Well, I think I mentioned this is the podcast, but I gave up my paper wall calendar a couple of months ago to put my calendar in Outlook. Since Dan was using it, the only way to make sure that he knew about family events was to make it a meeting that showed up on his iPhone, which meant that half of our stuff was in Outlook anyway, so it just made sense. Parts of it are great - I can put in there to remind me to change the furnace filter in 3 months and it does, do the dog's flea & tick every month, and the annual birthday reminders are nice too. So, the weird thing is that the computer is dinging at me all the time! And if we're both home, so is Dan's phone, and Dan's computer. *Ding* Vinny has karate, *Ding* today is "blue" day at preschool, *Ding* Nick's birthday... I still print out the calendar once a month or so - I'm a paper person at heart - and hang it on the fridge. I don't have much of a sense of time without that grid on the wall. I also carry a copy with me in the diaper bag. But now, I'm having problems keeping them all synchronized. So does this mean I need a PDA? I don't want to go there - it's that slippery slope with this tech stuff! I would've been fine with a little planner, but Dan wasn't remembering stuff, and there you go. But we almost missed a doctor's appointment because it wasn't in Outlook. Ugh - well, to be continued.

So, we went trick-or-treating last night and great fun was had by all. Vinny is finally old enough to appreciate that going on to more houses means more candy. So he picked the biggest Halloween bag we have and said he was going to fill it up. He didn't do that - but I bet the kid has a good 30+ pieces in there. There are a couple of full size candy bars in it. My problem is, who owns the candy? Clearly, the adults own the extra candy that was not picked up by trick-or-treaters. We actually budgeted pretty well this time, so we don't have much left over. Now, he's 4 - it's going to take him forever to get through it, I don't want him to eat it all - is it ok to sneak a few pieces? What about the candy that the two year old got? Does Dan get some because he went to the extra houses with Vinny and I didn't? I think that I really need to leave it alone. But it sure does look yummy...

On the favorite websites show, I talked about www.traffic.com - one of my everyday websites. They score routes that you pre-program home on a scale of 0 - 10, 0 being no traffic. Today, I saw a 10 - and it was the road between Dan and us. 10 means a total block, basically. He left work at 3 so he could be home nice and early to trick or treat and I think he's going to get here around 6:15. This is a 35 minute drive with no traffic. He's really cranky - and I don't blame him. On top of it, the kids have been all wound up (Halloween, anyone?) and they've been in and out of time out all afternoon. Dan got Guitar Hero III over the weekend and is a big fan. It came with another guitar, this one wireless, so now we can play each other, which is kinda fun. The graphics are really nice - clearly a step up - and the songs are better too (bigger bands). There are guitar battles with celebrity guitar players, and they wrote them personally. If you like GH II, you'll love the new one!

Well, it's Thursday morning, and once again I woke up at 5 in the morning to a little boy getting sick to his stomach. Nick this time, and all over his bed, his blankie, and comforter. All of which I just washed on Tuesday :-(. It's been hours, he's had some water and some pretzels, and he's fine - I'm wondering if next Thursday it's my turn. Again, it seems to be just enough to derail my play date for the day. On a happier note, Barenaked Ladies released the Big Bang Theory theme song as a single and I am so excited. Big Bang Theory is on Monday night on CBS http://alpha.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory/ it's pretty geeky - which is why I bring it up - but it's really funny. The plot is that two research physicists are roommates and they have a beautiful blond move in across the hall. I think the best part is that they could've just made the girl pretty and dumb, but she holds her own just fine. The geek I'm married to likes it too. If you're interested in the single - it's on iTunes :-).

Well, we've been terrible about recording and posting! Kelly's got a bunch of Sunday school stuff and work's been a bit busy for me, so there you go. Kelly is actually in Florida right now visiting our grandparents - she took both girls on a plane with no other adults, I can't wait to hear how that went. I'm stuck here at home with a sick kid. Vinny woke up at 5:30 and threw up. It's been three hours and he's eating and drinking, and seems totally fine. I don't understand - kids are so weird that way. They can go from sick to fine in to time flat, but you have to do quarantine and lock the house down. I mean, we made it through our big annual party and we've been traveling, so if he had to get sick now is a good time. But I really don't have any interest in throwing up right now. Here's hoping that Nick doesn't get it. Halloween is coming and we're ready - Buzz and Woody this year. I need to get a couple of finishing touches for the costumes - but we're in good shape. We have a parade through our neighborhood, there's one at school, and trick or treating. At least they'll get used. I'm pretty sure this is the last year I'll be able to get the boys to match. On a tech more geeky note: Since our last post, Dan (Tracey's Dan) got an iPhone. Now he is a big iTunes fan and talking about buying a mac. A mac! I don't know him anymore. Linux to Microsoft and now Apple? His phone is working well, but the problem is that every time I look over he's on the web. It's like the laptop, but sneakier. Take care - we haven't forgotten, we just got busy!

Websites we love! There is no general theme to these except that we use them regularly and love them. We'll probably have more episodes like this one in the future - there are way too many to list in one show! Links: Traffic, Amazon, Behr, ABC, FactCheck, ArtBeads, Belkin, IMDB - Kevin Kilner, IMDB - Taryn Reneau Download the mp3 file.

We help you wade through the ocean of digital cameras available today. What exactly is an SLR and do you really need one? We also talk about the many ways to print your digital images and which we like best! Links: Digital Camera Buying Guide, Shutterfly, Kodak, Snapfish Amazon Links: Canon Elph, Canon Rebel SLR, Epson PictureMate Printer Photographers we Love: Jodie Otte, Samantha Yeakle Download the mp3 file.

This week we discuss HDTV. What exactly is HDTV, why you need to care about it and the differences between projection, plasma and LCD. Links: E3 conference, Xbox 360 warranty, converter box coupon Download the mp3 file.

Our first episode! We introduce ourselves and discuss what it's like to be married to an early adopter. We explain DVRs - specifically Tivo and Media Center. Links: Tivo, Microsoft Media Center, AVS Forums, Home Theater PC Tracey's "How to" for using Media Center: Pick up the remote and choose the button that says “watch tv”. This will automatically turn on the receiver, the TV, and the x box. If you come to a green x box screen instead of the media center – hit the button again. You will start at the “recorded tv” menu option on the media center. Hit it ok button to look at these and pick one or… To watch normal satellite dish – use the “live tv” button and channels up and down. To play a DVD – open the disc drive in the x box and insert the dvd. Usually it will start playing, but if it doesn’t, navigate to the “play dvd” menu option at the bottom of the x box menus. If you get into trouble: If you need to reset the media center (it locks up or something), at the login screen you can use the arrows on the remote to navigate and the password for the “media center” user is xxxxx. Then hit “enter” on the remote. That will start everything back up . Download the mp3 file.