TechyDad

Wasting Hours with Perplexus is Tons of 3D Fun

September 9, 2010 TechyDad 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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

Lake Videos and Giveaway Winner

September 8, 2010 TechyDad Videos

During our first trip on the lake, before it began raining, I filmed two videos. For the first, I positioned my camera so that all you saw was water, no trace of boat. Then I let it go for a minute and a half to get a nice video of us zooming over the rolling waters. (My niece, S, was afraid I was going to topple overboard.)

The next video came a couple of minutes later as I realized that JSL and S were singing “Row Row Row Your Boat” with the wind whipping through their hair. I realized photos wouldn’t do it justice so to video I went!

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Owen’s Mom for winning the Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles Giveaway.

Summer’s Last Hurrah and First Day of School

September 7, 2010 TechyDad JSL, NHL, School

This past weekend, B’s family members were in town to celebrate her grandmother’s 85th birthday. My boys love seeing Mimi and all of B’s family. Especially Cousin’s S and B. NHL seems particularly enamored with Baby B, wanting to see him, hold him and talk to him all the time.

JSL and Cousin S seemed joined at the hip so many times. They would hold hands while walking, even throwing temper tantrums if they couldn’t.

On Saturday, we headed to Aunt S and Uncle M’s house on by the lake. We tried to go for a boat ride but had to hightail it back to shore when it started to rain.

Of course, once we got everyone off the boat and the cover on, the clouds parted and the sun came out! We stayed indoors for a bit but then decided that it was time for Plan B. We got the kids in their swimsuits so we could head for the beach. Wouldn’t you know it, it began to rain again! Not to be daunted, we decided that the kids and I (the only adult in his swimsuit) should play in the rain. JSL was hesitant at first, but then got the idea that I was actually permitting him to get wet and step in puddles!

This didn’t last long, though, as the rain soon ended. You can see JSL wondering where the wonderful rain went.

We then headed to the beach for some sand fun time.

Then, we decided to head to the pool. This didn’t go over well with JSL who wanted to play in the sand more. He threw a temper tantrum and refused to go into the pool. Opting, instead, to sit on the side with B. NHL did a good job of walking through the shallow end while I carried Cousin S through the pool.

Might I add that B has turned into quite the photo-bug. She even took a few “artsy” shots like this one of our pool/beach items on the pool chairs.

After drying off and changing back into clothes, it was time for wind down time, dinner and fun with family.

The next day, we stopped by a new supermarket with B’s brother and his family. Then, we headed back to the lake. This time, our boat trip wasn’t interrupted by rain. You can see B’s post for photos, but I’ll just add two that she neglected to post of her showing how much she appreciated my constant photo-taking.

I love you too, B! 😉

The rest of the day was spent with family, playing games and enjoying the company of family.

Monday morning, I let B sleep in (or at least lay in bed for a few hours) when JSL woke up early. Then, NHL joined us and we tried our best to be quiet. (Which, with two young boys, is never quiet enough.) Eventually, we got up and headed out to meet one of JSL’s classmates who is new to the area. The boys had a blast playing in the playground, seeing some older kids playing baseball (and retrieving stray balls for them) and just enjoying the great weather. Before we knew it, we have been there 4 hours. After playing, JSL accompanied me for a grocery store run and then we went out for one last dinner out.

This morning, the hard reality hit. Summer vacation is over and school time has arrived.

NHL had his first day of second grade and JSL was going for his first ever day of school – even if it was only 45 minutes of nursury school with mommy by his side. (His first mommy-less day will be tomorrow.) How did my boys get to be so big, so quickly?

TechyDad After Dark: The #BlogHer10 #EdenFantasys Party

September 4, 2010 TechyDad BlogHer, Eden Fantasys, Photos

This is a warning. The rest of this post is NSFW. It involves "toys of an adult nature" and photos. No, the photos don’t show the toys being used for their intended task, but some of the toys themselves aren’t safe for viewing in the office. So I’m providing a break below. Click the "read more" link to read the entire post. If you’re in the office, don’t click and wait until you get home. If you can’t stand the sight of "realistic looking toys", then just forget that this post ever happened.

» Read more

Aloha Friday: How Does That Work?

September 3, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Computers, Internet

While at the BlogHer 2010 session “Fight Spam and Hackers! Plugging Security Holes in Your Social Media Life” (audio), I Amy of Amiable Life asked a question. She said that she wants to understand security issues but that much of the reference material went over her head. She was wondering if there was any “WordPress for 5th Graders” or “How to Protect Yourself for an eight year old.”

This sparked an idea. I understand this technical stuff and pride myself on the ability to explain complex items in simple terms. So why couldn’t I take a subject like “How Does The Internet Work” and, perhaps using some crude graphics, explain how it works without delving into the details of TCP/IP, request headers and other topics that would cause peoples’ eyes to glaze over?

I still have some work to do before I can pull this off. The words will come easily, but I’ll need some graphics. And those might be trickier for me to do. So this might be a once every-other-month type of feature. My other concern is the selection of topics. How am I going to figure out which topics people want to learn about? Well, as this is an Aloha Friday, I bet you can guess how. I’m going to ask everyone out there!

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What computer/technology subjects would you like explained simply?

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 MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #53

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