Monthly Archives: February 2009

Feb 28 2009

Geek Squad Helps Parents Keep Kids Safe When it Comes to Game Consoles

A few weeks ago I had the chance to talk with representatives from Geek Squad when I attened BlissDom, a blogging conference for women. Prior to talking with them, I’d always thought Geek Squad just dealt with computer related issues. That they were who you called when you had a virus or some other computer issue you couldn’t figure out.

Boy was I wrong. They offer so much more including gaming set-up services and parental control customization – something I could have used when we bought our Wii.

Geek Squad is located in Best Buy stores and its gaming related services are available the same day you purchase a new gaming system, be it a Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, or Microsoft Xbox 360. Geek Squad also supports gaming systems bought from other retailers.

The cost for their gaming services starts around $29.99. In-store customization includes:
  • Set up and configure one online account
  • Install and configure the latest system updates to one gaming console
  • Set up and configure up to three local user accounts
  • Set up and configure parental controls on one of the three user accounts

In addition, Geek Squad can visit your home for additional gaming set-up and support services. You can find details on those HERE.

I wanted to share news about this offering because I know that many of us with gaming systems in our homes have a wide variety of games – for all age groups in our homes. Not all games are appropriate for all age levels and I loved the idea of being able to set something up, within the game system, to help protect my children from seeing something – like shooting, etc. – that is not appropriate for their ages- just 3 & 6.

I am lucky as my husband was able to set up the parental controls on our system, but if you are like me – an individual who can barely navigate the Wii – I think you too will find this to be an interesting service.
Feb 28 2009

Six by Six (Meme)

Jamie over at Blonde Mom Blog has tagged me in the 6 x 6 meme, so here goes.

The Rules: Take the 6th photo from your 6th picture folder on your computer and blog about it. Next, tag 6 blogging friends to do the same. It’s that easy!

The 6th Picture:

This is a photo my Mom took of me (I look like crap but didn’t want to break the rules….) with my “baby” brother and my Dad at Christmas. My brother lives in Dallas, TX so Christmas is the only time of year we get to see him. This year was particularly special as my brother I surprised my parents with his visit (we’d told them he couldn’t afford to come home this year).

Tagging: To carry on the 6 x 6 Meme, I tag Amy at AmyinOhio, Angela at Raggedy Angela, Kate at Kate’s Random Musings, Bob at 5chw4r7z, Andi at Udandi and Kathi at Brain Rust.

 

UPDATE:I forgot to mention how I met Jamie. I am not 100% sure if I found her through doing blogger outreach as part of my PR work, or if I we met through mutual blogging friends. It seems like I have known her forever – we’ve even met in real life! Regardless of how we met, I feel privileged to be able to call her my friend.

Feb 26 2009

The World Around Us

If you’ve ever read about my obsession with some videos called Global Wonders, you know how I feel about making sure my children are well rounded and educated about the world around them. 

This evening we had the pleasure of attending a Chinese Lantern Festival at SM’s elementary school. The event was part of the Chinese Language Program at his school (Chinese is the foreign language taught there). During the evening we were able to watch videos of dance performances by children from China as well as check out some of the artwork the children had been creating in preparation for the Festival.  The piece-de-resistance was when the children were called up in groups to perform a song from the Chinese culture, in Chinese.  I couldn’t believe it. My son was singing in another language – and a HARD one at that.

Feb 26 2009

BlissDom09 – An Unbelievable Experience

Earlier this month I attended BlissDom09 a blogging conference in Nashville, TN.  I know I am way behind in posting about the experience, but I wanted to take a moment to say what a wonderful time I had. 

The weekend started with a PJ party at my house with Christina (A Mommy Story) and Heather (Domestic Extroardinaire).  They arrived on Thursday – we gabbed, we admired cameras (my Kodak Easy Share pales in comparison to their fancy cameras) and we talked about how much fun we were going to have that weekend.

Early in the a.m. Amy (Amy in Ohio) joined us and we were on our way to Nashville for a GOOD Time. PS. Ask Amy about my McGriddle Challenge…..

The conference was amazing and as a treat and break from all the blogging talk, included sneak peak performances of Disney’s new DVD, Yanni Voices as well as a short concert by my new rock-n-roll boyfriend, Chris Mann (Hi Chris!)

Throughout the weekend I spent time with old friends and new like Amy, Marcy, Erin and Emily and Sarah.  One of my favorite things about blogging conferences is that I always walk away with new friends – new blogs to read – and new peeps to follow on Twitter. BlissDom was no different.  I walked away with new friends like Vickie (VDog) and Sandy (Organize with Sandy) and had fun catching up with old friends like Jenny, Mishelle and Dawn.  ** Please note there are many more bloggers I could list here.

The conference was put on by Barbara with the One2One Network and Alli from Blissfully Domestic and had tons of great sponsors – companies we should all support as they support us!  Crocs, Care.com, Little Debbie (OMG their new 100 cal. snack cakes rock.), Lands’ End, Disney, Sony, Wal-mart, Ligit (best search engine ever) and many more. You can find links and information on all the sponsors here.

Perhaps the best part of the weekend was a dinner that Amy organized for Ohio bloggers (a few non Ohio peeps came along) at the New Orleans Manor restaurant Saturday night. The evening was filled with both great conversations and great food/service. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun with a group of gals out on the town. Here’s a list of who was there (thanks to Amy for compiling). You can also check out this video, courtesy of Kelly (Mrs CPA).

 

 

 

 *Amy Amy in Ohio ; *Marcy Stretching A Buck ; *Me Mommy Bits ; *Jennifer Playgroups Are No Place For Children ; *Christina A Mommy Story ; *Heather Domestic Extraordinaire ; *Dawn Kaiser Alex ;  *Victoria Vdog & Little Man ; *Tricia Once A Month Mom  ;  *Cortney Once A Month Mom ; *Erin 5 Dollar Dinners ; *Emily Mommin It Up ; *Jenny Mommin It Up ; *Carrie Money Saving Methods ;  *Kelly MrsCPA ; *Heather Queen of Shake Shake ; *Shari Crazed Mommy ; *Julia HookedOnHouses ;   
*Andrea Mommysnacks ; *Mrs. Flinger Mrs. Flinger ; *Angie The Arthur Clan ; *Amy Living Locurto ; *Kate A Simple Walk ;*Toni The Happy Housewife

Later that evening you may recall I was trapped in an elevatorfor about 40 minutes with 13 awesome women, some of which I would never had met if we hadn’t gotten on that elevator together (I am a glass half full kind of gal).  To commemorate the event I created a blogroll (on the right) of everyone on the elevator. Search Twitter for #elevator to see how it all went down!

Finally – one of the coolest things that happened that weekend was meeting Jen Lancaster. Jen is this snarky, funny author who wrote a book – Bitter is the new Black – that I stumbled upon a few years ago. Since then she’s gone on to be hugely successful and has several books out. Jen (I call her Jen cause that’s how close we are now) was invited to the conference to give the keynote.  I you aren’t familiar (do you live under a rock…j/k) you need to check her out. She blogs at www.Jennsylvania.com.  

So there it is, in a nutshell, a month later. My BlissDom recap.  Can wait for next year!