It's been a long time since I've posted here but I've been inspired to jot down some things. I may eventually go back and fill in some of the blanks regarding what's been going on lately but for now I just wanted to write about this.
Dating and parenting both have its unique set of challenges. As I've talked with people about their experiences and related some of them to my own, I've realized that they can both produce strong emotions and really make us think differently about things, including ourselves at times. And how we perceive ourselves can also have an impact on other aspects of our life, the things we do (or don't do), and the people we interact with.
For me, I've had some challenges this year feeling happy and being positive and I've found that when I spend time with others, they can feel that and it can start to bring them down as well if it's like that excessively.
I've been working on steps to try to be more happy, find peace, comfort, joy without it having to depend on another person because that can be unreliable. If my happiness requires another person, I'll be left depressed. I was married for 18 years and have 3 awesome daughters who live close and I see regularly but they don't live with me. The highlight of my week is spending time with them and I really love being a Dad. But when they're not with me, I enjoy finding and doing things that make me happy because I find that when I do, I'm more equipped to help others find happiness and that...THAT is one thing that brings me joy as well. Imparting a positive and optimistic outlook, or a funny story, or even a horrible story that's funny now, or a song, or a meme, just something, however small, to help someone feel better inside and maybe, just maybe, get them to crack a smile if they're up to it. If they're not up to it, then being a comfort, a listening ear or sounding board, some kind of support so they know they're not alone, they have someone to talk to if they want, someone who's willing to give them a hug (I'm a hugger), or hold their hand, caress their back, or just put an arm around them. It's amazing what you can learn from the character "Sadness" from watching the movie Inside Out. She was really able to comfort Bing Bong when Joy couldn't because she really understood and she let all of us know that it's ok to be sad sometimes. And that a good memory can also make us feel sad and miss things or people we used to have in our lives.
We also learn that we don't need to be happy all the time and sometimes it's important to have, feel, express, and process other emotions. They help us heal and also really appreciate more the other positive emotions when we have them. If we're happy ALL the time, it begins to lose it's value and meaning. It's one of the reasons I really enjoy days like today when it's raining and cloudy. It may seem depressing to some, but for me it's a nice change.
Do you feel you need to channel your emotions better? What would you like to see happen as a result of feeling sadness, or anger, or fear, or other emotions that are not inherently positive? I believe we are designed to feel them because they all serve a specific purpose for our benefit and / or the benefit of others. How would you like to view yourself? What are some things you really appreciate about yourself? You don't have to answer to me but perhaps just some questions to answer for yourself or to think about.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Monday, February 21, 2011
Fridge of the Future
There's an internet enabled device designed for just about every room of the house. You can even have music streaming to you in the bathroom while you get ready for the day on various devices available today. But the device for the kitchen either hasn't quite caught on yet or it hasn't been invented.
At its basic functions, some tech savvy cooks might like to be able to search for & follow recipes online. Someone might want to check e-mails or update their schedules (or Facebook) while waiting for the pasta to soften in the boiling water. Maybe someone getting ready for work might want to catch the traffic & weather in the morning while they get their breakfast. Whatever the reason, the desire (and sometimes need) for information and/or entertainment is undeniable. People will always crave more information and/or entertainment regardless of the method of delivery.
Perhaps an iPad or even an inexpensive laptop with wireless networking functionality could suffice for these basic functions. And while I'm sure there are some who probably utilize these devices for these purposes in the kitchen, it hasn't widely caught on. The kitchen has always been a place for storing & preparing food and hasn't traditionally been a place thought of to go to for performing internet or tech related activities.
This is why I think that while the kitchen may not NEED the internet anymore than most other rooms in a home, I do believe there are definitely some ways it could be made very useful especially if these functions are incorporated into a device that just about every kitchen already has...the fridge. Perhaps you've been to Best Buy or Fry's and seen the fridge that has it's own little tv screen with cable hookup on the door. To me, getting a cable hookup installed for your fridge right next to the water connection for the ice maker seems a little much. But since internet connections in our homes have become so commonplace and easy, no additional hardware would be required.
But my idea of this internet enabled fridge would take the concept much further than what you'd typically do on a laptop. It would have simplistic touch screen menus designed for specific functions making it easy to access the information you frequently visit (recipes, traffic, weather, news, stocks, RSS feeds, e-mail, online music, pictures, etc). But the coolest feature would be in how it handles the contents of the fridge. How about if your fridge could keep track of what is in the fridge for you? Not sure if you have any cream cheese for that bagel? Or what if you know you have sour cream but you can't find it? What if the fridge could tell you which shelf to look on to find your desired food product? What if it could tell you when you're getting low on a particular item, build a shopping list for you, and help you purchase those items?
This is the idea of my fridge of the future. Just about every item you purchase at a store today has a barcode (produce being the major exception). (RFID tags would provide much better functionality but are both more expensive and are generally not currently associated with items at the grocery store.) The fridge can have a built in barcode reader that reads the barcode and first tries to find a match either from barcodes you've previously scanned or matches it finds on an internet database (several already exist). If it finds no match, you can define the product manually. When you place it in the fridge, each shelf and drawer will have individual pressure sensors that will measure the weight of each item and keep track of where the last scanned item was placed. The item gets scanned when it is taken out of the fridge and when it is put back and recognizes the difference in weight to let you know when you are running low on an item. It would then start building a grocery list for you that you. You could organize this list into separate lists for different stores or other categories. You could add/remove items manually. You could send the list to a shared network printer. You can even save the list online for viewing from your mobile device. If you don't want to make a trip to the store, you could place your order online with services like Safeway.com or other similar offerings.
One last feature could be the integration of recipes with the contents of your fridge. Say you're looking at a recipe and you want to know if you have the required ingredients. For at least the refrigerated items, it can tell you which items you have & which items you'd still need to purchase.
This is the fridge of the future coming to kitchens and appliance stores...someday. At least this is my vision anyway, now I just need to find a manufacturer to pitch the idea to.
At its basic functions, some tech savvy cooks might like to be able to search for & follow recipes online. Someone might want to check e-mails or update their schedules (or Facebook) while waiting for the pasta to soften in the boiling water. Maybe someone getting ready for work might want to catch the traffic & weather in the morning while they get their breakfast. Whatever the reason, the desire (and sometimes need) for information and/or entertainment is undeniable. People will always crave more information and/or entertainment regardless of the method of delivery.
Perhaps an iPad or even an inexpensive laptop with wireless networking functionality could suffice for these basic functions. And while I'm sure there are some who probably utilize these devices for these purposes in the kitchen, it hasn't widely caught on. The kitchen has always been a place for storing & preparing food and hasn't traditionally been a place thought of to go to for performing internet or tech related activities.
This is why I think that while the kitchen may not NEED the internet anymore than most other rooms in a home, I do believe there are definitely some ways it could be made very useful especially if these functions are incorporated into a device that just about every kitchen already has...the fridge. Perhaps you've been to Best Buy or Fry's and seen the fridge that has it's own little tv screen with cable hookup on the door. To me, getting a cable hookup installed for your fridge right next to the water connection for the ice maker seems a little much. But since internet connections in our homes have become so commonplace and easy, no additional hardware would be required.
But my idea of this internet enabled fridge would take the concept much further than what you'd typically do on a laptop. It would have simplistic touch screen menus designed for specific functions making it easy to access the information you frequently visit (recipes, traffic, weather, news, stocks, RSS feeds, e-mail, online music, pictures, etc). But the coolest feature would be in how it handles the contents of the fridge. How about if your fridge could keep track of what is in the fridge for you? Not sure if you have any cream cheese for that bagel? Or what if you know you have sour cream but you can't find it? What if the fridge could tell you which shelf to look on to find your desired food product? What if it could tell you when you're getting low on a particular item, build a shopping list for you, and help you purchase those items?
This is the idea of my fridge of the future. Just about every item you purchase at a store today has a barcode (produce being the major exception). (RFID tags would provide much better functionality but are both more expensive and are generally not currently associated with items at the grocery store.) The fridge can have a built in barcode reader that reads the barcode and first tries to find a match either from barcodes you've previously scanned or matches it finds on an internet database (several already exist). If it finds no match, you can define the product manually. When you place it in the fridge, each shelf and drawer will have individual pressure sensors that will measure the weight of each item and keep track of where the last scanned item was placed. The item gets scanned when it is taken out of the fridge and when it is put back and recognizes the difference in weight to let you know when you are running low on an item. It would then start building a grocery list for you that you. You could organize this list into separate lists for different stores or other categories. You could add/remove items manually. You could send the list to a shared network printer. You can even save the list online for viewing from your mobile device. If you don't want to make a trip to the store, you could place your order online with services like Safeway.com or other similar offerings.
One last feature could be the integration of recipes with the contents of your fridge. Say you're looking at a recipe and you want to know if you have the required ingredients. For at least the refrigerated items, it can tell you which items you have & which items you'd still need to purchase.
This is the fridge of the future coming to kitchens and appliance stores...someday. At least this is my vision anyway, now I just need to find a manufacturer to pitch the idea to.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Corporate partnerships for innovations
Recently there have been ads regarding a cell phone that also has Dolby Digital surround sound which, to me, seems really kind of silly given the size and quality of the speakers they can cram in to cell phones. Pretty much anyone that wants a halfway decent sound from a portable device either uses headphones (thank you for not forcing us to listen to your "music") or they plug them in to something that is designed to accomodate external input like a set of powered speakers or even a nice sound system.
But I digress, the point of this is that there are companies that make great products & technologies that don't compete with other companies products or technologies where they could join forces to make a great product. The first one that came to mind was if they can jam some "surround sound" speakers into a phone, why don't they take it a step further and work with a company that has been focused on speaker technology like Bose or Harmon Kardon for example and integrate that into the phone.
Better yet, why not have a cell phone that has worked with Canon or Nikon to finally put a decent camera into a phone. We typically carry our phones with us everywhere and there's great shots to be had or memories to be recorded anywhere you go. I can't count the number of times I wished I had my Canon camera with me to take a picture because the quality of most cell phone pictures are typically so horrible and/or the charge you to send the picture off your phone to a computer (if your phone doesn't have a USB cable for data transfer or a memory card or other such technology) that I just choose to not take the picture altogether.
One such product I looked at this week where two or more companies have gotten together to create a neat consumer product is Google Tv. They've partnered with several other companies to provide content but for the hardware it's either Sony in the form of an internet enabled TV or Blue-Ray player or, probably more accessible and less expensive, the Logitech Revue. I don't own this technology but it certainly looks interesting and promising with some great potential to be a great consumer media center device.
I think if more companies would work on partnering with other companies on new & different ways to utilize & implement their technologies, the world would see some really interesting and amazing inovations that would go way beyond the entertainment examples I've referenced above. Just think what could be accomplished in fields of communication, security, health & medical, education, etc. Honda for example is one such company developing technologies that go beyond their traditional motor vehicle applications. They have a walking assist technology that is designed to help people with weakened muscles. And perhaps you've seen Toyota's "Ideas For Good" commercials where they actually advertise how the technologies they develop can be used in other applications with the idea in mind of making the world a better place. They have a website at http://www.toyota.com/ideas-for-good/ where you can see many other technologies Toyota developed and applied to other uses than what they were originally designed for (making better cars).
Many would agree that the introduction of chocolate and peanut butter many years ago has forever since been a great combination. We've come a long way since then and some great and even more complex ideas have been mashed together to create some amazing end results with a wide array of uses and applications. Think of how many different fields have benefited from the iPhone for example with doctors able to access patient medical data, or merchants able to use it to swipe your credit card for transactions, or even for consumers to use it as a type of barcode reader to get product information or check prices. What technologies, products, services, etc would you like to see joined together?
But I digress, the point of this is that there are companies that make great products & technologies that don't compete with other companies products or technologies where they could join forces to make a great product. The first one that came to mind was if they can jam some "surround sound" speakers into a phone, why don't they take it a step further and work with a company that has been focused on speaker technology like Bose or Harmon Kardon for example and integrate that into the phone.
Better yet, why not have a cell phone that has worked with Canon or Nikon to finally put a decent camera into a phone. We typically carry our phones with us everywhere and there's great shots to be had or memories to be recorded anywhere you go. I can't count the number of times I wished I had my Canon camera with me to take a picture because the quality of most cell phone pictures are typically so horrible and/or the charge you to send the picture off your phone to a computer (if your phone doesn't have a USB cable for data transfer or a memory card or other such technology) that I just choose to not take the picture altogether.
One such product I looked at this week where two or more companies have gotten together to create a neat consumer product is Google Tv. They've partnered with several other companies to provide content but for the hardware it's either Sony in the form of an internet enabled TV or Blue-Ray player or, probably more accessible and less expensive, the Logitech Revue. I don't own this technology but it certainly looks interesting and promising with some great potential to be a great consumer media center device.
I think if more companies would work on partnering with other companies on new & different ways to utilize & implement their technologies, the world would see some really interesting and amazing inovations that would go way beyond the entertainment examples I've referenced above. Just think what could be accomplished in fields of communication, security, health & medical, education, etc. Honda for example is one such company developing technologies that go beyond their traditional motor vehicle applications. They have a walking assist technology that is designed to help people with weakened muscles. And perhaps you've seen Toyota's "Ideas For Good" commercials where they actually advertise how the technologies they develop can be used in other applications with the idea in mind of making the world a better place. They have a website at http://www.toyota.com/ideas-for-good/ where you can see many other technologies Toyota developed and applied to other uses than what they were originally designed for (making better cars).
Many would agree that the introduction of chocolate and peanut butter many years ago has forever since been a great combination. We've come a long way since then and some great and even more complex ideas have been mashed together to create some amazing end results with a wide array of uses and applications. Think of how many different fields have benefited from the iPhone for example with doctors able to access patient medical data, or merchants able to use it to swipe your credit card for transactions, or even for consumers to use it as a type of barcode reader to get product information or check prices. What technologies, products, services, etc would you like to see joined together?
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Secret Santa
Everyone has heard of the concept of the Secret Santa. It's basically where someone anonymously gives you a gift. For the last few years I have had a Secret Santa and the gift is always the same, always delivered the same, and always presented the same. This year it was on Thanksgiving day that the gift was delivered. I should have looked out the window when I heard the dog growling as he usually does when someone approaches the door. I was home all day except for the couple hours in the morning that I took our turkey to be deep fried (awesome by the way). The gift was delivered after the guests had departed from our holiday meal but before my brother Chris came home from his time he spent with his wife's family that evening.
The gift is simply this. A classic red Santa hat delivered in a plain manilla envelope with my first name written largely in big black marker and left on my front porch. I have always appreciated this gift every year because whoever this person is, they know me well enough to know that usually every year we pull out the holiday items, I can never seem to find the Santa hat I wore the previous year. Well, as it turns out this year, it seems that all the other hats magically popped up in various places as we opened the different containers. One was even packed with our Christmas tree. So now I think we might even have enough for everyone in my family to wear one. I've also deduced that it is probably someone who lives close to me as the roads were somewhat snowy & icy this year and since we live on a hill, it's either someone who lives near by or someone really dedicated. Knowing how much my Mom hates to be on the roads in the snow, I think I can pretty safely eliminate it being a family member.
Besides being a fashionable accessory to wear for the holiday season, it's also a functional item to keep the head and ears warm (assuming it's big enough to cover the ears too). Whoever my Secret Santa is, I want to thank them for the blessing they bring to my life every year. I appreciate their kindness and dedication and the time, money, & effort they put in to helping me to feel the holiday spirit. Thank you Secret Santa.
The gift is simply this. A classic red Santa hat delivered in a plain manilla envelope with my first name written largely in big black marker and left on my front porch. I have always appreciated this gift every year because whoever this person is, they know me well enough to know that usually every year we pull out the holiday items, I can never seem to find the Santa hat I wore the previous year. Well, as it turns out this year, it seems that all the other hats magically popped up in various places as we opened the different containers. One was even packed with our Christmas tree. So now I think we might even have enough for everyone in my family to wear one. I've also deduced that it is probably someone who lives close to me as the roads were somewhat snowy & icy this year and since we live on a hill, it's either someone who lives near by or someone really dedicated. Knowing how much my Mom hates to be on the roads in the snow, I think I can pretty safely eliminate it being a family member.
Besides being a fashionable accessory to wear for the holiday season, it's also a functional item to keep the head and ears warm (assuming it's big enough to cover the ears too). Whoever my Secret Santa is, I want to thank them for the blessing they bring to my life every year. I appreciate their kindness and dedication and the time, money, & effort they put in to helping me to feel the holiday spirit. Thank you Secret Santa.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Father's Day 2010
Preface / Looking back: I can't believe it's been since January that I've posted here. My blog has wilted and all but died. I don't know if I'm going to get back into the habit of doing regular postings but this one is evidence that I'll post something about a memorable day that I had. I'll warn you right now, I'm only 3 sentences into this but I know that with the amount of stuff I have on my mind, this will probably be a longer than necessary posting possibly worthy of a table of contents, but I digress.
Morning: I actually got to sleep in. I got up with the kids the day before around 6:30am and let Mandy sleep. Since I normally get up for work around 4am it was somewhere around 7ish that my youngest daughter Anna came in to give me the Father's Day gift she made for me. It was a card she made, a monkey face made of colored foam shapes, and a coaster with her picture in it. It was obvious she made these things at her preschool and that she had help from her teachers. She gave me a hug and wished me a happy Father's Day.
Next, the older two came in to present their gifts. Sara had made a card for me and Jennifer had decorated / colored on a cover for a post-it note pad. Both were detailed for their age and all the gifts from my kids showed they spent time, put thought into it, and was created with the intention of making me feel loved, which I did. (Mission accomplished). Then, they wanted to take my breakfast order. So I handed Jennifer the post-it notes and she got a pen. I tailored my order to something I knew they could handle and delivered my order to Sara, who in turn repeated it back to Jennifer, who then wrote down my order on the notes. I normally don't do cereal but as it was one of the few things they are capable of making I placed my order as follows:
large bowl of Lucky Charms, regular sized chocolate milk - extra chocloatey, banana, box of raisins, and 2 pieces of toast. Mom helped by getting the tv tray out and set up by the bed.
Breakfast: First came the cereal in a bowl normally reserved for mixing or small dinner salads. There was twice as much milk as there was cereal. Next came the banana followed a few minutes later by the chocolate milk. I was eating the cereal, and as I was slicing up and adding the banana to the bowl, the box of raisins was brought in (Sara was doing most of the delivery while Jennifer was preparing in the kitchen). I decided to add the raisins to the bowl as well and began to wonder if they forgot about the toast so naturally I inquired of my server who informed me the cook was applying the butter spread.
I finished my awesome breakfast, waited a bit while I watched some of Man Caves on the DIY channel then took my dishes downstairs to the kitchen and intended to inquire about the missing toast and here's what I found:
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You can see one piece of the toast buttered and on the plate. To the left of the plate you see the chocolate syrup, the milk, the butter and behind that is the bread. On the other side of the sink in the background of the picture is the bowl and cereal box I just brought down and on the counter next to that you can just barely see the other piece of toast. Two questions: 1. Why is the toast separated like that? Did they have an argument or some kind of falling out? Did they repel each other? and 2. Where are my kids, since they're obviously not in the kitchen nor are they on their way to bring me said toast as expected. I don't know how much time passed between the toast being finished and getting buttered but none of the butter is melted and now the toast is cold and hard. I turned around to find my kids:
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Here they are playing with the large cardboard boxes that our new sectional came in. I'm sure the boxes came into the kitchen and dragged my daughters out into the living room. How else would they get so distracted by inanimate objects so as to leave the rest of my breakfast alone and cold on the counter with me waiting upstairs. (I really didn't mind that much and was already happy with what they'd done so far.) I sat there for a moment wondering how long it would take for them to not only notice me but to realize that they had forgot my toast. Jennifer recognized that I was sitting there watching them after a few minutes probably only because I was emphasizing a dramatic sad look on my face (only because I knew I'd be invisible to them if I didn't do something to get their attention besides just stare at them). She asked what was wrong and I replied with, "What do you think?" and she thought it was because of the mess in the kitchen so she quickly got up and cleaned up the stuff they left out. When she finished I inquired about the toast again and without missing a beat she just put the other piece on the plate and handed it to me in a nonchalant way saying, "Oh, here you go." and was about to quickly go back to playing when I offered the observation that it was cold and hard. I think she either didn't hear the last word or didn't understand because her immediate solution was to put the toast in the microwave for 30 seconds. Anyone who has tried to reheat toasted baked goods will know that doing this for anything longer than 10 seconds or so does nothing more than to make the bread harder. She set the timer for 30 seconds but I had her pull it out after 15 but it was already too late. I didn't say anything to my girls who were watching me "enjoy my breakfast" and gnawed down most of it until they left the room back to playing in the boxes and didn't hurt their feelings by tossing it immediately.
Church: All in all it was a great morning really and I even got ready for (and made it on time to) church. Even though Anna was in rare form with her rambunctiousness, I actually enjoyed church overall more than usual. After sacrament meeting they handed out little bags with fortune cookies and a few Hershey's kisses accompanied with a couple quotes on paper. After church while I was doing my calling (counting & recording the donations), I got a "cake pop". I didn't know what that was at first but it is exactly what it sounds like. Chocolate cake ball atop a sucker type stick covered in a glaze type frosting that hardens like that magic shell you put on ice cream (probably was the same stuff now that I think about it). The cake was super moist and delicious it almost felt like it was melting in my mouth. It was like a donut hole but made of moist cake and even though it was the size of a walnut, it was the best treat I'd had all week. It was great.
The Roll Over: On the way home from church it was raining, and about 60 degrees. I know, here we are on Father's Day, June 20th, the day before the official start of summer, and it's cold and raining. I still have my coat in the car. On the way up the hill to my house, there's a winding part as the road makes its way up the hill. As I come around one corner, there's this other vehicle coming down the hill around another corner up ahead and it begins to fishtail and swerve into my lane ahead of me. It quickly corrects and swerves back into it's own lane just long enough for us to pass each other. However, still not quite in control, the vehicle swerves back in to my lane right behind me and I watch in my mirror as the vehicle runs off the road into the muddy hillside before toppling over and rolling onto its roof.
I immediately stop, put on my flashers, and get out to help. Already another car has stopped behind me and I tell them to call 911. As I approach the upturned vehicle, a young woman about 17 or so is crawling out of the car, now with mud and a little blood on her hands. I think the blood came as a result of scratching her hand when she crawled out because she was otherwise physically not hurt and nobody else was in the vehicle. I got into the emergency kit in my car and brought her a towel to wipe her hands off with. She was obviously very shaken and distraught as one would expect but otherwise not wounded. Immediately after she crawled out of the vehicle she asked if I could get her purse. It was stuck to the rear view mirror and so I had to kneel on the wet muddy road to get it out and unhook the strap from the mirror (still in my church clothes with white shirt and tie and khaki pants mind you). I got her purse but found out later that the stuff she really needed like drivers license, etc. that the police needed were still in the glove box. I had the back trunk of my car opened and had her sit there while myself and the driver of the car that stopped behind me helped to slow and direct traffic around the accident scene coming up and going down the hill since we knew they couldn't see the accident until they were almost on top of it with the way the corners of the road were. A third driver stopped and I asked him to be with the driver of the overturned vehicle and to just talk to her take care of her until police arrived. It was about 20 minutes or so between the accident and police getting the road closed. I left my cell phone at home since I didn't expect to use it at church so I borrowed a phone from the young woman's mom who arrived on the scene with her sister and I called my wife to let her know where I was, what I was doing and when to expect me. I was wet from the rain and had mud on the knee of my pants but was otherwise fine and was glad I could be there to help and was happy that these random strangers did the good Samaritan thing like it was the normal thing to do. They could have drove off and taken the chance that someone else would stop and help but they / we were the first on the scene and this time, we were the someone else. I was there about 30 minutes or so, the police talked to the driver and she explained what happened. Then they got my drivers license for ID, asked me what happened and got my phone number, then I went home.
Dinner: I got home, related my experience, and changed my clothes while my wife was making dinner. She was making a chicken dish in pasta sauce and cheese to be served over noodles with mashed potatoes. When Mandy asked what I wanted for Father's Day dinner, I thought about it and decided that while a nice piece of beef from the BBQ grill would be nice, I'd have to cook it myself to get it the way I want and I opted not to cook on Father's Day. I thought since it's Father's Day and I get to pick what I want, I'd pick something I would normally not get. Since Mandy is gluten intolerant (can't have anything with wheat, rye, or barley) I usually don't get Chinese food which is one thing I enjoy. So, to prevent having to spend money on Sunday, we placed the order and picked it up after dinner Saturday night. Have you ever had reheated Chinese food that wasn't just as good as the day before? No, it's like pizza. Usually can't go wrong there. So the order was for 2 dinners but it looked like more. It's amazing how much food they can cram into those little white boxes. The order included the following:
Dessert & gift exchange: Well, my mom, a licensed beautician by the way, forgot to bring the haircutting supplies over so I didn't get one. She did bring me a Father's Day gift and, since they were going to be in Long Beach, WA on my birthday (July 1st), she brought my birthday present over too. I wanted to wait until my birthday to unwrap the present she brought since I figured I wouldn't have much else to unwrap but she wanted me to open it now. The birthday present was a pillow case she made and embroidered with Winnie The Pooh. The Father's Day gift was a leather encased magnetic money clip. She mentioned she knew I don't carry cash but it could also be used as a bookmark. My brother Scott mentioned it was pretty thick to be used as a bookmark but that's ok since I rarely read paper books anyway. Most of my reading material is either online or downloaded to my iPod Touch. I had a small amount of the peach cobbler my mom made & brought over and was no longer in the mood for the ice cream I picked out at Cold Stone the previous day.
Since it was my Dad's birthday the day before and this was Father's Day, I had wanted to give my Dad a case of Thomas Kemper's variety pack of sodas (great gift by the way) but I learned that he's trying to stay away from sugar because he needs to keep his blood sugar levels down as he's diabetic and trying to improve per Dr's orders. So instead the case went to Chris (whose birthday is the day before my Dad's) and I got my dad an assortment of sugar free candies. Chocolate covered coconut almond (like Almond Joy), peanut butter cups, Applets & Cotlets (a made-in-Washington treat based on Turkish delight), Werthers Originals, and these Dove Chocolate Raspberry candies (which I wouldn't have gotten had I noticed that they were dark chocolate since I know we both don't like dark chocolate). In any case, he'll at least get to sample several sugar free treats and then he'll know what he likes in the future should he want a sugar free treat.
I know I was too blunt when I told my brother Scott that his haircut looked bad (I think I may even have used the word horrible). It was short and spiky and sticked out all over. He said it was the style or something but he's been trying out this "style" now for several months and I'm just not used to it. The biggest thing I didn't understand though was why he was paying $35 to get this look when, as I said before, my mom is a licensed beautician and historically we've always gotten our free haircuts from her. Now for someone like my brother who doesn't have a job, I'd think this would be a really great deal. Heck, it's a great deal even for me who does have a job. I did apologize to him if I offended him or hurt his feelings however he didn't show any signs that was the case. But I told him I was confused as to why, when he didn't have an income, he would pay for a haircut he could be getting for free, instead of getting his own Dad a Father's Day present (or me a birthday present several years in a row). My Dad would of course never make a comment like that and I'm sure I can easily be accused of being too blunt and perhaps even insensitive at times, however my Dad laughed out loud at my comment. My brother on the other hand, unfortunately didn't respond.
Prologue: My parents & brother left around 8:30 and I went to bed around 9pm after hugging my kids and telling them goodnight. So it was a pretty memorable day and a long weekend altogether. In fact the entire week was pretty eventful but so as not to bore you with additional details the highlights included the following:
Mandy's brother & his family visiting from Missouri, having family pictures taken (both at my house and Mandy's mom's house), getting rid of our large couch, getting a new 7 piece Home Theater sectional with 5 rocking recliners, borrowing a pickup truck to get a yard of gravel for a yard project, going to Seattle with the relatives to Ride the Duck around Seattle and into Lake Union, Mandy finishing up her supervisor job with the U.S. Census and spending time at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle to help a family friend through a crisis, spent the night at Mandy's Mom's Friday night, saw Iron Man 2 Saturday morning at Lincoln Center while the rest of the fam. saw Toy Story 3 at Crossroads, and had a birthday celebration dinner at Red Robin for Chris & my Dad Saturday evening. I'm hoping this week will be less eventful but there's already something on the calendar for every day except Wednesday. Wish me luck.
Morning: I actually got to sleep in. I got up with the kids the day before around 6:30am and let Mandy sleep. Since I normally get up for work around 4am it was somewhere around 7ish that my youngest daughter Anna came in to give me the Father's Day gift she made for me. It was a card she made, a monkey face made of colored foam shapes, and a coaster with her picture in it. It was obvious she made these things at her preschool and that she had help from her teachers. She gave me a hug and wished me a happy Father's Day.
Next, the older two came in to present their gifts. Sara had made a card for me and Jennifer had decorated / colored on a cover for a post-it note pad. Both were detailed for their age and all the gifts from my kids showed they spent time, put thought into it, and was created with the intention of making me feel loved, which I did. (Mission accomplished). Then, they wanted to take my breakfast order. So I handed Jennifer the post-it notes and she got a pen. I tailored my order to something I knew they could handle and delivered my order to Sara, who in turn repeated it back to Jennifer, who then wrote down my order on the notes. I normally don't do cereal but as it was one of the few things they are capable of making I placed my order as follows:
large bowl of Lucky Charms, regular sized chocolate milk - extra chocloatey, banana, box of raisins, and 2 pieces of toast. Mom helped by getting the tv tray out and set up by the bed.
Breakfast: First came the cereal in a bowl normally reserved for mixing or small dinner salads. There was twice as much milk as there was cereal. Next came the banana followed a few minutes later by the chocolate milk. I was eating the cereal, and as I was slicing up and adding the banana to the bowl, the box of raisins was brought in (Sara was doing most of the delivery while Jennifer was preparing in the kitchen). I decided to add the raisins to the bowl as well and began to wonder if they forgot about the toast so naturally I inquired of my server who informed me the cook was applying the butter spread.
I finished my awesome breakfast, waited a bit while I watched some of Man Caves on the DIY channel then took my dishes downstairs to the kitchen and intended to inquire about the missing toast and here's what I found:
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Church: All in all it was a great morning really and I even got ready for (and made it on time to) church. Even though Anna was in rare form with her rambunctiousness, I actually enjoyed church overall more than usual. After sacrament meeting they handed out little bags with fortune cookies and a few Hershey's kisses accompanied with a couple quotes on paper. After church while I was doing my calling (counting & recording the donations), I got a "cake pop". I didn't know what that was at first but it is exactly what it sounds like. Chocolate cake ball atop a sucker type stick covered in a glaze type frosting that hardens like that magic shell you put on ice cream (probably was the same stuff now that I think about it). The cake was super moist and delicious it almost felt like it was melting in my mouth. It was like a donut hole but made of moist cake and even though it was the size of a walnut, it was the best treat I'd had all week. It was great.
The Roll Over: On the way home from church it was raining, and about 60 degrees. I know, here we are on Father's Day, June 20th, the day before the official start of summer, and it's cold and raining. I still have my coat in the car. On the way up the hill to my house, there's a winding part as the road makes its way up the hill. As I come around one corner, there's this other vehicle coming down the hill around another corner up ahead and it begins to fishtail and swerve into my lane ahead of me. It quickly corrects and swerves back into it's own lane just long enough for us to pass each other. However, still not quite in control, the vehicle swerves back in to my lane right behind me and I watch in my mirror as the vehicle runs off the road into the muddy hillside before toppling over and rolling onto its roof.
I immediately stop, put on my flashers, and get out to help. Already another car has stopped behind me and I tell them to call 911. As I approach the upturned vehicle, a young woman about 17 or so is crawling out of the car, now with mud and a little blood on her hands. I think the blood came as a result of scratching her hand when she crawled out because she was otherwise physically not hurt and nobody else was in the vehicle. I got into the emergency kit in my car and brought her a towel to wipe her hands off with. She was obviously very shaken and distraught as one would expect but otherwise not wounded. Immediately after she crawled out of the vehicle she asked if I could get her purse. It was stuck to the rear view mirror and so I had to kneel on the wet muddy road to get it out and unhook the strap from the mirror (still in my church clothes with white shirt and tie and khaki pants mind you). I got her purse but found out later that the stuff she really needed like drivers license, etc. that the police needed were still in the glove box. I had the back trunk of my car opened and had her sit there while myself and the driver of the car that stopped behind me helped to slow and direct traffic around the accident scene coming up and going down the hill since we knew they couldn't see the accident until they were almost on top of it with the way the corners of the road were. A third driver stopped and I asked him to be with the driver of the overturned vehicle and to just talk to her take care of her until police arrived. It was about 20 minutes or so between the accident and police getting the road closed. I left my cell phone at home since I didn't expect to use it at church so I borrowed a phone from the young woman's mom who arrived on the scene with her sister and I called my wife to let her know where I was, what I was doing and when to expect me. I was wet from the rain and had mud on the knee of my pants but was otherwise fine and was glad I could be there to help and was happy that these random strangers did the good Samaritan thing like it was the normal thing to do. They could have drove off and taken the chance that someone else would stop and help but they / we were the first on the scene and this time, we were the someone else. I was there about 30 minutes or so, the police talked to the driver and she explained what happened. Then they got my drivers license for ID, asked me what happened and got my phone number, then I went home.
Dinner: I got home, related my experience, and changed my clothes while my wife was making dinner. She was making a chicken dish in pasta sauce and cheese to be served over noodles with mashed potatoes. When Mandy asked what I wanted for Father's Day dinner, I thought about it and decided that while a nice piece of beef from the BBQ grill would be nice, I'd have to cook it myself to get it the way I want and I opted not to cook on Father's Day. I thought since it's Father's Day and I get to pick what I want, I'd pick something I would normally not get. Since Mandy is gluten intolerant (can't have anything with wheat, rye, or barley) I usually don't get Chinese food which is one thing I enjoy. So, to prevent having to spend money on Sunday, we placed the order and picked it up after dinner Saturday night. Have you ever had reheated Chinese food that wasn't just as good as the day before? No, it's like pizza. Usually can't go wrong there. So the order was for 2 dinners but it looked like more. It's amazing how much food they can cram into those little white boxes. The order included the following:
Barbecued Pork
Egg Roll
Sub Gum Almond Chicken Chow Mein
Almond Chicken
Deep Fried Prawns
Sweet and Sour Pork
Pork Fried Rice
And there was plenty left over after I got done. Perhaps our exchange student from Hong Kong will enjoy some later. She was gone at dinner time and came in late. I had Mandy invite her Dad over for dinner so she could enjoy Father's Day with her dad too and then later around 7pm my parents were coming over for ice cream and so I could get a haircut.Dessert & gift exchange: Well, my mom, a licensed beautician by the way, forgot to bring the haircutting supplies over so I didn't get one. She did bring me a Father's Day gift and, since they were going to be in Long Beach, WA on my birthday (July 1st), she brought my birthday present over too. I wanted to wait until my birthday to unwrap the present she brought since I figured I wouldn't have much else to unwrap but she wanted me to open it now. The birthday present was a pillow case she made and embroidered with Winnie The Pooh. The Father's Day gift was a leather encased magnetic money clip. She mentioned she knew I don't carry cash but it could also be used as a bookmark. My brother Scott mentioned it was pretty thick to be used as a bookmark but that's ok since I rarely read paper books anyway. Most of my reading material is either online or downloaded to my iPod Touch. I had a small amount of the peach cobbler my mom made & brought over and was no longer in the mood for the ice cream I picked out at Cold Stone the previous day.
Since it was my Dad's birthday the day before and this was Father's Day, I had wanted to give my Dad a case of Thomas Kemper's variety pack of sodas (great gift by the way) but I learned that he's trying to stay away from sugar because he needs to keep his blood sugar levels down as he's diabetic and trying to improve per Dr's orders. So instead the case went to Chris (whose birthday is the day before my Dad's) and I got my dad an assortment of sugar free candies. Chocolate covered coconut almond (like Almond Joy), peanut butter cups, Applets & Cotlets (a made-in-Washington treat based on Turkish delight), Werthers Originals, and these Dove Chocolate Raspberry candies (which I wouldn't have gotten had I noticed that they were dark chocolate since I know we both don't like dark chocolate). In any case, he'll at least get to sample several sugar free treats and then he'll know what he likes in the future should he want a sugar free treat.
I know I was too blunt when I told my brother Scott that his haircut looked bad (I think I may even have used the word horrible). It was short and spiky and sticked out all over. He said it was the style or something but he's been trying out this "style" now for several months and I'm just not used to it. The biggest thing I didn't understand though was why he was paying $35 to get this look when, as I said before, my mom is a licensed beautician and historically we've always gotten our free haircuts from her. Now for someone like my brother who doesn't have a job, I'd think this would be a really great deal. Heck, it's a great deal even for me who does have a job. I did apologize to him if I offended him or hurt his feelings however he didn't show any signs that was the case. But I told him I was confused as to why, when he didn't have an income, he would pay for a haircut he could be getting for free, instead of getting his own Dad a Father's Day present (or me a birthday present several years in a row). My Dad would of course never make a comment like that and I'm sure I can easily be accused of being too blunt and perhaps even insensitive at times, however my Dad laughed out loud at my comment. My brother on the other hand, unfortunately didn't respond.
Prologue: My parents & brother left around 8:30 and I went to bed around 9pm after hugging my kids and telling them goodnight. So it was a pretty memorable day and a long weekend altogether. In fact the entire week was pretty eventful but so as not to bore you with additional details the highlights included the following:
Mandy's brother & his family visiting from Missouri, having family pictures taken (both at my house and Mandy's mom's house), getting rid of our large couch, getting a new 7 piece Home Theater sectional with 5 rocking recliners, borrowing a pickup truck to get a yard of gravel for a yard project, going to Seattle with the relatives to Ride the Duck around Seattle and into Lake Union, Mandy finishing up her supervisor job with the U.S. Census and spending time at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle to help a family friend through a crisis, spent the night at Mandy's Mom's Friday night, saw Iron Man 2 Saturday morning at Lincoln Center while the rest of the fam. saw Toy Story 3 at Crossroads, and had a birthday celebration dinner at Red Robin for Chris & my Dad Saturday evening. I'm hoping this week will be less eventful but there's already something on the calendar for every day except Wednesday. Wish me luck.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Hello Two-Thousand Ten
Welcome to the new year 2010 which, as far as I'm concerned, should be pronounced two thousand ten. I have chosen to reject the "twenty ten" moniker because it just doesn't seem right to follow that type of phrasing until that little digit behind the 2 has a value meaning starting with 2100 and on. Sure that will be after my lifetime but I'm ok with that, really.
It doesn't take much effort to say two thousand ten and saying twenty ten just feels like the person is just too lazy to add that one extra syllable.
I know Wikipedia has it's own two cents worth to say on the topic stating "Among experts and the general public, there is a debate as to how specific years of the 21st century should be pronounced in English. The year 2010 is pronounced either "twenty ten" or "two thousand (and) ten".[1]
The sequel to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was called 2010 and though it was released December 1984, I don't recall ever hearing anyone since then refer to it as twenty ten. If someone were to ask me if I ever saw the movie Twenty Ten, I would reply that there never was one called that but there was one with a similar name called Two Thousand Ten titled as 2010.
My point in writing this isn't so much as to persuade anyone who reads it to adopt my view as much as it is more just to communicate my perspective. I mean if you choose to use twenty ten then I won't say I don't know you anymore. But if you do choose to use two thousand ten, then I think we'll just be closer friends that share a common idea who choose not to acknowledge anyone when they pronounce the year incorrectly. We may or may not have a motivating desire to correct them every time but in our minds we'll know what they really mean.
It doesn't take much effort to say two thousand ten and saying twenty ten just feels like the person is just too lazy to add that one extra syllable.
I know Wikipedia has it's own two cents worth to say on the topic stating "Among experts and the general public, there is a debate as to how specific years of the 21st century should be pronounced in English. The year 2010 is pronounced either "twenty ten" or "two thousand (and) ten".[1]
The sequel to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was called 2010 and though it was released December 1984, I don't recall ever hearing anyone since then refer to it as twenty ten. If someone were to ask me if I ever saw the movie Twenty Ten, I would reply that there never was one called that but there was one with a similar name called Two Thousand Ten titled as 2010.
My point in writing this isn't so much as to persuade anyone who reads it to adopt my view as much as it is more just to communicate my perspective. I mean if you choose to use twenty ten then I won't say I don't know you anymore. But if you do choose to use two thousand ten, then I think we'll just be closer friends that share a common idea who choose not to acknowledge anyone when they pronounce the year incorrectly. We may or may not have a motivating desire to correct them every time but in our minds we'll know what they really mean.
Reference
- ^ Siegel, Robert (2009-11-16). "How Do You Say 2010?". All Things Considered (National Public Radio). Retrieved 2009-11-16.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Goodbye 2009
I don't often write blog posts in response to another blog posts. And the number of blogs I do read can probably be counted on one hand. However a recent posting I read got me to thinking and I realized that I probably had enough thoughts & comments about this to warrant a blog posting of my own rather than just posting a few lines in response under the original.
As the author of the previously mentioned posting points out, it's been a rough economic year for everyone. This has brought some unique challenges and obstacles in my workplace that have probably culminated into a large scary monster of negative feelings & emotions within me that all too often carries over into my personal & family life. Since my office closed back in May, not only do I not get face time with my co-workers & manager who are going through the same career difficulties (absence of a regular quasi-support group), but I also don't have the commute time between work & home that would be roughly an hour or so to unwind and transition from work to family mode.
One of the quotes from the posting I wanted to comment on was this:
"We didn’t send out Christmas cards this year. We handed out few gifts to neighbors. We didn’t hang lights around our home. We didn’t give as much service as we had planned. Home and auto repairs seemed to drop out of nowhere. Our three oldest kids needed glasses and dental work done.
Nothing major. Just many small expenditures that add up over time during a year when my bonus was slashed."
That's kind of how it was around our house too. Normally I put up our 12ft tall Christmas tree with a 9ft diameter base in our front room with vaulted ceiling. This year, I only put up the top half. It still looked great at 6ft tall with the pre-lit white lights and the decorations my wife & kids put on but it felt like a representation of my Christmas spirit this year like it too was only half there. Our exterior Christmas lights were never put up, and the smaller tree helped hide the fact that there were a smaller number of presents under the tree this year.
As there were no bonuses or raises handed out this year, what we were able to put under the tree basically came from the income my wife was able to provide with the 5 hours a week she works, commission only, for a small non-profit organization. While I was thankful for that, at the same time I was left frustrated that I couldn't provide for my family like I wanted to...Like I felt like it was my obligation and responsibility to and regardless of how hard I worked through the challenges of layoffs, furlough time, increased issues of customer escalations and unhappy customers and still raising our customer satisfaction scores, there was no monetary thanks from the company. (Though they still had funds to acquire a portion of Nortel business solutions.) So we delay the dental work my wife & I need, see how long we can drive with that annoying blinking light on the dashboard of the car (we had it checked, it's minor & ok), and reschedule some of the plans we had slated for this year.
But after reading the blog post further, it made me reflect back on the year and remember some of the more positive highlights and that it's important to have and show gratitude for some of the more simple pleasures like time spent with family. I was able to take my family to Disneyland this year for a week. That was awesome. I spent a few days at the beach 4 times this year, twice in Seaside, OR and twice in Long Beach, WA. I made new friends working a temp job first at an event in Seattle and then later in the year at another event in Atlanta. While it was hot in Atlanta, I enjoyed the rare opportunity to visit there and work with such a great team of people. This year we also got an addition to the people in our home in the form of a college exchange student from Hong Kong and she has helped us learn and try new things that we probably otherwise would not have done. And possibly a blessing I keep overlooking is that while there have been stressful challenges at work, I am thankful I have the opportunity to tackle those challenges rather than the unemployment line and job hunting market.
These are only a few of the things that are unique to me this year that I have to be thankful for. While I'm glad that 2009 brought these wonderful experiences, I hope that 2010 brings better economic times for everyone. But until then, I hope I can continue to remember what's truly important and show gratitude for what I do have instead of misery & negative attitude I've been giving off for the focus I've been placing on all the things that just don't go right.
As the author of the previously mentioned posting points out, it's been a rough economic year for everyone. This has brought some unique challenges and obstacles in my workplace that have probably culminated into a large scary monster of negative feelings & emotions within me that all too often carries over into my personal & family life. Since my office closed back in May, not only do I not get face time with my co-workers & manager who are going through the same career difficulties (absence of a regular quasi-support group), but I also don't have the commute time between work & home that would be roughly an hour or so to unwind and transition from work to family mode.
One of the quotes from the posting I wanted to comment on was this:
"We didn’t send out Christmas cards this year. We handed out few gifts to neighbors. We didn’t hang lights around our home. We didn’t give as much service as we had planned. Home and auto repairs seemed to drop out of nowhere. Our three oldest kids needed glasses and dental work done.
Nothing major. Just many small expenditures that add up over time during a year when my bonus was slashed."
That's kind of how it was around our house too. Normally I put up our 12ft tall Christmas tree with a 9ft diameter base in our front room with vaulted ceiling. This year, I only put up the top half. It still looked great at 6ft tall with the pre-lit white lights and the decorations my wife & kids put on but it felt like a representation of my Christmas spirit this year like it too was only half there. Our exterior Christmas lights were never put up, and the smaller tree helped hide the fact that there were a smaller number of presents under the tree this year.
As there were no bonuses or raises handed out this year, what we were able to put under the tree basically came from the income my wife was able to provide with the 5 hours a week she works, commission only, for a small non-profit organization. While I was thankful for that, at the same time I was left frustrated that I couldn't provide for my family like I wanted to...Like I felt like it was my obligation and responsibility to and regardless of how hard I worked through the challenges of layoffs, furlough time, increased issues of customer escalations and unhappy customers and still raising our customer satisfaction scores, there was no monetary thanks from the company. (Though they still had funds to acquire a portion of Nortel business solutions.) So we delay the dental work my wife & I need, see how long we can drive with that annoying blinking light on the dashboard of the car (we had it checked, it's minor & ok), and reschedule some of the plans we had slated for this year.
But after reading the blog post further, it made me reflect back on the year and remember some of the more positive highlights and that it's important to have and show gratitude for some of the more simple pleasures like time spent with family. I was able to take my family to Disneyland this year for a week. That was awesome. I spent a few days at the beach 4 times this year, twice in Seaside, OR and twice in Long Beach, WA. I made new friends working a temp job first at an event in Seattle and then later in the year at another event in Atlanta. While it was hot in Atlanta, I enjoyed the rare opportunity to visit there and work with such a great team of people. This year we also got an addition to the people in our home in the form of a college exchange student from Hong Kong and she has helped us learn and try new things that we probably otherwise would not have done. And possibly a blessing I keep overlooking is that while there have been stressful challenges at work, I am thankful I have the opportunity to tackle those challenges rather than the unemployment line and job hunting market.
These are only a few of the things that are unique to me this year that I have to be thankful for. While I'm glad that 2009 brought these wonderful experiences, I hope that 2010 brings better economic times for everyone. But until then, I hope I can continue to remember what's truly important and show gratitude for what I do have instead of misery & negative attitude I've been giving off for the focus I've been placing on all the things that just don't go right.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
My Hardest Job
I recently participated in a gospel discussion with missionaries from my church who were teaching a friend who is investigating the church and preparing to be baptized.
After the missionaries left we continued talking and since my 3 brothers and I each served on missions, the talk turned to what the life of a missionary is like. I commented that I probably got more sleep then because they're in bed from around 9pm to 6am whereas now I get to bed around the same time but I get up for work around 4am.
My Mom commented that being a missionary has got to be the most difficult job. I started thinking about the various responsibilities I've had during my life and decided that while I know my Mom was referring to a profession, being a full time Dad has definately been the the most challenging and demanding job of my life.
It makes me appreciate the help and support my wife has been in this monumentous task and awesome responsibility we have been blessed with.
When my Wife was recently out of town for a week, I gained a greater appreciation for all this when I worked half days from home then played Mr, Mom sarting at 8am. However the first day was Sunday and that afternoon after church we were to be hosting my sister in-law's son's birthday celebration. Well I woke at 5am with the 8 yr. old sick in the bathroom. I took care of her and we both went back to bed. So of course we couldn't go to church so we overslept and I missed the opportunity to inform my sister in-law about my sick child since they were already at church.
So around 10am or so my 6yr. old got sick but she did so leaving a trail from her bed to the bathroom that I had to clean up. Well I finished that task about 10 minutes before guests were to arrive at which time I was informed that my 6 yr. old made another deposit on the hardwood dining room floor downstairs. I was just finishing cleaning up that mess whe people started to arrive.
So. 2 of my 3 kids were confined to their room while guests were downstairs and I was glad that my 3 yr.old had not gotten sick too. I had just sat down with my plate of food and my 3 yr. old came to sit on my lap. I figured she would eat off my plate. Instead she added to my plate the contents of her stomach. So not only did I have 3 sick kids, another mess to clean up, and no wife to help, but I got my food last so the food was gone except for a few morsels left on the veggie tray.
So yes, fatherhood is the hardest job I'll ever have but it gives rewards that I could never get any other way and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch
After the missionaries left we continued talking and since my 3 brothers and I each served on missions, the talk turned to what the life of a missionary is like. I commented that I probably got more sleep then because they're in bed from around 9pm to 6am whereas now I get to bed around the same time but I get up for work around 4am.
My Mom commented that being a missionary has got to be the most difficult job. I started thinking about the various responsibilities I've had during my life and decided that while I know my Mom was referring to a profession, being a full time Dad has definately been the the most challenging and demanding job of my life.
It makes me appreciate the help and support my wife has been in this monumentous task and awesome responsibility we have been blessed with.
When my Wife was recently out of town for a week, I gained a greater appreciation for all this when I worked half days from home then played Mr, Mom sarting at 8am. However the first day was Sunday and that afternoon after church we were to be hosting my sister in-law's son's birthday celebration. Well I woke at 5am with the 8 yr. old sick in the bathroom. I took care of her and we both went back to bed. So of course we couldn't go to church so we overslept and I missed the opportunity to inform my sister in-law about my sick child since they were already at church.
So around 10am or so my 6yr. old got sick but she did so leaving a trail from her bed to the bathroom that I had to clean up. Well I finished that task about 10 minutes before guests were to arrive at which time I was informed that my 6 yr. old made another deposit on the hardwood dining room floor downstairs. I was just finishing cleaning up that mess whe people started to arrive.
So. 2 of my 3 kids were confined to their room while guests were downstairs and I was glad that my 3 yr.old had not gotten sick too. I had just sat down with my plate of food and my 3 yr. old came to sit on my lap. I figured she would eat off my plate. Instead she added to my plate the contents of her stomach. So not only did I have 3 sick kids, another mess to clean up, and no wife to help, but I got my food last so the food was gone except for a few morsels left on the veggie tray.
So yes, fatherhood is the hardest job I'll ever have but it gives rewards that I could never get any other way and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The price of technology
I realized some time ago that, despite my efforts, I'm not going to be able to stay current or up to date on all the technology advancements as I'd like to. I'm not going to be able to interact with new hardware that comes out for a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons are personal choices such as wanting to try to have a balance between attention given to "toys" and time spent with family, volunteering, etc. Or the personal choice regarding what line of work I'm in which has an impact on not only what technology I get to work with through my job but also how much I'm paid to do so. Sure, some people have jobs where they're paid to play with new stuff and then write a review on it or something but that's not the line of work I'm in currently (though that would be kind of cool) and I'm not certain I have the refined writing skills that someone would pay me for.
Which brings me to my main point which is that even if I did have time to interact with the technology that I'm interested in, I just don't have funds required to do so. And when I talk about technology, I'm not just talking about computers (though I've been wanting a Mac for some time now to replace my 4yr old Dell), other technology interests I have are related to multimedia as well. I'd love to be able to play with video editing which would also include some audio editing to add tracks to the video, record HD video onto flash media, photography related technology (I could use a SpeedLite flash for example), mobile technology such as Netbooks or smart phones, etc.
My current video camera is several years old and records to miniDV tapes and has a firewire port for transferring video to a computer. My Dell doesn't have a firewire port, my old computer that was given to the kids does and it currently doesn't work. Even firewire has become a slow technology compared to some other current options and it seems to be just about on its way out the door. I mean in order to transfer the video, I still have to play every minute of what I recorded because it's still a tape media and I can't just copy a digital file to a disk.
The Mac is probably the first and main big obstacle. I mean I don't want to shoot video anymore until I have a decent system for editing the video. I've refrained from doing too much with photo editing because my Dell only has 2gb of ram and has a 4gb limit. Sure I could put an inexpensive firewire card in there or upgrade the memory, but at this point it's like an old car to me and I just don't want to invest anymore money in it. Sure it works fine for what I use it for now (mostly internet stuff like e-mail & online social networking, etc). But I can't even play games on it anymore because the games today require technology that my current video card doesn't support and things like that. (I know, what a hardship I have that I'm not able to play video games on my computer. I guess that's why we have the Wii.)
(Warning: Abrupt segue to follow) Recently Verizon released the Droid phone which runs Google technologies natively. I'm a fan of Google because so much consumer product is free and it works as well, if not better than some consumer products that aren't free and since it's mainly developed to store / access all your data online, you can get to it from any internet enabled device that supports web pages. I got the Verizon LG Voyager phone when it first came out and in my opinion, until the Droid, there hasn't been a compelling reason for me to consider getting a different phone with Verizon. While the iPhone is indeed very nifty, fun to play with, and probably even very convenient, I can't bring myself to switch to a carrier that has worse coverage and customer support than what I've been having for the last 10+ years (rated highest by Consumer Reports surveys year after year too).
As I looked into the Droid phone more, I found that even with my "new every two" discount, the phone would still be $150, I'd be locked in to another 2 year agreement (hasn't really been an issue anyway), AND I'd have to get a mandatory data plan that would tack on another $30/mo. to my already outrageous cell bill which is only a 2 phone family share plan at 700 min./mo (and I added the $5 text messaging plan to my phone mostly for SMS data). I didn't really like the idea of investing more money in something that was going to increase my monthly bills and since I started working from home full time back in April, I'm finding that I don't even use my cell phone as much as I used to anyway. I figure I'm probably home 85% of my time anyway so I wouldn't even use the mobile features enough to make it worth it. The maps feature looked really cool but for the number of times I go somewhere where I'd need a map, I can usually get my directions before I leave home and even then if I get lost or the route changes because of traffic or road closures, etc, I can still activate my VZ Navigator for $3 for 24 hours or $10/mo. Even with the price of GPS devices coming down, I'd have to use the VZ Navigator for a full year to come close to the average low end price of what GPS devices are selling for. Plus my phone is typically always with me and I wouldn't have to carry another device.
Therefore I decided that as cool as the Droid is, and as much fun as it would be to have a GPS (which, unlike the Droid, typically doesn't have a monthly cost associated with it), given the amount of time I'm actually away from home, it probably wouldn't be a good investment. After sharing some of these thoughts with my Dad & brother who have similar tastes in technology as I do, my brother gave me the idea of the iPod Touch. It gives you just about all the features of an iPhone (without the actual phone features of course) and you only have to pay for the device once without a monthly bill. Given that I can use it with my (or any free wi-fi), I can still be away from the computer but still be at least somewhat connected to the technologies.
As I looked into the options for the iTouch, I found there's currently an 8gb which hasn't changed along with the newer 32 & 64gb 3GS models that apparently run about twice as fast. Anyway, since the 8gb model is being sold concurrently with the "3rd Generation" 32 & 64gb models, there were some who thought the 8gb model was also a 3rd gen. When I chatted online with the helpful Apple sales rep, they basically confirmed there's no difference except for a $5 software version upgrade. Armed with that knowledge I found that Amazon had two prices listed for the 8gb model. One was sold as a 2nd gen. product & the other a 3rd gen. with a $40 price difference between them. I opted of course for the 2nd gen. model then added the $5 upgrade.
So I can't afford the Mac yet, but the iTouch makes me feel like I kind of got a little closer and I don't have to walk away empty as it were or settle for something that both has an increased monthly fee and that'd only benefit from during that short time that I'm NOT at home. And a good portion of that time is while I'm at church which may not be the best place for me to be playing with my cell phone. However I've already downloaded scriptures and hymn book to the iTouch so it's already a winner.
(I recognize this posting was very materialistic in nature. Having said that, just know that I'm dealing with it and would like to promote that I am a fan of keeping a balanced life which includes having a focus on putting the family and people in general ahead of some screen to stare at or some other toy to play with. Perhaps that's something for another post. This one is already long enough as it is. I can't even keep the disclaimer note at the bottom short.)
Which brings me to my main point which is that even if I did have time to interact with the technology that I'm interested in, I just don't have funds required to do so. And when I talk about technology, I'm not just talking about computers (though I've been wanting a Mac for some time now to replace my 4yr old Dell), other technology interests I have are related to multimedia as well. I'd love to be able to play with video editing which would also include some audio editing to add tracks to the video, record HD video onto flash media, photography related technology (I could use a SpeedLite flash for example), mobile technology such as Netbooks or smart phones, etc.
My current video camera is several years old and records to miniDV tapes and has a firewire port for transferring video to a computer. My Dell doesn't have a firewire port, my old computer that was given to the kids does and it currently doesn't work. Even firewire has become a slow technology compared to some other current options and it seems to be just about on its way out the door. I mean in order to transfer the video, I still have to play every minute of what I recorded because it's still a tape media and I can't just copy a digital file to a disk.
The Mac is probably the first and main big obstacle. I mean I don't want to shoot video anymore until I have a decent system for editing the video. I've refrained from doing too much with photo editing because my Dell only has 2gb of ram and has a 4gb limit. Sure I could put an inexpensive firewire card in there or upgrade the memory, but at this point it's like an old car to me and I just don't want to invest anymore money in it. Sure it works fine for what I use it for now (mostly internet stuff like e-mail & online social networking, etc). But I can't even play games on it anymore because the games today require technology that my current video card doesn't support and things like that. (I know, what a hardship I have that I'm not able to play video games on my computer. I guess that's why we have the Wii.)
(Warning: Abrupt segue to follow) Recently Verizon released the Droid phone which runs Google technologies natively. I'm a fan of Google because so much consumer product is free and it works as well, if not better than some consumer products that aren't free and since it's mainly developed to store / access all your data online, you can get to it from any internet enabled device that supports web pages. I got the Verizon LG Voyager phone when it first came out and in my opinion, until the Droid, there hasn't been a compelling reason for me to consider getting a different phone with Verizon. While the iPhone is indeed very nifty, fun to play with, and probably even very convenient, I can't bring myself to switch to a carrier that has worse coverage and customer support than what I've been having for the last 10+ years (rated highest by Consumer Reports surveys year after year too).
As I looked into the Droid phone more, I found that even with my "new every two" discount, the phone would still be $150, I'd be locked in to another 2 year agreement (hasn't really been an issue anyway), AND I'd have to get a mandatory data plan that would tack on another $30/mo. to my already outrageous cell bill which is only a 2 phone family share plan at 700 min./mo (and I added the $5 text messaging plan to my phone mostly for SMS data). I didn't really like the idea of investing more money in something that was going to increase my monthly bills and since I started working from home full time back in April, I'm finding that I don't even use my cell phone as much as I used to anyway. I figure I'm probably home 85% of my time anyway so I wouldn't even use the mobile features enough to make it worth it. The maps feature looked really cool but for the number of times I go somewhere where I'd need a map, I can usually get my directions before I leave home and even then if I get lost or the route changes because of traffic or road closures, etc, I can still activate my VZ Navigator for $3 for 24 hours or $10/mo. Even with the price of GPS devices coming down, I'd have to use the VZ Navigator for a full year to come close to the average low end price of what GPS devices are selling for. Plus my phone is typically always with me and I wouldn't have to carry another device.
Therefore I decided that as cool as the Droid is, and as much fun as it would be to have a GPS (which, unlike the Droid, typically doesn't have a monthly cost associated with it), given the amount of time I'm actually away from home, it probably wouldn't be a good investment. After sharing some of these thoughts with my Dad & brother who have similar tastes in technology as I do, my brother gave me the idea of the iPod Touch. It gives you just about all the features of an iPhone (without the actual phone features of course) and you only have to pay for the device once without a monthly bill. Given that I can use it with my (or any free wi-fi), I can still be away from the computer but still be at least somewhat connected to the technologies.
As I looked into the options for the iTouch, I found there's currently an 8gb which hasn't changed along with the newer 32 & 64gb 3GS models that apparently run about twice as fast. Anyway, since the 8gb model is being sold concurrently with the "3rd Generation" 32 & 64gb models, there were some who thought the 8gb model was also a 3rd gen. When I chatted online with the helpful Apple sales rep, they basically confirmed there's no difference except for a $5 software version upgrade. Armed with that knowledge I found that Amazon had two prices listed for the 8gb model. One was sold as a 2nd gen. product & the other a 3rd gen. with a $40 price difference between them. I opted of course for the 2nd gen. model then added the $5 upgrade.
So I can't afford the Mac yet, but the iTouch makes me feel like I kind of got a little closer and I don't have to walk away empty as it were or settle for something that both has an increased monthly fee and that'd only benefit from during that short time that I'm NOT at home. And a good portion of that time is while I'm at church which may not be the best place for me to be playing with my cell phone. However I've already downloaded scriptures and hymn book to the iTouch so it's already a winner.
(I recognize this posting was very materialistic in nature. Having said that, just know that I'm dealing with it and would like to promote that I am a fan of keeping a balanced life which includes having a focus on putting the family and people in general ahead of some screen to stare at or some other toy to play with. Perhaps that's something for another post. This one is already long enough as it is. I can't even keep the disclaimer note at the bottom short.)
Monday, November 9, 2009
Love / Hate relationship
Perhaps love & hate are too strong of words but I have this relationship with this blog that kind of feels that way but maybe to a lesser degree. I like writing a blog but I get so wrapped up in the rest of life that this year it has fallen sadly by the wayside and put on the back burner taking a backseat to other things like the volunteer work I've been doing for the city of Auburn. Well, both my wife Mandy & I have but her more I think.
Just last month, Mandy took advantage of some training that the city paid for to fly her to Baltimore, MD to get some hands on training with FEMA in a class labeled "E900 - IEMC: All Hazards Preparation and Response". So she was gone for a week and I worked half days and played Mr. Mom. The Hazard they did drills for, their practice scenarios, revolved around a fictitious city getting flooded due to an issue with a dam up river. How much more closer to home can you get? If you're reading this and aren't local to western Washington or the Seattle area, the Green River Valley (Auburn, Kent, Renton, Tukwila) is preparing to face this exact scenario. Get the details here and even more details and resources can be found on the City of Auburn website.
Mandy has also been volunteering in the Emergency Management office (which I've done once so far), and has helped do other things like fold blankets and organize their moulage kits for CERT drills. Lately I've been helping to manage the city sand bagging site Tuesday & Thursday afternoons & Saturdays from 10am-2pm. Mandy & I are also authorized to drive city vehicles so that also helps in events like this where I can pick up a truck with supplies or whatever.
So in addition to those volunteer efforts, I also am trying to work on creating a web site for the Auburn Emergency Communications Team of which I'm a part of as well providing ham radio communications. So I'm learning a few new technologies as part of that project trying to figure out which tools to use and what-not. I want there to be a public calendar, a forums section, news, training, contacts, etc. I may be biting off more than I can chew with this project alone but it can be done in phases. I'm still in the planning stage in figuring out layout of the site and look & feel of the pages.
I've also been trying to learn some photography ever since I took my first step into the DSLR world when I got a Canon Xsi almost a year ago. Once I can get an appreciation and understanding of how to use the camera and its features, I want to take the next step and learn digital photo editing.
And at some point down the road, I also want to learn more about database management. With the software available today, you don't have to learn with training wheels like Microsoft Access anymore nor do you have to shell out big bucks to run Microsoft SQL Server either. There's free software like MySQL and there's even a free version of Oracle for download.
So much I want to learn and so little time, or at least lots of time and poor self-management of it. Because after a day of work, then volunteering or taking care of my 3 kids, there comes a time when I want to just quit using my brain as much and sit down to enjoy some time on the drums with Rock Band on the Wii. Yeah, I should just probably focus on one hobby or special interest at a time but then again, sometimes it nice to diversify. I mean I'm still learning some of this ham radio stuff. In fact I have a D-Star conference I'm going to in 2 weeks so I can learn more about that technology. I mean I just recently accepted invites for Google Wave & Google Voice so I'm going to try to learn those too. They look fun and they're free and all about communications which is really what all of this is about. Communicating via blogs, twitter, facebook, photography, radio, internet, e-mail, and even using databases to store and retrieve information to communicate with someone some data.
So with all that, my enjoyment for keeping my blog updated has turned into a small amount of self-dissapointment that I seem to only update this maybe once a month lately, if that. But then again, there's always my Twitter updates which also get posted to Facebook so if you follow me there, you get more current info. If you only follow me here, you may be missing out on some really important stuff.
Just last month, Mandy took advantage of some training that the city paid for to fly her to Baltimore, MD to get some hands on training with FEMA in a class labeled "E900 - IEMC: All Hazards Preparation and Response". So she was gone for a week and I worked half days and played Mr. Mom. The Hazard they did drills for, their practice scenarios, revolved around a fictitious city getting flooded due to an issue with a dam up river. How much more closer to home can you get? If you're reading this and aren't local to western Washington or the Seattle area, the Green River Valley (Auburn, Kent, Renton, Tukwila) is preparing to face this exact scenario. Get the details here and even more details and resources can be found on the City of Auburn website.
Mandy has also been volunteering in the Emergency Management office (which I've done once so far), and has helped do other things like fold blankets and organize their moulage kits for CERT drills. Lately I've been helping to manage the city sand bagging site Tuesday & Thursday afternoons & Saturdays from 10am-2pm. Mandy & I are also authorized to drive city vehicles so that also helps in events like this where I can pick up a truck with supplies or whatever.
So in addition to those volunteer efforts, I also am trying to work on creating a web site for the Auburn Emergency Communications Team of which I'm a part of as well providing ham radio communications. So I'm learning a few new technologies as part of that project trying to figure out which tools to use and what-not. I want there to be a public calendar, a forums section, news, training, contacts, etc. I may be biting off more than I can chew with this project alone but it can be done in phases. I'm still in the planning stage in figuring out layout of the site and look & feel of the pages.
I've also been trying to learn some photography ever since I took my first step into the DSLR world when I got a Canon Xsi almost a year ago. Once I can get an appreciation and understanding of how to use the camera and its features, I want to take the next step and learn digital photo editing.
And at some point down the road, I also want to learn more about database management. With the software available today, you don't have to learn with training wheels like Microsoft Access anymore nor do you have to shell out big bucks to run Microsoft SQL Server either. There's free software like MySQL and there's even a free version of Oracle for download.
So much I want to learn and so little time, or at least lots of time and poor self-management of it. Because after a day of work, then volunteering or taking care of my 3 kids, there comes a time when I want to just quit using my brain as much and sit down to enjoy some time on the drums with Rock Band on the Wii. Yeah, I should just probably focus on one hobby or special interest at a time but then again, sometimes it nice to diversify. I mean I'm still learning some of this ham radio stuff. In fact I have a D-Star conference I'm going to in 2 weeks so I can learn more about that technology. I mean I just recently accepted invites for Google Wave & Google Voice so I'm going to try to learn those too. They look fun and they're free and all about communications which is really what all of this is about. Communicating via blogs, twitter, facebook, photography, radio, internet, e-mail, and even using databases to store and retrieve information to communicate with someone some data.
So with all that, my enjoyment for keeping my blog updated has turned into a small amount of self-dissapointment that I seem to only update this maybe once a month lately, if that. But then again, there's always my Twitter updates which also get posted to Facebook so if you follow me there, you get more current info. If you only follow me here, you may be missing out on some really important stuff.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Some Great Deals (most under $10)
My wife says I don't need any more toys and I need to quit spending money all the time...Oh yeah? Then how do you explain all this stuff?
Shop4Tech.com offers the 32-Piece Mini Screwdriver Set for $9.99 with free shipping. Coupon code "CD15" cuts it to $8.49. That's $2 under our July mention and the lowest total price we've seen for such a set. It features a 4-1/2" screwdriver, 4-1/2" extension, three bit holders, and slotted, Phillips, Torx, Hex, and PZ bits.
n-store only, Home Depot offers the Brinkmann 6-LED Flashlight 10-Packbundled with 30 AAA Batteries for $9.97. (To find it, click "Weekly Ad" in top-right corner, enter your ZIP code, click on this week's ad, and search for "Brinkmann".) That's $50 less than the best price we could find for a similar flashlight in this quantity; and that's without the batteries. Sales tax is added where applicable. Deal ends October 14.
Amazon.com offers the DeWalt Heavy Duty 50-Piece MAC Container Accessory Set, model no. DW2582, for $21.36. Pad your order over $25 to qualify for free shipping; otherwise, shipping costs $7.47. Even with shipping, it's a $13 drop and the lowest total price we could find. This set includes bits to fit most sockets, a rapid load holder, and magnetic tray.
Cabela's Women's Early-Season Nylon Parka for $10 + $6 s&h | |||
| Cabela's offers its Cabela's Women's Early-Season Nylon Parka in six colors for$9.88. Shipping adds $5.95, or opt for free in-store pickup. Even with shipping, that's $20 off list and ties our mention from a week ago as the lowest total price we could find. Sales tax is added where applicable. This jacket includes a fleece lining and comes in sizes L to XXL, although not all size/color combinations are available.  Meritline.com offers the LED Credit Card Pocket Light for $4.99. Apply coupon code "MLC400440101050A" to trim it to $1.99. With free shipping, that's tied with our mention from a month ago as the lowest total price we've seen for such an item. This credit card-sized LED light folds down flat and can be stored inside a wallet. Deal ends after 200 coupon redemptions. 
| |||
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Dialogue with my 8 yr. old daugter
Ok, so first an acknoledgement that I never finished posting a detailed log of our Disneyland trip AND that it's been about 4 months since my last post. I think I've already gotten over it and somehow I'll find a way to live with myself and move on. I hope you can too.
Anyway, this posting is a result of a conversation I had with Jennifer, my 8 yr. old daughter this week and since it's a little too long for a Twitter or Facebook posting, I thought that I should share it here.
Me: Jennifer, What do you want for dinner?
Jennifer: I don't know.
Me: So you want some "I don't know" for dinner? Ok, I'll open the pantry and pull out some "I don't know" for you for dinner. Do you want ketchup with that?
Jennifer: No.
Me: Do you want your "I don't know" with Salt?
Jennifer: No
Me: Would you like it with peanut butter?
Jennifer: No...But I would like it warmed up.
When did my daughter start being such a smart alec?
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Disneyland Day 2
We spent the morning together in Disneyland and then took the kids back to the room in the afternoon to spend time at the resort pool & with their cousin Dawson. Mandy's sister Jessica flew in today and in exchange for staying with us it was agreed that since she wasn't going in to the park until the next day, she would watch the kids while Mandy & I did a few things in the park ourselves that would be better to do without kids.
We got to the gates before the park opened so that when we were let in we could go straight to Tomorrowland and be among the first in line for the Finding Nemo submarines. I think we were the first ones on that submarine that morning. There was only room for 2 people to get on after I did, the seats were still cold. I didn't take pictures of the part of the ride that included animated sequences of Nemo & friends because it was so dark & on most of the dark parts of rides I didn't want to use the flash because it kind of detracts from the ride for everyone.
We got off Nemo & the plan was to get a fastpass for Autopia but the sign said the wait was 5-10 minutes so we just got in line. Apparently the engines were still cold because we noticed them having some trouble starting the engines and the wait was more like 20 minutes or so. It was still fun and I let Jennifer sit in the drivers seat while I helped with the gas pedal for her. I took a few pics trying to reduce the awkwardness of how close up a shot it was. However, she "drove" as awkwardly as expected but still had loads of fun.
After we got a fastpass for Space Mountain, we did the Buzz Lightyear ride where 2 riders sit in a pod and get control of a "laser gun" to shoot "Z" targets. The unique thing about this is that since there were targets in every direction, there was a center joystick that let you control the direction you faced. Mandy let Anna control that and somehow she scored higher than I did.
There are several attractions where Anna and sometimes Sara are too short to go on the ride. There were only a small few that Jennifer was too short for. Star Tours was one that Mandy & I had to split up to go on with a "switch rider" pass. Jennifer & I went on Star Tours first then Mandy could go on with Sara if she was tall enough or Jennifer again if she wasn't. Sometimes Mandy would go first on these types of attractions. Last time I was at Disneyland, Star Tours was relatively new. And where they did the 3-D attraction "Honey We Shrunk the Audience" was the relatively new and somewhat popular 3-D "Captain E.O." that was a Sci-Fi type short film staring Michael Jackson.
I went on Space Mountain with Jennifer and there was born the worlds newest roller coaster freak. I think from that point on, Jennifer loved roller coasters and every other fast ride the park had to offer. 98% of the ride is in almost total darkness. We sat in the very back so it was even harder to see what was coming, we might as well have been blindfolded. I think this is probably the scariest ride. Jennifer was super excited when the ride was done and anxious to do it again. It was all I could do to hide from her that I was about ready to pass out and throw up, not exactly in that order.
Jennifer was super excited and looking forward to the Jedi Training Academy because she learned that they take kids from the crowd and teach them how to be a Jedi which she was very interested in because Uncle Chris claimed to be a ninja and admited that a Jedi could beat a ninja. She really wanted to beat Uncle Chris as a Jedi because if she can beat Darth Vader, she knew Uncle Chris was afraid of Darth Vader. We got to the appropriate location for this event early and she was among the first of about 30 kids to be chosen from the audience. She was given a padawan jedi robe and was issued a "training lightsaber" to learn the basic moves of a jedi in the ways of the lightsaber. When some basic training was complete, a couple storm troopers paid the a visit apparently paving the way for Darth Vader. The Sith Darth Maul followed in after Darth Vader looking all menacing with his double edged light saber, horns on his head, and those yellow eyes. The Jedi Masters were confident of their new padawans and sent them up against these villans. Jennifer had on her birthday button she acquired the day before and while all the kids "fought" either Darth Maul or Darth Vader, she was the only one who got to fight both of them. The Jedi trainer joked that it was her big smile that confused Darth Vader and allowed her to "defeat" him in battle. After it was over, she got a certificate as a rememberance of the event. We all had a great time but especially Jennifer.
We spent a little time at Innoventions checking out what was basically "Microsoft Home" with most of the technologies powered with HP hardware and Microsoft Software. One of the neatest thing is still the Microsoft Surface. I'd seen it in video before but it was fun to play with it first hand finally. I probably spent too much time downstairs because we only had maybe 20 minutes or so upstairs before we had to go. Not enough time to catch the Asimo show. There was a person on a Segway. First time I'd seen one that close before. Most of the rest of the top floor was a collection of video games brought to you from Xbox 360 & Playstation (mostly Xbox). Mandy & I returned later that evening to take a closer look upstairs when we had more time and were kid free.
We had to get over to the Plaza Inn on Main Street for Jennifer's Birthday celebration with Mickey, Minnie & Pat E. Cake where we each got hats, cups with lemonade, & cakes to decorate. Then each kid got to get their picture taken with Mickey & Minnie.
We dropped the kids back off at the resort with their Aunt Jessica who immediately took them down to the pool. When Mandy & I got back to the resort, she took two of our 4 park hopper tickets & got fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain and I took the other two and got fastpasses for the Indana Jones ride. We met for dinner at the Blue Bayou having made "priority seating" reservations the week before. This place is inside the Pirates of the Caribean ride and shares a kitchen with Club 33. The back wall of this restaraunt displays the first part of the ride where riders are going through a backwoods bayou replica. Food was great. I had a nice medium well prepared steak with potatoes.
We immediately got in line for Pirates of the Caribean & the line moved quick. Then we went on The Haunted Mansion next. Both are always a classic though Pirates was redone after the movies. Mandy & I used our fastpass tickets to walk right on to Big Thunder Mountain and got to sit right up front. It was great. We were able to time it just right to walk right on to the Mark Twain riverboat to take a trip around Tom Sawyers Island on the "Rivers of America". Without kids we were able to get things done at a faster pace & made our way to the Indiana Jones ride between the Jungle Cruise & Tarzans Treehouse, formerly home of Swiss Family Robinson and apparently not changed much physically but for the addition of some props, statues, & signs.
We were able to get right on Indiana Jones right and went straight to the front of the line with only about a 10 minute wait. A couple points during the path there are signs that say do not touch, pull, press, etc some object like a rope or a lever. I wanted to but Mandy raced ahead. Luckily, the guy behind me took the opportunity to trigger the event such as spikes popping out or whatever. This is the guy who does the opposite of what any sign says NOT to do. During the preshow, a video says not to look into the eyes of the statue. I looked at this guy and said, "You're going to look into the eyes aren't you?" Of course he did but if he didn't, I sure was going to.
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