Conan Winner

The Conan giveaway has ended and the winner is…

#32 Kathy Pease!

The winner has 24 hours to get with me before Conan beheads me.  Thanks to all that entered!

August 13, 2011 | Filed Under Giveaway Winners | 1 Comment 

The Help Mini-Review and Giveaway

Have you ever watched a movie and thought that it was no good?  Have you ever felt like you had totally wasted your time and you were so steamed at the thought that you will never get it back?  Have you ever walked out of a theater and demanded your money back?  If you have done any of those things than you know what it’s like to see a bad movie.  You will not, however, have to do any of those things if you head out and see the DreamWorks Pictures production of The Help.

Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling phenomenon, “The Help” stars Emma Stone (“Easy A”) as Skeeter, Academy Award®–nominated Viola Davis (“Doubt”) as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny—three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed—even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times.

I could sit here and go on and on about this movie. I could gush over it’s rich and very moving story. I could go tell it on the mountain about how I much I was impressed with the locations and very timely props and sets throughout the movie. I could scream so loud with my frustration at some of the evil characters that make you want to punch them in the face. I am not going to do any of these things. I will just say this is one of the best movies that I have ever seen. I have never been more moved by any other film in my entire movie watching career. I am not even going to do a “Ryan’s Rating” at the bottom of this post. I will just say that it is a 10 out of freakin’ 10. I am serious guys…..you must go see this movie and tell me that I was right. I like hearing that because I don’t hear that enough at home.

Giveaway

One (1) winner will receive:

  • THE HELP t-shirt in adult female sizes of S, M, L, XL
  • THE HELP pocket jotter & pen
  • THE HELP fan
  • THE HELP nail file/mirror
How to Enter

Just tell me if you would rather eat a fresh baked pie or home cooked fried chicken?  (Two key things in the movie…you’ll know when you go see it!)

Extra Entries Available

After you have completed the first entry, you are eligible for additional entries. Make sure you leave a separate comment for EACH entry. Each counts as one extra entry unless noted otherwise.

  • Subscribe to Daddy Digest by reader or email.
  • Like me on my Facebook Fan Page.
  • Follow Daddy Digest on Twitter AND Tweet about the giveaway. Leave the URL to the Tweet in your comment. You can tweet once a day, but remember to leave the URL to each tweet.

This giveaway will end on August 22nd at 10:00 PM Central time. Winner will be chosen via a random number generator. Giveaway is open to US entries. The winner must contact me in 24 hours to claim their prize. Good luck to everyone!
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

August 12, 2011 | Filed Under Review/Giveaway | 78 Comments 

My Top Travel Destinations and Maybe Finding a Stargate

Crystal and I recently had our first serious getaway since our honeymoon almost eight years ago. I didn’t think I would like traveling so much…but I do. Crystal starting asking me of all the places I would go if I got the chance to travel to them. I promptly told her that if given the chance I would love to check out some all inclusive holidays to Italy. That is where my family all started many many years ago and I would, like most people, like to travel to see my country of origin.

My second place that I would love to visit is Egypt. Who would not want an all inclusive holiday to Egypt to check out tons of stacked stone that makes up the wondrous structures known as the pyramids? I told Crystal that if we go I would definitely make the most of the trip and spend some time trying to find the location of a very ancient yet technologically advanced device known as the Stargate. See if we had that we could travel instantaneously via a wormhole directly to our destination. Then we wouldn’t have to fly across an ocean and we would be able to have cheap holidays to Egypt instead of pricey ones.

The third place I want to go is Japan. Who wouldn’t want to go to the birthplace of Nintendo?  Not only that  but I think that the Japanese culture is such a unique one.  From the their food to their architecture Japan sets trends that echo throughout the world.  I really want to have my own kimono too.

 

 

August 11, 2011 | Filed Under General | 3 Comments 

BlogHer 2011 and a Dr. Smith’s Giveaway

I am going to BlogHer 2011! If you aren’t familiar with BlogHer that’s okay…I’ll fill you in. BlogHer ’11 will bring over three thousand attendees together from all over the world to share hands-on learning, rich discussions, opportunities to meet with the brands that support them and plentiful networking opportunities. It also serves as a mini-getaway for the wife and I! I just wanted to take a second and thank my sponsor for getting me to and providing the enjoyment while I am there…Dr Smiths! I have been working with them for almost a year now and they are so supportive in everything that I do. It has been so enjoyable to work with a brand that my kids have known very personally since their early diaper days.

In celebration of me heading to BlogHer in San Diego at the end of this week Dr. Smiths has provided the to opportunity for one of the readers of Daddy Digest to also celebrate by winning something! Dr. Smiths has provided a prize basket to be given away on Daddy Digest. It is valued around $200 and includes educational toys, books, our favorite babycare items and lots of Dr. Smiths of course!

Giveaway

One (1) winner will receive:

  • A Dr. Smith’s prize basket.

How to Enter

Just tell me you want to win this basket!

Extra Entries Available

After you have completed the first entry, you are eligible for additional entries. Make sure you leave a separate comment for EACH entry. Each counts as one extra entry unless noted otherwise.

This giveaway will end on August 16th at 10:00 PM Central time. Winner will be chosen via a random number generator. Giveaway is open to US entries. The winner must contact me in 24 hours to claim their prize. Good luck to everyone!
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. I have been given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions in any freakin’ way.

August 3, 2011 | Filed Under Review/Giveaway | 555 Comments 

ABCMouse.com Review

I know that I have been talking a good bit about my son Rylan starting school this year. I talked about how worried I was in him starting and being able to keep up and even grasp the topics and lessons that they would be covering. My fears were really put at ease when my friends over at ABCmouse.com contacted me and wanted to set me up with a trial account.

I was very hesitant at first because my kids generally don’t have the attention span to visit online games or communities that are structured on lessons, continued play or return visits. As Rylan delved in he was really hooked by all of the things that he could do. He also like that he could play around for 10 minutes or stay and explore for hours. I really like the way that it was structured to where he completes each lesson, he is guided to the next one and is motivated to continue learning by ABCmouse.com’s Tickets and Rewards System. Tickets can be used to “purchase” virtual items on the site, such as new fish for the classroom fish tank or avatar accessories. He does more and more lessons to try to get to the rewards section just so he can buy a suit of armour or a new pet for his virtual bedroom.

The lessons of the Step-by-Step Learning Path consist of books, puzzles, games, songs, art activities, and/or printables that relate to a specific topic. Each lesson offers children several different ways to learn, in accordance with the recommendations of early childhood experts. It is still very structured like real school but lets him choose things and makes his path to learning unique to him.

Rylan actually asks us everyday to play. Not only to play online but to work on some of the activities and worksheets that you can print out from ABCmouse.com and take learning out of the virtual world. I plan on setting Peyton (3) up very soon to get his leaning on!

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. I have been given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions in any freakin’ way.

August 2, 2011 | Filed Under Family | 2 Comments 

Fading Memories and Saving New Ones

It’s no secret that I am getting older. No, I’m not ancient, but I am realizing that I am getting more forgetful about certain things as the days go by. For instance, Crystal and I are driving in the car after church one afternoon and she says “Rylan this and Rylan that….do you remember when he did that?” and I was like “…no”. Well, actually in my head I said “no” but I told her “oh yeah!” like I remember it like it was yesterday. What the heck? I know every little instance or occasion with my kids has been amazing! So where is the malfunction that my eyes and ears can’t email big files to the grand hard drive that is my brain?

I have come to some sort of resolution that I need to combat this memory loss or this inability to retain this information by capturing it more often. I think that I am going to start shooting a bit more video of me and my family. I will then have files that I can then save onto my computer and rewatch them anytime. I know that I run the risk in my computer one day dying a horrible death and my memories would be gone forever. I did a ton of figuring out what the best thing to do in the long run would be and I knew that I would want to be able to send big files over to a portable hard drive for safe keeping. So, that’s what I am going to do. Capture a bit more of my daily life in video form, throw it onto a hard drive, store that somewhere safe, and then have them forever even to show my grand-kids one day. I’m on the ball now!  Did I say that already?   I can’t remember…

 

 

August 2, 2011 | Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment 

The DYMO LabelManager 420P

I guess the one good thing about our house not selling yet is that we don’t have to be so rushed to move. I told Crystal after we moved into our current house that I would never move again. I was unfortunately wrong and she informed me that we would be moving again. I was looking at some of the boxes that we had already packed up and noticed that whoever wrote on them had horrible handwriting and should never pick up a writing instrument again. So, since I am no longer of the handwriting guild I had to think up some sort of way to know what was in all of the boxes that would hopefully one day be transported to our new home.

I sat and thought about what I could do instead of scribbling on the outside of a box and I thought “why write it”? The fine folks at DYMO had a product that was going to be the saving grace of the moving project. They sent me a DYMO LabelManager 420P machine and I got to work labeling like a son of a gun.

You can even branch out from the traditional fashion of just using it as a hand held device and connect it to your PC or Mac and use the DYMO Label Software to design labels on your computer screen. Let’s say you want to really get creative and design labels with barcodes, logos or graphics, or print batches of labels from text in spreadsheet or database files…you can now! Also labeling never gets dull and robotic looking because you can customize your labels with your choice of 8 fonts in 7 different sizes and 10 styles.

LabelManager 420P Labeler Features:

  • Large 4-line backlit display
  • 8 fonts, 7 sizes, 10 text styles, 8 boxes
  • Access keys for currency and other symbols
  • Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
  • Uses Dymo D1 labels in 1/4″, 3/8″, 1/2″, and 3/4″ width
  • Compatible with Windows Vista ®, Windows ® 7, Windows (R) XP
  • Compatible with Mac OS (R) v10.4 or later

LabelManager 420P Labeler Includes:

  • Labelmanager 420P label maker
  • Lithium-ion battery pack
  • Charging adaptor
  • Starter D1 label cassette
  • USB cable
  • Quick start guide and warranty

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. I have been given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions in any freakin’ way.

August 2, 2011 | Filed Under Review/Giveaway | 1 Comment 

Flight Delay

There has been a delay in me flying. Not a single instance or a certain flight but the delay in getting me on an actual flight in a long time. I first flew when I was around nine years old. My step-dad took me on a short flight from Houston to Austin to spend the day with his parents and give me the chance to see life above the clouds.

I am now set to be going out of town this next week and I will be flying for the second time in my life. I have no idea on what goes on or how this process is supposed to go. So many things are running through my head about the flight itself. Even simple stuff like “what are the bathrooms like on a plane?” I heard that if you unrolled a whole roll of toilet paper on a plane it would suck it all down in around 5 seconds! I’m sure that after I tried something like that someone would inform me of how un-green that is. Crystal always says that she could never sleep on a plane. I think I am going to try to and see if I can do it and if it’s comfortable or not. I’m sure that when I wake up from my catnap I will have a pamphlet on my chest filling me in on all the information on snoring that I will ever need.

I’m not even going to go into the security thing. Hopefully, people won’t pat me down to much.

July 31, 2011 | Filed Under General | 2 Comments 

The Internet is Spooky

So there I was minding my own business in the middle of the night browsing the web looking for reviews of novels that I could download for Crystal’s new Kindle. I looked under crime and found some really neat-o books. I browsed around for a bit and looked under mystery and found another couple that I thought she might like and proceeded to purchase them. I looked around a bit more from this site that is associated with the Kindle and bought a couple of more items from this site. What happened next really freaked me out. I don’t know how they do it but whatever email marketing software geniuses they have are well worth their money. I started getting emails and Twitter followers from sites and users that knew nothing of me until I placed those orders.

This whole thing is so spooky. What’s next? I am going to be in the kitchen one night looking up some recipes to coordinate some sort of semblance of a wonderful dinner and someone is going to email me about something pertaining to what I am currently looking at. If I go to a online conversion chart to see how many tablespoons are in a quart they will probably email me the link or current special where I could buy the exact product to figure that out with. I don’t know about how everyone else feels but that is way too scary.

 

July 24, 2011 | Filed Under General | 2 Comments 

Conan the Adventurer Season One Review and Giveaway

When most people think of Conan you either think of a hulking actor with long flowing hair that moved on to politics or a non-hulking actor with short poofy red hair that does late night TV shows. I remember in my younger years that there was another show by the name of Conan the Adventurer. This was a very hard trying series especially since it was after the reign of most 80’s cartoons and right before the birth of Captain Planet and the rise of The Power Rangers. I personally really liked the show because it was a familiar animation style of the times and it also harnessed a sword and sorcery element that shows like He-Man had but moved so much better.

On July 26, 2011, Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Hasbro, Inc., will unleash Conan The Adventurer: Season One in a 2-DVD set, featuring all 13 action-packed episodes. Featuring the legendary warrior well-known from books, comics and movies, Conan The Adventurer: Season One is a must-have. This DVD set promises to keep you on the edge of your seat with exciting exploits and is priced to own at $19.93 SRP.

Produced by Sunbow, the 1980s animation giant behind Hasbro’s Transformers and G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero, Conan The Adventurer focuses on the titular hero and his frends Jezmine, Snagg, Needle, Greywolf and Zula and their quest to rescue Conan’s family from an evil spell cast by the Serpent Man wizard Wrath-Amon. Armed with a powerful sword forged from Star Metal and faith in his god Crom, Conan will not stop until his family is safe and the evil wizard is reimprisoned in the mystical Abyss.

Giveaway

One (1) winner will receive:

  • A copy of Conan the Adventurer on DVD.

How to Enter

Tell me if you have ever seen this show.

Extra Entries Available

After you have completed the first entry, you are eligible for additional entries. Make sure you leave a separate comment for EACH entry. Each counts as one extra entry unless noted otherwise.

  • Subscribe to Daddy Digest by reader or email.
  • Like me on my Facebook Fan Page.
  • Follow Daddy Digest on Twitter AND Tweet about the giveaway. Leave the URL to the Tweet in your comment. You can tweet once a day, but remember to leave the URL to each tweet.

This giveaway will end on August 7th at 10:00 PM Central time. Winner will be chosen via a random number generator. Giveaway is open to US entries. The winner must contact me in 24 hours to claim their prize. Good luck to everyone!
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. I have been given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions in any freakin’ way.

July 24, 2011 | Filed Under Review/Giveaway | 51 Comments 

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