Later on, after dinner, I got NHL to bed.  JSL, previously, had fallen asleep on the couch.  Suddenly, he sat up and began crying for his daddy.  I picked him up and he said "Daddy?  I want my daddy!"  I asked him who I was and he answered that I was his dad.  I asked him what room we were in and he said the living room.  I asked him my first name was and he knew that.  I even asked him how many fingers I was holding up and he answered correctly.  But after all that, he kept repeating "Daddy?  I want my daddy!"  This went on for about 10 minutes while we decided whether we were going to need to go to the hospital (and, if so, what to do about the sleeping NHL in the other room).

Slowly, JSL came out of it.  He began to realize just was going on and calmed down.  He even had some fun with what just happened by saying he wanted his daddy one more time and then smiling before hugging me.  I asked him if he was having a nightmare.  He told me that he was and that he was scared of losing us.  (As he’s never lost anyone he knows to death, I think he meant "losing us" in the sense of not knowing where we are.)

In the end, we think this was the combination of some sort of waking dream and low blood sugar.  After we got him to eat some crackers, he perked up a lot.  The next day, he stayed home and went to the doctor.  The doctor didn’t find anything wrong.  No ear infection, strep, etc.  His temperature was staying down without medicine and he was eating (and acting) better.

He’s not alone in these nighttime behaviors.  NHL has had night terrors and has even been known to sleepwalk from time to time.  My parents told me about some times when I’ve walked in my sleep, talked with them, turned around, headed back to bed with no memory of the events.  One time growing up, I got out of bed, thought I was in a different room, and couldn’t exit the room.  My mother finally heard my cries and turned on the light.  In that instance, I snapped out of the waking-dream and realized just what was happening.  (I had ended up in the closet instead of the room’s door.)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever experienced an incident like this yourself or that your kids did?

Don’t forget to enter my $25 EdenFantasys giveaway!

P.S. If you haven’t already, go visit FollowerHQ and let me know what you think of my Twitter application.

P.P.S. For a bit of fun, try my other Twitter Application, Rout. It’s a +F in Fun!

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #124

Disclaimer: The "Emoticons: Sleeping face" clipart above is from OpenClipArt.org.

During the next five weeks, I’ll be posting my progress with Ubisoft’s Your Shape Fitness Evolved for the XBox 360.  My goal will be to workout 3 times a week and burn at least 150 calories per session.

For my first workout, I began with some warm up activities.  First, I did Hu-La-La, where you wiggle your hips as if you are playing with a hula hoop.  This was very intense and I really felt the effects of this exercise in my stomach.  This burned 8 calories.  Next up, I selected Run the World: New York Times Square.  Running burned 70 calories.  I could have burned more, but I had some trouble with the Kinect losing me while I was running in place.  (This isn’t a fault of Your Shape Fitness Evolved, but seems to be an issue relating to the small size of my room.  After this, I repositioned the Kinect and it seems to be better.)

After this, I tried Stack ‘Em Up: Hard, a balance game where you need to hold up a platform to catch falling blocks, to burn 4 calories.  Then, I played Jump Rope: Easy (exactly what it sounds like) for 19 calories.  Next, Wall Breaker: Medium (where you punch/kick to break bricks hovering in front of you).  This one really helped me work up a sweat and scored 23 calories.  After this was Juggle It which is kind of like a virtual hacky sack game (only with a ball).  This surprised me and burned 15 calories.  I didn’t think it would burn that many.  Finally, I played Stomp It: Easy (where you need to stomp panels "in front" of you to the music) for 10 calories and Wall Breaker: Easy for 7.

Total calories burned in this session: 152.

The next session, I tried Pump It (where you flap your arms and bend your knees to inflate and then pop a ball) for 26 calories, Kick It (a soccer goal shooting game) for 19 calories, Hurricane (where you roll your arms around in circles to levitate some balls) for 19 calories, Stack It: Medium for 4 calories, Wall Breaker: Hard for 23 calories and Run the World: New York 5th Avenue for 70 calories.  Total calories burned: 161.

I was going to have a third session, but life intervened.  And by life, I mean JSL got sick and I had to tend to him instead of working out.  I do plan on doing three workouts for next weeks’ installment.

Giveaway

You could win a copy of Your Shape Fitness Evolved.  Simply post a comment to this blog post.  When my five week series is finished, one commenter from across the five posts will win a copy of the game from Ubisoft.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of Your Shape Fitness Evolved by Ubisoft and financially compensated for this  Clever Girls Collective, Inc. campaign.  In addition, I was loaned an XBox 360 and Kinect for the duration of the campaign.  The opinions expressed above, however, are my own.

I had previously played Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga on the DS and was a big fan of the series.  They take everything that is great about the fictional world and place their own fun spin on it.

I was interested to see how they would handle Years 5 – 7.  Anyone who has read the books or watched the movies knows that this is when things turn really, really dark.  Harry can’t just be a kid anymore.  Voldemort is back and will go to any lengths to kill all who oppose him.  People die.  People Harry cares about.

The previous DS game took an easy route out of the main non-villain death.  When Cedric Diggory dies in the game, he breaks into pieces.  His grieving dad weeps over his boy’s pile of parts until is handed a blueprint for a Lego minifig.  The implication is that all Amos Diggory needs to do is plus Cedric pieces back into place and he’ll be ok.

This DS game picks up with Year 5, aka The Order of the Phoenix.  The Ministry of Magic, not believing that Voldemort is back and suspicious of Dumbledore, installs Delores Umbridge into Hogwarts.  While the movie focused on Umbridge’s efforts to instill her brand of order, the game uses Order of the Phoenix as an introduction to the various spells and concepts that you will be employing in later games.

As you progress, you’ll use Reducto, Expecto Patronum, Aguamenti, Wingardium Leviosa, Lumos, and more to battle bad guys, avoid obstacles, and collect studs.  For those who are not familiar, those little bumps on Legos that allow them to interlock are called studs.  Studs are used like money to buy new characters and abilities.

Of course, given that nearly everything in the world is made from Legos, you can destroy many of the items that constitute the scenery.  Flowers, rocks, tables, and chairs can all be destroyed for studs.  Sometimes, in fact, destroying these unlocks something special.

All in all, this is a fantastic game.  The humor and gameplay are perfect for kids and adults.

Disclaimer: We purchased this game with our own money and the opinions expressed above are my own.

Of course, mix in a couple of their other obsessions, like Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, or Toy Story and the kids take their Lego addiction to a whole new level.  For example, here is Buzz Lightyear riding his "flying car" (which he apparently made partially out of Winnie the Pooh’s canoe):

Also for your consideration, a re-enactment of a lost scene of Harry Potter where Harry fights Voldemort while riding on the blades of a helicopter:

I hear test audiences experienced extreme nausea from all of the spinning around.

Finally, here is the flying car of the future, today!  Complete with built-in landing pad.

There are still some bugs to work out.  Like how to actually drive the car when the landing pad doesn’t retract.  Those can be worked on in a future version of the flying car of the future.

Tomorrow, I’ll go over my recently acquired Lego addiction of the computer game kind!

Do your kids enjoy playing with Legos or other building toys?

Almost instinctively, I felt the urge to ignore him and walk on.  Perhaps mumble something about not having any money on me as I quickened my pace.  Then, for a split second, I thought to myself: What if I was in his position?  What if I was laid off and my family rendered homeless?  What if my best bet to put food on the table for my children was to ask for money from strangers?

I told him I didn’t think I had much cash, but fished a couple of dollars out of my wallet to give him.  I wished him luck and we went our separate ways.  As I did so, I felt a wave of sadness that I couldn’t do more to help him.

Sure, the guy could have been lying to me.  He could have taken my cash and gone directly to a nearby liquor store instead of buying food for his kids.  Maybe he doesn’t even have any children.  I’m a big believer of taking a person at their word, though.  A bit naïve?  Perhaps, but I’d rather assume the best about someone and be proven wrong than assume the worst of people from the outset.

I hope that, that night, his family was able to eat, in part, thanks to the money I gave him.  I also hope that his luck turns around and he is able to find work soon.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever had someone down on their luck ask you for money?  If so, what did you do?  If not, what would you do?

Don’t forget to enter my $25 EdenFantasys giveaway!

P.S. If you haven’t already, go visit FollowerHQ and let me know what you think of my Twitter application.

P.P.S. For a bit of fun, try my other Twitter Application, Rout. It’s a +F in Fun!

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #123

Disclaimer: The “Money – banknotes and coin” clipart above is from OpenClipArt.org.

Above me was a flock of birds.  Actually, flock is too weak of a word.  There were several HUNDRED crows flying overhead.  They were following each other high in the sky and many of them had obviously decided that the spot I was standing on was a restroom.  I quickly opened my car door and dove inside.  My car had been hit twice, but, luckily, I escaped unharmed.

The next day, I brought my camera in to work to attempt to capture this crow swarm.  And capture it I did (though there seemed to be less crows this time).

Have you ever witnessed a swarm of birds like this?

Disclaimer: The image above, crow flying down, was obtained from OpenClipArt.org.

Add in one imaginative JSL.

Result?  A boat.

Note the handy cell phone holder.

Time to go sailing.

Reminder: Don’t forget to enter my $25 EdenFantasys giveaway!

For my readers, I have an early Valentine’s Day present.  One of my readers will win a $25 EdenFantasys gift card.  To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What would you go out and do on your ideal Valentine’s Day date with your significant other?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.  (Don’t just leave one comment listing everything you did.)

• Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
• Follow @EdenFantasys on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
• Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @EdenFantasys and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Get ready for Valentine’s Day with @TechyDad and @EdenFantasys #Giveaway http://bit.ly/x1ILO3
• Circle Me on Google Plus. Let me know your Google Plus name in the comments. (1 bonus entry)
• Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from January/February. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, January 24th and ends at 10pm EST on February 7th, 2012. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclaimer: The Heart Balloons clipart comes from OpenClipArt.org.

Yes, all of this was a nightmare.  A horrible nightmare.  Although, I was relieved that it wasn’t real, I lay awake in bed afraid.  I was terrified that, should I go back to sleep, I would re-enter the dream from where I left off – with JSL lying lifeless on the floor.  The image of JSL laying there, face down with his arms splayed, was (and remains) burned into my brain.  Though I was exhausted, I forced myself to stay awake for a few minutes.  Thankfully, the rest of my dreams were free of injured children.

Have you ever experienced a very realistic dream about your children being hurt?

Disclaimer: The image above, Turtle-Hits the Floor, was obtained from OpenClipArt.org.