I'm no girl, but I am a nerd. But I don't think I have to be a girl to be pleased that Mattel is finally releasign a nerd-positive Barbie doll next month — specifically, Computer Engineer Barbie. This is Barbie's 125th career, and this profession was chosen by fans among other options like news anchor, surgeon, and environmentalist. All good, positive choices — certainly better than America's Next Top Model contest — but it's just nice to see a toy that portrays math and...

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Karl Yes! Yes! Yes! I remember voting for this when Mattel was asking the public's opinion.

Instead of "Math is hard," she should say, "Constructing mathematical models and quantitative analysis techniques and using computers to analyse and solve scientific problems is hard." (November 16 at 11:10am)

LovesMickey LOL! I love it! I agree, having a Computer Engineer Barbie should give little girls the feeling that they too can be a computer wiz! It's not just for geeks! (November 16 at 2:41pm)

Back before the HD days, my wife and I had Tivo. It was wonderful. Fast, intuitive, easy to use and search for programs... we loved it. Especially because the Tivo box was essentially free, and all you had to do is pay the monthly service fee.

But then I got an HD TV, and learned a hard truth — Tivo didn't do HD. Or at least the basic box didn't. To see HD with Tivo, you had to shell out $300 to get the HD Tivo, and then pay the monthly service fee... or you could pay your...

TiVo HD DVR

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gene Actually, if you had "lifetime" on your TiVo there were (and are) often times when you can upgrade your lifetime service to a new box. It usually costs a bit, but at least you're not paying monthly. I don't have cable any more (Hulu + Netflix), but could not imagine watching regular tv without a TiVo. The cable company DVRs have gotten a little better, but from what I have seen they still suck compared to TiVo... (October 31 at 8:58pm)

• Rock Band 3
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
• Lego Universe
• Fable 3
• Dragon Age: Origins Ultimat Edition

In summary, PLLLBBBBBBBBTTTTT.

starwarsfans I have the first 2, but can't use them until the end of December... :-( (October 27 at 10:15am)

Adam Did you see this deal at Amazon? http://amzn.to/aeNgbV

Buy 2 get 1 free. Christmas is here early! (October 27 at 6:35pm)

Adam @starwarsfans Why can't you use them till the end of December? You gettin' those new electro-thumbs I been hearin' about? (October 27 at 6:36pm)

So for the first time ever, I'm doing a secret santa that's not work related. Basically, there are two factors: 1) we actually have a pretty decent group together now, between my two brothers, my wife, and one fiancee, and 2) everybody in the whole wide world is broke. It just made sense to give one good gift to people as opposed to a bunch of smaller gifts. Anyways, it's a little weird, a little sad, but definitely a good idea and the right thing to do.

dreamcatcher Secret Santa can be so fun... it gives you time to really think about the gift you're giving to that person. And, it's fun to guess who your 'Santa' was, too, especially if they got you a gift that really fits your personality or style. (October 25 at 3:05pm)

Andrew I don't think it's sad at all. Kind of makes you think and hopefully put a lot of effort into that one gift. Rather than just grabbing a boring gift card and completely impersonal item. (October 25 at 3:43pm)

Boss It's like another step in adulthood, which is one step further from Christmas. (October 25 at 5:00pm)

dreamcatcher I understand now... but I've seen way too many kids tear into gift after gift and being upset that they didn't get *one* more thing from their wishlist. (October 25 at 5:08pm)

susanb Or you could all do handmade gifts or even give away a prized item! (October 25 at 10:19pm)

That deal on the enormous bag of Woka Halloween candy got me thinking — what's everyone's favorite candy? Mine, unfortunately, isn't the kind that makes it into too many Halloween bags, for whatever reason. Sure, I enjoy Reese's Cups and Kitkats and Rolos, and Smarties are good. But my favorite candy of all time is Wonka's Gobstoppers.

Now, two things about this — what I really love is Wonka's hard candy shell, which they use on a lot of their candies. What I dislike is any...

Jill I have an insatiable sweet tooth. Here's my ridicously lengthy list of favorite candy. In order, favorites first: Tier 1 (Chocolate is always a Tier 1 candy): Snickers. Baby Ruth. Dove or Lindt chocolates. Take 5 candy bars. Twix. Butterfingers. Reese Cups. Almond Joy. Kit Kats. Heath bars. Tier 2 (Favorite chewy candies or lesser chocolates:) Red Vines. Swedish Fish. Banana Laffy Taffy. Neapolitan Coconuts aka coconut slices. Bit-O-Honey. Andes. Whoppers. Milk Duds. Sugar Babies. Vanilla... more I have an insatiable sweet tooth. Here's my ridicously lengthy list of favorite candy. In order, favorites first: Tier 1 (Chocolate is always a Tier 1 candy): Snickers. Baby Ruth. Dove or Lindt chocolates. Take 5 candy bars. Twix. Butterfingers. Reese Cups. Almond Joy. Kit Kats. Heath bars. Tier 2 (Favorite chewy candies or lesser chocolates:) Red Vines. Swedish Fish. Banana Laffy Taffy. Neapolitan Coconuts aka coconut slices. Bit-O-Honey. Andes. Whoppers. Milk Duds. Sugar Babies. Vanilla tootsie rolls. Hershey kisses. M&Ms. Reese Pieces (in small doses.) Whatchamacallit bars. Tier 3 (Lesser chewy candies & fruity candies): Jelly Belly jelly beans. Blow Pops, Bottlecaps, banana Runts. Rootbeer barrels. Mike & Ikes. Watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Cherry, Grape or Orange Skittles. Red Jawbreakers. Now & Laters. Honorable mentions: Toblerone. Gummi bears, gummi colas or gummi worms. Razzles. Strawberry Starbursts. Krackel. Mr Goodbars. Peanut butter bars with the striped wrapper. Pez. Rock Candy. Charleston Chews. less (October 24 at 7:54pm)

dreamcatcher dark chocolate. YUM (October 25 at 12:42pm)

So as you may know, I'm currently living in an apartment building — a big massive thing with 11 floors, dozens of room on each floor, and in a complex of five building altogether. Now, I'm not a big fan of dressing up for Halloween, but I do love to see kids dressed up and hand out candy. I used to do it our house, because there were plenty of neighborhood kids — although for some reason kids would only come to your house if you sat outside, which meant the missus had to sit with me,...

DigsyMadrox Go sit on some suburban home's front porch. Right? That's legal, right? (October 21 at 5:58pm)

dreamcatcher if you do that on Halloween and you're dressed up... then you'd be considered a decoration (October 21 at 6:05pm)

Andrew hi
(October 22 at 2:44pm)

dreamcatcher y'all sure know how to fill up an email in-box, LOL (October 22 at 2:45pm)

Loree You can give me candy. (October 22 at 5:52pm)

So I already blogged about how disgruntled I was that the fancy-schmancy Safeway grocery store didn't carry cheap ramen. But the silver lining here is that it's forcing me to order from one of my favorite sites, Ramenbox.

http://www.ramenbox.com/order/home.php

Admittedly, it's not cheap. You're going to pay $25 plus shipping for 20 packs of ramen, as opposed to the 5 for a dollar you get at grocery stores that deign to carry them. But Ramenbox doesn't carry your...

Adam I am convinced and will start seeking out these Ramen flavors at the Asian market nearby in NJ.

Do they have any good Asian markets nearby in DC? (October 18 at 3:40pm)

Adam Or in the Georgetown area? (October 19 at 10:45pm)

So we went to the Safeway in Georgetown, where all the rich people live (it was kind of hard to remember we were in DC). The grocery had a Starbucks and a susghi bar in it, which is not super rare, but also its own gelato shop and massive wine selection (not a liquor section, just a huge room of wine).

How ritzy was it? Well, here are two things I was shopping for that the store did not carry:

• Ramen noodles
• 24-packs of cheap beer (24 packs of any...

Adam I love going to rich people's groceries (read: Whole Foods) because they usually have some interesting, hard-to-find products that the normal, middle class groceries don't usually carry. (E.g., pre-made Pad Thai sauce, certain types of beer, exotic produce.) But their abundance of hard-to-find items does NOT make up for their lack of easy-to-find items.

And I get pissed to no end that their beer selections are often limited to ONLY 6-packs. Who the hell drinks just a 6-pack of beer?!... more I love going to rich people's groceries (read: Whole Foods) because they usually have some interesting, hard-to-find products that the normal, middle class groceries don't usually carry. (E.g., pre-made Pad Thai sauce, certain types of beer, exotic produce.) But their abundance of hard-to-find items does NOT make up for their lack of easy-to-find items.

And I get pissed to no end that their beer selections are often limited to ONLY 6-packs. Who the hell drinks just a 6-pack of beer?! Thirteen-year-olds and Mormons, that's who! The Whole Foods nearest here is one of the few places where we can find Abita Amber beer from Louisiana, but they only ever have 6-packs! Step up your game, Whole Foods. less (October 18 at 3:23pm)

Since Loree and I moved to DC, we've been getting 90% of our groceries from the nearby Trader Joe's. It's nice — and incredibly cheap, which makes it nice — but it's really small and doesn't carry any other brand names but the TJ stuff. So if we need things like cat food, toilet paper, deodorant, we have to go to a CVS or the incredibly sketchy Safeway located in the Watergate complex (for reals).

Point is, we actually need enough brand-name items that I've decided to drive...

Adam Loree, make sure that "grocery" isn't code for "illegal Russian mafia poker game." You'd be surprised how often I've been fooled. (October 15 at 12:53pm)

Boss A Safeway on Wisconsin Ave, complete with parking lot! Bliss! (October 15 at 2:26pm)

Loree Oh, I think that's the fancy Georgetown one. (October 15 at 4:32pm)

Loree Oh, I think that's the fancy Georgetown one. (October 15 at 4:32pm)

Adam Ooooh, go with Rob so you can toilet-paper Georgetown and spray paint George Washington University graffiti all over the place!

"G.W. RULEZ, MOTHER LOVERS!!!" (October 15 at 5:31pm)

I had to watch last night's MNF game on mute last night because ESPN was so, so awful. While they've always fawned over Favre, I had hoped that his awful sending-pics-of-his-dong-to-female-employees-Gate would have tempered it a bit.

NOT AT ALL. Actually, they kept saying Favre was under emotional strain, like the game he played after his dad died. As if the two things were even slightly equivalent. One is a beloved family member dying. THE OTHER IS BECAUSE HE SEXUALLY HARASSED...

Adam How much sweeter of an exit would it have been had he stayed retired that first time? Or even that second time? Nope, coming back just gave him more opportunities to get caught doing what he's probably been doing for years. (October 12 at 10:39am)

Boss Exactly. And now his attention-whoring ways will come back to bite him in the ass. It couldn't be more justly deserved. (October 12 at 10:46am)

Adam Something tells me Favre's not gonna get into any real trouble on this whole inappropriate sexting thing. The pressure just doesn't seem to be on from anyone except the speculative media. (October 18 at 3:16pm)