NSA (Noodad Service Announcement): Valentine’s Day is less than 3 weeks away. Don’t let it sneak up on you…do your shopping now.
And if your a busy guy who’d prefer to let your fingers do the shopping (I’m not talking about the 5 finger discount!), Red Envelope can help.
A ReviewDad favorite for many years now for its vast selection of “I’d NEVER have thought of that” gifts, stellar web site, great customer service (with honest-to-god helpful live chat) and somewhat reasonable prices, not only can Red Envelope help but it stands to become the chief weapon in your gift-giving arsenal from this day forward.
V-day is tough…I mean, do you want to be THAT guy who does the dozen roses thing EVERY year? You don’t and she doesn’t want you to be either. Other options include what? Undies and chocolate. BORING. Let’s face it, she doesn’t want to wear it and the chocolate isn’t much of an incentive! And none of these represent much in the way of upside for you. Read the rest of this entry »
I was behind a mom and two pre-teens (that makes ‘em “Tweens” I believe) at Starbucks last weekend listening to back-and-forth about which beverages the two twin girls should be allowed to order and why.
Mom: “You can have decaf or hot chocolate.”
Daughter 1: “Why can’t I have a latte - it’s mostly milk anyway and what’s the big deal anyhow.”
Daughter 2: “Yeah, there’s more caffeine in a Coke than a shot of espresso…”
Mom: “Neither of you even like coffee.”
Daughter 1: “Yeah but a latte doesn’t taste like coffee and besides, I’m tired. I NEED some caffeine.” Read the rest of this entry »
Check out this beauty! A mash-up between a Krups coffee machine and a Heineken Draught Keg (you’ve seen the fembots commercial)…it will keep a 5-liter Heineken keg cold and tasting bar-fresh for up to 30 days and the top of the line version (not pictured) sports an LCD command center. This in my Man Cave would be enough to make me a Heineken guy 24/7/365 (does that constitute alcoholism?!).
Already on sale in Europe, Krups and Heineken debuted it in the US this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It goes on sale in April and will set you back about $400. You can read more at Engaget.
We’ve seen Heineken kegs for ~$18-22 and they will give you ~10 pints. Do the easy math - that’s about $2 per pint. Can’t beat that!
Superheros rule. Accept for Aqua Man (don’t get me started). Superheros battling each other rules more.
Pre-internet, you had to wait until Saturday morning to see the super-powered duke it out. Apparently, The Hall of Justice is a part-time gig! But with your trusty web browser (or even better/easier, that ever effective RSS reader on your utility belt) and thesuperest.com, you can watch an almost daily duel unfold on your desktop.
A perpetual battle royal of wits and humor, two talented illustrators armed with pencils and internet connections duke it out with cheeky superheros who’s super power in some way invalidates that of the previous victor. Read the rest of this entry »
Let me set a scene for you: It’s 9:30 pm. You and your wife are sitting across the kitchen table from each other with your heads in your hands. Somewhere a floor above you, your infant child lies in his crib…screaming at the top of his lungs. You, stare at a pile of books that rests between you and your wife on the table distraught, confused, angry and fearful that a neighbor will hear the wailing and call the Department of Family Services on you. Images of you and your wife being led away from the house in your jammies and hand cuffs flash through your head.
You think to yourself “WTF!” and “why won’t someone…anyone…help us DEFINITIVELY figure out what to do!” Problem is, they all contradict each other. Helpful. Yep, you’re trying to teach your baby to self-sooth and sleep through the night. They may call it “Ferberize” or “Cry it Out” but you’ll just call it the most excruciating experience of your life or simply “@#$*ing hell.”
It’s true that it sucks to have to hear your little one cry but the biggest problem with teaching self-soothing and “sleep restoration” is that every shmuck who has a book about it tells you to do it differently. And in your sleep-deprived state, you bought ‘em all (or several) which just makes the whole situation worse. You went looking for answers and all you ended up with was a 2000+ page pile of contradiction and even more questions!
In a post last month, I discussed our switch from Avent bottles and sippy cups to BPA-free versions by Born Free. The whole transition was a big expense but for reasons addressed in that post, one we felt was the right thing to do. It turns out that there’s a way to save some coin if you’re buying Born Free out of the gate OR if your transitioning like we did - use Avent nipples. Avent nipples fit the Born Free bottle tops that are universal to the bottles and sippy cup rigs.
We discovered this after I neglected to pick up a baggie that contained ALL of our Born Free nipples from child care the day before a two-week holiday break. Standing at the kitchen counter feeling my wife’s eyes bore into the back of my head for being boneheaded, I thought “hmmm…I wonder…” Sure ’nuff, to my delight and our relief, they fit.
Avent nipples run $3.50-$4.25 for 2. Born Free run $4.75-$6. Not a ton of cash saved but it’s the principle, right?!
Shit breaks. Usually just after the warranty expires. That’s life. And it blows. But I recently had a customer service experience that gave me reason to believe that some companies DO care about their image and relationship with customers and I think that that company - Phil & Ted’s U.S. importer, Regal+Lager USA, deserves a shout out.
We have a Phil & Ted’s Sport Buggy stroller…which we love and which we honestly beat on almost daily (we took it out in our neighborhood yesterday along unshoveled sidewalks…while Bugaboo owners watched longingly from their homes noses pressed up against the glass like sad puppies). While well built, in the year plus that we’ve had it, a few minor things have worn. Two pegs that keep the thing closed when folded cracked…but it was a missing end cap that covers the front wheel joint that prompted me to call the store we purchased it at about buying a replacement.
Here in the east, over the past couple of days, Ma Nature reminded us just what New England Winters can be like. And while most of us strained against her ball-busting furry clearing our driveways, hopefully, we all took a second to appreciate the beauty of Winter and perhaps make a snowman or go sledding with our kids. As I gleefully pulled mine around the neighborhood on a sled, I was transported back to my childhood and the days spent outdoors until numbness set in.
Most often, that numbness was the result of my brother and my efforts to build snow forts… Forts were cool but what we always wanted to build was an igloo. Igloos were stuff of suburban legend. Everyone knew someone who supposedly had made one but no one had the know how to figure it out. Too bad we (or my dad) didn’t have access to a dude like Norbert E. Yankielun who goes by the name Doctor Why and his expertise (and his web site)…because he can tell you, step by step, how to pull off a real-deal igloo. Check it out in this article on BostonGlobe.com today.
I think it goes without saying though that your kids should be supervised if they try this… a roof cave-in could really ruin a great day in Winter Wonderland!
Let’s admit it…one of the best parts about having kids is the ability to legitimately revisit (or is it revive?) your childhood. There’s no stronger bridge between our workaday, adult lives and the childhood our kids are having than toys. And even though for most of us, the old axiom of the only difference between men and boys is the size and cost of their toys holds true, no toy brings out the kid in us more than toy vehicles.
Not only do toys like Matchbox, Brio and Lego vehicles conjure up fond memories of our childhood but they provide an almost guaranteed connection with our kids, both boys and girls. Toy vehicles are a slam dunk when it comes to playtime.
There are a lot of toy cars and trucks out there most fall pretty neatly into one of two camps – build ’em yourself or don’t build ’em at all. The ones you build tend not to function that well as vehicles and the ones that come preassembled don’t provide the “make it your own” opportunities of the ones kids build. That space between Lego creations and Matchbox is now filled by Automoblox which are perhaps the coolest looking toy cars we at Noodad.com have ever seen. They’re an instant classic and if you don’t covet these cars by the end of this article, have your pulse checked!
Prior to the arrival of junior, my wife and I typically opened a bottle of wine a week and partook as long as the wine stood up. But as soon as my wife got pregnant, she chose to go completely on the wagon. Post birth, my wife remained on said wagon as she breastfed…leaving me the sole imbiber in the house.
This presented me with a dilemma…skip the vino or open a bottle and toss the second half as it turned before my one-glass-a-night tendencies polished it off. For the most part, to the chagrin of the owner of my local wine shop and my HDL level, I stopped drinking wine. But then I had a revelation - I got some box.
What I’m talking about is box wine. It’s not what you think…not the Franzia Chablis for $6.99 you remember the girls in high-school drinking…but good wine…the kind you would want to drink with a nice meal. Really. So check your prejudices and fear of being regarded as a social neanderthal and read on.
