First of all, I’d like to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year’s.

With that out of the way, let’s talk New Year’s plans.  Our annual plans for New Year’s are pretty simple.  Dinner is usually snacky-food (hors d’oeuvres and the like).  Once dinner is over, the kids go to sleep and we watch the countdown on the sofa or our bed.

Two years, NHL wanted to stay up until midnight.  He made it until about 10 minutes until midnight.  We tried to wake him but he was completely and totally out.  The next year, we DVR-ed the countdown so the kids could see it the next day.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What are your plans for New Year’s Eve?

Whatever your plans are, though, please plan on entering my WikiReader giveaway.  Less than a week to go and, as of this writing, there aren’t that many entries.

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 McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #68

Two Thousand and Ten or Twenty Ten, whichever way you pronounced it, it was a big year.

I began the year on a quest to lose 20 pounds in 20 weeks.  I’m proud to report that I was successful.  I’m not so proud to report that, in the remaining 32 weeks, I’ve gained those 20 pounds back.  I’m even less proud to report that those returning 20 pounds brought some buddies along.  Looks like I’ll be beginning 2011 with the goal of losing 25 – 30 pounds.

2010 marked the first time we attended blogging/social media conferences.  The first conference was Disney Social Media Moms 2010.  Actually, B attended this one.  I hung out with the kids and rode on rides.  To be completely honest, I think I got the better deal.  No offense to those of you who were chatting with B and enjoying the conference, but NHL, JSL and I got to go on Disney World’s rides!  It’s really hard to beat that.  Despite some injuries, problems and some face-remembering fears, we all had a great time.  Even better, we’ll be attending DisneySMMoms 2011.  And by “we”, I mean B again while the boys and I ride more rides.  Small World, here we come!  (By the way, if I don’t remember meeting you from last year, please don’t be offended.)

The Disney trip forced me to reexamine some of my long-held religious practices.  I think I’m much happier with my modified practices than I was previously.  I know that B’s much happier, though she likely misses getting total remote control custody from sundown Friday to an hour past sundown Saturday.

The high of the Disney World trip was followed with a low of constant nosebleeds.  First, I got them once a week.  Then, they got more and more frequent until I had to have my nose electrically cauterized.  That’s as fun as it sounds (unless you think it sounds like a blast in which case you have issues).  Sadly this only worked for awhile and then I had to get my nose chemically cauterized.  This procedure hurt less and wasn’t as intense afterwards, but still is something I’d rather not go through again.

Towards the end of March, it became apparent that my grandmother wasn’t going to be alive much longer.  She passed away in mid-April.  I had previously taken custody of her photo collection with the goal of scanning them all and distributing DVDs of the photos to everyone.  This scanning project uncovered some incredible photos.  I only wish my grandmother was alive to tell me the stories behind them.  The scanning project also turned into a genealogy project using various tools.

April also saw the launch of Dad Revolution: a joint blog hosted by about 10 dads.  (The actual number fluctuates.)  It’s been a bit of a rocky go at times, but I’m proud to have my posts alongside the rest of these dads!

Towards the end of May, I realized my blogging limitations.  Determined to break them, I did an Eden Fantasy review, attended an Eden Fantasy party at BlogHer 2010 (NSFW) and even had a “Frisky Vacuuming” guest post on Blogging Dangerously.

In May, I began a project near and dear to me: My Bullied History.  Here, I detailed how I had been bullied from elementary school through high school.  I even showcased a piece of writing I had unearthed from my freshman year of college when the bullying was fresh in my mind.

In August, just before BlogHer 2010, we got a diagnosis for some of the behaviors we were seeing in NHL.  The doctor said that, since I shared some of these same behaviors, I likely had this condition as well.  This led me to question how much of me was from my experiences as a child versus the “condition.”  In the end, it was a moot point as further testing showed he didn’t have this condition at all.  A rollercoaster of emotion, to be sure.

Speaking of BlogHer 2010, we attended that conference in New York City and had a blast.  I’m intentionally not going to say much about it because I know that if I try I’ll go on for about a dozen paragraphs.  Suffice it to say that we highly enjoyed the panels, meeting with fellow bloggers and meeting with company representatives.

BlogHer 2010 was also where I cheated on my long-term relationship.  And by that, I mean I used someone’s DSLR camera instead of my trusty point and shoot camera.  We tried to repair relations, but after its flash broke, I got my own DSLR.  My point and shoot will be given to NHL to use in photographic excursions with me.

Of course, 2010 also saw a lot of cooking (including duplicating a chickpea recipe I’ve been wanting to make for years), video game playing, math learning with NHL, milestones with JSL and more.

What will 2011 bring?  I’m not sure, but if 2010 is any indication, it’s sure to be a wild ride.

JSL is three and a half and, up till Sunday, was sleeping in a crib.  He seemed to like the setup so we didn’t challenge this.  Still, I’ll admit that I felt the crib had outlived its purpose.  Especially when I knew that it could be converted into a youth bed.  (Or, as JSL calls it, a “crib bed.”)

Besides, our night time routine involved getting NHL into bed and then getting JSL ready.  Once NHL was tucked in, JSL would climb into our bed and lay down with B until he was asleep.  Then, he would be transported to his crib.  Why not have one bedtime?

When NHL was younger, he was in a crib for awhile but switched to a bed after sleeping in one while off visiting friends.  At first, I had to climb in his bed with him.  (This usually resulted in both of us falling asleep and B having to wake me up.)  After awhile, he was comfortable with me standing next to the bed.  Then a little farther away.  Then he was fine if I stood by the door.  Then behind the door (but still visible).  Finally, he would be fine if I told him I was “sleeping on the door.”  (Also known as “wait for NHL to settle then sneak off.”)

Given NHL’s transition, I was expecting a few rough nights, but JSL seemed excited about the crib bed prospect so I forged ahead.  After locating the instructions, retrieving my tools and clearing out his crib, I got to work.  JSL was quite interested in the goings-on and tried to help me any way he could.  I quickly got the side off, extra hardware removed and the drop gate reinstalled as a youth bed side.  JSL loved it.  He could climb in and out of his bed with ease. 

Next came the important step of assembling a safety guard to keep JSL from rolling out of his bed during the night.  I opened the box and followed the instructions.  Once it was assembled, I attempted to fit it under the sheet like we have on NHL’s bed.  This is where I hit a wall.  I could see right away that this wouldn’t work.  The mattress would leave lumps where the bars were at best and would become unstable at worst.  Looking at the instructions again, I saw “not for use on youth beds.”  D’oh!  That “drop gate side” wasn’t going to keep JSL from rolling out so I had to think of something.

After some pondering, I realized that JSL has many stuffed animals.  Check that, he has a *TON* of stuffed animals.  He likes many of them to be on his bed with him.  Usually, we keep them bundled down by his feet, but I wondered if we could line the side with the stuffed animals.  I tried it and it seemed to work.  When JSL laid down on the bed, he would hit the stuffed animals as he rolled.  It might not be a guarantee, but it should help keep him in bed.

As for the nighttime routine?  JSL was highly excited.  He said he wasn’t going to sleep in our bed anymore, but would rather fall asleep in his new crib bed.  Once in his bed, though, he became agitated.  Being in bed by himself (though NHL was in the same room about seven feet away) scared him.  I got my computer and laid down next to his bed to help him settle.  It took about a half hour, but he finally settled.

The next night, was just as bad, if not worse.  I had to lean over his bed (pretending to lie on it without actually putting my weight on it) to help him calm down and then hold his hand as he went to sleep.  Last night, we saw a lot of improvement.  Despite some pre-bedtime chaos (aggravated by a loss of socks and a late bedtime), JSL calmed down quickly once the lights were out and he was holding my hand.  Within fifteen minutes, JSL was asleep.  With luck, by the time school starts back up, we’ll have this new bedtime routine all sorted out.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Duncan Hines Apple Carmel Cake Mix and Vanilla Glaze.  For the review, I was also given a box of Triple Chocolate Decadent Cake Mix and Chocolate Glaze.  I figured it was only fair to review this one as well.

This time, instead of a bundt cake, I decided to make cupcakes.  As with the Apple Carmel mix, I was surprised by the filling.   It wasn’t just powdered chocolate.  It had chocolate chips and chunks inside as well!

During my cooking, I acquired a little helper.  Here’s JSL stirring the filling.

When it was all mixed, it took a lot of willpower to not scarf down the filling right then and there.  Maybe they should include 2 packets of filling in each box.  One to put in the cake and one to eat immediately!

Next, we mixed up the cake batter itself.

The cake mix went into the cupcake wrappers and then the filling gets placed on top.

Here’s the worst part… The waiting.

Soon enough, though, the cupcakes were done.  Notice how the cupcake rises around the filling, leaving most of it inside the cupcake.

Next, for the frosting.  Like the vanilla frosting before, this was simple.  Remove the bottle’s cap, microwave the bottle for 30 seconds, put the cap back on, and frost.

I’ll admit, my frosting method was haphazard, but I still think these look like some nice cupcakes.

Want to take a peak inside?  Here it is in all its ooey gooey chocolatey glory.

Of course, cupcakes can look like the most delicious things in the world, but if the taste doesn’t back it up, the appearance is worth nothing.  The taste most certainly backs up the appearance.  B wasn’t a fan of the filling, but then again she’s not a chocolate fanatic like my boys and I am.  They devoured the cupcakes they were given and NHL asked for more.

You might wonder why there’s no photo of NHL eating his cupcake.  That would be because in the time it took me to put down JSL’s cupcake, seat JSL, and grab a cupcake for myself, NHL had finished his cupcake.  I’d say that’s a thumbs up from NHL.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, the remaining cupcakes are calling me and I must try to resist their siren’s call.

Disclaimer: This post was written for Family Review Network & Duncan Hines who provided the complimentary product for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

This morning, we were greeted with a walkway full of snow.  This led to a sidewalk full of snow, a driveway full of snow and a car… well, not *full* of snow (all the doors and windows were closed), but certainly covered in snow.  This would have been bad enough, but our driveway full of snow led to a street full of snow.  No snow plow had been through yet.  There was no way I was going to get shoveled out and get to work.

I called up and asked to work from home.  My boss allowed it, provided I could be productive.  I holed myself up in the bedroom with a laptop and a VPN connection while B kept the kids busy and relatively quiet.  Except for the occasional interruption when the boys forgot that I “wasn’t home” and was “in the office,” it worked out nicely.  I got a lot of work done and was able to take a shoveling break as well.

My first trip out shoveling led to my fingers going from cold to numb to hurting.  I took that as a sign that I should head in.  On my second trip out, I brought my camera for a few quick shots and then went back to shoveling snow.

For one shot, I decided to send the snow a message.  I’m sure many from the Northeast would agree with me.

If you live in the snowy east, how was your Monday?

Every year on Christmas, I head into work while everyone else has the day off.  Why?  Well, being Jewish, I don’t celebrate Christmas.  It’s just another day to me.  So I go into work on that day and use the saved day off for another time.  Given that most everyone else is at home with their families (and not calling me), I get a lot of work done.  Plus, it doesn’t hurt that my office’s cafeteria gives free food to employees who work on that day.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever worked on a holiday when everyone (or nearly everyone) else was out?

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 McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #67

Last year, I wrote a pair of blog posts about some fudge I made.  During the year, I meant to do a Cooking With TechyDad segment about the fudge, but never got around to it.  With the holidays in full swing, I decided to pull out the old fudge recipe again and this time I took photos.  Let’s begin shall we.

First, of all, you’re going to need to devote your full attention to the fudge for 10 minutes or so.  So lay out your ingredients ahead of time and make sure there won’t be any distractions.  For the ingredients, you’ll need chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract.  You can also add a mix-in.  I like using Andes baking chips, but you can also use mini-M&Ms (the big ones are nice too but leave the fudge tough to slice), peanut butter chips, nuts, etc.  If you don’t want to use a mix-in, no problem.  Plain fudge tastes good also.

Now that your ingredients are out, get an 8 inch by 8 inch baking pan and line it with aluminum foil.  Lightly grease this with cooking spray.

Now, measure out 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups of your mix-in (if using).

Put the chocolate chips in a small saucepan and pour in the condensed milk.

Now stir it over low heat for about 10 minutes or until smooth.

It won’t look like it’s doing much, at first.  Then it reaches what I like to call the “chunky chocolate milk” stage.  (That’s a technical term.)

As you can see below, we’re almost ready, but it is still a bit lumpy.

Ok, *now* we’re done.

At this point, you need to act fast.  Removing the fudge from the heat long will cause it to harden up in your saucepan and nobody wants that.  First, toss in any mix-ins you might be using and give the fudge a few stirs to distribute it all around.

Now, pour the fudge into your 8 inch by 8 inch pan.  Smooth it out as best you can, but don’t worry about it looking perfect.  Jagged edges are part of homemade fudge’s charm.

Stick the fudge in the fridge for 1 1/2 hours (overnight is fine too).  This happens to be one of my favorite parts.  No, not putting the fudge in the fridge.  Scraping the pot and eating the bits of fudge left behind. YUM!

Once your fudge has set, take it out of the fridge, remove it from the pan and carefully peel off the foil.  (Some might stick to it, but it should all come off relatively easily.)

Now you have a big block O’ fudge.

This is nice and all, but I don’t think it looks nice to be nibbling on a hunk of fudge that size.  So let’s slice it.  Since it was in an 8×8 pan, it’s only fitting to cut it into 8×8 slices.  This way, each piece of fudge is 1 inch by 1 inch (approximately).

Make the first slice about halfway in.

Next, cut each of these pieces in half and each of the resulting pieces in half.  Now, you have 8 strips of fudge.

Turn the fudge 90 degrees and repeat the cuts.

There you go!  64 pieces of wonderful fudge.

Here’s a close up of the mint, plain and M&M fudge I made.

This recipe makes a *lot* of fudge.

You could easily make a few batches, wrap them up nicely (e.g. using those Chinese food containers that you can buy from craft stores) and give them as gifts.

Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll eat a piece of fudge.  *om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom*

When I first heard about the WikiReader, I was intrigued.  Being able to browse Wikipedia locally, without any Internet access needed?  That could be very useful.  Of course, I was very excited when I got the chance to review it.

My first impression was that the WikiReader was small.  Very small.

It doesn’t really need to be that big, though.  The whole purpose is to be a portable reference source.  Turning it on, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to use.  There are only four buttons: Search, History, Random and Power (located on the top of the device).  The rest of the functionality is handled by the touch-screen.  You type out search terms on the virtual keyboard, select interesting items, follow links and more by touching the screen in the appropriate spots.  Scrolling is accomplished by pressing your finger down and moving up or down.

Of course, as a reference work, Wikipedia is always being updated.  So if WikiReader just shipped Wikipedia as it existed at ship-time and didn’t give any means of updating, it would quickly become useless.  Luckily, there are two methods of updating.  Both involve the tiny memory card stored within WikiReader.

Yes, that tiny thing stores all of Wikipedia and more (which I’ll discuss soon).  The first update method is to pay $29 and receive two cards per year delivered to your home.  Pop out the old card, pop in the new card and you’re all set.  You can keep the old cards for use in other devices that use microSD cards.

The second update method is to install their free update application.  When you’re ready to update, pop the microSD card out of the WikiReader, connect it to your PC (via a card reader and/or adapter of some sort, both readily available from various stores) and run the update program.  These updates happen once per quarter so you’ll get four updates per year.

Now, for the “and more” from before.  If the WikiReader just stored Wikipedia, it would be useful, but they’re not content to rest on their laurels.  They also include Wiktionary (an online dictionary), Wikiquotes (a quotes database) and, most recently, 33,000 books from Project Gutenberg.  A warning about that last one, though, it requires a 16GB microSD card.  These can be purchased for $25 or so from places such as NewEgg.  I haven’t actually had a chance to test the Project Gutenberg books (I meant to temporarily remove Wikipedia and load on Gutenberg, but I’ve been busy dealing with my photo disaster.)  I must say, though, that before the announcement I had wondered about getting the Project Gutenberg books on there.

For all of its strengths, there are tradeoffs, though.  You won’t be getting any of the images that appear on Wikipedia.  Neither will you get any text that was formatted in tables.  On one hand, it cuts down on the amount of data you need to store and makes it easier to display.  On the other hand, this can leave gaps in the Wikipedia reference material.  It also only searches Wikipedia titles, not the full text.  This last part might be fixable, though, considering that the code that the device runs on is open source.

Of course, I’m sure that some people are wondering “Why don’t I just use my laptop/iPhone/iPad/Smart Phone/etc to access Wikipedia.com and get the latest versions with photos and everything?”  Yes, you *can* do that, but that assumes that you have Internet access.  Many smart phone plans either cap you or force you to pay per byte.  Accessing Wikipedia constantly can run up your charges.  Booting a laptop can also take awhile versus the sub-second boot time of WikiReader.  There are times when I’d use my laptop (or smart phone if I had one) and times when I’d use WikiReader.

The other advantage is with children.  NHL took to the WikiReader instantly and was looking up article after article.  I didn’t need to worry about him wandering onto a different website that I didn’t approve of: He was “stuck” on Wikipedia.  There are also parental controls available, but I didn’t test these out.

WikiReader can be purchased for $99 from TheWikiReader.com or it can be had for free from here if you win my…

Giveaway:

Thanks to Openmoko, makers of the WikiReader, one lucky winner will receive a WikiReader. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What topics do you look up on Wikipedia?

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.  (Don’t just leave one comment listing everything you did.)

• Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
• Follow @wikireader on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
• Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @WikiReader and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Want to read Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg & more on the go? Win a @WikiReader from @TechyDad http://bit.ly/eQPg6P #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 November/December. 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, December 21st and ends at Noon EST on January 6th, 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. only.

Disclosure: I was given a WikiReader for free to review by Openmoko. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. Openmoko is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

It was supposed to be a wonderful night.  We were going to see Disney on Ice’s Toy Story 3.  I had packed my new DSLR and made sure I had a bunch of extra memory cards.  The kids were psyched as were we.  We got there early, wandered around and finally took our seats.  As the show began, we were dazzled by the toys dancing on the ice.  The kids were mesmerized.  What could ruin such a fantastic experience?

Batteries.

During the intermission, I noticed that my batteries were running low.  No problem.  I had packed 2 sets of spares.  Be prepared, right?  Except my first backup set reported that it was low on charge.  Now I began to get nervous and popped in the second set.  Also low.  Suddenly, I remembered that these were rechargeable batteries fresh from the package and I should have maybe charged them before tossing them in my bag.  The good news was that I had non-rechargeable batteries ready to go… The bad news was that they were back at home.  (As B is fond of reminding me, she told me over and over to pack them and I kept putting it off thinking I had 2 perfectly good pairs in there.)

If the story ended here, I would be bemoaning not being able to take photos for the rest of the show, but I’d be showing you some of the wonderful shots I got.  So why are there no shots?  Easy.  My batteries were low but Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear had just taken the stage.  I *had* to have a shot of the strawberry scented stuffed bear so I set my camera, took a photo, and… my camera shut off.  Oh well.  I started my camera back up to see if I got the photo and my camera reported “CARD NOT FORMATTED.”

Wait, WHAT?!!  What about the other hundred or so photos I just took?  Were they gone for good?

I sat during the next half of the show trying to enjoy it as much as possible, but looming over the whole rest of the production was the dark cloud of data loss.  When I got home, and got the kids into bed, I confirmed that the card reported as not formatted in Windows as well.

I went to some forums I know of (and Twitter) and posted a desperate cry for help.  Responses came in, but program after program failed to find my photos.  Finally, I found one that did, except for two things.  First of all, it required me to pay $40 to extract the found photos (no problem here).  Secondly, it reported that the photos were between 25KB and 160KB.  DSLR’s take much larger photos.  My other shots from the camera were easily 2MB or more.

I’m not giving up yet, but I’m really frightened that I may have lost all of my photos.  I guess I should look on the bright side.  At least this happened at Disney on Ice and not Disney SM Moms this March!