TechyDad

Prime Decisions

November 13, 2012 TechyDad Internet, Television

Right now, we’re weighing a decision which could either cost us a bit more or save us some money. We’re deciding whether or not to sign up for Amazon Prime.

In case you haven’t heard about the program, Amazon Prime gives you free 2 day shipping from Amazon, free instant video streaming, and free Kindle rentals. Of course, the details are what makes this decision tricky.

First of all, not everything on Amazon’s website qualifies for free Prime shipping. Many items are left out of the deal which would mean that our Prime savings would be hit or miss depending on what it is that we are ordering. That being said, Amazon has become a go-to store for us to order items from. When I examined our last 6 months of orders, I found out that the shipping we had paid (or would have paid in the cases where we took advantage of their slower free super-saver shipping), would have come to more than half of Prime’s cost. So it might be worthwhile here.

When it comes to the streaming videos, we’re always on the lookout for something that could help us cut the cable cord. I was very intrigued with Amazon VOD since, unlike Netflix, they tend to have TV programs listed the day after they air. Unfortunately, as I dug deeper, I found that past seasons (sometimes the previous season, sometimes 2 or 3 seasons back) were free for Prime members, but the latest episodes remained $1.99 each. This means that a 26 episode season of a show would cost us over $50. Multiply that by the nineteen shows that we currently DVR and which appear on Amazon VOD, and you get a cost of over $980. Even spread out over 12 months, this would be pricier than cable.

Of course, the other option would be to just be patient and wait until the shows ended up on Prime. However, that would mean waiting months, if not years, for shows that could be viewed relatively quickly via cable. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m just not that patient.

Now, it’s possible that Prime could save us money by allowing us to cancel Netflix. Currently, we pay $7.99 a month for Netflix and prime would cost $79 per year. This would save us just over 2 months’ worth of Netflix. Still, this might not be the cable slicing possibility that I was hoping for.

Finally, there’s the Kindle Lending Library. We’ve grown quite fond of our Kindle. We even went so far as to name "her" Kimberly. This means that the idea of borrowing books from Amazon without having to pay extra for them is intriguing. Again, however, the details are a bit of a letdown. You can only borrow one book per month and you can’t accrue your rental credits. If real life intervenes and you take one and a half months to read a book, you’ve just lost and entire rental. In this respect, renting from the library (which actually does some Kindle rentals) makes more sense.

In the end, we’re going to have to weigh the pros and cons carefully before we sign up for Amazon Prime.

Do you use Amazon Prime? If so, what do you think of it?

Note: The "Cardboard Box / Package" icon was created by Kliponius and is available from OpenClipArt.org.

The Movie Was Totally Ruined By The Book

November 12, 2012 TechyDad Books, Harry Potter, Movies, Reading

Once upon a time, an author named J.K. Rowling wrote a series of books about a young wizard named Harry Potter. After a few of her books sold an insane number of copies, some movie companies thought they would make wonderful movies. (READ: Would sell tons of tickets, DVDs, movie tie-in toys, etc.) So movies were made and released.

B, having read the books, begged me to see the movies. I watched them initially because it was important to her, but quickly grew interested in the stories I saw on-screen. However, for whatever reason, my love of the screen adventures didn’t translate to me reading the books. We had all 7 books sitting in a box, but I didn’t read a single page.

Fast forward a bit and we introduced NHL to the first movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. He fell in love with it instantly and soon we had also shown him Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as well. At this point, we made a decision. He would see no more Harry Potter movies! Not until he had read the book that the movie was based on. Every night, NHL and I would sit down and read a few pages of a Harry Potter book.

As we got through the first two books, we would often stop and discuss how the book was different than the movie. What scenes were longer in the book or omitted entirely in the movie? What characters were left out? How were events altered to fit the big screen?

NHL and I recently finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, so we’ve 1) started reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and 2) watched the Goblet of Fire movie. I remember really liking this movie and sensing the peril that Harry is put through. However, upon re-watching it after reading the book, I felt that it was rushed.

Harry and his friends go to see the Quidditch World Cup. The players fly out onto the field and then… we flash back to their camp site post-game. This was just fine when I didn’t know that the book described the entire game. There were wondrous sights in the pages of the book that I’d have loved to have seen on the screen.

In addition, whole subplots were chopped out. In the book, Rita Skeeter is a major thorn in the side of Harry and his friends. Her stories, and how she obtains them, puts Harry through a lot of grief. In the movie, however, she’s regulated to one major appearance, two minor appearances, and a mention or two.

Now that I’ve read the book, the movie feels like a faithful rendition… were half of the book ripped out and tossed away. I still like the movie, don’t get me wrong and I understand that you can’t make the movie 100% like the book. (Otherwise, Goblet of Fire would be a 10 hour long movie and who would sit through that?!!!) Still, I can’t help but miss the discarded sections, subplots, and characters when the movie skips by them.

Curse you Harry Potter books! You’ve totally ruined the Harry Potter movies for me!

Have you ever read a book after seeing a movie based on it? How did the movie hold up after you read the book?

Note: The "book/movie" image above was created by combining the "Book" image from CrazyTerabyte and the "Cinema" image from Merlin2525. Both of these images are available from OpenClipArt.com.

Aloha Friday: The Circle Of Housework

November 9, 2012 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Cleaning

It seems like every time I unload the dishwasher, it is because the sink has filled with dishes and I need to load the dishwasher. Likewise, it seems as though I’ve just finished vacuuming the rug in the dining room when the boys drop a bunch of crumbs down. I know B feels the same way with the laundry. She finishes her last batch, puts the last of the clean clothes away, and suddenly – as if by magic – the laundry hamper is half-full again. Sometimes, it seems as though the household chores are never-ending. It almost makes me want to re-write the classic Disney song "Circle of Life" into "Circle of Housework." Well, except there’s a sink full of dishes that won’t get into the dishwasher if I work on that instead.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What household chores seem never-ending to you?

NOTE: The Dishwasher Open For Loading above is by Carlos Paes and comes from Wikimedia Commons.

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

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 #164

Oh What A (Long) Night!

November 8, 2012 TechyDad JSL, NHL, Parenting, Sleep

Election night was a very long night both for good reasons and bad ones. First, I got home from work and B, the boys, and I went out to vote. Unlike some other places where people had to wait in line for hours, we were lucky. There was only a short wait to vote.

As we were going to the polling place, and all through the voting procedure, though, JSL complained about his head hurting him. We figured he might be hungry, but as we arrived home, he proved us wrong by puking all over the floor and his coat.

I cleaned up the mess while B tossed his coat in the wash. Then, after dinner and some time working on Lego Shelob, we got the kids ready for bed. Just as they were settling down, though, JSL complained that his stomach hurt. A quick run to the bathroom spared us a second big mess. It was obvious that he was going to miss school the next day.

While JSL settled on the couch, we turned on the election day coverage. I kept following along and interacting with people on Twitter as polls began to close and projections were made. Slowly, the electoral votes were assigned until, at around 11:20pm, Barack Obama was declared the winner. In hindsight, that’s when I should have called it a night. Instead, I followed along awhile longer. And by "awhile", I mean 2 hours.

At 1am, I climbed into bed (made crowded by JSL’s presence between B and me). I didn’t sleep long, though. At around 2am, NHL woke up coughing and congested. He was obviously having trouble settling and couldn’t come into our packed bed, so I climbed into his top bunk to lay down with him. Thus began 4 hours attempting to soothe him so he could rest and sporadic sleep.

Needless to say, I’ve been feeling a bit tired today.

What do you do when you’ve had a long night with little sleep?

Disclaimer: The "Sleeping face" icon is by nicubunu and is available from OpenClipArt.org.