Random Brain Dump

It was so hot this past weekend it seemed the only things that fell were the temperature records across the Bay Area! Not having AC, we resorted to different ways seeking relief.

We took the kids to Sandra’s place for swim & BBQ to start the weekend. Good food, cool water and great company– a great way to cool down. Unfortunately, it would be the last good idea for the weekend. 🙂 You can read a bit about evening on the Jarvinen’s & Truong’s websites.

Having much fun, we allowed the kids stay up way past their bed times and didn’t head back until 10 pm. On the way back, we heard weird thumping sounds while driving. I didn’t think much of it figuring that we were hearing because with the kids napping and radio turned off. First bad idea. A few minutes later, the rear tire blew up. After pulling the van over to the shoulder, I went out to inspect the damage & was surprised to see how little of the tire was left. The tire literally blew off the wheel. We placed a call to AAA after deciding it was too dangerous to change in the spare on I280’s narrow shoulder. We didn’t get home until midnight.

Sunday morning, I woke up early and headed to Fry’s to buy an air condition unit, thinking I’d beat the crowd, little did I know… The first bad sign was when I saw an empty floor in the appliances section which was filled to the rim with AC’s only a few weeks ago. Looking around, I saw a long line of people so I figured that’s the line for AC’s. Several other people were rushing to beat each other to the line. As I walked to the end of the line, I was a bit amused. I’d only expect a line like this when the PS3 or Wii game consoles come out later this year. Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess… When I got to the end of the line, I asked a guy in front of me whether this was the line to buy an AC. The guy goes: “Oh no, this is the line to get on the waiting list to buy the AC’s on the next shipment!” “What!!!“, I thought (and cursed). No longer feeling amused, I quickly returned the cart and left the store. Crap!

Realizing how this endeavor had suddenly become a more daunting task, I then headed to Lowe’s & Home Depot. No luck, both stores sold out. The guy at Home Depot practically laughed in my face when I ask him if he had any in stock! Lowe’s had a big red sign “All AC & Fans SOLD OUT!” Grudgingly, I went back to a home full of hot air and cranky kids (and wife) with rosy cheeks, empty-handed! Bad idea trying to buy something everybody is desperately after. 🙁

As a last ditch, I placed an online order for an AC unit when I got home, fully aware that the few days of the shipment will be painful. Bad idea. Everybody was shopping online as well. As of today, costco.com is yet to process my order, no doubt they don’t have any units in stock either. Crap, again!

Desperate to escape the heat, Suzanne & I decided to take the kids & their grandma to the theater. The only kiddie movie playing was Over The Hedge, which Katelyn & Allison already saw. But they’re more than happy to watch it the second time. I discovered later that the AC’s in the theaters were broken. Fortunately, it was still comfortable for everybody throughout the movie. Almost a bad idea…

As we left the theater, we hit the heat again. We decided to take the kids to a nearby ice cream parlor. Bad idea… The place was packed with people trying to escape the heat. Gave up, we rushed the kids into the van, cranked up the AC and headed to the mall. Another bad idea… Once entered parking lot, we quickly gave up. It was obvious, we weren’t going to find parking easily. I was glad we didn’t enter the mall though after hearing a co-worker describing how crazy Valley Fair was this past weekend.

We decided to drive to Santa Cruz beach. Okay, yet another bad idea! Highway 17 was packed, bumper to bumper. Along the way, the highway was littered with over-heated cars. I’m not exaggerating. The situation was not much different from disaster scenes on CNN where Floridians rushing out of the Keys, trying to escape a hurricane. We decided to keep going anyway since the kids were comfortably napping. The trip, usually takes 30 minutes, turned 2 hours long. At least, it was 2 air conditioned hours.

The weather was quite pleasant at this beach town when we got there, a good 20 degrees lower I’d say. By this time, the kids woke up and were hungry. We decided to head to the Boardwalk for some fun & food. Bad idea. The streets were packed with cars heading toward the Boardwalk. After some time driving around and not finding parking, we gave up and headed home, content that at least we spent the last 3 hours comfortably in a van with AC cranked up. But, I’d used up half of a gas tank in the van.

As you can see, it was a weekend of many bad ideas… 🙂

Funny video: “Life is hard when you’re Darth Vader’s less-talented, less-charismatic younger brother and you manage a grocery store.”

Worth checking it out…

I haven’t been following TV coverage of the new Israeli-Herzbolla conflict, but I imagine the following photos are more powerful than anything featured on CNN.

This past weekend Kyle, the Jedi-in-training (also, the birthday boy), lead the young rebels in the fight against Vader and the darkside. Katelyn & Allison relunctantly joined the rebellion. Yes, they have much fear in them. Who wouldn’t fear Vader in his full suit and sandles? The padawans valiantly fought their way to Yoda’s swamp where all young rebels eagerly took a refreshing dip in celebration. May the force be with the young rebels…

Here are the visual newsreel documenting the younglings’ efforts.

You’ll notice that the header above got a long-deserved redesign, finally. The banner image is updated with pictures of the kids from this year. It’s about time. If I don’t do this 4AM Saturday morning, I’ll probably will never get around to it…

After a week of placing ads on Craigslist, I sold my Canon 30D yesterday. While I got a really good price for it, I was sorry to see it go.

I bought the camera in April as an upgrade from my XT (350D). By the time I was about to put up ads for the XT, Canon started to offer rebates for them and its trading value immediately plummets on craigslist. So much so that I finally decided to sell the 30D instead and go back to my old but trusty XT for now. Rebates from Canon are usually sure signs of new models coming…

After a 3 months “trial” period, I find that the minor improvements of the 30D over the XT don’t warrant the big price delta. The two main thing I will miss not having the 30D: the bigger LCD & the nifty quick-control dial.

Katelyn and Allison got a hold of an old family photo album the other day. They excitedly asked their mother about some photos of an old dog they discovered. I guess they found it was cool for their own mom to have a dog (Katelyn asked for a dog a few times). Suzanne explained the photos and described how the dog was her pet and that it died some years ago.

That night, when I was readying Katelyn for bed, she went on bragging to me how her mommy used to have a dog. I told her that I do remember the white poodle. She then said to me in a sudden sad tone: “Daddy, Mommy said her doggy died.” I acknowledged it with a nod. Since I noticed a sense of curiosity in her, I explained to her that the dog died of old age and how that’s is natural process. After some thinking and debating in my head whether she was old enough for me to explain the concept of eventual death, I went on explaining that even her daddy & mommy will grow old too.

Katelyn immediately made the connection, sat up and asked me in an alarmed tone “does that mean you & Mommy will die too?” I replied “yes, we will die of old age eventually.” She started to tear up and asked “will you come back after you die?.” I answered that you cannot come back from death but that death is natural and happens to everyone.

Growing more distraught, Katelyn said “but I don’t want you to die.” I calmly tried to allay her fear and explained how that it is in a very distanced future. I explained that we’ll be taking care of her until she grows up and that it’ll take a lot of years before we even reach her grandparents’ ages.

At this point, Katelyn hugged me and in tears, she said “I will miss you!“

Suzanne & I went to attend a free jazz concert last evening. Santana Row is offering a summer long series of jazz concerts. We were talking about hitting a jazz club for some time…

Parking was pretty much a nightmare, particularly since we got there rather late. The open court was crowded with a mix people lawn chairs in the graass and those dining at outdoor tables, all enjoying the music and the nice cool weather. The band featured was “A Touch of Brass”; I thought they were okay. I lugged my camera with a long tele-lense and was happy to get the opportunity to roam around & take some pictures. I probably would’ve enjoyed the band more had we gotten better seats & I stayed put in one place.

We left early to grab dinner with the Tieu’s before calling the nite. Get back just in time for the kids’ bedtime. All in all, it was a great way to spend a summer evening…

I hadn’t really looked forward to it. I usually dig comic-based flicks. But I rolled my eyes when I first saw the preview of Superman Returns, thinking “oh great, another remake.” I had thought it would have to tediously rehash the story over again, establishing where he comes from and how he learns of his power, blah, blah… And Lex Luther, again? Please…

hen Suzanne took the kids to her friend’s house to give me some quiet time, I had some free time and so I thought “what the heck, I’ll bite.” I took off to AMC20 to catch it (with low expectations of course). I thought it was awesome, most enjoyable flick for me so far this summer. Liked it more than X-Men 3. The plot although not solid, was refreshing enough to move things along. It didn’t take a lot of time establishing the characters. The special effects were great– the flying scenes were breath-taking. I kept comparing them to the old green-screen effects. Of course, I thought those effects were great then too when I first saw Superman in the 80’s. Kevin Spacey was great, of course, as Lex Luther.

For me, Christopher Reeve was Superman; no doubt about it — Reeve owned the role. Compared to Reeves, this new actor Brandon Routh is a light weight. One positive thing though, when as Superman, he sounds awefully like Reeves. But as Clark Kent, Routhed basically sucked. He doesn’t put on the glasses the same way. I mean, you remember Reeve’s bumblingly pushing his glasses back or the geeky smirk? Classic! Reeve’s stamp of Superman was definitely there, as I find myself constantly comparing the two actors. As Superman though, I thought Routh did okay.

By the way, I really digged the new uniform with the ribbed S logo.

As I was driving back, I was wondering how sad it would be for Reeve’s son when he watches it. Poor kid, lost his Superman dad and his mom in a span of 2 years. Tough! I wonder if Routh believes in the curse of Superman…