I’ve been playing the game Build-a-lot and plan to do a full review this coming week but wanted to talk a little about the game right now. The real estate agent has become my friend in this buy lots, build and upgrade houses to reach your goals game. It’s a little different than what I had expected but is still fun.

I thought it would be more sims-type game but it’s more Civilization, which isn’t a bad thing. I hope to get to play it some more before the weekend is over. I will have my full review sometime next week.

Because of our move and settling into our new place, we postponed having Rae’s birthday party until a week ago. Her birthday was October 4th, but we had cake and gave her gifts last weekend. One of the gifts from us was the game Lucky Ducks. I always loved the duck game at the fair where you picked up a duck from the water. This game reminded me of that, so I thought it might be something she would like even if she is only two. After all, she loves ducks.

Lucky Ducks is a huge hit. She loves placing the ducks onto the pond and then picking them up. The premise of the game is pretty easy. Players have a shape assigned to them like a red square. Then they must find the three ducks in the pond with that shape before their oppoents find theirs. It’s a simple game that makes it perfect for pre-schoolers even toddlers. The ‘pond’ is turned on by the red button in the middle of the action and is turned off the same way.

Lucky Ducks will be a lot of fun for her to play with her cousins. For right now, she just enjoys toting the ducks around and taking them out of the pond.

So, I have officially begun to do my Christmas shopping with the hope that I can finish before December. Every year I try to start a little earlier. One resource I plan to take more advantage of this year is online shopping. Why fight the crowds just to find out the store doesn’t have what you’re looking for anyway?

My husband’s Christmas list consists of a lot of tech items. I can’t complain because there are several tech items on mine, too. A stylus, a new digital camera, and a digital picture frame are just a few of the items on our combined list. TechBargains.com is fast becoming one of a my favorite websites to find good tech deals. I can keep up with the latest coupon codes by subscribing to their RSS feed. From dell coupons to Buy.com coupons to Circuit City coupons, I can find it all at Tech Bargains. In fact, both Best Buy and Circuit City have free shipping deals. Shipping can eat away at an online bargain, so free shipping is always a plus.

Tech Bargains is updated every day and several times a day. Being a web hound, it’s great to know that each time I visit Tech Bargains during the day then it’s likely they will have a new deal. I can also conduct searches on every page and search Tech Bargains, eBay, or for the lowest price. I can also submit a deal request, so when I’m ready to buy that stylus I can find the best deal around. That will take some of the stress of holiday shopping away.

My Christmas shopping list is full of tech items like digital cameras, stylus pen and pad, and of course, games. Finding the best deal is paramount to me buying everything on my list, so sites like Tech Bargain are very valuable to me this season.

After being put off by the Guitar Hero III bundled with another wired guitar, I quickly got over it and purchased it. Surprisingly I really like the wired guitar even better than ours.

The game itself is at the core still the same great game play of the franchise even if it’s packaged differently. There are cut scenes that unfold a story in career mode. The notes have gotten a face lift, and it’s much easier to see the white-centered notes - the ones where you don’t have to strum if you hit the note right before it , just hold down the fret button.

The songs are, of course, great choices. You also have guitar battles with some of rock’s most famous guitar players where you have to defeat them to progress in your career. Power up notes give you ‘ammunition’ to shoot at your challenger to make him mess up and lose.

I’m having a great time going through career mode and unlocking new characters, guitars, songs, and more. Legends of Rock is so much better than Encore edition with songs as well as features. Even though I enjoy Encore, the price was way too much. I think GH III is worth the price, so I’m glad the franchise is back on track.