Things I Bought at Amazon

Nizoral A-D Shampoo

2011-06-01T07:04:00.005-04:00

Most people use Nizoral as an anti-dandruff (A-D) shampoo, but I happen to be afflicted with a skin condition called tinea versicolor. The easiest way to think of tinea versicilor is that it's a fungal infection of the skin, with the official definition being: "a chronic, noninflammatory, usually asymptomatic type with multiple macular patches, seen in tropical regions and caused by Malassezia furfur."

There are several treatments, but one of the easiest is to use anti-dandruff shampoo (one with selenium sulfide or Nizoral). Note that this doesn't work for everyone. Some people have to go to the docotor an get a prescitpion strength anti-fungal. There are some orals you can take as well, though I can't remember the names.

The deal is you get these round very faint reddish-brown spots about the size of a quarter. These spots don't tan, so they end up being paler than the surrounding skin, espcially if you're in an area where you get some sun like I am (Tampa).

I get it, treat it, the spots fade, but so far, for the past 20 years, they keep coming back every year or two. So I use the Nizoral in the shower, let it sit on my skin for 5 minutes, and do that for 2 weeks. Spots go away and I'm clear for a year or two.

If you can get hold of the 2% solution (persecription strength, unless you live in Canada where you can get it over the counter), you only have to treat it for a week. This Amazon stuff is 1%, so I have to use it longer.

Good Lord, More Organic Coconut Water!

2010-05-27T06:57:00.002-04:00

I guess the first order of organic coconut water must have been a test, and evidently itpassed, because we ordered more!

Personally, I'm not sure what the draw is. I tried it and didn't care for it. It's got a sort of musty, slightly bitter taste to it. It's much better when cold, but still not good enough to make me want to drink it.

My wife told me that some countries use sterilized coconut water as a replacement for saline in IVs!

I find it intersting that it's being marketed as an 'isotonic sports drink'. I'm not sure that's it's niche, but I guess it's the one that gets the attention due to all the other sports drinks out there.

2010-05-25T07:18:00.001-04:00

My son grinds his teeth when he sleeps and the dentist remarked that he was seeing some wear. Now the dentist could do a custom mold and make a mouthguard (he said) for a few hundred dollars, of which our insurance would pay for like.... NOTHING.

We asked if an over-the-counter guard would work and he shrugged as if to say whatever. So that evening I poked around a bit, read a few reviews, and ended up ordering these.

Update:
We followed the process for molding (basically heat and bite) and tried it out. My son wasn't too keen on it, but he gave it a shot. It wasn't any longer than a few days before he started complaining that his teeth were hurting when he woke and during the day.

He's still young and his jaw is still forming so I can't but think that the mouth guard was putting pressure on them and moving them (like braces).

I got my stefather (a dentist) on the phone, gave him the scoop. He said that at my son's current age, the grinding wear wasn't so big a deal because most of his molars where still baby molars. He suggested we re-look at the issue when his 12 year molars came in. So that's what were doing.

The Ginger People Beverage, Ginger 'Gizer, 12-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 24)

2010-05-20T20:15:00.002-04:00

Ginger is supposed to have a whole host of medicinal benefits, and is another drink my wife swears by. I've had them myself, and they're pretty good.

Ginger 'Gizer isn't ginger ale though, so be warned - it's made from the real stuff and a little bit goes a long way.

As of this post date, it's going for $36.96 for a 24-pack, which I think is pretty steep, but it does come with free shipping. It's worth it though, especially the day after a few too many - it really settles the stomach!

Nature Factor Organic Young Coconut Water, 10 Ounce Cans (Pack of 12)

2010-05-20T19:50:00.002-04:00

My wife has been running pretty steady for a bout a year now, and she swears by by coconut water after a run to rehydrate. She's tried several other brands, but Nature Factor Organic Coconut Water has ended up as her favorite.

I've tried it and all I can say is... bleh. Likewise for the rest of the family. However, one of my daughter's friends really likes it as well.

As of writing this post, a 12 pack of this goes for &22.68. It comes with the Amazon free shipping, so if you like it, order two 12-packs and get it shipped for free.

Rework, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

2010-04-13T11:35:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine is celebrating his 40th brithday this month. Like me, he has the dream of eventually breaking free of his corporate chains and Doing His Own Thing.

In this case, that would be web development. He's quite a skilled programmer and already does a bit of stuff on the side. I thought he'd enjoy this book.

640GB External USB Powered 2.5" Mini Portable Hard Drive

2010-04-05T11:32:00.000-04:00

I've been storing all my digital pictures and video on an external hard drive I bought a few years ago. It's 80 gig, which at the time was decent, but it's all filled up and I needed a replacement.

The existing drive has a power adaptor that needs to be plugged in, but I wanted a drive that runs off the USB port. I actually have the 320 gig version of this drive adn it's performed fine, so I went back to the same company for a larger version.

Matman Black Lycra T-Back Singlet

2010-03-31T11:29:00.000-04:00

Im' competing in a powerlifting competition on April 18th, and one of the rules is that you need to wear a non-supportive singlet. Not exactely the height of fashion, I know....

World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets

2010-03-28T11:26:00.000-04:00

We really enjoyed the 2005 World Series of Poker game, so I went ahead and got this one too. One for him and one for me!

Origami Books

2010-03-28T11:22:00.001-04:00

My son has gone through a few Origami phases before and each time his skills grow a little. He was making some pretty impressive flowers and a littel box from following a video he'd seen on YouTube and I wanted to encourage him, so I picked up a few books.

Niacin and Vitamin D

2010-03-18T08:00:00.003-04:00

I won't go into all the specifics here - you can check out my health and fitness blog if you want to get the details. Suffice to say that months of research and experimentation has given me the info I need to arrive at a combination of supplements that has done a pretty good job of significantly changing my cholesterol profile for the better.

Two of those supplements are Niacin and Vitamin D.

If you're thinking about trying supplements for your own cholesterol, make sure you do your research. There are different types of Niacin and different types of Vitamin D, and you have to get the right type for it to be effective.

World Series of Poker for the PSP

2010-03-13T07:57:00.003-05:00

My son recently discovered poker, so we've been playing a lot: Texas Holdem' and 5 card draw (his favorite) using plastic poker chips. I figured they must have a Poker game for the PSP and I was right.

He tends to stay in to see what he gets, even when it's pretty obvious he's down in the hand, although lately he's gotten a bit better about folding. It's still pretty easy to tell when he's bluffing though!

Bodum Shin Bistro 12-Ounce Coffee Press

2010-03-08T07:52:00.002-05:00

For years I've been drinking the nasty coffee made by the drip coffee maker at work. We have a French Press at home - I bought a replacement carafe from Amazon once - and there's a world of difference between the coffee made with the French press and work coffee.

So I said to myself. "Self, why are you drinking that nasty work coffee? Get your own French press and take it to work!" So I did.

I thought the price a little steep considering it only makes one cup, but I ordered it anyway, and brought in my own organic coffee to use.

It takes a lot more effort than just dumping in some swill from the company coffee pot into my cup, but it's worth.

Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

2010-03-08T07:34:00.001-05:00

My son is 11 now, and likes to read. I've introduced him to some of books that were my favorites when I was a kid (Mad Scientists Club, The Great Brain, The Red Fern) and for the most part they've been well received.

One of my favorite reads was Tarzan of the Apes. When I was his age, Tarzan Theater played every Sunday morning on channel 20 (in the DC Metro area). No cable of course, just the anntenna on top of the house.

Watching those flicks, mostly in black and white, was a favorite past time for me and my friends. Mainly I remember Johny Weissmuller, although I can think of a couple of other actors who played Tarzan whose names I don't know.

I think I was about his age, maybe a year or two older, when I discovered Tarzan came from books. Edgar Rice Burroughs to be specific, who also wrote a great many other adventure novel series: John Carter of Mars and Pellucidar to name two.

Rather than track down the full series of 24 Tarzan books, I decided to get the first one to see if he liked it. Now bear in mind Tarzan was written in 1914, so it has some language and societal idiosyncrysies. It took him a few chapters to get into it, but once Tarzan was being raised by the apes, he was hooked.

I went ahead an ordered the rest of the series, but I go it off eBay instead of Amazon.

Mini Folding Reading Glasses

2010-03-02T08:57:00.002-05:00

For the past year-and-a-half, I've had to use reading glasses more and more frequently. I can still read a book or newspaper, but small print like package ingredients is, for the most part, beyond me now. As is working on something like replacing SIMM memory, or putting a screw back in the arm of my wife's glasses. To give you and idea of where I am, I can barely read the date off a quarter - antyhing smaller and I'm out of luck.

I have a couple of pairs of reading glasses scattered about in strategic locations, but I've now reached the point where I pretty much need to have them handy all the time, just in case.

I don't want to walk around with them hanging around my neck, and regular sized glasses are to big for a pocket, so I searched out these folding glasses with the plan of keeping them in my pocket for the more and more frequent instances of when I need them.

Depressing, isn't it?

LEGO Creator Family Home, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

2010-02-07T08:53:00.000-05:00

My sons birthday is February 13th. He likes Legos:

And looking through reference books (really!) At a recent visit to the out-laws, he spent hours browsing through their American Heritage dictionary. He wanted one of his own:

Weird, huh?

VMC-MD1 USB Cable Lead for SONY Cyber-Shot Digital Camera

2010-01-30T08:45:00.000-05:00

My computer has a card reader, but whenever I put a memory card in it, it tells me it's unformatted and do I want to format it. Obviously not, since that would wipe the card. So I'd resigned myself to not being able to use it and using USB instead, since more devices have USB connection capability.

We've got a Sony Cybershot digital camera, I wanted to get the photos off since the card was full, and danged if I could find the stupid cable for plugging it into the USB. So I ordered one.

With great anticipation, I plug it in, and... nothing. WTF?

So now I'm really down in the valley, becuase I can't get the cable to work and the card reader still won't read the card.

So I did what any tech savvy person person would do; I restarted me computer.

Now put me in a court of law and I'll swear up and down that I've restarted before and then attempted to use the card reader without success, but after this restart I was able to use the reader to access the Sony memory card, and all the memory cards from the rest of the devices cluttering up the house.

So i didn't need the cable after all.

Brother IntelliFAX 775 Plain Paper Fax/Phone/Copier

2010-01-26T08:19:00.001-05:00

You no doubt read my rant on buying replacement cartridges for my HP fax machine, and if you didn't, you should.

Rather than smashing the machine to pieces, or flying to HP and throwing it whoever came up with the idea of proprietary carts (which is what I really wanted to do), I handed it off to my father-in-law as a donation to the computer club he's part of. Let them spend club funds on buying ink that costs 10x more per ounce than gold.

Then I went and did what I should have done when my first Brother fax passed on: bought another Brother. This one used good old tried and true (and cheap to replace) thermal transfer cartridge.

It also does what the HP claimed to do, but didn't, and that is listen in and automatically accept a fax if it detected one incoming. The HP wouldn't accept a fax until you hit the receive button. What a piece of crap.

To reiterate: I'll never buy anything from HP again, and neither should you.

Mizuno LR6 Volleyball Kneepad, Black, Small

2010-01-26T08:09:00.001-05:00

My daughter plays club volleyball with the West Pasco Wolf Pack. She tends to go through 2 -3 sets of kneespads a year between playing highschool, club, and the sumer camps she attends. They gave up the ghost at the last practice and she needed news ones.

Lucky: A Memoir

2010-01-19T08:14:00.000-05:00

My eife is a mark for Alice Sebold. I turned her onto The Lovely Bones after reading a review and she loved it. When I found out Sebold had a memoir out, I snagged it for her.

HP 640 Fax Ink Replacement Catridges

2009-12-23T19:55:00.003-05:00

When my Brother Fax gave out, I did a bit of research and ended up with an HP 640 Inkjet Fax. The cartridge ran out a while ago (mainly because my wife was using it for copies) and I didn't immediately replace it because they are like a gajillion dollars.

So it's been sitting there functioning as a phone for quite a number of months. Until....

My wife needed to receive a fax and couldn't. She ended up going to the Dr.'s office and picking up what she needed, but I was motivated to replace the ink.

Not wanting to be anally raped by HP, I ordered a 2-pack of third part carts. They come in and guess what? The ****ing HP Fax machine won't recognize them. 'Real' HP carts must have some sort of chip on them that HP reads and recognizes and these 3rd party carts Just Don't Work. The machine just sits there blinking the message 'Please insert cart'.

I am ****ing furious.

And I tell you what. The LAST thing I'll do is buy an original HP replacement cartridge. As a matter of fact HP, you've just lost my business for LIFE. I will NEVER buy another HP product ever.

So I guess your plan to make dough by forcing original replacement cartridges backfired this time, you corporate ass-raping assholes. I'm throwing your piece of shit fax machine away and buying another Brother.

So buy the carts you want, but be aware that they won't work in the 640 fax. Does anyone know if they work in printers?

LEGO Creator Beach House

2009-12-15T19:50:00.001-05:00

Santa my have gotten my son a PSP, but I still needed to get a gift for him. He loves putting together Lego stuff, and this year we stayed in a beach house with family for 3 days over Thanksgiving. What a co-inkadink!

PSP 3000, Case and a Mini Mixer

2009-12-10T19:42:00.000-05:00

My son used to have a PSP, an older 2000, but he got rid if it. Let's just say the PSP and one of our cats had a run in, and the PSP lost. I own a PSP myself, and first edition 1000 model. I don't play many games, but I do convert movies and watch them.

When the opportunity to replace the PSP was there, my son opted for a Nintendo DS, which, IMO, sucks when compared to the PSP. Well, it didn't take him long to get tired of the Pokeman games and he started wanting a PSP again. I told him to put it in a letter to Santa - maybe he would get lucky.

Of course Santa came through. He even got a handy travel case.

While Santa was ordering the SPS, he also added on this handy mini-mixer. My wife takes this vitamin concoction called Fatigued to Fantastic and she swears by it. It's a power and she currently mixes it with a spoon. Won't she be glad to see Santa dropped this into her stocking!

Burt's Bees Green Tea & Lemongrass Soap and Tomato Toner

2009-11-22T19:37:00.005-05:00

My wife is hooked on the Burt's Bees stuff. She's been buying it at th elocal mall. For kicks, I went online to see if they had better prices, and sho-nuff Amazon did. This stuff goes for about 7 bucks a bottle locally, but this pack of 3 from Amazon comes in at only $5.50 each. And the tomato stuff is cheaper too.

Age of Empires Collector's Edition, Overlord

2009-11-07T16:52:00.003-05:00

My son loves to browse Gamspot and read video game reviews. I have Age of Empires from back-in-the-day, and loaded it - he really enjoys it. So I ordered the Collector's pack to get the Rise of Rome expansion and AOE II with expansion too.

He also seemed very interested in Overlord. He's quite fond of RPGs, and the thought of being in charge of the dungeon and killing adventurers, instead of a hero trying to raid it, tickled him. So I ordered that too.

MP3 Player, Folding Wheelbarrow

2009-11-06T16:44:00.002-05:00

My wife's birthday is only a few short days away. She recently started walking for exercise. We have an iPod, an old one and pretty large compared to what they sell today, so I ordered her a smaller MP3 player. I happen to hate iTunes and all Apple's propriety crap, so I went with Sansa generic MP3 player, small, light and with a built in clip.

She also does a lot of yard work. After carting 11 40-pound bags of dirt from the driveway to the backyard, I got the fantastic idea of a folding wheelbarrow.

Happy Birthday!

Vitamin C, Vitamins A & D, Essential Fatty Acids

2009-10-29T16:37:00.003-04:00

My wife was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease and is looking at taking a hormone replacement for her malfunctioning thyroid. We did a bunch of research onine and found some recommended supplement regimens for augmenting thyroid function:

Policosanol, Chromemate, Slo-Niacin

2009-10-15T10:13:00.005-04:00

Despite a lifelong commitment to fitness and working out and a healthy diet I've been doomed by my genes. My cholesteral came in at a whopping 238 and my HDL (the good stuff) was 21. This puts my ratio at over 11, which means I'm in the almost 3x more likely to have a heart attack category. Not good!

My family doc wanted to put me on Lipitor, since there's not much else I can do in terms of diet and exercise to bring it down, but Lipitor is some pretty heavy duty stuff. Before I start taking a medication I theoretically would have to take every day for the rest of my life, I've got to explore all the possibilities.

One of the protocols I read about was the Policosanol, Chromemate, Slo-Niacin, and Vitamin C. I figure it's worth giving a shot.

Before bed take:

200mcg of chromium polynicotinate (not "picolinate"), which is niacin-bound GTF chromium
500mg of slow-release niacin (nicotinic acid) under the brand name "Slo-Niacin"
23mg of policosanol
2,000mg of Vitamin C

Up waking take:

500mg of slow-release niacin
2,000mg of Vitamin C
200mcg chromium polynicotinate

I'll update here after I've tried this for 30 days. FYI, I already take 4,800 mg of fish oil and a multivitamin daily.

I'm also documenting my cholesterol experiment on my blog.

Sony MSMT8G/NK 8GB Memory Stick PRO Duo (Mark2) Media

2009-10-04T09:36:00.001-04:00

My daughter was pretty hot for the PSP when is first came out. She wanted one bad enough to front half the cost from her birthday money and savings, which at the time amouted to about $125. She played it quite a bit for a while, but I don't think it's seen the outside of its case in the last two years.

I happen to like the PSP - it's a pretty nifty gadget. Built in Wi-Fi, web browser, will play MP3s and videos (once you convert them to MP4s, and there are plenty of free apps to do that). When she dragged it out for our recent garage sale I said hey, hey, hey, I'll buy that. $100 later, it's mine.

It's a 1001 model, 1st gen, and I see them going as "collector's items" for between $100 - $200 on eBay. She offered to just let me have it, but what the heck, she needs the money. I like the heft of it. It makes the PSP Go look like a Nintendo Gameboy.

It had a 1 gig card already, but I wanted to put more movies on it, as it's work pretty well as a portable video player. I wanted a larger card to put more movies on, so....

Bucky Shades Sleep Mask

2009-10-01T21:32:00.002-04:00

I don't recall the specific geneis of the the orignal purchase, but my wife has been using these Bucky Sleep masks for years now. She needs one about every 2 years or so as they get somewhat compressed and floppy. They come in a bunch of colors - I ordered the lavender this time

Me? I just put a pillow over my head.

Sim City 4 and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3

2009-09-28T07:52:00.002-04:00

My son been playing way to much Unreal Tournament (the original from 1999) and Neverwinter Nights. I wanted him to get into some more thoughtful games. I loaded up Age of Empires (the orginal) but he doens't quite get it yet.

We go Sim City for his Nintendo DS and he seems to like it well enough. IMO it's a pretty poor implementation of the computer version though, so I figured why not get him the real thing?

And he's been a big roller coaster fan since out last trip to Busch Gardens, to I tacked Roller Coaster Tycoon on there too.

Dirt Devil F8 Type Filter

2009-09-28T07:49:00.001-04:00

Have we ever replaced out vacuum cleaner filter? Dunno... but it was pretty dirty. The only one my wife could find locally was at WalMart and it was "infused" was some sort of anti-microbial stuff. Like we want that saturating the air. So I'm paranoid....

FOund them at Amazon easy enough, and ordered two to get the free shipping.

Elegant 03582-01 Cool Rider Deluxe Seat Cover

2009-09-18T07:45:00.001-04:00

I bought one of these back in July, but that one's already starting to fray around the edges. Sicne they take so long to come in (like 3 weeks) I went ahead and ordered the replacement so I've got one ready to go.

Why is it so hard to find those coiled wire seat covers? They were EVERYWHERE when I was growing up. Now I can onyl find this one online, and I spent more time tha I wanted looking around.

Kingston DataTraveler 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive

2009-08-21T07:38:00.002-04:00

My dad was a here a few months ago and I dropped some movies on my big thumb drive for him to watch on his laptop. He pulled a trailor and was down the road in a RV Park. It was a 16 gig stick, so I put about 20 or so movies on there for the road when he left. He said he mail me the stick back once he got home,but it hasn't shown yet. I figure he's using it, so I just ordered another.

This one is a little finicky - you have to seat it real well ot it doesn't show up when you plug it in.

BonJour 8 Cup French Press Replacement Glass Carafe

2009-07-26T09:59:00.004-04:00

A couple of years ago I got my wife a French Press coffee maker. She's really enjoyed it. The coffee it makes really does taste a lot better than from a standard drip coffee maker. The main reason she wanted it was to get away from all the plastic.

The only downside is the wear ans tear of every day use. In two years, she's gone through three of the glass carafe. Bang them against the side of the stainless steel sink; or they slip our of you hand while you're washing them... broken carafe.

She was down to her last one and broke it, so I ordered her two more, mainly becasue of the free shipping for over $25.

Wire Seat Cover

2009-07-15T13:59:00.007-04:00

I may be dating myself, but do you remember from when you were kid those seat covers that had the wire coils in them? Why are they so hard to find? As far as keeping you cool, they are simply the best I've found, and Amazon is the only place I can find them anymore.

The shipping is almost as much as the cover!

Sure, you can go with a bead one, or some fancy foam bubble thingie, but nothing keeps the air flowing like wire coils under your butt.

Playstation Games

2009-07-04T13:51:00.003-04:00

It's been a long time since I got any games. My son and I had gotten back into Justice League: Heroes, so I was looking for some more RPG-type superhero games. So...

We found Legends to be lame, but the other two are fun, especially Ultimate Alliance.

HP Laserjet 4000 Toner Cart

2009-06-26T13:44:00.002-04:00

Needed a new toner cartridge!

IsoNatural - Whey Protein Isolate Unflavored 5 lbs

2009-06-19T10:44:00.001-04:00

I'm running low, I can't choke down the brown rice or pea protein any longer, and I want something without a bunch of crap in it.

Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition

2009-06-15T10:37:00.000-04:00

As a software engineering manager, I don't do much programming. Heck, let's be honest: I don't do any, other than jumping in on an occasional T-SQL or CSS thing simply because I feel like it.

But when I check out the job boards (because you never know), I see about 50 programming jobs for every 1 programming manager job. So....

I need to learn it.

Mini Mixer and Protein Bars

2009-06-05T09:58:00.008-04:00

Haven't been doing much shopping lately....

I've been trying to be more disciplined about my diet. Ultimately, I end up getting lazy; mixing shakes in the morning or night before to take to work gets old; I have a mixer cup at work, but cleaning it in the bathroom gets old, buying and stocking healthy food to take to work gets old, and I've never been one to spend money on lunch (not that there's really anywhere to buy around where I work anyway).

So I'm going to try again: I order the mini mixer and plan on getting paper cups (so I don't have to wash them). I still have a bunch of protein powder (brown rice and some pea protein, both of which smell and taste like dirt). I'll use the mixer to mix up a cup or three a day.

Also did way to much research in an attempt to find an organic protein bar. Have you ever read the ingredients on your average protein bar? I mean, aren't these supposed to be healthy? The Organic Food Bar was all I came up with, at least for a bar that has a decent amount of protein. They're made with brown rice protein though, so I suspect they, too, will taste like dirt.

Pippy Longstocking Books

2009-04-22T14:34:00.004-04:00

Been a while since I bought anything....

I found an old Pippy Longstocking book in a box in the garage (I'm still looking for my Peanuts books) and gave it to my son. He read it in a few days and really liked it, so I ordered the rest of the books in the series. The only other one I remember is Pippy in the South Seas....

Panasonic 5.8Ghz Expandable Digital Cordless Answering System

2009-03-19T08:03:00.003-04:00

My wife's a pet sitter. Years ago (maybe 5 or so?) one of her clients replaced his wireless phone system and gave her the old one. I have no idea how old it was when he gave it to us. Anyway, one of the charging stands went bad. I guess it caused the battery to go bad as well, since that phone won't hold a charge anymore.

I did the requisite research online and learned I could get a new battery for $24.95 and a new charging base for $29.95. $55!?! I can get a brand new 4-phone system for only $25 more!

Chalk Ball for Gymnastics, Climbing, and Weight Lifting

2009-03-18T08:01:00.001-04:00

Needed for the gym, deadlifts specifically.

320GB External USB Powered 2.5" Mini Portable Hard Drive

2009-03-09T15:14:00.002-04:00

I wanted a way to store more videos on a portable drive, and a 128 gig thumb drive was too expensive. I found this gem - 320 gigs and, best of all, powered by USB so it doesn't need any sort of external power supply. Just plug it in and go!

Why do I want so much storage? Here's why...

Back to Nature Trail Mix and Roasted Almonds

2009-03-05T13:50:00.006-05:00

I don't think I'm an organic food freak (although some might argue the point), but I do pay attention to what I eat and, when possible, try to choose organic options. I'm also not a big regular meal eater, in the sense that eat small and healthy snacks through the day, like trail mix, almonds, granola, apples, etc.

I'd bought Back to Nature stuff at Publix (my local grocery store) and liked it, but buying it at Publix entailed actually GOING to Publix (or at least ending up there), and the last time that happened they were out. So, on a lark, I decided to see if Amazon sells it. Well they do, in packs of three. If I buy at least two packs (6 bags total) the order qualifies for free shipping. And it's even slightly cheaper than the Publix price. Yum!

3-Ring Binder and Trading Card Holders

2009-02-24T14:10:00.001-05:00

My son is (re)going through a Pokemon trading card phase. One of his friends has a three ring binder with plastic sheets of card holders holding all his Pokeman cards. Craving a similarly impressive presentation of his collection, my son voiced his desires. So he spent some of his hard earned birthday money and allowance to order a 3-inch, 3-ring bind and a box of 100 plastic card holder sheets (enough for 900 cards!).

Parenting Book

2009-02-22T23:09:00.000-05:00

Alas, I think the title says it all.

Paper Airplane Books

2009-02-09T09:36:00.000-05:00

My son's 10th birthday is this Friday. For the last few weeks, he has been heavy into paper airplanes, viewing and downloading templates off the Internet. He and his friends fold them, then go outside and fly then in the front yard. He's folded 20 of his favorite model, the Dragonfly, to pass out to the kids who come to his party (which is at Monster Mini Golf).

He even had me film him folding a plane; we put it up on YouTube (Paper Airplane Folding, the Namura Lock).

When I was a kid, my Dad got me a paper airplane book. I don't remember what it was titled, but I do remember making the planes. Given my son's current interest, I though he might like some books on paper airplanes too, so I ordered:

Probably more than he needs, but I plan on using them myself too! He's pretty heavily into Legos too, so I also ordered:

Not Legos precisely, but Mega Bloks are pretty much the same thing. I have a couple of his creations (a 'space car' and an airplane) decorating my nightstand right now.

New Wireless Router - Linksys WRT-54GL

2009-01-25T12:14:00.000-05:00

I run a side business from my home, doing web development and hosting. I have a business class cable modem (static IP) and a web/databse server under my desk. I host about 60 sites, some my own, some for freinds, and some for (very) small business clients.

For over 2 years, I used a Buffalo Airstation G54 router with great success. Then, all of a sudden, port forwarding stopped working. I could get out to the Internet, wireless was still up, but no one outside my home network could get to the web sites. If I reset the router by unplugging it and plugging it back in, port forwarding would come back. It might work for an hour, or even a few hours, but eventually it would stop again. Since some of my web sites make money, this was a PROBLEM.

So I did a hard reset of the router, reconfigured it again through web admin, spent way too much time on the phone with my ISP, and pretty much tried everything I could think of. But port forwarding would still arbitrarily stop working.

Admitting defeat, I pulled an old Linksys WRK-54G out of the closet. This aged router had served me well enough, but finally ended up shelving it because the wireless range on it sucked. I hooked it up, configured it, and that solved the port forwarding problem. But it didn't solve the range problem.

I had yet another router, a D-Link that I'd paid $120, that also had wireless problem, in that I could never get the fraking wireless to even work. Nevertheless, I pulled it out and wasted 3 hours of my life proving that, yes, the wireless still didn't work.

So I hit the boards and review sites and ultimately decides on the Linksys WRT-54GL:

I'd considered getting the same Buffalo again, but the Linksys almost half the price and seemed to have a great reputation. So far it's working great and the wireless has no range problems.

DVD Players and a Thumb Drive

2009-01-22T12:36:00.000-05:00

Hypothetical scenario:

Maybe you download and install uTorrent, go to a torrent site, and see what movies or TV shows people are sharing. Maybe you download a few videos discover that the most common file formats are Xvid and DivX with the .avi extension. Maybe you download Media Player Classic so you can watch them on your computer. But wouldn't it be better if you could watch them on a big screen Plasma or LCD? But how?

So you try a few options, such as converting the files to DVD and burning them, but that uses a disk and takes a while and is pretty much a pain. What you need is a DVD player that plays Xvid and Divx .avi files. And what would REALLY be handy was if the DVD player had a USB port so you could plug in a Thumb Drive or an external hard drive with the files on it and play right from that!

So you do research and find:

You order the DVD player. You already have a 2 gig Thumb Drive, so you copy an avi to it, plug it into the DVD player and - viola! - enjoy the movie on a big screen TV. Magnificent!

The whole thing is so cool, maybe you even decide to order another DVD player (for the other TV) and a 16 gig Thumb Drive so you can put like 20 movies at a time on it.

Oh, maybe while you do this you discover that you should really read the comments on any file you download. If you don't, and end up getting a bad copy, your significant other might be pretty disappointed when a missing scenes or messed up sound appears 30 minutes in.

You should also (and this goes without saying, but needs to be said anyway) always virus scan!

Micro Bookshelf Stereo System

2008-12-09T11:30:00.000-05:00

For many years, my wife has been listening to a sounds of nature (Ocean Surf) CD at night while we sleep. We put it on repeat and it plays all night. From this practice, I've learned that the average lifespan of a CD being played like this is about 9 months to a year. Sooner or later, the CD starts skipping. Sound quality wasn't helped by the fact that is was being played on an old Panasonic portable CD player with some crappy portable speakers stuck plugged into the headphone port.

Before the portable CD solution, we'd had a cheap Walmart portable AM/FM/CD thing we'd gotten for about $20. When the CD started skipping on that, it turned out to be the player and not the CD. That unit is nothe 'garage' radio.

In any case, once the CD started skipping, I'd get on my computer and burn a new one (I'd ripped a copy of the original) and we were godd for X months.

Since we listen to CD this every night, and since the sound was so crappy, and since the CDs were wearing out, for Christmas I decided to get her a micro system that had (relatively) decent sound. I wasn't looking for just any system though; I wanted one that could play MP3s and had a USB port. I would convert the original CD rip to an MP3, put it on a thumb drive and play it right from there. No moving parts, no wearing out. Ocean Surf for eternity!

My research brought me to:

I added a cheap thumb drive:

I put Ocean Surf on it (the MP3 ended up being around 22 megs), plugged it in, put it on repeat, and its been playing ever since!

Sony Cybershot DSC-T77

2008-12-04T12:33:00.000-05:00

A Christmas present for my teenage daughter:

With some extra memory:

Edit:
Camera a big hit. It takes really good pictures too. My daughter loves the touch screen, and especially likes the simple art program it comes with that lets her draw right on the pictures she takes.

HP 640 Inkjet Fax Machine

2008-10-21T13:36:00.000-04:00

My Brother IntelliFax 770 gave up the ghost. We don't use it that often, but when you need a fax machine, you need a fax machine.

Edit:
It's a lot louder than the Brother (the HP is ink jet, the Brother was thermal), and I can't get it to auto answer. With the Brother, I was able to get it set so that when the phone rang, the answering machine picked up, and it if was a fax, the Brother would take over. The HP doesn't seem to be able to do that, despite me trying every setting there is. I should have just gotten the Brother again, but the HP was half the price. Oh well, you get what you pay for!

Books for the Kids

2008-09-25T09:51:00.002-04:00

Both my children like to read, which is fantastic and a practice I encourage by getting them books.

My daughter read the first two Twilight books and liked them, so I ordered her teh next two:

My son, who is 9, read The Hobbit and the first book of the Lord of the Rings. He made it about halfway through teh second book (The Two Towers) before he faded out. He liked the movies quite a bit and wanted to know more about Middle Earth:

Edit:
If you're a fan of Tolkien, I highly recommend the atlas - I enjoyed it quite a bit!

Memory Card for the Canon Camcorder

2008-09-12T10:01:00.002-04:00

The Canon Vixia arrives and it doesn't include a memory card! So I ordered:

It's enough for up to four hours of high-def video....

Canon VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder

2008-09-05T10:29:00.002-04:00

My wife an I have always been pretty about about doing the camcorder thing. We had an older camcorder that uses the small cassettes. In a drawer in my dresser what a dozen or so tapes. But anyone whose used a camcorder knows how quickly one loses the bubble on what's been recorded and how to find anything on a tape.

A while ago I gave serious consideration to getting a DVD or Mini-DVD camcorder, but never acted on the impulse. This time, however, I decided to get serious.

After reading opinions, I decided I'd rather get a camcorder that used flash memory rather than a DVD recorder or disk drive. The fewer moving parts the better. Once I'd narrowed down what I wanted, the choice was fairly obvious:

Edit:
I still don't record as much as I should, but the camera is great. One thing that was a pain was the native format the camera records in. Out of the box, the only way to play back your video is to hook up the camera since even though the video format is MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), it saves the file as a .hts (whatever that is). Media Player Classic would also sorta play it, at least enough for you to figure out what the clip was about.

The camera comes with a suite of image software, but I didn't install it. All I wanted to be able to do was save the video to my computer for storage (which was easy enough using a USB cable) and then burn to a DVD to watch.

I ended up purchasing a third-party software app, ConvertXtoDVD, which will convert the files and burn a DVD. Works great and now I can burn individual (or multiple) scenes to DVD for easy viewing.

Edit:
I see the camera now sells for under $600. Bummer! I paid $899 for it!

PNY Verto GeForce 8500GT 512MB Video Card

2008-08-21T08:08:00.000-04:00

I ordered a new computer without a video card and the onboard video sucked. So I got:

Edit 2/12/09
I just checked on Amazon and it's selling for $269! When I order it I got it for $55!

The Great Brain Books and More

2008-07-24T08:13:00.004-04:00

I read these as a kid and really liked them. I thought my son would too:

I also got some books for my daughter:

Otherspace

Doppelganger

The Seer

Original Motorola 2.5mm to 3.5mm Audio Adapter and Converter

2008-07-07T10:32:00.000-04:00

I needed this so we could use existing headphones with my daughter's iPod.

Guardians of the Flame: The Heroes

2008-06-29T10:34:00.000-04:00

Joel Rosenburg's books were a must-read during my highschool Dungeons and Dragons days. I decided to revisit them.

Quag Keep & Return to Quag Keep Omnibus; Guardians of the Flame: the Warriors

2008-06-15T10:36:00.001-04:00

More must-reads from the old days.

More Attempts to Relive my Childhood through my Son

2008-06-14T10:38:00.000-04:00

Mad Scientists' Club

New Adventures of the Mad Scientists Club

Danny Dunn and the Smallifying Machine #1

Neverwinter Nights Diamond

2008-04-15T10:43:00.000-04:00

My son and I really enjoy playing role playing games together. I got two so we can be on at the same time. I think Neverwinter NIghts is one of the best games around for this type of father/son stuff. Simple enough to quickly and easily figure out, yet large enough to provide hours of adventuring enjoyment, plus all the custom servers out there. We really like playing on the Lord of the Rings servers.

I've been tempted to try Neverwinter Nights 2, but I've heard horror stories about the copy protecting crashing systems, so thus far I've avoided it. Anyone out there have any experiences?

Cuisinart Cordless Rechargeable Hand Blenders

2008-03-16T10:46:00.000-04:00

I needed a quick and easy way to whip up my protein shakes, and a blender takes too dang long to clean.

Remington HC-600 High Precision Washable Hair Clipper Kit

2008-01-21T10:48:00.001-05:00

I am not a miser, but there are some things I just don't like spending money on. A haircut is one of them. I'm in the military reserve and have to keep my hair short anyway, so once a month I whip this out and trim it down to about 1/8 of an inch.

I go this one because it's rechargable and you don't have to have it plugged in while using it.

Curious George Bucket Seatcover

2007-12-02T12:46:00.000-05:00

My wife needed new seat covers for her FOrd Explorer. She looked arund and found these on Amazon. Don't ask me what about them speaks to her.

Transformers Movie Deluxe Class Bumblebee 2008 Camaro

2007-11-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

My son was totally taken with the Camero in the Transformer movie, and Christmas is right around the corner.

Kismet

2007-11-06T12:44:00.000-05:00

She wanted this CD too:

Across The Universe

2007-11-03T12:41:00.002-04:00

My wife saw this movie and really like the music, so I order the soundtrack CD for upcoming birthday.

She also needed a new sleep mask.

Three More Books

2007-08-13T12:35:00.000-04:00

Two for my daughter:

Catalyst

l8r, g8r

OnNe for me:

A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting

Yes, I know; an odd choice. But at 42 I feel the inevitable lap of the tide of time at my toes. I've been taking Muay Thai and sparring, and I have to admit, there's something primal and.... relaxing, about fighting. It gives me a chance to strip away all the pretense society straps me with, and for an hour or two a week, I can be free of constraints and the need to be polite and kiss ass. I throw on my leopard skin, stand int he cave entrance, and protect my turf.

You shoudl try it....

The Dangerous Book for Boys

2007-06-28T12:33:00.000-04:00

I heard about this book listening to NPR on the way home. It seemed to contain a lot of thigns I did when I was a kid. I will experiment on my son!

Arctic Cool King Size Seat Cushion

2007-04-07T12:29:00.000-04:00

Remebr those seat cover things our parents had when we were kids? The ones with the coiled wire inside? They were partically essential if you lived anywhere warm to keep you from sticking to the vinyl seats that predominationed car uphostry fashion in the 70s and 80s.

I always liked those things. I've tried beads and foam bubble things, but nothing works as good as one of these inner-wire seat covers for keeping you cool.

I usually get about a year out of them.

Spyro the Dragon

2007-03-29T09:11:00.000-04:00

My daughter played Spyro at the neighbors and was ate up!

Shite 'n' Onions, Vol. 2: What the Shite

2007-02-14T12:27:00.000-05:00

My father-in-law is a huge Irish music fan. Whilst listening to some random Internet radio station, I heard this song I thought he would like. So I looked up, found the group, and bought the CD.

ZNP Bar and Lifting Chalk

2007-02-05T12:20:00.000-05:00

I've suffered frmo tinea versicolr since my early twenties. Every now and then it flares up, I make an appointment with a dermatologist, and he gves me pills and lotions. The TV goes away for a year or two, but so far keeps coming back.

I did a bunch of Internet research (always a mistake) and read that daily washing with a ZNP bar and bath brush can help.

Edit: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. I used the ZNP for a good month with no effect.

I also needed some lifting chalk. I made the mistake of leaving my tupperware container of chalk in the gym and by the time I finished showing, figured out I'd forgotten it, and went back to get it, it had found a new home.

Even More .Net Books and One for my Son

2007-01-29T12:10:00.002-05:00

Yes, still trying, still failing. I have absolutly no interest in learning .Net and have come to despise software engineering with a passion that borders on teh maniacal. Too bad it's the only thing I can do that pays so well.

Visual Studio 2005 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies

ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming: Problem - Design - Solution

Also picked up a couple of kid's books for my son.

Open Season

Duma: The Movie Novel

Flash Graphic Novels

2006-11-12T09:48:00.000-05:00

The Justice League Heroes game further cemented Flash as my son's favorite superhero. With Christmas upcoming, I thought he'd enjoy some Flash comics.

The Flash, Vol. 7: Rogue War

The Flash Vol. 6: The Secret of Barry Allen

Playstation Video Games: Justice League Heroes and Champions of Norrath

2006-10-09T09:46:00.000-04:00

I really enjoy playing RPG games with my son. We've had a great time playing Baldur's Gate, so I wanted to get a few more. I was especially excited to get Justice League, since Flash is his favorite superhero.

Plush Paddy O'llama

2006-07-28T09:44:00.000-04:00

My daughter has become fascinated with llamas....

More .Net Programming Books

2006-07-11T09:42:00.000-04:00

I STILL haven't been successful and any level in migrating to .Net. Good thing I'm in management!

Microsoft Visual C# .NET Step by Step--Version 2003

Beginning ASP.NET 1.1 with Visual C# .NET 2003

Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child : Eliminating Conflict by Establishing Clear, Firm, and Respectful Boundaries

2006-06-08T09:41:00.000-04:00

Arrgh!

Being a parent....

Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of Florida

2006-05-09T09:38:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, out house backs up to a series of small lakes. Whereas I try to grab some photos, my wife simply enjoys sitting on the back patio and watching.

I got her this because she was interested in knowing what birds she was seeing. Each bird page as a space for notes, so if you see the bird, you're supposed to write down the when and where of it.

Sony Telephoto Lens

2006-04-14T09:36:00.000-04:00

I have a Sony digital camera that I'm pretty excited about, although I'm sure the excitement will wane. My housein Florida backs up against a series of small lakes rife with wildlife, expecially birds. I thought it would be cool to see if I could get soem nice nature pics.

In order for the lens to fit, I had to get this adaptor:

Books for Myself

2006-04-07T09:32:00.002-04:00

John Hocking hangs out no SFReader.com, and I wanted to suport him:

I read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant when I was in high school. Nostalgia led me to buy this when I heard he'd returned to the Land for another series.

Books for Christmas

2005-12-14T09:28:00.000-05:00

For my daughter:

For my son:

.Net Programming Books

2005-11-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

Trying to keep up to date with Build Your Own ASP.NET Website Using C# & VB.NET and The Book of Visual Studio .NET.

So far, no success.

The Amityville House Of Pancakes Omnibus, Volume 1

2005-03-20T09:24:00.000-05:00

I run SFReader.com, a science fiction, fantasy and horror book review site. Pete helps me run the site, so I ordered a copy of his book and had it sent to a reviewer for a review.

Gameboy and Games

2004-12-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again!

My son's wish list includes a GameBoy. I picked a couple of games I thought he might enjoy.

Microsoft Windows Server Standard 2003-5 Clients

2004-12-07T09:14:00.001-05:00

I do web site design and development on the side. I have my own development server running Windows 2000 under my desk at home. I recently got into doing some affiliate marketing using datafeeds and have gotten ramped up to about 60 sites(!) all hosted under my desk. I figured I should step up to Windows 2003:

Because IIS 6 is supposed to be better than IIS 5
I need to keep up my mad server skillz

Probuilder Code Blue x 10 Kit

2004-08-15T09:12:00.000-04:00

This ought to keep my son busy for a while....