Saturday morning odds and ends

LW: First, I've been remiss in saying what an AWESOME wife I have. I really do sincerely appreciate everything she does for me and the boys, to include making us AWESOME dinners. Two nights ago she made us that southwest chicken stoup again. Man I love that stuff! Last night she made some really good baked dijon salmon from a WW recipe.

Blog Wanderings: I ended up on one of those blog-wanderings this morning where clicking on one link took me to another link to me to another link. A couple of items of note:

- My Wonderful Life had this post on Dec. 7th. The first picture on that post is one I had seen before, but it all has new meaning to me now. That is the drydock where the MSP now resides. It's pretty weird looking at it and seeing a WWII battleship and two destroyers in it, and in shambles after the attack. I think RM1(SS) commented on this in my earlier post about the drydock, but it didn't really sink in until I saw the picture on MWL's blog.

- Have You Met Ted? I don't even remember what sequence of blog links led me here, but I found this blog on all things HIMYM. From there, I discovered a link to...

- Barney's Blog. This is pretty funny. If you're a HIMYM fan, you can just hear Barney saying these things he's written into his blog. If you're not a HIMYM fan... WHY THE HECK NOT?!?!

- Oh, I also found some pretty funny HIMYM t-shirts on this website.

Shipping Things to Hawaii: I do not wish to call out or chastise any particular member of my extended family (because it's been more than one person who's done it), but in the future, please consider asking me to pick up whatever you would like to buy as a gift for one of us here on the island. As the Christmas gift packages start to roll in, I am suffering from a case of "sticker shock" seeing the amount of money some of our family members have paid in shipping. It would have saved a lot of money to just buy it here on the island.

Movie Reviews: LW and I watched a couple of movies from Blockbuster this past week.

Last night we watched The Guardian (Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher movie about U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers). I had mixed feelings about it. I did enjoy watching it, but there were some elements that got on my nerves though.
- Alternative Title 1: Officer and a Gentleman II. Lou Gossett Jr. and Richard Gere weren't available to shoot this requel (note, it's not a sequel, it's a requel because it's just telling the same story over again in a slightly different setting, but with all the same plot elements), so they got Kevin Costner to take Gossett's place and Ashton Kutcher to take Gere's place.
- Alternative Title 2: Top Gun II. They took Richard Gere's character from O&aG and gave him the arrogance and "did you figure it out yet?" attitude of Tom Cruise from Top Gun.
- Blue on Blue: I did not like the way they portrayed the Navy. A couple of the coasties went into a "squid bar" where a bunch of Navy guys in wash khakis and utilities were hanging out, drinking beer, and shooting pool. They got a very, "we don't serve your kind here" response and got into a bar fight with some of the Navy guys, while some fat Navy captain sat at his table and watched. Are there REALLY places like that out there? I just don't see anything like that happening in today's Navy or Coast Guard.

The other movie we watched earlier in the week was Casanova. It was pretty funny and enjoyable to watch. From reading other reviews, I see complaints that it's not historically accurate... but what movies ARE historically accurate??? It's meant for entertainment. I really felt like I was watching a Shakespearean comedy. The plot was a very traditional theatrical comedy.

Fast Food without the Gutt Busters

For anyone else trying to lose a few pounds, I know we've all had those times when you find yourself starving and in need of lunch or dinner and the only thing close and convenient are fast food joints. Of course, a lot of places offer "healthy alternatives," but the healthy alternatives taste like cardboard. So I thought I'd share some of the things I have found at fast food places that both fit decently into my daily food plan AND actually taste good.

Quick background on WW for Men in case you're not familiar with it: All food has a point value based on the number of calories, grams of fat, and grams of fiber. My allowance is 35 points per day, plus I can earn extra points through exercise (normally about 5 points for my typical Command PT).

Breakfast: I generally eat about 9 points at breakfast, something like:
- Raisin Bran Crunch cereal = 3 points
- 1% Milk = 1 point
- Yogurt Smoothie = 4 points
- Coffee creamer = 1 point
9 pts Breakfast so far

Snack: Usually sometime in the morning I have some Powerade for 1 point and a snack like a cheese stick or wasabi nuts for 2 points.
9 pts Breakfast + 3 points snack = 12 points so far

Lunch: At work, I generally have something like 12 points at lunch. For example:
- Flavored tuna pack (my favorite is the sweet & spicy, but the hickory smoked and lemon pepper are good, too) = 6 points
- Crackers to put the tuna on = 2 points
- Cup of mixed fruit = 2 points
- 100 Calorie Pack of Cookies = 2 points
9 pts Breakfast + 3 points snack + 12 points lunch = 24 points so far

After-Work Snack and Dinner: I generally have something like a cheese stick for a 2 point snack when I get home, putting me at 26 points before dinner. So I still have 8 points left on my daily allowance, plus my average 5 points from exercise leaves me 13 points left for dinner.

So that's a snapshot of how my food plan works on a daily basis, now back to the restaurants...

On those occasions when I find myself out and about and the boys demand going to a fast food place for lunch, here are some of my favorite things to get that both taste good and keep me in my target points range. The ones in green are my favorites that I will try and steer the boys' decision toward (when we're letting them choose where to go to eat). The ones in red I just plain avoid at all costs.

McDonald's: (website with nutritional info is here) I actually REALLY like the bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken, and I get the Newman's Lowfat Balsamic Vinaigrette. It was better in VA where the tomatoes were better. The tomatoes they put on the McD's salads here are soft and squishy and I won't eat 'em.
Stay AWAY from McD's french fries - they are the most evil, bad, naughty thing you can get to ruin your diet.

Burger King: I generally don't go to BK. Usually, if there's a BK, then there's probably a McD's somewhere nearby. I've tried BK's salads, and they just don't taste good. So I aim for McD's instead.

Carl's Jr.: If you're watching your weight, avoid Carl's Jr. like the plague. I used to eat there ALL the time. I LOVED their western bacon cheeseburgers with the onion rings on them, but they're more points than I'm allowed to eat in an entire day. I didn't find anything there that was worth eating for a reasonable number of points.

Subway: (website with nutritional info here) Subway sandwiches aren't bad. They have several healthy alternatives to choose from. My main problem is that in Groton, your choices to eat on base are Subway, Subway, or Subway, unless you want to get the greasy artery-buster pizza at the bowling alley. I think I just OD'ed on Subway on my previous tours in Groton, so I don't tend to go there very often. Plus, given my addiction to Mexican food, I generally will choose Taco Bell any day over Subway, and where there's one - you'll probably find the other not far away (except on the sub base in Groton).

Taco Bell: (website with nutritional info here) When I'm concerned about staying within my points allowance for the day, then I'll go with the chicken soft tacos. Ask for them "al fresco" style, and they will just put pico de gallo (tomatos and onions) and lettuce on them - no cheese. They're okay taste-wise. I much prefer the beef soft tacos if I have some maneuvering room in my points allowance for the day.

Chipotle: As I mentioned before, I absolutely LOVE the chicken tacos at Chipotle. I don't put any cheese or sour cream on them. I generally do lettuce, guacamole, and mild salsa. In order to get their nutrional info, you have to hunt for it on their website. Go to Speak -> FAQ, and the first FAQ asks for nutritional info. You'd THINK that if it was the most frequently asked question then they'd just put a link to it on the front of their web page??? Heck, Taco Bell figured that much out and put a BIG link right at the top of their main web page.

Baja Fresh: (website with nutritional info here) The tacos aren't as good as Chipotle, but they're decent and good on the WW points scale. My problem there is I LOVE their burritos, and they AREN'T good on the WW point scale. Maybe it was all psychological and the fact that I was denying myself the burrito I wanted made me resent the tacos?

Moe's: (website with nutritional info here) In response to Sam's question - the burrito I had the other night was a Triple Lindy. I got the ground beef, no rice, no cheese, added black beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, and it came out to 13 points - exactly my average budget for dinner. I was ravenously hungry that night and craving a burrito though.
My "usual" at Moe's is actually the Other Lewinsky (two tacos), I would go with chicken, black beans, no rice, no cheese, add pico de gallo, add lettuce, add guacamole, and it only comes out to a whopping THREE, count 'em, 3 points. Then I've still got room for some tortilla chips, maybe a soda, or a beer or some desert when I get home.

Panda Express: (website with nutritional info here) I've recently become a fan of PE here in Hawaii, in part because they advertise that there's no MSG in the food, and I generally steer clear of Chinese restaurants out of fear of MSG. Beware, there ARE some dangerous pitfalls here. The worst gutt-busters are the rice, the noodles, and their darned signature-item orange chicken that tastes SOOOO good. However, the black pepper chicken, the mushroom chicken, the beef with broccoli, and the veggie spring rolls are all very reasonable on the points scale (although not all at once / in the same meal) and taste really good, too.

Wednesday Aches and Pains

First, congratulations to those who screened for department head. It still surprises me that we have department head screening boards now. Retention was so low in my year group that there was no question about it - if you wanted to be a DH, then you were in. It just boggles my mind that there are a lot of guys who don't even get the option to be a DH now. There was a glut of JOs for a few years when we recruited enough JOs to man two VA-Class per year, but we only ended up building one VA-Class per year. Boats had an average of like 12 or 13 JOs (when I was a JO, we had between 8 and 9 JOs at any given point in time). The DH screening board results were released today. This was the first look for YG '03 and the second look for YG '02. I have a bunch of '03 guys on my boat. Two screened this time around and four didn't.

It's Wednesday. As those of you who read my blog regularly know, Wednesday is our interval training day with the PT Nazi. I only jokingly call him the PT Nazi - he's a really nice guy and always gives us a great workout. This morning he surprised us with another new lineup of exercises. We spent almost the entire hour alternating between pushups and squats, with minor variations each time. It went something like this (doing each exercise for 1 minute):

- Regular Pushups
- Regular Squats
- Wide-Arm Pushups
- Squat & Twists (start facing to the right, do three squats, on the third squat you jump up and twist and land facing to the left, do three squats, on the third squat you jump up and twist and land facing to the right, etc).
- Diamond Pushups
- Star-Grabbers (squat down and touch the ground between your legs, then jump up reaching for the stars, repeat).
- Dive-Bombers (start in a pushup position, keep your butt in the air and put your face down to the ground, then sorta swoop your body down toward the ground as your head comes up away from the ground).
- Bleacher Steps
- More pushups
- More squats
- More pushups of another kind
- More squats of another kind
- More
- More
- More...

My legs felt like jello by the time we left the gym. My chest is starting to feel a little sore now - I know I'll really be feeling it in the morning. I should just take some Motrin now before I go to bed.

We went to Moe's for dinner tonight. We used to go to Moe's every Wednesday night because it was kids-eat-free night and there was a guy who came and made balloon animals. My addiction to Mexican food and raving about carne asada burritos in San Diego earned me a Moe's gift card from the Nav at his farewell party.

I wasn't so sure about how going to Moe's would derail my diet this week. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find nutrition information listed on their website (I can't post a link because it's all java, but at the bottom right side of the web page, you can't miss it). It's more than just your standard list of items though. It's a very interactive feature where you can click on each item you put on your burrito (add guacamole, subtract sour cream, change from pinto to black beans, etc, etc), and it shows you a very nice standard nutrition information label customized for however YOU like YOUR burrito. Turns out it wasn't as much of a gutt-buster as I expected it to be, and it fit just fine into my food plan for the day.

I still really miss Chipotle though. Chipotle was my favorite fast-food Mexican place in Northern Virginia. I found their chicken tacos to be downright addicting. I mean, a day after having Chipotle chicken tacos, I would have serious cravings for them again like I was going through withdrawal. Someone told me that Chipotle is owned by McDonald's, but I see on their website that they are a publicly traded company on the NYSE. Maybe whoever told me the McD's story was pulling my leg. Anyway, I checked the nutrition information on the Chipotle chicken tacos, and they would fit fabulously into my food plan... if only there was one less than 2,000 miles away.

We have heard that there is a Mexican place on the North Shore called Chollo's that's pretty good. We rarely go to the North Shore though. It's been on our list for a while now, next time we DO go up there, we'll plan on eating there and write a review here to share our observations. So all five of you who read my blog have that to look forward to reading about. :-)

Exercising with Small Children

I don't know about you, but I found it was easier to involve my boys in my exercise (in other words, take them off LW's hands for a bit but still get my PT done) when they were younger. Back then, they would happily ride in the jogging stroller, I could run (or bike) at my own pace and they'd just enjoy the ride.

It happened first with ES and now with YS that they grew out of it and don't want to just ride in the jogging stroller or bike trailer anymore. Back in VA, it still worked out well for a while there. ES started riding a two-wheeler (with training wheels), but YS was still riding in the stroller. So I could still take both boys with me out for a run. ES lost interest in it and started staying home, but for a long time there in VA, I was taking YS out in the stroller to jog with me on a regular basis.

But alas, it couldn't last forever. YS now knows how to pedal his "bike" (big wheel 3-wheeler) and wants to ride his bike instead of ride in the stroller. Unfortunately, he has neither the speed nor the endurance to go as far as I want to go when we go out running.

Luckily, Saturday I managed to get out for a 4 mile run and the boys stayed home. Sunday while LW took ES to a birthday party, I asked YS if he wanted to go for a run with Daddy. He said, "Yeah! I want to ride my BIKE!" Groan. I decided I was going to get a good workout out of it. So I strapped on some 1 lb ankle weights, and I did a lot of jogging in place (practicing butt-kickers and knee-high running in place for the PT Nazi on Wednesday) waiting for YS to catch up on his "bike," or looping back to get him and continue on. Overall, we only covered 1.5 miles out and back, but from all the doubling-back, I think I had to have done at least 2 miles (I should have taken my GPS - but LW had it in the car that went to the birthday party).

In any case, my legs are killing me today. My hamstrings and my... whatever you call the muscles on the front side of the femur - they're in agony. So, if you're asking yourself, "Self, what's Kevin's point?" Well, I guess my point is that it is still possible to get a good workout even if you've got a 3-year old on a big-wheel in tow.

WW Update: Well, first there was that care package of fantastic baked goods we received... then there was the wardroom Christmas party Saturday night... To make a long story short, I gained a couple of pounds this week. But hey, it averages out with my previous week's loss, right?

Week 2 Summary
Result this week: 2.6 pound gain
Cumulative Result: 1.8 pound loss
Average Per Week: 1 pound loss

Letter to Santa

I really got a kick out of ES's Christmas wish list he asked us to forward to Santa.


In case you aren't able to decipher that, here's a transcript of his wish list:

• a red light saber (I don't know what the "2 ples" part means)
  
• a machine gun
• the Rescue Hero jet
• a fire search and rescue truck
• the Age of Empires version of Star Wars (I'll explain)
• a remote control helicopter

To explain the second to last item - We saw a Star Wars video game at the NEX, and I explained to ES it was an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game like Age of Empires. He loves playing RTS games like Age of Empires and Command and Conquer. These are games where you have the God's-eye-view looking down on the battlefield and select individual or groups of knights and catapults (Age of Empires) or soldiers and tanks (Command and Conquer) and direct them in battle to attack enemy troops or buildings.

Since ES doesn't read my blog, I feel it's safe telling you that Santa has been looking EVERYWHERE for the red light saber (we found the version that you have to flick-out, but we wanted to find the spring-loaded push-button version). Santa HAS bought ES the last two items on his list though. LW found a pair of Air Hogs for almost half the price they are charging on Amazon.

Anyway, I thought it was a cool snapshot of what interests my 6-year old.

Things you can catch with sticky paper...

Corey mentioned the "sticky paper incident" in response to my last post. I lost all my old emails in a catastrophic hard drive failure, so Corey was kind enough to forward the email back to me. I laughed reading it - I had totally forgotten about this story until Corey brought it up. So for those of you who are not familiar with this story, here it is for your amusement (names changed to protect the innocent):

From: Kevin
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 8:28 PM
Subject: The things you can catch with sticky paper...

Okay, so LW called and complained to our Terminix guy that we’ve been having a problem with crickets coming into our garage (among other things like ants in the basement). The Terminix guy came out and put these glue boards down in the corners of the garage that are just a piece of cardboard with sticky glue on them to catch bugs. Very low tech.

You’d be surprised what ELSE you can catch with those glue boards besides bugs…

First, yesterday (and I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of this – I’m afraid you may think I’m making this up), YS (2 yrs old) goes outside to get in the car and starts screaming and crying hysterically. LW goes out to find out what’s wrong with YS, and the next thing I know, LW is screaming and crying and running back into the house carrying screaming and crying YS. I mean, they were both hysterical. I thought they had seen the Anti-Christ or witnessed the holocaust or something horrible and gruesome. All I got out of LW as she ran past me into the house was, “CHIPMUUUUNK!” So I go out to the garage expecting to find some bloody, gory, yucky carnage and mess. Um, no. What I found was this poor, innocent, cute little chipmunk… STUCK to the glue board and wiggling and writhing and trying to break himself free.

So I got a broom and started scooting him out of the corner of the garage to a point where I could pick up the board and carry him out to the front yard to free him. It suddenly dawned on LW that the Terminix guy told her if either of the kids got stuck to one of the boards, to use vegetable oil to get them off. So LW came running back out of the house with a jug of vegetable oil in her hand and proceeds to DOUSE the poor chipmunk with oil while I was holding the board about 3 feet up off the ground. The chipmunk broke loose and fell onto the concrete with a THUMP as he landed on his side. He quickly got himself upright and ran as fast as his little legs would carry him into the bushes looking like a very wet, slimy rat. Then LW felt bad for him being all covered in oil, so she got the hose and started spraying water into the bushes to try and wash off the poor chipmunk.

So that was our excitement for the day yesterday.

Today, I must commend my wife for her courage and intestinal fortitude. I was VERY impressed with the calm demeanor she maintained as she walked in the house and very quietly told me, “I think there’s a snake stuck to the glue board.” She had to say “snake” in a whisper, because at the mention of the word, ES will run screaming in terror up to his room, crying and hiding from the hideous beast that surely must be here because it wants to devour him.

THIS time, I took the camera with me (see attached). Sure enough, we managed to “catch” a small snake with our glue board. I held the board upside down over the driveway and sprayed him a little bit at a time with oil (thanks to Pampered Chef! – they make a cool oil-sprayer thing for spraying oil on cooking pans, etc), and the snake gradually came loose from the board as I sprayed down the length of his body. When he broke free, he slithered off into the bushes. It was raining though, so I didn’t worry about getting out the garden hose to wash him off.

I was wondering though… Do chipmunks eat bugs? I figure that is why we caught the snake – he wanted to eat all the tasty bugs stuck to the board. Not sure why we caught the chipmunk though. Oh, BTW – in the picture, you can see in the upper right hand corner where the chipmunk was trying to chew his way out of the glue board.

Anyway, LW made me throw away the glue board, so I’m sorry to say you won’t be getting any more installments of this adventure telling you WHAT ELSE you can catch with a glue board.

Kev

From: Kevin
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 2:22 PM
Subject: RE: The things you can catch with sticky paper...

Okay, so I lied. I told you there wouldn’t be any more installments in the “things you can catch with sticky paper” saga.

Silly me, there was more than ONE glue-board in the garage.

Know what else? Birds also like eating insects. Who knew?

I think Pampered Chef is missing a marketing venue for their oil spritzer thingy.

Kev

Step 1: Open MouthStep 2: Insert Foot

OMG. I have an announcement to make.

I... am an idiot.

I just made myself look like a huge horse's patootie. This definitely would have been deserving of one of those "Stupid Kevin Tricks" emails I used to send out to family and friends to highlight what a colossal moron I can be at times. Hang on, and I'll get to that part of the story in a minute...

So tonight was our wardroom Christmas party at our CO's house. It was a holiday martini themed party with a gift exchange, so we got a babysitter. Had a great time at the party. The CO set up two activities to start. First there was a worksheet of riddles for Hawaiian sayings. There were like 28 to guess, and LW and I got 16 right. The winners got 20 right and won some Godiva-chocolate covered pretzels. Then there was a list of Christmas song titles that had been swapped out with synonyms, and you had to guess the Christmas song titles (like "Quadruped with Crimson Proboscis" for "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.") There's a description of the game and a list of these alternative carol titles here.

After the two ice-breaker activities and a bunch of AWESOME food, we did the gift exchange.

Aside: I can't imagine where YS learned this new word in his vocabulary. We were out doing some Christmas shopping yesterday, and I was surprised to hear my 3-year old YS use the word "AWESOME" in two sentences in a row. We were in the toy aisle looking at attack helicopters and Star Wars toys. It was the first time I had heard him use the word, and he said it with such emphasis... it just sounded really familiar... like I was listening to a tape recording of myself even. Odd. Anyway, back to the story...

The gift exchange was one of these things were everyone drew a number. #1 got to pick a present out and unwrap it. #2 could either steal #1's gift, or pick a new present out to unwrap. #3 could steal either #1 or #2's gift, or open a new one, and so on. If you had a gift stolen from you, then you got to pick another gift - either a new wrapped one or you could steel one, but not the one that just got stolen from you. After a gift got stolen 3 times, then it was "dead" and could not be stolen anymore.

The hottest gifts that got stolen a couple of times were:

• Starbucks gift card
• Bottle of wine with some submarine wine glass markers (little ID tags to keep track of whose glass is whose)
• A pair of colorful champagne flutes
• Wood dolphin serving dish
• Best Buy gift card

The CO said next time he does this, he's going to make a new rule with regard to husband-wife teaming on stealing things. There were a few interesting interchanges that went down. The first one was when the Eng got the wine bottle with the submarine wine glass tags. When it came to Dave's turn, Dave stole the gift from the Eng. When it came to the Eng's wife's turn, she stole the gift from Dave. Then Dave's wife started talking about how she knew what she was going to steal when it came to her turn. Well, then someone stole the Eng's next gift after that (I forget which one it was), so the Eng had to pick again. Then he and his wife came to the realization that if he stole the wine gift from his wife, then it would have changed hands 3 times and could not be stolen anymore. So he "stole" the wine from his wife and it was "dead" and they got to keep it.

Then the CO's wife got a Best Buy gift card. You don't have to read many of my blog entries to figure out that I love Best Buy. So it came to my turn, and I stole the Best Buy gift card. The CO wasn't very happy (his wife would never do anything with it, so in essence it would be his if she had kept it). I was very happy and didn't think anybody else would want it besides the CO. Low and behold, one of the JO's wives stole it from me. So I had to pick out another gift, and I couldn't steal the gift that had just been stolen from me. Following in the Eng and his wife's footsteps, I stole the coffee and biscotti gift from my LW, and my LW then stole the Best Buy gift card back for me. (Insert sinister evil naughty laugh here - AH-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa!). I think if we were to do it again, it would be a good idea to add a rule that you can't steal from your spouse.

Like I said, we had a great time at the party and came home. It was very dark and raining off-and-on, so I offered to give our new babysitter a ride home because she lives on the opposite side of our housing area from us several blocks away. We pulled out of the driveway, and I was being blinded by our neighbors' Christmas lights and decorations across the street from our house. LW and I had recently discussed how there's always someone on the block who feels the need to go over-the-top on decorating for the holidays. So I made a joking comment to our babysitter along the same lines of how there's always gotta be someone on the block who feels the need to overdo the Christmas lights. (I'm sure some of you already see where this is going...). So we drive on over to the other side of housing. The street she lives on had a lot of houses with NO lights, and one or two houses with a simple string of lights along the gutter...

and then there was this one house that really stood out from the rest...

I started developing this sinking feeling in my stomach...

I kept waiting for her to say, "This house right here," but we kept progressing down the street closer and closer to the house that was lit-up like Vegas...

I felt like everything slowed down to slow-motion and I started muttering to myself in my head, "Self, no... no... no no no no no... NOOOOOOO!"

Yep, you got it Toyota. We got up there toward the end of the street and I gulped and asked which house, and she pointed and said, "The one with the lights." OMG how humiliating. I feel like SUCH an idiot. New Balance shoes are great for running, but they aren't very tasty.

On a positive note though, this marks another milestone this PCS move. Each time we go to a new duty station, it's a challenge to find a good babysitter you know and trust and that the boys like. Our babysitter tonight seemed really nice and seemed like she did a good job (we'll get the after-action report from the boys when they wake up in the morning). If she'll ever forgive me for my crass comment about obnoxious Christmas lights, then it will be nice to have her back so LW and I can go out on occasion sans little boys.

Shifting topics - I miss KLOVE. I listened to KLOVE all the time in my car up through last Tuesday. Unfortunately, the storm that knocked down a lot of trees and power lines and left my poor LW stuck at home with the kids without any electrical power on Wednesday also did something catastrophic to KLOVE. The power came back, but KLOVE never did. I wonder what happened to the transmitter and if there's anything we can do to help. I wrote them an email to ask.