When don't kids wear you out?

It's the darndest thing. Yesterday morning Allan left to go see his Dad in the hospital in LA. Which meant that I was on my own that evening and this morning. Normally I'm already pretty worn out by 9pm, just getting everything done: shower the kid, feed him, get his homework done, do reading, practice karate, put him to bed, plus getting his lunch and uniform ready for the next morning, tidying up the kitchen, taking my own shower... and that's with Allan helping with some of the chores.

Not last night. Nor the last time, 2 months ago, when I had Todd to myself while Allan spent the night in San Bernardino. Oh, I was tired, but strangely enough, not only was I not MORE tired (because I didn't have hubby around to divide the work), but I actually felt LESS tired than I normally do on weeknights. Why is that?

Well, I've observed that when Allan is around, Todd goes nuts. He's a pretty active kid to begin with, but for some reason, he seems a lot calmer when he's just with me. There have been many a time when I've spent a nice (relatively) quiet day with him, only to have Daddy come home and the energy levels ramp up about 1000%. Whereas we often have to remind him about ten times to do something, when he's just with me it seems like I'm only repeating myself 5 times. And it's no wonder I'm so worn out at the end of the day-- it gets tiring, chasing after a human cyclone that could give the Tasmanian Devil a run for its money!

But then that begs the question of WHY Todd gets more hyper when Allan joins the fray.
Here's my theory: testosterone poisoning. Yes, yes, I know-- all men suffer from it, but I think those hormones waft through the air and get absorbed. You know how women who live in close proximity to one another tend to have their monthly cycles sync up? Well, I think it's a similar effect, only with testosterone. Why else would Todd go nuts everytime Daddy arrives on the scene? ;-)

The upside of all this is that I actually get to enjoy having my little boy to myself at times, rather than being too worn out to have fun with him. Hm, perhaps I should send Allan away more often ;-)

Does anyone else notice a similar effect with their kids/kids they've observed?

Okay, trying again...

Back in September I had every intention of blogging more often. I was feeling inspired, had some ideas of what I wanted to write about beyond the usual "Helly's monthly updates" and was only lacking in time. Before I knew it, October had flashed by, and here I sit, over a month later and nary a blog post written. Even Todd's baby diary is woefully out of date (but at least I have all the notes jotted down on a sticky, waiting to be transcribed onto electronic form!)

I realized that it had turned into a vicious cycle. A few days after I posted my last blog entry, I was teeming with ideas, and put them aside because I couldn't find a chunk of time to write. When I *did* find some time, I realized that the mood had passed, and that I would have more to make up for it, which in turn only fed my reluctance to actually *start*. And there started the cycle-- stop writing, feel guilty about it, feel overwhelmed by all the updates I want to post, postpone writing, begin cycle anew...

There is some truth to keeping the "wheels oiled" by writing everyday, or at least with frequent regularity, even if I don't think I have anything to write about. It gets (and more importantly, KEEPS) the creative juices flowing.

So, here I am, trying to start afresh. Maybe I should start some kind of "blog accountability" group with one or more folks, kind of like people do with diets and exercise-- keep each other accountable for writing regularly. Anyone interested? ;-)

And, to cap it all off, another one of my "postponed for so long it's crammed into one long rambling entry" updates:
Todd is adjusting well to first grade. He's enjoying school and even his after-school care program has so few kids that he gets pretty individualized attention. He and I visited my parents over Halloween weekend, where he dressed as a pumpkin and got to enjoy his first-ever trick-or-treat adventure, casing all the houses I used to visit when I was a kid. It was great seeing all our old neighbors again and catching up.

We took a venture into the housing market in October, working with a realtor and looking at homes. Next thing we knew, we'd put in an offer on one, but then financing didn't work out as well as we'd initially hoped. So now we're upgrading from a 1-bedroom to a 2-bedroom in the same apartment complex. Gives us room to stretch out and still save money.

Our church decided to expand from its building to a bigger venue, so right now we're meeting at a local movie theater. I don't really like it-- I think a theater (especially the one we're in) is a poor setting for something like a Sunday service-- hard to see, hard to move around in, too dark. At least it's just temporary, or so I hear, anyway. The upside to it is that this theater is much closer to our apartment! :-)

Santa Barbara is truly a small world-- a couple weekends ago we enjoyed a "Parents' Night Out" which our church sponsors every month. In October the kids enjoy a Harvest Party while the parents go out to dinner. Last year it was all church parents. This year, since we've opened a preschool, it was mainly preschool parents, the majority of which don't go to (our) church. So it was nice getting to meet some new parents... including one that works at Citrix Online, too! How about that! ;-)

Allan's uncle unfortunately passed away a couple weeks ago from complications due to the H1N1 virus. The media may overhype it (as it tends to do), but when it hits this close to home, you gotta admit that maybe all that attention is warranted. Our little family has gotten over its own bout with colds/seasonal flu last month.... just in time to get well and get free flu shots at work. So far, so good! Fingers crossed it stays that way the rest of the winter.

The remainder of this month promises to be busy. We pick up the keys to our new place on Friday, and two weeks after that we have to vacate our old place, so the next 2 weeks will be a flurry of moving (since we're moving to the building next door, it should be relatively easy to move a few boxes of stuff each day-- Todd's wagon should get plenty of use!) and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! Then comes the Thanksgiving holiday and wouldn't you know it-- the last month of the year shall soon be upon us!

Let's see how many entries I get written between now and then, eh! ;-)

Funny Spam IM

We've all received our fair share of spam emails. They range from Nigerian scam letters to ads for Viagra to admirer emails from "hot" girls to phishing scams. Pretty standard fare, and always to be found in my Junk folder, though occasionally one or two will slip past the spam filter and make its way to my Inbox.

Today I received my first spam IM. Apparently my Yahoo screenname is linked to my Dad's name (not entirely sure why, I may have used my own Yahoo email address when signing my Dad up for something long long ago). So every once in a while I get friend requests on Yahoo from people I don't recognize. I usually ignore them.

This time, however, the spammer was persistent. Despite my hitting "ignore" to the friend add request, it proceeded to IM me. I stared in fascination as the text appeared, sentence by sentence, before me-- almost as if a real live person were actually typing it!

Here's a transcript of the conversation (with my Dad's name changed):

[09:46:36] donaldsonxahaf: hey
[09:46:55] hellykwee: hi
[09:47:05] donaldsonxahaf: Hey Roger*
[09:47:27] donaldsonxahaf: This is difficult for me to do because I'm shy..but I have a crush on you, i have been sending you emails but no response
[09:47:49] donaldsonxahaf: I've never been able to tell you for reasons which you would quickly identify as obvious if you knew who this was.
[09:48:08] donaldsonxahaf: With that said, I want you to guess who I am, and approach me yourself.
[09:48:28] donaldsonxahaf: To help you out with your guessing I made a few pictures and videos with "Roger" written on my body.
[09:48:55] donaldsonxahaf: They're kind of risque photos so I had to make a private profile. look at my screen name on your buddylist and you'll see the link in my status update or you can look at the top of this conversation window. it's for your eyes only
[09:49:19] donaldsonxahaf: My username in the members area is "RogerandME09" (It's a free website but you might need a CC or Debit to verify your age because I had to. Sigh.)
[09:49:44] donaldsonxahaf: once you are inside search for me. I want you to guess who I am and then approach me yourself. I'm shy and this is the bravest thing I've probably ever done, but you need to do the rest.
[09:50:08] hellykwee: sorry, i don't put my card number into websites to verify age
[09:50:09] donaldsonxahaf: i wont ever be able to get on yahoo messenger again this is my only day so come talk with me on the website
[09:50:23] donaldsonxahaf: Kisses, Secret Admirer
[09:50:32] hellykwee: haha, you're funny
[09:50:38] donaldsonxahaf: AWAY MESSAGE - Waiting 4 My crush.. Won't back on here. FOR EVERYONE - If you read this you HAVE TO pull out your cellphone and text the word BARNABAS to the short # 70542. Follow the instructions. If you do this, you are voting for me to win the "hottest person ever contest". HELP!!! i need 1 more vote. If you vote for me tell me and ill love you 4ever

I was laughing too hard at the time, but now I kinda wish I had interjected some commentary of my own earlier on, just to see how well-programmed the spambot was to to handle real-time conversational responses.

Ah well. It gave me a good laugh for the morning. And I have to admit, I was pretty impressed that the grammar and spelling were pretty good-- makes a nice change from the ordinary grammar-error-riddled spam mail we're used to receiving! Someday I will post about the snail mail (yes, you read that right-- SNAIL mail) phishing scam I received a couple years ago...

Honest service is hard to find

It occurs to me that in the service-oriented industries whose services we frequently consume, it's very difficult to find an honest, reliable provider. And I don't just mean a friendly smile in your local fast-food establishment, I'm talking about professionals to whom you shell out big bucks for important services. Auto mechanics and plumbers come to the forefront of my mind as an example. As do doctors, dentists, lawyers, realtors, mortgage lenders... all these folks charge a pretty penny for their services, and if you wind up with a bad product/service, it's more than just a bad meal or experience you can shrug about-- this is significant investments of your time, money, and health. Even hairstylists fall under this realm-- while not as life-threatening as a doctor who carelessly prescribes you meds or as bank-breaking as a lawyer who bilks you of hundreds of dollars for idle "work", it's still annoying to come out of the salon with an awful haircut because the stylist didn't know how to work with your hair type.

This is why, twice a year, we pile into the car and make the hour-and-a-half (with good traffic) drive to see the family dentist. Dentists probably rank right up there with auto mechanics for being notorious for doing unneeded work (and charging exorbitantly for it) under the assumption that the average consumer doesn't know any better, and won't realize that he doesn't *really* need this procedure done, or that there is a cheaper alternative. I've experienced my fair share of them when I was at UCSB, whose health insurance policy forced me to use the on-campus dentists. Speaking of health insurance, that expensive thing didn't give me coverage worth crap-- I still ended up paying loads out of my own pocket, especially with dental care. Might as well have seen a non-campus dentist and paid out of my own pocket-- probably would've been cheaper that way! But... that's another rant, for another time.

The reason we travel so far to see our dentist is because he's one of the few honest types you can expect to find. He does his own cleaning, keeps detailed records of the condition of your teeth and compares them from your last visit, and generally prefers to keep an eye on potential problems rather than jump straight into fixes that might not even be necessary. He also mounts LCD monitors on the dental chair so you can see your own X-rays onscreen right after they've been taken. How handy, and much easier than straining to see the film he's holding up against a light on the other side of the room ;-)

There's a crack in one of my back molars that has gotten worse since the last visit. It's not a great cause for worry, but if anything hard gets inside that crack, it could serve as a wedge (think how the wedge shape of an axe head enables it to split wood) and crack the tooth in two. Our dentist didn't outright tell me that I should get it fixed, but gave me a few options: 1) a crown (more expensive, but longer lasting) 2) filling (cheaper) or 3) do nothing-- and just take care not to bite down on anything hard on that side of my mouth. I think at this point it is obvious that work probably should be undertaken on that tooth, but even then he was reluctant to push treatment, since my tooth was still in good shape. Still, prevention at this point is a good idea, and the fact that he wasn't ramming "OMG, you've GOT to get this fixed ASAP!" down my throat makes it that much more palatable.

Time to make an appointment soon...

An honest, reliable, friendly dentist. Hard to find, and well worth the long drive from Santa Barbara to LA twice a year :-)

Friday Five -- sleeping :-)

It's been several months since I've done a Friday Five, hasn't it! Anyone still willing to play? :-) Well, I guess I'll throw this out there and see how it goes.

After being accidentally awakened earlier than planned this morning, I thought this set of Friday Five questions was especially appropriate. I'm sure most of you can guess my answers to these questions already, but hey, indulge me for a moment!

1. What is your morning routine?
2. What is your nightly routine?
3. Do you like to listen to the radio when you sleep or have it quiet?
4. What do you like to sleep in?
5. What is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning?

1. Well, when I had to adhere to a stricter schedule in my former life and use alarm clocks, I'd set it for approximately an hour before I had to get up, so I could hit the snooze alarm about 5-6 times before finally waking up enough to stumble out of bed. These days, I simply try not to snap the head off any poor soul who happens to cross my path when I first get up ;-) Other than that, my routine is pretty straightforward-- wash my face, brush my hair, brush my teeth, throw on clothes and dash out the door. Breakfast to be eaten at work.

2. Eat some yogurt so my tummy isn't rumbling, brush my teeth (and tongue-- what's the deal with dairy products sticking so tenaciously to your tongue!?), change my son's diaper, set a glass of water and eyeshades within easy reach on my nightstand, and then wind down by reading in bed.

3. Quiet! And I mean dead silence. I don't keep earplugs onhand everywhere I go, for no reason!

4. My bed, of course! :-P Oh, wait... ;-) Comfy flannel pajamas are the best. No socks unless it's terribly cold... which, given that I'm in Santa Barbara and in a well-insulated apartment, doesn't happen often.

5. Hearkening back to my answer to #1: trying not to cause lasting damage when I RAWR at the first person I encounter. I also hiss at the sunlight and think of one of my favorite quotes: "If God had meant for people to enjoy the sunrise, he would've made it at 11:00 am!" Truer words were never spoken!

(in case you couldn't tell already, I am NOT a morning person!)

How about you?

Of babies and time

Wow, two posts in a row ;-) My previous post talked about not having enough time to write, and it's no surprise that kids play a large role in time-sucking. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's tiring, but well worth it. And it can even be fun at times! ;-)

This weekend, while driving back to SB from LA, with the boy and all his stuff in tow, I talked with Ben, the founder of Not One Sparrow, who recently had a new baby himself. He's still in that bleary-eyed-stupor stage where on the one hand he's enjoying fatherhood and even marveling at his little miracle, but on the other has finds himself too worn out to really appreciate it or understand when people say "Enjoy it now, it won't last". I figure, people who say such things either 1) don't have kids themselves or 2) have kids so old they've long forgotten what it's like to take care of helpless babies, unruly toddlers, and defiant kids. Selective amnesia-- they only remember the good parts.

With a five-year-old, I'm still well into the "hurry up and grow up" stage of parenthood, so I could still sympathize with Ben. I told him how I celebrated with glee the day Todd learned to buckle up by himself in his car seat. It may not be a big thing, but when you're running several errands and constantly have to climb into the back seat to buckle him up each time, it gets tiresome!

When I was younger, I'd always imagined I'd like to have two kids. Ideally a boy and a girl. I had it all figured it out-- I'd space them about 5 years apart so that the older one could help take care of the younger one. Then I grew up, and y'know, actually HAD a real kid. And promptly changed my mind. Of course, there were times as Todd was growing older, that I'd see him playing with younger kids, get broody, and wistfully think to myself, "he'd make a great big brother". There were times when I felt sorry for Todd when Allan and I were so busy with day-to-day things, he felt neglected because nobody was playing with him. Having a sibling to play with would ease that. Then I'd look at the messy house, look at our shrinking checkbook (for being as small as they are, these little critters cost an arm and a leg!), and feel the weariness as we plop down to rest after he's gone to bed (with house chores still looming ahead of us) and reality would set back in ;-)

Three of the women in our young couples small group at church have become pregnant at around the same time. Come January/February there will be babies galore. Of course, people naturally turn to the non-pregnant women in the group and start asking when THEY will have kids. And since Todd's old enough now, people also turn to us and ask us if we're having ANOTHER one. Hahaha... funny, people! :-P

I think that if I were able to be a stay-at-home mom, *maybe* I'd give more serious consideration to having another kid. But, we made the decision a year ago that Todd would be it, so here we are. An only child. Just like his mama. And the only grandchild... on both sides! Now who would want to part with that kind of attention? ;-)

Is this thing on?

Hello? Does anyone even read this thing anymore? I guess I can hardly fault anyone for not doing so, considering I hardly ever post here. Though I've mostly been too busy to really miss it, I do occasionally think wistfully back to the heyday of my Grab blog and Myspace blog, which really wound up being more of social gatherings, and when I wasn't lacking for things to write about.

Nowadays it seems that one of 4 (5?) things happens:

1. I can't think of anything to write about
2. I can, but I just don't have time to sit down and collect my thoughts
3a. The things I think of are minor and more fitting for my Tumblr blog, Twitter or Facebook.
3b. Related to #3: often when I've written a one-or-two sentence summary of what's on my mind (mostly thanks to FB and Twitter), I find it somewhat unnecessary to delve into more detail here.
4. The things I think of are worthy of more long-winded blogger posts, but are either about Todd, and therefore go into his blog, or about work, and therefore go into my (private) work rant blog.

I wonder what it is about the period from 2005-2008 than brought on such a flurry of ideas. Maybe it was inspiration from other people's posts. Maybe it was a combination of random musings, daily goings-on and silly memes and quizzes. Maybe it was partly because my readers kept me just as entertained.

Then there's the time factor... it's no coincidence that 2008 was when things really started ramping up with Todd-- starting school, starting karate, then eventually swim lessons. 2008 was when we found Hope Community Church and our small group. 2008/2009 was when I really started getting more active on Facebook, with its status updates allowing me to more frequently and efficiently broadcast what's on my mind. I also think that once I stopped getting into the habit of writing frequently, I just couldn't get back into it, even when I did have time.

So, as you can see, 2009 was a pretty sparse blogging year. Hopefully that will change :-) We'll see!

Another month, another slew of updates

Wow, has it really been a month since my last blog post? I guess Facebook's statuses make it easy to keep the world informed on what's been going on with me. Even my Tumblr blog has lain fallow for a while!

So, what's been going on since my last update (the wedding in the mountains near Santa Cruz)?

It started off with the annual Tech Group volleyball tournament, where I opted to watch and play Bocce Ball instead :-)

I also enjoyed a week of bachelorette-hood as Allan took Todd and accompanied his dad on a trip to see family in Oklahoma. Todd went fishing almost everyday and enjoyed it immensely. I enjoyed the peace and quiet of an apartment all to myself-- which stayed a lot cleaner than it normally would!

I've also been taking a singing class all summer, through the adult education center at Santa Barbara City College. (if you read my Tumblr blog, yes, this is the class with the fellow student who has a lovely voice but needs to learn to keep the volume in check) It's a bilingual beginner class, so we learned English and Spanish songs, mostly in preparation for the annual Old Spanish Fiesta Days in Santa Barbara. Our class actually got to perform on Friday, Aug 7 at the SB Courthouse's Sunken Gardens. We dressed in traditional Spanish garb and sang a few songs, many of us using fans to hide the printed out lyrics --> fans make great cheat sheets! My friend Leah took the class with me (as did her parents), and she and I had fun learning to do "A Whole New World" together as a duet, and performed it in class during one of the last weeks.

Our Fiesta performance was pretty much the culmination of our class, and the following week, Leah and I got together with some other friends of ours for a night out singing karaoke at Old Town Tavern. Last time I was there was on my birthday 3 years ago, I'd forgotten how much fun the place was, with 2 pool tables and a HUGE selection of songs! We arrived early enough to have a few turns at the mic ourselves before people started trickling in, and before I knew it, the wait time had lengthened to about 10 songs! We had a blast either way, and though Allan and I were amongst the first to leave, it wasn't until almost midnight that we did.

Allan and I have been spending the past few weekends looking at open houses in Santa Barbara, getting ideas for homes. Some interesting stuff out there, but despite the burst housing bubble, home prices are still outrageously expensive here. It IS California, after all-- and Santa Barbara on top of it all. We remain convinced that the best and most cost-effective way to go about this is to purchase land and build a modular home on it. We've actually spoken to an agent and discussed pricing details, looks like the anticipated cost will actually be a little lower than I initially anticipated in that post, mostly due to a recent drop in the land price :-) Still lots to look into and learn!

Not a whole lot else-- talk about a swift-moving August! Summer is soon over and in 2 weeks Todd will come back from LA and resume school, and we'll be back to the daily routine of school, karate lessons, swim lessons, homework, and all that other busy-ness that raising a little kid entails :-)

Where does the time go!?

Geeky Wedded Bliss

Well, it's done. The last of the intra-CS/Geek couples are married.

Over six years ago, a group of us in the Computer Science department as UCSB started getting together and hanging out socially, taking a break from the our hard work in the computer lab to have dinner, see movies, and go drinking. We aptly dubbed ourselves the "Geeks", and eventually, a group even rented a house together-- the Geekhouse. There was a surprisingly decent percentage of females among the group, and it wasn't long until romance began to blossom, and one by one, we tied the knot.

Allan and I were the first to wed in 2003. Ariane and Chris in 2007 (?). Then John and Golnaz this past May, and, finally, Sara and Jason this weekend.

Since the newest pair of newlyweds is well-known for their love of the outdoors, it wasn't surprising that the wedding itself took place at the Sequoia Retreat Center, nestled amongst the tall redwoods in the mountains north of Santa Cruz. (although one friend did comment that maybe having the ceremony at the computer lab might've been appropriate too ;-) )

Saturday morning we made the almost 5-hour-long trek up north and checked into the Quality Inn a couple miles down the road from the retreat center. Apparently, we were the only ones who booked a room there, everyone else who came in from out of town stayed in the cabins. We got a suite, which was basically a stand-alone cottage sitting to the side of the rest of the typical row of motel rooms. And it was grand! Larger than our own spacious apartment, it had a full kitchen, dining room, living room, and a huge bedroom with a king-sized bed and a chaise by a fireplace, plus a whirlpool tub in the bathroom! Were it not for the grade (the cottage sloped downward, one of the less sturdy drawers in the living room's TV cabinet kept rolling open and would not stay closed) and the wood floors, you could hardly tell we were in a small town in the mountains. I, unfortunately, left my digital camera at home, so we had to make do with snapping pictures of the suite with Allan's phone. Hopefully they'll turn out okay, and I can post them to Facebook soon :-)

We washed up and headed to the retreat center, where we drove up some windy, steep, narrow roads... only to make a short hike up to the ceremony site in a meadow, where the altar framed a giant redwood tree known as the "mother tree". After the ceremony, we had yet another hike ahead of us to the lodge for the reception. Yes, I brought my Vans and socks to wear as we trooped along the trail-- no way I was walking in even flip-flops, let alone heels! Allan was decked out in hiking boots, so his feet were fully prepared :-) I changed into my heels once we got to the reception.

After the girls crowded around the lodge's restroom sink to wipe down with wet paper towels in a makeshift sponge bath (hiking in the heat makes us sweaty!), we settled down for dinner and drinks, the highlight of which was bacon-wrapped pork (heaven on a platter!) and blue mashed potatoes. Ever have blue potatoes or blue chips from Trader Joe's before? Remember when I blogged about it on Myspace 2 years ago?

The evening was a LOT of fun, especially since we got to reunite and catch up with all the other Geeks who have since scattered to the four corners of the earth. We'll have to make it a point to hold reunions more often.

After the reception, Allan and I came to the adventurous part of our evening: making our way back to the car at the bottom of the hill, in the pitch black night. We stuck to the paved (if you can call it that) road and used the light on Allan's phone's camera to illuminate our path. It took us about half an hour, but we made it safe and sound-- although walking down a very steep slope is more difficult than it looks. Because of the darkness, I had to be extra careful not to walk too quickly, lest I stumble and fall down a ravine, but maintaining balance and control of my speed required the use of muscles I normally don't use when walking straight (or even uphill). Needless to say-- by the next day, my butt was sore. How often can you say were sore the day after a wedding, when you weren't up all night dancing or weren't the bride and/or groom? ;-)

We were glad to collapse into our comfy suite and retire early, have breakfast in our little dining room, and then relax in the hot tub to soothe our sore muscles. I didn't think I wanted to have a large tub in the master bathroom of our future house, but I may have changed my mind-- having that tub to relax in was sooooo nice!

After battling traffic to get out of the Santa Cruz area, stopping for lunch at Applebee's, and then dropping our friend off in downtown Santa Barbara, we were finally home, home sweet home, by 7:30pm. And yes, we're saving the laundry and vacuuming for tomorrow. Tonight is for resting... and letting my butt muscles recover :-)

All in all, we had a great weekend-- nice little getaway in a cozy cottage and a fun wedding with old friends. Sigh... we're all married now. Life does go on. Now the question is... when will the babies start arriving? ;-)

Frozen Yogurt

aka "Fro Yo". First time I ever heard the term, it was uttered by the mean, blonde, yuppie cheerleading captain from Bring It On 2. It sounded like something out of Lord of the Rings. It took a few minutes to realize what she meant, but the notion that "fro yo" was a term used by her ilk, was permanently seared in my brain.

So, I always do a little double-take when I see my friends speak of it-- in Facebook statuses, for instance. Especially when they're the antithesis to the jealous, petty, scheming cheerleader. And I wonder if it's really that good.

Every Wednesday I have singing class with my friend Leah. The other night, we stopped by McConnell's (which has a really awesome selection of ice cream and frozen yogurt) after class and got some frozen yogurt. Just the ticket to soothe our worn throats! It also got me hooked-- for just $3.50 I got a large enough cup of it (I mixed chocolate with coffee) that I had plenty to share with Allan.

So when Sunday rolled around and temperatures started rising, Allan and I decided to try the new frozen yogurt place that had just opened near our place: Yo Yum Yum. (if you click on the link, you'll see a pic of the outside of the shop we went to) We had seen the sign twirlers on the street in the days prior, and grew curious. Note to marketers: I guess those sign twirlers actually do work!

As soon as I stepped in, I was greeted by the the sight of a large wall adorned with an array of ice cream dispensers. Each dispenser had 2 flavors and 3 "faucets"-- one for each flavor and one for a combo of both, I guess. Kind of the like the soft-serve ice cream you get at buffets. This WAS a buffet of frozen yogurt choices and toppings-- just 35 cents an ounce! I did some quick mental calculation and figured that it came to about the same price as a cup from McConnell's. Better yet, I had the freedom to mix and match as many flavors as I pleased. No feeling guilty about making repeated requests to the server behind the counter. I wound up getting about a half dozen different flavors-- stuff like chocolate, cookies 'n' cream, cappuccino, and some fruity ones, like Hawaiian delight and tart pineapple. Topped it off with a few sprinkles and I was all set with enough to last me for dessert both after lunch and after dinner :-9

They SAY frozen yogurt is supposed to be healthier than ice cream. Not sure how much merit there is to that, especially with large helpings, but the flavor is pretty good! And at McConnell's, at least, it's a little cheaper than ice cream.

I think Yo Yum Yum has a couple of new fans. So does frozen yogurt, period. Or should I say... fro yo! :-D

4th of July Campout 2009

A whole year has gone by since we attended our church's first ever 4th of July Campout at Rancho La Scherpa. You can read about last year's details, including my missives on camping and the outdoors in general, here.

Photos from last year are here.

Photos from this year are here.

As you can tell from the group shots on the stairs, last year was a pretty small group. We'd only been going to this church for about a month and a half when we went on the campout, and it was where we met many of the people we now see on a regular basis, especially the photographer, Matt, and his wife Erin.

This year we decided not to bring Todd. Not only would it have been cumbersome to schedule time to drive down to LA and pick him up, but I remembered that last year was kind of boring for him-- there weren't many kid-friendly activities. Moreover, there weren't many kids his age, period.

We departed work early on Thursday evening, driving up a surprisingly-traffic-free highway to the campsite and arriving just in time for dinner. The evening began with a slideshow highlighting last year's photos, and then the games began-- we played Taboo, followed by Fishbowl (aka Celebrity, a sort of combination between Taboo, Password and Charades). Lots of fun-- and the older kids enjoyed playing, too.

We retired in the exact same bunk beds we held last year, with the exact same cabin mates as last year, too.

The next morning (Friday) brought a slew of activities: short hike to the archery site, where I sat it out and played Bocce Ball instead. Then we drove to the zip line site, where it looked much faster from the ground than it actually is. The zip line harness brought back memories of rappelling and rope bridge exercises from my Army days. Alas, the instructors didn't tell us until later (after I'd already gone, so it was too late for me to try) that we could swing our legs up to cruise upside down (as you can see in some of the later photos), that looked like so much fun! We returned for lunch and I got a chance to cool off and rinse the dust off my body and hair by partaking of the makeshift slip-n-slide, which was just a giant tarp laid down on the sloping grass. Detergent was added for more lubrication. This was my first time on any sort of slip 'n' slide, period, and it was just the ticket for cooling and rinsing off.

After a short nap, Allan and I joined part of the group for paintball. I wouldn't have participated, except for the fact that it was just hitting targets in an orderly fashion. Our group was small enough that each person was able to navigate the course twice, so I got plenty of practice. I needed it, too, as it took me a while to hone my technique (I ended up applying some of the same rifle-shooting principles from the military) and finally HIT some targets. It was a lot of fun.

That night brought singing around a campfire and roasting S'mores (I left after the singing, as I didn't feel like getting too close to a fire and smelling like smoke afterward, especially since I'd already showered), but Allan stayed to roast and enjoy his first-ever S'more (did you catch the photo of him eating it, mouth covered in marshmallow goo?) Later that night we played another game, called Loaded Questions, which elicited some pretty hilarious answers.

The next day (Saturday) I was SORE! The uphill hike, the body-slamming from the slip 'n' slide, and 2 hours of heavy-paintball-helmet wearing had taken its toll. I was sore in places I couldn't even understand WHY they were sore! My stomach, for instance-- I chalk that up to too much laughter from the day before ;-)

I did go on the "official" paintball run (yesterday's was just practice) in the morning with everyone, but decided to rest in the cabin instead of participating in the geocaching treasure hunt, where everyone used GPS and a series of clues to unearth the treasure: cookies!

One last delicious meal at lunchtime and that was it-- the camping trip was over. We packed our stuff and headed home by 2pm. Since it was 4th of July, I had intended to go to the SB Courthouse and listen to the Symphony play patriotic songs. Alas, I was too beat, and actually napped for 3 hours. I forced myself to do laundry, since we needed to wash the bedding we used in the cabin, so we could sleep tonight. It was just about all I was able to do, though, and Allan and I simply lounged around the apartment, resting and watching a movie. We did step outside to watch the fireworks originating from a nearby park. One of the coolest fireworks? Smiley faces! :) (:

All in all, a fun weekend. It took me all week to recover-- I was so sore (and playing Wii on Wednesday night didn't help) that I didn't go swimming at all until last night. That helped loosen up some of the still-tight muscles, so I'm finally starting to feel normal again :-) Well, physically, anyway! ;-P

Exercise...

... gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands!

(I know my movie buff friends will know where that quote is from!)

Truer words were never spoken. When we moved into our current apartment almost a year ago, we were stoked to be able to walk to work everyday. With the little man in LA for the summer, we had time to do that, plus work out in the gym and swim in the pool of our apartment complex. Then Todd returned, reducing our free time quite a bit. When winter hit, so did all those nasty flu bugs that seemed to befall almost everyone I knew! That pretty much knocked me off course of any sort of regular exercise for the past 6 months. It showed. It wasn't long before I was huffing and puffing up the single flight of stairs at work. Sad, I know.

Now that summer is here yet again, along with more free time with the absence of the little man, I've once again resumed my efforts at going swimming on a regular basis. So far I've been averaging about 3 times per week, usually in the evenings, when it's less crowded.

And I've once again discovered that not only is it good for my body because of the obvious exercise, but it's good all around for my well being. I feel better. I sleep better at night. I may be physically tired after a good workout, but it's a good kind of tired, and I still feel pretty refreshed afterward. I feel like my body has been cleansed and purged of the day's dreck.

More than once has 8:00 rolled around, and I felt lazy and tempted to put off swimming for the night. I was too tired. It was too cold. I had too much to do... but everytime I dragged myself out and forced myself to go swimming, I was very glad that I did. I always came back feeling much better, much more relaxed, much more refreshed, and in much higher spirits than before.

There is definitely something to be said for exercise boosting your spirits. It's good not just for your physical well-being, but for your mental well-being, too. And that certainly is being driven home to me this summer. I hope I can stay disciplined enough to keep it up for the next couple months! :-)

How about you? What do you do to stay fit?

Madcap Month is finally over!

Warning: links galore, but I figure it condenses the post a bit, and hope you don't mind clicking a few times here and there rather than have me write a mile-long post ;-)

Okay, whew, it hasn't *quite* been a month since my last post ;-) At the beginning of the month (of May!), I'd predicted on my Tumblr site that May was going to be a helluva busy month. And it has been. It's just now barely let up.

Mother's Day services (which were held in a movie theater because the church building was in the Jesusita Fire evacuation zone) brought this delightful video clip: "Mom" to the William Tell Overture

After the fire madness died down, life returned to normal... that is to say, back to the hectic schedule. This post summarizes that week: Strawberry Festival, Persian/Polish wedding (complete with belly-dancing!), Todd's birthday and a read-in at Todd's school.

So what happened next? A 3-day weekend, thank God! It came in handy, because we needed that extra day to... well catch up on chores as well as rest. Saturday the 23rd brought I Madonnari, the annual chalk-painting festival, on the grounds of the Santa Barbara Mission. I'd never gone, but this year, both our company and Todd's karate school had purchased squares. Todd got to help color his karate school's square with a hand-tracing that looked more like a baseball mitt ;-) Next day we traveled to LA to celebrate Todd's birthday with the family at Allan's sister's house. Todd was more talkative with Allan's family, which was great to see.

The following week was Todd's karate tournament, where he took 3rd place in his age group (well, 3rd out of 4 kids :-P) followed by yet *another* birthday celebration-- this time, the kiddie one at the playground in our apartment complex. We invited his 4 classmates (plus their siblings) and 2 other kids. Unfortunately, only 1 classmate made it to the party. Luckily she brought her kid brother along, or else it would've been a REALLY small celebration. Still, it was loads of fun, and still pretty exhausting looking after 3 kids (what would it have been like if the expected 8-10 had showed up!) Todd had fun, and that was the main thing :-)

I also treated myself to a present: a digital USB microphone to pursue a latent hobby that's recently found an outlet: online karaoke! Here is the mic-- click on the photo for a link to its Amazon site. It arrived in the mail a week ago and I went to town with it. See, normally I'd just use my laptop's built-in mic, which is good quality, but which unfortunately captures the sound of the fan too well (those of you who were there at the New Year's Yahoo chat will remember the sound). Earlier this year I got a cheap analog mic, which makes me sound absolutely tinny. Then Allan got a headset with a built-in mic, and that improved the quality, but those headphones HURT my ears! Too tight! This post summarizes the differences.

The two karaoke sites I frequent are:

• Myspace (formerly kSolo): http://ksolo.myspace.com/hellykwee
• Singsnap: http://www.singsnap.com/snap/member/hellykwee

I haven't had a chance to use my new mic on Singsnap yet, but there are a few songs up on Myspace with it. I even purchased a membership (just for one month, for the time being, to test drive it) on Myspace Karaoke so I could try out the premium features, like pitch change, audio effects and unlimited recordings. So far it's been well worth the money, as over half of my favorite songs are too low/high for me to sing at their normal key. I also plan on buying a 1-month membership on Singsnap, as they have a pretty vast library of songs, and there seems to be little overlap between the Singsnap and Myspace libraries.

Anyway... yeah. Online karaoke has been keeping me busy this past week (y'know, the first week after the madcap month ended), and I'm having SUCH a blast with it! Come try it out for yourself if you're so inclined. And if you sing on Singsnap, we could even record duets! :-D

My apologies for the long delay in posting. I've even let my Tumblr blog lapse a bit, though not as bad as this one. You can always check there for the latest scoop and bit-sized updates. Be sure to bookmark it! ;-)

Hooray for fog and drizzle

What a crazy week it has been! As if the anticipated May madness wasn't enough, we had a harrowing week keeping a watchful eye on the Jesusita Fire (do a Google search, you'll find numerous articles) that burned the mountains of Santa Barbara, basically burning out the untouched brush between the east end of the Gap Fire (last July) and the west end of the Tea Fire (last November).

It started Tuesday afternoon. As I drove Todd to after-school care, I noticed a small plume of smoke emanating from the mountains. Didn't think much of it, but that changed quickly as the winds fanned the flames and spread it. That night, we were scheduled to hold a joint celebration at the home of one of our friends from church-- to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, my birthday and her birthday, as well as hold our usual Tuesday small group study after the festivities. By evening, their house, near downtown SB, was inside the evacuation warning zone. Despite the hot temps, we had to keep the windows closed and bake in the house because of the smoky air outside. I was glad to return home farther away from the fire and bask in the fresh air.

The next couple days proved worse as the fire spread and more and more people were evacuated from their homes. Wednesday evening brought the long-awaited party celebrating the February release of the product whose team I've been working on. It, too, was held downtown, and by the time I drove onto State Street, the main drag of downtown SB, I was a bit creeped out not only by the ghost town nature of the normally-bustling street, but by the red haze enveloping the streets. I made a mad dash from the parking lot to the restaurant, to minimize my exposure to the ash and smoke.

Thursday I tried to go swimming with Todd, but we quickly abandoned the pool in favor of the jacuzzi, because the pool had too much debris (ash, probably) on the bottom and too many dead bugs floating on the surface. That night was probably the most worrisome as the fire took a mean turn and, within the span of a few hours, spread quite a ways westward-- I could see the ridges of the hills glowing from afar, every time I looked out my window the flames seemed higher and stronger, and the smoke was finally wafting our way. A quick check of the map showed that the evac warning zone had spread to just one freeway exit away from our place! Needless to say, it took me a while to get to sleep that night.

Friday was an eerily quiet day. Now it was the office's turn to look like a ghost town-- maybe half the people there were out, either taking time off to tend to evacuations, or working from home in case their homes were upgraded from warning to mandatory evacuation orders. We went out to Elephant Bar for a belated birthday dinner, and were surprised at how crowded the restaurant was when we got there. Not too surprising, I supposed, since people still have to eat, right?

Things improved over the weekend as temps cooled, winds died down, and the marine layer came in from the shore. People started being allowed to return to their homes. Our church had been in the now-lifted evacuation zone, but with the fires still burning (albeit more contained nearby) the environment still wasn't very hospitable, with all the smoke and ash, so we held services at a movie theater near our home.

One of the most striking things through all this was the emergence of Twitter as a means for getting information out to the concerned masses as quickly as possible-- in many cases, providing updates even before the news media updated their websites. It quickly became an invaluable resource for residents to stay abreast of the current news, and was especially useful for those who didn't have access to televisions. This was the feed I was glued to for much of the week: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23jesusitafire When the fire raged on at its worst, the feed came alive with updates from all sources!

There's also an interesting article on the LA Times about CJamz, one of the more reliable and frequent updater:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-et-onthemedia11-2009may11,0,4582973.column

Take THAT, Twitter nay-sayers! ;-)

Today, the fog and drizzle continues. I think this Tweet summed it up nicely: This is the first time I've ever been thankful for heavy fog in May.

Amen to that!

March madness? Try May madness!

... aka, why I haven't had more time to blog other than random bits and pieces on my Tumblr blog, which is still pretty up-to-date: http://hellykwee.tumblr.com

I thought April was busy. And it was. But we're barely into May and I just know I'm going to be in non-stop mode till the end of it, especially THIS year!

We kicked things off with my birthday today (a day I share with FOUR other people that I know of. One of them on the same year, even!). Nothing eventful-- I actually spent 9 hours shopping with my son in a town 40 miles north of here (it has a Wal-Mart, FoodsCo and Dollar Tree, so the savings is well worth the trip up there)-- well, 7 hours shopping and 2 hours driving back and forth. Still, it was nice to let Allan have some peace and quiet in which to work, and fun to hang out with my little man all day.

Since we didn't get a chance to clean up today, tomorrow shall be cleaning day after church, and then I have to head to Todd's school to finish inventorying uniforms. Also planning a trip to the library to get some more books and videos for the little man.

The birthdays continue-- tomorrow belongs to a friend from church. Since Tuesday brings Cinco de Mayo, we're all getting together at her place for a tri-fold celebration.

Then comes Mother's Day next weekend. Weekend after that is the California Strawberry Festival. I've been meaning to go for the past 6 years, but each and every year, SOMETHING has come up that prevented me from going. This year, by golly, I'm bound and determined to go ;-) That weekend is also the wedding of some college friends of mine, so it will be good to catch up with the old geek crowd again.

Then comes Todd's birthday. Little man turns 5! FIVE!! Where does the time go!? He's not so little any more! The weekend following Todd's birthday (if it doesn't already fall on a weekend) is always Memorial Day weekend, so hopefully that 3-day weekend will provide a little breather (not likely, if we're holding the family celebration in LA that weekend).

The last Saturday of May will be Todd's karate tournament, followed by the kiddie celebration (all his school friends) at the playground in our apartment complex, for his birthday.

Whew! Busy busy busy month. It's kinda sad when I look forward to Mondays solely because the routine of work provides a respite from the hectic busyness of these crazy weekends!