During the giveaway I ran, I promised that I’d soon be reviewing the Talkin’ Sid The Science Kid plush as soon as I received it. Well, it took a little longer than expected, mainly due to Chanukah swamping my kids with new toys. They went into overload mode and I knew I wouldn’t get a good opinion out of them right then and there. So I waited for the toy high to die down and then had them play with Talkin’ Sid. » Read more
The week is up and the Sid the Science Kid giveaway has ended. I used Random.org to pick a winning number from the 59 entries and the winner was:
Yes, number 12, also known as Noelle Cagle has won a Talkin’ Sid plush. I’ve e-mailed Noelle and she now has 48 hours to respond with her mailing information. If she fails to respond, another winner will be selected.
Congratulations to Noelle and thank you to everyone that entered. I wish I could send a Sid plush to everyone, but I’ll have to settle with saving everyone $3.00 off the purchase of the Talkin’ Sid The Science Kid plush at Toys ‘R Us. Go to Coupons.com and click on the “Toy and Game” link on the left hand side of the page. (Talkin’ Sid The Science Kid is currently only available at Toys ‘R Us.)
I would also like to thank The Jim Henson Company and KCET (PBS/Los Angeles) for allowing us to run this contest and for sending us a Talkin’ Sid of our own to review. This review is in progress look for it in the next week or so.
A few weeks ago, BuddyTV ran a Heroes contest. I entered and was quite surprised to learn that I won. Not too long afterwards, a box arrived at my doorstep with some Heroes goodies.
Let’s go through these one at a time, shall we? First off are the Heroes Season 1 and Season 2 DVD sets.
Also in there was a Matt Parkman action figure (as well as Molly Walker). Parkman is, of course, played by the fantastic Greg Grunberg.
Next up is a Hiro bobblehead. In Season 1, there were two “Hiro” characters. One, from the present, was a geeky sort of guy who wore glasses. The other, from the future, wore no glasses, had a goatee, and had a more kick-butt attitude. The bobblehead captures both Hiros nicely.
Finally, there was a necklace. But not just any necklace. Heroes fans will recognize this as the necklace worn by the mostly-silent, memory erasing friend/co-worker of Mr. Bennett (aka Noah, aka HRG): The Haitian.
All in all a great prize package. Thanks again, BuddyTV!
I’m a big proponent of science. I was even a physics major for awhile in college. So I like anything that helps to teach my children about the workings of the world around them. In addition, I’m a big fan of pretty much everything that the Jim Henson Company makes (and has made), from the Muppets to the television show Dinosaurs to Farscape. When I watch a Jim Henson production, I can be sure that it will be entertaining and high quality. Sid The Science Kid is no exception.
Sid always begins the show puzzled by a certain phenomenon. Whether it be a banana gone bad or shoes that "mysteriously shrink", Sid wonders how the event happened. Just like any good science kid, or grownup, Sid uses various tools to figure it out. He looks up information on the computer (aided by his mother), he comes up with a few theories (aided by his school yard friends), and he performs some experiments (with the help of Teacher Susie). In the end, Sid understands just what makes that phenomenon occur and starts to dream of putting it to good use (in his Super-Duper-Ooper-Schmooper Big Idea). The translation of the processes that real scientists go through is faithful while remaining understandable to children.
NHL has loved the Sid the Science Kid television show for quite awhile (as I’ve mentioned in the past). During a recent trip to a toy store to shop for Chanukah presents, he noticed the Sid toys. He was drawn to them and wanted one. In the end, we we decided to get him other items, but thanks to The Jim Henson Company and KCET (PBS/Los Angeles), NHL will soon have a Sid The Science Kid Talkin’ Sid to review. Ok, technically it is for me to review, but you don’t think I’m not going to recruit him to review it as well, do you?
You can save $3.00 off the purchase of the Talkin’ Sid The Science Kid plush at Toys ‘R Us by going to Coupons.com and clicking on the "Toy and Game" link on the left hand side of the page. Talkin’ Sid The Science Kid is currently only available at Toys ‘R Us.
But, wait, there’s more! (I’ve always wanted to say that.) I’ve been presented with the opportunity to give away one Talkin’ Sid The Science Kid plush to a lucky reader (or a lucky reader’s child as the case may be).
TALKIN’ SID THE SCIENCE KID
(Ages 3 years & up/Approx retail price: $24.99/Available Now)
Now kids can bring their friend SID home with the lively TALKIN’ SID THE SCIENCE KID plush character. This soft and loveable plush SID is 12 inches tall and comes ready to play and learn with his iconic "microphone." Squeeze his belly to hear seven different popular phrases from the series. Requires two "AA" batteries, included.
Rules for Giveaway:
To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today December 7th and ends at Noon EST on December 14, 2009. You don’t need to be a blogger to enter, but I do need you to leave a valid e-mail address in your comment so I can contact you for your mailing address once the giveaway is over. I’ll select the winner using random.org and will contact you via e-mail. Once the e-mail is sent, 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: As stated above, I am going to recieve a complimentary Talkin’ Sid the Science Kid to review. I haven’t recieved it as of this posting, but I figured that this giveaway should go live as early as possible. When I recieve my Talkin’ Sid, I (and NHL) will review it and will post the review on this website.
It Slices! It Dices! It Cuts Cable Cords In Two!!!
Thanks to the one two punch of Netflix Online and Roku, I’m pretty confident that my kids would survive a cut cable cord without too much screaming. So where does this leave cable in our household?
For now, it hasn’t been cut, but don’t confuse being uncut with being safe. We’re currently looking into many options ranging from cutting to going with an alternative service like DirecTV. (Any DirecTV reps out there who want a technologically savvy daddy blogger to do a review on your service? 
)
My original conclusion, meanwhile, has been revised. Previously, I determined that we would save about $15 per month if we cut cable. However, I soon realized that that relied on two erroneous assumptions.
The first was that we would buy $15 in DVDs every month. We really don’t buy many DVD movies because we tend to watch them once or twice and then add them to the stack. Kids movies get a bit more play, but there’s only so many times you can let your child watch a show before you go insane. Now, we tend to rent our DVDs via Netflix or our local library. DVD purchases happen pretty much only if a deal is extremely good or for a Chanukah or Birthday present. Our total DVD purchase budget is probably closer to $30 per year than $15 per month. This increases the Cut Cable savings to $27.50 per month.
The second assumption was that we would frequent Amazon VOD. Apart from having Mythbusters episodes, I just can’t see spending a lot of money on this service when I get essentially the same thing "for free" with my paid for Netflix subscription. (Yeah, I know Netflix isn’t free, but you know what I mean. I don’t have to pay $1.99 just to see another episode of Heroes. It’s right there.)
The only thing I might pay for is the aforementioned Mythbusters. (TechyDad want big boom!) At $1.99 per episode and an average of 25 episodes per season, I’d only be paying about $24, or $2 per month, for this Amazon VOD. This is far short of the $26 a month I initially assumed and raises the Cut Cable savings to $51.50 a month.
I’ve also re-thought my setup. I don’t need to invest in a media streaming setup. I just need to manage our existing DVDs better. So I’ve used EMDB to catalog all of my DVDs. I plan on making a list out of it and laminating it for the kids to refer to. This way they’ll be able to point to an item on the list and have B or I put it in rather than wondering just what we have to watch.
The only tripping point at the moment is how we would hook our existing TVs up to receive over the air broadcasts (do we need to buy any equipment for this?) and what DVR to buy to replace our cable company issued one. TiVo is a possibility, of course, but the monthly fee ($129 per year) would eat into our Cut Cable savings. Still, even after TiVo, we would have over $40 left per month in savings. The first six months of savings would pay off the purchase price of TiVo. After that (and possibly a few months paying off equipment to receive digital OTA signals), we’d be in pure savings mode.
Alternatively, we could switch from Time Warner Cable to DirecTV. The one year locked in rate would save us $28 per month over cable. Either way, money talks, especially in this economy. Unless things radically change, I don’t think our current cable connection has much of a life left in our household.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary 3 month preview of Netflix for review purposes. However, after my preview period, I intend to remain on as a paying Netflix member. As stated, I won the Roku box during an online giveaway. The reviews expressed above are my own and were not altered in any way by Netflix, Roku or anyone else.
