i left for belmont around noontime, with an eye to the 1pm patriots-dolphins game at 1pm. an amazon package arrived before gametime, as i watched a couple pull up in front of the house and shuffling through an assortment of boxes in the back of their sedan and in the trunk. i couldn't be sure, but i think i also saw a baby carrier in the back seat. it was taking forever and i went outside to see what was going on. amazon has been using a lot of private delivery people, just normal citizens with cars looking to make some money during the busy holiday season.

the package was a dr.meter water flosser, a waterpik knockoff. while a typical waterpik costs $50-60, dr.meter's water flosser only costs $23.99 (black friday sale price). even on sale, a waterpik is still $40. whether dr.meter was any good was left for me to decide. my mother wanted one after i let her use mine one evening as a demonstration. i figured if this dr.meter was a dud, i could either replace it with mine or simply return it. besides, a water flosser is a pretty simple device, what could go wrong? i always thought $50 was a bit steep for a glorified pressured water pump.

so i gave the dr.meter water flosser a try. superficially it looks very similar to the waterpik. what's missing are an on/off button and a floss/massage button (which i've never used) on the main body. the lid of the dr.meter water tank doubles as a storage compartment for additional attachments, including a tongue cleaner and two nasal sprayer. i filled the tank with warm water and gave dr.meter a try. it turns on by using the power dial and then toggling the on/off switch on the wand handle. i set it between 8-10, but i noticed the dial can go up even higher, there doesn't seem to be a limit, although the pressure seems to be the same once you go beyond 10 maximum. the spray from the nozzle doesn't seem to be as concentrated as my waterpik, which could either be because of the pump mechanism or simply just the design of the nozzle (i'll bring one of my waterpik nozzles to test out). the cord attaching the wand to the main device seems a little stiff, and doesn't spring back as nicely as does the waterpik. dr.meter also doesn't have the intermittent 30 second vibration indicator telling you to switch quadrant when flossing. that's a nice feature to have, but even on my waterpik it doesn't work properly, it doesn't give me any additional indicators after the 2nd buzz. dr.meter does have 4 nice suction feet which is good because my parents' bathroom doesn't have the counter space so the water flosser has to sit on top of the nearby toilet bowl lid and the suction feet keeps it from sliding off.

what can i say about the dolphins-patriots game? new england played sloppy at times but still got the job done. brady threw an interception and fumbled a handoff that ended up a miami touchdown. watching the game however, there was never any doubt the patriots would win. the only thing i didn't like was how often brady got hit, and miami defense is notoriously dirty with cheapshot players like ndamukong suh. nat ebner left the game early, later reported to be a torn ACL, and looks to be done for the season. later the patriots placed newly-reacquired martellus bennett on IR as well, as his season is finished too.