Greco Woodcrafting – 20% off all children’s toys

I want a Lightning McQueen race car, of course.

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Post from: Brain Needed Space

There’s More to Christmas Than Spirit Beasts

“DEAR JEEBUS NO!”

Yes, the candle place. Flowers and fruit and sprays and all the stuff you can’t stand in your bedroom.

But did you know there’s stuff in there for men? Of course you didn’t; the dumb {expletive deleted} don’t label them as such.

Next time you’re captured inside Yankee Candle, find Midsummer’s Night. Don’t smell the candle itself; smell the inside of the lid. It’s not a feminine candle, fellas. It’s like cologne for your bedroom.

Now since a vast swath of the male population hasn’t a clue how to put on cologne, let’s get Candle Instructions out of the way.

Buy the medium jar. Light it, let it burn for three hours. Snuff out the candle. Trim the wick to ¹/₈“.

Always burn your jar candles for three hours to avoid “mushrooming” of the candle wax.

How do you trim the wick? Some people use regular scissors, some people use toenail clippers. But the truly suave use real candle wick trimmers. Does your significant other go simply crazy for those bell-jar candles? Well now you know just what to get as a stocking stuffer AND you get to explain how proper wick-care leads to cleaner and longer candle burns.

Look, any chump can buy a girl her own pink Wii controller and nunchuck, but how about you be a little more sensitive and thoughtful this year.

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Post from: Brain Needed Space

Daniel’s Gift-Guide, Part I

“Nice Blu-Ray purchase, Daniel!”

Thank you, Brain. What are we doing with it?

“Three connections: SPDIF aka fiber optic audio to the Denon receiver, HDMI to the Panasonic 42″ plasma TV, and the Ethernet cable to the router.”

OK. On it.

/click, snick, snap

Done!

“Power?”

Power.

“TV on?”

TV on.

“What’s it doin’?”

Downloading an update.

“How is it downloading a firmware update; we haven’t configured the BluRay to connect to the router.”

No idea.

“Daniel… we have a 13-character encrypted password to the router. How is BluRay hacking that, connecting to the Internet, and downloading firmware?”

I dunno.

“It really is downloading, isn’t it.”

Yep. Isn’t it a sad commentary on modern life when we’re shocked when something works right out of the box?

“Amen. Wanna try it?”

Yes. Hey kiddo!

DADDY!

Cmere.

DADDY?

I have a toy for you to try.

OK DADDY WHERE’S THE TOY?

Here. See the TV? We can connect to NetFlix now on the TV and watch movies.

I WANNA WATCH POKEMON!

Alright, let’s see… OH, Pokemon movie right here…

PLAY IT DADDY.

Pokemon 3… buffering… OH LOOK there it goes!

QUIET DADDY POKEMON IS PLAYING. CAN I HAVE PIZZA AND SOME OF YOUR CRANBERRY JUICE PLEEEEEEEASE?

Pizza and cranberry juice?

YES.

Friday night-rules, I guess.

THANK YOU DADDY.

“Hey Daniel!”

Yeah Brain?

“According to these instructions, your TV only goes up to 720p. The Blu-Ray supports 1080p.”

So…

“You are wasting 360p!”

I don’t think that’s how it works, Brain.

“Gimme Hand again. Gotta cruise back to BestBuy and see if they have a 42″ 1080p plasma…”

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Post from: Brain Needed Space

I Will NOT Buy a New TV

Yes kiddo?

DADDY!

What’s up?

DADDY!

/sigh, walks into the family room

Hey, what’s the problem.

I CAN’T WATCH AIRBUD. IT’S BROKEN.

Hmm. The DVD isn’t syncing with the receiver. Let me take a look…

/disassembles the entire audio-video system, replaces cables, cleans the DVD, tries it in another player and it works fine, cleans the cables, cleans the connections on the receiver and player, hooks it all back up

DADDY!

It’s not working?

NO.

OK, I’ll see what the budget has to say about getting a cheap, new DVD player.

RIGHT NOW?

No, not now.

HOW AM I GOING TO WATCH AIRBUD?

Well, you can watch in my room…

I CALL YOUR SPOT ON THE BED!

You watch the movie, I’ll do some research into a new DVD player.

“Hey Daniel!”

Hey Brain.

“You realize what this means?”

What, Brain?

“You can buy a Blu-Ray DVD player and I can feast on 1080p video!”

No, you cannot. We are on a strict budget and are not going to blow $300 on a Blu-Ray DVD player for the family room.

“Not for the family room; for your bedroom!”

But… my DVD player in the bedroom works just fine.

“Daniel. Move your bedroom DVD player to the family room, buy a Blu-Ray DVD player and put that in your bedroom!”

Your idea intrigues me…

“And since you subscribe to NetFlix, you will be able to stream on-demand movies to your TV, not just your computer.”

Fascinating…

“You don’t even have to buy any cables; it’s all the same optical audio and HDMI cables that you already have.”

Your argument has merit…

“And look! Here’s an LG Blu-Ray DVD player for $249!”

Your argument just sank; we can only spend $100. At that price-point we can get a perfectly good replacement DVD player for the family room so the boy can watch AirBud out there.

“Alright alright alright… lemme think.”

You do that.

“I need control of Hands.”

Enjoy.

“Cmon Hands! We’ve got research to do!”

/typity typity typity

Whatcha doing, Brain?

“I have accessed our BestBuy rewards account…”

We have one of those?

“And now we’re looking at coupons…”

BestBuy has coupons?

“And now we’re printing a coupon!”

What kind of coupon?

“An Insignia NS-BRDVD3 Blu-Ray DVD player, with BD Live, and access to NetFlix streaming movies for $99!”

No way.

“Total way!”

Insignia?

“BestBuy house brand; LG and Panasonic parts.”

It says we need our rewards card. I don’t have that.

“Check the printer! I just printed a temp card!”

Does our local BestBuy have any of ‘em in stock?

“According to the web site, they do.”

So a $100 Blu-Ray DVD player with BD Live and access to NetFlix streaming movies, it’s not a knockoff or made from Tinker Toys, and it’s just plug-and-play into my existing system?

“As you used to say, ‘Foshizzle!’”

Keys?

“Keys.”

Wallet?

“Wallet.”

Traveling music?

“Santana.”

Blog post?

“Writing it right now.”

I guess we’ll have to tell everybody how it turns out?

“Undoubtedly.”

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Post from: Brain Needed Space

Is AirBud in BluRay Format?

…

And that I’m enjoying, yes.

Notice that all the pieces are rounded and the actual electronics are partially recessed to reduce the chance of damage.

The diagrams are designed to show the “level” of the pieces. If there’s a little “1″ to the side of the piece on the diagram, that means the pieces attaches directly to the plastic mounting plate. If there’s a “2″, that means the pieces is places on top of the pieces that are attached directly to the plastic mounting plate, and so on.

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Post from: Brain Needed Space

Snap Circuits, In Pictures

I installed the demo version of Doozla for my son to use as a digital coloring book. He really likes it, but he wants to print his creations. I have a Lexmark personal laser printer but I don’t have a color inkjet printer.

Question the First: Should I eschew the entire concept of a second printer and just get a personal color laser printer?

Question the Second: If the answer to QtF is “no”, what personal color inkjet printer should I investigate?

Note: that sunflower iMac is runing the external 19″ monitor. The video cable that runs through the iMac’s monitor-arm is ruined, but its video card works just fine. I bought a cheap monitor, hooked it up to the iMac’s external video port, and that little computer has been running just fine like that for many, many years.

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Post from: Brain Needed Space

My Very Old Computer, But Not My Desk

Mac Keyboard. My G11 is very nice for gaming, but for working and typing it’s not so pleasant.

iPhone Case. I bought a refurbished 3G (black) for a pittance and need something that will protect the thing but still allow me to carry it in my pocket. I loathe belt clip-ons and cases that turn a svelt, curvy phone into a ruggedized cargo container.

iPhone Apps. I don’t want to waste my 99 cents. What do you people find indespensible?

Briefcase/Laptop Case. My new company is going to issue a nice, new laptop to me. I gotta lug that thing in style, foshizzle.

Pants. The new job doesn’t permit silk Hawaiian shirts and jeans. I don’t like pleats, and I don’t like pants I have to have dry cleaned. My size is typically 32”x32”, nothing fancy, no Big-N-Tall. Am I stuck with Dockers?

Motorcycle. OK, let’s just admit that I’m scared sh!ttless about riding a motorcycle in Orlando. I trust *myself*, just not the 10 million tourists who routinely try to kill me every day. But I’m going to be driving only twenty miles per day round trip to work and I like to dream that I could have a bike.

Wii Game. I bought Virtua Tennis and the advanced controller attachment. It’s fun, but not outstanding. I tried Zelda for Wii and fell asleep. I am not going to buy another game console, but so far all the Wii games look boring and uninteresting.

Pork Chop Recipe. I have four nice porkchops and apples at home. Gimme a good, simple recipe that my six-year old son will like.

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Post from: Brain Needed Space

Come Shopping with Me