Baz Attack!

First things first...A word of warning on the Blog front. We're in serious "beta" stage on this new dGeek User Blogs section (the Mamblog component). Do yourselves a favour and make sure you make yourself a copy of anything that you don't want to see disappearing into cyberspace, thanks to any I-just-broke-it situations. That said, feel free to use it's power and bend it to your evil will! If I may suggest, try not to turn the blogs into another, much more awkward version of the forum. If you want to chat back and forth and leave me messages, then your best bet is the forum...no complaints here, just a kindly suggestion. 'Nuff said!

Just back from a way-to-long-for-daddy walk to the beach with baz in the Baby Bjorn (more on the best and worst of Baby life below!)...he's beginning to weigh a lot! I'm reminded of the ancient proverb about the man who wanted to become the strongest man in the village. So he went to the wisest man in the village who told him to get a little piglet and carry it up the mountain. He was told to do this every day. Once the pig was fully grown he would be the strongest man in the village. I feel that Baz is like that story if the piglet was replaced by a highly caffeinated baby hippo! Anyway it was the lowest tide in something like a million years so we walked further out than I've even been before and saw crabs, clams and sand dollars. We also waved at every plane that went by, sometimes twice as we haven't quite figured out that just because you turn your head doesn't make it a new plane. The biggest excitement of all - Mars! I don't know why I bother!

Really impressed with this Little Tikes Company. I emailed them the other day about a pinching hazard on one of their toys, which we bought for Baz (The DiscoverSounds Tool Box). He closed the lid on his fingers and then tried to pull them out by pressing down on the lid, and panicked. I repeated it with my own fingers to see how much damage he could do...ouch! Apparently when I was a little older than my son is now, I lodged a marble up my nose. My grandmother then proceeded to do the same herself, in a bid to see how best to remove it. We both went to hospital. Anyway, I sent a little email to Little Tikes via their website, just to let them know about the problem. Not a week goes by and we get a personal phone call from Jason at the company! He was very apologetic and concerned about what had happened. As a thanks for letting them know about this they're sending us one of their Push and ride racers! Now that is some seriously impressive customer support! And how great is it to find a company that actually cares about the kids using their products?! Thumbs up from the Hewletts!

Speaking of which, I was lamenting the fact that Baz was about to outgrow the coolest car seat ever built. The Orbit Baby system is my favourite baby gear, hands down. How genius is it to have a car seat that allows you to swivel it in any direction and lift it out of the car and snap it into the transformer-like stroller base?! This is geekdaddy gold! What would we do without our Optimus Prime stroller?! Well, turns out that Orbit Baby just announced the arrival of their Toddler car seat. We naturally rushed online to snap up one of these beauties, but found that everywhere was sold out of our systems chosen Darth Vader black. So I emailed Orbit Baby marketing department to see what they tell us about availability and the next thing I know, thanks to Stargate and dGeek blogging, they're sending us one! You've gotta love an internet savvy company who's looking out for us nerds. We love you Orbit Baby!

On the far from cool side of Daddy life...I hate, hate, HATE the painfully stupid design and function of the Fresco Bloom high chair. It looks like something out of a Kubrick movie. This is why Jane and I fell for it. More fool us! This thing is a disaster! The strap system is a joke, it's uncomfortable for Baz and it's just so ridiculously badly designed and put together. It also weighs a ton and is impossible to move! Horrible cheap, plastic junk...ARRRGH! Take a photo for the fashion mags, but avoid this thing!

Since when did this become a GeekDaddy blog...what is happening to me?!

I've asked MGM about getting me on the Stargate Worlds Beta...I have never got into World of Warcraft or the like, but I love the idea of having the time to lose myself in some serious MMOs...maybe between shooting Atlantis scenes I'll rack up some serious power and influence in the Stargate beta and it'll be McKay's kingdom by the time it actually launches ;-)

One more week of shooting and then it's hiatus for a month! Believe me, I plan on making the most of it! By the time we return to Atlantis, we'll be back on the air (Friday, July 11 is the first episode I believe)

Cheerio!

D!