Pick Your Best Smile

Beautify the Space Between Your Teeth

Flents Plastic Toothpix with Carry Case Review

Flents ToothpixThis is the best toothpick ever! It’s a Poly Pik, which is a very difficult to find brand, unless you want to order 500 at a time. I can’t remember where or when I found my first Poly Pik (this product is branded Flents on the packaging), but it was years ago and I have been using the same 4 Toothpix all that time. Well, actually, I use only one at a time, but I keep one in my car and another at my desk. I used to keep one in my wallet too, but that just didn’t seem right – people would stare when I’d pull the thing outa my wallet

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What’d you pay for that Segway?

How much did that thing cost you?

It seems like a fairly innocuous question. I get asked that question every time I am out gliding about on my Segway. I know it’s an unusual device, especially where I live – I think I’m the only one in Plumas County, CA that has one, or uses one regularly. But I sure wish people would think about that question before they blurt it out.

What would be your reaction if a stranger walked up to you and asked how much you paid for your car? A person you have never met comes up and asks, “what’d you pay for your watch?” Someone stops you in your tracks and says, “how much you pay for that bike/ring on your finger/bag of groceries?

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Review: PortaMate PM5000

Miter Saw BlissIf you have a nice, big shop, you might not need a portable stand for your miter saw. I don’t have a workshop though. I just have my patio with a small area for storage. When I got my miter saw, I had to set it up on some scrap plywood straddling a couple of saw horses. And because it is a small patio, I sometimes had to move the saw one way or the other or take it all apart and move the saw horses and plywood and saw… You get the idea. It was a real hassle.

With precious little usable lung tissue, I had to come up with a solution that didn’t involve me expending a great deal of energy moving the saw around. Back in my

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Oak Side Table

Traditional Round Oak Side Table, by Gilda Furniture

The vision I had for my bedroom remodel was along traditional lines. Although my apartment is a low-slung tri-plex, built in the 1990s here in the real Northern California – Feather River Country – I felt that I could give it a classic and metro-stylish look of elegance. Furnishings play a big role in that end and I have accomplished it even while on a very limited budget. One of the elements of this design was to have a traditional looking round oak side table, instead of the standard bedside end table.

Table as shown on amazonI prefer to shop locally, but there are very few furniture stores in Plumas County that carry quality furniture. I looked, but finally had to spend time searching the Internet for what I wanted. I found what I wanted on Amazon.com for less than $150.00. This Oak side table is an excellent addition to my bedroom. The actual color of it is lighter than the image on Amazon depicted and slightly darker than the thumbnail image of the grain pattern they showed. It’s a beautiful golden oak color and

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To Avatar, or Not To Avatar

Grump, my alter egoNearly all the commonly used message boards allow the use of what is known as an “avatar.” These are the little pictures that you see next to the member’s names in the message thread. Many of the message boards I have been involved with offer a list of interesting avatars that you can set up in the user control panel. You can choose from a couple dozen or even hundreds of pre-selected avatars, or you can upload one from your computer, or point to one of your own located on your website.

Avatars are so popular and forums so prevalent that there are websites solely devoted to offering you a huge assortment of avatars. Some are free, some you pay for, some are plain and simple, some can be joined with frames and other image elements. They come in many sizes, but usually will not exceed the dimensions most common message boards allow. Here

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Recessed Door Pulls

This is a review of the Baldwin Hardware Flush Mount Door Pull I purchased for my bedroom closet doors and a pocket door. In my bedroom remodel, I used metal accents with a Venetian Bronze finish. I searched Google and discovered a branch of ATG Stores.

Some things you have to see in person to fully appreciate their suitability. The Baldwin Hardware Flush Door Pull in Venetian Bronze

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Doctors Ain’t Always Right

Still here and lookin' dapperThree years ago, one of my doctors at the Veterans Hospital in Reno, NV told me I had 2, maybe 3 years left. I am very happy to be here to show you that doctors ain’t always right.

Yes, I still do have COPD (Emphysema). Some doctors call it late stage, some end stage, others call it severe COPD. Whatever stage it is, it means that they have prescribed for me the last, best drugs and treatment to extend my life – and my breathing – as much as possible. There is no cure,

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I Want My Old Body Back

My old body could eat junk food on a regular basis because my work installing floor coverings ate up a big portion of the calories I took in. I could stay up past my bedtime too. My after-hours activities ate even more calories – dancing (I loved dancing), bicycling, making love and even shopping. And I could get by on 4-6 hours sleep and be fresh as a pot of coffee in the morning.

As I got older, the calories began to be more noticeable

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David Bromstad Brought Me Back To Life

David BromstadJust the way I had spent most of my days the last 3 years, in early May, 2009, I was holed up in my cave of an apartment waiting to die. I was told I had end-stage Emphysema and not a lot of time left.

But that day last May was the beginning of something that changed the way I felt about my life and what I wanted to do with at least part of what I had left of it. The credit goes to David Bromstad, interior designer and host of Color Splash

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Enough With The Anti-CHP Rhetoric

In response to so many letters to the editor of Feather Publishing newspapers…

CHP Shoulder PatchCan we finish up with the complaints about our local California Highway Patrol real soon, please? It’s getting tiresome and some of you are sounding like whiners. Really. Because there have been so few cheering for the CHP, allow me.

I’ve been driving the roads of Plumas County most of my adult life. That totals around 12

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