HD vs. Blu-Ray DVD

I went by the NEX on Monday and picked up a high-speed HDMI cable to connect our HD DVD player to the new TV. To test it out, I put in The Italian Job. ...WOW... The Italian Job in 1080p High Def is... wait for it... LEGENDARY. I went right to the chase scene at the end with the three Mini-Coopers, the armored cars, the motor cycles, and the helicopter. It was just simply amazing. I mean, you could see the slightest glimmer or reflection in the windows of the Mini-Coopers. It was stunning.

I can hear a couple of you asking yourselves, "Self, why did he choose an HD DVD player over a Blu-Ray?" Well, that's an excellent question. I actually knew very little about the formats before my mom found a Toshiba HD DVD player for sale and asked if I wanted it. I did some quick checking around, and found that (a) the user reviews for the Toshiba HD DVD player were excellent, and (b) the price my mom found it for was fantastic. So I told my mom we'd take it. (She actually gave us the HD DVD player for Christmas - thanks, Mom!).

VS

Since then, I've been reading up a little more on the differences between the formats. The two formats are actually very similar. I expect that like the battle of VHS versus Beta, one of the two formats will eventually "win," and the winner may defy the conventional wisdom on which format should win.

Quality-wise, the two formats are the same. Watching The Italian Job on a Blu-Ray disk would have been just as fantastic as watching it on an HD DVD - they're both 1080p. The key difference between the two formats (besides which big-name corporate label is supporting it) is how much data one disk can hold - 30 GB for the HD DVD versus 50 GB for the Blu-Ray (there are other minor differences here and there, but they seemed pretty inconsequential to me). According to this CNET article comparing the formats, the Blu-Ray players are more expensive than the HD DVD players. I don't know if the price difference is driven by an actual functional capability difference or if it's just because the name brand "SONY." Given that the quality is the same and one is more expensive than the other, my logical self tells me, "$elf, economics dictate that the HD DVD format will prevail over the Blu-Ray format." I mean, who cares about the extra space on the disk? They both hold an entire movie, and I rarely watch all those "bonus features" they put on DVDs anyway, so why pay more money for more storage space that you don't need?

However (comma), if I had to wager a cash-bet on which format would win the Blu-Ray versus HD DVD battle today, then I would put my money on Blu-Ray. Why am I defying my own logic, you ask? I would put my money on the Blu-Ray just based on the number of Blu-Ray disks I see for sale at Best Buy... at the NEX... on Amazon.com... and the obviously huge amount of money Sony is investing in pushing the Blu-Ray format. In fact, this afternoon we went to Blockbuster to rent a movie for family movie night, and they had an entire row of Blu-Ray DVDs for rent, but not a SINGLE HD DVD. Curious, I just googled it and found out that Blockbuster made the decision in favor of Blu-Ray way back in June 2007 - long before I ever developed any awareness or interest in the battle between the two formats. And for the coup de grace: I wanted to get one of my favorite movies, The Fifth Element, in HD... but it's a Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) movie, so it's only available in Blu-Ray. Thbbbbbt! :-P

I won't get upset either way. I'd just like SOMEONE to declare a "winner" so we can get on with it. Even if we eventually have to buy a Blu-Ray DVD player, I've got a big enough collection of regular DVDs that I can continue to use the HD DVD player we have to play the HD DVDs we've bought so far along with our old standard format DVDs.


P.S. I can't WAIT for The Brazilian Job to come out!

Update 2/15/08: See follow-up post for more news on this topic.

Crime and Punishment

ES came home with a surprisingly accurate self-assessment hidden in his school work today. They were learning about the Chinese calendar in his first grade class. In one of his worksheets, he was provided with a table of the Chinese calendar, and he had to answer a few questions:

What is the animal name for your birth year? snak [snake]

How are you like that animal? I get upset esulee.


Survey Says??? Yep! Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!

That's a pretty darn good introspection / self assessment for a six year old, don't you think?

That's sort of a tangential segway into my next topic...

How do you motivate your kids to follow instructions?

The sword I've been holding over by boys' heads is video games. As in, "If you don't (do this thing that I need you to do but you don't want to do like take a bath or practice your spelling), then I'm not going to let you play video games (for the rest of the day or tomorrow)." When I stop to think about it though, is this really effective punishment though? I'm thinking maybe not.

First, it's more of a punishment on LW and me than it is on the boys. No video games for a day means our house will look like someone set off a bomb in FAO Schwarz. I know that sounds horrible. I'm basically implying I like my kids being video-game-couch-potatoes so that they sit and stare at the TV and don't make a mess of the house. It's a sad statement, but it's so TRUE though. There's a remarkable difference in the clutter in our house when they lose video game privileges.

Second, taking away video game privileges is actually a positive thing for them, because it means they'll be forced to get up and play and interact with their friends in the neighborhood more. I suppose they don't see it that way, because they get very upset (Aside: see! I told you it was sorta related to the story I started with!) when they lose video game privileges.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like the boys spend every waking moment playing video games. They've actually become very good friends with our neighbors J & M across the street. If J & M are home, then chances are they're all outside playing and making a colossal mess of our front yards and garages. If J & M go somewhere though, it's like there is a black hole in the family room with an irresistable gravitational pull sucking the boys back into the video games. I suppose LW and I need to make more of an effort to get the boys to clean up their messes at the end of the day (but more on this concept below).

It's very frustrating, especially with ES, to get him to do things he needs to do like his homework, practice his spelling, pick up the messes he makes, etc. I wish his little 6 year old mind would respond to logic and reason. I keep trying to explain to him that if he would just sit down and DO his homework, it would be DONE in like 30 minutes and he could spend the rest of the day playing. Instead, he spends an hour or more whining about it and making big dramatic sighs and ever-so-slowly-and-agonizingly writing the answers on his paper while he holds his forehead in his hand with his elbow on the table. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! IT'S THREE STINKING WORKSHEETS!!! (And one-sided at that!) JUST DO IT!!!

I know I've seen and met other people who just seem to have a magical quality to relate to kids on their own level and motivate them to do things they don't want to do all while using a cheery-happy voice. I'm definitely not one of those people. I'm a very logic-oriented, cost-benefit analysis type of person, so I just don't understand why he won't just do it and be done with it and enjoy the rest of his day. There must be a better way. I could try Uncle Dave's approach and wrap his homework in a dinner roll... oh wait... No, that probably wouldn't work either.

Maybe I should try threatening to not let him play with J & M if he doesn't do what he's told. That worked with getting him to do his homework tonight. My concern over this tactic is the exact opposite of my concern over taking away video games though. If we don't let him play with J&M, then he WILL spend every waking moment playing video games. Then the house won't be as messy, but then he'll lose the physical exercise and the social aspect aspect of it.

So I'm darned if I do it one way and I'm darned if I do it the other way. Clearly, I have not yet discovered the key to being an awesome parent. Maybe we should invite that Super Nanny lady from the TV to come tell us what we're doing wrong.

Best of Oahu ...so far

UPDATED 9/01/2008. As we find new favorites or cool things around the island, I will keep coming back and adding them to this post. There is a link on the upper right corner of my blog to come back to this post for quick reference.

Someone in our housing area asked for our inputs for a "Best of..." thing she wants to put together for new people who move here to the island. I told her I would compose a list of my inputs for her, but I figured it'd do just as well to post it here for anyone else looking for our list of favorite things on Oahu.

So here we go in no particular order. In most cases, I have written a blog post (or two) about it, and I've linked to my previous blog post that described that place. In those cases where I haven't already written a blog post, I wrote a paragraph about it below. Note that this is derived from our vast experience of 15 months on the island.

Restaurants: (Sorted by geographic location)
Pearl Ridge / Kam Hwy area closest to the Naval Station:
- Firehouse Restaurant on Ford Island. Right across the street from the Pacific Aviation Museum and the old air traffic control tower (you know - the one where Ben Affleck valiantly charges up it and tries to single-handedly stop the attacking Japanese planes with a shotgun). Looks can be deceiving. This place is pretty old and not fancy, but it's clean and the food and service are excellent. There are a variety of things on the menu, but there's a heavy Mexican food influence. I had the New Mexico Pork Burrito and it was AWESOME.
- Boston Pizza. Make sure you print out the coupon from the ValPak website (they periodically expire and change the link, so if the link for the coupon is bad, just do a Google Maps search for "Boston Pizza, Aiea, HI" and click on "coupons" and it will come up). For our neighbors - it's just about as fast to walk there as drive. It took me exactly five minutes to walk there, including waiting for the traffic light to change color to cross the street.
- Moe's in the Pearl Ridge Mall. Like a Mexican version of the Subway sandwich assembly line. On Wednesday nights, kids eat free and there's a guy making balloon animals for the kids.
- CPK is also at the Pearl Ridge Mall.
- Bravo's in Aiea (across the parking lot from Circuit City, under Anna Miller's). I wrote about it in my previous post here.
- Diego's Taco Shop on Kam Hwy in Waipahu for REAL carne asada burritos.
- Sam Snead's at the Navy Marine Corps golf course over behind the NEX. I'm surprised to find that I haven't written any actual blog posts about this one. I've mentioned it in passing a couple of times. It's a great place - good service, reasonable prices, and the grapefruit vinaigrette dressing is FABULOUS! (Note, you don't have to show any ID to get into this place, so I think anyone can dine there even if you're not in the military).
- Thursday Mongolian Barbecue at the Hickam AFB O'Club. You scoop up whatever raw ingredients you want into your bowl and pay the cashier by the weight of your bowl. Then hand your bowl to the guy at the grill and he'll grill up your stuff and hand it back to you on a plate. There's as much rice, lo mein noodles, soup, soft drinks, and fortune cookies as you want after you have your stuff grilled. Note: Unlike a lot of commercial Mongolian barbecue places where they provide some recommended sauce recipes (X scoops of olive oil, X scoops of shoyu, X scoops of sugar water... ginger.... garlic... hot pepper oil...), there are no suggested recipes posted here. I recommend googling it or having something in mind the first time you go, and keep notes on the way YOU like it so you remember what to do next time.
- Wright Brothers Cafe on Hickam AFB. Right next to the Hickam AFB O'Club, and right on the water overlooking the channel into Pearl Harbor. Our wives normally go out here to watch the boat pulling in or going out to sea. The cafe serves decent breakfast and lunch stuff for very low prices.
- Sea Breeze restaurant on the beach at Hickam AFB. WARNING: They had a bad kitchen fire at the Sea Breeze in late June 2008, and they had a very limited menu (hot dogs and hamburgers on an outdoor barbecue) at the Sand Bar outside while rebuilding the kitchen.
- Buzz's Steakhouse. We've been there three times now. The salad bar is fantastic - fresh avocado, pineapple, and other fresh and delicious veggies. The food is superb. Two out of three times we've had really good service there, too. It's a little pricey, but certainly good for special occasions. Reservations recommended on the weekends. They have another one over in Kailua. Our Oahu guidebooks said they don't take credit cards, but that isn't true anymore. At least the one here in Waipahu takes credit cards.

Honolulu / Waikiki:
- Ryan's in Ward Center. My first rave review is here. We went back again here. We've been back a couple more times, and always enjoyed the delicious food, the excellent service, and the very reasonable prices.
- Azteca in East Honolulu for mole poblano and the best Mexican food on the island.
- Islands in Ala Moana Shopping Center. Another post here.
- Duke's in Waikiki.
- KoKo's at the Hale Koa in Waikiki. (Military ID card required here).
- Compadres in Ward Center (next door to Ryan's).
- Orchid's in Waikiki is the fanciest place we've been on the island. The sign in front of the place said "appropriate evening resort attire required." I'm not exactly sure what that meant, but I wore khaki pants and an aloha shirt with close-toed shoes. The food and service were extraordinary, but you get what you pay for.
- House without a Key in Waikiki is next door to Orchid's an a little less fancy. I have not eaten there myself, but my wife went there with some other wardroom wives and said it was really good.

Windward Side:
- Zia's in Kaneohe (there's another one in Kailua that is also excellent).
- Haleiwa Joe's at the Haiku Botanical Gardens in Kaneohe has the best Sunday brunch on the island.
- El Mariachi in Kaneohe
- Sunday brunch at the MCBH O'Club.

North Shore:
- Breakers in Haleiwa. Good food, good service, reasonable prices, no long lines like the other super popular places (Chollo's is NOT worth the wait!).
- Giovanni Shrimp Truck. Legendary. There's at least one in Haleiwa and one way up by Turtle Bay.
- Jameson's in Haleiwa. A little pricey, but excellent food. I LOVE their chicken curry salad served in a papaya.

Snorkeling / Beach:
- Ko Olina. First post. Second Post. We've been back more times than those two, but I didn't see the need to write more of the same.
- Hanauma Bay. We have only been to H-Bay once just to be able to say we did it, but we actually prefer Ko Olina.

Scuba Diving:
- Ocean Concepts has several shops around the island, including one by the ARIZONA memorial / Rainbow Marina and one on Schoffield Barracks. They have two positive recommendations on www.tripadvisor.com. I am going to try them out next and will post what I find here.
- DiveOahu runs a sort of mini-dive shop in the NEX, and they periodically have tent sales on the sidewalk in front of the NEX. I thought their prices were pretty reasonable. I also went on a boat dive with them out to the YO-257 wreck and had a pretty good time.
- Do NOT use Island Divers. They run the shop on Hickam AFB. They are terribly disorganized and unprofessional in both their charter boat operations and their equipment repair. I later found other complaints on tripadvisor about them.


Hikes we've done with our kids: There are a LOT of great hikes around the island. I recommend picking up Stuart Ball's Hiker's Guide to Oahu. You will hear other hikers refer to "Ball Chapter 20" - they're making references to this book.
- Aiea Loop Trail (leeward side overlooking Pearl Harbor) - Probably the closest place to our housing area. The whole loop is like 4.5 miles, and I hear the last mile or so is pretty tough, steep ups and downs. I took my boys and just went out a mile and a half (clockwise, leave from the upper parking lot) then turned around and came back again, and we had a good time.
- Kaneohe Waterfall (windward side / Kaneohe) - I'm not sure what the real name of this waterfall is. Park in the parking lot for the First Presbyterian Church in Kaneohe. To get there, take H-3 to Exit 11. Turn left off the exit onto Kam Hwy. After going under the freeway, take the next left, follow the road back over the freeway and just keep following the road all the way back to the end. Park in the back left corner of the parking lot where the trailhead starts. At the big water tank, turn left up the hill. Less than a mile up the hill, make a sharp right turn onto a side trail that you have to make about a 2 foot step down to leave the main trail and get onto the side trail. This will lead you to the waterfall. You'll probably see a lot of Hawaii guided tour vans parked in the corner of the parking lot, and you'll see a good number of people on the trail going back and forth to the waterfall, so just ask someone for help if you can't find it / aren't sure where you're going.
- Diamond Head - 1.75 miles round trip, but a lot of stairs. All paved, but the trail is a little bumpy and not conducive to strollers. Great views. Please note! Before you drive out there, have a contingency Plan B ready to implement if you get there and either (a) they're closed for renovations or (b) the parking lot is full and they're turning people away. You COULD park WAY outside Diamond Head and walk all the way in, but that's a LONG walk that I wouldn't want to do. See this post for our aborted attempt, and see this post for our second successful trip to Diamond Head.
- Friendship Garden (windward side / Kaneohe) - The first time we went, we just did the shorter lower loop that doesn't go all the way to the top - see this post. The second time we went, we did the upper loop - see this post. The upper loop trail was only 1 mile, easy trails, great views.
- Makapu'u Ridge (eastern tip of the island, not far from Hanuama Bay) - About 5 miles round trip, but paved pathway most of the way to the top with spectacular views and potential whale sightings. Lots of people on the path with babies in strollers. We went back a second time and then again a third time.
- Waimano Valley (leeward side overlooking Pearl Harbor) - First aborted attempt post here. Poorly planned second attempt post here. It would have been a fun hike if (a) we had started earlier in the day so it wouldn't have gotten dark, and (b) it hadn't started torrentially raining and turning the trail to mud.
- Waimea Falls (North Shore) - About 2 miles round trip, but paved pathway the entire way and very gentle slope. If it hasn't been raining, then you are allowed to swim in the pool below the falls. We went back again, and again.
- Manoa Falls (Honolulu) - About 1.5 miles round trip, expect a muddy trail through a rainforest (i.e. you're gonna get wet, even if it's not really "raining").
- Wiliwilinui Ridge (East Honolulu/Hawaii Kai) - All the way to the end of the trail is 6 miles, but we just went out 1.8 miles to an awesome geocache and came back again for a 3.6 mile round trip. It's on top of a ridge, so the sun and wind tend to dry out the trail.

Kayaking
- Chinaman's Hat (Windward side) - Not sure whether to list this one as a hike or a snorkel or a beach or a scuba dive, but you could do them all here. There were several scuba divers and snorkelers in the water around Chinaman's Hat when we kayaked out there and hiked around the island.
- Pearl Harbor from the Rainbow Marina.

Other favorite places or things to see:
- Sea Life Park.
- Hale Koa pool.
- Paradise Cove Luau.
- COMPACFLT Remembrance Tour.
- Atlantis Submarine Tour. If you're military, then be sure to buy discounted tickets at ITT by the NEX (link to the price list is down lower on this page). We've done this twice now and really enjoyed it both times.
- Dolphins at the Kahala Resort. Parking costs $4, but otherwise it's free to stand by the pool and watch the dolphins jumping and splashing and swimming with the people who pay extraordinary amounts of money to get IN the water with the dolphins.
- Hawaiian Adventures Water Park. Second post about it here.
- Swap Meet at the Aloha Stadium. Every Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday in the Aloha Stadium parking lot. Want Hawaiian souvenirs or gifts, this is where you need to go.
- Box Car Racing in Kunia. This would be a great place for a birthday party or any other large group activity.
- Tropical Farms - Macadamia Nut Farm tour on the windward side. For directions, look up directions to the Polynesian Cultural Center. As you're driving north on the windward side headed toward the Polynesian Cultural Center, Tropical Farms will be on the right side. The tour is great - a short bus ride through the farm with explanations of all sorts of local plants and their useful purposes. A show in a small amphitheater by the water where you'll learn how to shuck a coconut and try some fresh coconut, then watch some cool twirling fire stick stunts. This farm is where they have filmed a lot of movies and TV shows like Lost, Fantasy Island, Giligan's Island, 50 First Dates, Tears of the Sun... In the store they have tons of free samples of different flavors and varieties of macadamia nuts plus samples of Kona coffee. You could make a meal just eating all the free samples.
- Round Top Scenic Drive. If you don't do the whole drive up Round Top and down Tantalus, then at least go up to Puu Ualakaa State Park and admire the view.


Local Services:

- Aloha attire.

- Movies: Sharkey Theater is the base theater on the sub base. Active duty get in for FREE. I paid $1.50 for the boys to get in, and spent $6 on two popcorns, two bottles of water, and one medium soda. Can't beat those prices at any other big screen movie theater!

Sharkey Theater occasionally has sneak previews, too. Be alert and check the schedule. For more logistical details of how they orchestrate the sneak preview, see this post.

- Tickets: You can find military discounts on tickets to a lot of local attractions at Information Tickets and Tours (ITT). Here's the price list.

- Outdoor Recreation Rentals: At Bloch Arena (just inside the Nimitz Gate) there is an outdoor equipment rental place (bicycles, camping gear, kayaks, etc). Here's their price list. For kayaks, I find that Go Bananas has very similar prices, but much better service.

- Children's Dentist: LW got this recommendation from other people here in our housing area, so someone else probably already put this on the list.

- Birthday Cake: Commissary.

- Birthday Ideas for Kids: Box Car Racing. Magic show. Hawaiian Adventures Water Park. Jungle River Miniature Golf.

- Commissary Note: The Commissary over at MCB Kaneohe and the one on Hickam AFB are not as big as the Commissary here on the NAVSTA Pearl Harbor side, but they're significantly less crowded. The lines at the Commissary on this side can be outrageously long and wrapped all the way around the back of the store past the meat section. Since we go to church in Kaneohe, we will often go to the commissary while we're on that side of the island. Othewise, LW will frequently opt to go to Hickam instead of the Pearl Harbor NEX / Commissary.

- TV: Dish Network. We hated the Time Warner Cable and really missed our Dish Network service. We submitted the form with Forest City to get permission to put in a satellite dish and got approval within a week. There is a booth set up right in the foyer of the NEX, and they offer a pretty good deal on the installation.
Note that FCC rules say a HOA cannot prohibit you from putting up a satellite dish (as long as it's less than 1 meter in diameter). Here's an excerpt from the FCC website:

The rule prohibits restrictions that impair a person's ability to install, maintain, or use an antenna covered by the rule. The rule applies to state or local laws or regulations, including zoning, land-use or building regulations, private covenants, homeowners' association rules, condominium or cooperative association restrictions, lease restrictions, or similar restrictions on property within the exclusive use or control of the antenna user where the user has an ownership or leasehold interest in the property. A restriction impairs if it: (1)unreasonably delays or prevents use of; (2) unreasonably increases the cost of; or (3) precludes a person from receiving or transmitting an acceptable quality signal from an antenna covered under the rule. The rule does not prohibit legitimate safety restrictions or restrictions designed to preserve designated or eligible historic or prehistoric properties, provided the restriction is no more burdensome than necessary to accomplish the safety or preservation purpose. [Emphasis added is mine.]

Note that they are allowed to impose certain restrictions. For example, Forest City says you can't mount it to the house. What the local satellite dish installers do is put a cinder block base down in your yard and mount the satellite dish to the cinder block base. Reception is great.

Revision 9/8/2008: Okay, we have had occasional minor interference on the screen that we never experienced while we had Dish Network on the mainland, but it hasn't been bad. I started keeping a log of the outages in March 2008, and I only logged one outage in April and one in May. So it happened less than once per month.

Note the satellite is over the continental U.S., so the dish will need to aim to the EAST-southeast. Functionality is ten times better than Time Warner Cable.

I have anecdotal evidence from one of the other officers in my wardroom that DirectTV requires a larger satellite dish than what is allowed, and he was forced to take down his DirectTV satellite dish.

Visiting Other Islands:

I highly recommend hopping over to visit at least one of the other islands while you're stationed in Hawaii. On our first inter-island vacation, we went to Maui (blog posts part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 wrap-up). On our second trip, we went to the Big Island (blog posts part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 wrap-up). Next on our list was Kauai, but we ran out of time.

If I had the opportunity to make one more inter-island trip, and I could only choose between Maui and the Big Island, then I would go back to Maui (see the end of Big Island Part 5 Wrap-Up for a side-by-side summary of Maui versus the Big Island).

Monday Night Food and Fitness

Food

Saturday I went to the Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation (BALOO) training for cub scout leaders. Overall, it was a really good experience, and I learned a lot of great information about leading cub scouts on camp-outs and hikes. One of the things we did at BALOO was learn a few simple things that we can cook at camp using foil pouches.

In the first foil pouch, we put a frozen hamburger patty in the bottom, then some potatoes, onions, and frozen mixed vegetables. For the potatoes and onions, we used a french-fry cutter like at In-n-Out (southern California burger joint that makes french fries fresh from potatoes). Then we could either squirt in some Italian dressing or some cream of mushroom soup. [Aside: Thank goodness I checked the ingredients before hand. The cream of mushroom soup had MSG in it and would have made for a miserable day.] The trainer said it was important to use a frozen hamburger patty because as it melted the melted ice would make steam to help cook the food. If it wasn't frozen, he said to just put an ice cube inside the pouch and it would have the same effect. I was really pleased with how well it turned out. I would have liked to put some salt and/or Chipotle Tobasco on it, but it was decent on it's own.

I learned a new technique for making the foil pouches. If you do it so the seam is on the sides and it's symmetrical, then you can flip it from one side to the other to cook it on both sides without putting a seam facing down to leak. After about 20 to 25 minutes when the foil pouch poofs up like a pillow, that tells you it's done cooking. It's important NOT to use any sort of tongs on the foil pouch that could rip the foil. They taught us to use some leather gloves for picking up the pouches off the grill and flipping them over without tearing them.

The second foil pouch was for pigs in blankets. This was something simple enough the kids could get involved in doing it. You just wrap a hot dog in a Pillsbury crescent roll dough and put it in the foil pouch. He recommended spraying the inside of the foil pouch with the non-stick spray, and turning the pouch on the grill every 2 minutes (to keep it from burning on one side) for about 12 minutes.

The third thing we had that the trainer made of us was corn on the cob. He put some butter on frozen ears of corn, wrapped them in foil but didn't seal the ends. They turned out pretty good, too.

None of the things we ate on Saturday were gourmet by any means, but it was easy stuff to prepare at camp. The trainer commented that's why you want to be sure your boys continue on into Boy Scouts, because then the scouts cook their own food and the adults make their own. He said he likes having filet mignon with the other scout leaders while the boy scouts make whatever hot dogs or other stuff they scrape together.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Fitness

I haven't been doing so hot on wait loss the past two weeks. I've basically maintained my weight, so at least I wasn't putting weight back on, right? One of my problems is I haven't been doing as much PT as I would like. Last Monday at Command PT, I hurt a muscle in the middle of the left side of my back. I'm not sure how I did it, but it came on suddenly as I started my run. I had only run like a block from the Bloch Arena gym when the pain started, and within half a block later, it got suddenly so bad that I couldn't run anymore. It hurt to breathe. I walked back to the gym to find our corpsman to have him take a look at it.

Doc used some highly scientific latin type of name to describe what it was, but I didn't understand it. Not surprisingly, he told me to take motrin, use cold packs on it, and recommended I not go to Command PT for the rest of the week. I needed to do something to burn some calories though, so I just went to the gym and rode the exercise bike on our Command PT days (Wednesday and Friday).

Today I really wanted to get back to running. Of course, it was raining out, and that means the gym was packed with people. Luckily, I got the last treadmill in the gym... but was it good luck or bad luck? The treadmill kept wigging out on me. I was trying to run a heart-rate program with my Polar HRM watch, but it kept suddenly and drastically raising the incline on me (even though my heart rate was above my target zone already) and then not responding when I pushed the buttons to lower it back to where I wanted it. The good news is, my back was a little sore, but it was okay.

It's too bad I missed our Command PT on Wednesday. Apparently our old trainer a.k.a. "PT Nazi" suddenly packed his bags and moved back to the mainland, and all of our single Sailors were rather pleased with the replacement trainer. I hear she's... uh... not bad to look at. I hope it'll boost our attendance at Command PT (yes, everybody's supposed to go to Command PT, but there are always excuses). COB said she "took it easy" on them since it was their first session with her, but she really kicked their butts. It'll be interesting to see how tough the workout is on Wednesday.

LW: 0, Pyrex: 1

LW earned a Super Bowl Purple Heart today.

This morning, LW was making some beer bread for the Super Bowl party we were going to at a friend's house. I was in the front room when I heard GASP, CRASH!! [cue shattering glass sound effect]. I ran to the edge of the carpet in the family room to survey the casualty in the kitchen from a safe vantage point. What... a... mess... On the kitchen floor was a big glob of gooey beer bread batter mixed with shards of broken pyrex, and there were little slivers of broken pyrex glimmering at me from all across the kitchen floor.

LW told me her toe was bleeding, but not worthy of racing to the ER. I went and put on my shoes and grabbed a pair of flip flops for LW. LW was using a paper towel as a sort of mop to push all the gooey beer bread batter mess into a smaller pile, and ended up having another shard of pyrex puncture the palm of her hand. Again, not worty of racing to the ER, but LW was now using one hand to apply direct pressure to the other hand to stop the bleeding, so she egressed from the scene of the casualty to dress her wounds.

I swept the kitchen floor once...

I swept the kitchen floor twice...

I swept the kitchen floor three times...

Yet I was still able to find three more shards of broken pyrex on my next walk-through inspection of the kitchen floor. That pyrex stuff just went EVERYWHERE.

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What a Super Bowl, eh? That was really intense how you weren't sure who was going to win until the last play. Well... the second to the last play, since the last play was the pointless Eli Manning hiking the ball and putting his knee down to burn the last second on the game clock. I was really impressed by the Giants' defense - they were just all over Brady and he had to get the ball off quick or he was going down with it.

As for the Super Bowl commercials, I think my favorite Super Bowl commercial was the one where the guy can breathe fire. He lightly blows fire from his mouth to light the candles for his romantic candle-lit dinner. Then, you see him start to get nervous all of a sudden and ask the girl, "Do you have a cat?" A cat goes meow and goes running by the camera. Next thing you know, the dude sneezes a huge fireball and lights the apartment on fire. It was pretty funny. I don't have the foggiest idea or recollection what it was an advertisement for, but it was a funny commercial nonetheless.

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Our New TV Stand

After the Super Bowl party, we went over to Costco to look at the entertainment centers and TV stands for our new TV. [Cue sound effect: angelic choir singing Handel's Hallelujah chorus.]

Haaaallelujah!
Haaaallelujah!
Hallelujah Hallelujah,
Halleeeelujah!

If you had asked me before we embarked on this search for a TV stand to predict where we would find the ideal, almost perfect TV stand, my money would NOT have been on Costco. Why out of all of the different furniture stores, stores with dedicated furniture departments, and the electronic stores that sell the huge TVs that you would NEED a new TV stand for don't they have an ideal TV stand?

At all the places we looked and expected to find an ideal TV stand, we were limited to the same two choices:

Choice A) Spartan, ultra-modern looking, three glass shelves held together by three artsy metal posts.

Advantages:
1) Open for air flow to cool the electronic components.
2) Fewer materials = Lower cost.

Disadvantages:
1) Hideously ugly. LW wouldn't even consider one of these.

Choice B) Wooden, enclosed monstrosity.

Advantages:
1) Aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Disadvantages:
1) Closed up box doesn't allow air flow to cool the electronic components.
2) Outrageously expensive for what you get.
3) Most are made out of pressed-wood that's going to fall apart during our next PCS transfer. If you DO find something that's made of solid wood rather than pressed wood, then cha-ching cha-ching, just tack on another several hundred dollars to the price tag.

Okay, okay, so I hear you saying to yourself, "Self, I wonder if he's ever going to get around to telling us what this "ideal" TV stand is that he supposedly found at Costco?" Alright, I'll tell you.

The TV stand that we bought at Costco today was clearly designed by someone who wants something that looks nice, but is also very functional.
- Functionality: The panels in the doors can be replaced with a black fabric that allows some air flow and would allow speakers to be inside the TV stand.
- Functionality: The shelves for the electronic components are on rollers that allow the shelves to slide in and out and make it easier for connecting the wires in back.
- Functionality: There's a power strip inside the TV stand.
- Functionality: The shelves are made of a wood frame with a sheet-metal sort of mesh-grate in the middle that allows for air flow to keep electronic components cool.
- Functionality: The back has two removable panels that easily pop in and out (they're held in place by some small magnets) so you can take them out to (a) hook up the wires or (b) just simply leave them off to allow air flow and cooling for the electronics.
- Aesthetics: It's got a traditional look that LW and I like, and it looks nice (LW wouldn't have allowed us to get an ugly one, so this is a go/no-go criteria).
- Price: It was about half the price of some of the other stands we were considering settling for at other stores. Plus, the display model was all they had left and it had some scratches on it. We figure it won't take long for either (a) our two little boys or (b) the movers during our next PCS transfer to put a few scratches in it, and we just couldn't find anything else with this much functionality.
- Bonus: It was almost an exact perfect fit in the back of our car with the boys in the second and third row right-side seats and the left hand side seats folded down. No urgent trip to borrow a friend's monster truck was required to bring it home.

Cabinet doors open, note the stereo receiver rolled-out on it's shelf to enable connecting wires in the back. Note that you can see the white wall behind the TV stand because I have the back panels removed.

This is looking down on one of the shelves rolled out. Notice the wire screen that allows air flow through the shelves. This material is also in the bottom of the TV stand under all the shelves.


Last but not least, here's our new TV setup. This takes Lego Star Wars to a whole new level! :-)

The Big TV Debacle

OMG. I never thought buying a new TV would be such an ordeal. It's almost comical how many iterations this ordeal went through.

I've been drooling over a Sony Bravia flat panel LCD TV at the NEX for a while, and we planned to buy one sometime soon with taxes and stuff done. So I already had a well-defined target (model, size, and price).

Then, as I wrote about yesterday, we went in search of a new entertainment center yesterday to go with the anticipated TV purchase. While looking at the TV stands and entertainment centers at Best Buy, my jaw dropped when I saw a Sony Bravia with screen size 6 inches bigger than the TV I wanted to buy at the NEX, but for the same price as the TV at the NEX. Aaaaaand, to sweeten the deal, they were offering 2 years of interest-free financing!!! SOLD!!! ...Well, not so fast.

Tangent: A warning to anyone not experienced in "interest-free" financing schemes. These can be very good deals IF you pay off the entire balance in the time period offered as "interest free." Normally what these companies do is your account will continue to compound interest, and IF you pay off the purchase before the time limit is up, then they'll waive the interest. If you DON'T, then WHAM! You just got socked with ALL the interest, and chances are, their interest rate is astronomically high. They CAN be very good deals IF you make darn sure to pay it off in the alloted time.

In terms of the "time value of money" and compounding interest, using one of these interest-free financing schemes makes good financial sense even if you HAVE the cash on hand and could pay for the item all up front. Let's say you wanted to buy something for $1,200, and you happen to have $1,200 burning a hole in your pocket, and the store is offering interest-free financing for one year. Take the interest-free financing and put the $1,200 in an interest-bearing account. Set up an automatic payment from your account to the the credit company for $100 per month to pay off the purchase in the alloted 12 months. Meanwhile, your cash is growing in value by gathering interest in the bank. At a fairly low interest rate, you could earn on the order of $34 in interest by my quick calculations in this scenario.

End of Tangent. Resuming Original Story...

Well, I thought that the TV at Best Buy must be too good to be true and thought I should go home to check it out on the internet, verify I wasn't misremembering the price on the TV at the NEX, check the user reviews on the internet, etc. Turns out, this model of TV was THE TOP rated LCD for it's size range on www.consumerreports.org, and the price was a GREAT deal. One quick background piece of data you might need to appreciate this ordeal: I have impeccable credit and have never been denied credit on anything before.

Purchase Attempt Round 1: I tried filling out the Best Buy credit application on their website last night. After filling in and submitting the application form online, the website said it needed to confirm my identity by asking me some questions. Okay, shoot.

First it gave a list of several different addresses and asked which one was a previous address where I had lived. One of them was our address back when we were in Monterey. No sweat, easy answer.

Next, it asked me in what town Muriel __________ [my last name] lived in and listed a bunch of city names in Virginia. Um.... I don't know ANYBODY by the name of Muriel, so why on EARTH would I know what city she lives in??? One of the answer options was, "I don't know anyone named Muriel _______." So I clicked on that option, then they said I had to call them at their toll free number to resolve my identity.

Of course, their business hours are in Central Time, and they were long closed by then.

Round 2: Today, I figured I could bypass silly nonsensical questions about Muriel, Arial, the Little Murmaid, and anybody else I don't know by just GOING to Best Buy and SHOWING them multiple forms of identification with photos to prove who I was. Nope, they denied my credit application in the store. I suspect it was due to the fact that I have an open and unresolved credit application via the website, but all the rude lady behind the counter would say was that I would receive something in the mail in 7 to 10 days explaining why I had been denied credit. Thbbbbbbt. :-P

Round 3: I went back home, got the phone, and called the toll free number to "resolve my identity" with Best Buy over the phone. The guy on the phone pulls up my application and tells me he will have to ask me a series of questions to verify my identity. I said, okay, shoot.

First, he asks me what county one of my previous street addresses was in. The street address he gave me was my MIL's condo on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, where our mail was sent for a brief period of time in between duty stations during a PCS move several years ago. I don't have the FOGGIEST idea what COUNTY my MIL's lake condo is in. So I tell the guy to hang on while I look it up (he just told me the street number and name, not the city or state, so it's not like I could just google the city and state if I didn't already know where the place was). LW picked up my cell phone and called my MIL and asked her what county the lake house is in and we got the answer right.

Next, he asked which of the following phone numbers was one of my previous phone numbers. He listed like 7 phone numbers, and NONE of them were EVER my phone number. He listed a bunch that were the correct area code and first three digits, but the last four were never right. I told him none of them were right, so he moved on to the next question.

Next, he asked which of the following people I had an association with, and listed half a dozen names of people I've NEVER heard of before. Where do they come up with this crap? I mean, it's been a while since I looked at my credit report, but I don't remember my credit report ever listing any sort of "associates." I told him I'd never heard of any of those people in all my life, so he moved on to the next question. (Note to self: Next time, just apply in the store and show them your ID).

Next, he asked another phone number list question, and this time one of our previous phone numbers was on the list.

Finally, he said, congratulations, I had passed the test and was granted an account with them. Hooray. I go to order the TV from the website... and it says "In Store Only." I checked with the store, and the TV is out of stock. Thbbbbt :-P!

Round 4: So I said to myself, "Self, just use the NEX's price-matching policy." I bet the NEX had the TV I wanted in stock, and I was sure if I showed them the ad from Best Buy that they would sell it to me for that price. I wouldn't get the interest-free financing, but I also wouldn't pay sales tax. I called the NEX to make sure they had the TV in stock. The salesman told me yes, they had them in stock, but in order to invoke the price-matching policy, they had to be able to call a local store and verify that they had the TV IN STOCK. What a load of horse crap! I'm sorry, but that "certain restrictions apply" cliche in the fine print doesn't cut it for something as big as that. That's just a darn rude business practice. I wrote an email to the NEX and told them they should print that in their price matching policy.

Round 5: LW suggested I check and see if they had them in stock at Circuit City. I had previously checked Circuit City, and they were charging $300 more than Best Buy, but that was still significantly less than what the NEX was selling it for, so if I could just get the price matched with Circuit City that would still be a better deal than buying it for the listed price at the NEX. So I called Circuit City. Low and behold, NOT ONLY do they have the TV IN STOCK, but they are having a SALE and lowered their price to MATCH BEST BUY's price. Aaaaaand, they were offering THREE YEAR interest-free financing. SOLD!!! ...Well, not so fast.

So I hop in the car and take off for Circuit City. I told the salesman what I was there to buy, and he sorta gasped and said he wasn't sure if they had any left. I told him I had just called and that the lady had told me on the phone that they had one in stock. He checked the computer and sure enough, they still had one. I filled out the credit application... and got DENIED. I suspect this was due to recent credit history of just recently opening an account at Best Buy, but the guy told me the same standard blurb about, "I don't know the reason why you were denied, but you will receive something in the mail in 7 to 10 days explaining why your credit was denied." Thbbbbbt! :-P

Round 6: So I hopped in the car again and took off for the NEX. The NEX salesman was shocked that Circuit City both had the TV in stock and were offering it for a price like 25% less than what the NEX was selling it for. SOLD!!! ...Well, not so fast.

I drove over to the large item pickup by the NEX furniture store, and... the TV was too big to fit in the car.

Round 7: Quickly called a friend and went to borrow his truck. Got the truck, went back to the NEX large item pickup and FINALLY got the TV.

Whew!

Now we just gotta find a TV stand or entertainment center to put it on...

P.S. Oh, and if any Best Buy or Circuit City CEO's read this: You each lost out on a BIG purchase today. Too bad for you. Maybe you should reevaluate your credit procedures. I find it a little ironic that the bank that Circuit City offers financing through is Chase, and they turned me down, yet when I purchased the TV at the NEX, I used my Chase credit card that has a credit limit several times more than the amount of my purchase. Although the experience was a little frustrating for me, I got what I wanted for the price I wanted, and Best Buy and Circuit City each lost a sale.

From the Mouths of Babes

Kids can say the funniest things. Here are a couple of stories and an observation for your amusement.

Chapter I. Geek Squad.

We're planning on buying a new TV at the NEX, so we went to do some furniture shopping tonight looking for a new entertainment center to go with the as-yet-to-be-purchased TV. After checking out the NEX furniture store, we went to Best Buy. As we pulled into the parking lot, ES saw the Geek Squad car and asked, "Mommy, what's that?" She told him it was the Geek Squad car. He asked, "What's a Geek?" She told him that it was guys who fix computers. This was all happening as we were parking and getting out of the car. So I get out of the driver's seat and close the door. I step back and open up YS's car door, and YS turns to me, smiles a big cheshire cat grin, and says, "Daddy you're a GEEK!" Man, I wish I could convey to you the glee in the tone of voice he used in proclaiming that revelation.

For the rest of our time shopping in Best Buy, both boys were running around pretending to be police officers, but saying, "Stop! Geek Officer!"

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Chapter II. A New YS Phrase.

There is a fairly new phrase in YS's vocabulary, and I have found it has at least two meanings. Here's an excerpt from the soon-to-be-released Webster's YS Dictionary:

Pokey Hair: n. 1. The way Daddy's hair looks when he gets up in the morning. See also "bed head." 2. The way YS's hair feels around the sides and back of his head after getting a haircut.

I don't know if YS had realized that there was a difference between definition 1 and definition 2 above until tonight. I think he just associated that feeling on the back of his head with the physical appearance of having bed head. Well, tonight I had put YS in bed and while I was waiting for ES to come in from brushing his teeth, I put my head down on the bed next to YS. He put his hand on the back of my head and felt the buzz-feeling from the haircut I just got a couple of days ago, and he said, "Daddy! You have POKEY HAIR!" I think he was surprised to feel that buzz feeling on the back of my head and not have the appearance of bed head.

Flashback: Ya know, when I got that Billy Idol wig as a gag gift at my farewell party from my last boat, I assumed it was due to my taste in 80's music... Now I'm not so sure it wasn't more in reference to my "pokey hair" in the morning.

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Chapter III. Shoulder Buttons.

I remember many years ago as a midshipman learning that there was a reason for everything on a Marine's uniform. The brass buttons on the sleeve were originally put there to keep the Marine from wiping his nose on his sleeve, and then over the years the buttons stayed there as decorative ornaments of highly polished brass.

Apparently, I need to find shirts for my boys that have buttons on the shoulders.

I don't know where they learned this habit. When they have a mess of chocolate or ketchup on their faces, they angle their head down and to the right, and then sweep their head up and farther to the right over their shoulder and wipe the mess off their face and onto the shoulder of their shirt. It's becoming a regular occurrence to see them with some sort of splotch of whatever they had for lunch or dinner on their right shoulder. LW and I keep telling them to use a napkin or a baby-wipe, but our admonishment falls on deaf ears.