TechyDad, Author at TechyDad

My Walmart Father’s Day Wishlist

June 14, 2011 TechyDad Fatherhood, Geeky Pursuits, Holidays, Roku, Shopping, Technology

In case you haven’t heard, Father’s Day is coming. Growing up, this meant buying my father a tie or similar piece of clothing. (Techy gifts while I was growing up, either were beyond my monetary means or weren’t the kind of gift he was interested in.) And while I appreciate a nice tie, my gift preferences usually skew towards the geeky side. Sadly, though, we aren’t super wealthy. I can’t afford to go out and buy every single piece of geeky

tech that makes me drool. I need to prioritize and bargain shop and Walmart is always on my bargain shopping list. Here, in no particular order, are some tech items that I’d love to get for Father’s Day. All of these items were spotted during a recent stroll through our local Walmart. They are also all available from Walmart’s Father’s Day electronics page or Walmart.com.

Video Games:

Playing video games is fun. Playing video games with my boys is extremely fun. NHL, while not a master, has learned how to operate the controls nicely. JSL wants to work it right, but just can’t figure it out yet. I think he just needs more practice. Which means I need to play more video games with him. Oh the never-ending chores us dads must undertake!

Roku

Yes, we already have two Roku players. One in our living room and one in our bedroom. Why do we need a third, you ask? Well, our upstairs room (used by the boys as a play room) doesn’t have one. In fact, since it only has basic cable TV (and a DVD player but the DVDs are kept downstairs), that TV would benefit greatly from a Roku player. Plus, the boys could rock out with Pandora in the larger play room space.

iPad 2

Don’t ask me how we didn’t get a photo of this. I drool over the thought of having an iPad to use. Oh the web browsing I’d do. The apps I’d download. The Angry Birds I’d fling at green pigs. Excuse me while I get my drool mop.

LCD Monitor

I recently inherited a desktop computer that my parents didn’t need anymore. I want to set this up to be a print/file server, but I need a monitor. I have two CRT monitors I could use but they are big, hulking affairs. They work fine, but they take up so much desk space. How much nicer would it be to have this slim number on the desk instead of the giant dinosaur?

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Walmart and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Blood Donated, Lives Saved

June 13, 2011 TechyDad Health, Medical, Photos

On Saturday night, fueled by a rush of coding creativity, I stayed up way too late. It was 2am before I shut down my computer and crawled into bed. Luckily, the next day, B & the boys let me sleep late. (Well, after NHL’s usual 6am wake-up call to ask if it was ok for him to stay out of bed, go to the couch and watch TV. Why can’t he learn to sleep in on the weekends?!!!) I couldn’t sleep too late, though, because I needed to go give blood.

I try to give blood often, but I’ll admit that in recent years I haven’t gone as often as I could. When I heard that my Temple was running a blood drive, though, I figured I should attend. So I headed on down, read the now-familiar introductory pamphlets, got the various health-related tests (the iron finger-stick still hurts), answered the now familiar screening questions and then was shown to a cot.

I showed them my blood-giving arm, my right arm with the big vein popping up. As always, the needle stick didn’t hurt. It’s more of a quick pinch. I still can’t watch it be done, though, for fear that I’ll flinch at the worst moment. The little needle stick was uneventful, though, and soon blood was flowing into a collection bag.

At that point, I asked what was likely an unusual question. I asked about taking photos I explained that I was a blogger and would be blogging about this. She said I could take photos anywhere except for the questionairre area (due to personal information that is discussed/displayed there) and of the needle itself (as people might be scared off of giving blood if they see a needle close-up photo). I completely agreed and she took a photo of me giving blood.

As I squeezed a rubber ball, keeping the blood flowing, the collection bag quickly filled. The needle was carefully removed and a bandage was applied. Of course, before I left for the snacks area, I had to take a photo of my blood in the collection bag.

Then I was off to the snacks area for the usual assortment of juices and cookies as well as a special treat: cannolis!

All in all, giving blood is mostly painless. The slight pinching of the needle stick and pain of the finger stick are minor when compared to what you are giving. The blood you give is separated and given to up to three people. Yes, three people’s lives might be saved because I took an hour out of my day to give blood. I’d say that’s an hour well spent.

Although my kids couldn’t come with me, I talked with them a lot about it afterwards. I showed them my bandage and let them know everything that was done. I told them that it didn’t hurt much and wasn’t scary. I emphasised how good it was to save lives and promised that they could come with me to give blood when they are older. I look forward to the day when I can walk into a blood drive with my two boys and watch as they give blood for the first time. (NOTE: “Look forward to” doesn’t mean “can’t wait.” Stay little for as long as possible, NHL & JSL!!!)

If you would like more information about giving blood, you can head on over to the American Red Cross Blood Donation website. Have you ever given blood? If so, when was the last time you’ve given?

Disclaimer: The American Red Cross didn’t compensate me for this post in any way. I did this because I feel that giving blood is important.

I Gave Blood

June 12, 2011 TechyDad Mobile Photos

Aloha Friday: Smoothie Time

June 10, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Cooking, Food, Photos

Lately, NHL has been begging me to make him smoothies. While grocery shopping, he’ll spot the orange juice and beg me to buy some to add to smoothies. JSL loves drinking them. They also happen to be very nutritious, so who am I to object?

For dessert after one of my grilling adventures, I had purchased a small watermelon. As it happened, I decided against slicing it. It sat on the counter for awhile until I sliced it up. At that point, I figured that it wouldn’t a long (refrigerator) shelf life so I searched for some watermelon smoothie recipes. I found this Watermelon Blueberry Smoothie recipe.

Today, after dinner, I decided to whip up some smoothies.

Doubling the recipe, assisted by JSL and so excited that I forgot to take photos of the process (yes, really!), I put in the watermelon, honey, lemon juice and frozen blueberries into the blender. After pureeing, I fought off JSL who couldn’t wait for smoothies.

We split the entire double-recipe batch among the four of us and drank up. The verdict was unanimous: Delicious! NHL and JSL both asked for seconds (thirds in NHL’s case) and drank until nothing was left. This is definitely something we’ll be making again.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you make smoothies? If so, what’s your favorite smoothie to make?

Don’t forget to enter my Kung Fu Panda/General Mills gift pack giveaway or B’s Dove Men + Care giveaway.

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 McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #91

Field of Vision: A Story of Bullying and Magic Cameras

June 9, 2011 TechyDad Bullies, Review, Television

As a victim of bullying myself, I was quite interested in the synopsis of the upcoming P&G and Wal-Mart Family Movie Night collaboration Field of Vision.

Through mysterious footage captured on an old malfunctioning video camera, Sinclair High School’s star quarterback, Tyler McFarland, learns that some of his teammates have been bullying Cory Walker, a troubled new transfer student. Aware that sharing this information with the coach might get his friends kicked off the team and ultimately cost the school the state championship, Tyler must choose what’s more important: winning or doing what’s right.

Here is the trailer:

The story opens to introduce Tyler, his family and community. Tyler plays for his high school’s football team. His sister is a bit of a bookworm, devouring any books she comes across from a small shop owner. The shop owner shows her an old, temperamental video camera. It works, but only when it wants to. More than that, it begins to show her footage of horses and other things.

Meanwhile, Cory Walker starts his first day at the high school. He’s a foster child, having lost his mother years ago and never having known his father. He is a quiet individual who hides a keen mind. It is this keen mind that winds up getting him into trouble with a couple of players on the football team who bullies him for “making him look bad in front of his friends.” Cory’s crime? Answering a teacher’s question when asked to after one of the players couldn’t.

Tyler, the team captain, asks the football players who deny any involvement, but then finds out his teammates were lying when the video camera shows him just what went down. Yes, this camera seems to have a bit of magic in its old circuitry!

Tyler’s then faced with the prospect of just how to respond. A big game is coming up and the football players involved are needed to win. Should he do the right thing and doom his team to losing (thus making himself an outcast as well)? Should he turn them in only after the big game is over? Or should he ignore the whole thing because this kind of thing has always gone on?

As a victim of bullying, I identified with much of Cory’s character. At one point, he obviously knows the answer to a question in class and blurts out an answer without thinking. When the teacher asks him for clarification, he hems and haws, uncomfortable with the spotlight that will likely lead to another bullying confrontation. After the incidents, he is close to tears over the entire situation.

During high school, I felt that way many times. There were many times that I wished that I could just shrink myself down until I’d disappear or hide myself somewhere to cry without giving my bullies more ammunition to use against me.

The bullies in the movie also use a tactic I’ve seen real-life bullies use: Framing the situation to their benefit. They will attempt to dictate what the appropriate responses the bullied individual (or bystanders) can take to their actions. Of course, these “bully approved” actions either solely benefit the bully or come at great cost to the bullied/bystander. This can leave the bullied feeling like they have no choice and no options. Isolation is a bully’s best friend.

Without spoiling the movie, I will say that I found the ending a tad unrealistic, but this is, after all, a family movie and not a hard-hitting expose on bullying. I didn’t really expect plot threads that lingered for years or decades and issues that went unresolved for the rest of the characters’ lives. In a movie like this, everything is tied up into a neat little bow by the closing credits. Expecting that, it was quite entertaining and I would definitely recommend for people to tune in.

The premiere of Field of Vision is on Saturday, June 11 on NBC at 8pm ET/7pm CT. More information is available from their website and Facebook page.

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

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