Footlocker Discount

As you know, every now and then people will forward me a coupon for a discount for some company or another, and I'll try to forward it to you. They are usually really good, and in this case we can thank Seth for his generosity. This is good for this weekend only, so jump on it, maybe use this to get a jump on Christmas shopping! Enjoy!

If you can't read the coupon here, click on this Link

Haunted Hayride!

Well Lek still only has one day off a week, so whenever she's off, we try to do something fun that day. Being that Halloween is so close, we decided to do something halloween themed, and what's spookier and scarier then a Hanunted Hayride? Normally I've gone to the one way up in Tuxedo NY, by Sterling Forest. Although, that place has always been fun, they don't operate on Wednesdays. Incidentally, I got hooked on the whole Haunted House/Haunted Hayride thing since the Haunted House in New Rochelle. I went there often while I was a young teen in Westchester, so haunted houses always bring nostalgia for me. We instead found this place

It seems far since it's all the way in Pennsylvania, but it's really not too bad since it's only a few minutes off the NJ turnpike. Door to door was a little over an hour and a half (but I drive pretty fast). We had awesome baby back ribs at Churchville's, then went off to the Hayride. I purchased our tickets online saving a couple of bucks, so a full pass cost me $24 each. That includes a hayride, 3 haunted houses and a trek through the "valley of fear". Over all everything was very well done, but I definately think if I'd had kids, I probably would have had a better time, as they'd probably would have crapped their pants.

Cute Bartender

After dinner, we headed out to Lek's restaurant to grab a couple of cocktails and to see Lek in action. It's a great place and the ambiance is terrific. It's not so much a watering hole as a bar for the restaurant. If the prices were a little more reasonable, I'd definately dine here more often

Panna II

I'm sure if you've been following my blog, you've noticed a common recurring theme - I love this place. My brother offered to take me out, so he asked where I'd like to go? I mentioned this place and his initial reaction was "why? lets go someplace nice". Well I actually like this place, and not only cause it's dirt cheap, so off we went! Jeff, Pat, My brother and I, my closest friends since our birthdays only had 1 digit in them.

Panna was packed and at one point they tried to squeeze 4 of us into a tiny 2 person table, by the busy front door. BT wasn't having it, so after some snooty looking, suburbia girls changed their minds and left, we grabbed their table.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Kept it low key this year, had dinner with the boys at Panna II, one of my favorite budget eateries. No cake, but they give you ice cream and play funky indian music while the lights pulsate. Pretty neat.

Best Dad Ever!!!...Dad gives best gift to son! Read then watch the video

This is an incredible story...and by far makes Dick Hoyt the best dad in the world award!

"I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck."

Read the article first and then watch the video

read more | digg story

Another Mets Fan!

What a day! Game 1 of NLCS

Yes I'm high up in the Mezzanine and the stupid bunting is in the way, but I can say I was there! What a great game, Glavine pitched a terrific game and Beltrans 2 run home run was absolutely incredible! LETS GO METS!

Geeks have all the fun!

Not sure what this has to do with digitallife at all, or gadgets in general, but these ladies are advertising a new product hot on the heels of every other energy drink lately. I'm still partial to the origianl Red Bull, but competition is good. I've heard this tastes awful, which is probably why they have to resort to these marketing ploys.

680 Red

680 in White

Interestingly, the 680 also comes in different colors a la iPod nano style (or handspring visors, remember them?) They come in white, red, orange, and gray, but they have their own names for these colors, like ice, crimson, don't remember orange, and graphite.

Palm 680

Ok, I'm a Palm fanboy. I have owned from the beginning, a Palm IIIe, a Handspring Visor, a Palm M505, a Clie TJ37, a Treo 600, and a Treo 700P. So I've been watching with anticipation the announcements of a new "affordable" Treo coming out soon. So here we have it! The Treo 680! Ok, basically it's a slight upgrade to the 650 and is only availible on the GSM networks. If you already have the 650, don't bother with the upgrade, your only losing the antenna and getting a little memory, simply not worth it. If you're still on the 600 and have been waiting for an upgrade running palm then the 680 is it. If you're getting a little tired of the Palm OS, and can hang on a little longer, the 750v is supposed to be coming soon. I like the look of this phone a lot, but with EDGE being the fastest antenna, I'm going to be perfectly happy with my 700p and it's EVDO speeds.

Sony Mylo

This device reminds of the OGO, which didn't last too long, despite having a solid support base. The Ogo was a dedicated text-message, IM, and web-browsing device. Startlingly missing of course was the phone. Of course with other all in one devices, the Ogo, just couldn't compete. Well Sony apparently didn't learn from the Ogo's failure and they've produced a similar product, but with an even bigger limitation. The Mylo only works off Wi-fi. Although, it's great if you want to use it for making skype phone calls, and if you hang out at starbucks alot, I just don't see why this is practical. Another similar device is the Nokia's 770, which is an internet tablet, is met with similar limitations. Although, they are great concept devices, they just don't seem to find customers that need this functunality.

T-Mobile Dash

T-mobile is really batting for the fences here. First they hit a home run with the Blackberry pearl which is a beautiful phone, and has been met with glowing praise, and now they've got the Dash about to debut. This phone is a direct response to Verizons Motorola Q, which is hugely successful. The Dash, like the Q runs windows mobile 5, smartphone edition, meaning it doesn't have a touchscreen. It's very sleek and in my opinion, it has a much nicer feel to it. It's more solid and a lot less plasticy then the Q. With the ever expanding catalog of Windows mobile apps being developed every day, it's looking like M$ is slowly squeezing out the Palm OS (as well as Blackberry and Symbion). Sound familiar? Rewind about 20 years and you'll remember that Apple's had the main market share in PC's and slowly and surely Gates and company took over market share to become the juggernaut they are now with over 95% of the worlds PC's running their OS.

Water proof!

Damn! You can even use this phone under water! Too bad it's so butt ugly!

Tank Phone

Okay, we're getting to some of the good stuff, phones and pdas are the quintessential 'gadget'. Here is a brand new phone form motorola, that's meant to keep up with the tough nextel phones. This phone is a "dumb" phone in that it doesn't have computer like capabilites like the Palm or the Blackberry phones. It has basic features, text, email, camera, etc. It's pretty ugly, and I wouldn't buy it, but they again I don't need an indestructible phone.

Never Winter Nights

I would've climbed through the ropes to have my picture taken next to this very cool display, but the State Trooper shot me a look that said "don't even think it!".

Happy Birthday to Sonic!

Sonic the Hedgehog of Sega fame had a large exhibit there. They are celebrating his birthday (how old he is, I'm not sure). Sonic will always have a soft spot in my heart for him. I remember playing the early Sega games, and how friggan addictive this game was. This was Segas answer to the wildly popular Super Mario Bros, and it has carved a nice little niche for itself in our psyches as well as in video gaming history.

Video Games Galore

About 30% of the show seemed to focus on video gaming in some aspect or another. Xbox 360, PS3, Alienware, and many others were among the many there. Here I am playing a version of Lego Star Wars, which is simplistic, yet very enteraining.

Digitallife NYC

For all you people that were too lazy to make it to the Digitallife electronics show at Jacob Javits Center, I've included some pics for your enjoyment. You guys really missed out as there were some great exhibits there. You still have until Sunday to print out a free ticket and see all the goodies for yourself. Here is a MobiTv dude. It's a great service that allows you to watch TV on your phone, your pda or even your laptop. Although the "wow" factor is really high, the content is a bit old. They have about 25 channels to choose from , but only 6 are any good. Discovery, TLC, Espn, CNet, Foxsports and MSNBC are the good ones, everything else is mostly junk.

NY DigitalLife

Digitallfe, the electronics conference in NYC is back in town. If you're a gear-head like me, come on down and check this out. It's going to be at the Jacob Javits Center and will run from Oct. 12 to Oct 15th. Here's one more reason to convince you to come out - Free Admission. Go to this site and type in INSIDER to print out your own free tickets. Enjoy!

Open skies

Of course, some times, it's just great to be in the country, and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Lek and I loved being in the country, but it was funny how we were the only people there that didn't have a kid in tow. The entire farm was crowded with children and their folks. I'm not in a rush, but this is exactly the kind of stuff I'd love to bring my own kids too.

Apples

I seems we can just a tad too early in the season, as we were only allowed to pick from 3 types of trees, "red delicious", "empire", and "golden delicious". The other apples needed another week to ripen. This farm also allows you to pick other fruits and vegetables, such as berries, peaches, and other stuff. Of course we're out of season for all that, but I would love to come back during cherry, or peach season!

Sunflowers

This farm also had some beautiful flowers, and plants, even indian corn!

Pumpkin patch

This place took you to the patch and the orchad by a tractor, or a hayride if you will. That was great for 2 reasons, firstly, we didn't have to walk as much. Secondly, you wasted less time wandering around as the ride will leave without you. Another difference between this farm and the ones I'm used to in NY, the pumpkins were actually on the vines, and not pre-cut and laid out for you. They also had a great selection of fresh pies, breads, muffins and other goodies. Lek and I made off with a fresh, soft loft of pesto bread, and a blueberry pie!

Apple Picking

Lek and I have been working hard lately, and since our schedules don't always synch up, we decided to take a full day for ourselves and make a little day trip. We decided to go to our favorite seafood place, Adams Crab Shack at the Tropicana hotel in Atlantic City. Every Wednesday, they have all you can eat $16.95, woo-hoo! As it's also now fall, we also have another tradition that we figured we could squeeze in as well, apple-picking. So instead of the usual upstate farms, we decided to look around for one not too far from Atlantic City. We found this little gem, Johnson Farms in Burlingto county, NJ.