Please Don’t Stop The Music a 1byOne Speaker Review

1byOne-SpeakerIt’s a new year and I already have an amazing product for you to spend those gift cards on. 1byOne reached out asking if I would be interesting in testing out some of their products and writing up a review for them in exchange to keep the product. I thought, “why not” and was sent over this amazing little speaker.

This particular speaker is very rugged and is loud. It features Bluetooth connectivity or you can insert a micro SD card filled with some audio and listen that way. Another really cool feature about this speaker is that it is also waterproof. It doesn’t float, so don’t through it in the ocean expecting to get it back, but it can sit out on a boat, the beach, a pool, or even in the shower. I had the kids try it out in the bath and played some silly bath songs while they washed up. The speaker worked just as expected and the kids loved it.

I mentioned that the speaker is very rugged. That’s a good thing to have when your son wants to run around the house holding the speaker and drops it occasionally. I am not exactly sure what the drop point would be for the speaker or how much of a beating it can take but I will say it has stood up against my toddler very well.

IMG_2448After unboxing the speaker I turned it on without even needing to charge it beforehand. I thought that was really cool. Your mileage may vary when it comes to the charge when the device is shipped but in my own experience it was ready to rock and roll right out of the box. The packaging was really nice. I was greeted with a nice “hello!” when I opened the box. I immediately replied with “it’s me”, but that’s besides the point. The speaker comes with a USB cable so you can charge it. There is also a manual but the device is pretty self explanatory when you use it.

The run down on how you use the device is pretty simple. You hold the power button for a few seconds and a pleasant voice will tell you that the device is on and waiting for a Bluetooth connection. Once you have made a connection the voice will let you know and you can start playing audio through the speaker. Your volume controls on your phone will increase or decrease the volume on the speaker. You can also skip, stop, and pause on the speaker. I also forgot to mention that it even has a built in microphone so you can use this speaker as a speaker phone if needed! How cool is that!

IMG_2446I only have two complaints about the speaker. They are minor and more so feature requests for the next model. The first feature request would be to add an FM/AM tuner. Listening via Bluetooth or SD card is cool, but having the local radio would be even cooler. It’s okay that this doesn’t have a radio as most stations have apps now. Which you could then just Bluetooth on over to the speaker, but whatever the speaker is still cool.

The second feature request is something I think would be sort of easy to do. When you open the flap to charge or insert a SD card you can see the blue light indicating that the speaker is on. But with that flap closed you can’t see that light. I personally would like to be able to see that light as an indication that the speaker is on. I mean if that light is there why not show it. It’s not that big of a deal though because the voice was a very nice surprised the first time I heard it, and I think it’s cool each additional time I hear the voice telling me that it is “Powering on”.

So with Bluetooth, waterproof, rugged, the microphone, and of course the great sound coming out of the speaker I will definitely have to give this speaker two big thumbs up. If you are in the market for a speaker like this, don’t pass it up. I have been jamming out with it for several days now and I still have not had to charge the battery. I am just so impressed with this speaker. Great work 1byOne on this device.

You can purchase a 1byOne Bluetooth/Waterproof/Outdoor Speaker on Amazon US or Amazon UK. Also be sure to follow all of 1byOne’s social media accounts to stay up to date on their latest product offerings as well as other cool info!

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1byone.com provided St. Louis Dad with this product as compensation in exchange for an honest review. Please visit 1byone.com for more awesome products that can help make your life better!

My First Year as a Dad Blogger

2016StLouisDad(Abby)It isn’t exactly a full year yet, but it’s close enough. I started this blog back in February and the journey from my first post to this post has been nothing short of amazing. To date I have gained a relatively small following compared to many other bloggers out there. I think that’s quite alright.

I was interviewed by St. Louis Magazine just a few months after I started, so a lot was still new to me. A lot of it is even now still new to me. I have had the opportunity to work with some awesome brands. I plan on continuing to work with brands but I also plan on adding a lot more family focused posts. My attempt at a blogging schedule was elementary at best, but over the course of  the year I have learned a few tricks that I am going to attempt to implement my second year at this.

As for the dad blogger community… I am thrilled to be a part of a group of fathers that agree with how it is so important to be a part of your children’s life. The community is very supportive in many aspects to dad blogging. One downside to the community is that I still feel new to the group so I think that my opinions get buried below the daily shares. Which is okay as I’m not looking to steal anybodies attention. I have added a few of them to the friends list and have corresponded and collaborated with a few others.

One goal that I set out and accomplished with starting this site was that I do feel like that I have connected with my children more so than if I had just worked on my own projects as I have done in the past. I even shut down my own personal blog (83rw.com) because I wasn’t contributing to it in the same manner as I was this website. I am okay with that. I would much rather write about my family instead of just personal junk. I can include some of that junk here. Which brings me to how I also found a great outlet for all of my music I have created over the years. So far I am up to five volumes of instrumentals ready to download for free. These would have just sat on my computer forever if it were not for this website.

As I said, this next year I plan to write a bit more about my family. My confidence level is up and I think I might have some good content to share. I will most definitely continue to release more free music, and I am thinking about adding a section to showcase the books I have illustrated, but that is up in the air for now. I had some ideas of starting a podcast or a vlog this year but I think I am still too far away from being ready to start something like that this close to the beginning of the year. We’ll see where I am at in a few months.

Lastly, there are a few people that I would like to thank for making this first year of St. Louis Dad so successful. First and foremost I want to thank my wife and children. Without them this wouldn’t even have been possible. Destiny, Abby, and Alex are amazing people that I am so happy to have in my life. I also want to thank my parents. My wife’s and my own. They have been very supportive of everything I do and it’s nice to know you have family cheering you on. My extended family and friends as well as the parent blogging community in general. Thank you! Also I want to thank all of the brands that have given me the opportunity to work with them this past year. It has been awesome and I look forward to twenty sixteen!

One Second Everday 2015

Last year I had put together a video that was one second recorded everyday. I thought it turned out great. So I decided to keep the camera rolling through-out 2015 and see what kind of one second video I could put together this year. Well the time has arrived and the footage has been spliced and edited together, tossed up on YouTube and now ready for you all to see.

I plan on continuing the one second everyday project again. The results are always worth the time commitment to put into a project like this. A special thanks to my friend Paul for helping me find some music for the video this year.

I’m Back from Holiday Hiatus!

IMG_2340What a crazy holiday! If you are from the St. Louis area you will know that the Christmas holiday was definitely a wet one. There was creeks over flowing, rivers rising, and plenty of standing water to fill a few swimming pools. Over my little holiday break I spent some much needed time with my family. We got all of our holiday shopping completed, Christmas presents made and wrapped and were all ready for the fun.

I would say that the fun kicked off on my birthday (December 15th for those paying attention). My wife surprised me more than ever this year. For the last several months I had been casually joking about wanting to get a BB-8 Sphero. The toy looked awesome and is in my opinion some cutting edge technology. So over the last few months my wife Destiny had been saving up her extra money and when I got home from work on my birthday this year she had an awesome gift for me to open… A brand new BB-8 Sphero! I was beyond excited to have one of these in hand. I was also surprised that she actually found one this close to Christmas. Regardless she really surprised me. Something that has not happened in a long time in regards to my birthday. Thank you again Destiny, it was a truly amazing gift.

IMG_2285So after my birthday things starting picking up for Christmas. We got all of our shopping done so it was time to get everything wrapped and tucked away for Santa to bring back out in a few days. One thing I had planned on doing was taking my daughter and niece out to pick up gifts for all of their aunts and uncles. So one day that’s exactly what I did. They had so much picking out various things for everyone. Some stuff made sense, but most of it didn’t and that is part of the beauty of it. Sure it was mostly junk but the girls made a list and really thought about what they wanted to get for each person. They didn’t even ask for anything for themselves which was cool to know that they were not thinking about themselves. When we got home we started wrapping the gifts. The girls made name tags for almost all of the presents and we got them all wrapped up. It was late so we left them out which was a bad idea because Clark took it upon himself to open up a few in the late night hours with his teeth.

Clark didn’t destroy too many presents. Just a couple that were easy to replace. But the girls were a little shocked to wake up and see that someone had opened their presents. It was funny to say the least.

IMG_2244Christmas finally came and we had our yearly party at Destiny’s parents house. We may or may not have drank a little too much, but I won’t go into that story. I will say that it was a good time overall and the kids had so much fun as they always do. Santa Claus even stopped by for a visit! He was super cool and made sure all of the kids got a little special gift from the North Pole. Mammaw and Pawpaw are great and really made the kid’s Christmas morning. Of course me and Destiny did our part as well by having presents ready under our tree at home as well. The kids made out like bandits like usual so I do not have any complaints in that department.

IMG_2308The day after Christmas was my side of the family’s Christmas party. This year we had it at my brother’s house. It was a lot of fun. This year us adults played a few games like we do every year. This year we played our standard 5 five rounds of scratch offs. My sister was the big winner with two $25 winner tickets. We made out with $4 and 2 free tickets. The other game that we played was a Rob Your Neighbor game but instead of a standard present we brought booze. My brother ended up losing everything he picked but that’s just how things roll when your playing Rob Your Neighbor.

After the party we went back home and I got ready to go out with my cousin to go see Tarantino’s latest movie The Hateful Eight in it’s glorious 70mm Ultra Panavision. I was surprised that St. Louis actually had a theater that could show 70mm. So I was really stoked to learn my cousin picked us up tickets for the roadshow. The movie itself was just a little over 3 hours long, but with the overture and intermission, it really broke up the length of the movie and made the experience that much more enjoyable.

IMG_2258New Years Eve was hosted by my awesome brother and sister in-law and it was a great time. There was plenty of food, a roulette table, drinks, music, and a lot of family fun. It was a fantastic night and I am happy to bring in the new year with these great people.

So, it’s the new year and I am more than ready for it. I  will more than likely have an end of the year wrap up post and then a what to expect post for the new year. So be on the look out for those here in the next few days. If you have had a chance to check out StLouisDad.com Instrumentals Vol.5 I highly suggest it. There are some great royalty free tracks in those downloads! If that isn’t your cup of tea then may I suggest checking out this latest video from Abby Doodles TV!