The Ruger SR 9 Pistol...

While we at Fat Boy love Ruger and consider them a consistent brand you can rely on, we don't particularly love the SR 9.

Usefulness... 1... Because the SR 9 only comes in 9mm (hence the "9") and 9mm is a great target round but a poor personal defense round we have to mark off two points. The SR 9 is not a target gun. It is a personal defense gun. It also has a poor trigger pull and rough action. The action is not terrible but it could be better.

Satisfaction... 3... The weapon fires well. There is ample "gear" to go with the SR 9 like holsters, mag pouches, etc. It is not too heavy and will conceal reasonably well enough in the Winter months. Fat Boy HQ was impressed with the smooth cycling between shots and a reasonable muzzle climb. Very satisfying!

Durability... 4... This is a Ruger quality gun with all the fit and polish you would expect from Ruger. We take off one point because the SR 9 did suffer from a recall in the past. In another year Fat Boy will be willing to give back that one point when we are satisfied there are no more recall issues.

Overall... 2... Comparing this gun with the Smith and Wesson "sigma" series I have to award the trophy to S&W. The Ruger costs more but delivers the same performance. It also only comes in the 9mm caliber. (Bullet speed coupled with low bullet weight make it a poor defense round.) While this is a quality firearm it is not a great value comparatively. And Fat Boys want a heavier round, 180 grains minimum. I think the saying goes, "never show up to a gun fight with anything that doesn't start in '4' ". (44 mag, 45 acp, 40 S&W)

Fat Boy HQ searched for ways to give this Ruger product the nod. We just could not. It came down to the S&W "sigma" series being generally $50 cheaper and having strikingly similar performance. Denied!

PayPal...

Fat Boy employees at HQ spend all of their time online. And, supposedly they are doing research. I am not sure how many times Curve Ball needs to be researched! But, I digress. Our employees at one time used PayPal all the time. We no longer do. As "the numbers" will explain PayPal told us to go take a hike!!!

As you all know PayPal offers online payment and pseudo-merchant services. They have credit cards and other banking products. Their bread and butter though is Ebay payments.

Usefulness... 3 PayPal is a very useful service. Whether buying a nick-nack at ebay or moving money around the world, PayPal gets max points for Usefulness.

Satisfaction... 0 Because PayPal can hold your funds virtually indefinitely and doesn't have to conform to normal bank standards we found PayPal to be deeply dissatisfying. Not to mention they can and do hand out life-time bans from using their services because of accidental EULA infractions. Quick, quote me the PayPal user agreement! Exactly. Too extreme. (We know this from personal experience!)

Durability... 2 PayPal exhibits longevity. But, because of the successes of alternatives like Amazon.com' s pay service, better than PayPal's, I don't see it being tops for long. As well, Google is still fixed on toppling PayPal. I don't want Google intent on my destruction!

Overall... 1 PayPal is a useful tool but shows all the signs of a company that is or was at near monopoly status. Now with Amazon as a peer and Google on the hunt, I think PayPal is going to fall far and hard from it comfy perch.

A pitiful performance... DENIED!

Madonna... Who?

Most of us here at HQ are products of the 80s. Yes, we know who Adam Ant was and might have even have had a DEVO hat on our shelves. So Madonna no matter what you think of her now was an 80s goddess. But... what about now?

Let's consult the numbers...

Usefulness... 1 Fat Boy finds very little use for has been celebs. Even ones that at one time were consider Kings and Queens of celebrity. Sorry.

Satisfaction... 1 The occasional song does have a nice hook. And, as a former devotee I must admit to a certain comfort in hearing her voice.

Durability... 4 Though at the end of her useful life as a celeb Madonna has been around for quite sometime. I reserve the final point for future use.

Overall... 2 Here is where her past serves her well. Yes, Madonna once was the "Material Girl" and forever will haunt our dreams here at Fat Boy HQ (Think Lucky Star Video).

Sorry Madonna, you fail to meet Fat Boy standards for approval. Nuttin' but luv for ya though!