Posts Tagged "Toys"

Meet Phil

Posted by ngreene on Feb 9, 2012 in Rants

This is Phil:

Phil is the toy that has emerged as the early favourite as my son, Hudson’s favourite toy. Technically, Phil is not called Phil, but rather is better known by his formal name: Boy Monkey Rattle http://www.blablakids.com/Online-Shopping/Rattles/RATTLES-School-Book-Monkey-Boy as made by the fine folks at blabla http://www.blablakids.com/. I gave Phil his common name on the day that I realized that he was Hudson’s favourite. It just seemed so impersonal to call him “Boy Monkey Rattle”.

Phil goes everywhere with Hudson. He is the only toy that leaves the crib so that means he is the only toy to get both daytime and nighttime attention. He is small enough that he easily fits in a diaper bag and he snugs in tight when Hudson is in the stroller muff for walks.

I never put much thought into where Phil came from until recently. This week, one of our dogs grabbed Phil and had her way with him. Poor Phil was traumatized, literally. The rattle in his head fractured and would never rattle again.

My wife contacted blabla and regaled them with the tales of Phil and Hudson. Immediately on hearing about Phil’s misfortune, they offered to send Hudson a replacement Phil.

I was really impressed with this level of customer service. So much so that I decided to check these folks out online. Here is what looks like their mission statement:

It’s perfect! There is nothing that is more important to me than hearing the laughter of my 7-month old son. I like this brand. I like what they are trying to accomplish and it makes me want to be part of it.

Well done blabla. It looks like you’ve earned a fan and brand champion.

The World’s Greatest Toy is NOT a Toy!

Posted by ngreene on Apr 1, 2010 in Technology

A friend of mine recently called me to tell me that he had purchased a gift for me. Of course, I was eager to find out what the gift could be, but I never would have guessed it would be a Losi Micro Rock Crawler. This small wonder is the most fun “toy” that I have owned in a very long time. The reason I use the “quotes” is because of the first line in the operation manual is:

This unit is a 1/24 scale, hobby-grade model with fully replaceable parts. It’s not a speed demon, but it’s not intended to be. It is a Crawler, which means that it’s use is for slowly crawling over obstacles. And really, the slower and more deliberate you can be, the better your experience as an operator.

I don’t have any video yet, but here is an exact duplicate of my machine in action:

Every day this week I have turned my living room and / or bedroom into an obstacle course. I can’t get enough of this thing. You can even make modifications to customize the experience. It actually came with two different gears to change the amount of power you get out of the motor. I am excited to take it apart, but its a long and involved operation so I haven’t had the time to tackle it. I think I should probably get a few more man hours under my belt first before starting any mods anyway.

Awesome gift. Thanks again Brian!