Home Improvement Tool and Toy Reviews

I have setup a new blog over at wordpress.com named 30 Something Student. It is my new blog about my experience in going back to school to finish my Bachelors degree at DeVry University in Austin, TX.

I already have a few posts there and pretty lengthy about page. I just started the enrollment process today but start class a week from today.

Take a look and join the adventure .

Technorati: School, DeVry, College

So the wife and I went to local electronic store to look at new DVD system for the car so that when our youngest son starts to face forward he will be able to watch TV also. If you don’t know a DVD played in the car is a life saver. I recommend one for anyone who has kids.

Right now we have a portable one who’s screen only tilts one way. They now have ones that can tilt different directions and even spin around. We are looking a portable one instead of one that mounts in the car because they are about a third of the cost. Also you can take the portable one out of the car. The overhead models are stuck there.

Anyway, we found one that we liked and I was about to buy it when my wife suggested that we look online to see if we could get it cheaper. I did look at the Best Buy web site but it was the same price. I then remembered about the couponchief.com site I mentioned before. Sure enough I went to their Best Buy Section and snagged a coupon for 10% plus I got free shipping.

Cool!

Technorati: Best Buy, DVD Played, Coupons

Bum deal.

I just tired to connect to Napster to check out some Beastie Boys and the Napster Servers are down. I even tried to get to their web site and no dice.

I still haven’t gotten my MP3 from the yet either.

Bum deal.

Technorati: Napster, Music, Internet Outage, MP3 Player

Offices 2 Share which is a web site where you can search for short-term, ready-to-use office space - Executive Suites, Shared Office Space, etc is having it’s second annual Home Office From Hell contest.

Basically you have to give the top 10 reasons why you have the home office from hell. They also say that you get extra credit for uploading a video of why you have a home office from hell.

The 1st place prize winner will receive 12 months of rent (up to $12,000) at any location posted on Offices2Share.com plus a paid trip to New York City to have lunch with Donald Trump’s right-hand man and former Co-Star of The Apprentice - George Ross.

The First Runner-Up will receive a Dell Notebook Computer, a Library of Trump University audio tapes, and three books by Donald Trump.

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th place winners will get the 3 books by Mr. Trump.

If I was still running my business I bet I could win this contest.

Technorati: Offices 2 Share, Contest, Home Office, Donald Trump, George Ross

So I read this morning in the Statesman that the toll roads are now scheduled to open on October 31st instead of November 1st. I guess the reason for this is the is takes some time to open all of the exits in such a way that a person on the toll road will not get blocked by a closed exit.

I am planning on using the toll roads so that I can come to work almost 2 hours earlier. Right now I leave from 8:30 to 9am and get her in 25-45 minutes. I am expecting to get here in 25 minutes on the toll roads at 8am.

I have counted and there are exactly 3 signals from my house to my work while taking the toll roads. Right now 4 just to get to the I35.

Technorati: Austin, Toll Roads, Freeways, Texas

I grew up in Southern California where hunting was something that you did no Nintendo or saw on TV. I did go skeet hunting quite a few times - for clay targets - but I have never really been hunting.

Now that I am in Texas it seems that hunting is a pretty big sport here. The local grocery store sells blinds that you sit in in order to get a chance to shoot a deer. I really would not have a problem shooting a deer but cleaning it is another story. Enough said. (more…)

So the wife and I drove past the new movie theater by the Outlet Mall to see if it ever opened or not and sure enough - the parking lot was packed.

As mentioned previously we had grand opening passes for Thursday but when we showed up they said they had not gotten their certificate of occupancy. I guess they got.

The cool thing is that our grand opening tickets are now considered free tickets to any movie we want to see along with a free soda and popcorn. The hardest part now is deciding which movie to see.

Technorati: Cinemark, Movies, Movie Theater, Round Rock TX

I have 2 DVR’s in the house and I am continually missing every episode of season 10 of South Park - bummer.

I switched it on last night but then my wife started to walk out of the room because she doesn’t like the show (that’s OK I feel the same way about her Spanish soap operas or Novellas as she says).

Anyway I have heard this season is really good. I just have to remember to set the DVR.

Technorati: South Park, Novellas

The neighborhood that we moved to is right across the street from a hugh park with server walking and bike trails in it. My oldest son looks like he will be ready to ride a bike here hopefully by next summer so we are already putting our feelers out for bikes for everyone.

My wife prefers Beach cruisers so I have been looking around for where I can find the best price as they can be very pricey. I can across xyzbikes.com which has a great selection of beach cruisers for really good prices.

My wife hasn’t seen them yet but I am sure she is going to like the Pink Ladies cruiser they have.

Technorati: Bike, Beach Cruiser, Bikes, Family

So as I mentioned in a previous post I have been thinking about going back to school to finish my bachelors degree. In my research online I found out that Devry is just down the street from my work (I can see their building from my office) so I scheduled an appointment with them to check them out.

I have to say that I really feel foolish after getting out of the meeting with the counselor. I was always under the impression that Universities where really expensive and that you had to pay as you went through.

That is not the case. (more…)