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Review: The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz – Jane Hawk #4

The Forbidden Door (Jane Hawk, #4)The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The fourth book in the Jane Hawk series is definitely one that should be read after the others. This could be read as a standalone novel (and indeed the first few pages are a recap) but it would spoil the fun if you later decided to go back and read the first few.

I have the book 3 stars as the beginning of this book felt really stilted due to being written in a weird third person tense that jarred as it attempted to tell the story and it just felt like it was interrupting all the time.
The latter part of the book did not have this issue so I was finally able to enjoy the last part of the book.
Note there is a lot of violence in the book and lots of extreme methods of dying so stay away if squeamish, however it does help to paint the dark, screwed up world that would occur when mind control is used for bad purposes and when things go wrong….really wrong.

The ending was very abrupt and almost felt like it was in mid plot. The Kindle version does have the first couple of chapters for the next book but I didn’t want to read those until the entire book comes out.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC copy of this book.
You can get your own copy from your book retailer September 11, 2018.

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Vorfreude® Single Rabbit Black review

I was pretty pleased to get the 10 pack of  Vorfreude® Single Rabbit Black 3m clips that help to keep cables organised as I don’t know about you but as I plug in a lot of devices into the computer and charger I often have that small moment of panic as I see the cable disappearing down the back of the desk as it is released from charging the phone and evil gravity pulls it down.

Although these are called single Rabbit’s, this doesn’t mean you only get one Rabbit (which would be really expensive!) you actually get 10 in the pack for $10– but each one will only hold 1 cable. Vorfreude does have different rabbits that can hold up to 3 cables and also in different colours to match your decor. These particular clips came with “rabbit ears” which don’t seem to serve much of a purpose apart from making it slightly easier to guide the cables into the clips.

The clips are pretty small and suitable for holding usb cables and such, but a power supply cable for a monitor or desktop are too big to fit in the hole of the clip which does reduce their usefulness a bit (see picture on the right for a monitor power cable on top of the clip.)

Monitor cable does not fit in the clip
Monitor cable resting on the clip
Glasses held in place at the edge of a table
Glasses (or cables) are securely held to the side of the desk

When working on a lot of computer parts it is handy to keep all the power cords for the power supply and monitors at the top of the desk ready for use but these clips would be too small for that. They are also too small to hold pens, but they do hold glasses firmly on the side of the desk (left).

The devices are stuck to your desk or other flat surface with 3m sticky pads – strong enough to stick firmly and not get knocked around easily, but they are also not a permanent fix so they are possible to remove without damaging the surface which is great if you haven’t quite decided where you want to put them.
Note that although I did receive this item at a discount, I would buy these again, but probably opt for the larger, dual models so I could keep 2 power cables safe on the top of my desk. However at the full Amazon price of $20 they would be overpriced – at $10 it’s not bad value. The clips seem to do the purpose and are described as small but they should really be a bit bigger for practical purposes – I’d give them 4/5 stars.

#Vorfreude

Review: TravelSafer digital pressure gauge

Both Brandi and I have had alerts in our cars come up to say that our tire pressures need to be checked. Unfortunately neither of the cars actually tell you *which* tire has the problem so it requires checking all 4 tires (which probably should be done anyway). Naturally the stations never have working air or pressure gauges and as I have an air compressor at home – I need a quick way of checking the pressures. I think this is actually caused by the temperature dropping and getting cold overnight as it only seemed to happen on the couple of cold nights we have had recently.

I already have one of those stick gauges – you put it on the valve stem and it shoots out a piece of plastic with marks to tell you the pressure and each tire came up with the right pressure give or take one psi so I wasn’t sure which tire had the problem.

I was given the chance to review the TravelSafer digital pressure gauge and due to the above issues I jumped at the chance to get a second opinion on the tire pressures.20161106_091352

The gauge arrived in see through plastic on a cardboard backing (left)  and was very easy to open which is a plus – no need to go and get scissors to open this.  It requires a 3v (supplied) lithium battery,  so the device was ready to use straight away. It does look like the screws that hold this device together are really recessed, so switching out the battery may require some long jewelers screwdrivers in order to take the two halves apart. Hopefully the battery lasts a long time!

 

 

When I went to check the pressure on the car, I discovered a major  shortcoming in that the device is pretty bulky and it was difficult to get the device on the valve without the hubcap getting in the way. The device is about 3cm wide so make sure you have plenty of room by the valve stem. You can see the difference in size with the image below – it was a bit too bulky (but not impossible)  to fit on the stem with the hubcap on and nobody is going to remove the hubcap to check their tire pressure!

gaugecomparison-smallThe device however does  seem to be accurate and was within 1 psi of my original manual device when I checked several tires so it’s reading is pretty consistent.  The pressure is displayed for about 30 seconds so you get plenty of time to remove from the tire and then check the readings. The image below shows the reading of 25.5 on the device and about 26-26.5  on the manual device
20161106_091746

 

The device The light of this device helps to see where the valve stem is has a blue light that is always displayed whenever you take a reading. During the day you are not going to notice it. It is pretty handy to see at night when you are trying to check the pressure. The light is not strong enough to ruin your night vision or read the paper with, but is enough for you to be able to see where the dark valve stem is in the dark. The reading display is back lit to make the numbers more visible.

The device also shows you the pressure in psi, bar, kpa or kg/cm – the vast majority of you are going to use this on your car tires but the other pressure readings will be useful for air compressors too (I guess?). Switching between the scales is a simple push of the power button to cycle through the 4 stages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This device works well if your hub caps allow plenty of access to your valve stems and it makes it a lot easier to read the pressure of your tires. The light also makes it easier to use at night, but it’s not bright enough to use as a flashlight to navigate around the car in the dark.

Note that I did receive this item with a promo code and this doesn’t affect my review of this product – it  is a useful addition to the glovebox in the car, is easier to use than the manual device, but lacks some features that would make it the ideal tire pressure gauge for me. #TravelsaferDigitalTirePressureGauge