magnatometer - but that is for a different blog). So NET - you can just run with your iPhone and it will tell you how fast you are running, how far you ran, etc. And then it saves the data, uploads it to Google maps automatically and you get this creation:

My 2 Laps through my Neighborhood


This is my first training attempt - so I ran / walked for two loops around my neighborhood (each loop is about 1.1 miles). Not only am I impressed that the GPS knows which side of the street I am on, but I can use the data to look at my pace, and attempt to improve each time I run (both distance and speed).

Almost based solely on this app I decided to buy the new iPhone 3G S because I didn't have a GPS in my iPhone. Below are the differences with and without a GPS in both number of points and accuracy:

Old iPhone - No GPS


Actually I am amazed at how closely your position can be determined by triagulating your cell phone signal - so yes - your cell phone company knows where you are when you have your phone with you. But as you can see I never ran into people's houses and the data is not very accurate but surprisingly only within a 20-30% error on distance.

New iPhone with GPS


Here is where you get hundreds of data points and the GPS can tell which side of the street I ran on!

So my motivation for training is more so to generate data than to run, and I am competing with my old times - for me this makes me get out and run, so I guess it was worth the $199 to upgrade my iPhone.

PS - I am also using this app while driving to definitively tell me which way home from work is consistently the fastest! I will also publish my biking progress with this app.

Funny Amazon Product:

The Top Selling item in apparel on Amazon.com is this sweet wolf T-shirt!

This is a great example of how viral marketing works (either intended or not).

Here's the item in case you haven't seen it:


Let's face it. It's a horrible shirt that doesn't have mass appeal.

Here are other items people interested in this shirt bought:


So I believe a stereo-type about who would buy this lead one customer to write an awesome review of the item, and all of a sudden this shirt is an internet sensation:

9,950 of 10,034 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dual Function Design, November 10, 2008
By B. Govern "Bee-Dot-Govern" (New Jersey, USA)

This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.

Here's another great review:

2,016 of 2,056 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great compliment for my skin art, May 19, 2009
By overlook1977 (Raleigh, NC United States)

Unfortunately I already had this exact picture tattooed on my chest, but this shirt is very useful in colder weather.

Now people forward this item all of the place - inspiring others to be even more creative.

Here are some additional product images people uploaded:




I'll leave you to explore the other amazing pictures or reviews for this item.

Funny Sunglasses

So - I haven't blogged in a while - which is bad because then people don't want to check your blog because you aren't consistent with posting new stuff (sign up for the RSS feed is you are hip with computers).

But anyway work has been CRAZY and it'll be one more week of craziness then a week to regroup then VEGAS!

Speaking of - here are some sunglasses I might need while on "spring break" in Vegas!



They claim that when photographed they will look like black bars over your eyes (might need a flash?). Anyway they are for spring break and other scandalous activities (like Girls Gone Wild?).

PS - Did you ever hear the story about how King Tut lost all of his money? Turns out he was part of some pyramid scheme!

Why the iPhone is going to give me a speeding ticket!

OK - reason #143 why the iPhone is AMAZING. Now that you can download apps for the iPhone I have found some really cool free ones like the magic 8 ball and the light saber apps. But this one has to take the cake.

The iPhone has an accelerometer built in and besides flipping the screen sideways, it is going to give me a speeding ticket.

For $13 I downloaded "Dynolicious" which (among other things) measures the 0-60 mph times of your car!!! It also uses this data to calculate some other cool things like the horsepower of your car.




I was only able to give this bad boy 2 tests but I have to say I feel the results are quite accurate (or close enough for recreational use). My 0-60 mph times were close to advertised but a little slower since I wasn't doing anything fancy to "launch" my vehicle at the start (revving the engine then dropping the clutch). Consequently my horsepower calculations were also a bit low but above 300 hp. I also believe you have to find a flat stretch of road. I may have been going slightly uphill. It did say that I was pulling 0.80 G's max which is either just instantaneous (since 0-60 I calculated an average of 0.55 G's) or partially due to the fact that I may have been going slightly uphill.

DISCLAIMER: Just as dynolicious says, the software is intended for experienced drivers in suitable locations. You alone are responsible for any accidents, injuries or property damage that may occur. Always drive safely and obey traffic laws.

New Home Accessory

I present to you - the Chia-Gutter:

iPhone... therefore I am

iPhone Review

OK. I got the iPhone. In a word it is - Amazing. It's not the perfect phone (keep reading) but it certainly exceeded my expectations.

I knew it would have the internet on it. The REAL internet, as you'd see it on a computer. And that fact alone was more important than I ever thought. The fact that anywhere I am I can keep an eye on my fantasy football team (without a laptop) is amazing. The fact that I can be playing poker with my friends and we can find an obscure song lyric. Or the fact that you can quickly show people a youtube video on demand. An unintended fun part of the phone, while I have always enjoyed reading a business magazine in the bathroom, now I have the whole internet (CNN, ESPN, it's endless). Also imagine getting google maps driving directions while on the road! It's amazing. Plus the iPhone web browser can keep multiple pages up at the same time, so I can have my fantasy sports team, ESPN scoreboard, CNN home page, and Yahoo Finance all sitting open at the same time waiting for me to check them out. This is ideal for an open office environment at work. Also I will not be travelling with a laptop to Boston or to Costa Rica anymore because of this phone (yes I will have wi-fi in Costa Rica while in the house, but no phone service).

Because it is a phone (and a speaker phone) the speakers let you play audio. From youtube videos to your itunes MP3's, all of them can be played without headphones, just not very loudly. Which brings me to my only complaint about the phone (day 2). The volumes on the iPhone leave something to desired. It is certainly the most common complaint on the internet and something that must be addressed for the next version. The speaker phone volume is ideal for a library, challenging for a noisy drive, and forget about it in Fenway Park. The volume of the phone speaker when used normally (not in speaker phone mode) is also not as loud as you'd want. Ideal for a library, just ok for the car (thank goodness for bluetooth in the car!), and forget about it in Fenway Park or a room full of kids. In fact the ringer itself is not that loud. Just plan to have all of these volumes on MAX and still want some more from your phone.

That being said I am really excited about the phone. Sure it's not the best actual phone, but the total package with the internet plus the slick interface and cool look makes it worth it in my opinion. Plus with integrated email accounts (mine is from yahoo), it's like a blackberry for your personal life!

The 8 GB size (the only version now) is as small a HD as you'd want. It's passable for an ipod (about 2,000 songs) but once you get into video you start getting crammed. I have 400 songs and 20 episodes of the office and I am 1/2 full. I might only have room for a couple full length movies and it's full. In the future I have heard rumors of a 20 GB version and that will be plenty. 8 GB is fine for now. Also the phone is a bit heavy and a bit large, but not as bad as I thought it would be. It's slightly bigger than your video ipod but fits in your pocket quite well! I was surprised. One minor issue is that during normal browsing you do not get all of the plug-ins on pages (like flash). I understand that some people have unlocked their phones so they can download 3rd party plug-ins but I am not there yet. Youtube is the exception since it is built into the phone as a menu option.

If you are into text messaging (I am not) it is really easy because the entire screen is touch sensitive, so a full keyboard pops up for any inputs.

The other cool points about the phone is that it has a button on the phone (where your ipod power button would be) that instantly locks you phone, so you can slip it in your pocket. Also there is a toggle switch that instantly silences the phone, so if you are in a movie or a meeting you don't have to fumble through menus to do so. Also the interface is very smart (on equity with apple and the ipod). The touch screen and the zoom in and out is intuitive and not cumbersome at all. The fact that what you are looking at rotates as you rotate the phone is not only really cool, but very practical. Some web pages are best read portrait while others are landscape.

Overall I am really glad I got the phone. Basically just buy it, then go home, plug it into your computer, and iTunes asks you a few questions and your phone number is transferred and your previous carrier is notified that you have left them for AT&T. Don't think of this as an expensive phone, even though it is at $400, but really it's like a laptop on the go, and for someone like me or Dale it keeps us in touch with the internet while not looking as nerdy by carrying our laptops to a football party. So really it's a reasonably priced internet browser (laptop) / ipod / phone all for $400. Having said all that I think the price cut on the iPhne will make it sell like hot cakes this christmas as soon as more people see them and begin to appreciate the value for your money. It's not for everyone, if you are a business person on the go or in sales, you might be disappointed with the phone's performance from the whole volume issue. If you are a normal person, you'll be fine. And if you are an internet-aholic, it's a must have!

Now go back to the top and look at the picture of my iPhone viewing this blog entry! How awesome is that! How is that possible?