Category Archives: Musings

Hopefully a little more thought-out than the ramblings.

All Things Dad

Spring 2014 book search for Timmy and Nora (Part 2)

4 Comments

For birthdays and Christmas I like to research potential books to add to Timmy and Nora’s wishlists. A couple of months ahead of time, I scour the Internet in search of likely options and download them as audio books from Audible. If I like a book, I can add it to the appropriate child’s Amazon wishlist. The first post in this series discussed my book selections for Nora’s birthday. This article will deal with my selections for Timmy’s upcoming birthday in mid-July.

A Mutiny in Time – by James Dashner

This is the first book in the Infinity Ring series. Two adolescents invent a time machine and manage to lose their parents in the past. So now the children need to travel through time, searching for the adults. On the way, they fight against an evil organization who has left sentinels in various locations and time periods throughout history. The characters and situations feel formulaic and contrived, and I didn’t enjoy this one all that much.

The False Prince – by Jennifer Nielsen

After the royal family is poisoned, Connor, a shady noble of the court, scours orphanages to find a doppelganger for the long-lost son of the late king. He pits three young orphans against each other in a “replace the lost prince” training program / competition. The winner will become his new puppet king, and the losers will be quietly disposed of. Unfortunately, Connor’s perfect plan doesn’t account for one spunky orphan: Sage. This is the first in a trilogy, and I enjoyed it so much that I intend to listen to the rest of the series in the near future. I definitely want to share this book with my son.

Sky Raiders – by Brandon Mull

Ahh… Brandon Mull. What a wonderful author. Once again, he is able to take a pretty stupid sounding premise and craft a spectacular story around it. In this book, a group of teenagers are pulled through an inter-dimensional portal in the basement of a haunted house, and become slaves in a magical world. One of the teens joins a band of raiders who scavenge for treasure in a sky full of flying castles. This is the first book in a brand new series, and I can’t wait for the next installment to be available.

Slathbog’s Gold – by M. Forman

This is the first book in the Adventurers Wanted series. A young boy sees a poster in a small shop advertising “Adventurers Wanted”. His curiosity gets the better of him, and he decides to investigate. Before he knows it, he’s on a quest with elves, dwarfs, and other such folk to slay a dragon. At first I thought that the whole plot seemed a bit trite, but this one really grew on me. Worth a try.

The 13th Reality – by James Dashner

This series of books is about alternate realities. A boy gets a letter in the mail stating that he has been entered into a contest of sorts, and that there is danger involved if he chooses to participate. As he tries to decipher the clues in his attempt to prevail, he also starts to experience some inexplicably strange phenomena. I found the decisions made by the characters in this story, especially the parents, to be somewhat unrealistic. That detracted from my enjoyment, but it’s still a unique and interesting story.

Water Keep – by Scott Savage

Another first in a series. A boy from Earth meets a girl from a magical realm, and they have adventures together as they search for Water Keep. It sounds pretty mundane, but part way through the book they start to discover how to travel back and forth between the two worlds. Then they discover rules governing the interactions between the magical realm and Earth, and they come up with some inventive ways to use those rules to their advantage. Very clever, and quite enjoyable.

The Inventor’s Secret – by Chad Morris

The first in the Cragbridge Hall series. This is another time travel book, but it is significantly better executed than the Infinity Ring book I spoke of earlier. A brother and sister find out that their grandfather has been abducted, and they need to decipher the clues that he left for them to figure out who took him and why. One thing I love about this book is that it is full of historical events, but they are not your standard ancient Egypt, Revolutionary War, etc. Many of the history “lessons” found here were relatively new to me, and the topics were rather fascinating.

The Lost Heir – by E. G. Foley

The first book in the Gryphon Chronicles. This is a story about a young orphan living on the streets in Victorian London. One day he learns that he is actually the long lost son of a nobleman. His parents were not only wealthy and respected, but they were also magicians, and were employed in a secret society to police magic use across the globe. This wasn’t a spectacular book but it was enjoyable and I think the series shows promise.

Zoe & Zak and the Ghost Leopard – by Lars Guignard

I didn’t get too far through this one. I stopped listening after this passage:

It’s kind of rude, but I guess the thing that most stood out about the guy was his muscular butt. His butt kind of filled out his tight black Speedo like it was made of steel or something.

I’m sorry. I’m not interested in reading about an 11-year-old girl checking out a grown man’s butt. I got a refund for this book.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library – by Chris Grabenstein

A group of children spend the night in the world’s most unlikely library. Seriously. This place is like a high-tech Hogwarts. Stupid premise aside, I actually ended up grudgingly liking this book… somewhat. It reminds me a bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Not great, but certainly not bad.

The Sound and the Echoes – by Dew Pellucid

The first in yet another series. I’d give a plot summary, but I couldn’t follow this one at all. I don’t get it. What just happened? Why did he do that? Who’s that person? I tried. I really did. I got a bit more than half way through, and then gave up and asked for a refund.

The Fairy-Tale Detectives – by Michael Buckley

This is the first in the Sisters Grimm series. After their parents disappear, two sisters are shuffled around from one terrible foster home to another until they end up living with their grandmother in a town that turns out to be a sort of prison for fairy-tale characters. They join their grandmother, a self-appointed detective, on her escapades to solve fairy-tale-related mysteries. This is a bit more juvenile than what I was looking for. I might keep this series in mind for Nora in the future, but not really for Timmy.

Bloody Jack – by L. A. Meyer

Umm, wow. This is not a book for an 11-year-old. In 19th century London, a young girl has to fend for herself on the streets after her whole family dies of a plague. She stays with a group of similarly hard-on-their-luck children for several years until the leader of the group is gruesomely murdered. She then decides to wander and ends up disguised as a boy on a ship whose mission is to hunt down pirates. This book is violent and sexually explicit. At one point, a man attempts to rape what he thinks is a cabin boy. When he discovers the boy is actually a girl, he’s ecstatic… until she puts a knife in his gut. The story is fascinating, but I don’t want Timmy reading this book for a long time to come, if ever.

11 Birthdays – by Wendy Mass

I loved The Candy Makers when I read it in preparation for Nora’s wish list, so I was curious to try another of Wendy Mass’s books. 11 Birthdays for Timmy’s 11th birthday. Why not? This is a Groundhog Day story where a couple of the characters are repeating the same day (their 11th birthday) over and over again. Very well executed, and not a common theme in children’s literature, as far as I have seen. Highly recommended.

The Colossus Rises – by Peter Lerangis

The first in the Seven Wonders series. Impossibly intelligent kids live in a secret base on the lost island of Atlantis. They need to figure out stuff so that they can do stuff so that they can save the world. This is another somewhat predictable sci-fi / fantasy children’s novel. When I first started reading it, I almost gave up because the tone of the narrative, especially in the beginning, was too over-the-top for my taste. I went back to it later, though, and decided that it’s not as bad as I had originally thought. I didn’t ask for a refund, and it ended up on Timmy’s list.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – by Joan Aiken

This is apparently a well loved classic that I have somehow never heard of. It takes place in an alternate 19th century where wolves roam the land in enormous packs that are an ever-present threat to society. A poor girl goes to live with her rich aunt and uncle and their young daughter, but soon after she arrives at her new home, the adults disappear (presumed dead) and the girls need to fend for themselves against the elements and against greedy people vying for the family’s wealth. Short and very unique, this gets a thumbs-up from me.

– danBhentschel

All Things Dad, All Things Geek

For you, sir, no recharge

1 Comment

We have a lot of toys. A large portion of these toys utilize batteries for at least part of their operation. A few years ago, I made the decision that we would switch to almost exclusively rechargeable batteries. As of this writing, I estimate that I have about 240 rechargeable AA batteries and 132 rechargeable AAAs in my house. I will share with you some of what I have learned.

The case for rechargeable

Rechargeable batteries have a lot going for them. The most important points are as follows:

  • A consistent, dependable battery supply. We’ve all experienced it before. Beth is one year old, and instead of playing a lively tune, her favorite toy produces a garbled, off-key mess of sound when she pushes the magic button. She’s confused and upset, but you don’t have the right kind of battery available. With the proper strategy in place, which I will go over later, you can easily avoid this situation when using rechargeables.
  • Long-term savings. Rechargeable batteries are much more expensive than traditional alkaline cells. I typically spend about $3.00 per AA battery. In contrast, a typical alkaline AA costs about $0.35 – $0.50, when purchased in bulk. That means that you would need to recharge a battery between 6 – 10 times before you start to see savings from it, assuming that the two options provide the same amount of usage time (capacity).
  • No more leaking batteries. NiMH batteries do not leak. Let me say it again. They don’t leak! In my mind, this is a huge win.

The case for LSD

I did some research on rechargeable batteries. Most rechargeable batteries these days use NiMH (Nickel Metal-Hydride) technology, but there are two different types of NiMH battery: the standard NiMH cells, and a newer technology called “low self-discharge” (LSD) NiMH cells. Until very recently, these newer batteries have been somewhat overlooked for the following reasons:

  • They were more expensive than standard NiMH cells, though this may no longer be the case.
  • They have a lower capacity than standard NiMH cells. The capacity of a battery is measured in milli-amp hours (mAh), and a standard Energizer AA NiMH cell is rated at about 2500 mAh. The LSD cells that I buy are rated at only 2000 mAh.
  • They have been marketed as “pre-charged” batteries. So what? I can buy them and immediately put them into something without needing to charge them first. Is that really much of a benefit?

Then what is the actual benefit of LSD cells? Why am I willing to pay more for a lower-capacity battery? The secret is that LSD batteries hold their charge for a long time. Standard NiMH batteries tend to lose up to 20% of their capacity in the first day after they are removed from the charger even if they are not being used. After the first day, they then continue to lose up to 4% of their charge per day. The result of this leakage is that your 2500 mAh capacity cell could be reduced to only about 1600 mAh after sitting on a shelf for only a week. People who have encountered only the standard NiMH technology come away from the experience with the distinct impression that rechargeable batteries don’t last as long as their alkaline counterparts.

LSD batteries, on the other hand, can retain 70% – 80% of their charge after an entire year of sitting on the shelf. This is why they can be marketed as “pre-charged”. The rate of leakage is significantly lower.

Putting it into practice

Here are some tips that I have come up with for using LSD NiMH cells in a toy-heavy, child-oriented household:

  • Focus on a single brand. After some research, I settled on the Eneloop (Sanyo) brand of batteries. At the time, it was generally considered to be the best at providing consistently high output in demanding applications. It’s possible that the landscape has changed in the last few years, and other brands may be much more competitive. I have used the Sanyo batteries in a very wide range of applications for years now, and I am 100% satisfied with their performance. I have no desire to experiment with other options at this time.
  • Focus on AA and AAA. You can buy very inexpensive C and D spacers that allow you to use AA cells in situations that require C or D cells.
  • Use a slow trickle charger. There are faster (15 minute) chargers available, but they can damage the batteries after a while. Batteries get hot when charged quickly, and  heat damages batteries. I use a BC-700 from La Crosse Technology. Again, I did my homework before selecting this specific model.
  • Use a faster charger for emergencies, and to resurrect “dead” batteries. Some batteries get discharged so much that a trickle charger won’t recognize them. For these cells, I put them into a cheap Energizer charger for about 20 seconds and then my main charger will charge them without a problem.
  • Keep at least 10-20 spare each of AA and AAA. You never know when several toys will need replacement in a single day. Since charging takes a good 10-20 hours with a trickle charger, it’s good to have plenty of stock on-hand.
  • Keep your extra batteries charged and ready to use. When a battery comes out of a toy, it goes right into the charger, or into the “on deck” circle if the charger is already full. When the charger indicates that the batteries in it are fully charged, remove them and put in any other cells that are waiting to be charged.
  • Buy extra batteries in anticipation of large events such as birthdays and Christmas.
  • Be “religious” about your homogeneous battery selection. Use only the rechargeable battery that you have selected, and don’t allow other types or brands to work their way into your fleet. I even go so far as to throw away the batteries in any toy that ships with cells from the factory.

– danBhentschel

All Things Dad

Spring 2014 book search for Timmy and Nora (Part 1)

7 Comments

Both Timmy and Nora are excellent readers. In fact, in the case of Timmy in particular, I have trouble keeping him supplied with books. He just goes through them so fast! So for birthdays and Christmas I put a decent amount of effort into researching potential books to add to my two eldest children’s wishlists.

A couple of months ahead of time, I scour the Internet in search of likely options. I then check to see if any of those are available to download as audio books from Audible, and if they are, I add them to my “library”. I can then listen to them and add individual books to the appropriate child’s Amazon wishlist if I think they’re a worthy option. Here’s the latest round of books, and my impressions, from my preparations for Nora’s birthday, in March. Part 2 will deal with my selections for Timmy’s upcoming birthday in July.

Selections for Nora

Nora thrives on characters, relationships, and animals.

Fairest of All – by Sarah Mlynowski

This is a kind of cute book about a young girl and her brother who get sucked through a magic mirror to a fairy tale land where they accidentally interfere with the course of Snow White’s story and have to try to set things right again. This first in the Whatever After series is silly, pointless drivel, in my opinion, but I’m not an 8-year-old girl. It’s harmless and amusing enough that I decided to give it the nod and recommend it for my daughter.

Fablehaven – by Brandon Mull

I absolutely love Brandon Mull. I’ve listened to several books by him now. My favorite is the Beyonders series. I have also experienced the first two of the Fablehaven books, and they are excellent for Nora. A level-headed adolescent girl and her brave, but foolish, brother find out that their grandparents are the caretakers of a preserve for magical creatures. Then things go horribly wrong and its up to them to resolve the situation.

Floors – by Patrick Carman

The first in a series of books. A boy grows up as the son of (and assistant to) the handyman for the most wonderful, bizarre hotel in the world. The hotel was designed and built by a genius and is full of secrets and surprises. When this designer goes missing, it’s up to the handyman’s son to follow a series of clues and solve the mystery of the disappearance. I wanted to like this one, but the various characters, settings, problems, and solutions are so random and nonsensical that I decided to give it a pass.

The Candymakers – by Wendy Mass

Four children join a candy making contest. At first the story seems pretty simple and straight-forward, told from the perspective of the son to the candy factory’s owner. Then, about a quarter of the way through the book, everything changes and the story is retold through the eyes of one of the other children. This process is repeated four times, once for each child, and by the end of the book nothing even closely resembles what it first seemed to be. The story and characters are masterfully revealed in stages, and surprises abound. After putting this book onto Nora’s list, I added Wendy Mass to my own mental list of authors to revisit in the future.

Young Fredle – by Cynthia Voigt

Fredle is a house mouse who breaks the rules and ends up in the outside world, a place where house mice never, ever venture. Against all odds, he survives, makes friends, learns, and grows. Will he ever get back into the house to see his family again? What will they think of his miraculous return? How will his adventures change his perspective on the life of a house mouse? A beautiful study of social groups and interactions at a level that is appropriate for young children. It’s on her list.

The One and Only Ivan – by Patricia Castelao and Katherine Applegate

This is a complex story. On the surface, there’s not much that happens in it. A gorilla and a baby elephant are caged in, of all things, a mall. Together, they conspire to escape to live in a zoo. Underpinning this simple text, though, is a deep narrative about cultures, communication, poverty, futility, abuse, death, hope, and success. I dithered on this one quite a bit. The story is perfect for Nora, but the themes involved are pretty heavy for an 8-year-old. In the end I decided to give it the green light.

Janitors – by Tyler Whitesides

The first in a series of books. A boy and a girl team up to help the janitors of their school fight against invisible magical creatures that prowl the hallways and classrooms, sucking up their classmates’ intellectual potential. This one is pretty dumb, but it’s definitely fun and pretty harmless. I know that Nora will enjoy it.

Pie – by Sarah Weeks

Set in a small town in the 1950s, this book poses a mystery about stolen pie recipes and a missing cat. Only a young girl and her new best friend can solve the case when all the adults in town are oblivious to the fact that anything untoward is going on. The characters and situations that come up in this story are entirely unlikely. It’s a testament to the author’s skill that it all comes together so seamlessly. Short, and sweet as its subject matter, I couldn’t resist adding this unique novel to Nora’s list.

The Candy Shop War – by Brandon Mull

The second Brandon Mull book in this list. Have I mentioned that I like Brandon Mull? This is the first book in a series about children who are caught up in a war between magicians who practice their trade by creating sweets with wondrous powers. Four friends discover this magical struggle and have to decide which (if any) faction to side with. Mull invents confections with deliciously intriguing effects, and then pits them against each other in increasingly surprising ways. Unique and intelligent all the way through, this one is a definite keeper.

– danBhentschel