Oct 17 2012

Prepac Quad media rack – BMA-1520 review

As a huge film and music buff, I was starting to have trouble finding space for my CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Rays. I had small or medium-sized media racks scattered throughout my house, but that wasn’t really working all that well for me. I had considered having a woodworker craft a custom cabinet for me, but that proved to be a long-term goal given the exorbitant price associated with having anything custom-made (especially fine wooden furniture). In the interim, I found a large rack that seemed to fit my needs made by a Canadian company called Prepac. They specialise in furniture and media cabinets that are sturdy, but don’t cost a small fortune.

In particular, I thought that the BMA-1520–more commonly referred to as the “Quad,” since it is a quad-width rack–looked promising. The Quad holds an impressive 1520 CDs (where it gets the “1520” portion of the model number), 700+ DVDs, 1200 Blu-Rays, or any combination thereof. It comes in oak or black, and I decided to go with the black finish as it would match the other items in my living room:

Prepac BMA-1520 quad width media rack

In terms of build quality, I’m pretty impressed with the Prepac Quad. Even though it is constructed from laminated composite woods, it is substantial. Also, it is weighted really well so that it doesn’t feel like it is going to tip over. The rack comes with zip ties and hooks in order to secure it to the wall, but I didn’t find them necessary on the carpeted flooring in my family room.

I also found assembling the unit to be fairly straightforward. The steps were clearly outlined and illustrated. However, the only part that I found a bit unnerving was the backing of the rack. It is nothing more than cardboard, but that’s not my main concern. The primary issue is that the pieces of cardboard fit precisely against the dividers, and they are attached using small nails. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but the first part that I attached was slightly shifted toward the other side of the unit. That meant that every subsequent piece of backing was shifted as well. Considering the divider beams are quite narrow in the first place, attaching the other backing pieces proved to be very difficult, and required some overlapping. After splitting a couple of the dividers ever-so-slightly, I finally did get the backing completely attached. Granted, my assembly qualm may be my own fault since I was trying to do it without having someone else there to assist (by holding the backing in place, et cetera).

Overall, the unit is sturdy, holds a huge amount of media, has virtually no wasted space, and fits nicely in the space that I had for it. I’m very pleased with the media rack given its price.

Cheers,
Zach

Oct 16 2012

Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey – French vanilla creme review

For the past few years, I’ve been using the 100% Whey Gold Standard protein powder from Optimum Nutrition. I find that it is a great supplement, especially after a workout. It really helps my muscles feel better after long runs, or some strength training. Granted I’m not anywhere near a bodybuilder or even in the weight-lifter category, but for me, it works very well.

I started using ON 100% Whey Gold Standard because it offers a good amount of protein (24g per serving) without a huge amount of fat along with it (only 1g, 0.5 of which saturates). I had found that many of the protein bars and such were high in protein, but also very high in saturated fat and calories. This powder only has 120 calories per serving, and even when mixing it with skim milk, that’s only about 200 calories.

Ever since I started using this brand, I’ve always purchased the double rich chocolate flavour. Though I really like it, and it essentially just tastes like a big glass of chocolate milk, I was getting really tired of it. Last week, when I needed to buy another container of it, I went with a new flavour–French vanilla crème.

Optimum Nutrition - 100% Whey Gold Standard - French Vanilla Creme

This flavour is a great alternative to the standard chocolate, but yet it is generic enough that mixing other things (like fruits) with the shake would still work nicely. I found that with the same serving size, though, it makes for a substantially thicker shake than did the double rich chocolate flavour. It also tends to foam a bit more than the chocolate. Some people have found that there is a slight bitterness to this flavour (as well as the cookies and cream), but I haven’t experienced it. I would guess that the problem would be from not mixing the powder well enough. However, bitterness caused by lack of mixing could plague any flavour. All-and-all, this is a great deviation from the norm, and I am looking forward to trying some other flavours down the road as well.

Cheers,
Zach

Oct 15 2012

Radar trap ahead

A friend of mine sent me an email recently, and the story that went along with it was really funny.

Radar trap ahead - tips accepted - boy entrepreneur

Now THAT is a fantastic idea, not only for the boys who are getting some good, quick cash, but also for the folks that avoided the speed trap. 🙂

Cheers,
Zach