Wednesday, January 27, 2010

FLIP HD Review- 3 1/2 Stars

I reached out to FLIP few weeks back, to see if there was any interest in advertising on www.DaddysRus.com. The important thing to understand is the last thing I want on my blog is advertising. However, FLIP is a product I simply can not live without and is the only advertiser I would consider having on my website. I recently received the FLIP MINO HD in the mail, an upgrade from my old flip cam. The HD quality, HD sound and how it feels in my hand is enough to make my Blackberry jealous. I love it when a product says what it does.

Having my first flip for more than a year, it never gave me one problem, even after living and banging around in my pocket for most of that time. It never even crashed and the quality on the original FLIP MINO was still better than anything my SONY handy cam produced. FLIP was a 1/4 of the price.

The MINO HD is a WOW product. Love the no nonsense one button technology. Easy one click upload to both Youtube and Facebook is very cool and makes videos easy to share. Plus, no accessories are needed so the baby can still eat! Battery life, when managed, can be as much as 3 weeks without a charge.

It's compatible. I have a MAC air, 3x HP laptops and Dell Desktop and I have plugged the MINO HD into all my computers and have had no problem recognizing the FLIP and playing videos.

I gave it 3 1/2 stars because I like to see the Flip Mino HD made even smaller. It be great to have a cool leather lanyard to pimp around my DaddyYO neck. Are those even available?? Other issues with the camera is the zoom. It's not that good and wont capture anything I cant already see with the naked eye. Also, every time I take out the FLIP cam to shoot video, LittleYO wants to hold it in his hand. It would be a great additional feature to add a LOCK button on the side, to help keep kids from recording 3 second videos of their feet. It's pretty difficult for a kid to delete anything form the cam, but it still can happen. My videos are gold to me.

Live by the FLIP, Share your Flip. For me, there is nothing better than capturing video in HD and those simple moments like your LittleYO sitting outside, playing with his golf club and just singing that we will forever look back on in FLIP HD.

Thank You FLIP!




(Really not happy with how the video was converted on Youtube. It definitely does not do HD quality justice.) I will look into this further.

"Freakonomics"

It can get get hectic! To be true to my thoughts and posts being a DaddyYO is tough, overwhelming and down right confusing at times. It's not all smiles and cute videos. Recently, we went to the store and LittleYO freaked out. These public FREAK OUTS is what I feared most about being a parent. Honestly, when this happens I'm a fish out of water. I don't have a clue what to do, how to handle him or myself. It's a place that reminds me of my college days at 4:20am in the morning where I cant find my way out of the bathroom. I'm lost.

The following week at a different store, the same thing, another freak out! Seriously? What is going on!? I try and talk him down off the ledge in the middle of the store. He screaming and like the incredible hulk he's trying to stretch free out-of-his-stroller. I'm waiting for his seat belt to snap and his skin to turn green! The eye daggers of parents walking by us, stab me in the back and is not helping my mental or current situation.

I'm not lying, I was profusely sweating and like the current situation, the room was starting to spin out of control. I stood up from my "crouching baby hidden tiger" pose to catch my breath. "I think I'm going to pass out"....It was time to leave.

LittleYO now securely in his carseat has already forgotten about what happen inside the store. Looking back at him in the backseat, he's smiling and having a good ol time. I'm left still feeling angry, disappointed, confused and some other emotions I have yet to classify. Driving home in complete silence....

At what point in our lives do we start to hold onto emotions that carry over into our days and our future experiences? It's because of this "carry over" of emotions from previous experiences that the mind has a way of deteriorating moments for what they actually are, positive or negative. As an adult, this effects everything!

When was last time I experienced a situation without the interference of memories of past experiences? Depending on how the current situation aligns with my expectations, that are based on previous experiences, will then interpret the outcome of the current situation; "good" or "bad". I think I may be living in the past....

Damn, I wasn't planning on getting this deep....I'm going with it...

The point to all of this is based on my last two experiences in store "freak outs" with LittleYO I mentioned to MommyYO that "I'm not going to the store ever again with LittleYO". I was wrong. Being a DaddyYO and living through these situations for the first time is closest I will ever get to experiencing what youth was like as an adult. Like LittleYO, we are experiencing something for the very first time, together. That's what's important. It was during this trip to the store I learned more from LittleYO than he did from me.

"For there is nothing either good or bad, thinking makes it so."
- William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet, II.ii

Monday, January 4, 2010

Finding their Passion for Life. Support your LittleYo's urge to drum solo to Rush Chronicles!

It’s been a while since my last post. I have found myself experiencing this holiday season from a much different perspective, a DaddyYO perspective. LittleYo, now 14 months things are starting to happen, QUICK! I found myself multiple times saying out loud “Did he just say that?” “Did he just do that?” “Wait, what just happen?"


This holiday season was truly a miracle as I got to watch LittleYo grow like a leaf that once sat on my college dorm window sill. I turn my head for a second and he went from walking to running to climbing stairs and on my final days off he gave my kisses when I asked him. I really don’t know what else I could say….but for all you DaddyYO’s out there, I know you understand what I’m talking about…


The past 16 days included traveling by plane and car, a family door to door holiday tour, a stomach bug, lots of presents, laughter and love. I even had some time to relax. It was during these busy days I started to realize, during our visits with the familyYO’s, that LittleYo took to certain niece and nephew toys more than others. It made me think about my responsibility as a parent to help LittleYo explore the world and all the toys inside that makes life worth living. I'm going to help him find his passion...


For example, during our visit at Aunt & UncleYO’s house and our nephew EadinYO, now three years old, got a drum set from GrandmaYO for Xmas. The drum set was kept upstairs away from the main room downstairs. With all the gifts now open downstairs, I weaved and chased LittleYo around to be sure not another ribbon or bow was consumed. Holding him in my arms, his heads drifted up and eye contact was made with the ol mighty drum set sitting shiny upstairs. Pushing off my face with his hands, his feet off my chest, I placed him down on the ground. He ran over to the stairs and climbed them like a tiger jumping on rocks to get to the top of the mountain. The stairs twisted and turned. LittleYo was on a “mission”. I knew one thing and that was I was not about to disrupt this possible magic moment.


Following close behind, he never looked back at me. He climbed. One step, another step all the way to the top and at the final step he stood up. In front of him was the ol mighty drum set. He stood there for about a min staring at the snare and the cymbal, not moving, just staring. Wanting to say something to LittleYo, I forced my urge to talk and just watched to see what was going to happen next.


As fast as a tiger spots prey, he spotted the two drum sticks lying on the ground. He instinctively picked them up, sat down on the swivel stool and jammed out a beat that I recognized as RUSH Chronicles. That’s what I heard any way….


Could drums be a possible passion, maybe. I'm sure there will be a lot more interests that come his way. I think as long as we DaddyYO's can recognize these magical moments before we can say "NO!" all will be right in the world.


I now present LittleYO's very first Drum Solo to RUSH Chronicles:


Happy New Year DaddyYO's!