My son Alex has been begging us for a guitar and lessons ever the beginning of the year. This all started because of Guitar Hero 3 on Xbox, which he began playing during last summer vacation, and eventually became hooked on. Alex actually does pretty well on the game — not on Expert Level (or whatever the highest is), but he’s not bad for a 7-year-old. Even though we’re all for music lessons of any kind, we wanted to wait a bit to make sure the guitar thing wasn’t just a temporary phase. It’s been a full year now, so I think we can move forward.

I saw this Eagletone Electric Guitar over at Buy.com when I was browsing this morning, and think it would be a good introductory piece for Alex. It will give him a taste of what playing the guitar is like, without us having to shell out big bucks right from the start. In fact, this Eagletone guitar is on sale for just $65. That price includes free shipping, make this by far the BEST deal I’ve found on a brand-new electric guitar.

I might as well go ahead and order this guitar. I doubt I’m going to find similar quality for a lower price, so I better catch this one while the deal is still available. And now I should probably look into soundproofing the basement, too!!!

Like most families, we love taking photos of not only vacations and special events, but also of daily life. The problem is that we seldom get everyone in the photos because there always needs to be at least one person behind the lens. Sometimes when we’re out and about, we can ask a passerby to snap a group shot — but, and call me cynical if you must, I always worry that the person is simply going to run off with our camera!

A good solution to this problem would be to get something like this Sunpak PicturesPlus Tripod. This particular tripod extends to 59 inches (that’s almost 5 feet) and collapses to 22 inches. It also weighs only 3 pounds, making it extremely portable as far as tripods go. Furthermore, you can mount almost any model of digital camera or digital SLR camera on it, which of course is of primary importance. After all, what would be the use of getting a tripod if I can’t even put my camera on it?

The Sunpak PicturesPlus Tripod usually retails for a whopping $59.99, which I would never pay. But since it’s currently on sale at Buy.com for a far more reasonable $14.99, I’m definitely interested in taking a second look here. This really does seem to be a bargain that’s too good to pass up!

I’ve been trying to get in shape for the past couple of years, but like most people, I’ve inevitably hit a few peaks and valleys along the way. As soon as I start making progress towards my fitness goals, I “reward” myself by splurging — and the next thing you know, I’m right back where I started from.

I think one thing that would help me stay on track is having a good scale at home. The one I have is a few years old, and I have doubts about its accuracy since it gives me different readings (about half a pound one way or the other) just 10 minutes apart. So I’ve been looking at a few of the newer models out there, and think this Omron Fat Analyzer Scale would be a great tool to have.

The Omron Fat Analyzer does much more than just give a weight reading. It also measures body fat percentage, BMI, visceral fat, and skeletal muscle, thereby yielding a much more complete picture of overall fitness. I really like the way this particular fat analyzer scale has hand sensors as well as foot sensors because I’ve read that this renders more accurate measurements than foot sensors alone.

Right now the Omron Fat Analyzer Scale is on sale at Buy.com for $67.99, which is $42 off the regular price. Obviously that’s still quite a bit higher than the cost of a standard scale, but all the extra features make the price worth it, IMO. I know I won’t just magically hit my desired weight because of the kind of scale I have, but I really believe being able to see my body fat percentage on a daily basis will help remind me to make healthier eating choices — or at least I hope this will be the case! We’ll see.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seeing more and more people using these electric cigarettes as a substitute for the real thing. I quit smoking 12 years ago, so I’ve never had any reason to try an electric (or is it electronic?) cigarette. I wonder if they work to stifle cravings? They’re supposed to have some kind of flavor and give you the feeling that you’re actually smoking, which is a big part of the psychological aspect of smoking. Plus, they’re obviously a lot cheaper than shelling out, what $45 or $50 for a carton of smokes, right? I might have to buy a kit like this for my brother so he can try to quit. His birthday is coming up in a couple months and this would be a great gift!

I don’t think I’ll ever become a soccer fan. I just don’t understand the rules or why the rest of the world finds this game so exciting. For example, why don’t they just stop the clock for injuries and out-of-bounds balls instead of adding some secret amount of extra time at the end of regulation? Why is there so much flailing and diving if one player so much as taps another on the shoulder? It’s kind of ridiculous how some guys writhe around in “pain” at the merest hint of contact. But — who am I to argue with the rest of the world? It’s the most popular sport on the globe, no question.

My son is really into soccer these days, which is why I’m thinking of buying FIFA Soccer 10 for him. This is the Xbox360 version, and it looks like a pretty good game as far as graphics and features go. It’s from EA Sports, so I know it’s going to be as realistic as possible, which is definitely what my son wants. I just hope it’s not too complicated for a 7-year-old to play.

The game is on sale at Buy.com for $58.99, which is kind of the usual price for Xbox titles. I should get this to celebrate the end of the World Cup and those damn vuvuzelas if for no other reason!

One of my weaknesses as an online shopper is that I often want to buy something if I see an amazing deal on it — regardless of whether I need the item or not. Case in point: I was just looking through Buy.com this morning when I saw this Memorex Blu-Ray BD-R Spindle for just $37.99. Seeing that price made me do an immediate double-take because the regular price is close to $130. That means I can save a whopping $90 (or 70%) on this sale. How can anyone possibly beat that?

But here’s the thing: I don’t have a Blu-Ray writer, and I’m not about to go out and spend $600 just so I can use these blank discs. So what I’m thinking about doing is buying this spindle of 30 Blu-Ray discs and then reselling them on an auction site. I could sell them for double what I pay, and it would still represent a good deal for the eventual buyer. I think this could work! Heck, maybe I ought to get two or even three spindles while this deal is still valid.

I’m going to do a bit more checking on this before making a decision. I want to make sure I can sell these before I buy them and get stuck with something I can’t even use. But yeah, if I can make a profit, then you better believe I’ll try!

I have a cheap netbook that doesn’t do much besides browse the Internet. But one thing I love about it is the freedom it gives me to move around the house. I hate having to be stuck to my desk in order to check email or look something up on Google. My netbook might not have the computing power of a Mac, but at least I can roam around the house with it — well, to a certain extent, anyway.

I do have to admit that my wireless signal isn’t as good as it could be, and there are definite dead zones in the house and yard that I have to watch out for. Then again, if I buy this D-Link Wireless Adapter, I might not have to worry about dead zones anymore.

The D-Link Wireless Adapter is a USB stick that can boost your existing wireless signal, thereby allowing for greater coverage and faster surfing or file transfers. It sounds like that would greatly improve my netbook experiences and overall productivity. From what I’ve read, the product is easy to set up and use, too, which is always a good thing, as I’m the kind of person that’s liable to screw those processes up.

Anyway, this D-Link Wireless Adapter is on sale for $34.99 at Buy.com right now. That’s a small price to pay if it works as expected!