holiday gift guides

Christmas Toy Reflection Reviews

Now that it’s been a month since Christmas, I thought I’d take a look back on some of the toys we got and give them two ratings from 1-10. The first for anticipation levels leading up to the Big Day, the second for actual fun and value. Because hey–we all know that some toys soar and some crash. Maybe our experience can help you find some great toys. Here we go: Dominoes: Anticipation: 0–I got these as a surprise for the fam. The kids hadn’t expressed any interest in having some, but I got them anyway. Actual fun: 7–We’ve played […]

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Holiday Shopping Guide: Video Game Edition

Every year, it’s the same thing: what to get the techno geeks (or growing techno geeks) in your life. (Well, assuming you have techno geeks in your life. If you don’t, why don’t you find one, and give him or her something this holiday season? Because tech stuff is expensive, man.) Some of you have kids who are in to the whole video game thing. Others of you who have spouses in the same boat. And there you stand in the video game store, looking at hundreds of boxes that all look sort of similar, wondering what to buy. Wonder

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Holiday Gift Guide: Basic Board Games

It’s November, folks. Do you realize what that means? It means you really ought to be doing your holiday shopping right now instead of reading my blog. Wait! Don’t go just yet. Because as a gift to you, I’m going to let you do your holiday shopping from within my blog. Talk about multitasking! You can be entertained and shop all at the same time. Isn’t I nice? I is. So here’s how these columns will work (yes, I’ll be doing more than one in the days leading up to when the fat jolly elf arrives): I’m going to post

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Leatherman Surge

I’m a Leatherman junkie. I freely admit it. Since high school (maybe even before–I can’t remember), I’ve always had a Leatherman attached to my belt. Why? Well, why not? You never know when one of these little puppies is gonna come in handy. Like the time I was in Germany and wanted to use the phone, but I couldn’t because the phone card slot already had a card stuck in it. I whipped out my Leatherman, got out the pliers, and took out the card. Problem solved. That sort of thing happens all the time to me–not being stuck in a German phone booth,

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Decluttering

Ever since Christmas, when I bought DKC a book on how to declutter a home, I’ve been a decluttering fiend. Up until reading that book (yes, I read it first despite the fact that I gave it to my wife. She wasn’t reading it. So I did.) I’d never been able to really get on top of clutter. Stuff just seemed to congregate in various areas of the house on its own accord. I blamed it on SPR (Spontaneous Paper Reproduction). My kitchen was usually a disaster, the area by my bed was heaped with clothes, books, and other detritus

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