Back In Action

I hadn't really planned on it, but I guess you all noticed that I took last week off from blogging.  It wasn't intentional, it's just the way it happened.  I'm back today though.

So what's been going on?  A lot of sickness for one thing.  First of all, Sid continues to improve but it's been slow going.  He and my Mom still need lots of prayers.  He's still not able to do much on his own and his time in rehab is about up.  Mom's working on an appeal to get him 21 more days but it might not happen.

Then we have our grandmothers.  DeAnne's Nanny had to go to the hospital for her heart early last week.  She got out for Thanksgiving so she wasn't in very long but it was still scary.  The doctor told her that if she had waited to go to the hospital much longer, she would probably have died.

You might remember that my Memaw had kidney cancer last year.  They took it out and she did a round of chemo and was thought to be cancer-free.  A couple of weeks ago, they found a tumor in her liver.  She's going for a biopsy today so we'll know more after that but the chances are good that it's malignant.

So, as you can see, our families could use your prayers.  Hopefully the Lord will move in each of these situations (as He seems to have already for DeAnne's grandmother) and our families will have some peace.

Other than those things, we had a good Thanksgiving.  We stuffed ourselves silly and then on Friday DeAnne made her usual shopping trip with her Mom.  They also went shopping on Saturday.  I hung around the house and did a few things but mostly watched football (War Eagle by the way) and I finally got to watch "The Blind Side".  So even the movie I watched over the weekend was about football.

The Friday before Thanksgiving we went up to Birmingham with Garrett and Amy and saw Needtobreathe.  I've talked about their albums in the past and I have some of their song samples in the Amazon player on the right.  They were pretty great live.  Besides the band, the place was pretty awesome too.  It was at the Alabama Theater which I've heard of before but never been to.  Our seats weren't that great but it was still a great show and a great time.

That pretty much catches you up with what's been going on with us the past couple of weeks.  At this point, I'm going to go back to just regular blogging and abandon the Christmas posts.  The ones that I've done already are the main topics that people ask me about each year so I've covered the major topics (except for maybe the Nintendo DS).  I've gotten a good bit of traffic from them but they take a good bit of time to put together and I've not had a purchase from a link yet.  To be honest, I just haven't enjoyed the process as much as I thought I would.  Maybe it's because it's a materialistic thing and it just doesn't seem that important?  I don't know.  If someone asks, I'll be happy to make recommendations and if anybody wants to see a post on a particular subject, I'll do a post for it, but barring requests, I think I'm going to leave the buying guide where it is.

See you on Thursday.

--Paul

Christmas 2010 Buying Guide - Cameras

Originally, I was going to cover a whole host of different topics today but by the time I finished with cameras, I had a pretty good post just on that, so today's post is about cameras.  I admit to not knowing a whole lot about cameras.  We only own a Canon point-and-shoot, so I may be in the dark a little on the digital SLR and video camera aspects, but I've done my best to do some light research and make solid recommendations based on modern features that I felt were the most important considerations for new purchases.  Basically, I treated it like what I would go for if I was buying one of these.  Certainly, there may be other models and brands that are better or equivalent to what I've mentioned here, this is just a starting point.

Still Cameras
Point-and-shoot: When looking for a good, simple, point-and-shoot camera, the current standard for most small cameras is 14.1 megapixels.  12 megapixels isn't terrible though and might save you a little money.  For zoom level, you really want something between 4x and 6x optical.  In that range, you can still find a small, pocket-sized camera but still get some decent zoom.  A couple of examples of cameras in this range include the Canon PowerShot SD1400IS ($175), the Sony DSC-W330 ($140) and the Nikon Coolpix S80 ($260).  Each of those is 14.1 megapixels with the Canon and Sony at 4x zoom and the Nikon at 5x.  They're each good cameras, solid brands and span a decent price range.  The Nikon has a few more features that make up the cost difference, but it is probably the best of the bunch.

DSLR: Digital SLRs have become a pretty big craze as prices have come down some, they've become marginally easier to use at the entry level and as digital has become the gold standard in taking pictures.  These are the larger cameras with changeable lenses that all the soccer moms are toting around now.  Again Canon, Nikon are probably the major players in this area but Olympus, Sony and Panasonic also have good choices.  Most of the time you can find a package that includes the camera body and a lens (usually an 18-55mm).  The price ranges vary wildly based on model a features with some entry level models starting as low as $450-$500.  Generally speaking, I would avoid that level though and look more to the $750-$1000 range.  If you're in the market for a DSLR, then you should be serious about your selection.  The Canon T2i is 18 megapixels and records HD video also.  With the 18-55mm lens, it runs $850 on Amazon.  Nikon has the D3100 that comes in at 14.2MP but is a bit cheaper at $650 (w/a 18-55mm lens).

Video Cameras
I admit to not knowing much about video cameras.  YouTube has changed the field some though in that you can now get small, fairly inexpensive video cameras that are designed to record and post video to YouTube along with getting something more along the lines of a traditional camcorder.

Flip:  If you don't have an iPod Touch or an iPhone 4 and you're looking to post cat videos to YouTube, then it's hard not to recommend the Flip camera line.  They have a couple of different models but the Flip MinoHD 8GB (2 Hours) is probably the way to go.  It's $199.00, records 2 hours of HD video and is about the size of your cell phone.

Camcorders:  Camcorders now do HD and can record to either tap, a hard drive or a flash memory card.  Personally, if I were looking at getting one, I would probably lean towards the flash memory option.  You can always buy more cards, they generally don't fail and they're small enough you can carry a ton of them in the camera bag.  The Canon Vixia HF M31 is $500, has 32GB on board flash memory, an SD card slot and records 1080p HD video.  Or, if you're looking for more features and even better quality, the Canon Vixia HF S21 is $1099 but has 64GB on-board memory, 2 SD card slots, a better zoom and a host of other "pro-sumer" features.

So that's cameras.  For the more advanced stuff, there are a lot of considerations to make and I might not have covered everything that needed covering, but maybe this post can give you a good starting point.

Christmas 2010 Buying Guide - PS3

We now turn our attention to the final home video game console, the PlayStation 3.

Hardware wise, you've got two main options, the console with a 160GB hard drive and the console with a 320GB hard drive.  The 160GB version is $299.99 and the 320GB is $349.99.

Much like Microsoft and the Kinect, Sony introduced a motion control system this year called PlayStation Move.  They've got a bundle for it that includes the 320GB console and the hardware for one Move setup.  It runs $399.00

If you already own a PS3, you can purchase the Move controllers in a couple of different ways.  The best place to start is the PlayStation Move Starter Bundle.  It costs $99 and includes the video camera, one Move controller and a game, "Sports Champions".  To go along with the bundle, you'll want to get a PlayStation Move Navigation Controller ($29.96).  This is the Sony equivalent of the Wii's Nunchuk and is required for some games.  You can also get individual PlayStation Move Controllers ($64.99) that will be needed if you want to have more than one player.

So, for Move, I would recommend purchasing the Starter Bundle, a second controller and two Navigation controllers.

So what about the games?  Sony has gone back and added Move compatibility to some games that were already released.  Tiger Woods 11, NBA 2K11, The Sly Collection and Time Crisis: Razing Storm are all good games that can use either the Move or the traditional controller.  There are several Move specific games that are worth checking out too.  Much like the Kinect's Kinectimals, Sony has "EyePet".  "Sports Champions" that was mentioned above is also a must have if you don't opt for the Starter Bundle.  Finally, "The Shoot" is a gun-based game that is pretty highly reviewed.

Outside of the Move, there's a pile of good games for the PlayStation 3.  There's some cross-over with the Xbox with titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Fallout: New Vegas appearing on each.  You'll also find PlayStation 3 versions of the annual sports titles like Madden NFL 11 and NCAA Football 11.  Then there are games like Uncharted and Uncharted 2, LittleBigPlanet and Gran Turismo 5 that are exclusive to the PlayStation 3.

Finally, you might also want to pick up a second standard controller (DualShock 3 - $44.80) and if you intend to use the PlayStation as your Blu-Ray player, you'll want to pick up a PlayStation Blu-Ray Remote ($19.30).

So that's about it for the PlayStation 3.  If it seems like it was less informative than the Xbox or Wii, I apologize.  I don't actually own a PS3, so I'm going mainly by things I've seen from friends and what I've read on the internet.

--Paul

A Normal Post!

So I thought I would take this morning and write a normal post to talk about all the craziness that's been going on.

First, I hope you're all enjoying the Christmas posts and that they're proving to be useful for you all.  Remember that if you really want to show me some love, you can buy from the Amazon links provided in the posts and I'll get a small commission.  It doesn't cost you anything extra, Amazon just cuts me in to say thanks for the advertising.

So it's been a wild week full of ups and downs.  Last Friday I entered Garrett into a radio contest to win two tickets to a worship conference in Mobile.  I got a call late Saturday that we had won.  So on Monday and Tuesday Garrett and I were in Mobile soaking up all kinds of good information on how to better lead worship and tips and tricks for worship bands and all kinds of good stuff.  Probably better than all the information though is that we spent a lot of time in worship.  By the time Tuesday was done, I felt more full spiritually than I have in a long time.  It was really a great blessing to be able to get away from everything and be able to focus on the Lord and just be able to worship for two solid days.

That's not to say that the devil didn't try to interrupt.  I think I got more email in those two days than I have in the last month.  On Monday I told myself I was going to only check my BlackBerry if it was an actual phone call or just in between sessions.  On Tuesday though, Satan upped the ante.  My Mom called early Tuesday morning to say that my step-father, Sid, had had a stroke during the night.  He was in ICU and at the time they didn't know much.  My first thought was to leave Mobile and the conference and head to Montgomery.  At the end of her message though, Mom asked for prayer.  I figured if she was asking for prayer, what better place to pray than at a worship conference surrounded by God's people lifting up praise.  So we stayed and went to the second day and I prayed.  A lot.

Sid's doing better.  We came home from the conference Tuesday and after talking with Mom, we decided that we would work Wednesday and then since DeAnne was off on Thursday for Veteran's Day, we would go Thursday and see Mom and Sid.  So yesterday we headed up to Montgomery and in the end it proved to be the perfect time for us to go.  I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago that my Mom's house had flooded while they were gone on vacation.  They're still not done with the work so they had just gotten an apartment for a month when Sid had his stroke.  Unfortunately, it was on the third floor of the complex.  Mom called the manager and found out that a ground floor apartment had just opened up so yesterday she was set to move their stuff down to the new apartment.  So it worked out that we were able to help her move and it went pretty quick.

As for Sid, he was moved out of ICU and to a regular room yesterday.  He's beginning to get a little more feeling and movement back in his right side which was the side that was affected.  So that's a good sign.  He's been approved for rehab so when they release him from the hospital, he's going to be going to HealthSouth for a month.  I haven't talked to Mom this morning, but yesterday they were talking like they might be able to get him out of the hospital as early as tomorrow.

So that's been the crazy kind of week I've had.  To top it all off, while we were on our way to Montgomery yesterday, DeAnne got a speeding ticket in Georgiana.  We're not even sure how it happened but I think we just drew the short straw since there were a couple of vehicles in front and behind us and we were all going about the same speed.

I've sent messages to a lot of people asking for prayer for Sid.  If I missed you or you haven't heard from someone else already, I'm sorry.  Continue to pray for him and my Mom.  Hopefully, Sid will make a full recovery and in a month they'll be back in their house and have things back to the way they were.

We've got Liam this weekend!  We're going to pick him up tonight, so that'll be pretty much our weekend.  Hope you have a good one.

--Paul

Christmas 2010 Buying Guide - iPad & Kindle

Today I'm going to talk about the iPad and the Kindle.  Let's start with the Kindle.

The iPad and the Kindle are a good bit different from each other mainly in that the Kindle is pretty much strictly for reading.  I has a monochrome display, limited sharing features and is a whole lot cheaper than the iPad.  If you know someone who is an avid reader but isn't really interested in surfing the web or checking email, the Kindle is great.  Let's talk about the different models.

The cheapest is the Wi-Fi only model.  It's $139.00 and comes in a nice graphite color.  Since it's Wifi only you'll have to either connect it to your computer or be near a wireless hot-spot in order to download new books.

The next version has Wi-Fi and 3G.  It runs $189.00 and is also graphite.  It uses the cell phone network to allow the user to download new books anywhere they are.  There's no extra cost for the cell connection.  It's included in the cost of the device.

Finally, there's the Kindle DX, also graphite, it runs $379.00.  The difference here is that the DX has a 9 inch screen instead of the standard 6 inch and the device is 3G only, no Wifi.

Amazon also still sells older generation Kindles at various prices, but with anything like this, you're going to get the most life out of the most current model.

If you're looking for a more robust experience though, it's hard to ignore the iPad.  While it may seem like a blown-up iPhone or iPod Touch, it's amazing what the extra screen real estate gets you.  It's really an amazing device.  If you're considering purchasing one, you have six options.  There are three storage options, 16, 32 and 64GB and two connection options for each size, Wifi only and Wifi+3G

The 16GB model runs $549 for the Wifi only and $698 for the Wifi+3G.  The 32GB model is $672 for Wifi only and $810 for Wifi+3G.  Finally, the 64GB model is $767 for the Wifi only and $890 for the Wifi+3G.

As for recommending which model to purchase, it depends a lot on the user.  The 3G option requires a single month payment to AT&T.  You can purchase either 200MB of data for $15 or 2GB of data for $25.  It's month to month and you don't have to sign a contract so you can choose to only pay for the 3G coverage when you know you're not going to be near a Wifi hotspot.  This is nice for frequent travelers.  Most airports charge for Wifi and some hotels do also.  Having the 3G option gets around those fees.  For someone who doesn't go on the road much though and just wants to have one to surf on the couch, a Wifi-only model should be fine.

Storage size choice also comes down to the user.  Do they love movies?  Then they're probably going to benefit from the larger storage offered by the 32GB or 64GB models.  Do they just want to surf and watch the occasional movie on the road and listen to a little music?  Then the 16GB option will probably be more than enough.  Personally, if I were to buy one for myself, I would probably get the 16GB Wifi+3G.  I'm not a huge movie watcher and my 16GB iPod Touch has been more than enough in the past for my music tastes but I do occasionally go on the road for work and it would be nice to have the 3G option available.

So that's the breakdown on Kindle and iPad.

--Paul

Christmas 2010 Buying Guide - Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 has had a pretty big year.  They've got a new, smaller box, it's a little cheaper than last year and of course, now there's Kinect, Microsoft's camera-based motion control system.

First up, much like I did with the Wii, I'm going to start with the system hardware.  If you're new to the Xbox, it's a great time to finally get in on the action.  You've got four different choices on where to start:

1) Xbox 360 w/4GB storage ($199.99):  This is the entry-level model for the Xbox 360.  It plays all the games, it's compatible with Kinect and it's got enough storage built in so that you can download a game or two from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.  Great for the younger set who are wanting an Xbox.

2) Xbox 360 w/250GB hard drive (holiday bundle) ($299.99):  The larger hard drive allows for more downloads.  This is especially useful for music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero if you plan on downloading additional songs.  The holiday bundle comes with two games, both rated "Teen".  "Alan Wake" may be a bit inappropriate for the younger set.  It's a "survival, thriller" type game with a complex story that may be difficult to understand.  The other bundled game is "Forza 3", a racing game that should be fine for anyone.

3) Xbox 360 4GB w/Kinect ($299.99):  This bundle gets you the 4GB Xbox from #1 above plus the new Kinect motion control hardware and the Kinect game pack "Kinect Adventures".  This actually isn't a bad deal as most of the Kinect games run $49.99 on their own and the Kinect hardware on it's on is $149.99.

4) Xbox 360 250GB w/Kinect ($399.99):  This is the same system from #2 with Kinect bundled in.  It also includes "Kinect Adventures".

All of the systems come with one controller, one headset for online chat and 1 month of Xbox LIVE Gold.

So that's the systems.  For the younger crowd, I would probably recommend #3.  Kinect is going to be the hot thing in Xbox for Christmas and #3 is far and away the best way to get into it if you don't already have an Xbox.  For teenagers and up, I would definitely get one of the 250GB consoles (#2 or #4).  The extra storage is needed if they're going to be playing a lot of games and/or downloading much content from the Marketplace.

If you already have an Xbox and are looking at Kinect, they sell it as a stand-alone.  The Xbox Kinect Sensor retails for $149.99 and also has "Kinect Adventures" bundled with it.

If you do get a Kinect, you're probably going to want to look at getting a game or two that use it besides the "Kinect Adventures" that comes with it.  The following are the three best games currently available and are the only ones I would recommend.

1) Kinect Sports:  This is basically the same concept as "Wii Sports", just for the Kinect.  It includes a range of different games from volleyball to boxing and some track and field events.  It's been one of the best reviewed Kinect games so far and is pretty much a sure bet.

2) Kinectimals:  Definitely the way to go if you bought a Kinect for your young child.  You get to own a virtual pet and interact with it in different ways.  These aren't your standard kitties and doggies though.  We're talking big cats like tigers and panthers.  As an adult, there's probably not much here of interest, but you can look at a screen shot and instantly see the appeal to kids.  These things are stinking cute:



3) Dance Central:  This is a dancing simulator from the same people that make Rock Band.  You follow the moves on screen and the more in beat and crisp you move, the better your score.  It only scores one person at a time, but friends can stand around you and still have a bit of the experience.  This is the Kinect game for the teenage set.

So that's the Kinect games, but what about non-Kinect games?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  For older teens and college students, especially the boys, you can't go wrong with a good first-person shooter and the Xbox has a pile of good ones.  Halo Reach, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout: New Vegas and Medal of Honor are all safe bets.  Other games for the older set include Fable 3, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction.  For the younger crowd you have Rock Band 3, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, The Sims 3 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.  Finally, for the sports fans you have the usual crop of yearly titles: Madden NFL 11, NCAA Football 11, FIFA Soccer 11 and NBA 2K11 just to name a few.

Finally, if you're buying for someone who wants to play online, they'll need an Xbox LIVE Gold account.  You can buy subscription cards in various monthly increments but the best deal is a 12 month card.  Microsoft uses "Microsoft Points" to purchase items from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.  These are also available as cards.  You can get 1600 or 4000 point cards costing either $20 or $50 respectively.  Also, if you're buying a new system or need an extra controller, they run about $40 each and are available in White and Black.

So that about covers the Xbox 360.  I do want to say that if you have any questions about any of the items/topics I'm talking about or would like a recommendation on a specific item I've glossed over, feel free to email me, message me on facebook or leave a comment here on the blog and I'll be happy to give you some more information.  Also, I changed the font color for the links to make them more visible.

--Paul