For as long as I can remember the house has been littered with toys. I’ve spent countless hours playing with gizmos and gadgets. There have been bread boards, transistor radios, computers, game consoles, and all manner of toys. My son is now four and it’s amazing just how much technology there is in his daily life. He is familiar with using several different types of tablets, smart phones, TVs, video game consoles, remote controls, Lego, and all the traditional toys that little boys play with. His action figures have LEDs, robotics, audio recording and playback, and any number of other technological goodies. The Tonka trucks have not only levers, knobs, wheels, and tracks but realistic sounds and remote controls.

While sitting in the living room looking at what can only be described as a the results of a Lego bomb having exploded I decided it was a good time to give up my several year long hiatus from writing and take a look at the intersection between technology, myself and my son. I find it amazing how complicated the Lego sets have become and at the same time so disappointed that some of the sets are easy to build and cool to look at but completely worthless to play with. It’s great to be able to design a complicated Lego set in Solid Works or other CAD tools however the value to a child extends beyond putting something together to actually playing with it. If a Lego set falls apart every time you pick it up it’s pretty poorly designed. Other sets are extremely complicated, have poor instructions, but are solid as a rock and can survive the rigors of a space battle fought between father and son.

Several years ago a good friend gave me the gotnerd.com domain (thanks Trae) and I’ve failed to do anything useful with it. Rather than let it continue to sit and do little more than attract SPAM it will now be the home of my ramblings about toys, technology, and other things I find of interest as a geek dad.