We have the Diaper Champ from Baby Trend and the Touch Free Diaper Pail by Graco. The Diaper Champ was a baby shower gift and of course, as shown below, I won the Touch Free from DadLabs.
Thanks, DadLabs! You rock!
Here is my honest opinion. Overall, these are both very good diaper pails. If I were going to purchase one of them myself, knowing what I know now and even being the geek that I am, I would spend my money on the Diaper Champ. The Diaper Champ contains the smell better, holds a little more diapers in it at full capacity, is slightly easier to change bags, and doesn't use any consumables like specially-made bags. You buy it, you use it, end of story.
Or, as in our house, you get it as a gift, you use it, you train your toddler to use it and hope they will continue to use it if a sibling comes along. Remember, teach your tots that throwing away dirty diapers is cool! Car keys — NOT COOL!
The Scoop (rhymes with poop)
There is about a $20.00 difference between the two depending on where you shop. The charcoal filters for the Touch Free are hard to find for a good price. Last time I checked, you could only get them through Graco directly or Sears. I have a hack for this though. Keep reading.
The Touch Free on the other hand, looks cooler, functions cooler and our curious toddler has a lot of fun making the lid pop open with the remote sensor. Sometimes we have to trick him by switching the remote sensor off and putting it into manual mode. Then we lay a guilt trip on him and tell him that be broke it.
Just like guilt trips my parents used on me, it didn't work on him either. He still messes with it.
There were some comments and suggestions made that perhaps a remote control could be used to operate the Touch Free. I am a dork so I honestly tried to use the remote that came with my Mac just to rule out for you all that it in fact DOES NOT operate the diaper pail. Besides, the remote sensor is flat on the top of the surface so unless you rig a mirror or something, I'm not sure that a remote would ever work at this angle, but I'd still like to see someone try.
I really like how clean the Touch Free stays. It looks nicer in our son's room and it's a neutral beige that blends in. (They also make it in a pretty lilac color as well. Look at me, I'm a pretty diaper pail. I make poop look pretty.) The Diaper Champ is white with blue trim and sometimes it has a tendency to get a little bit of poop on it if you don't wrap up the diaper tightly enough into a swan shaped origami figure before plopping it in. (ok, trying to chuck it in from a few feet away) (Sorry Dad, I didn't inherit your basketball grace.)
As for the smell, let's face it, sometimes I think our son harbors WOMD in his diaper. (Weapons of Mass Destruction, shhh! Don't tell anyone.) So, even Fort Knox couldn't keep that smell locked in. Although, perhaps a proton pack might do the trick? I think the Diaper Champ holds the smell in best but it's hard to tell because I think it might be that you have to change the Touch Free a little more frequently so maybe not as much stink accumulates.
Diaper Pail Hack
They both use standard kitchen trash bags so you don't have to waste money on those special sausage casing-type bags. The Touch Free does cost you extra in that you have to replace the batteries for the remote sensor AND you have to replace a charcoal filter once a month. That's the price you pay for coolness though. Unless you're cheap like me. When these batteries run out, we'll probably replace them with rechargeables to save a little on that cost. I skip the $3.49 charcoal filters and instead use a .99¢ 'stickup' air freshener in the lid. I just remove the little clippy thing-a-ma-do that holds the charcoal filter and adhere one of those stickups there instead. When the lid opens, the 'aroma' is that of Spring Fresh Poopy Diaper instead of just Fresh Poopy Diaper.
View the full demo from DadLabs here. There isn't anything these Dads won't do to bring you the "the scoop" — pun intended. For more great comparisons on diaper pales, check out this from their site.
Check out www.dadlabs.com and have a laugh. Drink some beer. Watch parents drink beer. Watch parents drink beer and give really good parenting advice.
Seriously!
How many times did I use the word poop?
There are only 2 times in your life when you get to use the word poop a lot without taking a lot of crap for it: When your ARE a preschooler and when you HAVE a preschooler.
January 22, 2008
January 20, 2008
I Want My House Back too!
Yay! We just got back from visiting Oma and Opa at their NEW house! I am pretty much overjoyed at the moment. Opa was living with us for a couple of months and, no fault of his, but it has not been a picnic because it delayed the process of moving Lucian into his own bedroom. We were going to do it months ago, but then Dad had to come live with us until he and Mom found a place. It all worked out nicely since they were able to sell the home in Flagstaff and found a truly wonderful home here in Tucson. I really love their new place and they are really happy too.
So now a new chapter begins in our quest to reclaim our marriage bed - room - er, um, you know what I mean. I am really looking forward to setting up Lucian's new room. I keep daydreaming about how to set it up and decorate it and all that. I wonder if he'll like having his own room. I'm nervous about the transition. He is slowly, slowly weaning which is ok with me. I'm not in any hurry but I don't really want to be breastfeeding him while he's packing for college either. Something tells me his girlfriend would not appreciate that too much. (Although I suppose his frat buddies might think it's cool.) But I digress.
I can't even imagine what it's going to be like to not have him sleeping 2 feet away from my head each night. I wonder how long it will take till he starts sleeping through the night. I wonder what it's going to be like to sleep for more than 3 hours solid. I wonder how I'm going to feel with him being 'so far away' on the other side of the house. (our house is very small, so I'm being sarcastic.)
There is going to be this huge space where his crib and changing table is now. I can't decide what I want to really put there. I wonder if we'll be able to have our bedroom be a baby free zone where we can leave sharp knives and bottles of toxic chemicals laying out in the open on our night stands. You know, because we did that before we had a baby. ha ha ha
Man, I sound like the mom who is sending their kid off to college and can't wait to turn the kid's room into an Elvis Presley shrine or something. Am I an awful person or what?
Well, this will be an exciting adventure. If only hubby wasn't sick right now. I know it's going to take time and patience. Bleh. I don't have a whole lot of patience, but we'll see.
So now a new chapter begins in our quest to reclaim our marriage bed - room - er, um, you know what I mean. I am really looking forward to setting up Lucian's new room. I keep daydreaming about how to set it up and decorate it and all that. I wonder if he'll like having his own room. I'm nervous about the transition. He is slowly, slowly weaning which is ok with me. I'm not in any hurry but I don't really want to be breastfeeding him while he's packing for college either. Something tells me his girlfriend would not appreciate that too much. (Although I suppose his frat buddies might think it's cool.) But I digress.
I can't even imagine what it's going to be like to not have him sleeping 2 feet away from my head each night. I wonder how long it will take till he starts sleeping through the night. I wonder what it's going to be like to sleep for more than 3 hours solid. I wonder how I'm going to feel with him being 'so far away' on the other side of the house. (our house is very small, so I'm being sarcastic.)
There is going to be this huge space where his crib and changing table is now. I can't decide what I want to really put there. I wonder if we'll be able to have our bedroom be a baby free zone where we can leave sharp knives and bottles of toxic chemicals laying out in the open on our night stands. You know, because we did that before we had a baby. ha ha ha
Man, I sound like the mom who is sending their kid off to college and can't wait to turn the kid's room into an Elvis Presley shrine or something. Am I an awful person or what?
Well, this will be an exciting adventure. If only hubby wasn't sick right now. I know it's going to take time and patience. Bleh. I don't have a whole lot of patience, but we'll see.
I Want My Body Back!
I want my Mtv too and while I'm at it, maybe I'll bring sexy back. In my dreams.
This is going to be an experiment for me. I'm nervous about it, but I've decided that I'm going to blog about my journey into weight loss. I'm thinking that maybe if I blog about it, I'll have to be held accountable for it somehow. Have you ever joined Weight Watchers? You know how you have to report every week and get weighed and keep a journal and all that stuff? Well, I was thinking maybe I could do that sort of thing here on my blog, for free, for myself.
So, this might be the post topic you might want to skip reading. In fact, I think I'm going to pretend that no one reads my blog (which is almost true) so that I don't feel so self conscious about it. But on the other hand, if you do read my blog and you are in the same boat as me, I think adding a comment to my posts may help me to stay motivated.
Anyone want to join me in a weight loss/fitness blog?
I haven't checked it out yet and maybe something like this already exists so if anyone knows anything about it, let me know.
Here We Go
So, I started working out this past week and I'm very proud of myself for being pretty consistent about it. I worked out several days this week (every other day) and I've been very diligent about taking my vitamin each day, eating breakfast, eating less junk food and most importantly, drinking more water. I have to go pee now just thinking about it.
I'm starting out very slowly. If I overdo it, I know I'll get discouraged and quit, so I'm keeping my expectations pretty low right now.
Stats
Ugh. I really don't want to write this part, but I'm gonna. Take a deep breath.
When I say workout, what I really mean is that I dance around in my living room like an idiot for 20-30 minutes. Right now, it's very simple. I find a dance or techno music channel on the cable box and crank it up. Lucian loves to dance now so it makes working out in the living room pretty easy. He is usually content to hang out with me close by and dance to the music. He thinks it's a game.
I start out with 10 straight minutes of heart-pumping aerobics. Well, my version at least. I'm probably doing this all wrong but for the time being, it is what it is. My goal is to get my heart rate up and to warm up my muscles. Then I do some stretches and lower impact moves. Then I do slower moving stretches to calm down. Then I drink some more water. I try to do this every other day and for at least 20 minutes. The last two times I made it to a half hour.
Diet
I believe that 'diet' is just 'die' with a 't' on the end of it. I don't count calories. I'm still breastfeeding a couple of times each day, so I don't think I should cut down on food intake too much. I actually think part of my problem is that I don't eat enough to begin with. So, I just try to eat healthy foods as much as possible and keep junk food out of the house. I do allow myself to eat dark chocolate once a day.
Eating healthy is a challenge because my husband is such a good cook and he loves to spoil me. How can I resist?
Well, I'm really distracted right now and I can't think of anything else to add, but I think I'm going to try and blog about this each Sunday.
Till next time.
My bathroom scale is going to hate me and I'll try to resist the urge to burn it in the back yard.
This is going to be an experiment for me. I'm nervous about it, but I've decided that I'm going to blog about my journey into weight loss. I'm thinking that maybe if I blog about it, I'll have to be held accountable for it somehow. Have you ever joined Weight Watchers? You know how you have to report every week and get weighed and keep a journal and all that stuff? Well, I was thinking maybe I could do that sort of thing here on my blog, for free, for myself.
So, this might be the post topic you might want to skip reading. In fact, I think I'm going to pretend that no one reads my blog (which is almost true) so that I don't feel so self conscious about it. But on the other hand, if you do read my blog and you are in the same boat as me, I think adding a comment to my posts may help me to stay motivated.
Anyone want to join me in a weight loss/fitness blog?
I haven't checked it out yet and maybe something like this already exists so if anyone knows anything about it, let me know.
Here We Go
So, I started working out this past week and I'm very proud of myself for being pretty consistent about it. I worked out several days this week (every other day) and I've been very diligent about taking my vitamin each day, eating breakfast, eating less junk food and most importantly, drinking more water. I have to go pee now just thinking about it.
I'm starting out very slowly. If I overdo it, I know I'll get discouraged and quit, so I'm keeping my expectations pretty low right now.
Stats
Ugh. I really don't want to write this part, but I'm gonna. Take a deep breath.
- Current weight: 195 lbs. (the highest weight I've ever been while not pregnant!!)
- Current measurements: (crap, where did I put my tape measure?)
- Bust: 46 (not too worried about this part since I'm still a milk factory)
- Waist: 38
- Hips: 44
- Distraction of the moment: OMG! Did you know that Blondie is 60! "Call Me" is only number 78 on the list of the Top 100 Songs of the 80s according to Vh1. That's a bummer, it should be in the top 20 at least.
oh, wait, that's not part of the plan, is it? Oh, but it is.
When I say workout, what I really mean is that I dance around in my living room like an idiot for 20-30 minutes. Right now, it's very simple. I find a dance or techno music channel on the cable box and crank it up. Lucian loves to dance now so it makes working out in the living room pretty easy. He is usually content to hang out with me close by and dance to the music. He thinks it's a game.
I start out with 10 straight minutes of heart-pumping aerobics. Well, my version at least. I'm probably doing this all wrong but for the time being, it is what it is. My goal is to get my heart rate up and to warm up my muscles. Then I do some stretches and lower impact moves. Then I do slower moving stretches to calm down. Then I drink some more water. I try to do this every other day and for at least 20 minutes. The last two times I made it to a half hour.
Diet
I believe that 'diet' is just 'die' with a 't' on the end of it. I don't count calories. I'm still breastfeeding a couple of times each day, so I don't think I should cut down on food intake too much. I actually think part of my problem is that I don't eat enough to begin with. So, I just try to eat healthy foods as much as possible and keep junk food out of the house. I do allow myself to eat dark chocolate once a day.
Eating healthy is a challenge because my husband is such a good cook and he loves to spoil me. How can I resist?
Well, I'm really distracted right now and I can't think of anything else to add, but I think I'm going to try and blog about this each Sunday.
Till next time.
My bathroom scale is going to hate me and I'll try to resist the urge to burn it in the back yard.
January 14, 2008
Virtually Social
I'm finally starting to do some really FUN things with my computer and it's so exciting. To me anyhow. I'm finally making movie clips and blogging and sharing photos — more regularly. I'm amazed at all of the free services there are and how easy it is to get yourself out there so you can connect with friends and family. The frustrating part is trying to fit in the time to do more of it. Sometimes I would rather play on my computer than sleep. It's like an obsession. But, then again, I'm also obsessed with trying to come to terms with my lack of doing something fun for just me instead of my son, my husband, my family, my clients, my students. So, if I have to sacrifice some sleep in the name of fun, so be it! (I'll probably regret that come play time later this morning.)
I have a funny story I just have to share. This will also be a test to see if a certain friend ever reads this blog. Just to illustrate what a dork I am, this was one of the best emails I've gotten in a long while. It shows just how a simple message can mean so much when it seems like so little to everyone else. People really discount emailing and using the computer to communicate, but it's so much more to me. It really is an outlet to me. A window. A portal.
Yeah, yeah, so is actually going outside of the house and taking a walk. Or picking up the phone and calling someone. Or going to the mall or a bar and having a drink.
I'm working on getting to doing those things, I really am, but it's just not that easy with a toddler. It's a huge task just to go out back and play outside let alone packing up, picking up, getting dressed and getting out of the house. I can't even go to the bathroom by myself anymore! A little person follows me around everywhere and if he's not following me, it means he is getting into trouble somewhere else. I'm just not adjusted to this yet. But I am working on it. I might even actually meet a real live person soon and make a new friend! I might actually go on one of those play date things soon. We'll see how it goes.
So, emailing and reading blogs and making movies and taking pictures...that...for now...is my outlet when I make time to squeeze it in. It IS how I choose to socialize right now. No one else is awake when I'm up late for feedings and doing the stuff I can't do any other time of the day. It's a lonely life at times and this is what keeps me company and sane and from feeling like I can only talk about making cows go moo and dogs go woof and what color is this and what color is that and how many is this.
Anyhow, on with the anecdote:
Just recently, my college roommate emailed me and I have to admit, it was the highlight of my day. Her subject line read: "I need your opinion asap." I don't get many emails from said roommate, but we've been keeping in touch all these years (been BFF since the late 90s). We're both so busy with our lives, you know how it goes. She is super corporate woman and I'm super procrastinator mom with a blog, yippee. I rarely shave my legs any more. I haven't painted my toe nails in over a year, just for the record. (Well, actually, I haven't asked NATE to paint my toenails in over a year.)
So, she sends me this email and attached are two digital photos of her in two different dresses. She wants to know MY opinion on which one she should wear to a company party she's going to soon. Obviously, she remembers me at a time when I DID paint my toe nails and DID shave my legs. I promptly wrote her back and stated my reasons for why she should go with the black and white over the blue and black. I told her that her shoes were sexy, the black and white was much more figure flattering and that it made her boobs look great!
I also started working out again these past two days because the weight I've gained is driving me nuts. Not to mention, she looked really great in those dresses and my right arm wouldn't look half as good. My right arm alone would probably wiggle a lot more than her whole body in that dress too.
You know how musicians write sappy love songs? Well, this is my version of a sappy blog to my good friend.
Thank you for making me feel like we're closer than we are.
Seems like just yesterday we were painting our eyelashes together in the dorm room mirror and getting ready to go out to the bars.
Seems like just yesterday we stumbled back to our dorm together and fell asleep as the room was spinning. Was it going in the same direction for you? I wonder.
Seems like just yesterday when our vacuum cleaner broke and together we crawled on the floor picking up all of the fuzzies and dirt we could find to make the carpet clean. We didn't care if it was toe jam!
Seems like just yesterday when we struggled to adjust the rabbit ears on your old tv set so we could watch the X Files together.
And now today we live one either sides of the country with our husbands, our homes and our new found friends. You with your black lab and me with my busy toddler. Our lives prevent us from gabbing on the phone so much.
But you took the time to ask ME my opinion on what to wear while you were getting ready and that means a lot to me. Just like the good old days. It's been so long since I've given anyone fashion advice besides rolling up the pant legs on my child's sweatpants because they are a size too big yet.
Sometimes I think of you when I'm crawling around on my living room floor picking up cheerios and dried up playdoh.
So, thank you friend for reminding me that I'm also someone's friend who has opinions and ideas and who cares about how your boobs look in a dress. Mine look just as good in a nursing bra, but some day I'll dress them up and when I do, I'll take a picture and email it to you and ask you which outfit is the best.
I raise my sippee cup to you, to friends, to broadband, pixels, and the qwerty keyboard — may our cups always runneth over with wine (or apple juice) and cleavage for everyone to share!
Salut!
I have a funny story I just have to share. This will also be a test to see if a certain friend ever reads this blog. Just to illustrate what a dork I am, this was one of the best emails I've gotten in a long while. It shows just how a simple message can mean so much when it seems like so little to everyone else. People really discount emailing and using the computer to communicate, but it's so much more to me. It really is an outlet to me. A window. A portal.
Yeah, yeah, so is actually going outside of the house and taking a walk. Or picking up the phone and calling someone. Or going to the mall or a bar and having a drink.
I'm working on getting to doing those things, I really am, but it's just not that easy with a toddler. It's a huge task just to go out back and play outside let alone packing up, picking up, getting dressed and getting out of the house. I can't even go to the bathroom by myself anymore! A little person follows me around everywhere and if he's not following me, it means he is getting into trouble somewhere else. I'm just not adjusted to this yet. But I am working on it. I might even actually meet a real live person soon and make a new friend! I might actually go on one of those play date things soon. We'll see how it goes.
So, emailing and reading blogs and making movies and taking pictures...that...for now...is my outlet when I make time to squeeze it in. It IS how I choose to socialize right now. No one else is awake when I'm up late for feedings and doing the stuff I can't do any other time of the day. It's a lonely life at times and this is what keeps me company and sane and from feeling like I can only talk about making cows go moo and dogs go woof and what color is this and what color is that and how many is this.
Anyhow, on with the anecdote:
Just recently, my college roommate emailed me and I have to admit, it was the highlight of my day. Her subject line read: "I need your opinion asap." I don't get many emails from said roommate, but we've been keeping in touch all these years (been BFF since the late 90s). We're both so busy with our lives, you know how it goes. She is super corporate woman and I'm super procrastinator mom with a blog, yippee. I rarely shave my legs any more. I haven't painted my toe nails in over a year, just for the record. (Well, actually, I haven't asked NATE to paint my toenails in over a year.)
So, she sends me this email and attached are two digital photos of her in two different dresses. She wants to know MY opinion on which one she should wear to a company party she's going to soon. Obviously, she remembers me at a time when I DID paint my toe nails and DID shave my legs. I promptly wrote her back and stated my reasons for why she should go with the black and white over the blue and black. I told her that her shoes were sexy, the black and white was much more figure flattering and that it made her boobs look great!
I also started working out again these past two days because the weight I've gained is driving me nuts. Not to mention, she looked really great in those dresses and my right arm wouldn't look half as good. My right arm alone would probably wiggle a lot more than her whole body in that dress too.
You know how musicians write sappy love songs? Well, this is my version of a sappy blog to my good friend.
Thank you for making me feel like we're closer than we are.
Seems like just yesterday we were painting our eyelashes together in the dorm room mirror and getting ready to go out to the bars.
Seems like just yesterday we stumbled back to our dorm together and fell asleep as the room was spinning. Was it going in the same direction for you? I wonder.
Seems like just yesterday when our vacuum cleaner broke and together we crawled on the floor picking up all of the fuzzies and dirt we could find to make the carpet clean. We didn't care if it was toe jam!
Seems like just yesterday when we struggled to adjust the rabbit ears on your old tv set so we could watch the X Files together.
And now today we live one either sides of the country with our husbands, our homes and our new found friends. You with your black lab and me with my busy toddler. Our lives prevent us from gabbing on the phone so much.
But you took the time to ask ME my opinion on what to wear while you were getting ready and that means a lot to me. Just like the good old days. It's been so long since I've given anyone fashion advice besides rolling up the pant legs on my child's sweatpants because they are a size too big yet.
Sometimes I think of you when I'm crawling around on my living room floor picking up cheerios and dried up playdoh.
So, thank you friend for reminding me that I'm also someone's friend who has opinions and ideas and who cares about how your boobs look in a dress. Mine look just as good in a nursing bra, but some day I'll dress them up and when I do, I'll take a picture and email it to you and ask you which outfit is the best.
I raise my sippee cup to you, to friends, to broadband, pixels, and the qwerty keyboard — may our cups always runneth over with wine (or apple juice) and cleavage for everyone to share!
Salut!
January 12, 2008
Word.
Bet you thought I was going to blog about MS Office Word, huh?
Not on your life!
It's amazing to me how much impact certain words have especially when spoken by your offspring.
Specifically, this word is 'no.'
Let's take a moment to celebrate the meltdown, shall we?
BEFORE
That would be a picture of my son covered in spaghetti sauce. Just so you know, no clothing was harmed in the making if this photo. Yes, I've learned my lesson for the most part when it comes to messy food is to make sure he isn't wearing any clothing at the time of consumption and that the food time is stacked closer to bath time so we can hose him down.
I'm not sure what this meltdown was all about, but it looks so funny I had to share it along with the AFTER photo too.
Lucian has learned a new word, much to my disappointment. He has learned to say 'no' to just about everything now. I don't know why, but for some reason, I have adopted this snotty parent perspective that I would really be proud of myself if my kid wasn't one of those kids who just says no to everything. I try so hard to refrain from using the word no all the time. I say instead things like, "please don't" or "stop" or I just redirect him from the annoying thing he's doing. I really just don't want him to say no no no no no all the time because whenever I've seen other kids do that in public I just can't help but think to myself, that kid is a spoiled little brat and he's maladjusted because his mother keeps yelling no at him instead of feeding him some more positive energy.
Ok, and just who in the hell am I kidding here?
Lately, it's been a bit of a struggle as he is gaining more independence over me.
I know other seasoned parents are laughing at me and I know it only gets better when instead of dreading him saying no all the time, I'll be looking for places to hide when he starts cussing like a sailor. Lord knows I don't have the cleanest mouth, but I am a hell of a lot more aware of it now. Damn skippy!
Thanks to the First Amendment and blogger, I can relax sometimes from feeling like a friggin Sunday School teacher all the time. Not that there is anything wrong with Sunday School Teachers.
I'm really trying hard to not take it personally. When I ask him "Do you love me" he says "No." It hurts my feelings just a tiny bit, but I know he doesn't mean it. Just to make sure, I play the game of trying to trick him into saying "yes" to something.
So I ask him something I know he'll likely say yes to:
Me: "Lucian, do you want to go outside and play?"
Lucian: He shakes his head and says "Nooo."
Me: "Do you want me to hang you upside down by your toenails?"
Lucian: "Nooo."
Me: "Do you like to eat cheese?"
Lucian: "Nooo."
Me: "Do you love me?"
Lucian: "Nooo."
Me: "Do you love Daddy?"
Lucian: nods his head up and down and smiles
Me: "ok, just checking."
Not on your life!
It's amazing to me how much impact certain words have especially when spoken by your offspring.
Specifically, this word is 'no.'
Let's take a moment to celebrate the meltdown, shall we?
BEFORE
That would be a picture of my son covered in spaghetti sauce. Just so you know, no clothing was harmed in the making if this photo. Yes, I've learned my lesson for the most part when it comes to messy food is to make sure he isn't wearing any clothing at the time of consumption and that the food time is stacked closer to bath time so we can hose him down.
I'm not sure what this meltdown was all about, but it looks so funny I had to share it along with the AFTER photo too.
Lucian has learned a new word, much to my disappointment. He has learned to say 'no' to just about everything now. I don't know why, but for some reason, I have adopted this snotty parent perspective that I would really be proud of myself if my kid wasn't one of those kids who just says no to everything. I try so hard to refrain from using the word no all the time. I say instead things like, "please don't" or "stop" or I just redirect him from the annoying thing he's doing. I really just don't want him to say no no no no no all the time because whenever I've seen other kids do that in public I just can't help but think to myself, that kid is a spoiled little brat and he's maladjusted because his mother keeps yelling no at him instead of feeding him some more positive energy.
Ok, and just who in the hell am I kidding here?
Lately, it's been a bit of a struggle as he is gaining more independence over me.
I know other seasoned parents are laughing at me and I know it only gets better when instead of dreading him saying no all the time, I'll be looking for places to hide when he starts cussing like a sailor. Lord knows I don't have the cleanest mouth, but I am a hell of a lot more aware of it now. Damn skippy!
Thanks to the First Amendment and blogger, I can relax sometimes from feeling like a friggin Sunday School teacher all the time. Not that there is anything wrong with Sunday School Teachers.
I'm really trying hard to not take it personally. When I ask him "Do you love me" he says "No." It hurts my feelings just a tiny bit, but I know he doesn't mean it. Just to make sure, I play the game of trying to trick him into saying "yes" to something.
So I ask him something I know he'll likely say yes to:
Me: "Lucian, do you want to go outside and play?"
Lucian: He shakes his head and says "Nooo."
Me: "Do you want me to hang you upside down by your toenails?"
Lucian: "Nooo."
Me: "Do you like to eat cheese?"
Lucian: "Nooo."
Me: "Do you love me?"
Lucian: "Nooo."
Me: "Do you love Daddy?"
Lucian: nods his head up and down and smiles
Me: "ok, just checking."
January 9, 2008
flickr vs Picasa Review
Goodbye Egg Nog, hello 2008 Blog!
Well, I've just spent the past hour (or more although I've lost track of time) geeking out with two free photo sharing services: flickr™ and Picasa™ Web Albums. I've been using Picasa for some time now and I have to say that for me, it's the benchmark for all other online photo service products that I try. In addition to those two services, I've also tried: Yahoo!, Snapfish, WalMart, SamsClub, and Flock with Photobucket, just to name a few.
Yahoo! Google is cooler
First, I started out with Yahoo! Photos. I used to be an avid Yahoo! fan and used many of the bundled services like the home page, email, photo albums, social network (360), groups, calendar, address book, etc. I really loved the fact that Yahoo! provided a one-stop shop for just about all of my web needs. I liked that it was easy to use and the interface was consistent for the most part. One of my most favorite features is the ability to customize just about everything within your user account from colors and layout to content and services.
Then, sometime last year, Yahoo! announced they were closing down their free online photos hosting service. Tsk, tsk, Yahoo! Bad Yahoo! That was a bad move on their part IMO. I am a very loyal Capricorn and when I find something I really like, I am as loyal as they come. I used to sing the praises of Yahoo! and I've sold several friends and family members on why they should have a Yahoo! account. When they closed down the photos section, that left a bad taste in my mouth and it sent me packing and on a quest to find a better deal somewhere else, especially for my photo sharing needs. I've since moved on up to Google with a dee-luxe apartment in the sky where the beans don't burn in the kitchen. (More about that later.)
One nice thing Yahoo! did was allow you to choose where you would like to port your existing photos to. Nice of them to not leave you high and dry. At the time, I chose Snapfish. I thought fish food seemed cute. A couple of my other friends used it and they seemed to like it. I thought it was cool that you could share your library with other Snapfish users much like Yahoo! did. So, I scooted over my pics to them and kept them there for a while.
Snapfish Bites
Here is what I don't like about Snapish. They bombard you with marketing offers to purchase prints from them. They even send little packets and stuff out to your house in case you want to put a roll of film in a baggie and send it out to them for processing.
Ok, I have some keyword tags for ya: Toddler and Working Mom. Even though I work from home, I just don't want to and don't have the attention span needed to mess with that stuff. I use a digital camera for a reason: I'm a first-time parent who is blindsided by the fact that this being I grew inside of my body at one time is now a growing and changing little person of his own and it's happening faster than I can keep up with and the only way I can cope with this is to freeze moments in time so I can visually savor them and look back at them in my iPhoto Library and think remember when — 3 months ago, sniff, sniff.
I am very much addicted to taking snapshots of my kid and then forcing other people to look at him. I live so far away from my family and friends back in PA that this is one of the few ways I can feel close to them. I need to be able to take boatloads of pics of him in all his cute outfits (when I actually do put clothing on him) and film and SLRs just don't address my needs for that. Now, I am not opposed to using traditional film and when I want something really special, I'll dust off my old Minolta and lenses and do it right, but truth be told, the digital is just more handy right now.
Anyway, back to the Snapfish gripe. Here's the rub: if you don't purchase anything from them in a certain amount of time, they delete your photos. Crap! That's lame, but I guess they have to pay their bills somehow. Buh bye Snapfish, thanks for the ride. I suppose my sign in account will still be valid for when I want to view other friends' photos. I hope?
Oh, that's the other thing I don't like about Yahoo! or Snapfish...I hate it when they make you create a login or account that you have to sign in to view the photos. This is annoying. This is NNF!!! "Not Nana Friendly." If my Nana can't do it easily enough without a lot of fuss, then it is not TheMacMommy Approved!
I'm all for having the need for privacy and I can see why people would feel weird about sharing photos of their kids for all of the world to see with all the pervs and weirdos out there. So, any public photo service should allow you to lock down your albums if you like. Picasa does allow you to mark your albums as private and you can choose who can view the albums. There is still that extra step of issuing some special instructions to participate in that, but I think it's worth the tiny bit of extra effort to protect your privacy. I usually don't have this need, but I like the fact that it is available.
I liked Photobucket for a little while, but then something I had set up expired and I forget the other reasons why I didn't go back to them. I got turned off and that's all that matters. I'm ruthless! I'm brutal, I tell ya!
Big Box for Bucks
Ok, so then I tried some other online photo hosting services that big box stores like Wal-Mart and Sams Club offer. Or course, you have to be a member of Sam's Club in order to use their services, but that is true of many bulk stores out there. WalMart just plain sucks because they have absolutely no drag and drop interface. Even if I didn't keep my photos organized in iPhoto, I'll be damned if I'm going to hunt around navigating through folder levels on my hard drive to try and locate all the photos I want to upload. Screw that noise! Give me the GUI baby! I want to be able to drag my pics from my iPhoto browser and plunk em into something and see the progress. I multi-task in just about everything I do and I want something that will allow me to do 3 other things with my computer while that task is cookin.
Now, I will say that Sam's Photo Club (if you are so inclined to be a member) online photo service is something I DO use when it comes to getting actual prints made. I will also say that I have a beef with this service as well, however, I will grumble and do the work around only because the instant gratification I get from being able to pick up my prints the same day outweighs the couple of extra clicks I have to make to beat it into submission. Plus, the photos are a little cheaper than Wal-Mart's prints and Sam's Club does have the best gas prices right now in my area. Plus, it's also where we buy diapers and other bulk items, sooo, if we're going to plan a trip to the ultra big box store, I try to also plan to be able to pick up my prints in an hour. ANOTHER nice feature about Sam's Club online photos is that I am able to do one of 2 things when it comes to sharing prints with family: (1) I can save money on postage by having the prints made all the waaaay over in PA and then a family member can pick them up. (They can also pay for them if they want to!) (B) I can also create gifts or pick out different sized photos and ship them directly to family members. This comes in really handy for getting photos out to my Grandmom and Nana who prefer something they can hold in their hands, not look at on a computer screen.
The Sams Club online photo service will also allow you to make edits online like red eye reductions and cropping and rotation. It will also allow you to do a little bit of social networking in that you can share the albums with other friends and family members via email, but they probably have to log in to something or have an account to be able to see them. I have yet to test this out really thoroughly because I don't have much of a need for it with this service.
Also, they DO have a drag and drop interface that IS compatible with iPhoto, however, only if you use Safari, NOT Firefox AND it isn't working right now like it did a couple of months ago when I used it. Boo hoo. Right now I don't have a choice but to actually export my selected photos from iPhoto into a folder (to be deleted later) and then use the bait and tackle method of navigating to the folder and selecting each photo one by one and then clicking each upload button. I'll do it, but not happily and only because I'm too impatient to wait for prints to come in the mail, otherwise I would probably try to order them off of flickr or Picasa. One of these days I might try it.
Wal-Mart/Sam's Club web management seems to be notorious for being unfriendly when it comes to providing web content that the rest of us can use. They cater to the IE crowd and not much else. There are certain sites within Wal-Mart's web-based system that can ONLY be accessed if you're using IE. Firefox will not work. (My FIL works for WallyWorld and he can't access his benefits site unless he's in IE.) So, it comes as no surprise that you can NOT use the Java drag and drop feature on the Sam's Club photo upload page if you're logged in using Firefox – which happens to be my browser of choice, not Safari. This is one of those really weird cases where something actually works (or did work at one time) only in Safari and not Firefox. Usually, it's the other way around. Anyhow, when the Java drag and drop feature IS working, the work around is that I have to launch Safari, click on my Sams Club bookmark located conveniently in my bookmark bar, sign in, launch iPhoto and then I can drag and drop my photos and upload them batch style.
Ok, so now back to reviewing flickr against Picasa. I'm not so sure why I went on this anti-WalMart tirade, but hey, they need to get their act together!
Popularity vs. Practicality
So between flickr and Picasa, It's a close match and I like them both, but I learn more towards Picasa though and it's still my favorite. If they took the blogging capabilities of flickr and added them to Picasa, you'd have a hands-down winner in my opinion.
When it comes to special features in photo sharing services, flickr comes out ahead for blogging capabilities because you can upload your photos while posting a blog at the same time. So far, I have composed this entire blog post inside of the text box that is provided with the flickr photo upload, but I have to say, it's probably not the best method for if you write war and peace novels like I do. Too many times during writing this I kept wishing I was inside of the blogger text publisher because I would have liked to have created several hyperlinks by now to reference some of the services I've been ranting about.
[I had to come back days later (when I got the motivation) to edit this post in blogger so that I could format the text and add hyperlinks where I wanted to.]
Overall, this is probably the most useful thing I can see about flickr. It's a cute and handy tool for if you just want to select a photo from your photo stream, write a little blurb that relates to the photo, maybe make some photo edits, maybe put a cool border on it using the 3rd party flickr toys and then plunk it into your blog. I also like that you can include a cool little photo widget on your blogger blog, but then again, Picasa allows you to embed a slideshow that streams from your web albums and I think they are both pretty cool features.
When it comes to flickr, I personally can't really see anything extra or great, aside from the built in blogging features, that I can't do with Picasa in some form or fashion. In fact, when it comes to speed, flickr doesn't cut it for me. I uploaded the same set of photos using flickr and the iPhoto Picasa plugin and even while I gave flickr a head start, Picasa STILL finished first. Also, I like the little diddy that Picasa plays when it's finished uploading the photos. It makes a cool little sound that some day I'll hack and make it play some Van Halen guitar riff instead. Just that fact that I could even do that if I wanted to is cool enough to rock my geeky world.
Another downside to flickr is that there is no free iPhoto plugin so you have to go and open an additional app and have another window open and positioned just right on your screen so that you can drag the photos from iPhoto into the flickr photo bay. AND, flickr does not retain the comments from iPhoto like Picasa does. The only real upside to flickr is that, for now, it seems to be the more popular kid in the class. If flickr makes a free plug that work with iPhoto '08, I would maybe have a harder time deciding between the two.
The fact that you can add other Picasa web albums using iGoogle's gadgets is just very appealing to me because I use Google's iGoogle as my home page when my browser launches. Just recently, I was able to get several family members to join the iGoogle/gmail machine and now I have one whole tab/page that is devoted to everyone's photos including my own. I use several different gadgets depending on how I like to view photos. I like to view album listings as well as slide shows.
Both flickr and Google make you join a certain camp in order to be able to socially network within one another. Google still has an advantage over flickr for me because you can also add a flickr gadget onto one of your iGoogle pages and you'll also see photo streams there from friends and family who choose to use flickr. So, even though flickr may be more popular than Picasa, it's not like you have to leave the confines of your iGoogle account to be able to photostream images from flickr and social network that way. (sticking my tongue out and saying nanny nanny boo boo)
So, Picasa still wins from this vantage point. So far nothing else out there has impressed me as much as being able to use all of the built in free features of the marketing giant such is Google. I suppose it means selling your soul when it comes to giving out precious pearls of personal marketing data, but they're going to get it some how anyway. That's how I look at it. Big Brother is always watching and I'm sure its Red-Headed Stepchild isn't too much farther behind (whatever it is) when it comes to all of this social internet schtuff. We choose to expose ourselves if we want to be able to share, so what's a little more internet codependency here and there? So what if they target market me in the end. I'd rather have diaper and teething gel ads thrown in my face instead of ads for "male enhancement" drugs for which I don't even possess the proper equipment for the product anyhow.
Well, I hope this in-depth review of online photo services is helpful to someone. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! Whew! So much for my first post of the new year being about resolutions and stuff, although I am working on another post that's been in draft form for some time now.
Well, I've just spent the past hour (or more although I've lost track of time) geeking out with two free photo sharing services: flickr™ and Picasa™ Web Albums. I've been using Picasa for some time now and I have to say that for me, it's the benchmark for all other online photo service products that I try. In addition to those two services, I've also tried: Yahoo!, Snapfish, WalMart, SamsClub, and Flock with Photobucket, just to name a few.
Yahoo! Google is cooler
First, I started out with Yahoo! Photos. I used to be an avid Yahoo! fan and used many of the bundled services like the home page, email, photo albums, social network (360), groups, calendar, address book, etc. I really loved the fact that Yahoo! provided a one-stop shop for just about all of my web needs. I liked that it was easy to use and the interface was consistent for the most part. One of my most favorite features is the ability to customize just about everything within your user account from colors and layout to content and services.
Then, sometime last year, Yahoo! announced they were closing down their free online photos hosting service. Tsk, tsk, Yahoo! Bad Yahoo! That was a bad move on their part IMO. I am a very loyal Capricorn and when I find something I really like, I am as loyal as they come. I used to sing the praises of Yahoo! and I've sold several friends and family members on why they should have a Yahoo! account. When they closed down the photos section, that left a bad taste in my mouth and it sent me packing and on a quest to find a better deal somewhere else, especially for my photo sharing needs. I've since moved on up to Google with a dee-luxe apartment in the sky where the beans don't burn in the kitchen. (More about that later.)
One nice thing Yahoo! did was allow you to choose where you would like to port your existing photos to. Nice of them to not leave you high and dry. At the time, I chose Snapfish. I thought fish food seemed cute. A couple of my other friends used it and they seemed to like it. I thought it was cool that you could share your library with other Snapfish users much like Yahoo! did. So, I scooted over my pics to them and kept them there for a while.
Snapfish Bites
Here is what I don't like about Snapish. They bombard you with marketing offers to purchase prints from them. They even send little packets and stuff out to your house in case you want to put a roll of film in a baggie and send it out to them for processing.
Ok, I have some keyword tags for ya: Toddler and Working Mom. Even though I work from home, I just don't want to and don't have the attention span needed to mess with that stuff. I use a digital camera for a reason: I'm a first-time parent who is blindsided by the fact that this being I grew inside of my body at one time is now a growing and changing little person of his own and it's happening faster than I can keep up with and the only way I can cope with this is to freeze moments in time so I can visually savor them and look back at them in my iPhoto Library and think remember when — 3 months ago, sniff, sniff.
I am very much addicted to taking snapshots of my kid and then forcing other people to look at him. I live so far away from my family and friends back in PA that this is one of the few ways I can feel close to them. I need to be able to take boatloads of pics of him in all his cute outfits (when I actually do put clothing on him) and film and SLRs just don't address my needs for that. Now, I am not opposed to using traditional film and when I want something really special, I'll dust off my old Minolta and lenses and do it right, but truth be told, the digital is just more handy right now.
Anyway, back to the Snapfish gripe. Here's the rub: if you don't purchase anything from them in a certain amount of time, they delete your photos. Crap! That's lame, but I guess they have to pay their bills somehow. Buh bye Snapfish, thanks for the ride. I suppose my sign in account will still be valid for when I want to view other friends' photos. I hope?
Oh, that's the other thing I don't like about Yahoo! or Snapfish...I hate it when they make you create a login or account that you have to sign in to view the photos. This is annoying. This is NNF!!! "Not Nana Friendly." If my Nana can't do it easily enough without a lot of fuss, then it is not TheMacMommy Approved!
I'm all for having the need for privacy and I can see why people would feel weird about sharing photos of their kids for all of the world to see with all the pervs and weirdos out there. So, any public photo service should allow you to lock down your albums if you like. Picasa does allow you to mark your albums as private and you can choose who can view the albums. There is still that extra step of issuing some special instructions to participate in that, but I think it's worth the tiny bit of extra effort to protect your privacy. I usually don't have this need, but I like the fact that it is available.
I liked Photobucket for a little while, but then something I had set up expired and I forget the other reasons why I didn't go back to them. I got turned off and that's all that matters. I'm ruthless! I'm brutal, I tell ya!
Big Box for Bucks
Ok, so then I tried some other online photo hosting services that big box stores like Wal-Mart and Sams Club offer. Or course, you have to be a member of Sam's Club in order to use their services, but that is true of many bulk stores out there. WalMart just plain sucks because they have absolutely no drag and drop interface. Even if I didn't keep my photos organized in iPhoto, I'll be damned if I'm going to hunt around navigating through folder levels on my hard drive to try and locate all the photos I want to upload. Screw that noise! Give me the GUI baby! I want to be able to drag my pics from my iPhoto browser and plunk em into something and see the progress. I multi-task in just about everything I do and I want something that will allow me to do 3 other things with my computer while that task is cookin.
Now, I will say that Sam's Photo Club (if you are so inclined to be a member) online photo service is something I DO use when it comes to getting actual prints made. I will also say that I have a beef with this service as well, however, I will grumble and do the work around only because the instant gratification I get from being able to pick up my prints the same day outweighs the couple of extra clicks I have to make to beat it into submission. Plus, the photos are a little cheaper than Wal-Mart's prints and Sam's Club does have the best gas prices right now in my area. Plus, it's also where we buy diapers and other bulk items, sooo, if we're going to plan a trip to the ultra big box store, I try to also plan to be able to pick up my prints in an hour. ANOTHER nice feature about Sam's Club online photos is that I am able to do one of 2 things when it comes to sharing prints with family: (1) I can save money on postage by having the prints made all the waaaay over in PA and then a family member can pick them up. (They can also pay for them if they want to!) (B) I can also create gifts or pick out different sized photos and ship them directly to family members. This comes in really handy for getting photos out to my Grandmom and Nana who prefer something they can hold in their hands, not look at on a computer screen.
The Sams Club online photo service will also allow you to make edits online like red eye reductions and cropping and rotation. It will also allow you to do a little bit of social networking in that you can share the albums with other friends and family members via email, but they probably have to log in to something or have an account to be able to see them. I have yet to test this out really thoroughly because I don't have much of a need for it with this service.
Also, they DO have a drag and drop interface that IS compatible with iPhoto, however, only if you use Safari, NOT Firefox AND it isn't working right now like it did a couple of months ago when I used it. Boo hoo. Right now I don't have a choice but to actually export my selected photos from iPhoto into a folder (to be deleted later) and then use the bait and tackle method of navigating to the folder and selecting each photo one by one and then clicking each upload button. I'll do it, but not happily and only because I'm too impatient to wait for prints to come in the mail, otherwise I would probably try to order them off of flickr or Picasa. One of these days I might try it.
Wal-Mart/Sam's Club web management seems to be notorious for being unfriendly when it comes to providing web content that the rest of us can use.
Ok, so now back to reviewing flickr against Picasa. I'm not so sure why I went on this anti-WalMart tirade, but hey, they need to get their act together!
So between flickr and Picasa, It's a close match and I like them both, but I learn more towards Picasa though and it's still my favorite. If they took the blogging capabilities of flickr and added them to Picasa, you'd have a hands-down winner in my opinion.
When it comes to special features in photo sharing services, flickr comes out ahead for blogging capabilities because you can upload your photos while posting a blog at the same time. So far, I have composed this entire blog post inside of the text box that is provided with the flickr photo upload, but I have to say, it's probably not the best method for if you write war and peace novels like I do. Too many times during writing this I kept wishing I was inside of the blogger text publisher because I would have liked to have created several hyperlinks by now to reference some of the services I've been ranting about.
[I had to come back days later (when I got the motivation) to edit this post in blogger so that I could format the text and add hyperlinks where I wanted to.]
Overall, this is probably the most useful thing I can see about flickr. It's a cute and handy tool for if you just want to select a photo from your photo stream, write a little blurb that relates to the photo, maybe make some photo edits, maybe put a cool border on it using the 3rd party flickr toys and then plunk it into your blog. I also like that you can include a cool little photo widget on your blogger blog, but then again, Picasa allows you to embed a slideshow that streams from your web albums and I think they are both pretty cool features.
When it comes to flickr, I personally can't really see anything extra or great, aside from the built in blogging features, that I can't do with Picasa in some form or fashion. In fact, when it comes to speed, flickr doesn't cut it for me. I uploaded the same set of photos using flickr and the iPhoto Picasa plugin and even while I gave flickr a head start, Picasa STILL finished first. Also, I like the little diddy that Picasa plays when it's finished uploading the photos. It makes a cool little sound that some day I'll hack and make it play some Van Halen guitar riff instead. Just that fact that I could even do that if I wanted to is cool enough to rock my geeky world.
Another downside to flickr is that there is no free iPhoto plugin so you have to go and open an additional app and have another window open and positioned just right on your screen so that you can drag the photos from iPhoto into the flickr photo bay. AND, flickr does not retain the comments from iPhoto like Picasa does. The only real upside to flickr is that, for now, it seems to be the more popular kid in the class. If flickr makes a free plug that work with iPhoto '08, I would maybe have a harder time deciding between the two.
The fact that you can add other Picasa web albums using iGoogle's gadgets is just very appealing to me because I use Google's iGoogle as my home page when my browser launches. Just recently, I was able to get several family members to join the iGoogle/gmail machine and now I have one whole tab/page that is devoted to everyone's photos including my own. I use several different gadgets depending on how I like to view photos. I like to view album listings as well as slide shows.
Both flickr and Google make you join a certain camp in order to be able to socially network within one another. Google still has an advantage over flickr for me because you can also add a flickr gadget onto one of your iGoogle pages and you'll also see photo streams there from friends and family who choose to use flickr. So, even though flickr may be more popular than Picasa, it's not like you have to leave the confines of your iGoogle account to be able to photostream images from flickr and social network that way. (sticking my tongue out and saying nanny nanny boo boo)
So, Picasa still wins from this vantage point. So far nothing else out there has impressed me as much as being able to use all of the built in free features of the marketing giant such is Google. I suppose it means selling your soul when it comes to giving out precious pearls of personal marketing data, but they're going to get it some how anyway. That's how I look at it. Big Brother is always watching and I'm sure its Red-Headed Stepchild isn't too much farther behind (whatever it is) when it comes to all of this social internet schtuff. We choose to expose ourselves if we want to be able to share, so what's a little more internet codependency here and there? So what if they target market me in the end. I'd rather have diaper and teething gel ads thrown in my face instead of ads for "male enhancement" drugs for which I don't even possess the proper equipment for the product anyhow.
Well, I hope this in-depth review of online photo services is helpful to someone. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! Whew! So much for my first post of the new year being about resolutions and stuff, although I am working on another post that's been in draft form for some time now.
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