Happy Birthday To Me, or Feeling Older But Not Slowing Down

Birthday

1295719197Today is my birthday.  As of today, I’m 36 years old.  This means that I’m beginning the slide out of the 30’s toward the 40’s.  In many ways, I still feel like I’m in my 20’s.  Yet, increasingly, I feel aches and pains that I never felt a decade ago.  My elbow hurts if I lift anything too heavy (like JSL) and my back can seize up at times.

Still, I’m not going to let that slow me down (much).  I still plan on playing with my boys and being active with them.  I’m not going to be one of those parents who sits down on the sidelines while their children play.  Those parents are missing a golden opportunity to be part of their children’s lives.

All too soon, my kids will be teenagers.  Most likely, they won’t want me tagging along on their adventures.  I’ll likely be tossed aside as being “uncool.”  If/when that happens, I might take the opportunity to sit down.  Until then, if you need me, I’ll be running around the playground with my boys!

Have you been feeling older?  How do you keep yourself feeling young?

Review: Wookie The Chew – The House at Chew Corner

Books, Geeky Pursuits, NHL, Star Wars, Winnie the Pooh

I’ve long admired the work of James Hance.  He has a knack for taking classic fictional characters like Kermit the Frog, Darth Vader and He-Man and either crossing them with other fictional characters/situations or just displaying them differently.  (You can order prints of all of those images from James’ website.)  Wookie the Chew – The House at Chew Corner is no exception.

The story is a mash-up of two of my personal favorites: Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh.  Winnie the Pooh combines with Chewbacca to become Wookie the Chew.  Christopher Robin and Han Solo become Chrisolo Robin.  Piglet merges with R2D2 to become Droidlet.

The story unfolds as Wookie the Chew, having obviously inherited his appetite from Pooh, embarks on a mission to get something to eat.  Except, instead of honey, he’s looking for bobaberries.  (Tip: Don’t eat the cloneberries.  They all taste the same.)  Along the way there’s a hive of bees-crossed-with-tie-fighters, a balloon-crossed-with-the-Millennium-Falcon and a giant-tree-combined-with-the-Death-Star.

I’ll admit that the book wasn’t quite what I was expecting.  Having seen James Hance’s fabulous art, I thought it would be a picture book with few words.  Instead, it is mostly words with enough sketched artwork to see the story through.  While I was initially disappointed, that feeling changed upon reading the story to NHL.

At every turn there’s a saying or setting or character that calls back to both Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh.  The story was great and left us wanting more.  Indeed, Hance is working on a follow-up book titled “When We Were Very Jedi.”  Once the book is ready for ordering, you can bet I’ll be ordering a bunch.

In fact, the only downside to this book is the shipping cost.  The book itself is a steal at $5.  However, shipping costs $10!  The solution?  Get a bunch of family, friends and co-workers to order with you.  Shipping rises to $15 if you order 5 or more books, but it still winds up being cheaper per-book.  Place one order for five books and the cost per book (price + shipping) drops to $8.  Plus, each book comes signed by the author.  (Custom dedications are available as well.)

I’ll close with a few photos of the book and of NHL reading it.

IMGP0297 IMGP0299

IMGP0298 IMGP0300

Disclaimer: I didn’t receive anything in compensation to review Wookie the Chew.  I purchased the book with my own money and liked it so much that I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

Voldemort vs. Papa Smurf

Geeky Pursuits, Harry Potter, NHL, Smurfs, Television

Thanks to reruns of the old Smurfs cartoon and the new Smurfs movie (which they saw advertisements for when we went to see the Winnie the Pooh movie), my boys have suddenly found an interest in the Smurfs.  My oldest has already memorized when they’re on and will want to change the channel when the airing time approaches.

NHL has also formed an interest in Harry Potter.  We caught some of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on TV one day and was transfixed.  So we took Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone out of the library and watched it with him (and JSL too).  NHL loved it from the first moments of Harry discovering his talents to the ending battle.  We think he’s developed a crush on Hermione as he specifically begged us to get him the Lego Harry Potter set with her in it.

Anyway, while shopping this past weekend, NHL spotted a Smurfs activity/coloring book.  He looked through it quickly, spotted the evil wizard who tries to capture the Smurfs and commented to me that Voldemort was in the book.  After prompting from me and a bit of rethinking, he recalled that Gargamel, not Voldemort was actually the Smurfs’ foe.

Being the geek that I am, I began picturing what would happen if Voldemort happened upon the Smurfs.  At first, it might seem a slaughter fest as Voldemort Avada Kedavra’s Smurf after Smurf.  (Perhaps Cruciatus-ing a few for fun.)

Of course, in Harry Potter’s world, love seems to be a magic in and of itself.  Love prevents Voldemort from killing Harry when he was a mere infant.  Love protected Harry long after his mother’s death.  Love was the one magic that Voldemort couldn’t quite understand.  Given how lovey-dovey the Smurfs tend to be, maybe the battle wouldn’t be so cut and dried.

In a one-on-one duel, Papa Smurf would be toast, but, in a guerilla war against Voldemort, they might just stand a chance.  The Smurfs seem especially good at hiding and Papa Smurf knows his way around magic.  He would undoubtedly consult various magic texts and have his army of Smurfs help him assemble some potion to affect Voldemort.  Perhaps a pair of shoes that force Voldemort to dance forever while the Smurfs sing?  Truly a fate worse than death!

And yes, I’m aware that I’m a huge geek for even contemplating this whole scenario due to my son’s misstated name.

Aloha Friday: Techy Frugality

Aloha Friday, Technology

Though I’m a “techy dad”, I’m also a bit frugal.  I don’t buy technology items simply because they exist.  Rather, I see if it will be something we will use and whether it is worth the price.  For example, I would love to go out and buy an iPad 2.  I even feel a bit left out without owning one.  However, I just can’t justify spending that kind of money on something that I don’t see the use for.  Similarly, we don’t have smart phones as I can’t see spending $30 a month PER PHONE for a data plan.  That’s $720 a year that we could use for other things.

(And the fact that I’m posting this days before my birthday isn’t a hint at all. 😉 )

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Is there a piece of technology that you’d love to buy but can’t quite afford?

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 Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #98

Anonymity and the Google+ Circle

Internet, Social Media

I’ve been signed up with Google+ for a few weeks now and it seems like an interesting service.  I’ll admit that I don’t use it as often as I use Twitter.  That’s mainly for two reasons.

First of all, I can update Twitter via SMS message, Seesmic Desktop program, API-powered tweet from my blog, Twitter.com or a bunch of other sites/services.  Google+ can be updated only from the Google+ website.  Assuming Google has an API planned, the amount of third party tools supporting Google+ should skyrocket upon its release.  Google has also been testing SMS updates, albeit in India which doesn’t help me.

The other reason I haven’t used Google+ much is more thorny.  You see, on Twitter and here I go by “TechyDad.”  When I first signed up for Internet services (decades ago), I didn’t really care about privacy and thus used my real name.  After I became a father, though, and after B began TheAngelForever.com, I saw the value of anonymity (even partial anonymity).

Being “TechyDad” means that I can mention things in general without worrying that some stalker might track down where I live.  And remember, I’ve had an Internet Stalker before.  As worried as I was when the whole thing went down, I was comforted that it would be extremely tricky for her to pinpoint my address.

Proclaiming my real name to everyone via Google+ negates this anonymity.  Had Google+ been around during my Stalker episode, I would have worried that said stalker would take my real name, run it through some phone listing/lookup tools and (even though we’re unlisted) find our home address.  If someone who is even slightly unhinged finds that out, they might decide to pay you a visit.  Harassment over the Internet is bad enough.  Harassment that spills into real life is a whole different class of bad.

The thing is, though, Google could solve this easily.  They already have a Nicknames field.  Let people specify nicknames for themselves and assign those nicknames to circles.  Then, let people decide whether or not those circles get to see the user’s real name.

Suppose John Smith has three circles: Family, College Buddies and Blogging.  His family would likely want to see him as John Smith.  His College Buddies could see him under the nickname “Dunk” (earned during a college basketball game) but would also be able to see his real name.  His Blogging circle members, meanwhile, would only see him under the nickname “Dunkers Shame” which he uses to blog about various embarrassing things he’s done in his life.  His real name would remain hidden to everyone in this circle.

Under this setup, everyone wins.  Google would know people’s real names.  People who want complete anonymity could hide their name from everyone except Google.  People who want partial anonymity could have multiple identities for multiple circles.

There are bugs to work out, of course.  For example, what if one of John Smith’s College Buddies is also in his Blogging circle.  Would he see updates by “Dunkers Shame” or “Dunk”?  Would his real name be visible?  Would we need to set up a circle hierarchy?  (Name preferences from Circle 1 override name preferences from Circle 2.)   I’m sure Google could solve this dilemma.

Until they set up some kind of pseudonym/nickname feature, though, and let people hide their true names, I just don’t see myself using Google+ much.

1 … 166 167 168 169 170 … 300