Easter Bunny brought me a RipStick

I have completely fallen behind in keeping up on the latest information you have all been blogging.  Sorry! I have been extremely busy with work, family, business and sports.

Today — I assembled a new bicycle for my son.  We like to save outdoor items like bicycles for Easter.  Getting gifts like that in the winter are not as appreciated.    Well, that was how it was done when when I lived up north in the snow.  But a sled…hell yah!

While searching for the prefect bike, my family and I took our time in Toys-R-Us.  I found a toy that I had been wanting to try out, the RipStick.

Linear TV’s demise?

Apple TV sells you movies and tv shows.  Tivo plays rented or purchased tv shows and movies from Amazon!

When will Comcast and the broadcast networks finally make the big plunge? It seems Comcast has in some ways.  When you watch new episodes of the final season of The Wire, you are already watching a show a week old.  Why? Because Comcast and HBO worked a deal to allow Comcast to release the episodes one week early for Comcast customers.  I was DVR’ing the show, when I realized it was being offered on Comcast’s ON DEMAND network.  So there it was, next weeks show and I just finished last week’s?

What I would like…to pay $24.95 and get to watch every episode of The Wire when I want.  Good for me to watch at my leisure over the next 30 days.

I’ve heard and known of Apple Tv.  Quite tempting.  I have netflix at home.  Convenient.  Now Tivo plays Amazon rented/purchased movies and/or tv shows.  Why am I paying for linear Tv I don’t have time to watch?

I’ve even found the few children shows my kids watch are being replayed from DVR.  Sure they catch a Sponge Bob once in a while, but they don’t like having to see if its on.  My daughter wants to watch sponge bob when she has TV time, not waste 30 mins of her TV time on something the networks want her to watch.  And she’s only four!

Why can’t I pay a monthly fee ($4.95) and get every episode of Sponge bob delivered? Maybe allow the kids to mark their favorite episodes while you shuffle new and old episodes in?

Its getting quite tempting.  I’m about to call Comcast and pull the plug.  But first I have to decide on Apple TV and/or a Tivo like device.

News? LOL…are you kidding me? We actually make sure we set channels back to kids channels, because the news has become too graphic for young children! If I need the news, I can always catch up on it via the internet.  Sorry CNN…but CNN.com sounds better and keeps my kids from stumbling across another sentence with words like bullet, murder, or rape.

What about new cartoon content, or new TV shows? How do you get someone to subscribe? The same way you do with movies.  Premier them.  Give us a free episode or two…heck even let us vote.  Why not…? 

Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon…anyone have any ideas.  Has anyone made the change already? If so, I’d like to hear your input.

Chumby here it comes…

I have a tendency to buy Gizmos and let them sit on my desk.  I’ve had some things torn apart like breadboards, multimeters, microprocessors, wires hanging out, half mounted LCD’s, and things entact but still collecting dust like PDA’s, USB sticks, iPAQ’s, scattered around my desk.

So when Ken first showed me the site chumby.com and told me what Chumby’s were all about, I was impressed and shocked at the same time.  But then the sinking feeling of uh oh another gadget fell into my head.  I mean spending $179 would buy me a fun weekend of skydiving (or 8 jumps — skydivers measure how much something costs by how many jumps it would buy).

The other day Ken mentioned his was shipped.  Damn you Ken! I went back to the website and decided yes I too wanted to have this under my Christmas tree this holiday season.

Tonight while I was working, I came up with yet another idea I could use the Chumby for.  And then I received an email stating my Chumby had been shipped! I am going to look forward to playing around with the flash interface and writing up a sample little idea I have.

I guess the one great thing about this gadget is it was made to sit where I want it to, and can do virtually anything.  I eventually see my son wanting one in his bedroom as an alarm clock to wake him, then to tell him the scores of last nights sporting event he couldn’t stay up to watch.  I see one in the kitchen to let my wife browse her recipes, check the weather or keep tabs on that Ebay auction while cooking, perhaps displaying an IM from me when I have locked my desktop at work for the day and am on my way home?

Thanks Ken! 

What state?

I am playing Mr. Mom this week as the real mom is off on a girls trip/cruise. I hope she is having as much fun as I am with the kids.

In order to keep my daughter content with just “dad” being around, I give her things to look forward to (i.e. I pull crazy ideas out of my head). One evening she brought up giants. She had wanted to hear a story about giants, so the other night I obliged.  I gave her the best giant story I could think of.  I even acted out several scenes.  The second night, she wanted a scary story…so I told her one, where mom was the hero in the end to save us all.

Tonight, she asked where we live. I told her ….. street, Marietta, Georgia.

Then she asked, “Where do giants live?” I responded giant street, giant town. I stopped.

I was tired, so I didn’t notice if she was thinking hard or it just came out.

What state?

Huh? I thought. I quickly responded GiantState. We continued on with the story. But I can’t help but wonder how a four year old mind can pick out such a detail. Sure she knows Mickey Mouse lives in the state of Florida. We live in Georgia. But when/where did she figure this all out?

Atlanta Mini takes the mountains!

I hadn’t posted it, but the Green 2000 Montero Sport which I dubbed “The Green Machine” was replaced by a new 2007 Mini Cooper S Convertible, which has been dubbed “The Mini Machine”. I also liked Micro Machine, Mean Mini Machine…but I don’t get to pick the name for my car.

Today I decided to check out the Atlanta Mini club and drive my family and I along with the group up to the north Georgia mountains, to a famous town called Helen. It resembles a German town, authentic in appearance, food and beverage.

Vacation Part I

Happy New Year to family and friends!

It has been over a week that I have been off work, and I felt like I have accomplished more than I have all year long!

I celebrated one of the most mysterious days in a young child’s mind, Christmas, with both children. They were in awe, and I was rubbing my eyes with one hand and my little girl was holding the two fingers of my other hand gently guiding me down the stairs.