Archive for category Products

Thoughts On The 2009 Stork Craft Crib Recall

crib sleepThere have already been so many articles, snippets and Tweets already about the crib recall by Stork Craft it’s hard to imagine there’s anything left to say.  But there was a decent addition on the CBC news about how the this recall has put a review on parents with drop-side cribs.  It may make many parents nervous that, even if they don’t have one of the recalled models, they may be putting their baby in danger by continuing to use the crib.

Even worse, cribs are not exactly a disposable item. Many have paid a great deal of money for their model thinking it would last for many years.  So there is pressure on parents to replace the crib, but the financial realities prevent them from doing it.

I feel fortunate that my wife and I were talked out of buying the drop-sided cribs when we were in the market.  Probably it was due more to a sales clerk being anxious to sell the model this small store carried rather than us going elsewhere, but I think there was also the issue of the wear and tear on the drop sided cribs.

I guess it makes sense not to get swept up in the latest hysteria and dumping a model that has not been seen to have this danger.  Not that there isn’t a danger there, but hopefully this will initiate a review of all the other makers and models to ensure there have been adequate testing so that these tragedies won’t occur again.

I always think it’s amazing anyone is crazy or wealthy enough to manufacture any baby products due to the legal issues if there is even one accident with any product.  I guess there is enough reward to mitigate the risk of lawsuits and recalls.

But even still I’ll be Stork Craft is hurting right now.

Tags: crib, news, recall, safety

Tales From The Sleep Ninja – Quieter Keyboard

I love it when my quietness OCD leads me to discover something perfectly designed for what I’m looking for. I feel so vindicated!

We just moved to a new house and my office was situated right across from our daughter Ella’s room. It is convenient if she needs anything, but also the noise computers can generate can be a problem.

Especially the keyboard.

Ella can’t stand the sound of typing on a keyboard and I can’t blame her. The sounds of computer typing like there are two caffeinated mice running around in a cage. Unfortunately, since I write a lot, that’s pretty much all I do on my computer. Additionally, I also owned the cheapest old PC keyboard in history and setting it on a wooden desk just made it sound even more like there were squirrels trapped in the walls. So I needed a solution fast.

After a few fruitless searches (why does Best Buy keep so few keyboards on their shelves anyway?) I found the perfect winner.

The Logitech K300 which I termed the “ninja stealth” keyboard.

logitech k300 computer keyboard

It satisfied all my demands:

  1. It was relatively cheap.
  2. It didn’t need to be wireless.
  3. Had to have normal, full-sized keys.
  4. The keys are quiet!

In fact, this thing is nearly silent. I was impressed.

It also had the additional benefits of:

  1. Being low profile which I find easier to type on.
  2. Backlit button bar on the top which just looks kind of cool.

So if you’re in the market for a quieter keyboard, I’d consider this one. It’s priced at about $30.00. Anything cheaper seemed to be the old noisy kind, and there are a lot of more expensive models for gamers and ergo-fetishists.  I chose the middle-way.

The price sure is right and now I can type and Ella can get her snoozes without interruption.

Tags: baby sleep, computer, product, review, tips

Featured Product Review: TriplePlay Products Sit’n'Stroll

Sit N Stroll

Sit 'N' Stroll

Note: This is not only a review, but also contains helpful travel tips for use with the stroller. I wanted to make it as useful as possible, but if you just want the short version, you can find the summary here .

The Basics

We just took a trip to Hawaii this past summer with our 9 month old daughter.  We got several recommendations from friends and family to try the Sit ‘n’ Stroll convertible stroller made by Triple Play Products.

After looking it at it online it satisfied my requirements which were:

  • To have  a child safety seat on the plane. No way am I traveling for 5 hours with a baby on my lap in knee-crunching coach class.  Way too dangerous and way too uncomfortable for everyone.
  • We had scheduled a lot of tours that required bus and cab travel on the islands. So we definitely needed the car seat here.
  • Lots of walking on these tours so a stroller was again needed.
  • We would be dining out a lot so we liked the idea of using it as a booster seat.

After deciding it would be way too hectic to carry a stroller and a car seat through 2 airports it was an obvious choice t spring the $250 or so dollars for the seat. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Products, review, stroller, Travel