Despite my English degree, which I got from an accredited four-year university located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, my grammar sucks.

However, when people hear I have an English degree they automatically think I’m a grammar guru and spelling bee champion and they would journey from offices as far away as down the hall to get access to my supposedly vast knowledge of English grammar.

Unfortunately, I’m not a grammar guru or a spelling bee champion, but I feel it’s my obligation as a holder of an English degree to fake it. However, I don’t know if I can fake it much longer, because the questions they ask are getting harder.

So I decided to buy A Grammar Book For You And I…Oops, Me! by Edward Good from the number one online superstore, because it looked like a book that will help me gain vast amounts of English grammar in a portable package. Okay, a 430-page paperback book isn’t the most portable thing, but it sure beats the 921-page hardcover Chicago Manual of Style.

One of the things I like about A Grammar Book For You And I…Oops, Me! is that it’s a book that can be read from cover to cover or used as a reference book.

This is unlike the Chicago Manual of Style, which is definitely a reference book. Anyone who reads the Chicago Manual of Style from cover to cover has too much time on their hands, is a full blown grammar geek, needs to get a life, is not getting enough television, and will never get laid.

Grammar is not the most interesting subject to read about.

It’s definitely below Snaps books. (Yo mamma is so fat that when they gotta catch people out of a burning building the fire fighters grab her arms and legs and use her to catch them. Oh, snap!)

However, the author’s style of writing and his humor made it easier to go through each chapter filled with complex words, like transitive, predicate, conjugated, adverbial, interjections, participal, antecedents, and etc.

It took me six months to finish the book and I feel like I’ve learned a lot.

Actually, I read the first four chapters five months ago and then finished the book recently. I forgot what I learned in the first four chapters, which were kind of important to understand the rest of the book, but like knowing nouns, adjectives, and verbs are really important in grammar.

Like I said before, A Grammar Book For You An I…Oops, Me! is also a great reference book, so instead of rereading the whole book, I’ll just look through the table of contents to find what I’m looking for.

Just like in college, when I used Cliff Notes to study Shakespeare’s Hamlet, because I didn’t read an iota of it.

Item: A Grammar Book For You And I…Oops, Me!
Purchase Price: $17.95
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pros: Author’s style and humor made it a fun read. Also makes a great reference book.
Cons: Would confuse a certain President of the United States because of the book’s use of three-syllable words.

Erin, a loyal Impulsive Buy reader / stalker / groupie, sent me an email asking if I was going to do a review on the Ice Breakers Liquid Ice. I told her that I would, but I wasn’t able to find any. I didn’t find it at the national grocery store chain or at the national convenience store chain I shop at. I emailed her back and told her about my dilemma.

She sent me another email and told me she would send some from Seattle.

Wow! Who would have thought running a quasi-review website would actually land me free stuff?

So the package with the Ice Breakers Liquid Ice came to The Impulsive Buy Laboratories the other day and the first thing I noticed was how small the Liquid Ice were. They were these tiny blue balls and when you suck on them, they eventually burst and all the liquid minty goodness comes out.

The problem with the blue balls is that if you suck on them it takes awhile for the goodness to come out and that can be damn frustrating. However, if you lightly bite the blue balls, things happen much quicker.

When the blue balls finally burst, it was pretty disappointing, despite all the pent up blue balls excitement I had. In my opinion, sucking on something else will get you better results, perhaps an Altoids or a breath strip.

You know how Altoids and breath strips seem to clear your nasal passages when you suck on them, I didn’t get this feeling with the Liquid Ice.

Also, the minty flavor from the Liquid Ice doesn’t seem to last very long in my mouth compared to its competitors.

Now some of you may be wondering, if the blue balls melt in your mouth, does it melt in your hand? Well I decided to figure that out with help from The Impulsive Buy Intern.

So I put two blue balls in the intern’s hand, so the intern could just hold them and get a feel for them. After a couple of minutes, nothing happened. I then told the intern to gently roll around the two blue balls with both hands. For a while nothing happened, so I told the intern to roll the blue balls a little faster and seconds later they burst, spraying its goodness into the intern’s hands and some on the intern’s blue lab coat.

I think the Ice Breakers Liquid Ice is a clever idea. It is definitely something different than the usual mints and breath strips. However, if you want fresh breath that lasts, mints and breath strips will do a much better job.

I guess the tiny blue balls left me a little frustrated.

Item: Ice Breakers Liquid Ice
Purchase Price: $1.77
Rating: 3 out of 5
Pros: Compact packaging. Clever concept. Tiny blue balls.
Cons: Not much of a minty punch compared to mints and breath strips.

Ever brush your teeth with your finger?

I have several times after waking up next to some girl I don’t even know and let me tell you, it really doesn’t work very well. You end up with toothpaste under your nail and you don’t get consistent toothpaste foaming. Sure I could use the girl’s toothbrush, but I don’t know where her mouth has been. Okay, I know where her mouth was several hours ago, but before that, I don’t know.

Thank oral hygiene for Oral-B Brush-Ups, which could eliminate those uncomfortable situations.

Oral-B calls their Brush-Ups “textured teeth wipes,” which are used to clean teeth and freshen breath. Don’t we have too many ways to freshen our breath? Let’s see, there’s gum, mints, and breath strips. Now we have teeth wipes. I think we’ve reached the point where we need another breath freshener, like we need another hole in our head or another Bush in office.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just pop a mint or chew some gum?

I guess it might be good for those people who brush their teeth at work and are afraid that co-workers might mess with their toothbrush in ways that I could only imagine in my demented, evil head.

So how to they work?

Each Brush-Up is individually wrapped and basically it’s a sleeve that you slide over your finger. The textured side has all the minty goodness, while the opposite side is where you slide your finger. I had some trouble getting it on my pointer finger, which isn’t very big. So if you’ve got big fingers, you might have trouble putting it on.

After sliding it on, I began to wipe my teeth, gums, and tongue, like they suggest on the package. While wiping my teeth, it brought back memories of all those nights with strange women I don’t even remember the names of. Well I’m sure they don’t remember mine, or they chose to forget.

When I was done, I just threw it away, like the phone numbers of those nameless women. Oral-B claims that a special moisture shield helps keep fingers dry, but my finger did get quite moist.

To be honest, the Brush-Ups made my mouth feel like they’ve been sort of brushed. I have a minty taste in my mouth, but I think if you wanted to freshen your breath, some gum, a mint, or a breath strip will do a much better job.

I wouldn’t recommend the Oral-B Brush-Ups to be a replacement for regular brushing. However, they do come in handy in certain situation, like waking up in the apartment of some girl I met less than eight hours ago.

Item: Oral-B Brush-Ups
Purchase Price: $3.49 (12 pack)
Rating: 3 out of 5
Pros: Cleaver idea. Perfect for those times when you wake up at some strange girl’s place.
Cons: If you want to freshen your breath it’s easier to chew gum or pop a mint or breath strip in your mouth. If you have big fingers, you’re going to have a big problem getting a Brush-Ups on.

Here at The Impulsive Buy we like to push the envelope and do things no other quasi-review website has ever done.

Today we will be doing TWO reviews in ONE review. It’s like buying one and getting one free or two for the price of one. Of course you’re not paying for anything, but you get the idea. We came up with the idea from the national grocery store chain we shop at, which has various buy one and get one free offers. So yeah, we copied them.

What are you going to do about it?

Speaking of copying, our reviews today will pit the two top cola companies in the world, who constantly seem to copy each other, Coke and Pepsi. Think about it: Caffeine-Free Pepsi and Caffeine-Free Coke. Cherry Coke and Wild Cherry Pepsi. Vanilla Coke and Pepsi Vanilla. Pepsi Twist and Coke With Lemon. Crystal Pepsi and whatever Coke was creating, just in case Crystal Pepsi actually caught on.

This time around they’re trying to cash in on the latest low-carb craze. Introducing Pepsi Edge and Coke C2. Okay I’m making like these just came out, but as we all know, they’ve been around for a few months.

We were going to compare the two to see which tastes better, but we felt that it wouldn’t serve our reading audience of seven people, because some people prefer Coke over Pepsi and visa versa. Instead we decided to focus the review on each company’s claim that these reduced carbs and sugar colas taste similar to their big brothers.

Because The Impulsive Buy isn’t funded by some federal government grant, we could only buy one 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi Edge, Coke C2, regular Pepsi, and regular Coke from the national convenience store chain down the street.

When we got back to The Impulsive Buy Laboratories, we split the soda evenly among the reviewers. Unfortunately, in the laboratory there weren’t enough cups, so we ended up using whatever was around: measuring cups, beakers, test tubes, and a ladle.

We all chugged the Pepsi first. One of the reviewers actually swirled it around like it was a glass of wine and smelled it.

It’s a damn cola in a fricken’ beaker, it doesn’t need to breathe!

Then we all drank the Pepsi Edge. Another reviewer swirled it around and smelled it, just like the first reviewer.

Oh come on! Why would you WANT to smell the cola? The fizz might get up in your nose.

Next was the Coke. The third reviewer followed the other two and swirled it around and smelled it.

I give up!

Finally, we got to the Coke C2 and I just followed everyone else and swirled it around and smelled it.

Like it made a fricken’ difference!

At least they didn’t spit it out.

After the tasting, all of the reviewers agreed that Coke C2 tastes much closer to regular Coke than Pepsi Edge is to Pepsi. However, nothing can beat the sweet, sweet, succulent, sugary taste of original Coke and Pepsi.

Also, some of the reviewers feel that Pepsi Edge is more on the edge of being Pepsi One than regular Pepsi.

Item: Pepsi Edge / Coke C2
Purchase Price: Pepsi Edge – $1.29 / Coke C2 – $0.99
Rating: Pepsi Edge (3 out of 4) / Coke C2 (4 out of 5)
Pros: Less carbs plus less sugar equals less hyperactivity.
Cons: Less carbs plus less sugar equals less taste.

Here at The Impulsive Buy Laboratories we do experiments, because the law says that if you have a laboratory, you must do experiments. Some of our experiments have included eating Pop Rocks while drinking a cola; pouring chocolate syrup into our mouths followed by milk and shaking our heads violently to see if they mix; sticking a whole pack of breath strips in our mouths; and opening a bag of chips and seeing if anyone could really eat just one.

This time we decided to see if we could overcome the problem you have when you drink orange juice after brushing your teeth. For those who haven’t done this, when you drink orange juice after brushing your teeth it tastes very bitter, instead of the usual sweet, sweet, delicious, refreshing taste of the citrus sinensis.

In order to overcome this problem, we decided to orangify my oral hygiene. (Yeah, we made up the word orangify. What about it? Scientists make up words all the time. Like pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis is a “real” word.)

To do this we needed to look for the leftovers of the delicious Listerine Natural Citrus mouthwash, which we drank…Um…Reviewed a few weeks ago. Then we had to buy the new Crest Whitening Expressions Fresh Citrus Breeze toothpaste. Finally, we needed orange juice. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any in the laboratory’s fridge, so we needed someone to go to the convenience store down the street, which wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

No one in the laboratory likes going to the convenience store because of the persistent panhandlers that wait outside under the trees. Some of us believe they can smell loose change coming from a mile away, which is surprising since their rancid body odor is probably ten times more powerful.

After pulling numbers out of a hat, I was the “lucky” loser. Dammit!!!

I walked to the store, got asked by the panhandlers if I had loose change, told them no, walked into the store, purchased the orange juice, walked out of the store, got asked again by the panhandlers if I had loose change, told them no again, got asked by the panhandlers what was causing the jingling in my pocket, told them it was my keys, got told by the panhandlers that they didn’t believe me, I let out a sigh, gave them 35 cents, walked away from panhandlers, heard the words “cheap bastard” as I walked away, and walked back to The Impulsive Buy Laboratories.

With everything ready, it was time to begin the experiment. First, we poured some of the Natural Citrus Listerine in my mouth. I rinsed for the recommended 30 seconds, gargled for 10 more seconds, and then spit. (Yes, we are still wondering why my spit is clear instead of orange like the Natural Citrus Listerine.)

Second, I brushed my mouth with the Crest Whitening Expressions Fresh Citrus Breeze toothpaste with a brand spanking new toothbrush. Like any good scientist knows, clean instruments will give more accurate results.

The Fresh Citrus Breeze toothpaste is a beautiful orange color with little sparkly things throughout. I swear it tastes like a certain candy, but I can’t put my finger on it. Well if tastes like candy, it has to be good.

The brushing lasted for 3 minutes and I did brush my tongue like the American Dental Association recommends.

Now that my mouth felt like a citrus fiesta, it was time to drink some orange juice.

After everyone placed their bets on whether the orange juice would taste bitter or normal, I drank the orange juice.

So what were the results of this experiment? (1) I will never gamble again. (2) Crest Whitening Expressions Fresh Citrus Breeze toothpaste is really tasty. (3) Orange juice and toothpaste will never go well together.

Item: Crest Whitening Expressions Fresh Citrus Breeze Toothpaste
Purchase Price: $3.29 (6 oz.)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pros: Pretty orange color with shiny stuff. Tastes like candy.
Cons: Orange juice makes a bad tooth brushing chaser. Pricey for a small tube.

The best way to describe the McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich is call it the result of a wild sex romp between a McChicken Sandwich and a Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad.

Imagine the oily and wet action with lettuce flying everywhere and sesame seed buns being slapped.

Oh yeah!

Oh wait! What were we talking about again?

Oh yes. After eating the Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich value meal, I have to say that I’m not impressed with it at all. Hence my attempt to make it seem exciting with my “What if they got it on?” introduction.

Nothing really stood out with the sandwich. The ranch sauce wasn’t anything special; I know I could buy a better tasting ranch dressing from the national grocery store chain I shop at. The lettuce was iceberg lettuce, which doesn’t have much nutritional value, but then again if you’re buying fast food, you’re probably not too worried about nutritional value.

I think my friend was right to ridicule me for breaking my no-fast-food rule by going to McDonald’s. Their menu just isn’t very exciting and the food isn’t very good.

The only things I would go to McDonald’s for are their French fries and $1 hot fudge sundaes. Mmm, $1 hot fudge sundae…Mmm…

I’ll be right back.

(15 minutes later)

Ooh, $1 hot fudge sundae.

Oh crap, I got hot fudge on my keyboard.

Dammit! They didn’t give me any napkins! Why don’t they EVER give me napkins?

Well I’m too lazy to walk to the kitchen to get a paper towel, so I guess I’m going to have to lick it off.

There, it’s gone.

Man, this review was as boring as the McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich.

Maybe I should get back to writing about the salad tossing sex romp?

Item: McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich
Purchase Price: $4.99 (value meal)
Rating: 1 out of 5
Pros: I got a $1 hot fudge sundae.
Cons: Nothing impressive. Uses crappy iceberg lettuce. Ranch sauce wasn’t very good.

I bought this album for one reason: To win the iTunes Music Store one-millionth download contest. The person who downloaded the one-millionth song was going to win a whole mess of sweet Apple stuff and I thought it was going to be mine, because of my elaborate plan.

First, I created an Excel spreadsheet that calculates the number of songs sold per minute and how many seconds were left until the one-millionth song was downloaded. I used the download totals from the Apple website, which was updated every five minutes.

Then I had to find an album that contained a whole lot of songs. At first I thought I had to go with a greatest hits album. The Barenaked Ladies’ greatest hits had nineteen songs. Def Leppard’s greatest hits only had 15 songs. Okay, maybe this greatest hits route isn’t the best. I really needed something with more songs.

I decided to search the iTunes Music Store classical catalog and found what I was looking for, although it was going to be expensive. I ended up with the $49.95 Mozart: Symphonies set (now $79.92), which contained 117 songs. Perfect! I figured if I didn’t win, the $50 I spent wouldn’t be so bad because I actually like Mozart. But I wasn’t going to lose because I had my super-dooper elaborate plan.

So I had my Excel spreadsheet and my 117 songs Mozart collection, then all I had to do was sit in front of my computer and wait. The number of downloads slowly increased, getting closer and closer to the magic number. When it got about a few thousand downloads away, I purchased my album, but I think a few thousand people across the nation were trying to buy something as well because my purchase wasn’t going through. It stalled for a few minutes. While stalling, I checked to Apple website to see if they had a winner and they did.

Dammit!

Since they found a winner I wanted to cancel my still stalled purchase, but right when I was going to hit the cancel button, my album began downloading.

So here I am with an enormous amount of classical music, all 9 hours, 56 minutes, and 22 seconds of Mozart. Only recently I finished listening to the whole thing and I realize that I have all the classical music I need for the rest of my life.

It’s good, soothing stuff. I enjoy listening to it when I’m reading, writing, or falling sleep. No, I didn’t listen to it while writing this review, because I didn’t want to be reminded of my crappy super-dooper elaborate plan.

I can’t believe I got beaten by some lucky guy who bought only ONE song.

Dammit! I think next time I’m going to need a better Excel spreadsheet.

Item: Mozart: Symphonies
Purchase Price: $49.95 (now $79.92)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pros: Soothing music. Great to listen to when reading, writing, or falling asleep. A whole lot of music at a wonderful price.
Cons: Didn’t even come close to winning the iTunes contest.

Holy crap!!! Did you watch the X-Games? Man, they were doing some sick stuff. Makes me want to do some xtreme sports, except I’m afraid of getting hurt. Trying to grind down a handrail on a skateboard could be a testicle-crushing experience or I could drown trying to surf ten-foot waves.

Growing up I used to be big on jumping ramps with my BMX bike. (Note: Never jump with rubber slippers. You might end up with scars on the top of your feet.) I tried to jump as high as I could and on occasion take a foot or arm off. I remember this one jump when I tried to do a no-footer. As I gained altitude, I quickly pulled my feet off of the pedals and spread them outward. Unfortunately, as I brought my feet back, I missed the pedals and my love nuggets got crushed. Fortunately, for my future children, every thing was all right.

Thank gonads, for the Adrenaline Sports Pack (ASP) by Aspyr, which allows me to participate in xtreme sports from the comfort and safety of my computer. The ASP consists of three best-selling games: Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer, and Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray. Individually, each game sells for $20-$30, however the ASP costs only $19.99 for the full versions of each game. Although I purchased the Mac version, there’s also a Windows version available.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 is by far the best game out of the three. I guess when you’re up to the fourth game in the series you’re going to know what you’re doing. It can be a very frustrating game if you play in the career mode, because some of the goals seem almost impossible.

As for Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer and Wakeboarding Unleashed…Um…I didn’t really get to play with them yet because I’m still trying to beat Pro Skater 4 and I guess that’s why I said it’s by far the best game out of the three. It really is a frustrating game. I would’ve waited to write this review until I spent some significant time with all three games, but I really, really, really needed a review for today and this was the only one closest to being done. Also I don’t play a new game until I beat the game I’m playing.

One thing to note about the ASP is the high system requirements for Macs, which consist of at least a 733 Mhz G4/G5 processor with 256MB of RAM and 32MB of Video RAM. For Windows, you’re going to need at least an 800Mhz Pentium 3 with 256MB of RAM and 32MB of Video RAM, which seems pretty modest.

Also to make the game easier, it would be wise to purchase a game controller. For my Mac, I bought a $13 USB to Playstation adapter from a national electronics store chain that uses B-List celebrities in their commercials and a $10 Playstation 2 controller from a national computer store chain that’s slowly moving away from computers to be more like its competitors.

If you’re looking for some xtreme action without the possibility of broken bones or you wrapped around a park bench, try the Adrenaline Sports Pack.

But then again a wise man once said, “Pain heals, chicks dig scars, and glory lasts forever.”

Item: Aspyr Adrenaline Sports Pack for the Mac
Purchase Price: $19.99
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pros: Great price for all three games. Ability to experience xtreme sports without the hassles of emergency rooms and doctors. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 is an xtremely fun game and as for the others, maybe I’ll let you know later.
Cons: High Mac system requirements. You can control games with your keyboard, but buying a controller would make it easier.

A couple months ago, I tried the limited edition Ketchup Pringles, which I purchased from the national, small-business destroying superstore behemoth I sometimes shop at. I really enjoyed them, although this is from someone who thinks ketchup goes great with anything.

While watching a Pimp My Ride marathon and mowing down the can of Ketchup Pringles in one sitting, I wondered if Pringles was going to come out other limited flavors. Fast-forward a few months and on the shelf at the national grocery store chain I shop at, I discovered Salt and Pepper Pringles.

To describe the experience of eating Salt and Pepper Pringles, I have decided to express it in rhyme. Or to be more exact, take someone else’s rhymes, change a few words, and make them my own rhymes.

So I give you Salt ‘n Pepa’s “Push It,” with a few of my changes in the lyrics.

S-S-Salt and Pepa Pringles are here and it’s in effect.
Want you to try it babe,
Tryin’ it by day then at night you’ll have some regret.
C’mon Pringle, you sure like to show that you know,
how to make messed up chips to eat during a TV show.

Salt it good.
P-pepa it real good.

Item: Salt and Pepper Pringles Potato Chips
Purchase Price: $1.50 (on sale)
Rating: 1 out of 5
Pros: Got to be “Weird Al” Yankovic for a few minutes.
Cons: Too much salt. Too much pepper. Would you like some potato chips with your salt and pepper?

You want a piece of me? Do YOU want a piece of ME?

Bring it on, baby! I’ll take you on with my huge guns? Take a gander at one of my 11-inch pythons in the picture. Uh huh!

I know you’re scared now! Take a look at that picture again. The Velcro on my XtremeMac SportsWrap iPod Armband is barely holding together because of my bulging biceps.

Don’t let the paleness fool you. My guns are powerful weapons and the SportsWrap looks damn good on either one of them. I used to run with my iPod in the back pocket of my shorts, but because of my muscular buttocks it would skip every so often, so I got the SportWrap, which puts my iPod in an ideal place to minimize vibration and shock. After a month of running with it, I haven’t had one skip yet.

The SportsWrap is made out of moisture-resistant neoprene, so the sweat from my huge arms while running won’t soak my iPod. It also has a clear mylar cover which protects my iPod and allows me to control it. There are headphone holes on both the top and bottom of the SportsWrap, which allows me to use my iPod in either vertical orientation. There’s a convenient place for earbud cord storage and in case my arms get even bigger, the SportsWrap comes with an extension strap.

It’s simple to slide the iPod in and out of the case, which was made for third-generation iPods. I don’t know if they work well with the fourth-generation iPods, although they are about the same size. If you have a silicone case, like the Jam Jacket, you’re going to have to take your iPod out of it, before you slip it in the SportsWrap.

Despite my huge arms, the Velcro strap holds well. I haven’t had it slip down my arm at all.

The only problem I had with the SportsWrap was the fact that the headphone holes were too small. Or maybe they look small because I’m looking at them next to my huge biceps. These small holes didn’t allow my headphone plug to be fully plugged into my iPod. Eventually, using my huge, muscular arms and a pair of scissors, I made the one of the headphone holes big enough.

After doing research on the various armbands cases for the iPod, I decided to purchase the XtremeMac SportsWrap because it fully encloses the iPod and it didn’t look as bulky as other cases. My purchase was a good one. Despite the headphone hole problem, it has worked very well for me. I would definitely recommend it to someone who is looking for an iPod armband case to go running, biking, or working out with.

Oh yeah, baby! Feel the burn!

Update: Ever since I washed the SportsWrap in a washing machine (letting it air dry), slight condensation consistently forms on the bottom back of my iPod after I finish a run. I don’t know if in the long term it will cause a problem to my iPod.

Item: XtremeMac SportsWrap iPod Armband
Purchase Price: $27.00 (on eBay)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pros: Encloses iPod. Moisture-resistant neoprene. Mylar cover allows ability to control iPod. Looks good on my huge arms.
Cons: Headphone holes are waaay to small for headphone plugs, unless you modify them.