SPONSORED POSTS

  • SPHERO 2.0 DAD’S DAY GIVEAWAY

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: D-scoveries, Gadgets, Giveaways, Sponsored Posts

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    Speaking primarily as a man and as a 43 year old ‘man-child’, there’s two things I’ve always enjoyed playing with, (but we’ll leave Mumma out of this for now). Two ‘other’ things I’ve always been fond of playing with, are balls and technology. And until now, these two things have always been utilised completely separate from each other, (discounting the DIY robot hand debacle of ’87; still wincing after that one). But thanks to some very clever folks at GoSphero.com, they’ve melded them together to make the coolest frickin’ thing ever!

    Sphero 2.0

    Check out this video as Indy and I put our Sphero to the test.

    So…What Is Sphero?

    Sphero is the app-controlled ball that does it all. (more…)

  • HOW TO MAKE THAT MOZZIE BEGONE!

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: Sponsored Posts

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    What could possibly be worse than the sound of a mozzie buzzing your ear in bed in the darkness? — NOTHING…nothing could be worse than that. (With the possible exception of TWO MOZZIES or…Brynne Edelsten and Jeanne Little auditioning for The Voice).

    No bug is as smack-worthy nor brings a cringe to your spine quicker than a run in with this ravenous vampiric blood-sucking insect, but enough of Tony Abbott, I’m talking about the dreaded…mozzie.

    I remember a time in Bali we were eating at a restaurant and our legs were aggressively set upon under the table by mozzies. Like Bruce Lee fending off an onslaught of Ninjas, our hands were a blur as we slapped our arms and legs more often than a German at Oktoberfest. I ran a kilometre or so to find a store that stocked a can of mozzie spray, then sweatily ran back so we could finish our dinner without leaping and banging our knees under the table every ten seconds.

    And now that we have our own mini-adventurer, there’s a whole host of concerns to worry about when it comes to mozzie protection. First of all, we don’t want to spray or rub in chemicals that could be doing who-knows-what to his precious skin. Using it on ourselves is just as worrying. We need to be mindful that we have it on our hands, especially since we use them to dig foreign objects out of his mouth or wipe his snotty nose. And lit mozzie coils on the ground could be a red beacon in the darkness to little fingers and an inquiring mind.

    That’s when a little godsend flew into my Inbox, (that’s what Mumma said when I got her pregnant again). 😉 Introducing Europe’s number one mosquito protection device… (more…)

  • QUEENSLAND FERTILITY GROUP

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: Sponsored Posts

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    FILL IN THE BLANKS

    Sponsored By Nuffnang

    If you were alive in the late 70’s, you’d surely remember one of Australia’s greatest game shows, Blankety Blanks, hosted by the late great, Graham Kennedy. It was Channel 10’s ratings-baby and had us glued to the set in stitches, weeknights at 7pm, to witness the madcap, innuendo-ridden hilarity that always ended with a cheeky ‘Dick’ joke between Gra-Gra and Ugly Dave Gray.

    And for 1 in 20 men in Australia with fertility issues, shooting ‘Blankety Blanks’ is a major concern that can stand in the way of feeling like a real man and making your very own baby. And much like the amount of cigars Ugly Dave Gray consumed during the taping of the show, that’s a pretty high number.

    A common misconception with couples having difficulties getting pregnant, is that the issue is generally “women’s business”. Age is the most predominant issue and asking a woman hers, may result in a swift kick to the testes causing further fertility issues and the cycle continues. However, the next most common cause of fertility issues after a woman’s age, are male factor issues (about 40% of the time). Probably related to asking a woman’s age. (more…)

  • QUEENSLAND FERTILITY GROUP: TO BOLDLY GO…!

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: Sponsored Posts

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    Sponsored By Nuffnang

    If there’s one thing I learned from watching Star Trek, it’s that man’s destiny is in the stars. To seek out new life, new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. But in order to eventually get ourselves ‘off-world’, we actually have to survive long enough in order for it to happen.

    So we need to make more people, and keep making them!

    As a first time Dad at the ripe old ‘middle-age’ of 40, I understand the pressures of trying to create a family while the old biological stop-watch ticks to a close, like the end scene of Sixty-Minutes. And as a couple who endured 9 failed attempts at IVF (and three failed attempts at world domination), we get how stressful and disappointing in can be to not be able to invade Norway (or create your own family).

    Despite our fertility issues, thankfully (o-miracle-of-miracles), we were indeed fortunate enough to have been able to create a family of our own, having been truly blessed with a beautiful son, that I truly understand the gift that having a child is, to your life. And also feel I’m doing my part for the future of space exploration by propagating our species.

    And although we were able to then conceive our child by natural means, I still feel that going through those 9 failed IVF attempts and miscarriages, somehow reprogrammed Mumma’s body to remember what it’s supposed to do when someone moves into the apartment, instead of organising an ‘everything must go’ sale each time she was impregnated.

    Having faced and overcome our own fertility issues, there is no real way to relay the immensity of joy and love that having a child impacts on your life, other than experiencing it first-hand. And the fact that there are people and companies out there entirely devoted to making that joyous experience available for other couples is probably one of the greatest services you can do for another person.

    One such company is Queensland Fertility Group who have fertility clinics from the Gold Coast to Cairns. In an age where fertility issues are on the rise (no pun intended), 1 in 6 Australian couples experience fertility issues. Which means, if nothing gets done to improve the situation, we’ll only be headed as far as the local 7-11 instead of beyond the stars in the future. (more…)

  • INDY’S BIG FINISH

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, D-scoveries, Gadgets, Sponsored Posts, The Baby Years, Tips

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    If there’s one thing I hate more than washing dishes, is having to wash them again after they’ve already been washed! That goes double for the dishwasher.

    Back in the day, it was my Papa’s job to wash the dishes and his philosophy was, ‘What you don’t get off in the sink, you get off with the tea towel when you dry it.’ Which is fine if you don’t mind drying your hands on a towel caked in dry bits of food that could tear through your flesh like a jagged tin can.

    But dishwashers have made our lives easier…when they’re loaded properly and have the right stuff in them, that is. Just for the record, a dishwasher is NOT a magic hole in the wall that mysteriously cleans everything you put into it. (That’s a washing machine or possibly a black-hole vortex).

    There’s a precision, art and order to it that allows an even distribution of water jettage and arm spinny-thingy that if left to spin its twirly haymaker arm spinny action unencumbered (in the same way an angry wife might come at you after being told for the umpteenth time, that’s not how you pack the dishwasher), and provided you haven’t loaded it with dishwasher tablets that look like they were chipped from Moses’ stone tablets just to save a few pennies, then the result should be satisfactory (but not brilliant) unless…

    You load it with Finish Quantum with Power Gel tablets. Then you’ll end up with a dishwasher that sparkles more than Liberace in a mirror-ball shop and end up with dishes so clean, you could eat off them! When it comes to easy detergent, these are the goods I tells ya! (more…)

  • THE SHOCKING TRUTH

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, Dad Mishaps, Events, Gadgets, Sponsored Posts, The Baby Years, Uncategorized

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    It’s the call you never want to get while holidaying in Bali. Life is high, you’re on top of the world and suddenly it hits. That apprehensive voice on the other end of the line calling from home in Australia. Right from the get go, you detect a slight tremor in the voice and a stunted hesitance which can only mean one thing…

    What do you mean, dead?

    “There was a thunder storm. An enormous power surge. It was very quick, there was nothing I could do…”

    Don’t say it. Don’t tell me, I don’t want to hear it!

    “I’m really, really sorry, but…your modem got fried. Your internet…is dead.”

    Nooooooooooooooo!

    “It also blew up your microwave and the central heating has stopped working as well. And it’s totally freezing!”

    Not quite the news you want to hear while you’re away on holiday. The trip was costing us enough as it is, but our niece was doing us a favour by house-sitting for us while we were away. So we felt we owed it to her to at least make sure we didn’t come home to a frozen Popsicle gnawing on the leg of a sofa, and sprung for a new microwave, heating and most importantly…a new modem, so she wasn’t completely cut off from the outside world. (Okay, so I didn’t have to go a day without internet access once we got home…stop twisting my arm, you got what you needed).

    (more…)

  • COMBAT CREATURES STRYDER IS HERE!

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, D-scoveries, Events, Gadgets, Sponsored Posts, The Baby Years, Videos

    4 Comments

    When asked to trial and review “The Greatest Toy in the Universe”, how could I possibly say no? And short of owning my own combat ready Ironman suit or life-size Dalek, this boy’s toy satisfies both my inner nerd and sci-fi geek. Plus, we wanted to make it a momentous occasion by putting together our very own short film with our little bloke in his first ever short film debut, where he gets to exercise his acting chops and see if he qualifies as a fully fledged member of our ‘Funsters’ (trademark pending) family.

    So, without further adieu.

    The long awaited most anticipated release of the year (so far).

    Please enjoy…

    ‘STRYDER’ – The movie

    (more…)

  • PIZZA MASTERCLASS

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: Events, Food, Sponsored Posts, The Baby Years, Tips

    2 Comments

    Now that we’ve moved into the solid food stage, besides ducking hurtling produce projectiles and chiseling 3 day old pumpkin out of the carpet, occasionally some food actually finds its way into Indy’s mouth.

    And now that he has half a dozen teeth in there (that’s five more than the average Collingwood supporter), sources tell us he can pretty much start eating whatever we eat. And as long as he’s not eating my chocolate (punishable by death), we owe it to him to make sure that everything that goes in there is a healthy option.

    Hence, I was invited to participate in the Blogconnect Pizza Masterclass put on by the good folks @KeepLeftPR and sponsored by Bakers Delight, Leggo’s, Perfect Italiano, Woolworths and Dan Murphy’s. Hold the phone…Pizza a healthy option? It sure can be, and I can’t believe how much I didn’t know about making a pizza…‘perfect’.
    (more…)

  • IRONINGMAN

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, D-scoveries, Gadgets, Sponsored Posts, The Baby Years, Thoughts

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    Remember the time I revealed my super secret super-duper OCD powers? Well, like Tony Stark from The Avengers, IRONMAN (or should that be, IRONING MAN?), was put through his paces this week when I had the opportunity to test out the latest in the range of revolutionary steam generators (or whiz-bang, tricked-out steam irons), in the form of the Philips PerfectCare Aqua. And trust me, my OCD superpowers were definitely put to the test.

    Right off the bat when I opened the box, I was reminded of what Mumma thought first time she ever saw me naked…this thing was HUGE. But, pot-bellies aside…it was so big, Indy informed us he was moving out of home and into the cardboard box it came in…because he needed the extra room!

    Philips PerfectCare Aqua Box  Indy moves into his new apartment

    But when I had it all setup and ready to go, the iron itself is quite small and light, but it’s the huge water tank it’s attached to that makes up the bulk of the unit. It kind of resembles a space helmet like the one that Ed Harris wears filled with liquid oxygen in The Abyss. It’s more like an aquarium than a water tank. I’m not saying it’s big, but Indy did keep looking for Nemo.

    liquid oxygen helmet and iron station comparison

    I really do ‘loves me some technology’. Which is probably why our house glows after dark and our pyjamas resemble radiation suits. So, the space-agey look appeals greatly to me but…the revolutionary OptimalTemp technology, scares the bajeezuz out of my OCD. See, the thing about this steam iron is…it has NO SETTINGS. (more…)

  • RIGHT ON TARGET

    AUTHOR: // CATEGORY: 0-6 months, Events, Sponsored Posts, The Baby Years

    4 Comments

     

    While Indy was off enjoying Mother’s Group with Mumma, I was invited along by the 360 Immerse Agency, to attend a blogger event for Target Menswear. I guess, to find out exactly what my blog should be wearing this summer?

    Which presented a couple questions. First of all, what’s a Blogger Event? And secondly, did I remember to empty the nappy bin this morning? Now that I’m a Dad, rarely do I have consecutive thoughts that are ever related to each other. (Who am I kidding, it’s not because I’m a Dad, it’s because I’m a man). Now, where was I? Oh yes…cheese now comes in a variety of…

    Blogger Event:  a special event put on by a respective company/organisation to tout their wares and hopefully generate interest from bloggers; ie: people who write blogs…(for the cheap seats up the back), to share with their multitudes of fans (or the one or two people who don’t press ignore or delete when an update appears in their inbox)…and is NOT an arcade game showdown where you have to get across the road, avoid traffic, jump on the logs, get the fly and watch out for the alligator. That’s Frogger. (Damn…and me with all those pockets full of quarters. Anyone need change for the meter?) (more…)