TechyDad

Aloha Friday: It’s NHL’s Birthday and He’ll Party If He Wants To

August 20, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Birthday, NHL

This Sunday, we will celebrate NHL’s 7th birthday. As we’ve done every year, we’ll throw him a birthday party. Nothing big and flashy, mind you. Only close family will be there, not giant groups of kids. His Phineas and Ferb theming doesn’t mean a rented party hall remade to resemble Perry’s secret lair. Instead, we’ll have a cake, some Phineas and Ferb figurines that we already own, and some themed plates/napkins.

Of course, NHL’s reaching the age where he will want to start having parties with his friends. This will mean that we will need to start inviting other (non-family) kids NHL’s age. We will need to seek venues other than B’s parents’ house (e.g. bowling alleys). We may even need to plan entertainment.

Growing up, I didn’t have many birthday parties. My parents threw one for my sister and I (since our birthdays are a mere 6 days apart) when I was about NHL’s age. The party went fine, except for the clown my parents hired. All the kids gathered in close to watch his act and got in close for a good view. Everyone, that is, except for my sister and I. We birthday kids were pushed to the back where we had a lousy view.

Ever since then, we didn’t have any birthday parties. Instead, my mother would take my sister and I out to Friendly’s for lunch and ice cream. I’m not complaining, those lunches were special to me, but it does mean that I’m birthday-party-planning-challenged to some degree.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Did you have birthday parties growing up? What special memories do you have of your birthdays growing up?

BTW, if you like of The Wiggles or know someone that does, be sure to enter my giveaway for their new DVD. In addition, stop by TheAngelForever.com blog for a second chance to win.

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 #51

Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles Review and Giveaway

August 19, 2010 TechyDad 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.

In Their Own #BlogHer10 Words

August 18, 2010 TechyDad BlogHer, Humor

It all begain rather innocently. WhyIsDaddyCrying challenged a dad in attendence at BlogHer to stand up at one of the sessions and ask: “Why is Daddy Crying?” I accepted but soon realized I wouldn’t have the chutzpah to pull it off. Then I saw the speech balloon center. This was an area where passing bloggers could stop and write down some sayings be they funny, inspirational or just shout-outs to their friends. I took a pen and wrote:

Later, I decided to see what else was written. Here’s just a small sampling, categorized for your convinience.

In the “Escapee From Sesame Street” category:

This one was written by Count Von Count, I believe. He must have wandered off of Sesame Street while counting the street numbers. “5th Avenue! 6th Avenue! 7th Avenue! HAH! HAH! HAH! HAH!” This also explains the lightning that came out of nowhere during BlogHer.

In the TMI category:

Somewhere, marketing experts are now calling going commando the new “in thing” among Mommy Bloggers.

In the “Suuuure you’re not” category (also the “Why didn’t I think of that excuse” category):

In the “What happens at BlogHer, stays at BlogHer” category:

In the “Wait… What was I talking about?” category:

In the “Guy Amongst Women” category:

In the “Should I feel bad that I wasn’t” category:

In the “Compliments will get you everywhere” and “Does this count as being propositioned?” categories:

In the “Uses both hands sounds slightly dirty” category:

In the “010000010110111001110011011101110110010101110010001000000110100101110011001000000011010000110010” category:

In the “Suuure, it was!” category:

In the “What’s the male version of ‘hoochie’?” category:

In the “No Sleep At BlogHer” category:

In the “I’m Drama-Challenged” category:

In the “Dirty BlogHer Limerick” category:

… Who went to BlogHer with a bucket. He filled it with swag, tossed it all in a bag, and… shipped it back home to Nantucket! What? Think you can do better? Leave a comment with your BlogHer Limerick!

Happy 7th Birthday, NHL!

August 17, 2010 TechyDad Birthday, NHL, Photos

Today, NHL, you turn seven years old. In some ways, it seems like forever since you entered our lives. I can’t imagine what our life was like before you arrived. In other ways, it seems like the seven years has just flown by. It seems like only yesterday that we were wondering when you’d crawl. Now you’re doing addition and subtraction, using the computer, reading and clamoring to learn more. I’m so proud of you and can’t wait to see how you grow this year. Just don’t grow too quickly, please!

#BlogHer10 Memories Part 4 – Hacking, Switching Sessions and NYC Pizza!

August 16, 2010 TechyDad BlogHer, Eden Fantasys, Photos

After lunch, it was time to go back to some more sessions. I split up from B and CutestKidEver as we were interested in different sessions. Before going to my session, I noticed a spot where BlogHer attendees could write some witty sayings down so others could see. I remembered a week or so back where WhyIsDaddyCrying asked a BlogHer attendee to stand up during a session and ask “Why is Daddy Crying?” I said I would but quickly realized I was a lot braver on Twitter than I was in real life. Still, I could write the question here for all to see. And so I did. (Photos were taken later by B.)

This job done, I attended “Fight Spam and Hackers! Plugging Security holes in Your Social Media Life.” Now, I’ve been interested in security matters for a long time. I might have been a bit advanced for that session, but it was still interesting. My only complaint was that I sat down on the right side of the room near some surge protectors to plug in my laptop. I was told that the right side would be for a CSS workshop and the left side would be for the security Geek Lab session. So I went to the back near a wall outlet, plugged in… and was told that the wall outlets were for AV equipment only. Really? A Geek Lab without access to power? I puttered along on battery power, coming dangerously close to empty before the session ended. Still, it was great session and I was given an idea for a future series of posts by Amy Leis of Amiable Life.

While talking with Liz Henry (who ran the session) afterwards, I ran back into B and CutestKidEver. CutestKidEver was planning on going to the Eden Fantasys’ session titled “Bringing Sex Out of the Closet.” B wanted to go to the Geek Lab session about how to take great pictures. I had decided to go to the Family Foodies one.

Before I went to the Foodies session, however, I stopped by the Eden Fantasys table outside of their session. There, by the table littered with toys of the adult variety (nice euphamism, huh), I got the chance to meet Jenn aka KissMyKitty. As I said in Friday’s post, I had worked with her for my massage oil review. We had kept just missing each other previously. We chatted for a bit and she gave me a recommendation for something to buy B. (Insert evil grin here.) Eventually, I moved on to the Foodie session.

During the Foodie session, I began getting odd tweets from B. It seems she made a last minute change in plans and snuck into the sex session right behind my back! I tried to be interested in the Foodie session, I really did, but it just didn’t seem to catch my interest. So I snuck out and joined B and CutestKidEver in the sex session. (Ok, that just sounded really wrong!)

Unfortunately, my wireless network went down and wouldn’t connect. (Please, no cracks about being unable to “keep it up” during the session…. B already made those!) The helpful Hilton network guy came to help me. Now picture this: The guy had to come into a session where a lot of sex talk (including lesbian-type stuff) was going on. Nothing X-Rated, mind you, but still on the racy side given the subject matter. And the guy helping me has a yarmulke on. Yes, an Orthodox Jewish network technician braved the sex session to assist me in my wireless network! Now that’s dedication.

Due to my network troubles, I wasn’t able to pay attention as much as I would have otherwise. Thank goodness, CutestKidEver live blogged it. At the end, anyone who hadn’t gotten a swag bag (like myself) was invited up to get one. I took a peek inside and saw that this was one swag bag that the kids definitely wouldn’t be playing with! This one was for grown-ups only! As we left the session, we ran into Jenn again. I introduced B and CutestKidEver and we took a photo with her.

We passed by the food area on our way to the Expo and noticed that snacks had been put out. Pretzels, popcorn and the like graced the tables. It all looked good, but we were still stuffed from lunch. That didn’t stop me from taking photos, of course!

Then, it was on to the Expo where we saw many different products and talked with many different people. I’m ashamed to say that I was so involved with connecting with people that I neglected to take many photos. At least my Photo Geek FAIL meant that I socially won (aka made some good contacts and saw some great products). I did take a few photos, so here they are.

After this, we headed to the Sheraton for the Sweets in the City event. Here, we were tempted with cupcakes (which looked delicious, but we were still stuffed), got to play a Beamz (extremely cool instrument which plays music via a computer depending on which laser beams you break – wish I could do a review of this one), and got some great swag including a Perplexus (review of that coming up).

We headed back to our room, dropped off our heavy bags and then B and I decided to go for a walk. We were getting hungry and also wanted to see the M&M’s store and the Hershey’s store. First, we headed towards Broadway. We spotted where The Late Show with David Letterman tapes (sadly, no Dave sightings), saw where some Broadway shows are performed (sadly, didn’t have time to take in a show) and browsed the Hershey’s shop. Then we went across the street and enjoyed three floors of M&M shopping.

After this, with some (purchased, not swag) bags in hand and our tummies finally rumbling, we walked to Ray’s Pizza and got a few slices. We brought them back to our hotel room and enjoyed some NYC pizza before resting up for the next day.

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