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Ernie Ball 2626 Not Even Slinky Custom Gauge Nickel Wound Guitar Strings (.012 - .056)
$9.00
I play Progressive and Thrash metal, and these strings hold out nicely. Tuned them down to A sharp (b flat?) and they sounded sweet. Back up to E (standard) and they provide nice full sounding tone.

We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
$8.99
Modest Mouse
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank; 2007
Epic Records

My Rating: 60/100

Despite the nautically-doomed title, the Mouse proves with their fifth album proper that they will indeed float on. Nowhere near as heavy with the weight of mortality as their previous offering, this is a meaty power-pop record with the standard Mouse-eccentrities turned up to 11. Themes are varying yet unified, meaning the record doesn't suffer from the monotony that sunk GOOD NEWS,and there's even a moment or two of jubilant quasi-optimism ("Dashboard", "Missed the Boat"). Unfortunately, the overall experience suffers from an extreme lopsidedness that will most likely have you switching to something else after track 7. In the final analysis, though, WE WERE DEAD BEFORE THE SHIP EVEN SANK is a nice recovery from the near disaster that was GOOD NEWS. I'll be looking forward to the next full-length offering from the Issaquah's finest.

Cohesion (5/5)
Concept (3.5/5)
Consequence (4.5/5)
Consistency (3/5)

Tracks:

1. March into the Sea (4/5)
2. Dashboard (5/5)
3. Fire It Up (5/5)
4. Florida (4.5/5)
5. Parting of the Sensory (3.5/5)
6. Missed the Boat (5/5)
7. We've Got Everything (4/5)
8. Fly Trapped in a Jar (3/5)
9. Education (3/5)
10. Little Motel (3.5/5)
11. Steam Engenius (2.5/5)
12. Spitting Venom (3/5)
13. People as Places as People (4/5)
14. invisible (2.5/5)

INCREDIBLE MACHINE: EVEN MORE CONTRAPTIONS
$27.20
I got this Rube Goldberg-esqe game for a buck at Target last year. My 4 year old wanted to play it, and enjoyed it, but it seemed really difficult... until we realized there was a tutorial. The tutorial is EXCELLENT! It speaks to you so even kids who can't read can find out how each and every item behaves. Once you know that, the rest of the game is pure fun! The puzzles are quirky and punny and silly and most importantly - make you think! Once he stepped through all the tutorial, he moved on to the EASY puzzles. He has conquered most of those with a little help and has moved on to MEDIUM. We like to sit and play the DIFFICULT and EXPERT puzzles together. And if you want - and my son does - you can build your own.

For every puzzle, you can adjust the music (much better than most kids games), the background colors, the gravity and other stuff. It really is just a wonderful game.

My only gripes are these:
My son plays it too much! (and I would, too, if I let myself.) and...
You can't get their solution to the puzzle until you have solved it yourself. So when you are truly stumped, there is no help.

We also own "The Incredible Machine Returns: Contraptions" which, I believe, was made before this one. But they both have the same tutorial, so you don't have to have one before the other.

Even More Baby Songs [VHS]
$12.98
I have an 8 year old and a 2 year old and they both love these Baby Songs videos/dvds. I think we have all of them and they sure don't get old...at least with the kids!