Pulp Free

In my recent wanderings I’ve come across a few more pieces of “stuff” that seemed fun enough to toss into my “want” pile. Probably ranging around $8-$10 each, I’m sure if I “really” wanted them a quick stop over to Amazon would get them delivered to me in no time flat. So I should really be putting these items into a “cool cheap gifts” category… But for now I’m sharing them here… So:

Toasted Notes:

Spike Pen:

Drip Clips:

Clumsy Coasters:

So yes indeed - all useless consumeristic novelties to add to my collection… Time to get the wish list updated…

Probably not 100% appropriate but I surely laughed out loud on this one…

Whhaaat? Whaaaaaat?

We had our first death in our iPod family this week. Our 80 GB iPod 5.5 decided to no longer charge even though it was “100% Charged”. “Our” iPod is used the same way every day. C uses it an hour a day while she’s walking in the morning 5 days a week (she’s very dedicated). The nice part is that it will hold a charge for the entire week. Charge it up on Friday, ready to go for her walking on Monday. Rinse and repeat.

So it was quite odd that without the usual slowly depreciated battery life between charges - it just died. So even though the new iPod Nanos just came out - I took a chance on getting a new, user replaceable battery.

Two options. Ship back to Apple for $70 or find one online somewhere (who buys locally any more?). That turned out pretty easy as there’s plenty of review sites and companies to purchase from. For our first effort, I chose iPod Battery Depot.

For about $20 including shipping, a new replaceable battery showed up via USPS. Probably took maybe 3-4 days to arrive. Web site looks a little 1998 if you know what I mean… But I checked out the BBB links, did a little bit of research to see if there were any horror stories out there about them. Seemed decent enough. And for $20 - it was worth a little risk.

Turned out not to be an issue at all. Popped open the iPod and about 5 minutes later the new battery was in. Funny enough as well - the instructions state to run the battery charge down that it came with and then perform a full charge after that for 4 hours. Well - even the trickle that was left from the factory took 2 hours to wind down playing back video! A few days in and everything is still working great! C has her perfectally size iPod for walking and I have my iPhone back! (She was afraid of dropping it… I think the screen size was just too much for her! LOL)

So if you’re in need of a new battery for your iPod - iPod Battery Depot is worth checking out. Be sure to check around for some online coupons… There’s a 15% and $3 off coupon floating around right now…

(There’s no sponsorship here… or hidden links - or referrals… just a good experience…)

Only in the new age of spin politics would we even come close to seeing a “superhero” action figure just a few weeks after the Republican VP accouncement of Palin (just look at those legs!).

The Sarah Palin Action Figure courtesy of Herobuilders.com

I wonder if they could make a Palin doll that you could pull a string in the back for really thoughtful one liners… But what would she say?

Amid growing sniping from Democrats, the McCain campaign announced that Palin would sit down for her first interview this week, with ABC. It will take place over two days at her home in Alaska.

And then?

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has said Palin will “agree to an interview when we think it’s time and when she feels comfortable doing it.”

…

But none of the candidates in this race has been so shielded from the media, so protected from any spontaneous situation, and Palin’s unvarying remarks give the impression that she and her message are being tightly controlled. As before her convention speech, McCain’s campaign is briefing Palin for her first TV interview.

…

She voiced support for the bridge during her gubernatorial campaign, and the project was only called off after it had become an embarrassment to the state.

Another crowd favorite in her speech is that story about how she got rid of luxuries in the state Capitol, like a personal driver, chef and luxury jet.

“I put it on eBay,” she says.

Audiences love this part, but what Palin never adds is that the jet didn’t sell on eBay despite numerous attempts. The state eventually hired an aircraft broker to unload it.

Ummm… At least they have a George W. Bush talking doll. I bought one as a loving Christmas gift for our family Republican… I wonder if he still has it… Oh I’m sure George comes out to settle disputes when the boys are drinking and shooting off their shotguns…