Wednesday, November 14, 2007

hump-day happiness

this is a photo of the Baby Einstein toy, item 05810#So, the other day I was following things around on Sitemeter, and I read one of my old posts, which had a comment from my bud Sh3rry, who asked...
I wonder if perhaps you could spend one day dedicated to what makes you laugh rather than being angry at the obvious decay of our nation?
I've thought about this (she's not the first to ask, either) and decided to try and be a bit more positive. And let's substitute "happy" for "laugh".

I'll start out small, but I'll try to make this a regular feature.

This is something that makes me happy. It is a Baby Einstein product which is, sadly, no longer available. I got it at my favorite thrift store. I dont remember the kids being particularly enamored of it, but I thought it was great. It plays only four (brightly-colored) notes, but each of those notes has four different tones, none of which sound like typical (annoying) electronic sounds, plus it plays a half dozen or so fairly complex classical pieces at the touch of a button. It is one of the few electronic toys that I've encountered in raising my kids that I'd actually recommend to anyone for their own kids.

I know, it's not much, but it is a pure and unadulterated happiness.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I have taken to listening to lots of music lately...to get away from the carnage and horrors foisted upon us by our elected officials.

That toy is wonderful..and no nauseating tones?

Figures they don't make it anymore.

rev. billy bob gisher ©2008 said...

me too. after you have done everything you can to change it, stop focusing on it. it will only drag you down. if i can do it anyone can.

daveawayfromhome said...

It's a great toy, and I just stumbled across it by accident. I assume that they dont make it anymore. Searching "Baby Einstein" and "toy" or "calliope" or anything else turned up nothing, even on the Baby Einstein site (not even the model number worked).

Anonymous said...

Oh Jesus... when was *I* such a pollyanna? I try to rationalize that the Writer's Strike will end someday (and I will hopefully be quite a lot thinner, spending all of my money on gasoline instead of food)... and I ponder Nostradamus and question the Mayan calendar and wonder if I can truly learn French fluently and go hide somewhere in the south and grow some grapes or something... and then I check out your blog and you give me a reality check.... again... only this time throwing my own optimistic crap back at me.

Thanks, Dave.
Change is the one constant. Let's retain some hope for 2008...

Anonymous said...

It may not be a huge step toward happiness, but remember - we all must learn to crawl before we can play complex classical pieces.

Curmudgeonly Yours,
OP

Linda Yun said...

Hello,
Do you still have this toy? Would you be willing to part with it? linda.l.yun (at) gmail.com

Thanks,
Linda

daveawayfromhome said...

Nope, sorry