PlaySkool Busy Ball Popper

When my son was younger we bought him a Busy Ball Popperfrom Playskool. Apparently Hasbro bought Playskool, as Amazon.com calls it a "Hasbro Playskool Busy Ball Popper." He was about 9 months old when we bought it, and was not very mobile. We thought this could entertain him while he was sitting around.

The ball popper is a pretty basic toy. There is a fan that circulates air through a tube and shoots balls up through the top, where they go down a spiral slide and start the process all over again. When my wife first described the toy to me before we bought it, I thought it sounded dangerous. "Just what our boy needs", I thought. "Something that can shoot him in the eye." She assured me that it was perfectly safe, and it turns out she was right. There is not a lot of force behind the balls as they launch, and he never stuck his face in the path.

Our initial reaction when we installed the batteries and turned it on was of disappointment. The balls didn't seem to have enough oomph to make it out of the tube. I could create a vacuum with my hand that would launch the balls, but it seemed to us that something was wrong. We returned it to Target and replaced it.

The second one worked much better. It turned out the first one was a fluke. This one had plenty of power to get the balls launched. My son was too young to understand how to push the lever to get the thing going, so he would make us do it. Over and over. As he began walking he would sometimes try to carry it to us so we would push it. Not only was my son fascinated with the whirring of the fan, there are a number of different songs it plays while the balls are in motion. Among them are "Rockin' Robin" and "Flight of the Bumblebees", both classics from their respective eras.

The only thing really wrong with the product is that sometimes the balls shoot too high and miss the slide. If you are monitoring your child's use of this product (as I highly recommend you do if your child is under two years old), you can stick your hand a few inches above the tube to knock the balls back down onto the slide. I don't think this glitch is too big a deal.

Here is what the manufacturer has to say about the product:

Get silly with poppin', droppin' colored balls! Pump the plunger and drop the balls onto the spiral track. When they reach the bottom, look out - the balls pop out the top! Giggles are guaranteed with wacky sound effects and 8 lively songs to help keep the fun rolling along. The Playskool Busy Ball Popper has won numerous toy awards, including American Baby's Best Toy, Child Magazine's Best Toy, and the NAPPA Gold Award. Requires 4 "D" Batteries.

Tonight my 2 year old son was playing with his Busy Ball Popper,having long since mastered it. He learned early on how to get the vacuum going with his hand when he loses a ball now and then. Tonight he had a lot of fun with it. He has had it about a year and a half now, and it has been a great product.

I highly recommend this product for your child's enjoyment.

RATING:

Weezer - Red Album

originally posted on SurfJedi's Musings

The new album from Weezer is out, and I couldn't wait to get a copy. My wife and I downloaded the album on mp3 shortly after it was released. I must say that initially I was not too impressed. We burned it to a CD and played it for the first time on a road trip. I am pretty fond of playing Weezer albums at the beginning of a road trip, so this release was timed particularly well.

As I said before, my initial experience was less than I had hoped for. I think part of the reason was a difference in how I listened the first time. Typically I play an album a couple of times through, usually in my car. This time the album was on as background noise. It was easy to compare it to the Green Album, as there were no songs that immediately jumped out at me. I will note at this point that the Blue and Green albums are my favorites so far. I think ultimately this way of listening skewed my initial experience. I listened to it again today again with less distraction. This time I heard what I was looking for.

When one listens to Weezer, one can expect a certain style. There are usually familiar guitar riffs, and the songs vary from soft and harmonious to rockin'. This variety is part of what makes them such a great band. I listened to the album three more times this afternoon on my way home. I think the Red Album is definitely one worthy of the name Weezer. It may not have all the catchy tunes that the Blue and Green albums have, but it is still loaded with the things that make Weezer great.

If you are only a casual Weezer fan I do not recommend this album to you. If you are more attracted to songs like "Beverly Hills", "Buddy Holly", or "Hash Pipe" you will only find one song here called "Pork and Beans". If you are in fact a fan of Weezer though I think you will love this album. It is full of harmony, random compilations and classic Weezer rock. I plan to continue to listen to this album for a long time to come.

I added some Weezer clips in my sidebar, courtesy of Amazon.com. You may also click any of the above links to hear more of this album. Amazon sells DRM-free music. You can play it on your iPods or other mp3 players, and you can burn the album to a CD.

Note: Amazon.com did not sponsor this post, but this author is a member of the Amazon.com affiliate program.

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

originally posted on SurfJedi's Musings

I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull tonight. I am going to have to disagree with a lot of the critics on this one. This was definitely an Indiana Jones movie. While I could have done without a few of the scenes, I think it still came out well in the end.

The movie begins in Roswell, New Mexico, which is an indication of where the rest of the movie is going. Meet Indy's new brother-in-arms, who has an irritating habit of calling Indiana by the nickname "Jonesy". "Jonesy." Really? What about "Indy", or "Indiana", or even "Junior?" This was one of my few gripes.

For the first 20 minutes or so, it was hard for me to get behind the fact that it was really Indiana Jones, with the exception of the escape from the warehouse. He wasn't wearing his trademark jacket, and the hat seemed to morph from the trademark, to some bleached out, white-ish hat, and then finally back to the one we know and love. Once he gets to Peru with Mutt, things get back on track.

This movie was full of improbable fights, action sequences, and escapes, which is why we all watch Indy movies. Again, parting ways with the critics, these things are why we watch summer hits. We don't want excellent dialog, or well-manicured lines. We want to see stuff blow up. George Lucas has a habit of ruining dialog, so none of us expected anything good in that department anyway.

If I could change something, I would have Indy use his whip more. He gets it out a couple times, but it seemed like he forgot he had it for a while. Another element missing was the name "Indiana Jones". He went by Henry for most of the movie, only referring to himself as Indiana once, but then catches himself and goes with Henry. I think the point was to honor his dad or something, but I thought it was a little lame.

The above gripes notwithstanding, this is a MUST SEE, though I doubt I needed to tell you that. This installment definitely was more appealing to me than "Temple of Doom", so I would rank this one 3rd place of the 4 movies. As far as comparing to other movies, 4 out of 5. I loved it.

RATING:

Juno - Finally A Movie Worth Watching

Originally posted on SurfJedi's Musings.

My wife and I have been consistently disappointed with the quality of the movies that Hollywood keeps hyping as "Must See" and "The Best Film of the Year". The Academy Awards were full of movies that we couldn't believe made it. The 2 year old pretty much guarantees we don't see many movies in theaters, so we have to rent them usually. This is fortunate due to the high price of movies these days. We suffered through "No Country for Old Men" and "Michael Clayton" among other lame movies.

"Juno" is the latest movie Netflix has delivered. The acting is pretty good. I didn't hear too much hype about it, which probably helped. There are some pretty funny parts, and I was not bored watching it. It has a lot of folk music that really fits the movie.

There are a lot of themes that would probably require further discussion, but that is for another blog.

I think Juno turned out far better than most of the garbage that made its way across the stage on Oscar night. At least it won for writing. Good music, good writing, and good acting. I would recommend this movie.

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Peking Chinese Restaurant

Peking Chinese Restaurant
5960 Telegraph Rd, Ventura
Phone: 805-644-7777
Cuisine: Chinese

A few weeks ago I took my wife and son to the Peking Chinese Restaurant in Ventura. We were driving around indecisively when we stumbled across it. My wife loves Chinese food, and swears by the quality of Chinese food in Oregon. Having received more than an adequate dose of it last year, I came to the conclusion that she was wrong and that California has better Chinese food. So, we have been on a quest of sorts ever since, trying to find Chinese food that we both like. This is why we decided to give this place a try.

When we first walked in, we were greeted cordially. The place was pretty dark, and the decorations were pretty plain, which was fine with us. It seemed that we were in for some pretty basic fare, but we were determined to give it a shot. We found that they had a choice of three different prices for entrees and appetizers. Having been accustomed to Panda Express, we assumed we had to share the appetizers. We ordered the medium priced option, and were pleasantly surprised when they brought us each the appetizers. We had spring rolls, paper wrapped chicken, and a cream-cheese stuffed won-ton. We both had Egg Drop soup, which was pretty good.

The soft drinks were served in large cups, and the refills were prompt. The wait staff was very friendly, and we did not lack anything the entire time.

I ordered the Kung Pao chicken, as I use this dish to determine the quality of a Chinese restaurant. My wife ordered a chicken dish which is escaping recollection at the moment. I will ask her about it and update this post. The ratio of chicken to water chestnuts was acceptable. I hate it when restaurants add tons of celery or water chestnuts and skimp on the chicken. This place passed this particular test. The heat was a little low on my preferred scale, but was too spicy for my wife. This means that it had some measure of heat, though I couldn't taste it. My wife's heat sensors are far more sensitive than mine. It was still pretty good though, and had plenty of peppers to make up the heat.

The wait staff was pretty impressive, as was the food. I give the service an 4 out of 5, and the food gets an 4 as well. This is the best Chinese food we have had in Ventura County so far.

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