Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with review

How can I write a vacation rental review when the owner was drunk the entire time?

k8t — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:57:19 -0800

Reviewing a vacation property. The owner was drunk the entire time. What would you do? We've rented a vacation property with a group of friends. We're Americans and all experienced travelers, many of us in this part of the world. The rental is in Mexico. It had good reviews and was pretty affordable. We arrived and the conditions were as described in the multiple listings. We had no problems transferring payment. The owner is American and lives on site in a different part of the property.

The problem(s) is with the owner. He has been WASTED the entire week that we've been here. I don't mean buzzed. I mean falling down drunk morning-noon-and-night for 7 days.

We wouldn't care so much except for:

(1) empty promises - a few examples - he had some stuff shipped to our house in the U.S. and promised us dinner and beer for bringing it. Neither has appeared even though we brought it up multiple times; also he promised beer in exchange for some tech support. No beer appeared. Also he said that he'd call a doctor for some help for a sinus infection on one of the kids. He kept on forgetting or telling us the wrong thing ("Show up at noon." and the office is closed.) He also said (via email) that he would arrange for our kids to use the neighbors' pool and forgot even after he was reminded in person.

(2) general creepiness - whenever we go out to the cars to go somewhere he asks where we are going. We wouldn't care, but he always has a comment - like "Oh, don't go to that supermarket. Go to the other one." And we answer, "Sure, but that supermarket has baby food, so we have to go to it." And flirting with the female members of our party happened a lot. He tried to hang out with us too.

(3) technology - he has been tweeting publicly commentary on our stay and especially about our kids, even giving them nicknames. Example: "Baby Bubba digging a tunnel to China. He must be hungry." or "Baby Guido wearing a lot of tank tops." His Twitter is easy to find, as he has been forwarding us emails all week about random stuff as well as Google alerts about the property (where those tweets show up.)

(4) beer - he requested that we keep beer on the patio because "all the opening and closing of the fridge won't keep 'em cold" and every day MANY beers have gone missing. Our empties count doesn't add up to the number purchased. We've seen him take beer from the cooler and hear him taking them at night - and see footprints in the sand from his area to our cooler.

Each of these 4 alone wouldn't be a big deal and are all pretty harmless, but all combined is not okay. It hasn't ruined our trip at all, but I doubt that we'll come back to this location.

We also ran into the people that stayed the week before and had their wedding here. (They're now down the beach but were coming to poach internet). They were also annoyed.

So, my question is - how can I deal with this in the review? As I understand it, tripadvisor, VRBO and those type of places allow owners to comment and/or delete reviews.

I also don't want to ruin his business. I'm sure he is sad and lonely and an alcoholic. BUT, I think that people would like to know that they shouldn't rely on him to be a very helpful host and to be careful with their beer. How can I say that without creating a cyberwar? Or should I just not comment at all?

Resume help

anonymous78 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:40:51 -0800

How do I cite a book review that I wrote for an online academic database in my resume?

It's not you it's me (but you really)

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:16:03 -0800

I have an annual review coming up at work, but I'm looking for another job - what to say? Our company is a non-profit and has been in a mess for about a year, our manager quit six months ago and hasn't been replaced. Our team is now 'managed' by our department head but she is largely absent as she's been off working on another project. We only tend to see her when she comes in to dump on us about how ridiculous the place is. We have no direction or targets and our roles are becoming increasingly blurred. Despite all of that, the team has been pulling together to grind out the business-as-usual stuff.

However, I'm burnt out. I've been unhappy in the job for a long time, it's never been a great fit but I've managed to work well, but I've had enough now and my work is starting to suffer.

So my fear is that when I'm asked about my performance and plans. I'm worried about what to say. I know some the problems stem from the organisation itself but my general unhappiness is not making things any better. I could quit now as I'm on a ten week notice period (standard for my type of job) so there's a time cushion and I have enough savings to tide me over for up to six months, but I'd prefer to have something to go to first, and I'd hate for people to think I quit just because of a poor review. But if I don't I'll have to lie, and I'm not sure I can pull it off. The job market sucks and I can't afford to be fired for lacking team spirit or whatever. Does anyone have any advice?

Are portfolio days for real?

davidriley — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:02:30 -0800

I recently attended a National Graduate Portfolio Day for students interesting in pursuing an MFA. I had a positive response, making me feel confident about my work and its presentation. However, I am suspicious, as I haven't heard anyone telling stories that they were really chewed out or criticized by their reviewers. I actually tried to push some of my reviewers to give me negative feedback, but they were ultimately optimistic. Are these things for real, or are they just a way for schools to talk people into applying?

How can I rate abstracts for relevance and quality?

Herkimer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:03:26 -0800

I'm looking for ways to rate abstracts for relevance and quality so that I can filter out the best ones. I'm going to be doing a very large literature review. In preparation I need to set up a rules-based system for filtering through, or triaging, the abstracts I retrieve, in order to select a subset (those articles I'll actually retrieve and read). Ideally this system will allow me to rate abstracts for quality and/or how well they match the topic of concern. (This is all work-related, so I can't be more specific, but the topic is generally in the social sciences.) There might have to be some qualitative or subjective aspect to this ratings system, but there are a lot of ways to rate abstracts more objectively as well (breadth of study population, number of search keywords "hit", etc.).

I'm not formally trained in information science, but I suspect such systems have already been created and used, and I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I know there are specialists in information science here that might be able to keep me from doing so. Could you point me to projects where something similar has been done, or places where such systems have been reviewed, described, or codified? Can you suggest any other resources that might be of use?

If it matters, I think I will have around one or two thousand abstracts to filter through.

Yelp a Paris?

kenzi23 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:48:48 -0800

Is there a Yelp-type site for restaurants in Paris (or Europe, as a whole)? Ideally I'd like a restaurant guide for Paris that is based on user reviews, is easy to search and bookmark like Yelp to make my meals in Paris a breeze. I'll even take a blog or a list if that's all I can get. Any suggestions are welcome.

How do I know which DVD special features are worth watching?

soonertbone — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:00:16 -0800

What are the best websites that review DVDs? Not the movies that come on the DVDs, but the DVDs themselves? Looking for a website that reviews things like:
--quality of the packaging
--whether a director's commentary track is worth listening to
--comparison between, say, the 1-disc version of a movie, with the 3-disc super deluxe edition.

I know of dvdverdict and dvdtalk, but am looking for something better. Suggestions?

Double Take

gensubuser — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:30:26 -0800

How ethical is it to look at previous years' exams? I know that some students have access to previous years' problem sets and use them to extreme benefit. We have been told that exam questions are often like previous years' questions, and have not received any instructions that any material is forbidden.

On the other hand, I assume acquiring the actual exam would be forbidden. What is ethical here? Alerting them to the availability is not an option.

All Comics Big And Small And Dangly.

The Whelk — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:40:55 -0800

Where The New Comics At?: In addition to my many other hats I may be getting a job reviewing new erotica/sexuality/explicit etc comics in the future. I'd get my pick of any comic/graphic novel to review as long as it includes some element or discussion of sex or sexuality or whatever. The problem is that I have no idea what the new releases are and I can't seem to find a centralized list of upcoming titles with enough description. Where should I be looking for new and upcoming titles from big and small publishers, ideally with some description so I can tell what the hell it is?

How do I get allmusic to display the correct album cover?

ludwig_van — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:05:05 -0800

Any tips for getting allmusic to correct the artwork in their entry on my album? Allmusic.com posted a review of an album I released in 2007. That's great. However, the album cover displayed in the review is wrong. It looks like they scanned the cover of the album with the sheet from the PR company still slapped on top of it. The PR sheet completely obscures the album artwork and it looks very silly. I recently noticed that the album art was displaying this way on someone's computer after they ripped the album, presumably because the artwork was downloaded from the allmusic database.

I have no interest in promoting the PR company and I'd like my album cover to appear the way it was intended. I've notified them via the "corrections to this entry" form on the web site many times since the review was posted, mentioning that I can provide a high-res version of the album cover if necessary. I have never received a response. Is there anything else I can do about this? I can't find a phone number or email address of anyone who can fix this.

How to survive my work self-evaluation?

gingerbeer — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:23:10 -0800

Help me survive my performance review! I have to complete an extensive self-evaluation form for my boss, and it’s freaking me out. What would make this an easier and less anxiety-inducing experience? This is my first annual review at this job. I work for a non-profit organization with offices scattered all over the country. I love this job, and I am in fact good at it, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how to fill out this form and evaluate myself. I have a few specific challenges, and I’m hoping the wisdom of the hivemind will come up with some advice for me.

My challenges:
- Self-evaluation makes me feel profoundly insecure and unhappy. Yes, this is my problem. Yes, I need to work on it. I'm not getting that sorted out before I have to turn in this form, though. I have a hard time taking credit for things I do well, or saying good things about myself and my work. It feels like bragging and makes me deeply uncomfortable. I do know that I do a good job, but I have a hard time saying that, especially in the context of a performance review. I am much harder on myself than anyone else is, and can find "room for improvement" even in the things at which I excel. How do I manage to be honest and not too self-deprecating? How can I keep my insecurities and self-judgment from making me sound like an incompetent loser on this form?

- My direct supervisor is in a different part of the country. I see him every couple of months or so for work meetings. He never sees me working, interacting with our constituents or partners, or doing any of my other duties. He’s not a content specialist, either, so I rarely discuss the content of my work with him. How do I accurately convey to him how well I’m doing in this job, or where I need to improve, when he doesn’t have much to go on other than what I say?

- Related to that, the only co-worker I have regular contact with is my admin assistant. I’m still getting a sense of the agency culture and norms, and don’t have much exposure to the rest of the organization. How do I know how I compare to agency norms for productivity or collegiality, when I have only a faint idea of what those norms are?

What are the tactics or tips you’ve used to get through evaluations or performance reviews, especially if you have a hard time saying nice things about yourself or are isolated from the rest of your organization and its culture?

How do we politely approach a Blog or Blogger and ask if they would be so kind as to review our e-commerce store....thus essentially promoting it?

orehek — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:00:10 -0800

How do we politely approach a Blog or Blogger and ask if they would be so kind as to review our e-commerce store....thus essentially promoting it? We own and operate an e-commerce store and we are trying very hard to achieve national visibility and accessibility by doing the right things with the hopes that it will help drive the right kind of consumer traffic to our site and therefore result in increased sales. We are in the midst of trying to identify Blogs which cater to the same customer base as us or at least similar ones. Once, we do that, how do we handle the next steps?
We are an authorized dealer for about a dozen major brands (several hundred products). Our e-commerce store specializes in stand-alone "air purification" units mostly for residential needs and to a lesser degree, commercial needs. High-end air purifiers are our primary business but we are in the middle of significantly expanding our offerings to also provide quality "water filtration" units and several eco-friendly "Green" product lines as well, which will compliment our existing products.

1. How do we find the best blogs which would specifically suit and compliment our needs?

2. How do we respectfully and successful approach them to ask if they would consider reviewing us in the form of an article or post on their Blog?

3. Lastly, if we decided to start our own Blog to help promote our company, should the Blog be designed to be within the website, or should it be independent of the site and simply have it help direct traffic to the site while spreading the word about our site?

Poetry Web Sites

Secret Life of Gravy — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:51:35 -0800

Internet resources for understanding poetry. My husband and I have Poetry Club every Saturday night. We choose a poem, give a short biographical intro, read the poem, and follow-up with as much insight and discussion as possible. It is the last part that is the most difficult, of course. We are surprised that there seem to be so few sources on the net that analyze and discuss poetry, modern and classic. Normally I just google the name of the poem which leads to a lot of wasted time because most often it is just a listing of the poem with no follow-up. Do you have any resources to share?

I did read this previous (2005) AskMe post.

How do I best arm myself for an upcoming salary/bonus review in this economic climate?

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:46:18 -0800

How do I best arm myself for an upcoming salary/bonus review in this economic climate? I guess I'm what you might call "upper-management" at a small tech company. Like many others, our company is looking to cut costs and we will likely have a few layoffs later this month. I, and others, have already been informed that any raise in our base salary is off the table for now. However it has also been noted that pre-existing bonus clauses (such as the one I have) are still available.

So the thing is, for the last year I have been as busy as ever (actually more so), mainly because I have a skillset that only a few others have, and as a result I've been extremely busy and IMO was a huge part of helping to land a contract with a Fortune 10 company that was worth a lot of money for the company.

So, my bonus isn't particularly huge by any standards, it's capped at $5k. However, I know from past experience that my bosses treat all of these situations as bargaining sessions. So last year I walked out of the review with a $3k bonus. However, this year, based on the revenue I feel I helped bring in, plus other criteria such as hitting or beating project deadlines, I feel I deserve the entire bonus.(Especially since there will be no change in my base salary).

So I need strategies for this upcoming session. There have already been comments such as "Well, we're all lucky we even have jobs" and other signs that this will not go my way. In addition to this not quite being rooted in reality, I have realized my bonus structure is not based on objective facts, but is incredibly subjective. This was a mistake on my part when I arranged the terms of my employment, however this is my situation.

How I understand music reviews better and explain it to others ?

fizzix — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:40:19 -0800

I listen to a lot of 'contemporary' music (not classical), but how do I better understand music reviews and explain what I hear to my friends and peers ? I read music reviews (all sorts of genres, mostly rock and hip-hop, but also
electronic and blues) and often do not understand
a lot of the music terms and jargon mentioned in it.
For example, phrases like "supple, swelling pedal steel" from
tinymixtapes
and "surf-inspired riffs on 'x song' a "deep, rich tone, underscored by an eerie, shuddering organ." (from a review of a paper copy of a music mag, no online link), and "singing several layers forward in the mix"
in this blues review are confusing for me.

So far, wikipedia has been somewhat helpful, but I ask the hive-mind for any other
good introductory books and resources (besides learning how to play an instrument) so I can understand reviews better
and be able to more richly describe music to friends and other people (than just 'sounds like this band', 'fast-paced' and
'samples this instrument').

Looking for Lit. mags that are known for their book reviews.

exlotuseater — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:54:47 -0800

Looking for literary magazines that are well-known for their reviews of newly-published poetry, both chapbooks and full-length books. I am trying to come up with a shortlist of magazines and poetry reviews that will accept a free, unsolicited review copy of a book of poetry that is coming out next month.

If you have (an) easy answer(s) to the question, I will add some narrowing criteria: the work in question is a ~60 page collection of mature poems by an already-published author, past editor of a major periodical, and past and current scholar and professor of philosophy. The poems in question are lyrical reflections on the natural world that have a quiet profundity to them. If we can narrow down the list further with these, great!

Labor law help needed for socal govt contract employee

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:38:47 -0800

I believe my company, a government contractor, is using alot of grey areas in their employee time cards to get away with paying as little as possible. For example, I am listed with them as "salary", which by my understanding would mean I get x amount of payment per pay period. However, they still have everyone fill out a time card, and pay us per the hours we have worked. However with widely varying schedules each week due to employees being sick, or managers (who do not get paid by hour but really are salaried) taking our shifts, it means our paychecks can vary by several hundred dollars either direction.

Now this means on the upshot, I have some weeks I get to pull in more hours, and to be honest this happens more often than not. However, since they list our positions as "salary", any overtime is treated as a normal hour. We do not get 1.5x for hours over 40 per week, and do not get 2.0x for holidays, etc. We just get the same rate for every hour we work no matter when it is.

At this time let me point out that everyone's shift here is, by virtue of the fact we have 12 hour shifts for 24/7 positions and the number of people we do, a minimum of 84 hours per 2 weeks. Thats broken into a 60 hour week, and then a 24 hour week. I can provide more details on how that breaks down if it seems relevant to the issue.

Even though I'm not totally comfortable with the setup as is, I can deal with it for the most part. Concern grows however, when in the past several weeks, a sub-contractor to our company, who supplies some of the employees I share shifts with, determined our jobs to be "hourly" and has granted their people 1.5x OT and 2.0x Holidays. Our company will not grant that to us, and has now infact, cut that sub-contractor's employee's hours down to 40 per week max to avoid having to pay higher rate hours. They are now "reviewing" our entire job description in an internal investigation to find out if we are salary or hourly.

My first issue is that the people doing the review are all pro-company managers, who are NOT accountants, lawyers, or have any qualifications that I can see to carry this out. My second issue is that pending the outcome of this "investigation" we have now be subject to many rule changes.

Sick time, even though our normal shift is 12 hours, can not be used more than 8 hours at a time (per day out sick), and can not take you over 40 hours in a week. This means a day I was sick last week and took off, which I rarely do, I have lost half of my pay for, despite having 100+ sick hours saved up. If I had come in, I would have been paid 12 hours. I was too sick, so I only get 6, because the other 6 would have put me over 40 hours that week. We have in the past ALWAYS been able to use up to our "expected scheduled shift" worth of sick time per day we call out. After the fact, and after I challenged this with my manager/pay-approver, an email was sent out explaining this new rule.

So, how can you help? Thanks for asking.

I need to know, specific to Southern California, or Government contracts, as much as I can...

A) How can I get a *real* investigation into they payment practices started, by a labor board or such?

B) Is there any recourse you know of, or could see, for me to get my 4 hours sick time. I admit its more of a principle issue than the 4 hours of pay, but I'm really really pissed over it.

C) If our jobs some how are declared truely hourly, is there any precident for possibly getting the past 2 years of my life here reviewed, for a chance at pack pay for all of those 1.5x and 2.0x days I've put in?

I know no one here is a labor lawyer, or my specific lawyer, and I am fully aware I am not one either... but help if you can. Also, note, we are NOT unionized here.

If someone would like more information or to discuss this directly, you can email me at anonymous_2350@randomshit.com. Thanks.

Where/how to find quality Telugu movies?

Sand — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:26:41 -0800

Where can I find information on quality Telugu movies with English subtitles, and how can I buy them in the US? My girlfriend is a speaker of Telugu, and likes movies made in that language (in particular, "classic" movies with lots of singing and dancing). I'm trying to find good movies, with subtitles so that I can enjoy them as well. "Good" in this sense is of course subjective, so reviews or descriptions would be useful. The problem with forums that I've found on the subject is that they tend to in Telugu, which poses a problem for me.

I'm looking to legally purchase DVDs in the US (or shipped to the US); I'll download via a legal services if that's how people roll these days. From experience I know that there is a wide variety of quality levels available, which is also a factor in this search.

How do I do this?

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:59:50 -0800

I work for a marketing firm, and while I do like my job I recently found out I'm a bit underpaid. Salary review is coming up... I've been working at this job for about 8 months and the salary review is in January. While talking to a colleague of mine with the same identical experience/who was hired for the same position and started on the same day as me that she makes about 15% more than me (we both get a 10% bonus).

In addition, I didn't negotiate salary (in fact it was a slight salary decrease for me) when I started this job just because I desperately wanted to leave my old horrible job.

As such, I'm pretty sure I'm decently underpaid (i also checked a few salary review websites - seems I'm underpaid from them too)- any way to rectify this? Or do I just have to accept my fate that I'm starting from a lower platform and will have to work my way up to my co-workers level (which is just a little frustrating - that just because I froze up at a salary question during my interview I am forever stuck 15% behind her)?

Some background on the company (smallish place with about 50 employees - we've seen some slowdown - but works seems to be coming in a steady pace - I believe in some presentation I remember the CEO saying that its been a growth year for revenue and profits. I am entry-leverish (this is my 2nd job).

Thanks

What should I expect at an annual review?

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:42:21 -0800

My first annual review is coming up at my first real job. What do I expect, especially regarding discussion about pay/raises? I am an internal tech support guy (with a few other tech-related responsibilities) for a medium-sized business. This is my first "real" job. (I've only worked in huge chain retail and restaurants and whatnot before this.) My very first annual review is coming up in a couple of weeks.

Seeing as this is my first annual review in any job, I just want to mainly know what to expect. What kind of things are we going to talk about? What will they say? What should I say? Most importantly, what about a raise or discussion over compensation? What is a standard raise, and do I have any negotiation power?

I really like my job, and my benefits are great, but I feel like my base compensation is not quite what it should be. I've done a bit of poking around on salary websites and have talked to a couple people in my field, and from what I've seen it looks like I'm getting paid probably about $6000 less per year than I "should" be. I think part of this is that, again, this was my first real job. The second part is that I'm relatively young for this job. Both of these things were made clear when I got hired as reasons I was somewhat "on probation," if that makes sense.

I have a really good relationship with my direct manager and the rest of the chain of command, and I don't want to spoil this by being greedy or seeming ungrateful. So what can I expect, and what can I do to best prepare?

How do i communicate better at work

Vroom_Vroom_Vroom — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:03:59 -0800

communicating better - not in relationships but at work. I just had my work yearly review and i am technically good, very confident in my manner, enthusiastic and respected for my work. But i am also disorganised, poor at delivering on time and two people have said they don't want to work with me. I'm an engineer who works with architects / clients and i've been told i don't listen and state solutions before the brief is fully outlined (i.e. i don't listen)

I'm a senior in my team (associates and directors above me / grads and engineers below me) and its starting to pain me when i don't take the time to listen and answer confidently when actually i should be asking more questions....Sometimes its so hard to stop what comes naturally.

They don't teach this at university!

A bit of background, i went to a private school but have always been confident. Now i'm still confident but am worrying about people's perception of me. This sucks. Especially the comment about some not wanting to work with me. That really hurts. I should say that this is my first job where i have stayed for more than 2 years.

Not sure what to do as no friends are in similar jobs (i think) so Mefites please help...

has anyone resolved this themselves? I feel like a big idiot sometimes. Thanks.

They slammed me and then gave me a raise.

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:18:20 -0800

PerformanceReviewFilter: I got a less than sterling review at work, but I still got a 10% raise. What gives? I just had my 6 month review and it was painful. Granted, this is the first review I've ever had, but it hurt.

I work as an attorney at a small firm. My bosses brought me in there and basically pointed out everything I've been doing wrong so far. They both asked me questions and I simply froze up on some of them. I felt really embarrassed and they had very little that was good to say. Still, I got a pay increase of 10%.

Then, this morning, my new supervisor said that one of the bosses feels that I'm not coming along as quickly as he'd hoped I would. She said that my job was not in jeopardy, but I'm freaking out.

Should I start preparing my resume, or does this sound like honest criticism and an interest in seeing me improve?

If you need more details or want to e-mail, please e-mail worriedatwork at gmail dot com.

Tips for the NC bar exam.

greta simone — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:50:01 -0800

Tips for the NC Bar exam? Asking for a friend:
I am an attorney currently admitted to the NY bar, and taking the NC bar in three days. I took BarBri for the NY bar, but studied on my own for the NC bar. One of the most helpful things about BarBri was the "tips and techniques" for the bar exam - such as areas of law frequently tested, or stylistic techniques for answering the essay questions. Can anyone tell me what the frequently tested areas are (such as Miranda violations or Rule Against Perpetuities, etc.)? I have been looking over essays from prior exams, and I have been shocked by the minutiae of some of the areas tested.
Also, I am curious as to how the essays are scored and how points are awarded. For example, in NY, the essays are scored on a 1-10 scale, with 1/3 points awarded for each issue spotted or statement of law that is included in the answer. A "5" is considered a "passing score" and a 7, 8, or 9 are considered above average answers and are infrequently awarded.
I have been told that the NC exam is easier than the NY exam. Has anyone found this to be true? Why or why not?
If you are a recent NC bar-taker, I would appreciate you sharing the tips and/or strategies you used that you found to be helpful. Thanks!

The shortbook on macroeconomics

dead_ — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:23:17 -0800

What is the best primer on macroeconomics? I would like to buy a short (non-textbook) book on macroeconomics. I am comfortable with economics as a discipline but will be taking a macro placement test this fall and would like something to read as a refresher during the next month or so.

Where are the user-ranked laptop reviews?

lukemeister — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:47:59 -0800

I'm thinking of buying a laptop, and find that at sites like CNET, the editors and users often disagree wildly. I haven't found a place that reviews laptops that can sort reviews by the users' rankings. I tried amazon, but their "sort by average customer review" doesn't work. Which sites do you like? I was all set to buy an MSI Wind, but since they've delayed the model with the 6-cell battery, I'm looking again, and haven't decided whether to go with cheap and light or cheap and heavy.