Hypocrisy Here? You decide

Is it hypocritical of me to talk about my neighbors and all the trash they generate if I have this in my driveway?

At first I thought so but after further pondering I realized that it would only be hypocritical if I kept this in their driveway ;) The whole reason why I comment on their trash at all is because they put the cans out in front of my house.

24 Christmas Card

I sooooo wish I had seen this before Christmas so that I could have sent it out to the 24 watchers out there. Check out this great Christmas card from Fox: http://www.fox.com/syndication/24/24_24th_christmas_hi.asx

Speaking of 24, it's only a few weeks until the Day 6 premiere. As you know, I have recommended that you watch 24 from the beginning in order to truly appreciate EVERYTHING. If you have not done this by now, you are too late as you need to catch up on 120 episodes. However, if you still want to watch the season with us (and be apart of our weekly 24 debriefing) at a minimum I suggest you watch the season 6 trailer: http://www.24trailer.com/ (Note: If you are currently watching Season 4&5 to catch up and will make the deadline, don't watch this clip until you are caught up. If you have rented season 5, watch the prequel to season 6 on the bonus disk.

A little bit about 24:

An hour of 24 represents and hour in a day, events are real time. Each season is the equivalent of one day. (24 episodes)
Jack Bauer is the main character. He works for the Counter Terrorist Unit of the government.
24 is non stop action. If you don't like action this isn't for you.
24 is not predictable, main characters die, bad things happen.
24 won the emmys for best TV show and best actor this year.

This show was hyped up for me so high that I didn't think it would possibly meet my expectations. The reality is it way surpassed my expectations so go ahead and try it and see what you think. If you want to be part of the debriefing just let me know. (15 minutes every Tuesday starting the 16th of January)

Predictability=Bad News

The following is an effort to squelch any predictability on my part:

What I will do today:
(1) Go to Coffee Bean (where none of the baristas know my name) and order a double espresso
(2) While I am there I will sit and read the newspaper (and leave my phone in the car)
(3) After coffee I'll come home and make David breakfast. After he is done eating I will suggest he sit in his chair and watch TV all day-"honey, you shouldn't work while your on vacation"
(4) While David is snoozing and watching TV, I will turn on classical music and then proceed to dust the entire house
(5) I'll take Katie for a walk and then give her a bath
(6) Next, I'll ask David if there is anything I can bring him
(7) When he asks for a beer I'll volunteer to drive to Orange County and pick up a case of Yeungling (his favorite)
(8) On the way to and from Orange County I will drive the speed limit
(9) I will turn my cell phone off while I am driving because I don't want to be distracted
(10) Once home I will make dinner before checking email or going on the Internet
(11) We will eat dinner at the dining room table and talk about our day.

What I will not do today :
Watch TV
Go on the Internet
Check Email
Play with my mobile phone
Take any pictures
Call anyone
Go shopping
Go to Starbucks and order a Chai Tea
(Who am I kidding, I will have done all of these things by 7:00AM)

Trash Story Follow-Up

Back on Monday October 2nd I posted my first blog and it was about the new neighbors and the excessive trash situation over here. http://kim1champ.blogspot.com/2006/10/monday-is-trash-pickup-day.html

Several people have since asked about the situation and even more have asked for a picture of all their trash cans in front of my house. Well, I haven't posted a picture because frankly there hasn't been as many bins as there was then....until today. As I was getting ready to go after Christmas shopping I walked passed the dining room window and holy cow you should see all the trash cans! I immediately went to grab my camera.

Here is the view from the dining room (1) Picture taken this morning before we went out shopping (2) Picture taken this afternoon when I got home. (Yes, I am aware the grass is half dead-it got screwed up when we re-did the driveway last month)

Note a couple of things. The two trash cans on the right are ours (One Recycle and One Trash) the rest are all theirs! Notice the first recycle is even over flowing! I still haven't figured why all the trash or why they put the trash cans in front of our house. I guess I'll give the guy a break though, he's an electrician and he just helped David hook up my new jacuzzi tub :)

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

I hope everybody had a fantastic Christmas. Ours was perfect except for missing Rachel and Kevin. (They are In Hawaii with Kevin's family)

Yesterday, part of the family came over to our house for Christmas Eve. I still am not feeling that great so I just heated up a frozen lasagna (how pathetic is that?). This was the first time I really didn't cook-ugh, it was so far below my usual standards that it is almost too embarrassing to mention. After everyone left, David and I opened our gifts. I got a bunch of cool stuff for the kitchen, Garmin Nuvi GPS (I have been wanting it and I will discuss in great detail later) and some nice earrings. I did pretty well. (I also have to tell about my birthday gift..but that will hold for now...I will say though that an anonymous poster in the previous blog is spot on and therefore I think I am becoming too predictable-I hate being predictable)

This morning we all met at mom and dads around 10:00 for the annual 3 hour gift unwrapping session. Every year we have to hear about how mom "Cut back this year" and there is not as many gifts. Note the picture: I think there were plenty to go around. (At last count there were 142 wrapped presents)The presents were great (as always, mom loves Christmas and does a fantastic job on everything). The big gifts of the day were a video ipod for Andrew, a Nintendo Wii for James, David and I got a patio heater and I got those Tazman Ugg's I have been wanting for awhile (Remember: http://kim1champ.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallwinter-shoe-exchange.html)

After presents we managed to eat a whole bunch of food and then ended up getting home around 4:00pm.

Tomorrow, Becca, Mom and I will be doing some day after Christmas sale shopping. (Leaving early, I am a little worried about being out in the cold because my throat is still killing me. I just can't seem to kick this thing.)

One last picture: This is Joshua peaking around the fire engine car David and I gave him. He is just soooooo adorable. I need to get me one just like him :)

Merry Christmas (Eve)

You'll never believe what I got for Christmas!!!!!! (My gift was bittersweet)

Christmas Party Tour is Over!

The Christmas Party tour this year was very fun. Every party was great and I have plenty of pictures from each of the events. I thought it was going to be really hard to choose a favorite picture to display on the blog until I saw this one.

This picture comes to you directly from the Phoenix Christmas party which was held on December 19th. You are probably thinking, what is so special about this picture? You are standing there laughing with Jane, so what? At first glance I would tend to agree but when I was looking at this picture I made the following startling observation:

I love this photo because one rarely gets to see what they would look like with a major deformity, for instance the loss of a limb. In this photo, which I have entitled, "Jane the Flamingo" she does a fabulous job of demonstrating that it is possible to still look good even if you have lost one of your legs in a tragic accident or mishap. Even with a missing limb she is not afraid to put on that short skirt, get out on the dance floor and have fun at parties.

Jane, your courage and positive attitude makes you a role model for amputees everywhere. You can hear more about Jane's story and see her one-legged navigation around Phoenix in the Premiere episode of the new TLC drama: "Life with Missing Limbs". (Premiers January 25th)

Happy Birthday from Treo Central

I thought you would all like to know that the first birthday email announcement I received this year was from Treo Central! That solidifies my position in geek heaven.
Note: Details below:

from: TreoCentral.com
time: 10:01 pm (1 hour ago)
to: kim.thomas@gmail.com
date: Dec 21, 2006 10:01 PM
subject: Happy Birthday from TreoCentral.com
Message: Hello kim1champ,We at TreoCentral.com would like to wish you a happy birthday today!

XM Radio Winners!

Fitting that the XM Radios arrived the day I was home and wearing my XM Radio long sleeve T-shirt. I got the T-shirt earlier this year when David and I were invited to this exclusive XM Radio party in Hollywood. It was pretty fun, there were only about 100 people or so invited and a bunch of XM radio DJ's and executives.

Anyway, I have decided to draw 2 names and no this isn't fixed:

The winners are: Misty Wooley and Squidward! Congratulations. Squidward, I'll ship you yours and Misty I'll give yours to Rachel.

Thoughts on TSA & Radiation

Last week, a grandmother apparently mistook her grandson for a laptop and put the 1 month old infant into the grey storage bin for a full security x-ray. As the TSA agent noticed the outline of a baby they quickly (as quick as they are) pulled it out of the x-ray machine. The baby was fine, if you are interested, the full article can be found here: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-baby20dec20,0,2575736.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines

This got my mind going and I began to wonder if part of the reason TSA is such a disaster is all the radiation these poor souls are getting from the x-ray equipment. This could account for the lack of mental ability I commonly observe at these checkpoints. (I would like to hear from some Radiology Technologists on this subject)

According to the LA times: The baby that went through the airport luggage machine was exposed to less radiation than a passenger on a cross-country flight. Typical radiation exposures are as follows:

Luggage screener: 1*
Cross-country flight: 5*
Chest X-ray: 10*
Mammogram: 30*
* Measured in millirems, which takes into account both the amount of exposure and the biological effect of the type of radiation in question.

So in 2005, I had a whole bunch of radiology tests done and I am so neurotic that I was keeping track of the millirems so that I could properly assess any risks (watch out for those abdominal CT scans).....I'm sick, yeah, I know.

Considering all the traveling I am doing these days, I wonder if I should take this to the next level? I want to get one of those radiation badges that measure the amount of dosage you are exposed to, I would wear it every time I went to the airport. I think it would be a cool experiment. (I am so not an expert here so I don't even know if it would work) Would I care if people were looking at me funny? No, I think it would be a great conversation piece.

Happy Birthday to Me (4 days early)

I have only had a couple surprise parties thrown for me. I was somewhat clued in to them and was never totally surprised, until yesterday. The Central Phoenix folks gave me a surprise birthday cake and I was soooooooo unsuspecting. Carl's Jr. had called a "Leadership Meeting" over at the hospital and I was totally focused on what in the world the meeting was about, in fact, I was kind of freaking out about it (ask Plankton) so when I walked in the room I was truly surprised and very happy. It totally made my week. The team is so awesome! They even got me the cake that I have been wanting to try for months. (Thanks Dora for remembering the details ;) I first saw this type of cake at La Grande Orange and ever since I have been wanting to try it. Yay! Thank you all very much for giving me this great surprise, I still can't believe that I was actually totally surprised! CRAZY!




Lastly, what my team did not know was that most of my life I celebrated my birthday with my grandfather. His birthday was December 19th and yesterday he would have been 91. So, for me, as I reflect on the very nice thing the team did for me yesterday, I also reflect on my grandfather. He was truly a great and honorable man, I'd give anything for a 5 minute conversation with him. As you go about your day today, think of those that have inspired you and make the time to give them a quick call.

This Will Be Easy-Not

What enters your mind when you think of the word easy? Maybe a particular subject? Or a particular person? Or a particular activity? Many things pop into my mind when I hear the word.

What is not easy is for me is giving up my Treo700w. Today, as I slowly began coming to terms with the possibility of losing my Treo I became very very sad. If I am not living in Treo700w bliss, I need my Treo to bring as much joy to someone else as it has brought to me. When I read James' blog from yesterday, I decided that I would give him my old spare Treo 700w. So, I convinced him to stop by and when he got here I thought, well maybe he would want a blackberry instead. I showed him David's old Blackberry (yes, we paid the 40 cents and he got his new one the next day) and my spare Treo and he thought they both looked cool but then he noticed: (1) No touch screen on the BB, (2) No camera, (3) No picture contacts and he quickly chose the Treo700w. He was so excited!

As I was writing this, he called to ask me how to make the photo contacts zoom in on the contacts face. So I grabbed my Treo and walked him through cropping a photo. It was so easy! The device is intuitive, it is not hard to operate at all. Could cropping photes be that easy on a blackberry? I digress since most of the BB don't have photo contacts or cameras. I have never become so attached to a device, I am always looking for an upgrade, but not this time. Ugh, I am sick to my stomach.

Maybe, I will call Staples for help dealing with the potential loss of my Treo700w. They tend to have answers to the most perplexing problems, I don't know why but everything just seems to be easy for those guys.

Last Minute Christmas Gift

If you are still doing your Christmas shopping and need a good (practical) gift for the woman in your life, I have the perfect present. (Please get her something personal too. All practical gifts=not good) The best small appliance out there is the Cuisinart Griddler. There are several Cuisinart Griddle items out there so please make sure it's the "Griddler".

This appliance can be used daily. I wanted it two years ago and I loved it so much that my mom and both my sisters now have it. Interchangeable plates allows for griddle or grill. (Mine is always on the grill, I think I have only used the griddle once) I use mine mostly for Panini while Becca uses hers mostly for an indoor grill. It is as versatile as you are ;)

My two favorite Panini are as follows:

Sourdough bread very lightly buttered on the outside (I Can't Believe it's not Butter-Lite)
Tomato
Fresh Mozzarella
Pesto (I like making my own Pesto but recently I tried the Costco Pesto and it was fantastic as well)
Grill for 5 minutes (Yes, all it takes is 5 minutes)

Sourdough bread very lightly buttered on the outside (I Can't Believe it's not Butter-Lite)
Diced Green Chili
Cheddar
Deli Sliced Roast Beef
Grill for 5 minutes

Mom's Organization Methods=Madness

This highlights my conversation this morning, at Starbucks, with my mom.

Mom: I accidentally deleted my Christmas list, did I tell you that?
Kim: No. Have you checked the recycle bin, Did you do a search for the file name?
Mom: No
Kim: I'm sure it's probably there, I'll look later and see if I can find it. Is it in excel?
Mom: No, it's in the box thing. The yellow box.
Kim: (thinking: well, this is a new one)
Mom: You know, where the calendar and phone numbers are.
Kim: Oh, Outlook. Why is your Christmas list in Outlook?
Mom: Well, I don't want anyone to find it so I just pick a day and put everything on that day
Kim: You what? (Incredulous and thinking: I bet that won't sync well with my Treo, I can't wait to write about this)
Mom: Well, this year, I put my Christmas list on August 27th

I stop the conversation there because you get the point. TOTAL MADNESS. I am absolutely out of my mind as I listen to this. Apparently, she handles other things this way too, she sets an appointment up on a random day for say all of her vacation planning and another appointment for lists and such. She puts all the data into the notes section of the appointment. The date is not even significant (like I said random) she just "remembers" which day she picked for what. I am totally amazed that this type of activity goes on, I quote an organizational expert from earlier this week, "We have rookie users everywhere". I am surrounded by people that are in desperate need of technology training.

Back to mom, I remember several years ago (when she was first "computing") she would start her excel spreadsheets on some random row like 568 so that if someone opened the file they would think it was empty. She is very serious about data security. LOL. Needless to say, when I discovered this I about died and I tried to teach her to use row number 1 and a file password. I am not sure what the current status is of these items but I am not very hopeful that we have reached a satisfactory resolution.

I guess, I'll go over to my moms later today and check her Outlook deleted items because there is no doubt, the mysterious Christmas list appointment, on August 27th is sitting in that folder.

Woot.com

One of my favorite websites, is http://www.woot.com They sell one product a day, until it is sold out. The product could be anything from an LCD screen (see today's woot) to walkie talkies or cooking utensils. Whatever it is, it's usually a great deal and you can buy a maximum of 3 of the items. The product of the day goes up at 10:00PM PST.

Since joining woot, I have bought two items. About six months ago, Ben and I both bought this great stainless steel coffee pot. It retails for $149.00 but we paid $59.00 for ours. Yesterday, the item was a Samsung neXus portable XM radio and MP3 player. It came with everything you see below in the picture and included one month of XM service. After that you will pay $12.95 per month. (BTW: I love XM radio) So I purchased the max (3 of them). I am going to give one away for sure, probably 2 (to my awesome readers) via a drawing on Monday. If you want to enter the drawing, just leave a comment on this blog entry and we'll draw some winners.

24, The Countdown Begins

One Month until the Season Premiere of 24! This is your last chance, watch season 5 now if you want to be apart of our 24 debrief sessions in January.

And of course I will add, there is still time to buy Jack's shirt (for over $500.00 at the 24 auction on ebay. http://stores.ebay.com/VIP-AUCTIONS_24_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ6QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Photo Blog of Central Coast Trip

Here is a photo blog from the last two days:


Proof I went to the Bakersfield party. (Me and Tim)








On the way from Bakersfield to the Central Coast Larry and I ran into a herd of sheep.

I pulled over to take a conference call in front of this lovely place







You should have heard Larry listening to Glenn who told us the dinner was at "Cool Hand Luke's" but all Larry heard was "Cold Man's Boot"-LOL (In Larry's defensive the cell signal was low)









Glenn showing off his Christmas Gift










The View from my hotel room in Pismo Beach








Glenn and Larry playing "Giant" chess.








Me hanging out with the surfer dude in front of Splash Cafe in Pismo Beach










Better than the "Buggy Stop", this is where I took my conference call on the way home today. This is Refugio, Glenn's favorite vacation spot. (It's located about 1/2 way between home and the Central Coast) Also, Glenn, the answer is no, the Verizon Air Card does not work from this spot-Nice try, though.





Proof that Larry and I stopped at St John's.

Good Eats in SCAL-Parts 1&2 Revisted

Today I was able to go to two places that I wrote about in Good Eats Part 1 & 2.

Lunch was at Splash Cafe in the Central Coast with Larry and Glenn. Note the Clam Chowder, in the bread bowl with the seafood topping....(Reference:Good Eats Part 1 http://kim1champ.blogspot.com/2006/11/good-eats-in-southern-california-part-1.html)

Dinner was at Northwoods Inn with Randy and Jeff. We had both salads and the cheese bread and both Randy and Jeff thought it was great. (Reference: Good Eats Part 2 http://kim1champ.blogspot.com/2006/12/good-eats-in-southern-california-part.html)

Favorite Scenic WebCams

Here is a list of my favorite scenic webcams (I have run short on material tonight and at the moment, this is the best I can do)

Banff Canada-A great view from atop Sulfer Mountain. I wish I were in Banff!!!!!
http://www.banffgondola.com/webcam.asp

Jackson Hole-If I couldn't be in Banff, Jackson would do nicely.
http://www.jacksontradingco.com/webcam/current_cam2.php

Yellowstone, Old Faithful
http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/oldfaithfulcam.htm

Yosemite-Half Dome near Sentinal Dome
http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/sentinelcam.htm

Yosemite-Half Dome from the Ahwahnee Meadows
http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/AhwahneeMeadowCam.htm

Customer Service at Verizon

They are the worst! Today, we went in there so David could get a new Blackberry. (He does not need one but he wants the new one and you know that David always gets what he wants) Anyway, we go in, finally get called (you go into a queue there) and head up to the counter. The following conversation ensues:

Kim: We would like to upgrade his phone.
Customer Service Rep: Well, you may not be eligible, the phone he has looks pretty new
Kim: (Thinking: yeah no kidding, he does not need this, why are we buying it?) Says: Yes, we are eligible, I checked online.
Customer Service Rep: Yes, I see that you are eligible but oops we have a problem.
Kim: What's the problem?
Customer Service Rep: Well, your account is past due and even if you pay it right now, it won't show up on the screen for 24 hours so you can't get the phone today.
Kim: How could we be past due? We are on Verizon's Auto Pay Service.
Customer Service Rep: Well this is going to sound stupid but it looks like we took out 174.82 and you owed 175.22.
Kim: Huh? So, they didn't take enough out? And we are past due by 40 cents?
Customer Service Rep: Yes, that is correct.
Kim: Verizon, took out the wrong amount, I did not pay the wrong amount. I am prepared to spend $250.00 on a new phone right now and I can't because of this 40 cents, which again is your error, not mine.
Customer Service Rep: I'm sorry, but you can't get the new phone.
David: So, I can't get the phone?
Customer Service Rep: I'm sorry but until it shows zero in my computer I can't upgrade you and that will not show up as paid until tomorrow, at the earliest. All balances must be paid on time.
David: Is there anybody else we can talk to?
Customer Service Rep: No
Kim: Verizon Wireless, we never stop working for you. (Leaves the counter)