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Star Wars: The Last Jedi Movie Review

CandyMan — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 04:15:56 +0000

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI opens in theatres everywhere December 15! Lolli and I were able to see The Last Jedi at an early screening, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. Photo stills from the film © 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

When the first Star Wars came out in 1977, I lived in Nashville, Tennessee. Our house was one of the last houses at the end of a dead end road. But, on the other end of our street was a drug store, grocery store and Cinema South (the theatre). It was less than 2,000 feet to walk to Cinema South. And, in May of 1977, that’s just what we did. That summer we walked down many times to see Star Wars again and again. There was nothing in the world as exciting.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about The Last Jedi. The previews have laid out the basic storyline; Rey (Daisy Ridley), has tracked down Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, of course) and begins her journey to learn about the Force and become a Jedi Knight.

Before you start down the path of Degobah, just keep in mind that this is not “The Empire Strikes Back.” Rey’s experience with Skywalker is not a redo of Yoda. Rey has a much more natural knack for using the force than Luke Skywalker ever did, which comes in handy when facing Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

Having said that, if you loved Empire, you’ll be hard pressed not to notice the parallels between the two movies (Planet Hoth, Luke’s Jedi Training, the Rebel’s constantly on the run, an evil Leader who loves to choke people, and perhaps a few other things). Fortunately, the similarities are not to the detriment of the movie. In fact, The Last Jedi takes us far enough down the path that we even get to see a few very unexpected parallels with Return of the Jedi. You’ll be quite blown away by that point.

This latest installment leverages the right amount of “Star Wars creature” humor viz a viz the introduction of Porgs. I call them “space chickens.” They are quite funny, but play a small role in the film. So, don’t fear any kind of Jar Jar Binks reprisal.

You’ll love the opening scene where we meet new characters, see new space craft and new Star Wars-style technology that makes you wish you were a kid again.

The big elephant in the room though is why Skywalker is living like a recluse; not to mention, what is his connection to Rey. Since this is a “no spoiler” review, you’ll just have to decide for yourself what the answer is. Kylo Ren plays mind games with Rey throughout the film and Luke is pressured to leave his hermit house and take up the fight like Obi-Wan of old.

As Luke engages with the Force again after turning away for so long, he is faced with the ultimate decision of what he will do to restore the Jedi order. His life is a constant struggle between using his knowledge of the force to pass on what he has learned, or fear the possibility of accidentally arming another generation of sith apprentices. In such times, there’s nothing like a more experienced voice of reason to help you out.

Rey must face her own demons by confronting her nameless past. She must learn to see herself as more than an orphan with no future.

There is some definite new energy building up for the final installment. I don’t envy the writers. They were kids like me when the original trilogy came out. What would I do if I was responsible for writing these movies? Good question.

As for Cinema South, it was a movie theater under various management until 1998, when it was closed. Later it became a nightclub called the Outer Limit and was finally demolished in late 2004. Today there’s a supermarket on the site. I doubt that anybody there even knows that 40 years ago kids came from all over to see the original Star Wars again and again all summer long.

My final recommendation: head to the theaters this weekend to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi. You won’t regret it.

As you get ready to see The Last Jedi in theaters, enjoy this “Training” featurette:

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Visit the official STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI website

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI opens in theatres everywhere December 15th!

Outdoor and Indoor is Not the Same – Says Me (and the Laws of Physics)

CandyMan — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 03:15:05 +0000

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Glad for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you’re like me, you have often switched to a roll of those plain black outdoor garbage bags for your kitchen garbage – not realizing the seemingly innocuous trade off you just made.

What is that “seemingly innocuous” trade off you ask? Parenthetically, I love the word “innocuous”, mainly because of a line from a very funny Will Ferrell movie. Ah yes, the trade off. Well, when you switch over to a big black outdoor trash bag, you are falling into the common trap and misconception that bigger is better and that outdoor is stronger than indoor. Wrong on both accounts.

Now, come with me as we explore the seemingly pedestrian and monotonous world of kitchen garbage bags.

Our kitchen garbage can is named “Ralphie,” like the boy who shoots his eye out with a BB-gun. Ralphie is pretty plain; he is brown, made of plastic and has the little foot pedal that lifts the lid. The lid often gets messed up and we end up lifting the lid with our hands, but you get the picture. We have to spray him with disinfectant all the time to suppress the toxicity of his inner fumes. Woo boy!

For many years, we have used these huge outdoor bags that are supposedly stronger and tougher (at least in my mind that was the idea). But, the issue is that these outdoor bags are not designed to handle anything but outdoor garbage, like paper, leaves, grass trimmings, etc. Those things aren’t the same as indoor garbage.

And that is exactly the point! Outdoor bags are made for things that don’t stink, don’t leak and don’t spill all over the kitchen floor. You wouldn’t carry a bowling ball in a lunchbox or pour a serving of soup into a napkin, so why would you put your stinky kitchen garbage into an outdoor garbage bag?

Enter the Glad KitchenPro “truly made for kitchen” garbage bag.

The Glad KitchenPro addresses several key deal breakers for those of us who produce more than their fair share of garbage.

First, Glad KitchenPro bags are bigger, so they can handle larger messes. I can’t deal with those tiny kitchen bags that you have to change every day. What a waste of time.

Second, they have 5-day odor control. The bags actually have Febreze odor neutralization built in. The KitchenPro keeps the whole smell thing quiet while it’s in the kitchen and then holds in the smell outside until garbage day. Once you put your garbage outside, it’s usually like ringing the dinner bell for critters. Think about that the next time you see that some critter has ripped into your plain black outdoor garbage bags and you have to go pick it up. With Glad KitchenPro the critters only smell the Febreze.

Lastly, who doesn’t love wiping up those leak trails from the kitchen garbage can to the back door or better yet, when you drip across the living room carpet. Oh yes, that’s a joy. When you see the leak protection in the KitchenPro, you’ll ask yourself who the village idiot is that sold you on those enormous outdoor bags that provide no more protection from leaks that a spaghetti strainer. (Oh, that idiot would be you).

It’s time to get on board. It’s time to rise up and refuse to believe the fake news that surrounds the world of garbage and garbage bags. Bigger is not better and outdoor is not stronger than indoor. It’s just the opposite. You can get the Glad KitchenPro at Target and save yourself from a continuing saga of stink and stench.

Picture yourself, your kids, your dog or cat, your iguana (if you have one) enjoying a nice luncheon and not a hint of kitchen garbage. Just the sweet aroma of cucumber sandwiches and fresh lemonade. Yes, that is what your life will be like when you make the switch to the Glad KitchenPro.

Glad KitchenPro is available at Target so head over there and stock up. Your nose will thank you.

Perhaps The Easiest Way Yet to Talk to Your Teens About Drug Use

CandyMan — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 21:39:55 +0000

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of National Institute on Drug Abuse for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you want a fun and effective way to talk about drugs with your teens, then the road has been paved for you. In just 12 clicks, you can have an engaging, thought-provoking discussion that is more like a trivia game challenge than a sit down discussion.

Have you heard about the “National Drug & Alcohol IQ Challenge”? No? Well, this is your silver bullet to get started. I took the 12-question quiz with my son, and we had a really good conversation that gave me a great peek into his surroundings. I got a 67 on the quiz. Now, in my own defense, there were 4 questions I missed, but I had most of the information correct on each question, so I still think I passed and did well.

Take the National Drug & Alcohol IQ Challenge

The National Drug & Alcohol IQ Challenge is a resource of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is part of NIH (we live right down the road from NIH, so this is a local landmark). NIDA is holding its annual National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week^SM (NDAFW) from January 23-29, 2017. This event connects teens with scientists, so the dialogue and opportunity to ask real questions and get real answers far exceeds any other opportunities that address drug use.

How Can This Help Me and My Teens?

You may think that drugs will not impact your teens if you’re involved with their activities. But, there are two really good reasons to have a talk with your teens about drugs now.

First, even if you teach them good principles, you probably haven’t had a legitimate talk with them about the dangers and current trends.

Second, and equally important, teens are bombarded with false information about drug and alcohol use on TV, in the movies, on the internet and other places. So, your son or daughter may be the only person in their circle who has legitimate information. They may be the only person sitting at the lunch table who can chime in when one kid says something false, misleading and unknowingly dangerous about drug use. Not to mention, they will be that much better off by knowing the facts for themselves.

Talking to your teens about drugs and drug use is almost cliché at this point. But, what have you actually talked about openly?

Do you know how many kids age 12-17 actually used alcohol during the last month? Or, do you know the dangers of e-cigs and what we actually know about them? I don’t smoke, so e-cigs are a bit of a mystery to me, but rest assured, there are lots of myths about e-cigs.

Did you know that many prescription pain killers can cause your heart to beat dangerously faster?

How about this one: Do you know what “bath salts” are and how they are made? I’m not talking about taking a nice soak in a warm tub, I mean drugs that are made with compounds you can buy all over the place. Check out this link for more drug and alcohol facts.

If you’re not sure what you should be doing, here’s the “Family Checkup” which is a suggested checklist of questions to ask yourself. It has a number of good sample videos and ideas for dealing with drug related questions and situations you may find yourself in.

If your teen is using drugs and you need help, click here for videos and solid suggestions. One of the things I like about this link is that it explains why it may be hard for someone to quit using drugs.

NIDA’s website has numerous materials you can use or share with others about drug addiction and abuse. I found them to be very approachable and useful for simple discussions.

The bottom line is that National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week^SM can open doors and provide an easy way to regularly talk with your teen and check in with their friends as well. Try the quiz and see if you can beat my score. No cheating!

Send Your Kids to College with a Gift that Gives You the Savings

CandyMan — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 20:49:25 +0000

No matter how you slice it, even with a scholarship, college costs a lot of money. Our second daughter is about to graduate from high school this year, meaning that we’ll have more college bills to pay soon. With 5 kids, we have to find ways to save wherever we can. Our oldest daughter daughter taught us several things about frugal college living, including getting as many textbooks as possible on Amazon. Want to know what we’d recommend? Here is the one thing you must get to cut down on college costs.

Prime Student – This is Amazon’s student version of Amazon Prime. It has ALL of the benefits of Amazon Prime, plus a few more that are catered toward saving you money on college purchases. The first six months are free when you sign up, and then it’s 50% of the cost of regular Amazon Prime. By my math, that makes it $49 per year. Not bad.

Now, having said that, let’s clear the air and see why your college bound kids should not miss out on becoming a Prime Student.

In addition to Amazon Prime Student benefits, Amazon can help students save time and money by skipping the bookstore line and visiting the Amazon Textbooks Store where you can rent textbooks for up to 80% less than buying them.

You get all of the two-day free shipping options that regular Amazon Prime offers, you get exclusive deals and Prime Early Access where they sell limited items only to prime members at really low prices.

On the non-shopping side, you get free access to Audible Channels which has tons of original series and material. When you need to expand your brain, relax, motivate yourself or just laugh out loud, you can find a channel that explores everything from spirituality to scientific theory.

If you prefer to read, you get Prime Reading which allows you to read thousands of books, magazine and other titles on any device you want. You don’t need a Kindle to use it, they have a Kindle App that is free. This is one of the best ways to escape the onslaught of junk information that comes across your news feed.

For gamers, you get Twitch Prime that gives you access to free games and discounts on new releases every month.

Lastly, if your kids like to take pictures, Prime Student let’s you tap into Amazon’s huge data storage facility at no cost. You get unlimited photo storage that is all organized and ready to use. So, go ahead, keep taking 432 pictures of the same thing. You can store all those pictures for free. Or, instead of that, refer a friend to use Prime Student and get a $10 Amazon store credit when they sign up.

Just take a look at any one of the features and you’ll see that this is the place to go for all kinds of resources to make college better. It will also save you money on tons of things you have to buy anyway.

If you are not an Amazon Prime member already, then you are either just plain missing out on life or perhaps you haven’t embraced the concept of not having to get our of your pajamas to do your shopping. Either way, get up and make a change for the new year!

How to sign up for Amazon Prime Student:

Go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup
Click on the button that says “Start Your 6-Month Trial”
Click on “Create your Amazon account”
Follow the instructions on the screen and provide your personal information

Note: When you sign up for Amazon Prime Student, there is no cost for the first six months, courtesy of Sprint and you can cancel at any time. After that, students receive 50 percent off of regular Amazon Prime Membership at only $49 annually.

Find more about Amazon Prime Student and sign up HERE. Find out about the latest deals and promotions by following Amazon Prime Student on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat (add ‘amazonstudent’).

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Why We Love SING #SingMovie

CandyMan — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 03:40:58 +0000

We were able to see an early screening of Sing with the family last month, and we’re thrilled that Sing is finally coming to theaters this week for everyone else to see. This is a spoiler-free movie review. Amazon links are used to point you in the right direction to bring the music home (which you will want to do after you see the movie).

SING opens in theaters Wednesday, December 21!

What do you do when your life-long dream seems to be crumbling before your eyes? Obviously, you hold an amateur singing competition!

Sing is the latest and greatest rendition of all those singing competitions that have flooded our TV screens for the last decade plus. But this time, it’s the competition promoter who needs to win.

Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey – Interstellar) is a Koala who fell in love with the theatre at a young age – so much so, that his father washed cars for years saving money so that he and Buster could buy the local theatre. After a few years of glamour and fun, the theatre has fallen into disrepair. Buster is behind on his mortgage payments and the bank is ready to foreclose.

With his life-long dream about to be foreclosed forever, Buster hatches a scheme to hold a singing competition where he’ll exploit the local talent field, pay them peanuts and pocket all of the proceeds to save his dying theatre. The only problem is that his “ready to keel over and die ancient” secretary accidentally offers a $100,000 prize for the winner.

As he sits through the thousands of auditions with his long-time sheep buddy Eddie (John C. Reilly – Wreck it Ralph), he discovers a number of amazingly talented locals who have what it takes to succeed without Buster’s intervention; each one dealing with his or her own demons that are preventing them from being the performer they yearn to become.

Who’s Who in SING

You’ll have a hard time recognizing many of these voices as you see them in their animal personas.

Rosita (Reese Witherspoon – Legally Blonde) is a pig (no insults intended) stay-at-home mom, mother of many piglets, wife of a tired, disinterested husband who appreciates her but has no idea of her inner desire to pursue her singing career. She creatively figures out how to escape from her daily house-wife drudgery just long enough to audition and be chosen as one of the performers. But, her demanding schedule won’t allow her to realize her golden opportunity.

Paired with an overbearing dancing German pig named Gunter (Nick Kroll – Sausage Party), she faces the dilemma that many of us encounter: how do we balance our family responsibilities with the need and desire to fulfill our own personal dreams. Gunter, by the way, is hysterically funny.

Ash, a young punk rock Porcupine (Scarlett Johansson – The Avengers) feels held back and betrayed by her boyfriend.

Johnny, a teenage gorilla (Taron Egerton – Eddie the Eagle), fights against his father’s demands that he join their gang and help them rob banks and jewelry stores.

Mike, a street smart mouse (Seth MacFarlane – Family Guy), is on the run from gangsters and hopes to bag the grand prize and make a poshe life for himself.

And, if you have seen the previews, we have Meena, a shy elephant (Tori Kelly – The Voice). Meena has a voice that rocks the theatre, but she can’t get over her stage fright, so she takes a job as a stagehand and watches the performance while creeping ever closer to their dreams on stage.

If you’re like me, you’ll commiserate, empathize and loathe the feelings and experiences of this unlikely group of wannabes. While each deals with obstacles and tragedies, they all share the common need to succeed and show people that they can do it. And, even in the midst of their personal and group tragedies, they come together to help each other.

Did I mention that Gunter is hilarious? He has few lines, but every one of them is a laugh out loud moment.

This is one of the bear animated films I have seen in years. It was meaningful, funny, thought provoking and well worth every second. If you buy dvds, this will be one that your kids will play over and over. The same goes for the CD – the music is absolutely awesome and is guaranteed to be played over and over again (luckily, it’s pretty parent-friendly too!).

Be sure to check out our other post about SING with fun (and free) printable activity sheets for kids!

Collateral Beauty Movie Review

CandyMan — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 20:00:37 +0000

Lolli and I saw Collateral Beauty at an early press screening. All thoughts about the movie are my own. This movie review contains no spoilers.

So what is this movie really about and what on earth does “Collateral Beauty” mean? Will Smith, who plays Howard, a successful advertising executive, is dealing with a family tragedy.

When Howard’s supportive friends and business partners Whit (Edward Norton – Birdman, The Bourne Legacy, The Incredible Hulk), Claire (Kate Winslet – Divergent, The Reader, Titanic) and Simon (Michael Pena – The Martian, American Hustle and World Trade Center) try to intervene to help Howard and save their failing business, they each get a little more than expected.

Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Ann Dowd, and Michael Peña in Collateral Beauty — Photo by Barry Wetcher – © 2016 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Village Roadshow Films North America Inc. and Ratpac-Dune Entertainment LLC

As a way of dealing with his pain, Howard begins writing letters – to “Death”, “Time” and “Love” – to express the feelings he doesn’t want to share with anybody. When Death (Helen Mirren – The Hundred-Foot Journey), Time (Jacob Latimore – The Maze Runner) and Love (Keira Knightley – oh, any of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies) mysteriously begin showing up in his life, Howard starts to question his sanity. Now, before you place any wagers on what you think the movie is or isn’t, let me just say that there were a number of unexpected twists that really made the movie meaningful to me.

I hate spoilers, so I won’t give you any. I will just say that there are some things that happen – interactions between characters – that seem a little…”pushy,” shall we say. And until you see the end from the beginning, it makes you question their validity.

I have 5 children and I have been blessed to see them safe and healthy all of their lives. In Collateral Beauty, Howard (Will Smith) is reeling from the death of his daughter. This is a theme and storyline that many writers have tackled in their own way.

Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, and Jacob Latimore in Collateral Beauty — Photo by Barry Wetcher – © 2016 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Village Roadshow Films North America Inc. and Ratpac-Dune Entertainment LLC

After the movie, Lolli and I talked about how parents who have lost a child might feel watching this movie. How did they cope with losing a child? How would they feel about this Hollywood portrayal of a parent who disengages from life and can’t find a way back to normalcy?

If you’re like me, you’ll feel that they didn’t give quite enough time to the character development needed to make Howard’s situation fully grab you. I like to know the full story, so when you give me just a little bit, I get anxious. However, I think they did this so that you would take notice of the other characters and their plights. Although Howard is writing letters to Death, Time and Love, he is not the only one who has a need for esoteric communications with the aforementioned pseudo-apparitions.

This is not a movie that avoids yanking at your heartstrings or emotions. It is sad at times, but filled with countless laughs. The whole part about apparitions telling you that “you are the only one who can see me” gets a whole new level of comedy in this one. You’ll be quoting it for a few days afterwards.

Back to my original question – what is “Collateral Beauty?” Well, I know what “collateral damage” is. When you make a triple batch of peanut butter cookies and forget to put the salt or eggs in the batter, you not only get bad cookies, but you have wasted all of the ingredients that were used in your triple batch. When everybody is mad at you for using the last of the vanilla or baking soda, that is my understanding of collateral damage.

Collateral Beauty is the many, perhaps, millions of moments and good things that happen to us along the path of our lives. Some of these things only become apparent when something tragic takes center stage. When we reel from something for an overly long time, the dust should settle and give us a better view of all that is NOT wrong in our lives. No matter the scope of the tragedy, at the end of the day, there are so many things right in our lives.

For Howard, he realizes all that his friends have done for him over an extended period of time, not just the support they provided during his tragedy. There is a profound collateral beauty in the sacrifices and inconveniences we make for others. We just don’t see if very often.

I have to say that I am a big Will Smith fan. I have seen many of his movies and think he is one of the best actors in Hollywood. The cast was great in this movie and I think you’ll enjoy it. The movie is rated PG-13, and I would recommend this as a movie for adults to enjoy. The subject matter and occasional strong language might be a little much for kids.

COLLATERAL BEAUTY
In theaters December 16
https://collateralbeauty-movie.com/
Rated: PG-13 for “thematic elements and brief strong language.”
Run time: 94 mins

Hershey’s Kitchens LIVE!

CandyMan — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 14:56:54 +0000

Our family kicked off the holiday season at Hersheypark in November as part of my wife’s Sweetest Moms ambassadorship. Our park admission and some activities were covered by Hersheypark, but all thoughts are our own. Photos that are not watermarked are courtesy of the Hershey’s Kitchens LIVE team.

What weekend getaway is complete without ending up as a guest chef on a cooking show?

When you go to Hershey’s Chocolate World, just about anything can happen.

We’ve been to Hersheypark many times. For many years we even had family that lived in nearby Hummelstown. It was always easy to run up and see them for a weekend and catch a few rides at the park or stop in for a treat or two at Chocolate World.

This time we were in for a new surprise. As I was waiting for Lolli to pick up our tickets to a few of the Chocolate World activities, I spotted a table that had a signup sheet to be part of the Hershey’s Kitchens Live and as chance would have it, they still had an opening for the 7 PM show.

Not knowing what we had to do, I jumped at the chance and signed our names on the line.

We were able to run around Hersheypark, take a tour of Chocolate World, do some shopping, and catch a show before coming back for the taping.

In a nutshell, the Herhsey’s Kitchens Live host put each family against another family in a cookie decorating contest while they joked around with the audience, had fun audience participation games. If you like chocolate and you like decorating cookies, then this is the show for you. I was able to eat a couple pounds of chocolate while decorating. It was a chocolate free-for-all. Thank goodness we had eaten dinner before heading to the taping.

On our show, Lolli, Necco, Reese and I were put on stage opposite a younger and clearly less seasoned family of three. Honestly, it really wasn’t a fair competition with my creativity. With 12 minutes to decorate a tray of cookies, the problem wasn’t what would we do, but how would the other family endure such cold humiliation.

Fortunately, as the Hershey’s Kitchens Live video shows, there were many families who struggled to create edibles as finely adorned as we were able to do.

I even took a break midway to suck down some frosting. I think my Princess Leia cookies were the clear winner and have the added bonus of taking the least amount of time to create.

At the end of the day, we had a great time frosting cookies, hamming it up for the camera, and we even went home with a 5 lb. bar of chocolate. What could be better than that?

See if you can spot us (right around 2:22) – we clearly didn’t get adequate screen time.

https://youtu.be/HEYD7EZwfaw

Check out the other events happening at Chocolate World during the holiday season and beyond!

K’NEX Wild Whiplash Roller Coaster #WildWhiplash

CandyMan — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 12:00:38 +0000

This post was sponsored on behalf of K’NEX. All opinions stated are my own.

In all my years building things as a kid, I never dreamed that I would have a job one day that paid me to have fun.

I grew up playing with every building toy you can imagine. It was always fun creating something new as I would do an all-nighter building marathon with friends in front of the TV.

My son and I recently built the K’NEX Wild Whiplash Roller Coaster. K’NEX are really cool because you can build a working project that is quick and easy to assemble. We spent just a short part of our evening putting together the Wild Whiplash Roller Coaster. It was pretty straight forward and it worked flawlessly. My older son jumped in last minute to help us finish up the track and chain that lifts the roller coaster to the top of the ramp. He couldn’t resist joining us when he saw how much fun we were having putting it together.

After a little while of using the pre-designed build, we modified the loops and made a new variation that had a totally new feel.

Strangely, K’NEX are a lot lighter that other construction toys. They are so light, in fact, that you feel like they are going to fall over, but they are actually quite strong. Most things you build with have to be put on a solid foundation or structure to be usable, but this roller coaster was easy to move around without anything attached to it. We took it off the table in seconds without having to take it apart or worry about it falling apart. It’s the lightest construction toy I have ever used.

Let me say one very specific thing that I liked more than anything. I have built lots of spaceships, buildings, cars, and other things. One of the things that can be irritating is trying to find the right piece. Usually there will be a legend or an instruction box, but inevitably, there is some piece that you can’t figure out. With K’NEX, each piece is color coded. If you need a piece that is a certain length, it only comes in one color, so you know exactly what you are looking for. This simple design idea saved us so much time when we were assembling the roller coaster.

After we finished up the initial build, my son was looking for a piece that connects the large K’NEX pieces to the small K’NEX (he has two boxes of K’NEX). He told me to look for a neon green piece. I didn’t know what it looked like, but I found what he needed in seconds. It was quite awesome. He used the extra pieces to extend the roller coaster and change some of the loops.

So, my hat is off to K’NEX. Thanks for the roller coaster and bigger thanks for making something that is easy to build and worth the time.

They really give you an opportunity to design things that will work. You can use the initial project as a springboard for other designs. I know that is typically what I do.

You can watch me and A.J. build the whole thing in a two-minute timelapse here. Look out for the apple dumplings my wife made.

Quick Reference About the K’NEX Wild Whiplash Coaster

Perfect for kids and adults 9+
WORKING motorized roller coaster
Includes 580 parts, with over 14 feet of track and a motorized chain lift
Includes easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions to build your coaster (PLUS, instructions for a 2nd coaster design are available online)
Finished coaster is over 2 1/2 feet tall
Only available at Walmart
K’NEX Wild Whiplash Roller Coaster retails for $32.97, making it a perfect holiday gift

Connect with K’NEX

Facebook: KNEX
Twitter: @KNEX
Instagram: @knexbrands
Pinterest: K’NEX Brands

Reflections on September 11th in Washington DC

CandyMan — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 05:00:03 +0000

The following reflections were written by my husband. You can see my own reflections on Remembering September 11 on 5 Minutes for Mom.

Decisions Can Have a Lasting Impact

Ten years ago…

I had just celebrated my 30th birthday.
I was returning to work, after recovering from hernia surgery.
I was working on Holocaust restitution and traveling the world by private jet.
Our first child was just starting kindergarten.
My wife and I were trying very hard to adjust to the demands of being outnumbered by three children.
I started taking Tae Kwon Do to fulfill a childhood desire that had never gone away.
We had refinanced our home in the suburbs of Washington, DC to a fixed rate 15-year mortgage.

The morning of September 11, 2001 started no different than any other. I got dressed for work and drove into the city. Sometimes I rode the metro, but that day I had driven. I had a maroon 1994 Geo Prizm. The trunk was scratched through from a bike rack I used to carry around. It never rusted because there wasn’t actually a speck of metal in the entire body of the car (all plastic).

I was somewhere on Canal Road – a beautiful little street with a cobblestone wall that runs along the Potomac river and drops you off right in Georgetown next to the Ukrainian embassy (about 10 minutes from my office on a good day).

This time of year, the leaves are still completely green and thick, so much so that any view of the river or city is quite concealed by the trees and foliage.

Before I got to the end of Canal Road, the DJs on the radio announced that a plane had hit one of the twin towers in New York City. I listened for the next 10 – 15 minutes as I made my way into the office at 13th and L streets. When I got to the office they had a TV on and were watching the coverage.

What had happened? How could the pilot have been so off course? I remembered that years earlier, a plane had crashed into the 14th street bridge just after taking off from Washington National airport. This looked like the same kind of freak accident at the moment.

Not long after, the second plane hit the other tower. To this day, I have no memory of whether I saw it happen live or not. I have seen it so many times on TV that my own recollections have been washed away and flooded with the TV footage. It was 15 minutes between the first tower and second tower being hit. In all probability, I was in the elevator of my building as it occurred.

Once the second plane hit, it was clear that this was no accident.

I would later hear from a friend of mine in New York, Chris Carnicelli, who worked for Generali Insurance, that he watched from his office window as one person after another jumped to their death. He had a horrifying front row seat to the entire unfolding scene.

Across the river from my office, just 35 minutes later, the Pentagon was the next target. Shortly after the plane hit, we could see the smoke rise through our office windows.

The White House was just a few blocks away.

Some time in the next 20-30 minutes, former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, who was my boss at the time, called me from his home in Charlottesville, Virginia to find out what was happening. He asked me one question: “What do you think we should do there?” I told him that since we didn’t know what would happen next, we should send everyone home immediately.

I spent the next 3 and half hours in my car trying to get out of the city. The traffic was grid locked everywhere. Cell phones didn’t work and I couldn’t contact my wife to let her know that I was safe and on the way home. I was glad I drove that day and wasn’t at the mercy of public transportation. I don’t remember if they shut down the metro or not.

As I reached my home, there was an unbelievably loud roaring sound right above my head. It didn’t sound like a plane crash, but it was clearly a noise I had never heard there before.

One or two F15s were patrolling the airspace around us. We live directly in the path between the White House and Camp David. I later learned that at 10:10 am, long before I reached home, that these pilots had been given clearance to shoot down any remaining hijacked planes, which is what they were circling around looking for.

They were traveling so fast that by the time you heard them, they had passed so far beyond you that you could barely get a glimpse. My wife caught a tiny image of one of them with her camera. It looks like a thumbnail image in one of our scrapbooks.

As events unfolded and details emerged, we became different people. No longer did we live in a safe and secure world. Our town, our home, Gaithersburg became part of a world in conflict. We didn’t know what to expect next. Was there more to come? Was it safe to leave our house?

I felt an anger and disbelief that my world was not the same place it was when I left for work that morning. But, I was safe and had not lost any family members or friends.

Well, almost nobody.

On the morning of September 11, a friend of mine, Neil Levin, was having breakfast in Windows on the World, a very nice restaurant at the top of the North Tower. I met Neil and worked with him when he was the Superintendent of Insurance for the State of New York. We was one of the key people that helped bring Holocaust-era insurance restitution to the table. After he left that position, he became the Executive Director of the Port Authority and had responsibility for running the World Trade Center.

For quite some time after 9/11, I found myself looking at the resume he sent me several months earlier. He has asked Secretary Eagleburger to see if he could get a position in the new Bush administration.

Mr. Eagleburger had influenced Colin Powell heavily on some of his top picks, including Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage. I remember sitting in his office as Secretary Powell was lamenting that there were people trying to force him to take people he didn’t want. Mr. E’s response was “you’ve got to have someone in that position who’s going to watch your back.”

If anyone could get Neil in the door, it was Mr. Eagleburger. Unfortunately, Neil never got a spot with the Bush administration, which led him to take the job at the Port Authority.

How different our lives can be because of one decision.

Where would I be today if I had not made some of the good decisions of the past ten years?

Where would I be if I could go back and change some of the mistakes I made over the same time frame?

I think that looking back over the last ten years, the one thing that seems to matter most is not the big decisions or small decisions gone right or wrong, but the decisions I failed to make at all.

Of all the things I try hard to do differently, one stands out more than all of them.

When I hear a quite voice inside me tell me that I should do something, I try to act on it: send a quick email to someone, check on something, ask somebody about something, or any number of other small things.

Truly, most of these things are small and seemingly insignificant, but seem to always yield positive fruits.

I don’t lament some “good” things that I feel have not yet occurred, or even some big mistakes that have occurred. I lament not acting quickly when I feel inside that I should or should not do something. Even when it is just something small.

I am getting better, more quick to react and more in tune with these thoughts and ideas that come to my mind. I hope that I will get even better over the next ten years because I still have a lot of decisions to make.

The Pentagon and WTC photos are part of a “Looking into the Past” series by Jason E. Powell on flickr (creative commons). It is a fascinating series of photos looking back on 9-11.

Lawrence S. Eagleburger – A Mentor and Friend

CandyMan — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 20:40:13 +0000

My husband wrote this article about his experiences with Lawrence Eagleburger after learning of his passing yesterday. If another more touching memorial to Mr. Eagleburger has been written, I haven’t seen it, and I thought that it should be published. I hope Mr. E knew how much CandyMan appreciated him.

I first met Secretary Eagleburger in December 1998, when I was interviewed to be his assistant on a new commission he was heading (the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims).

He reminded me of my paternal grandfather (both of our families have German roots). As he walked in the lobby past me, the unmistakable click of his cane tapping the floor was a constant cadence of his walk.

We would soon become close friends. Our first trip together found me staying in a luxury suite in the Waldorf Towers in New York. I remember him laughing at me because I had gone all around his room counting the number of thermostats. It was my first exposure to luxury living.

Over the coming five years, we would visit the Waldorf Towers and many other fabulous hotels around the world (China, Italy, England, France, you name it, we went there).

My role began as his assistant, but as anyone who knows him will tell you, he rewards people who take the initiative. I quickly saw many vacuums in our commission and other areas of Mr. Eagleburger’s life. I stepped in to do what I could. Before long, he was including me in everything he did.

Of all the things I can say about Mr. Eagleburger, one of the most endearing is that he literally went out of his way to include me in high-level meetings. He said he wanted me to see how things worked, how he handled situations and problems. I learned incredibly fast just how the top brass of the world get things done.

Only one occasion do I remember being shut out of a meeting and that was due to a Senate member’s chief of staff closing the door on my face. I waited in the hall and when he emerged, the first thing he said to me was “that was a crappy thing for that guy to do.” He looked out for me constantly.

But, beyond the Secretary Eaglleburger that the media talks about, the praise for his commitment to country and his never ending list of accomplishments was a man that did not fit the role of a senior diplomat and statesman.

Behind the scenes, Mr. Eagleburger was a man who liked things to be simple. He didn’t like fancy restaurants. He hated “foo foo food” as he would call it. He preferred a nice steak. But always well done. He would say “I want a steak, but I wanted it really well done, like shoe leather.”

He also loved Chinese food. He asked the guy at the Peking Gourmet in Alexandria who carved the duck to do his heart surgery.

When we traveled, he preferred to have a no nonsense dinner with the AV technician at the conference and ask questions about local culture rather than listen to some stuck up politician discuss things he (Mr. E) didn’t care about.

He heavily salted everything he ate (even his pizza).

He loved to quote Ogden Nash, the five-second poet. I got him an entire book of Ogden Nash one year for his birthday. My children and I still quote from it. His favorite Ogden Nash poem was “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.”

Over the years we worked together, I constantly bugged him about writing a book about his experiences. He would not. He viewed it as a betrayal of his office. Not to disrespect Kissinger or others. Kissinger came from an academic background and Mr. E supported all that “Henry” wrote. He loved him. He kept a picture in his office of him giving Henry a hug on Henry’s last day at the State Department.

When we sat in meetings, he would doodle, but his doodles were always quite similar. They had loops and swirls. They looked like a fancy spider web.

He had a great sense of humor and was always dancing about (as much as he could) and he would sing songs.

But the side of Lawrence Eagleburger that I was privileged to know is the man who, despite his physical pain, tried very hard to treat people well and continue helping others.

There were days when he was in so much physical pain that any normal person would have stayed home and called in sick. If he was in anyway able of moving, he would. Notwithstanding his unstoppable drive, I found myself at his condo in Arlington, him in a bathrobe slowly moving around while I coordinated meetings, phone calls and faxes from the living room.

It was pleasure to work with him. I was the luckiest person in the world because I got individual time to learn from him more than anyone else.

Of the hundreds of times I helped him carry his brief case and all the junk he would lug around with him up to his condo at the end of the day, there was never a single time he did not say thank you. I think I learned how to say “thank you” from him.

As time passed, we spent a lot of time together on planes, trains and automobiles. My scariest adventure with him was driving him back to Charlotesville in my Geo Prizm. This was the smallest car he had been in in years. It was a manual transmission and as I shifted gears, he would smack my hand if I shifted the gears too early. He said I was driving it wrong. I needed to wind out the gears. For months I felt like Pavov’s dog every time I reached for the gear shift, but I wasn’t salivating, I was “gear shift” shy of being smacked.

One of the things we shared in common was a love for languages. He spoke several languages and would always chat with the shoe shine guys at the train station in DC in Spanish. He liked that fact that I knew about 10 languages at the time I worked for him. He could speak to me in Serbian and I could talk back to him in Polish and Russian. He would curse at me in German or whatever else came to his mind.

He had a phenomenal sense of people and their aspirations. He knew how to navigate personal politics. On one trip to Azerbaijan, he was meeting with the President. I was very excited to go, but he knew this was a meeting that I was not invited to so he very smoothly asked me if I would stay back to make sure his wife Marlene was looked after. I was bummed about missing the meeting, but immediately saw what he was doing.

In all my experiences, I have never worked for or know anyone who looked after their staff like he did.

Had Bush Sr. won re-election, he was going to clean up the State Department and get rid of those who weren’t worth their weight and didn’t do their job. He always regretted that he did not have the chance to do this.

Mr. E had an unusual repository of personal metaphors. He frequently told people they were dancing around issues doing some sort of “kabuki dance”, or my personal favorite that they were “bouncing around like a fart in a mitten.” I still have no idea what that one means.

While traveling from Geneva to London, he found out I had never been to Paris, so we changed plans and visited Paris for 2 days. I put on 7lbs on that trip alone as he would always scoop his extra food on to my plate.

While working on the Holocaust Commission, he was frequently attacked by numerous individuals and groups for taking a large salary. I can personally attest to the fact that he gave up multiple board positions and speaking engagements that paid far more and were significantly less work.

He made tremendous personal sacrifices to chair the Holocaust Commission and had to manage a process that was far more complicated than anyone ever predicted. During the first months of the work, he repeatedly said that he expected to wrap this whole project up in about one year. It took nearly nine years.

Numerous times, it was only his skill and personality that kept people and organizations from leaving the process in lieu of a class action lawsuit. He had to endure the ignorance of certain congressmen who cared nothing for Holocaust issues, but rather saw it as a political card to play.

Why did he agree to chair this commission? He always felt a responsibility for the anti-semitism that he said existed in the State Department. He wanted to repair some of the damage that he felt he never addressed while in office. He cared about people who had been wronged by the evil that bad governments did, especially when the power to do something was within his power.

Mr. Eagleburger hated Saddam Hussein because he invaded Kuwait while he was away visiting his home in Wisconsin (the only time he had ever taken off of work to go home for a birthday celebration). Mr. E’s birthday: August 1. Invasion of Kuwait: August 2.

He liked to buy things wherever he went. He couldn’t even stop for gas without picking up a couple magazines, trail mix or something to drink. His drinks had to be ice cold. Ice cold. I’ll never forget how happy he was when I strained his milk over ice cubes one time and it was freezing cold. Oh, the joy of simple pleasures.

He suffered from myasthenia gravis and the hotter it got, the more difficult it was to move.

He pronounced Gummi Bears with a long “u” sound and would always yell at me for getting into the stash of “Goomi Bears” he kept in his desk.

He couldn’t type well on a computer and was elated when I taught him some simple “cut” and “paste” shortcuts in Microsoft Word.

He loved his wife Marlene very much. She passed away almost one year ago unexpectedly. They traveled together on many of his assignments where I was able to learn more about Mr. E and hear countless stories that will never make it to the annuls of the State Department.

My favorite was a time when Mr. E was holding secret talks with Cuba and he told Marlene that someone would be calling their home for “Mr. Wilson.” Several weeks passed (by which time she had forgotten) when, out of the blue, a man with a squeaky latino voice called and asked for “Meester Weelson.” She told him that he had the wrong number and hung up. He called back and asked for “Meester Weelson” where upon she informed him again that he had the wrong number and hung up. A third time he called and asked for “Meester Weelson” and she again told him he had the wrong number, hung up and then horrified, remembered what Mr. E had told her a few weeks prior. Fortunately, he called back one more time and with a very timid voice asked one more time for “Meester Weelson”. She told him to hold on and she would get him.

Marlene was a horse lover. She rescued multiple horses and let them roam the fields around their home in Charlottesville.

He has tremendous respect for his good friend Brent Scowcroft and always commented that Bush Sr. had a phenomenal understanding of foreign policy issues.

He respected Roman Kent (American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors) so much that when he could not get Roman to agree on an issue relating to the Holocaust commission, he temporarily resigned from the commission. Roman, out of his respect for Mr. Eagleburger, came to an agreement with Mr. E. That was perhaps one of the most touching instances of diplomacy that I ever saw. It was done privately between friends, yet the future of the commission was determined by this quiet act.

When I resigned my position at the commission, it had never occurred to me the void that would surface in my life. I had been his constant companion for five years. He was perhaps my best friend during those years. He tutored me, trained me, prepared me and gave me opportunities to lead and direct projects that were well beyond my years of experience.

He loved his sons very much, and always wished he had spent more time with them when they were younger. He was proud of each of them for choosing their own paths.

Not without his faults, he was no god. He had his own list of shortcomings. He was not an office manager and relied heavily on those around him to make sure things moved forward. That is what I liked best. If he gave me an assignment, I could get it done without interference. He was a delegator.

He was a Career Ambassador, which is a term most people are not familiar with. This is a special title within the Foreign Service. He once told me that this was equivalent to a 4-star general. It is in fact.

I have never found another mentor like him, but I have lived his advice and counsel and repeated them to my family, friends and colleagues. I don’t get nervous around “big and important” people because let’s face it, I’ll never meet anyone who was more important than Mr. Eagleburger.

Since working for him, I have yet to meet anyone that motivates and inspires me the way he did. He was the best mentor I could have ever asked for and a good friend.