I’ll admit it.  As much as I thought I’d be the parent who wouldn’t let their child watch too much television, my kids love the TV.  They have a dozen favorite shows that they absolutely *must* see and are constantly asking us to DVR something else.  In addition, they’ve fallen in love with Netflix on our Roku player.  NHL, in particular, enjoys picking just which episode of which show he is going to watch next.  Of course, we prefer it when their television watching habits are educational in nature.  So when I heard about Ameba, I was intrigued.

Ameba is one of the many new channels that Roku provides.  Unlike others that show old movies or anime, though, Ameba shows educational programming geared towards children.  When we first browsed the selection of shows, I’ll admit that I began to get a little nervous.  Nowhere was Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets or any of the other “big name” shows that my boys are used to watching.  Would they take to these new shows or would they turn their noses up at them?

We looked through the Ages 2 – 5 section for a good program for JSL.  After awhile, we found Rainbow Fish.  This was a pleasant surprise because they love the Rainbow Fish book.  We watched an episode where Rainbow Fish and his friends need to welcome a new girl to their school.  A girl who doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the gang.  They both enjoyed this show.

After this, we switched over to the Age 6 – 10 section to find a good program for NHL.  I noticed Einsteinabot, a program which appeared to be about numbers and math.  NHL loves math so we tried this.  Once again, I began to get nervous.  The program had a fun song, but the look of the show wasn’t as polished as some shows on Nick Jr or Disney Junior.  I needn’t have worried, though.  NHL began singing along while JSL danced in his seat.  When the episode was over, NHL asked to watch the next one and the one after that.

It just goes to show that kids like fun shows.  They don’t care if the show uses the latest animation techniques or expensive computer generated imagery.  The shows on Ameba might not have big toy lines behind them like Dora or the Disney shows do, but they are fun and educational.  (Of course, the lack of a big toy line might be seen as another plus.)

Ameba costs $9.99 per month (though, for the month of April, they’re dropping the price to $3.99) and you can either get a set top box from them or purchase a Roku box for $60 to play it on.  I didn’t test Ameba’s box so I can’t say anything good or bad about it, but I highly recommend the Roku box for ease of use and availability of content.

Giveaway:

Thanks to Ameba, not one, not two, but three lucky winners will receive an Ameba set top box and a 3 month subscription to Ameba. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What education programs do your children watch or did you watch growing up?

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 @AmebaTV on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
• Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @AmebaTV and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Stream educational children’s shows from the web to your TV. Win 1 of 3 @AmebaTV set top boxes from @TechyDad http://bit.ly/gMRdRH #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 March/April. 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, March 31st and ends at Noon EST on April 14th, 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. and Canada residents only.

Disclaimer: I was provided two month’s free Ameba service to review.  No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. Ameba is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

Bonus photos.  These weren’t from DisneySMMoms, but I just had to share them.

B quite nicely explained our arrival in Disney World for the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.  As we checked in to our room and made our way around the hotel and parks, NHL and JSL began noticing things they hadn’t noticed before: Mickey Mouse. 

No, not that Mickey.  I’m talking about the more hidden variety.  Like on the floors of the hotel in the tiles.

Of course, Mickey wasn’t alone there.  His friends Pluto, Donald, Minnie and Goofy joined him.

In the room, the boys noticed a Mickey hidden (not so subtly) in our towels.

They also spotted his face in a lamp.  (Again, this one was pretty obvious.)

Then, JSL made a discovery.  There was a second Mickey on the desk.  Not on the lamp, but hidden in the woodwork.

Later on, we discovered that the tiles by the elevator held a certain fairy.

I’d like an extra large order of pixie dust, please.

When it was time for us to join B for dinner (after her Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons Platinum Soiree), we spotted a few more Mickey-and-Friends in the rug.

We also noticed, in the Grand Floridian’s lobby, Chip, Mrs. Potts and a certain magical rose.

Our final Hidden Mickey of the night, though, was the proudest one.  NHL and JSL looked at the floor and declared “Mickey!”  Sure enough, there was a Mickey hidden in the pattern.

A family saw me taking this taking this photo and wondered why I was taking a photo of the floor.  Then, they saw the Mickey.  As we walked along the same path for awhile, their daughter kept pointing out Mickey’s appearance in every tile.  I’d like to think we transferred a bit of Hidden Mickey Fever to her.  (The only cure: More Mickey Mouse!)

Of course, that night the boys got to see the real Mickey Mouse along with Minnie, Goofy and Pluto:

Oh yes, and I also got this dessert, despite the fact that I had a full plate, because of Minnie’s appearance on it.

It was to be expected.  I gained weight while at Disney World.  It was always going to be a battle between the calories burned by walking throughout the parks (and sweating in the Florida heat) and the calories consumed from the wonderful food Disney World has to offer.  The food won.  When I left for Disney, I weighed 188 pounds.  Upon returning home, I weighed 193 pounds.  That’s a gain of 5 pounds.

This setback, though expected, means that I now have 10 weeks to lose 12 pounds.  I also have Passover looming on the horizon.  During Passover, I’m not going to count points as Passover food tends to be high calorie and high in carbs.  Matzoh alone is 120 calories and 27 carbs per sheet and I can easily eat 3 slices for breakfast slathered with cream cheese before I feel full. There is no option of low calorie/low carb bread or rice during Passover.  Matzoh seems to permeate everything that gets made and so it won’t be a good situation to be tracking points in.  I’ll try to give myself a fighting chance by loading up on fresh fruits and veggies and by not buying a ton of Passover cakes/cookies (no loss as they tend to taste awful).  Still, I expect weight gain during those two weigh-ins.

I guess that just means I’ll have to try extra-hard to lose weight during the 8 weigh-ins that I have left during which I’ll be tracking points and (hopefully) losing weight.

During our past week at Disney, we saw many characters, including my two favorites.  My top favorite is Goofy.  As I said in my last post, I think Goofy’s a geek.  After The Goof is Tigger who I like for his boundless energy and constant optimism.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Who is your favorite Disney character and why?

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 #80

While at Disney World, we introduced the kids to the wonders of Vinylmations.  NHL decided to get a Muppet Vinylmation.  He opened it up (video will be on its way) and out popped the Swedish Chef.

The next day, we stopped by Downtown Disney’s DStreet shop to get each of the boys a Vinylmation.  JSL was hoping to get Buzz Lightyear, but he wound up getting a Green Army Man.

NHL, also opted for a Toy Story Vinylmation and found Wheezy in his box.

For my Vinylmation, I went the Geek route.  Disney has a line of geeky Vinylmations with glasses, braces and pocket protectors.  Since my favorite character is Goofy, I got him.  Now, I think Goofy’s a geek as it is.  Think about it.  He’s a bit socially awkward, accident prone and is interested in a wide variety of subjects (including skiing, swimming and gliders).  Add in the accessories and he’s Geeky to the Goofy Max:

On Friday, while B attended Disney Social Media Moms sessions, I took the boys hunting: autograph hunting.  Specifically, we were after the Beast’s autograph.  NHL has been itching to get Beast to sign his autograph book for quite some time.  I did my research pre-Disney and found out that Beast hangs out in the France section of Epcot.  So off we went to hunt the Beast(‘s autograph).

When we got to France, we saw Belle, but no Beast.  Undaunted, NHL charged ahead to capture her autograph.  For some reason, though, JSL turned timid.  He refused to get out of the stroller and didn’t want Belle coming up to him.  She was very nice, took photos with just NHL, and signed his book.

We went off to find other characters/autographs and eventually decided to head back.  We heard that Beast was coming soon and waited for him.  During the wait, JSL declared that he was brave and was going to say hi to the Beast.  Sure enough, when Beast arrived (and when it was our turn), JSL walked up and hugged Beast.

At this point, Belle showed that she was a shining example of Disney class.  It was over 45 minutes after our first encounter, but Belle remembered my boys.  Not only that, but she remembered that JSL was afraid of her before (and noted to Beast how brave he seemed now).  Even more impressive, she remembered their names.  Now, I’m sure that Disney Characters see a lot of kids every hour.  For Belle to remember my kids names after that time is just one example of Disney’s commitment to class.

Disclaimer: We got Disney World accommodations and park tickets as part of our Disney Social Media Moms package.  This (or any other blog post) were not required as part of Disney Social Media Moms and are my own experiences and opinions.

Last year, for the Disney Social Media Moms conference, B and I made business cards for us to hand out.  Of course, we made far more than we needed, but that was fine.  A few months after DisneySMMoms, we went to BlogHer in New York City and more business cards were handed out. During BlogHer, I carried around a bunch in my camera bag (which, I joked, served as my “purse-alternative”).  Once BlogHer was over, the remaining business cards… well, remained.  Some in my wallet and some in my camera bag.

Over the months, these cards have become a bit frayed.  The corners aren’t crisp anymore and the cards themselves look slightly used.  Obviously, I don’t want to hand these out to people.  It doesn’t look too professional to hand over a business card that looks like it has been sitting in your pocket for the past six months.  Then again, I don’t want to just throw these cards out either.  After all, I did pay for them and would like for them to serve some purpose besides wallet-filler.  The obvious use would be to toss them into “Win A Meal” jars in various restaurants.  Beyond this, I’m drawing a blank.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What would you do with a fist full of frayed business cards?

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 #79

Hi, TechyDad is not here at this time.  He is off to Disney World.  Don’t worry, though.  He has scheduled a bunch of posts to go live and will likely write some more during the nights after the kids are asleep.  In fact, this is one of the posts that he is scheduling.  While he is doing so, he is wondering just how long he can keep referring to himself in the third person.

Ok, I think that’s long enough.  At the point that this post goes live, my family and I should be high above the clouds.  We’ll be trying to keep the boys entertained on the aircraft (most likely with varying degrees of success) while we get closer and closer to Disney World.  Hopefully, the boys don’t utter too many “Are we there yets.”

In fact, considering that we’ll likely have to wake them up at 5am, if not earlier, to get to the airport on time, I hope that they’ll be asleep for part of that trip.  I’d love to be asleep myself for part of it too.  Somehow I doubt either of those will happen.

Stay tuned because I might be posting pictures from our trip during the nighttime.  At some point, we might not have Internet access, though.  I considered getting guest posters for this period of time, but other matters came up and I never set this up.  So if my blog goes dark for awhile, don’t worry.  I’ll be back shortly with much Disney goodness to share.