photo credit: SideLong

A tunnel tent is just another style of tent that you can use when camping, or for play. They are a popular model because they are much easier to set up, as they are made of nylon fabric, and you insert rings inside the tent to keep it up. This also has its disadvantages because it means it is not as secure.They are very durable tents and can withstand the weather, especially wind and snow conditions quite well. Tunnel tents can also be used to connect other tents together, so you don't have to go outside when you want to transfer between tents.

A tunnel tent is not only used for camping, it is also a popular tent for kids to use to play in. There are also tunnel tents available for pets, and they are pretty popular for cats.

If you have a pingpong player in the family, this can be a great gift giving opportunity. If they are just starting out, they are probably playing with equipment meant for beginners that may even be holding back their progress as they struggle to get better! They will certainly appreciate the gift of a quality piece of ping pong equipment such as a Stiga tennis paddle. Not only will this encourage them to redouble their efforts to improve, but the better paddle will help to improve their accuracy and ball control, both of which are critical to table tennis players. A paddle is also a great gift because it takes up very little room and is likely to be used virtually every day by your family member. Remember to also get them a case for their nice new paddle.

If your kids have been begging you for a table but you've been holding off because you are wary of the amount of space it will take up, relax! Many pingpong tables these days are built to be able to fold up and take up minimal space when they are not being used. When folded, these tables are no bigger than a typical bookcase, but can unfold to be a full size table when you're ready to play. In some cases, you can fold down only one half of the table and play by yourself against the second half which remains vertical and acts as a great backstop! Be confident that many tables can be easily folded up and wheeled out of the way when not in use, and you won't need to permanently designate part of the house for the new table.

As cooks, we know in our hearts that how well something works and the foods you can create with it are the best metrics for choosing kitchen equipment, and that beautiful pieces are often just not that useful in the kitchen. That said, it can be satisfying to also own some gorgeous pieces of kitchen cookware that give your cooking area an attractive and comfortable feeling. You might consider buying a copper saucepan which is one of the pieces of cookware that not only will look amazing in your kitchen, but also will perform better than most other saucepans. Be careful because copper does take a bit more effort to clean and maintain its shine, but most cooks believe that it's worth it for the beauty of a copper pan.

photo credit: naoki.sato

Tauranga is one of my favourite places in New Zealand, so here are a few facts to get you more acquainted with this stunning city.

Population: (2008) 116,000 although most people will tell you that it has about 120,000 and growing every day.

Climate: Tauranga is one of the warmest, sunniest places in New Zealand with an average of 2,300 sunshine hours per year and the summer temperatures hitting 30 degrees. Things can get cooler in the winter months with temperatures dropping to 5 -6 degrees Celsius.

Location: Nestled in the East Coast of the North Island, Tauranga is a pleasant 200 kilometre drive from New Zealand’s biggest city Auckland.

Airport: With only a domestic airport any international travellers have to fly to one of New Zealand’s main centres and get a quick connecting flight.

It can be overwhelming trying to decide what type of wedding you are going to have. There is an array of ideas out there to pick from and probably even more floating around in your head. Will you go traditional or modern? What are your wedding colors going to be? These are just a few basic questions to get your mind chomping on all of the possibilities. You should probably try to pick something that represents both of you. Photo wedding invitations are a great way to be able to do this easily. It will cost you a bit to have the professional photographer for the engagement photots, but it will totally be worth having them when all is said and done. Really, how many professional photo shoots are you going to have an opportunity to do in your life? The best way to make your decisions is to pick a style or a them and try to answer all subsequent questions with the answers to that basic question in mind.

Yes!  You can add a solar thermal panel to a geothermal installation quite easily (note we are talking about solar thermal panels not solar photovoltaic which is a different thing altogether).  Basically the solar thermal panel, which usually is a simple black glass plate solar collector but can also be a vacuum tube collector, serves to preheat the water entering your hot water tank and therefore you require less energy overall to get your hot water.  One panel alone can provide about 30-40% of the hot water requirement of a typical residence.  Combining this with a geothermal system makes things even better by sending excess heat collected by the panel into the ground, thereby “charging” your geothermal field up for the winter by storing this heat underground.  What could be better than using both the power of the sun and the earth to heat your home?

Among all the Seventh Generation gaming consoles out there, the Nintendo Wii is certainly one to look out for. Among the three (PS3 by Sony and Xbox 360), the Wii is relatively cheaper. But this does not mean that it is inferior compared to the two. As a matter of fact, more and more people see the Nintendo Wii as a better gaming console than the other two. Plus, this is more unique.
What makes the Wii unique is its remote control concept. The Wii remote is the game console’s selling point. Instead of the usual controller gaming where you press a combination of buttons, the Wii remote lets you get interactive. If you have a friend, you need to find cheap Nintendo Wii remotes so that he can play with you. Your best bet to finding such remote is by visiting online auctions and websites. You may go for the pre-owned Wii remotes or the brand new ones. Either way, the Internet is your best source for cheap Nintendo Wii remotes.

Whenever you do a Google search of the Kindle DX you will find rave reviews and all kinds of wonderful reasons why you should purchase a DX. So I made an effort to find some DX cons. I'm not saying that the Kindle DX is a bad device. But so far I haven't discovered any technology that doesn't have pros and cons.

The greatest thing about the Kindle DX is that it reads native PDF files. This is great but it is more of a viewer then a reader. The links aren't clickable and you can't resize text. So it is not the same as reading a PDF file on your computer.

The larger size is nice for viewing, but it is heavier and not as comfortable to hold as the Kindle 2. To make the viewing screen larger they took off a row on the keyboard. Now in order to type a number you have to press the ever convenient alt key.

The page buttons are all on one side. Which can make turning pages a little awkward, especially when the device is in landscape view.

I doubt these minor cons will discourage any Kindle fans from purchasing the Kindle DX. During the 1970's it was discovered that Ford Pintos would explode on impact, and people still purchased those.

I don't know about you but playing golf is a bit of a bore to me. I only go out for a round because I like to go for a drink after the round with my friends. I put up with two hours of walking around a muddy field hitting small balls at holes embedded in the ground with a metal stick. Sometimes I think I'm mad but when all is said and done I do enjoy the company and I suppose it gets me out the house.

I have to say though that I'm enjoying my golf much more since I started to hire a golf buggy to get round the course. Golf buggies are great for a few reasons, most importantly they mean you don't have to do any exercise, but the also keep the rain off you and they can be good fun when you get them up to full speed over the bumps. I'm actually thinking about buying a golf buggy of my own as I can see myself playing a bit more golf now that I have discovered the joys of using one.