I live in Paradise- I wish I could just remember that everyday!

You know I always hate to pay rent, I always hate to fill up the car, I hate that I can't work on my cars, I hate the cost of food, clothes, etc., etc.. Then a day like today comes along- December 24th- right in the middle of winter, Christmas Eve, source of so many songs ("White Christmas," "Rockin' around the Christmas Tree," "Jingle Bells"), longing of snow- and yet as I went to work I noticed that crystal blue sky and the need to wear sunglasses. PARADISE! Sun, 75, costal breeze, not a cloud in the sky, palm trees swaying, beaches filled with people, PARADISE. Yeah it sucks in the day when I have to look out the window and see the great weather I miss working in the lab, but its days like today when everyone I know is enduring blizzards and ice, and I am in shorts and flip-flops and happy as can be. Just goes to show you happiness CAN be bought, you just have to be able to afford to live in San Diego, and hopefully have time to enjoy it.
Fortunately for me I have a few days off and I fully intend to enjoy the very thing that Alicia and I take for granted.
The other great part about paradise: New traditions to be formed: Yup you heard it here first- Lish and I have a new Christmas tradition (well technically a Christmas Eve tradition) Wienerschnitzel for Christmas Eve dinner. Yup chili dogs and $0.99 chili cheese fries burritos (don't ask, they're just great), wash it all down with a cold Dew Float. Best part about it? All enjoyed while staring at the setting sun, while wearing shorts, hoodies, and flip-flops. Yup only in paradise can you start Christmas traditions that involve shorts, flip-flops, and hoodies.
Oh and for all of you who are enjoying the snow: Merry Christmas, and enjoy the cold!

Christmas in San Diego

Okay...so Christmas in San Diego is not quite the same as it is in Utah. For one, there's no snow. But we've been able to start some traditions of our own, being here for the second year in a row without family. So yesterday I baked. I made some awesome sugar cookies. I'm a sucker for soft cookies and I found a recipe last year that puts every other sugar cookie recipe to shame. Anyway...we had Jason and Elise over to play some Wii and gratefully, Elise helped me to decorate the million and a half cookies I baked.



Last year, we finally got our own real sized Christmas tree. Last year we were fortunate enough to have my parents here to decorate it with us, but this year it was up to us, and so naturally, it took a little longer. But Chris's parents this year got us a tree skirt to match our Mickey and Minnie stocking we got last year. Here are some pictures of our final tree this year:

Hmm...tagged?

So I'm new to this whole tagged thing...and since I don't know anybody besides Dave and Kristin with a blog...it won't go beyond me...but here goes...

Five things I was doing ten years ago...

1.) Getting good grades

2.) Running track and cross country

3.) Heart attacking friends (don't ask)

4.) Doing my homework

5.) I don't remember anything else (I was very boring...)

Five things on my to-do list today...

1.) Take more pictures

2.) Post on my blog more

3.) Keep in touch more with old friends

4.) Not get called as Relief Society President

5.) Not get sick from kids anymore

Five snacks I enjoy...

1.) Frito Lay Munchies Cheese Fix....can't get enough...

2.) Chex Mix Chocolate Peanut Butter

3.) Fresh fruit ( grapes, apples, oranges, just about anything)

4.) Apple Crisp

5.) Loaded Baked Potato Pringles

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire...

1.) Buy Chris a HUGE garage so he could bang on cars when he got stressed

2.) Buy my parents a house with massive amounts of land

3.) Buy Chris's parents a house with a home for all of their cars

4.) Buy myself a house that I would never have to leave

5.) Buy Chris and I a lifetime membership to Disneyland and join Club 33

Three of my bad habits...

1.) Biting my nails

2.) not picking up my messes

3.) Not picking up Chris's messes

Five places I have lived...

1.) Colorado Springs, CO

2.) North Ogden, UT

3.) Logan, UT

4.) La Jolla, CA (Yeah, its kinda part of San Diego, but otherwise I wouldn't have 5)

5.) San Diego, CA

Five jobs I've had...

1.) Landscaper (okay so I pulled weeds and mowed lawns)

2.) Assembly-line worker

3.) Receptionist

4.) Assistant Center Director

5.) Preschool teacher

Five things people probably don't know about me...

1.) I'm a master of Lego Star Wars

2.) I'm addicted to my Nintendo DS

3.) I like to cook, especially bake, but never do cause I hate to clean up

4.) Disneyland is my favorite place to be besides home (my apartment)

5.) I love to go on long bike rides, but again, never do, because I'm lazy

So that's it. And since no one else reads my blog or has one of their own, I'll not be tagging anyone this time around...and anyone who reads this needs to get a blog!!!

Little Help from Our Friends...

I'd like to shout out to all who take the time to read and send us/me feedback on the blog- it's the only way that I can convince Lish to keep posting to it. As a New Years resolution I intend to try and post a ramble at least once a week- usually it will resemble a rant (just on a smaller scale). Sometimes I'll post up what I'm playing in the Video Game realm...OR I may even post up a bit of my research- but only, only if you promise to behave. Otherwise, I'll turn this post around and go home. So please, if you are a visitor- frequent or not, feel free to post up in our comments- be heard. Just know that if you flame or spam me I will hunt you down and force you to do things that will make your mother and children cry - most of them involve having to play THIS GAME (btw- gotta love any game that gets that good of a review).

So thanks for the support and hope to see you around.

Chris

We finally took some pictures!

But they're not posted yet. Sorry.
In accordance with my goal from a couple weeks ago, when we went to Disneyland for Thanksgiving with Chris's parents, we definitely took our camera. We (meaning Chris) took quite a few pictures, most of them not of us, but we did manage to get a few with one or both of us. I'll post up a couple of my favorites. Disneyland was all decked out for Christmas...so now I can't wait to get my tree up and what few decorations I have out! Be patient for the pictures...they really are coming, but we (meaning one of us, probably Chris) have to convert them to jpeg format and graze through the massive number that we (meaning Chris) took.

I'm calling to provide you with an update...

And by update I mean I'm calling to tell you the same thing I've told you 5 times before: "I need to get more information (from my end) before I can get an answer for you." And by more information I don't mean from you (the consumer whom I called) I mean from us the provider of service (and the initiator of this call). Does this make sense to you? Yeah me neither. Let me tell you a little story of the black box that couldn't and the company called Micro$haft (names have been changed to protect the guilty).
As most of you may know my loving wife bought me an Xbox 360 (BTW 360 = number of hours I have now spent trying to get my console back). She opted to buy me the nicest of the consoles the one that was called Elite (suggesting that it may be better than the "standard"). Well after a few months of happy use- not excessive by any stretch (I'm thinking of all night parties with my Nintendo- man that thing never could die- still hasn't in fact 20 years later and plays most reliable of all), it died. Fine, I got the Red Ring of Death (google it- it's ingrained into American Gaming Lexicon). So I called M$ who closed WHILE I was on the phone. So I had to call back- fine. I called in on Monday October 1st, at 6:30 AM (yeah I got up that early just for that), I was helped promptly by a fine young man who said I would be receiving a box to ship it back to M$ in about 4-5 days (AKA Friday at the latest). Away we went willing the box here faster- Friday the 5th came and went and no box- OK I guess I'll call Monday. Monday's call nets me the following: UMMMMMmmmmmmmm I don't know how this system did this but.... we never got your request for a box... we have your call we just didn't ship the box- huh!?! Fine, ship me a box NOW, please. So I wait again.... yup 4 days later it gets here (that would be Thurs., Oct 11th). I rushed home and packed my console in the box and voila! Shipped! Sweet so they told me it takes no more than 10-12 business days to look over the console and either A) Fix it (unlikely) or B) Ship me a replacement (likely). So I watch UPS.com anxiously tracking my box every step of the way... HOORAY it arrived- signed in at 10:56 AM on Tues Oct 16th. Sweet so lets say it takes 12 days past that...carry the 3...add 2...subtract for gravitational pull...count Halloween as a holiday and.... yup, should be getting an answer NO LATER than November 2nd. OK I'm ok with that I've got lots to do. So on November 3rd I start to get worried and I start calling. First I get some people who tell me that it seems to have taken a bit longer- huh? Fine, I'll wait. By the start of next week I'm mad, I want an answer, so I do what anyone should do, call back. Now at this point I'm not gonna go into details, but sufficeth to say I have called at least 25 times, spoken to 10+ supervisors and at least, 20 first line helpers. I have also e-mailed 3 times.
See here's the problem THEY DON'T KNOW DIDDLY! They can never help me, I have been transferred/referred to the "Call Back Team" 3 times and have gotten 5 total call backs from 3 distinct groups. All with the answer seen at the start: Umm we don't know why, it shouldn't take this long. Their latest is "We don't have any replacement consoles in- fine FIX MINE instead."
I've asked for refunds- umm well we can't do that, I've asked for a reason that is has taken this long... uhhh we don't have one. I have asked for a manager... uhh we don't have one that speaks to people.
So now I am just PISSED! Yup I said it- I'm so mad that every time Xbox calls I yell, and yell, and yell. - On a side note they don't like it when you ask them personal questions about what they PERSONALLY are gonna do and they REALLY don't like it when you use their first name e.g. "What are you doing, David, to ensure that my console is being fixed?" Also I have found that rhetorical questions that often point out grammatical or contradictory statements that they make seems to really make them not like you.
I'm now a hostage of Micro$haft for 45 days- if only they'd send me a ransom to tell me how I can be released from their stranglehold-like grip. Better yet- if only they'd just give me a real answer.
So all I can say at this point is how much I hate this situation- it's not about video games, I've got plenty of those to play, it's about how my expensive investment in technology is now the laughing joke of M$ and how they seem like they're really just out to get me.

How many cameras does it take?

So I was bored tonight and thought I'd update our blog. Hmmm, I thought, I'll put up some new pictures. And then I realized, I don't have many pictures of Chris and I. Its not for lack of cameras, we have about 9 or 10. We just don't take pictures of each other or us. Maybe its because neither one of us really likes being in pictures, but I miss having them to look at. Or maybe its because we always forget to take the camera when we go places or forget to get it out when we take it. I guess some of that comes from the fact that I don't feel like we ever do anything exciting. But, looking back over the last few years...I know we've done stuff, but I have nothing to show for it. So, here's my goal. We have an amazing digital SLR camera. My goal is to take pictures of each other or us together at least three times this holiday season. I know it doesn't seem like much, but when you've got nothing to show for three years...a couple times in a couple months could make a difference. That's my goal. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully by the new year I have some pictures, just in case someone looks at my blog.

Burn, baby, burn

quick update...now over 500,000 homes have been evacuated. But, amazingly, through it all, news is reporting that no more donations are needed. It's amazing how people come together in a time of need.

Snow days? Nah...We've got FIRE days

Its the train wreck you just have to watch. You really just can't turn away. And since we are too far centralized in San Diego for it to really endanger us (besides the noxious air), we just can't stop watching as the fire attempts to surround San Diego proper. Its an eerie feeling. We went to bed Sunday night with fires burning in East County, and woke up to houses burning in Rancho Bernardo, which is just east of I-15. Yesterday we watched as the fire jumped the 15 and headed for the ocean. We watched as they evacuated all the way to the ocean. How does a fire get from East County all the way to the ocean? Today, we watch as Chula Vista to the south is evacuated and Spring Valley burns. We're safe, don't get me wrong...but when over 350,000 people are evacuated, its a little creepy. And we want to not watch as news coverage lasts all day, we want to watch movies and play video games. But we watch. And watch. And watch. It doesn't get worse, but it doesn't get better. We watch. Waiting for something new to happen. The fire spreads and spreads and spreads. But we watch. Its the last thing on at night and the first thing on in the morning. We just can't look away as thousands of people are forced from their homes and into the middle of the city. And since they've closed schools and universities, we can't even go to work to help us look away. We watch, not knowing if the train wreck will stop or how long it will last. We're safe, so we watch.

Three is the Magic Number...Or is it?

Brace yourself it’s a Chris post-

Three is the magic number, or so they say. But why, oh why, oh why is it? I see nothing special in the number three- now I know what everyone is gonna say- and YES- I can sing the song from “Schoolhouse Rock.” No, it doesn’t explain to me more about why, WHY 3? 4 seems just as good as three- in fact I would argue four is superior- squares- the ABSOLUTELY MOST BEAUTIFUL shape in the world of geometry is 4. 4 isn’t a jerk, it isn’t a prime number, it isn’t haughty, it is meek and just there- but I digress.

I’m writing to complain about the abuse of the number 3. Not just abuse, but excessive overuse. It seems to me that the media (that nebulous cloud that we can all shake a fist at and whine about) has really latched onto the idea of three- more specifically trilogies. Now don’t get me wrong- before you read this, then post to the comments about how great trilogies are, you should know that I agree that trilogies have a place some of the best things ever came in trilogies- Star Wars (I’ll explain how there is only 1 trilogy later), LoTR books (yes I know “Hobbit” and “Silmarillion”), Shannara books (originals again people), even Indiana Jones (again I am aware of the 4^th coming out- see also the Star Wars argument). However, as I stated from the get-go I am SICK and TIRED of THREES. Why is it that we feel that if we could make 1-2 superior items we decide to instead make 3 mediocres. Case in point- this little video game that dropped a couple weeks ago called Halo 3. Now for those of you who may not know it I am a video gamer. I have been since the golden era of Atari 2600, through the trough that is the TI99, onto the greatness that IS (still is) Nintendo NES, Sega Genesis/CD, PS, PS2, and now the great two Wii and Xbox 360- not to mention the Nintendo Gameboy, GBA, GBA-SP, DS, and the PSP. Oh yeah and I have a computer and maybe 40 or so games for that too (for those of you who are bored see the flowing link to My Games). So when I say I’m a gamer I can also say I have some credentials to back it up. Now back to the issues at hand: So why am I mad at Halo and games/media in general? Because you are sucking the goodness out of the products you’re shoving down our throats. I don’t mind being told how great something is and how much I should want this (apparently 3.5+ million others don’t either- b/c that’s how many copies of Halo sold in just the first week it was out in September). What I do mind is the fact that it’s not a complete game- yeah, I mean there are a start and a finish but WHY couldn’t you have just wrapped it up with Halo 2? The campaigns aren’t long enough to say that people wouldn’t finish them both (sub 20 hours for both combined? C’mon) but instead they decided to milk the Trilogy cow to get extra cash. Another perfect case: There some company called Silicon Knights they make good games (albeit slowly) they have decided to make a game- instead they change their mind and decide to make 3 games- extending the content of one to make 3 by padding it – now the games will only be the length of about 1 ½ games, but they’ll spread it out. Making people pay ~$180 to finish one game’s worth of stuff.

I’m not saying I want long games, heck I can’t finish them usually if they top 20 hours (Dang ADHD) but I want GOOD GAMES. My budget is tight if I save up I want a Full Game not ½ of a game that will now be spread into a trilogy. Another case in point I read today of a company (EA) that came up with a new IP (intellectual property- READ: New Story with New Characters). They decided that even though the first game is a year from done that they’re gonna make it a trilogy- they’re already starting the sequel to a game that isn’t even ½ way done! Why do you think I want to buy a TRILOGY!!!

Sad part is it isn’t just games. There was a series of books I wanted to start reading a year or so ago. I was all excited when I heard that there was only one book – a solo book in a confined world- no sequel, in fact the ending didn’t lend to a sequel. Sweet, a good read that I can just leave. No sooner had I started to look for it when I read that, a la soap operas, the main character wasn’t really dead and would be coming back for- you guessed it, 2 MORE BOOKS! WHY!?!

I feel that by allowing ourselves to buy into this whole trilogy crap we accept incomplete and substandard work/entertainment. As long as we say it’s OK to get three so/so somethings because in the end that is as good as one great something it’s worth it. I say NO. I say that we should demand GOOD and GREAT not mediocre.

Now I know that I am as guilty as anyone of buying into trilogies: Heck I was raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones (BTW- the whole second SW trilogy (the prequels)- that was a marketing scam, yeah I like the story but give me books and let me imagine (then Jar-Jar doesn’t have to be so annoying). I like the new movies but they are NOT THE SW Trilogy. And IJ? Well Harrison Ford is too old to count as Indy anymore, he looks and sounds like Dr. Jones, Sr. now!), but as excited as I get at the thought of going to see a new Indy movie at the theater I then stop and realize that, oh yeah, this is gonna ruin some of the great memories I have of childhood and those awesome movies that I LOVE. No new trilogy is ever gonna live up to the one that we grew up with. It’s called Reality.

In closing I should note the irony of this post- yes, it is the Third Post on our Blog, yes, I am a jerk and seem hypocritical in that I love trilogies and whine in the same breath, and lastly yes, I own way too many video games. But if you don’t like it LEAVE NOW. It’s my blog (when Alicia’s not looking ;) ) and I can say whatever I want and be as two-faced as I like (so long as Alicia says so ;) ) . So until next time, enjoy those one-hit wonders.

Offensive Drivers

I have an amazing ability. I can become invisible. How, you ask? I ride my bike. Does it really make me invisible? I sure feel like it sometimes. One would think that all those reflecting, blinking, flashing lights would help people to see me, but no. I remain invisible. Bike lane? Nobody uses those. They are extra wide shoulders to park in. Hideous, fluorescent, tennis ball green? Nope, still invisible. I don't even think it matters what time of day it is. I haven't seen any difference yet. I want to ride my bike. It makes me feel better all around, but when I almost get taken out by stupid people opening doors or turning into driveways...I get a little frustrated. I swear I took my invisibility cloak off, I know I did. Look at me everybody, look at me!!! I want to shout as I ride, but can't as I try to catch my breath. I just can't seem to shake the cloak...

Enormovision

Okay, so I've seen bigger. But certainly not in my house. Or anywhere near it. And technically, a 57" television shouldn't go in my apartment, but it is and well, now it stays there. I'm okay with it, in fact, I like it. But when I told Chris a month ago that we could get an HD TV for Christmas, I didn't imagine that we'd have it by the end of September. Giving him credit though, I did tell him that if he found a place for it, found it, and found a way to get it home, (as well as a decent deal) that he could get it before. Famous last words. Here are the before and after pictures of my living room. The picture doesn't quite give the new one a feel for the size, but our living room actually feels less crowded now. Go figure.