TechyDad, Author at TechyDad

Aloha Friday: Bully Petitions and Videos

March 2, 2012 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Bullies, Movies

As someone who was bullied a lot in school, bullying is a subject very close to my heart. No child should have to go through what I went through. Sadly, many kids go through not only the level of bullying that I encountered, but much worse. I’ve heard some stories of bullying that make my own tales seem like a trip to the spa. Is it any wonder why kids crack and kill themselves or inflict harm on others? When your daily outlook for the foreseeable future is pain and torment followed by torment and pain, your sanity begins to strain. Too much and you can snap. No child (or adult) should ever have to bear this burden.

Luckily, there has been a growing anti-bullying movement recently. In fact, there’s a movie headed to theatres March 30th titled "Bully." The movie follows five families as they confront the ugly reality of bullies. The makers of this documentary were not only going to release this movie to theatres, but wanted to screen it in middle and high schools.

There’s just one problem: The MPAA gave the film an R rating. The movie was one vote away from getting a PG-13, but got the more restrictive R rating instead for language. This might make screening it to younger kids troublesome. (Of course, a movie with acceptable language but tons of violence will almost always get a PG-13.)

Now the film-makers have a Sophie’s choice. Their first option would be to mute or bleep some of the bad language. This might get them the PG-13, but at the cost of glossing over some of the ugliness of bullying (something that is important to show to people). Their second option is to petition the MPAA to change their ruling. They’ve lost their appeals so far, but a petition has been circulating which, as of this writing, has nearly 180,000 signatures. Finally, they could release it unrated, but then theater owners would treat it like an NC-17 movie and ban it entirely from their theaters.

I will definitely keep an eye on what happens. Hopefully, the MPAA will relent and give the film a PG-13 rating. Either way, B and I will go see this movie in the theater.

In other news, a few schools got together to film an anti-bullying video to post to YouTube. The video featured many students dancing to Lady Gaga’s "Born This Way." Sounds like a nice sentiment, right? Not to a parents group. They complained that the video wouldn’t reduce bullying, isn’t accepting of overweight kids/anorexic kids/kids who can’t dance, and that the music is offensive to most religions as well as to atheists.

I posted a detailed rebuttal over on Google+. In short, I respect what these kids (and teachers) have done. I think that the parents group is, at best, nit-picking. Any efforts to spread the anti-bullying message help. Kids need to be taught early on that 1) they are perfectly ok just the way they are; they don’t need to change to suit someone else’s view of "normal", 2) other people are perfectly ok the way they are and shouldn’t be expected to change to suit your view of "normal", and 3) people who are different from you should be treated with the same respect you show to people who are similar to you.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you plan on seeing "Bully" in the theatres?

Also, while you’re at it, please head on over and sign the petition.

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #128

Your Shape Fitness Evolved: Week 5 Review and Giveaway

March 1, 2012 TechyDad Fitness, Games, Giveaway, Video Games

For the past 4 weeks, I’ve been working out using Your Shape Fitness Evolved for the XBox 360. The past four weeks were dedicated to keeping track as I tried Your Shape Fitness Evolved’s various types of workouts. This week, however, I will review the overall game as well as give what I feel is the best workout routine.

I found Your Shape Fitness Evolved to be quite an effective workout. The paces it put me through made me sweat and left me sore the next day just like any good workout should. There is a wide variety of workouts too to help keep your workouts from getting stale. In addition, there are "games", such as Stack ‘Em Up, that burn calories while you play.

I did run into some issues while working out with Your Shape Fitness Evolved, however these mainly seemed to relate to the Kinect system. Mainly, my living room was too small for Kinect. I wound up working out with the heels of my feet nearly pressed against our couch. This meant that I couldn’t move as freely as if I had moved a foot or so forward. Online searches revealed that Kinect does have problems with smaller rooms.

Overall, however, I found the workouts to be very nice. I could definitely see how regular Your Shape Fitness Evolved workouts could help as part of a weight loss regime.

Now for my "Recipe for Success". I’d say the best workout is one that alternates what gets worked out. The times when I did back-to-back arm or leg workouts were brutal. In addition, I’d recommend starting slow, ramping your workout up and then cooling down with a slower routine. For example, I’d start with a workout "games" like Wall Breaker or Juggle It. Next, I’d use one of the Run the World courses. After that, I’d shift to Cardio Boxing. I’d follow this with a toning workout which works the legs such as Build Strength. Finally, I’d cool down with some Yoga. This routine should burn about 170 calories.

Giveaway

You could win a copy of Your Shape Fitness Evolved from Ubisoft. Simply post a comment to this blog post. You can enter multiple times by leaving one comment in each of the posts of this series: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4.

One week from today, on March 8th at 10pm, I’ll select one winner from across the comments posted to all five posts. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of Your Shape Fitness Evolved by Ubisoft and financially compensated for this Clever Girls Collective, Inc. campaign. In addition, I was loaned an XBox 360 and Kinect for the duration of the campaign. The opinions expressed above, however, are my own.

My Favorite (and Least Favorite) Disney World Attractions

February 29, 2012 TechyDad Disney, DisneySMMoms, Photos, Travel

Having gone to Disney World a few times, I’ve come up with quite a few rides that I must go on each trip. I could ride these multiple times in a row and still come back for more.

First, in the Magic Kingdom, is Splash Mountain. I’m not a big rollercoaster/big drop sort of guy. (In fact, I’ll discuss later on just how much and why I hate these.) Still, Splash Mountain’s big drop is only part of the ride. The rest involves a story about Br’er Rabbit looking for his "laughing place" and trying to escape from Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear. The animatronics turn the ride from just another log drop ride into a classic Disney attraction for me.

Just in case you are wondering: Yes, the photo on the left was taken on the ride itself. I was feeling a bit crazy and took my DSLR on board the ride (shielding it during splash drops) and took photos of the ride itself.

In Epcot, I’ve got one "official" favorite and one "unofficial" one. My official favorite is Soarin’. The story behind this is that you are boarding a special aircraft and flying over California. (How you get there from Florida isn’t explained.) You sit in a special seat with your legs dangling and are lifted in the air. Then, on a giant screen that fills your entire field of vision, you "fly" over water, golf courses, orange groves, and more. It is a wild ride (even though you barely move).

My "unofficial" favorite is Epcot’s World Showcase. I love just wandering through each country to see the architecture and sample the cuisine. To increase the authenticity, Disney hires people from those countries to work there. So when you meet a cast member there, you are honestly meeting someone from another country.

Is it as good as actually traveling to those countries? Of course not. Still, outside of Disney World’s World Showcase, you’ll never be able to travel from Mexico to Norway to China to Germany to Italy to United States to Japan to Morocco to France to United Kingdom to Canada in a matter of hours.

Going to the Animal Kingdom, my main favorite attraction is Kilimanjaro Safari. Disney went above and beyond with this attraction. It really seems like you have traveled to the African savannah. Animals wander around seemingly without any fences penning them in. (The fences are there, just very well hidden.) Most times, the animals (despite the looks) can’t approach your vehicle, but in some areas they can. We’ve come within a few feet of giraffes and ostriches at one point. As a bonus, every time you ride this attraction, it is slightly different.

Finally, we travel to Hollywood Studios. Here, my favorite attraction is Toy Story Mania. With this ride, you are shrunken down to a toy’s size and join Woody, Buzz, and the whole crew in some games. You get to shoot plates, toss rings around aliens, and pop balloons. You get points for your actions and compete against the player sitting next to you. The attraction is in 3D but some scenes (balloons blowing by) are accompanied by a rush of air. Small touches like this enhance the realism and enjoyment of the ride.

Now for my least favorite ride: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I’ve only been on this ride once, but that was enough. I wouldn’t have gone on it at all, but NHL, then 5, insisted on going on it with his grandfather and I couldn’t let him be braver than I was.

In fact, there’s a very good reason why I wouldn’t like Tower of Terror. I have a fear of falling. Not of heights, mind you, but falling. I’m just fine behind the window of a 20th story building, but a second story balcony can terrify me.

Tower of Terror took us up 13 stories and then dropped us down. That would have been scary enough, but then we shot back up and down and up and down and up and down. There were a total of seven up-down movements. Lest you think you’d get used to it, each time you shoot up (after the first ascent), you go up a random number of floors. Maybe you’ll go up three stories next time. Maybe ten. Who knows?

So there you have it. My favorite and least favorite Disney rides.

What are your favorite/least favorite Disney rides?

The Weird World Of Kid Humor

February 28, 2012 TechyDad Humor, JSL, NHL, Parenting

As the boys get bigger, one of the fun observations I make is their maturing sense of humor. And by "maturing", I mean totally immature. We are talking about boys, after all.

I’ve written before about my boys’ poultry-based curse. To recap, they were watching an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and heard Goofy ask Mickey "Guess What? Chicken Butt!" Since that day, they took this up as their profanity of choice. They even shortened it to "Chicken!" in an effort to avoid getting in trouble.

They’ve also become quite taken with scatological humor. Anything relating to the passing of gas or "going number two" are the height of hilarity. If you can manage to actually let one fly, well then you’re just a comedy genius! JSL still quotes Fozzie’s "fart shoes" line from The Muppets. Complete with whoopee cushion sounds.

At this point, I’m not sure if their humor will get more refined as they grow up or if they’ll discover new depths of potty humor. Who am I kidding? They’re boys. I’d better brace for the latter. Anyone know where you can buy a gas mask?

Disclaimer: The "gas mask" image is from OpenClipArt.org.

A Mac and Cheese Quest (aka There’s No Kosher Velveeta)

February 27, 2012 TechyDad Food, JSL

JSL’s favorite food is macaroni and cheese. He would eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we allowed it. He will devour any macaroni and cheese put before him. Well, almost any. There’s one little caveat with his mac and cheese obsession: He refuses to eat macaroni and cheese I make him if it doesn’t come from a box.

If I crack open a box of Wacky Mac (about the only kosher macaroni and cheese we’ve found) and prepare that, he’ll tear into it. If a chef prepares macaroni and cheese for him at a restaurant, he’ll eat and enjoy it. But if I whip up a cheese sauce to go over pasta, he turns his nose up at the plate.

I’ve tried finding different macaroni and cheese recipes to prepare for him. I figure that if he’s going to eat this dish, the least I can do is make sure quality ingredients go into it. (Though I have tried sneaking some healthy food into it from time to time.) Unfortunately, most of the macaroni and cheese recipes seem divided into two camps: The ones that use Velveeta and the ones that use Cheddar.

The Velveeta recipes promise to taste just like the boxed macaroni and cheese. I would try these except for one small detail: We keep a kosher kitchen and Velveeta’s not kosher. In fact, even if it were, I don’t think I’d want to cook with it. It seems to go against the idea of making a macaroni and cheese dish from quality ingredients.

The cheddar recipes come out tasting nice and cheesy, but they don’t look or taste like the boxed kind and that’s a stopping point for JSL. Not for me, mind you. I prefer a good cheddar to powder cheese. JSL, however, rejects anything different and this certainly qualifies as different when compared to boxed.

I’m going to continue my quest, though. I can’t give up. One of these days, I *will* find a from-scratch recipe that steers JSL away from boxed macaroni and cheese. Just to tide us over, though, I’d better restock the boxes.

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