Another Mystro Time Warner update: what’s different?
Aug 30, 2010 Product Review
Last week while I was watching TV my Time Warner DVR shut down and started another software update. It was annoying that I wasn’t given the choice to wait, since I was in the middle of a show – just because it’s two in the morning doesn’t mean that everyone is asleep – but whatever. After it was done and the system rebooted I tried it out. I was eager to see the changes, because after the last Mystro update there were some huge ones. But it’s been about a week and so far I’ve only discovered one obvious change: a new fast forward and rewind speed has been added, 4, and it is quite fast. Hitting play still makes it go back too far, but at least it doesn’t take so long to get through commercial breaks anymore.
Anyone notice anything else? It is of course quite possible that the update had more to do with how the system runs than with features that a normal user would notice (since there’s no indication after it’s over that any update took place, who knows how often they happen), but if there are new features I’d like to know what they are instead of accidentally finding them two months from now. So if you’ve found any other differences please add them in the comments.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, Momtourage, and podcasts with The Blogging Angels.
Get Your Own Eggo Breakfast Pizzas!
Jul 29, 2010 Product Giveaway, Product Review
Eggo™ Real Fruit Pizzas
I was sent these new Eggo™ Real Fruit Pizzas to try, and honestly I wasn’t sure when they arrived that they were going to be my thing. I mean, I love pizza, and I love granola, and I love many other Eggo products, but I’m not crazy about yogurt mixed with other things and I’m pretty picky about fruit. I could really only be a food blogger within a narrow niche of picky vegetarians who aren’t crazy about typical vegetarian go-to foods. 
But anyway, I was happy to try something new with an open mind. I made the strawberry Real Fruit Pizza in the microwave for my family and while we liked it, my husband hit the nail on the head: it was good, but we’re a crisp crust family. The microwave preparation makes a tasty breakfast pizza with a soft crust, but I made the next one – Mixed Berry – in the oven, and that made ALL the difference. I’m not even all that crazy about blueberries or raspberries, and yet I wolfed the mixed berry one down myself in about three minutes. And it only took seven minutes to bake in the oven. Totally worth it if you like a crisp crust (if you like soft crust, you’ll be thrilled with the lightening-fast preparation of these breakfast pizzas in the microwave). Read through to the end to see how you can win your own Eggo™ Real Fruit Pizzas sample pack.
Morning Routine Renewal
Mornings around here have settled into a routine, but I’m not sure it’s a good one. The kids get out the door on time for the camp car-pool, but they’re usually making their own breakfasts and I’m often scrambling to get their camp backpacks packed at the last minute. And inevitably someone remembers that they need something signed, or a costume, or a special shirt, or something else I’m not prepared for. Sadly, any change to this will involve me, um, you know, not being a completely lazy disorganized ass, but it’s worth it if I can make things a bit smoother in the mornings. They only have a few weeks of camp left, but these changes that I’m planning on making will carry over well to the school year.
- I’m going to enter all of their camp information into my google calendar, so that I don’t waste time searching for the camp calendars (I’m hopeless with paper, I think it hides from me). I check that calendar multiple times each day, so I won’t be blindsided by pajama day or color wars day or let’s-see-if-we-can-make-your-mom-yell-in-frustration-while-getting-ready day.
- I will get all of that stuff prepared the night before, so that there’s no running around in the morning searching for things that I find ten minutes after the kids leave.
- I’m going to make them set out their clothes the night before, so that I’ve got a better idea of what I need to get ready for them. Having a 25-minute quick cycle on our washing machine is great, but having to wash underwear last-minute makes for a harried morning. Besides, a watched dryer never dries (although here’s a bonus tip: throwing a couple clean, dry towels in with the wet underwear speeds things up).
- I’m going to wash and cut up fruit for the kids the night before. They’ll eat it if it’s all ready for them, but if they have to wash it and prepare it, they’ll ignore its existence.
- I’m going to stock a bigger variety of breakfast foods that they can make themselves. While I’d love to vow to be downstairs with them at breakfast time, it’s just not likely most days. With four people showering I’m usually the last one in (unless I want to get up at 5:30, which I don’t) so I’m just being realistic about this one.
- The biggest change I’m going to make is re-instituting our daily checklists. I’ve used these off-and-on over the years when I felt like I was being a real nag. Instead of chasing the kids around reminding them to put their dirty clothes down the chute or to brush their teeth, or punishing them endlessly after the fact, I put everything into a checklist for each kid so that they had no excuse for forgetting something. It’s not foolproof, but a lot of the stuff they were just honestly forgetting, so this helped them focus. After using it for a while they always get into a groove and then we let it go, but they need it again, definitely. And if your kids aren’t old enough to read, I did Fiona’s first checklist with little pictures: the toothbrush, the light switch, etc. Worked like a charm and checking things off made her excited.
The Giveaway
I’d love for you to share some morning tips of your own that have helped you out. Five winners will be chosen via random.org to receive two of the new Eggo™ Real Fruit Pizzas (both varieties, Mixed Berry Granola and Strawberry Granola, one each) to sample. (This contest is running on some other blogs, so if you win somewhere else you can’t win here as well.) Out of all of the comments on all of the blogs running the contest, five will be chosen to receive another sample two-pack of Eggo™ Real Fruit Pizzas plus a couple of Eggo coffee mugs.
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your best morning streamlining tip. Please make sure you leave a valid email address so that I can get in touch with you if you win. Entries will be received until 12am on August 5th, 2010 (confusing, I know – just consider it late-night on August 4th). Any entries received after that time will be removed. Five winners will be chosen by random.org sometime on August 5th.
This promotion is sponsored by TheMotherhood. Giveaway is open to legal residents of the continental U.S. who are at least 18 years old. Only one entry per person please. For my complete givaway rules, please see my Giveaway Rules page. You can see all of the very official somebody-else-came-up-with-them rules here. Want more info about Eggo™ Real Fruit Pizzas? You can join The Motherhood EggoAm Circle. Good luck!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 2, 10 & 11. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage.
Tags: #EggoAM, breakfast, Eggo Breakfast Pizza, Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas, morning routine
Do you have wifi dead spots?
Jul 21, 2010 Product Review
We’ve got a big house. It’s not ginormous, it’s just tall – four floors and a basement. Our modem is in the basement, and several locations in the house are hard-wired to the modem. Also connected to the modem is a Cisco wireless router. That wireless router gives us a somewhat unreliable but usable signal on the bottom two floors. Once you get to the third floor, though, the signal pretty much disappears. So a couple years ago my husband piggybacked a second Cisco wireless router onto the first, which gave us wifi on the upper two floors.
But a few months ago the second router stopped connecting to the internet, and we can’t seem to get the connection working again. After doing all of ten minutes research the other night (I was in an impatient and frustrated mood), I ordered this Hawking HWREN1 Range Extender from Amazon. I hooked everything up this morning, and it works like a dream! I usually use a product for more than ten minutes before reviewing it, but this was just such a quick and easy solution, I’m excited to share it.
Configuring the range extender consisted of bringing a laptop down to the basement where the modem and router are, along with everything in the range extender box plus an extra ethernet cord. Set-up would have taken about three minutes, except it didn’t work the first time, or the second. It would get to the last step with no problem, then not be able to finish. I took a quick look at the HWREN1 support section on the Hawking site, and discovered that my range extender needed a firmware update. I’m not going to lie, this was a little bit of a pain in the ass. It involved changing an ip address and resetting the range extender and doing some other stuff that might look overwhelming to someone without a lot of computer experience, but if you take it one step at a time and follow the very clear directions on the Hawking site, it’s very doable and was done in about ten minutes. Once the firmware update was complete, the HWREN1 set itself up in about two minutes.
After that, I just had to figure out the best placement for it. Basically, you want to find a place that’s still getting a strong signal from the original source (the router) but that’s closer to the place you need the signal to reach (and remember, that location needs an outlet to plug the range extender into). In most houses this would probably be about halfway between the router and the dead spot, but in my house the signal has the most trouble getting out of the basement. I put the range extender on the first floor near both the basement door and the stairs that go up to the rest of the house, and that did the trick! I’ve got an excellent signal now throughout the entire house.
The signal is as secure as your router’s signal. In other words, if you have your wireless router set up with a password or WEP key, then you’ll need that to sign on to the range extender’s signal. Connecting to the range extender was very easy. My laptops detected it the same as they would any other wifi signal. For some reason, I had to restart a couple of laptops in order to get internet access from this signal initially, but once they got a signal the first time I then disconnected and reconnected, restarted, and did whatever else I could to try to mess the signal up. Reconnecting was flawless every time.
So, to sum up if you have wifi deadspots in your house from your wireless router, I highly recommend the Hawking HWREN1 Range Extender. Don’t be scared off by the little bit of trouble I had getting it set up, the instructions are clear and once you set it up once you’re done, and you should have a fantastic wifi signal.
This review in no way guarantees that the product reviewed will work for you in the same way (hey, it could work even better, but it could be worse). Please check with the manufacturer or other sources to ensure that this is the right product for you. The owner of this websites takes no responsibility for anything that happens to you as a result of buying or using this product.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage.
Tags: basement, Hawking HWREN1 firmware update, Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender, how to install HWREN1, problem with Hawking HWREN1 range extender, signal, wifi dead spots, wifi signal booster
