Happy 3rd Blogiversary

Whew, I need a break! For some reason, I set up a goal of post a day for the month of May and extended it right up to my blogiversary/blogoversary, whatever the official name is. It was a blast cranking out posts and cleaning up lots of old drafts (I still average 10-15 drafts), but blogging is definitely an addiction, and this experience only added fuel to the fire.

A lot has happened in the past year, especially in the past month. I've joined lots of memes, listings, and managed to even to become A-list blogger (albeit temporarily simply due to the number of blogrolls I've joined). I've also taken real cash in sponsorships, which is a help for our single income family. Now, that I've obtained my goal plus more, I need to step back and actually catch up on some real life activities such as:

1. Wife - Doug has definitely become a blogging widow.
2. House - Let's just say that it needs a bit more cleaning and decluttering.
3. Knitting - Too many projects. Just finished knitting a square for Rebuilding Greensburg, and need to get back to making mini-mittens. Dova is also expecting me to knit a purple stegosaurus with this pattern.
4. Cross-stitch - Adam's was done when he was 18 months old, but Dova's is hopelessly behind. Maybe when she is 4?
5. Pictures - I haven't printed any photos since last summer, including a book I was planning to put together for our Disney trip. Plus, I've got to learn to use my new DSLR camera!

So back to the regular blogging schedule!

Rejected Wii Play games

This is a bit politically incorrect, but hilarious nonetheless. Originally found on Engadget, referencing LoadingReadyRun. After I bought the Wii, I had a hard time finding extra remotes so when I saw that the Wii Play game was bundled together with a remote, I pre-ordered three copies and patiently waited a month to receive them. I sold off the two extra copies piecemeal on eBay and ended up making enough money to cover my own copy. I had originally pre-ordered 10 copies, but stress of having this extra inventory which I had to sell at a profit was too much for me (I'm a SW engineer, not an eBay entrepreneur!). The Wii Play games are pretty lame, but Adam and I still love to face off on the cow-riding scarecrow-crashing game called Charge!.

Impossible toys

For Adam's birthday last year, he kept asking for this XPV Fly Wheels toy that he saw advertised on TV. Since it had just come out for the holiday season, we paid a premium for it at Target ($70) and then also had to buy a $30 battery (thankfully funded by a gift certificate he also received). It looked like a cool toy, which could run on land, fly in the air, do loops, etc. The first time Adam tried it with dad, they flew it in our yard, which is fairly large. Doug wanted to get a handle on the controls as it is basically two joysticks controlling two fan motors independently. If you don't control it carefully, the aircraft immediately goes into a spin. Within a few minutes, Doug flew it into a small tree. He ended up cutting down the tree to retrieve it. The next time they tried it, they went to the high school field where there is plenty of open space. Again, Doug fly it into a tree. This time he couldn't cut it down, so they left it up there and checked every few days to see whether it fell down. About two weeks later it had come down and despite weathering a few rainstorms, held up fine. Now the toy sits on Adam's shelf gathering dust because it is simply too hard to play with. I asked Dr. Toy about another toy that I was obsessed with as a child but haven't heard back yet:

In the mid 1970's there was a handheld hoop about 12 inches in diameter and 4 inches wide which you could roll a ball inside of. You could pass the ball to person with another hoop. I remember the commercials being cool and begging to get one, but when I got it, it was nearly impossible to do and I could only roll the ball a couple of times. What is this toy?

They made it look so easy in the TV commercial, but when I got it home, it was really hard to do and no fun at all. I think I imagined that it had a clear track inside of it so you could roll it forever, but didn't think through how you could throw it off the track and pass it to another person. I hate impossible toys and how they make them look so easy on television! Things never change.

CheapoAir.com - Great travel deals for families

I'm a huge bargain hunter so when I was approached to review the CheapoAir.com site, I was glad to find place where I could find great travel deals. Our last family trip to Disney World cost an arm and a leg but thankfully I got to keep my first born.

I just recently booked a trip for a geek conference in Las Vegas, I mean the Better Software Conference, so I figured I'd put these guys to the test. I had company-obtained tickets for $535 from Manchester NH to Las Vegas NV midweek. For the same dates and destinations, CheapoAir.com found flights for $387, quite a bit cheaper. The return flight was a red-eye, but well worth it if you were paying on your own dime or wanting to take your family with you. I actually have an ulterior motive for going to Las Vegas, besides never being before, I want to see Star Trek: The Experience. Between the software conference and trekkie heaven, it will be a totally immersing geeky 3 days for me!

Then I decided to window shop for a family vacation. I have heard wonderful things about the Disney Cruise Lines, so I clicked on their Cruises link. I found the usual Caribbean cruises (boring), but then the 10 night Mediterranean Cruise Disney caught my eye. Their cruises packages started at $1299 and went from Barcelona to Palermo, Naples, Sardinia, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Marseilles, and Villefranche. How cool would that be to bring the kids to Europe in a safe non-threatening Disney way. Unfortunately the dates in June didn't mesh with plans that have already been made, with Adam attending my MIT reunion and swim lessons starting. Besides, I was just window shopping! Of course the downer is that you also have to book flights to Europe. At the bottom of the cruise description, I clicked on the "Book Now on CheapoAir.com" banner and it immediately brought me to a flight booking form with the cruise dates already pre-filled. I typed in Boston to Barcelona, and amazingly, they came up with tickets for only $389! Quite affordable indeed.

So for due diligence, I tried this out on my usual personal travel site, Expedia.com. They did have a the same cruise for the same price, but when I went to check the airfares, it was a completely different story. First of all, there was no nice pre-filled form with the dates, so I had to switch back and forth to fill in the information. Then the best flight fare was $1225! Hardly affordable for a family of four. I don't know how CheapoAir does it, but they sure are doing something right.

I had the opportunity to ask them a few questions as well:

How is CheapoAir.com different from other travel sites?

We are dedicated to providing quality travel products to today's budget traveler. With the advent of the Internet, the world is a much smaller place. Cities that we've only dreamed of visiting are now a click away and so is planning that dream vacation. People also work very hard for their money. Weekend getaways, last minute travel, it can all seem overwhelmingly expensive and impossible. We make it affordable! Our core product is airfare, namely cheap airfare! We also offer cheap car rentals, affordable hotel reservations, and inexpensive cruise and vacation bookings. We're launching comprehensive destination guides throughout the month of May and over the summer. We offer a bi-weekly Fare Alerts Newsletter and ongoing travel deals to top destinations throughout each month.

We listen to our customers. We welcome and appreciate constructive criticism. We want to hear from our customers and do. We're also always upgrading our technology to maximize the consumer experience and save customers time.

How does CheapoAir.com get lower rates?

We have over 18 million negotiated and exclusive fares. Each executive team member brings 20+ years of travel industry experience and expertise to the table.

Photo Hunters - Art

I've been meaning to join Photo Hunters for ages, so I'm finally plunging in (plus I have photos lined up for the next few weeks). This week's theme is art, and I choose several photos from when I travelled to Seattle for the ASMS show last year.