Acer 20" Monitor Review

I said I would do a review on the Acer 20" Monitor that I purchased about a week and a half ago.  First off, here are the specs.

Size = 20"
Contrast Ratio = 12,000,000:1
Price = Just over $108 tax included

First off, I'll go over the cons, sense there isn't really that many of them.

Cons
The CD that came with it is useless.  Put it in my dvd burner and it didn't even work.   Then again, there wasn't much of anything on there that I needed.

Was a little tricky to put together.  At first, I just sat it down in there, thinking that there was something else that held it in.  Then I figured out, that you had to push down pretty hard on it for it to snap into place.

No VGA to HDMI adapter.  I have one of these from my old Monitor, so no biggie for me, but might cause problems for others in the future, if one of the cables goes bad.

No detail to the menu buttons.  Might be confusing at first.

That's it, for the cons.  Not much right?

Pros
Comes complete with cables and everything.  No need for adapters?  Yep, has two connection cables.  One cable that connects directly to your PC video card, and another one that requires the adapter.  Those two cables are the HDMI and VGA cables.  Very handy to have both.

Did I mention that it was wide screen?  16:9 support?

Resolution is 1600 x 900, and has excellent picture quality.  So much better than that old 15" CRT that I had.

Cost, for just over a $100, you can't go wrong.

Did I mention it was Ultra Thin and you could pick it up with one hand?

All in all, I'd say this is a pretty good monitor.  The contrast ratio is insane for the price.  Just love it.  This monitor is actually better than the 17" Flat Screen that I previously had, despite the cons this one currently has.  I highly recommend this if you're on a budget like I was.

The Fear Is No More

The Fear Is No More

The world is dark and now I'm out.
The eyes adjust as I stand and stare
The stars shine bright and help light the night.
The air is fresh and has a cool feel.
The ground is soft as my feet rest on grass.
The senses take over as a smell drifts by.
The mind can't tell, from whence it came.
The ears hear a sound towards the rear.
The hairs stand on end, unknowing of what it is.
The body turns and the eyes see.
The dog stands and stares, not sure what to do.
The eyes meet and we stare.
The moment passes and the dog turns away.
The fear is no more.

Written by:

Roger Hoyt

Copyright July 2011

Rewards of Growing a Garden

I've always wanted to grow a garden.  While I have planted a few seeds, I've never really took care of a garden that well.  Any of the successful gardens we've always had, was because of my parents.  But, this post isn't actually about How to Garden.  This post is about the rewards of Gardening.

So, what are the rewards?  The rewards can be numerous.

- Fresh Food When You Want It.

- Healthier Living and a Healthier Body.

- Better Tasting Food.

- You Know What It's Your Food.

- The Satisfaction Knowing You Have A Valuable Survival Skill.

I'm sure other people can think of several more benefits/rewards of Gardening.  These are just the surface of it.  One of the great things I love about Gardening is the Freshness of the Food you get from it.  This is the "KEY" to any good meal.  The Freshness and Quality of the food, more so than the Food itself.  Technique more so than the Food itself.

Have you ever planted a garden?  Was it successful?  Heck, have you ever even had Fresh food?  Many Americans don't even know what Fresh Food taste like.  They assume that the food they get from the supermarket is fresh.  I hate to tell you this, but it's not.  They pick those foods before they even ripe and then they have to ship them here.  So, often times, the food is what we call green when it's picked.

It amazes me all the time, when someone has Fresh Fruit for the first time.  "It's so good.  Not like that store bought stuff."  The expression on their face, is usually one of shock/surprise.  Yet, people still buy all this produce, and vegetables from Mass Produced farms, that has no nutritional value.  Ok, it has some nutritional value, but not as much as it should.  I'd recommend buying from farmers markets.  Or growing your own.  If you don't have the time to grow your own food, then buy Organic.

"But Organic is so expensive."  Not really.  How many of you are sitting there with a 40" Big Screen TV?  How many of you are sitting there with a Cell Phone and have to pay at least $50-$100 per month?  How many of you are paying at least $50 a month to the cable company.  If you have Internet through them, you're paying more than that.  My point is, we tend to put emphasis on the quality of products we have, but fail to put emphasis on the quality of food that goes into our bodies.  And Americans wonder why they're fat.

Stupid Things People Do

This post is titled Stupid Things People Do.  I'm thinking about making this series of post.  In other words, either a daily, or weekly post.  Probably daily.  There is so much that people do that are just stupid.  Here's one of them

So, today's post is about Car Manufactures.  When you go to the Car Dealer, to purchase a new car.  One might consider asking, if they come with a spare tire.  What, seriously?

Yep, today's stupid things is that Car Manufactures are starting to not put Spare tires in cars.  Why?  What's the method behind the madness?  Their point of view is to make the car lighter and more fuel efficient.  Seriously?  Sense when does taking out a donut tire make the car more fuel efficient?

My point is this.  Cars have always come with a spare tire.  Why?  That adds to the safety features of the car.  Maybe not in the minds of the sellers, but in the minds of the consumer.  How often have you been down the road and needed a spare tire?  Chances are, not very often, yet it's still nice to have that spare.  It's a comfort to most people.  And people are starting to take note.  There are numerous other things you can do to a car to make it more fuel efficient.

Next time you go to a dealer.  Make sure the car has a spare tire.