Product Plug

I'm not much of a salesman and never will be. I don't have that stick-to-it-tiveness that gets people to buy what I'm selling. "You don't want it? OK, no problem."

But I just have to give some rave reviews for a few things that I got for Christmas. Generally, these are more extravagant, not something you desperately need, but I gotta tell, once I got them, I was hooked and I can't see ever NOT having them.

My three new loves are XM Radio, Garmin GPS and Netflix.

XM Radio - While XM gave me a bit of a headache setting it up, it has been superb ever since and despite knowing virtually nothing about cars, I installed it myself. It's got about 170 channels, including all MLB games and PGA Tour events, which I'm very excited about. So far, I've only used it in my car, but some day I'll get the indoor setup, as well. But one great feature about XM is that I can listen to all the stations online. They even have extra stations on the net. I highly recommend channel 31, The Torch, which is a hard rock Christian station.

Garmin nuvi 200 - This little guy is a life saver. I just wish I would have had it a few months ago when I got lost in downtown New York (easily the most distressing 45 minutes of my life). Type in an address, search for a restaurant, it'll take you there, step by step and tell you how fast you are going, when you'll get there and can even lead you around detours and construction.

Netflix - My deal with Netflix is a little different than usual because it was an unlimited three month gift certificate, so I can get one movie at a time but as many as I can watch. For a small monthly fee -- less than renting a movie at Blockbuster -- you can have new movies and classic films delivered to your door. Netflix pays for the postage to ship it back, as well. Within three days of putting the movie in the mail, I got a new one. There's no need to pick them out each time, either. The web site has a queue to place films in order of preference and they'll send them to you in that order. Also, Netflix has a pretty nice selection of movies and TV shows on the site that you can watch on your computer at any time. I just watch four episodes from season three of Saved By the Bell.

All three...fantastic. I highly recommend.