DaddyTips.com

New Essential James Taylor CD – Great Thanksgivukkah Gift

This new James Taylor double CD set is a great Chanukah / Thanksgivukkah gift. Or a gift for one of those other holidays. Christmas, I think they call it? It doesn’t get much attention from the media but I think it’s still sort of a big deal to a few people. You know. Like hockey.

Full disclosure: DaddyTips received a review copy of the new double CD, The Essential James Taylor. That said, receiving the press release announcing the new collection caused us to go on a bit of a JT shopping spree. Seriously. We took a picture. Look.

What can we say? We like James Taylor.

As for the item in question, it happens to be a great collection of JT’s music.

Even if you already own copies of “Never Die Young”, et al, you could do worse than to pop in this well-selected collection of great songs. As for gift giving, get “The Essential James Taylor” is a perfect fit for anyone on your list. (We’re assuming your list consists of people who like great music.)

Some reviewers on Amazon take issue with the “Essential” title, saying that they would have preferred one song over another. This is one of those dopey arguments that occurs with any collection from any musical artist. I happen to have a soft spot for “New Moon Shine“. Was I bothered by the fact that “Essential” doesn’t include the song The Frozen Man?
Lord have mercy, of course not. (See what I did there? If not,  Frozen happens to be a tune that I particularly love; I have fond memories of seeing JT do it live when he was on tour after “New Moon Shine” came out.

But once you start down that road, the one marked “Why Didn’t They Put (Fill In Song Title Here) On This 2 CD Set?”, you’ve kind of gone off the rails.

Bottom line: After listening to both discs, all I can say is that there isn’t a single bad track. How often can you say that about any collection of music?

Buy The Essential James Taylor at Amazon.com

Mimobot USB Flash Drives On Sale (DaddyDeals)

DaddyDeal for you — big sale on MIMOBOT® flash drives, including Batman (DKR, as in Dark Knight Returns, or maybe Dark Knight Rises — if it matters to you, look before you buy, which you should be doing anyway).

Look at that cute scowl. And his enormous cranium. Doesn’t it scream “buy me”?

Holiday gift giving season is coming up fast. Chanukah is on Thanksgiving. Seriously. If Chanukah is your holiday, you don’t have as much time to shop as you did last year; you might want to start shopping now.

Flash drives actually make good gifts for kids. Why? Lots of reasons.

– Older kids can use them for school.

– Younger kids can use them to move files from a computer to the flash drive and back.

– Younger siblings can stop being jealous of their older sibling’s flash drive.

All good reasons. And these particular flash drives are cute as well as useful.

Batman is listed as “almost gone”, which isn’t a big surprise considering the price is under 20 bucks as of this writing. (Pricing depends on memory size. And which character you buy. And other stuff. We just provide the link; details are at Mimobot.com.) If you don’t want Batman, Mimobot’s site has lots of other options, including Babo, Big Toe, Brickle, Emily the Strange (which we think looks a lot like Batwoman), Galacula, Galaxor2, Ice-Bat, and even Kilowog! Kilowog is “almost gone” as well. Why? Because Kilowog is AWESOME. (For those who don’t know, Kilowog is also a DC character, part of the Green Lantern Corps.)

Sale ends 10/31/13, aka Halloween. Scary! (Not actually that scary.) Hit the link below to get your favorite Mimobot on sale before it goes bye bye.

On Sale! – Save Big on Mimobot USB Flash Drives | Mimoco.

Playstation Halloween Sale (DaddyDeals)

Lots of horror video games, and also games that kindasorta are related to Halloween (Plants Vs. Zombies, for example) are being sold at “frighteningly good discounts” during the upcoming Playstation Halloween Sale. (That’s what they said at IGN, and who are we to question?) Some prices are cheaper for Playstation Plus Members. Some games might even be free for Plus members. It’s a big list. IGN has it. Go on. Check it out. Don’t be afraid.

Hotline Miami Free During PlayStation’s Halloween Sale – IGN.

Kindle Fire HD Limited Time Deal (Again)

DaddyDeal for you — Amazon is selling the Kindle Fire HD for $159, $40 less than the regular price of $199. Again. But that’s a good thing!

You might remember this DaddyDeal from such deals as Kindle Fire HD Limited Time Deal. To continue our Simpsons references, there’s this gem from the episode “Radio Bart”:

Announcer: … But order now. Supply is limited.
Homer: Gasp! Limited!?!? [frantically dials the phone]
Do you have any of those microphones left?
Clerk: [standing in a warehouse filled to the roof with boxes of microphones] Yeah, a couple…

(Above via SNPP.com; see also DeadHomerSociety.com, which is the best name for a website ever so far this week.)

Now that this Kindle Fire HD Limited Deal has returned, we would forgive you for thinking, “Limited? Oh please. I can get this price anytime I want.” We can honestly say that this is not the case. We don’t recall the exact moment that the price on the device (hey, that rhymes!) went back to $199 from $159, but it did happen. And now it’s back down again.

Bottom line: if you want an Amazon Kindle Fire, you may as well get it now while Amazon is offering it to you for a cheaper price.

Check out our original DaddyDeal page for more info on the Kindle Fire HD.

Handy links to buy these things (aren’t we nice?):

Kindle Fire HD 7?, Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies 

Kindle Fire HD Limited Time Deal

Quick DaddyDeal for you — Amazon is selling the Kindle Fire HD for $159, $40 less than the regular price of $199. (We did the math for you. We’re nice that way.)

For the uninitiated, the Amazon Kindle Fire is a 7-inch color tablet. It runs Android. It is not an iPad. It is, however, less expensive, even when it is selling for its regular price of $199 rather than this $159 deal.

Usually $159 gets you the regular Kindle Fire, which has a lower-resolution screen (1024 x 600). The Kindle Fire HD has a higher-resolution screen (1280×800) — hence the HD in the name. More pixels means better image quality, nicer-looking videos and easier to read text. The Fire HD also has better audio, better wi-fi, and more internal storage than the regular Fire, sayeth Amazon. All of these are good things. Getting them for $40 less than you usually would is even better.

Gearheads / Android fans might find this little tidbit intriguing:

“System Requirements: None.” When was the last time you saw those three words together?

If you are a member of Amazon Prime (try it free for 30 days, no obligation) you get access to Amazon’s video library (think Netflix) as well as the ability to borrow books for free, which is cool.

Nothing against the iPad. We have one… OK, two, one is for the kids… and we love it. That said, $159 is a damn good deal.

No idea how long the deal will last, caveat shopper, disclaimers, your mileage may vary, the price may change… you know the drill. We saw this deal and wanted to share it with you. Because we’re super nice.

Now, a confession. Every time we hear the words Kindle Fire, we think of the Jimi Hendrix song “Fire.” (“Let me have your Kindle Fire…” etc.) This is known as “Weird Al Syndrome” — virtually any sequence of words can become a song parody. In this case, the Syndrome results in you getting to see this video of Jimi Hendrix performing “Fire” at the Fillmore East in 1969. Which is a very, very good thing.

Now go get a Kindle Fire HD on sale before the deal disappears!

Kindle Fire HD 7″, Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies

Tip: Deal With The Farm Share Right Away (Chef Dad)

The farm share. I’ve mentioned it before, and every year I say I’ll be better about dealing with the vegetables right away. Because if I don’t, they go bad.

And I do. Do better, that is. But I need to do better better.

Admittedly, it’s kind of a pain. I know. Call the wahhhbulance.

Which is why I’m saying I need to do better than I am, even though I’m doing better than I was before. You don’t want rotting vegetables. It’s wasteful. Besides, I need to eat my vegetables.

In case you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, here’s the deal: a box of vegetables shows up at my door once a week. Also fruit. You never know what you’re going to get. (Sorry, Forrest, it’s not chocolate.) So far this season I only had to look up one item, kohlrabi. That said, it can be daunting to look at a big box of farm-fresh stuff that needs to be washed, cooked, and stored.

All together now — wahhhh.

Here’s another wahhhhbulance clip. (The Internet seems to spell it “wambulance”, but I prefer the extra h’s.)

I do better with the winter farm shares, which tend to be mostly root vegetables. Carrots? Easy. Even the kids will eat those. Brussel sprouts? I’m the only one who will eat them but they’re easy to cook (roast ’em with some olive oil, a little salt and pepper), healthy, and whatever I don’t eat right away I can freeze.

Gooseberries? Not my thing. I don’t bake. I suppose I could learn, but it’s not high on my list. I could probably put the berries in a salad. Or eat them plain. If I ever get them again. Because sadly, I waited too long, and the gooseberries gave up the ghost.

Again, to be clear — wasting food is a bad thing.  I’m a little embarrassed to be talking about this. I don’t waste it all. Just… some of it.

Next time I get gooseberries, I’ll wash ’em right away.

48 Hour Computer Deals From Tiger Direct (DaddyDeals)

TigerDirect always has cheap prices on computer stuff. This particular pile of computer components is only on sale for 48 hours. Here’s the link to the DaddyDeal:

48-HOUR COMPONENTS CLEARANCE! (TigerDirect)

There’s a lot to choose from, including (as of this writing) a refurbished 27 inch LCD monitor for under 200 bucks. So go forth and shop! ‘Tis a wise human who saveth money on purchases.