The Best Diaper Bags for Dads - An Update

One of the more popular topics on Modern Day Dad has been diaper bags for Dads. There are a lot of Dads (or Dads-to-be) that want to find a diaper bag that does the job while still looking like it belonged on a man. Actually it was one of the reasons I started writing about being a Dad in the first place. But even though my kids are beyond diapers now (thankfully), I realized I haven't done an update in a while so I wrote one up for Man of the House.

Unfortunately, the bag I used for years and still love the "Dad Field Bag" from Jack Spade is no longer being made. However I was able to find some good alternatives, from the venerable Diaper Dude, to the innovative Dad Gear to the still-awesome Skip Hop. I also found a beautiful leather option from Petunia Pickle Bottom (or "PPB" as they say when taking about men's bags). Just don't try to right-click an image on their site however, because that's been "disabled to protect brand integrity."

Duh.

Cool Diaper Bags for Dads, [Man of the House]

iPad App of the Week: Phaidon Design Classics

Phaidon Design Classics is a book (or really, a three volume set) for design nerds like me. In it they curate and chronicle 999 objects that they deem are noteworthy for their innovation, influence and are "perfect in their design." The objects are numbered and ordered chronologically, starting with Chinese household scissors from 1663 and ending with the most modern products of today.

Though you could buy the three volume set at Amazon for $110.25, for $19.99 you can get all of that content and more on your iPad - plus an extra product (product 1,000 - the suitably chosen iPhone). It's an awesome collection of things both historical and current, allowing you to browse through not only the history of object design but human history as well.

The interface is fairly easy to understand, and while the clicking sounds it makes when you transition to a new object are kind of hokey, they do help you navigate through the enormous collection. You can also narrow down the number of objects shown by choosing categories or by running keyword searches on the titles and descriptions.

Running a search on "children" yields 49 results, among which there are some of the things you might expect, like the Mammut Chid Chair sold by Ikea, the Tripp Trapp Child's Chair from Stokke or the Eames Hang-It-All. There are also many objects that are taken for granted but are nevertheless incredibly innovative, like Crayola Crayons, Pez candy dispensers, the very first Jigsaw Puzzle (made in 1776), or the very first Teddy Bear (made in 1902). I must admit that I never really gave much thought to the Classic Red Wagon from Radio Flyer (pictured), but two paragraphs later not only do I know the history behind how it was designed and developed, but I appreciate it all the more.

Phaidon Design Classics for iPad by Phaidon Press, $19.99 from the iTunes App Store.

CES 2011 - All the Great Stuff for Men

CES was way over a month ago, but I just wanted to point your way to my final posts on the subject that are up now on the man/father super blog Man of the House. Here's the breakdown of everything I saw that was great for men and fathers:

CES 2011: Best New Gear of the Year - Most Useful - The Road Torq from Eton saves your bacon when you've got a flat tire

CES 2011: Best New Gear of the Year - Coolest Toy - The AR Drone iPod-controlled remote control helicopter.

CES 2011: Best New Gear of the Year - Best Television - The Samsung 8000 Series LED Television

CES 2011: Best New Gear of the Year - Most Innovative - The Razer Switchblade

CES 2011: Best of CES for Guys - And these are the "honorable mentions" of the things I saw at CES that were great, specifically for guys.

• Ford Focus Electric - Brand new electric car from Ford
• Ion Vertical Vinyl - Awesome record player you hang on the wall.
• Griffin BlueTrip DualConnect from Griffin - New smartphone car charger / bluetooth solution.
• Blackberry Playbook - New tablet from Blackberry - probably the best "iPad killer" at the show.
• Victorinox Slim Flight - Swiss Army knife with USB instead of a knife

Asking Ronald McDonald the Obvious Question

via www.threadless.com

Here's a reprinted t-shirt from Threadless I found today. Cynical? Sure. Harsh? Kind of. Funny? Yes.

But who wants to wear a t-shirt with a puking clown on it - even if it's rainbow puke?

(I guess the fact that the t-shirt is reprinted kind of answers the question for me...)

"Not So Happy" by Lora Zombie, $20, men and women's sizes only [Threadless.com]

A Blunt Truth About the Effect of the Wakefield Article on Vaccines and Autism

In a recent Medscape article titled "Autism and the MMR Vaccine, Revisited" (taken from a lecture and reprinted here), Dr. Paul Offit lays down what really matters with Wakefield's fraudulent Lancet publication.

Thousands of parents in England chose to not vaccinate their children. Hundreds were hospitalized and 4 were killed. Three in Ireland and 1 in London died because their parents feared the MMR vaccine more than they feared the measles. You could argue that the Wakefield paper killed 4 children.

My only problem with what Dr. Offit says? He still calls him "Dr. Wakefield." As we all know, he hasn't been a doctor for some time now.

Autism and the MMR Vaccine, Revisited [Reprinted at mi-aimh.org - Medscape is subscription only.]

Recreating Joy Division Through Playmobil

via www.youtube.com

I knew there was a reason I "Liked" Joy Division on Facebook. Apparently someone took the audio and (visual cues) from a live television performance of one of my favorite bands, Joy Division, and recreated it with stop motion animation using Playmobil toys.

But which toys? Although there isn't a "Joy Division on BBC 2" Playmobil set, the person who made the video cobbled it together from multiple sets. Here's what I could find...

I'm not sure about the figures he used, but he definitely used the guitars from this decidedly heavy metal "Guitar Player" (Playmobil 4512) and the drum sets from both the new and old versions of "Circus Band" (Playmobil 3723 and 4231). He also used the television cameras (and microphone I'm assuming) from this discontinued set "Studio Crew" (Playmobil 3531).

If there was ever any doubt in the awesomeness of Playmobil, then this should settle it I think.

(Yeah, I said "awesomeness".) 

Great iPhone Apps for Kids: Cookie Doodle

Cookie Doodle for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch is a great app for kids for three big reasons:

1. It's fairly easy for children 3(-ish) years and older to understand and use without constant help from Mom or Dad.
2. Instead of a game that rewards with a score or unlocked levels, it encourages simple creativity. The reward is the cool thing you make.
3. It's $0.99.

Cookie Doodle is an app that lets your kids go through all the steps of making a "virtual" cookie, from rolling out the dough, baking it, decorating it and eating it. Kids can pick from huge lists of types of dough, frosting, and other decorations. The app is also updated constantly for holidays, so right now for instance the app is configured for Valentine's Day cookies. But even if your child can't read yet, the interface is still simple enough to figure out how to use.

My daughters, especially my youngest (4 years old), love this app. Lots of apps for kids take a few minutes of their attention before they get bored, but when they're using Cookie Doodle they probably spend more time on it than any other app. There are so many choices and steps until the cookie is finished, that once they finally complete what they are working on they've already thought of another creation to make.

Trust me. Put it on your iPhone and hand it to them when you get to the restaurant, and before you know it you'll make it to when the food arrives with no drama. That is, unless they're fighting over who's turn it is to make the cookie.

Cookie Doodle by Shoe The Goose is available for $0.99 from the iTunes App Store.

The 3 Biggest Disappointments of CES 2011

via manofthehouse.com

I went to the Consumer Electronics Show last month, and I've bitched about written already about some of the stuff I saw, but today on Man of the House I've written about my top three disappointments. Including in this is my open post to George Lucas:

Dear Mr Lucas, enough already. I bought your movies when they were on VHS. And then I bought them again on VHS when you "updated" them. Then you made brand new movies that kind of sucked but I went (and even waited in line) to see those. And then I bought the good movies when they came out on DVD. And then I bought...

The 3 Biggest Disappointments of CES 2011 [Man of the House]

New Nintendo 3DS Not Safe For Kids Under Six. Really Nintendo?

via manofthehouse.com

Nintendo says their new gaming system the 3DS might hurt the eyes of children under six, but eye doctors are saying that's not necessarily true. Aren't the big bad companies supposed to be putting our kids at risk (for a profit) while doctors are supposed to warn us against this kind of stuff?

It's an interesting swap of expectations, and the subject of my latest post on Man of the House.

New Nintendo 3DS Not Safe For Kids Under Six. Really Nintendo? [Man of the House.com]

Who Will Win the Superbowl? The Four-Year-Olds Have Spoken.

Check out this poster that was on the door of my daughter's Pre-K class on Friday. In our decidedly neutral city of Las Vegas, it seems that the Pittsburgh Steelers have the edge, but only slightly over the Green Bay Packers.

And apparently Daniel just couldn't decide.

Bond on the Brain - The Music and the Fashion

You may or may not have heard about the recent death of film composer John Barry, but he was the person most famous for composing eleven James Bond soundtracks, most notably the James Bond theme at the beginning of every movie. He also wrote the theme songs for Goldfinger and Thunderball.

Even if you set aside one of the most iconic themes in all of film music, he'd be tops in my book just for Goldfinger. Who can deny the awesomeness of Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MagCoUYvIXE&w=480&h=390]

In fact, if you want to check out a really great interview of John Barry before he passed away, check out his interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air on NPR

The Suits of James Bond
And then last night I was reading one of the blogs that I regularly check out - Put This On (it's a blog that kind of aims to encourage men to dress like adults) and they linked to an amazing website called "The Suits of James Bond." And while I am rarely what anyone objective might call "well dressed," I stayed up way too late last night reading it.

The Suits of James Bond is a website written by a person who has (what appears to me at least) an expert-level knowledge of mens clothing, who can parse exactly what type of suit James Bond is wearing, how it is made, and often what brand it is. It covers all phases of James Bond, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig. And sprinkled inbetween the minutiae is how the fashion relates and inter-relates to the rest of the James Bond universe. To wit:

Roger Moore always wore slip-ons with his suits, as practised by the literary James Bond. Slip-ons are traditionally too casual to wear with a city suit, though it was popular to wear them in that fashion in the 1980s. Moore left behind the bit loafers in the 1970s and for the 1980s wore a more conservative style.

Read it long enough, and you start to realize you're getting tips about dressing yourself too (for instance, shiny neckties are more appropriately worn in the evenings and for more formal occasions). It sounds nerdy (and believe me it is) but it is really awesome.

The Suits of James Bond via Put This On.

UPDATE: For those shopping on a budget, check out Affordable Bond via my friend (and 007 enthusiast) David.

The Best Wheeled Boards for Bugaboo and Other Strollers

If baby number two is on the way, it may have already occurred to you that you're eventually going to have to move your firstborn out of the stroller to make room for the baby. And depending on the age of your child, it's likely hard to imagine them all of a sudden walking around instead of riding. Not to mention the fact that you're no longer going to have them strapped in confined to a stroller anymore. When the time came for my family, the solution was the Bugaboo Wheeled Board.

A wheeled board attaches to the back of the stroller - usually the rear axle - and allows your oldest to ride behind the stroller while standing up. But what if you don't have a Bugaboo? Fortunately these days there are wheeled board options for all kinds of strollers. Here's a breakdown of what I think the best are:

Bugaboo Wheeled Board
The Bugaboo Wheeled Board is the granddaddy of this product category, and it's the first time I ever saw something like it all those years ago. It attaches to the rear axle of the Bugaboo and your kid stands in between you and the stroller. It also has a strap that allows you to fold it up under the stroller when you're child decides to walk.

This is the wheeled board I used with my kids, and from experience I can tell you it works really well. It supported the weight of my kid without a problem and both my kids felt very secure while I was pushing them. It is a bit annoying to have the kid right in front of you when you are trying to walk behind it, and you kind of have to stand a bit to the side of the stroller to push it and avoid kicking the board underneath (at least for my legs). You also have to detach it completely when you're stowing the stroller in the car, but I think this is probably something you have to do with all wheeled boards. The bottom line is, if you've invested in a Bugaboo stroller, this is a must have item.

Bugaboo Wheeled Board works with Bugaboo Cameleon, Frog and Gecko, $99.95 from Amazon.com.

Lascal BuggyBoard-Maxi
If you've got just a regular stroller, even an umbrella stroller, and you still want the convenience of a wheeled board you should definitely check out the BuggyBoard-Maxi from Lascal. It's basically the same thing as a Bugaboo Wheeled Board, except it attaches to the rear upright tubing of a stroller (not the axle) so it can attach to a vast variety of strollers. Visit their website to find out if the board will fit your particular stroller, but chances are it will.

BuggyBoard-Maxi by Lascal, $87.20 from Amazon.com

Sidekick Stroller for Orbit G2 Stroller
I'm not saying that the Sidekick Stroller Board alone would be enough to convince me to get a G2 stroller from Orbit, but it definitely wouldn't hurt the cause. The Sidekick solves my main problem with the Bugaboo Wheeled Board, namely by moving the kid from directly behind the stroller (where your feet are supposed to be when you're walking) to behind one of the wheels in back. Your child then stands on the side of the stroller and out of your way.

It's a great solution in as of itself, but typical of Orbit, they've tried to solve all the wheeled board problems. The Sidekick Stroller Board folds up and away when your kid isn't riding, even when your stroller is folded. It also comes with a handle for your kid to hold onto, and it's made of hardwood and grip tape, just like a skateboard. Oh, and you can attach two at a time for three kids if you want.

The Sidekick Stroller Board for the Orbit G2 is $120.00 from Amazon.com

The Mountain Buggy Free Rider
Wheeled boards are one thing, but the coolest, most innovative wheeled board solution comes from Phil&Teds via their Mountain Buggy brand - the Free Rider. The Free Rider is a wheeled board that fits behind your stroller, but also doubles as a scooter. It attaches to the back of the stroller for strolling, and then easily detaches for your kid to play with. I saw it in action at the ABC Expo in Las Vegas at the end of last year, and it was one of the coolest things I saw - especially in the stroller product category. It will launch working on the entire Mountain Buggy line, and they told me at the show that they have plans to make attachments for all kinds of other strollers - not just Mountain Buggy and Phil&Teds brands.

The Free Rider Kiddie Board will release in March 2011 for $99.99 and is available now for pre-order at MountainBuggy.com

Honorable Mentions

• Lascal also makes a slightly cheaper "Kiddy Board Maxi" that attaches to the rear axel, and costs $79.95 at Amazon.com
• Stokke also makes the Stokke Xplory Rider Board for their Stokke Xplory strollers. It's basically the same thing as a Bugaboo wheeled board, except that it has two wheels. It will run you $119.99 at Amazon.com
• UPPAbaby makes a wheeled board called PiggyBack that works with their VISTA line of strollers. It's made of wood and has a non-skid surface, but I don't think it's designed to work with any other strollers than the VISTA. But if you need a three-kid solution this system could be for you. The PiggyBack costs $89.99 at Amazon.com

iPhone App of the Week: Momento for iPhone

Let's assume that you're a person in 2011 with a smart phone and a Facebook account (or Twitter, or a blog etc.). You may not know it yet, but you're creating a diary. Walking around, taking pictures of your kids, updating your status, "checking in" to the park or restaurants - all of these things create a digital time-trail of where you've been and what you did. Momento for the iPhone is an ingenious little app that takes all of that stuff and aggregates it into a diary - automatically.

I've never kept a diary, and although a few years ago I tried tweeting all the stuff I did each day (I was inspired by the Twitter account of John Quincy Adams). It lasted all of a day or two. But I do create Facebook status updates fairly regularly, as well as post pictures, check in to Foursquare and blog. Momento takes all of those things and then puts them into a calendar so I can see what I was up to.

Once you give it your information, it will go back and grab as much as each service will provide, in many cases going back and getting months or years worth of stuff. It's really fun to go back and see what you were complaining thinking about a few months ago, or what your kids were up to, or what you thought was important at the time. You can also enter diary entries ("new moments") directly into Momento for those moments you want to keep but don't necessarily want to share with the rest of the world.

Though it will import from nine different services plus RSS/Atom feeds, there are a few other services I'd like to see. I'd love it to aggregate content from my Instagram feed for instance - or go back in time and find my TextAmerica Moblog images. (Is it even possible for anyone get those back?) It's also not optimized for iPad, which is unfortunate because I think it would be really cool optimized for an iPad - especially for viewing photos. An even better feature would be the ability to purchase a printed diary of what you did for an entire year (or other specific time frame). A skeuomorphic "virtual" diary transformed back into a real paper diary would be awesome.

I love this app, not only for what it does but for the possibiilities of what it could deliver in the future. Momento is made by d3i Ltd. and is available for $2.99 in the iOS App Store.

Star Wars Clothes (Onesies, Snapsuits, T-Shirts and Hats) for Babies and Kids

Back when I was a new Dad, I tried hard to find a cool Star Wars Onesie (or snapsuit, or bodysuit or creeper, or romper, or whatever you're supposed to call them) for my daughter. I eventually found some at mall store Hot Topic, but those have long been removed from their store - probably to make room for truck loads of Angry Birds T-Shirts.

Sadly, there isn't much to choose from out there. Even Think Geek doesn't have any Star Wars clothes for babies (costumes don't count). However I did find a couple of cool things, so here's an updated roundup of the best of the Star Wars baby clothes (in no particular order):

Buy Buy Baby is selling a basic red Star Wars Bodysuit

with the Star Wars logo (pictured above). Sizes newborn through six months are sold out, but the 9 months version is available for $6.99.

Amazon.com has a few "unofficial" Star Wars snapsuits. Instead of images from the movie they have quotes from the movies. There is "Judge me by my size, do you? Size matters not." and my favorite, "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" (above, available for $9.99).

The Retro Baby doesn't have any Onesies or snapsuits, but they do have some pretty cool vintage-looking t-shirts. They've got a girls pink long sleeved shirt with a picture of an Ewok that says "Save the Trees," a neon R2-D2 girls shirt and a black Empire Strikes Back T-shirt that looks like it was taken from a Chinese poster for The Empire Strikes Back. If you're looking to get your kid (or nephew) a Star Wars shirt that most of his friends don't already have, I'd check that one out. (TheRetroBaby.com)

If a Onesie or t-shirt just aren't cool enough for your kid, then the Baby Yoda Hat might fit the bill. Etsy.com is full of crafters and entrepreneurs making cool stuff to sell, but this might be one of the cooler things I've seen. Honestly, you'd have to pay me a lot more than $22 to make a green beanie with Yoda ears, which is why I think you should probably go get one now. (Star Wars Baby Yoda Hat - crocheted by knitterkrys on Etsy.com)

And finally, the absolutely LAMEST option for Star Wars baby clothes is ironically the only baby item sold at the official StarWars.com store. It's a rather ugly bodysuit and bib that says "Ugnaughty or Ugnice?". I mean, I get it, but no one likes the creepy Ugnaughts from The Empire Strikes Back. And it's a long way to go for a lame joke - especially for $22.

Also on Modern Day Dad: 

Star Wars snapsuits. A hot topic. (from 2005? Seriously? I've been blogging that long?)
May the force be with you. Just not in 12-18 mos. (Wow. I guess I have) 

A City Map of Neighborhoods from Ork Posters

Ork Posters! is a small company born out of etsy.com (I wonder how many small businesses got their start on etsy?) that makes amazing maps - primarily of cities - where each city is divided up into the individual neighborhoods. At the root of each poster is simple design that shows something you thought you already knew in an engaging way. It doesn't get much better than that.

Oh wait. It kind of does.

In addition to posters they also offer screen prints for only slightly more money. But having just received the Boston screen print (shown above) I can tell you they are worth it.

Ork also makes a couple other "maps" - a map of the heart, one of the brain and one of the Great Lakes. Unfortunately there are only 15 cities available so far, but they assure me that more are on the way. You can also suggest a city via email, so I immediately fired one off to ask for my city of Las Vegas and got a very nice reply. Who knows if it will happen, but if it does I'll be the first in line. I the meantime, I'll enjoy my new green and white Boston screen print.

Ork Posters! are $22 for a poster and $27 for a screen print, available at OrkPosters.com

Share the Photos From Your Kid's Camera Instantly

This is such a simple idea, I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't think of it first. I've written about the awesome Eye-Fi memory cards before - the cards that connect to any WiFi hotspot and automatically send the pictures you've taken to wherever you want - Flickr, your home computer - wherever. It's a cool idea (especially for backup) but I never bought one because I like to edit and process my photos before I share them with the world.

So this year Santa brought my oldest daughter (six years old) a camera for Christmas. Not one of those crappy Fisher Price cameras (of which we've had two and one never even worked) but a real point-and-shoot camera from Canon (in pink, of course). I also got her a regular 8GB memory card to go with it. (The bigger card is mostly for the videos, of which she takes a LOT. I blame iCarly.)

Then a couple of days ago I was reading the latest newsletter from Photojojo, which was about how putting an Eye-Fi card into your kid's camera and connecting it to their own Flickr stream

will let them instantly share their images with the world (or your family at the very least). Apparently blogger Jason Kottke is doing this with his three year old son and wrote it up in a blog post that Photojojo found. 

It's a great idea for a few reasons. Being able to instantly share the images, my daughter will be able to get feedback from her family about what she's doing, which I hope will further encourage her to create new images. Selfishly, I'm excited about it because now I won't have to deal with going through, editing and uploading the pictures she takes. People can drop in on her Flickr feed whenever they want to see the things that she is seeing without any involvement from me. Plus, it will all be backed up. Awesome.

A 4GB Eye-Fi card only costs $39.99 on Amazon.com and the 8GB card costs $79.99. The pro version costs $119.99, but it's still 8GB and is really only for people with cameras that primarily shoot RAW (as opposed to JPEG) files.

$40 and I don't have to go through all my kid's photos on a regular basis? That sounds cheap to me.

Related Posts (written by Chris Ford):

CES 2011: A Mobile WiFi Hotspot in Every Camera with Eye Fi [Babble.com]

Oh. Hello best minivan EVER!

via heartasarena.tumblr.com

If my wife would let me do this, then maybe I'd agree to that minivan.

Actually, I still wouldn't. But it is awesome.

[Found on Heart As Arena (and I "borrowed" the post title too - how could I not?) via DaddyTypes.com]

iPhone App of the Week: ToonPAINT for iPhone

ToonPAINT is the most fun I've had with a photography iPhone app in a long time. It seems like every photo app I download (which, admittedly is a lot) just takes a picture you've taken with your iPhone and turns it into something that looks like you took it with a crappy camera from the 1970s. It was fun for a while, but honestly I'm bored with it. These apps made more sense when the iPhone camera wasn't that great, but now that the camera has been vastly improved in the iPhone 4, there isn't a need anymore to make your photos look even more hip worse.

ToonPAINT on the other hand takes your image and creates

a monochrome line drawing of it, which you can then color-in. The initial image can be adjusted for the edges, black level and gray level, and sometimes you'll just want to stop there. But if you want to color your photo, you can choose colors from a standard color-picker, the colors you've already chosen, or colors from the original image. The whole thing is really well thought out and very easy to use.

Check out some of the pictures I made above - a few are from images that weren't that great as photos, but suddenly become interesting in ToonPAINT. My kids in particular got a big kick out of using the app. They have used a similar app from Lego that turns a picture into a sort of "Lego" image, but the instant cartoon you get with ToonPAINT looks much cooler.

ToonPAINT is $1.99 (a steal!) in the iOS App Store.

Using a DSLR in Disneyland (or Disney World)

A trip to a Disney theme park with the family is one of those occasions when you know you're going to take a lot of photos. If you don't have a camera that can switch out lenses, then just bring your compact point and shoot and count yourself lucky that there's one less thing you'll have to lug around. But if you want to bring your "big" camera with more than one lens, then there are a couple of things to keep in mind when you're considering which lens (or lenses) to bring.

Versatility
Walking around the park, you're going to face all sorts of photo moments. Sometimes you're going to want to try to get a wide shot of Sleeping Beauty's castle, and sometimes you're going to want a close-up portrait of your kid on the carousel. So a good, versatile zoom lens is the lens that you'll be using the most at the park. I use a Canon 24-70mm, and with the 1.6x crop factor (due to the sensor size on my camera) I get an effective focal length of 38-112mm which covers a great range of shots. You might be tempted to rent something big and crazy like a  70-200mm lens, which might be fun but is kind of overkill. At Disneyland, and Disney World I'm assuming, there aren't that many moments where you are going to want to take a really long shot. And you'll likely find that 70mm isn't nearly wide enough in many situations (I have enough problems at 24mm).

Fast Glass
"Fast Glass" is just a nerdy thing photography people say to describe a lens that has a wide aperture. A wide aperture lets in more light, and more light means the shutter speed can remain "fast" even in low light situations. At Disneyland, this is essential, especially if you're taking pictures of your kids. You're going to take plenty of pictures outside during the day, but you're also going to take plenty of pictures inside (restaurant, rides etc.) not to mention at night. Having a lens that will allow you to avoid using the pop up flash - or bringing an external flash - is awesome. I always bring my favorite Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, and when we're watching the parade at night or I want to take pictures of my girls in "It's A Small World," the 50mm always delivers.

Other Disney DSLR Things To Consider
Don't bother trying to bring a tripod unless you really want to lug that thing around all day. You can try a beanbag or something like that, but honestly there aren't many places you're going to want to use one. I don't even bother with my Joby Gorillapod - it's just too annoying. If you're concerned about getting pictures of the whole family (including you) avail yourself of the many Disney Photo Pass photographers. They know how to handle your camera - just be smarter than I was and make sure auto focus is turned on.

Get a good camera strap that is comfortable and ditch that strap that came with your camera. Those straps are uncomfortable and all they do is advertise to thieves that you're walking around with an expensive camera. I've used affordable, normal straps from Op/Tech and like them, and now I'm using a shoulder strap from Black Rapid that I really, really love.

Use the smallest camera bag possible, but still bring a bag. I use an older version of this bag from Tamrac. It fits my camera body with my zoom lens attached, and there's enough room at the bottom for my 50mm. I also bought a water bottle attachment for the side, and I ditched the water bottle and use the attachment to hold my drink, my kid's water or whatever else I need to throw in there in a pinch.

Oh, and make sure you bring twice the memory cards you'll think you'll need (on the trip, not necessarily to the park) and a backup battery. Trust me. The real work comes when you get home and have to go through all the pictures you've taken.

RELATED POSTS (from Chris Ford):

Tips for Surviving a Weekend at Disney (with the Kids) [Man of the House.com]

Parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids should have to pay more.

Refusing to vaccinate a child is dangerous not just for that child but for entire communities. It's precisely this point a colleague of mine was considering when he had the idea that parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids should pay substantially higher health insurance premiums.

via www.cnn.com

Check out this great op-ed piece on CNN.com (link above).

In 2008, one couple from San Diego who decided not to vaccinate their child for measles ended up exposing 839 people, creating 11 new cases of measles and costing their county and state $124,517 (not including private insurer costs).

Even if you set aside the health risks for everyone that children who aren't vaccinated create, reckless parental decisions have real economic consequences as well.