I’ve known about Meetup.com for a while, but just recently signed up. I’m not always first in line to adopt things. I feel like I’m “Web 1.9″ sometimes.

Last week, I went to 3 events I found through Meetup.com:

• South Florida Graphic Design/Creative Meetup
• South Florida Web Design Meetup
• Babies, Toddlers, and Little People Meetup

So far, meetup.com is 3 for 3. I met some great folks in my industry at the design meetups. I was especially looking forward to the Babies, Toddlers and Little People meetup. Renee was at one of their meetups earlier this year.

The organizer of this particular meetup is Jordanna Egan. She runs a licensed home day care center here in South Florida. She uses the group to promote her business and foster a sense of community. Renee and I felt an immediate kinship with her. Her two children are named Austin and Erianna.

Renee and I continue to get better networked locally. One segment of our circle of friends is an older bunch without children. That was the group we spent most of our social time with until the baby was born. They are a wonderful bunch, but we were hungry for circumstantial peers - other local folks our age with children. Meetup.com is proving to be a great way to fill that need.

If you haven’t checked out meetup.com, it’s worth a look. This concludes my wholehearted, sincere, unpaid, and unsolicited endorsement of meetup.com.

Subscribe to my RSS Feed!

Subscribe in a reader

Subscribe to 21st Century Dad by Email

Bosch PS20-2 Litheon 10.8-Volt Lithium-Ion Pocket Driver

Power tools make dad’s life easier. The job gets done quicker. They feed our need for gadgets and other toys. This one will even get mom’s approval.

Were you seduced by false economy and bought the cheap power screwdriver? The cheapo-depot specials use nickel cadmium batteries, so their charge is suspect. The batteries drain while sitting on the shelf. They also developed the much-dreaded memory effect. Halfway through assembling your latest Ikea purchase, the screwdriver quits on you.

The Bosch PS20-2 Litheon 10.8-Volt Lithium-Ion Pocket Driver is the answer. It is one of the best purchases I have ever made.

• The lithium ion batteries hold their charge so the Bosch PS20-2 Pocket Driver is always ready for the task.
• It comes with a second battery so you can work uninterrupted.
• The battery charges in only 30 minutes.
• With the proper bits, you can do some very light-duty drilling. No need to bring out the 18-volt behemoth to drill drywall.
• The rubberized grip makes it comfortable to hold and use.
• It’s small and lightweight. The wife and your older children can wield this tool very effectively too.

Everyone from the über-handyman to the occasional DIY’er will get plenty of use out of this little gem. Any project goes by faster with power tools, especially when you have a Bosch Pocket Driver. You’re less fatigued at the end of a project due to the Pocket Driver’s light weight and the time you saved.

Baby-proofing efforts in my house will have to step up in the next few months. I have a whole pile of kitchen cabinet safety latches to install. The only tools I’ll need are the Bosch Pocket Driver, a pencil, and a ruler.

It’s a little more expensive than most cordless electric drivers, but it gets the job done and won’t quit on you. I’m a firm believer in spending a little bit extra for quality and durability.

Bosch also makes a full line of lithium-ion powered cordless tools. If you’re reading this blog, you’re tech-savvy enough to understand the benefits of lithium-ion battery power. They’re awesome in my laptop. Imagine how much they’ll rock your world in the form of a 36V circular saw.

Why is it that battery operated baby toys take 3 batteries? These things are sold in multiples of 2, with a 4-pack being the most common. I don’t own enough clocks and keychain-sized flashlights to utilize all the leftover AA or AAA batteries. As for larger toys, I haven’t found a use for the orphaned single C or D cells.

As your baby grows, so will her toy collection. Some 3th grade math will tell you that buying 24 batteries will power 8 toys. You can keep these magic cylinders out of the battery orphanage.

Being Green Saves You Greenbacks

It doesn’t make sense to use alkalines. Nickel metal hydride (or NiMH) rechargeables are your best bet. You will recoup their premium over alkalines after two charges. They are good for many more charge/discharge cycles. This makes sense for your wallet and for the environment.

Sometimes you can score a deal and get a charger bundled with some batteries. You might even get lucky and get a 60, 30, or 15 minute rapid charger. Brute force charging will shorten the lifespan of these little metal cylinders. These little metal cylinders are an integral part of maintaining your child’s pleasant disposition. Your batteries deserve better.

A Better Battery Charger

The La Crosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger is the best battery charger available today. You don’t give much thought to a battery charger. Pop the batteries in and wait for the red LED to turn green. Thoughtlessness will kill your batteries as fast as the child who just discovered how to make Dora say “¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?” enough times to make you think you live in Miami.

I shelled out full-pop before the price drop to $39.95. I didn’t buy an iPhone, but I paid the nerd tax on this one. It’s worth every penny, even at the original price of $79.95. Here’s why:

• Trickle charge or rapid-charge your AA’s and AAA’s. Trickle charging gives you more battery life per charge and many more charge/discharge cycles.
• It’s smart enough to keep batteries topped off after they’re fully charged. You’ll have full-capacity batteries ready to go. Typical NiMH’s lose charge while on sitting on your shelf or in your kitchen junk drawer.
• Can be set to fully discharge partially drained batteries before recharging them, further enhancing battery life.
• There’s a “Refresh” mode that reconditions poor performing batteries.
• Each charging slot is discrete and works independent of the others. Perfect for when you have to charge the 3 batteries from one of those pesky 4.5 volt devices.
• Works on archaic nickel cadmium rechargeables too. Battery type is automatically detected.
• It doesn’t get hot when plugged in and unused.
• The charger is bundled with 4 AA’s, 4 AAA’s, and 4 C and D cell adapters. Now you don’t have to try and find rechargeable C or D cells. The extra batteries and the C and D adapters are worth $30 alone!

The Savings Continue

Every time you charge a set of batteries, you save $5 or more. Between your child’s toy collection and your own gadgets, this charger will pay for itself quickly. I bought mine on Amazon a year and a half ago and the savings continue to rack up. I love the smell of nickel metal hydride in the morning.

Don’t be seduced by false economy and settle for “basura barata” when it comes to battery chargers. The BC-900 maintains healthy batteries long after a rapid charger has finished sucking the life out of these magic little cylinders. The refresh feature has saved a few batteries I thought were toast.

The manual is written in “Engrish,” but well worth your diligence to decipher. The demo video on the manufacturer’s site is of some help, but it’s more of a sales pitch than an informative video.

If I stopped you from buying a bunch of alkaline batteries, pass some of the savings along and make a donation.