Category: Review

Wasting Hours with Perplexus is Tons of 3D Fun

Review

We got a lot of BlogHer swag. Although we tried to limit ourselves to things we would use, we still wound up with a lot. I’ll admit that a lot of the swag got put away to be looked at later. Perplexus was not one of these items. When we got home from BlogHer, one of the Perplexus boxes (we had each gotten one from the Sweets in the City event and B recieved an additional one as part of her Toy Industry Association package) and we tried it out.

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By “we tried it out”, I mean NHL seized it and began guiding the ball across the track. His brother watched on as NHL tried to go as far as he could and had a blast even when he fell off.

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When I finally got my hands on it, I was instantly hooked. I couldn’t get the ball past 29, at first, but I kept trying over and over. Finally, I made it over the purple tightrope (a narrow strip that you must navigate across) only to fall off a few steps later. After much trying, and falling, I actually made it to 100! (Granted, this was over 3 weeks after we first opened it up.)

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If you think the fun has ended now that I reached 100, though, you’d be wrong. I reached it once, but I can’t reach it consistently. Certain parts of the maze still trouble me. (And parts that don’t usually trouble me will suddenly cause problems when everything else is running smoothly.) In short, beating it once just proves that it can be done and makes you want to beat it again and again.

Another misconception would be that Perplexus is a one-person game. It is true that it is a fun way to pass the time if you are all alone, but people can collaborate with it. When we brought it to B’s aunt’s house, her cousins and aunts quickly eyed our Perplexus, asked what it was and began to take turns seeing how far they could get. They would try to help each other through the maze. Even B’s grandmother expressed interest.

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All in all, Perplexus is fun and highly addictive. It is inexpensive (only $19.99 on Amazon.com), requires no batteries (definitely a plus) and can be played by kids and adults alike. I definitely think we’ll need to open our second one so that two of us can be “Perplexus-ing” at once.

Disclaimer: As stated above, we recieved two Perplexus boxes, one for each of us, during the Sweets in the City event at BlogHer. B also recieved an additional one from the Toy Industry Association as part of a package thanking her for attending their event. No review was expected of me, but I decided to review it anyway because I liked it. The opinions expressed above are my own.

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner Review and Giveaway

Giveaway, Review

If you’re anything like me, you have a love/hate relationship with cleaning. I love a clean house, but hate how much time needs to be put in to clean the house. I’d rather be spending that time playing with my kids or having a date night with my wife. Still, if you don’t put in the time, the house begins to take on a rather unsavory appearance.

One of the worst jobs has got to be scrubbing the toilet bowl. First, you need to squirt that foul-smelling cleaner around the rim. Then, you need to wait for it to soak in. Then, you need to remember to go back and clean it off. And you just know that, during the soak-in time, a little one will run up needing to use the potty!

That’s why I was excited over the prospect of the Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner. You attach it to the toilet bowl and a sensor detects when the bowl isn’t in use. When the sensor identifies the appropriate time, it sprays a cleaning solution around the entire bowl’s surface. The next time the toilet is used, it is clean. That’s the theory, anyway. So how did it work?

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I took the automatic cleaner out of the packaging and set it up. I was half-afraid that this would be complicated, but it was actually quite simple. I just clipped one end to the bowl and suspended the other end from the toilet’s tank. After putting in the bottle of cleaning solution and giving it a “test fire,” I let it do it’s job.

We have hard water and, as such, will often get hard water stains on our bowl. I knew this was coming so I purposefully left them in place to see how it would do. Unfortunately, it didn’t get these off by itself. After scrubbing the bowl, though, I haven’t seen any sign of new hard water stains appearing (going on 2 weeks now).

The cleaner does a very good job of firing off only when the toilet isn’t in use. In fact, for awhile, I was wondering if it was working at all. The bowl was clean, but I never heard it fire. Then, I realized that the cleaning solution was steadily going down. So there was actual proof of it working even if it was a very stealthy cleaner.

You can purchase Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner from Amazon.com (affiliate link) or from Drugstore.com. But wait, there’s more!

Giveaway:

Thanks to Edelman and SC Johnson, one lucky winner will receive a Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What is one household cleanup chore (besides the toilet) that you wish you could automate?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.

  • Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Follow @ScrubbingBubble on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Automate toilet bowl cleanup. Chance to #win Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner from @TechyDad. http://bit.ly/bLiFYC #Giveaway
  • Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
  • Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from July/August. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
  • Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, September 2nd and ends at Noon EST on September 16th, 2010. 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. and Canada residents only.

Disclosure: I received a Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner complimentary of Edelman and SC Johnson in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. Edelman and SC Johnson is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

Gimme Free Stuff: A Guide For Review Bloggers Just Starting Out

Review

During NHL’s birthday, B and I were talking with my family a bit about our blogging activities. Specifically, we spoke with my sister. She was interested in how we were getting so much "free stuff." Skip forward a few weeks to earlier today when Jenn (aka KissMyKitty) tweeted:

Who the hell blindly contacts a company to ask for free shit w/o offering *anything* in return? Bloggers like these do us ALL a disservice.

This got me to thinking. When I first started TechyDad.com, I’d see companies sending products to bloggers and, I’ll be honest, I thought "Man, I’d love to get free stuff like that." I had fallen into a trap that a lot of people can fall into. They only look at one side of the equation: Blogger Gets Something For Free. There’s a whole other side of that equation: Blogger Reviews Product Thus Increasing Product’s/Company’s Exposure. When done properly, both sides come out ahead. The blogger gets free merchandise and content for their blog (the review) and the company gets exposure, usually in the form of a product review.

Now, obviously, companies aren’t just going to start shipping free products to random bloggers with no expectation of anything in return. In general, bloggers with a bigger following will get more review offers and more expensive offers than smaller bloggers will get. Of course, you don’t need to be King Of The Bloggers to get some great product review opportunities.

First of all, bloggers who are just starting out should expect to recieve nothing for free (unless you happen to have company contacts). For these bloggers, I would recommend cutting your product review teeth on items you buy for yourself or your family. Did your kid get a new game for his birthday? Review it! Did you buy a new kind of frozen meal? Review it! This way, when a company is evaluating whether or not to give you a review opportunity, they will see your past reviews. In fact, this is a good practice to keep doing even when you start getting review opportunities. After all, if you like a product enough, why not give it a little shout out on your blog?

So now your blog has been going for almost a year and you’ve gained a decent following. What do you do? Well, you could join a review group like Family Review Network. (NOTE: I don’t know if FRN is accepting new members or not.) You will recieve possible opportunities e-mailed to you and can apply for ones that interest you. You might not get all of the ones you like. You might not even get that many at first. But it will begin to open doors.

In addition, don’t be afraid to approach companies yourself. I’ve gotten review opportunities out of simple Twitter messages or e-mails. Just be sure that you research the company first, that your messages are professional and that you express how your review could benefit their company. Remember, they’re going to be looking for ways to improve their product’s/company’s exposure. They don’t really care about how you’d love to have a free item.

If a review possibility doesn’t pan out, be cordial. Thank them and ask them to keep you in mind for future review opportunities. You definitely don’t want to burn any bridges. Even if you aren’t going to review Company X’s products, that PR representative might get switched over to Company Y. If they then remember your blog and think it might be a good fit for Company Y, you don’t want their last memory to be a "frell you" letter.

When you do get a review opportunity, make sure you keep your time committment. If, for some reason, you are going to be late, let your PR contact know why and when you expect it to go live. If you find you can’t post a review of the item at all, be honest with the PR contact. Give them specific reasons why. (I have actually done this when something turned out to be not quite what I expected. It wasn’t bad, but just not quite applicable for my situation and therefore I felt I couldn’t give an honest review.) Keep those lines of communication open.

Remember, review opportunities aren’t about free products. It’s about establishing and maintaining relationships with companies. There’s a balance here and any free products that you recieve are just one side of that balance. Focusing on the "free" too much will upset the balance and make it harder to get review opportunities in the future.

Book Review: My Purple Toes

Books, Review

There are many things that dads will do for their kids that they previously would never have thought of doing. At the risk of stereotyping, I doubt any guy without kids would spend a day on the couch watching a Dora the Explorer marathon. Neither would he play on the floor with plastic dinosaurs (at least, not with other grown-ups watching on). And he definitely, positively, would never paint his toenails purple. Of course, once we guys become dads, these “never ever” activities become “always” so long as they bring a smile to our kids’ faces.

In My Purple Toes by Blair Hahn, the father of the story is introduced as having purple toenails. (This is explained in the forward as having happened when a dad brought his teenage daughter to a nail salon for a pedicure.) Instead of being embarassed by his colorful toes, he revels in them. He walks barefooted, showing off his purple toes, in all seasons (though his toes get cold in the winter) and enjoys spending time with his family and their non-purple toes.

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I read this book to both NHL and JSL. They both enjoyed the story as well as the little extras within it. (For example, there’s a purple-toed frog “hidden” on every page.) I also enjoyed that the book was interactive in that is asked the child questions (such as “Where are my purple toes?”). When I got to the end, JSL asked me to read it to him a second time. How could I refuse?

In addition to their website, where you can purchase My Purple Toes for $10.99, the author also has a Twitter and Facebook presence. (No word on whether he tweets with purple fingernails.) Also, a second book, titled My Purple Kisses, should be released in time for Valentine’s Day 2011. Finally, a portion of the proceeds from My Purple Toes goes to the nonprofit organization Soles4Souls which collects and distributes shoes free of charge to people in need.

Disclaimer: I did this review as part of a campaign on Family Review Network for My Purple Toes. I received a complimentary copy of My Purple Toes to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own and no other compensation was received.

Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles Review and Giveaway

DVDs, Giveaway, Music, Review, Wiggles

We’ve been fans of The Wiggles since NHL was young and they were on Playhouse Disney. We’ve been to three Wiggles concerts and seen countless TV shows/movies. We’ve pointed our fingers and done the twist, mashed some potatoes, woken up Jeff and even rode the Big Red Car. When we go in the car, JSL will invariably ask for "toot toot chugga chugga" (his code word for the Big Red Car song). When NHL goes to sleep, he insists on listening to Go To Sleep Jeff (a series of slow songs designed to help kids fall asleep). Needless to say, they (and we) were excited to hear about a "best of" Wiggles compilation.

The first thing I liked about this DVD was the inclusion of Greg. As any Wiggles fan knows, Greg had to step down as the Yellow Wiggle due to health reasons. Even though Sam stepped up and made a fine Yellow Wiggle, many of the Wiggles classic songs were done with Greg. Instead of having the Wiggles re-record these past hits (with Sam), they simply did an introduction to the piece and then let the original video speak (sing?) for itself. This also gave you a chance to marvel at how young the Wiggles looked during some of their early videos!

Of course, the next thing we liked were the songs themselves. From Wake Up Jeff to Monkey Man to Hot Potato to Hot Poppin’ Popcorn, there was a good mix of classic and newer Wiggles songs. When we put this on, it didn’t take long for the boys to get up and start dancing.

Finally, I loved the bonus material. Seeing the Wiggles’ mothers talk, while not too exciting for my 3 and 7 year old, was very interesting to me. My kids and I both enjoyed seeing some of the early Wiggles videos too. They marvelled at a very young Anthony, wearing green instead of his usual blue, singing with a very young Greg, Jeff and Murray in an obviously low-budget setting (especially compared with current Wiggles productions).

All, in all, this DVD is going to see a lot of use and my kids are going to get a lot of exercise dance a lot thanks to the wonderful songs on it. Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles is definitely a must have DVD for any Wiggles fan.

Giveaway:

Thanks to The Wiggles, one lucky winner will receive their very own copy of Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles DVD. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: Who is your favorite Wiggle or Wiggles character?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.

  • Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, The BEST of The Wiggles DVD Giveaway, and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Get ready to Wiggle. Chance to #win The BEST of the Wiggles DVD from @TechyDad. http://bit.ly/cY0Yd6 #Giveaway
  • Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
  • Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from July/August. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
  • Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today August 19 and ends at 11:00 AM EST on September 2, 2010. 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. and Canada residents only. Also note that TheAngelForever is also running a Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles giveaway on her website. You can increase your chances to win by entering there as well.

Disclosure: I received this DVD complimentary of The Wiggles PR agency in order to facilitate this review. They also sent a few other Wiggly surprises for our sons that included a T-shirt, CD and Henry the Octopus doll. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. The Wiggles are also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

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