We're going through a phase with the kids right now whereby their manners seemed to have gone completely out the window, and they are now acting like cave children who were raised by grizzlies. This morning, while we were sleeping, Alex came in, climbed into bed, and shouted, "WAKE UP!" That was followed by Zoe demanding, "Where's my show?" I think their manners have lapsed because although we correct them constantly, they haven't been enforced with time outs. Just a talking to that they just say, "Ok....ok...." to. So while the kids are playing today, Mom and Dad are defusing their crankiness from being yelled at.

My four day weekend has been very expensive so far - we took the Kia in because of a check engine light, and after the scheduled maintenance that it was overdue, replacement of brakes, and some other work, we are almost 800 bucks poorer. Then Blockbuster pissed me off a little because their stupid in-store exchange seems to have its own calendar, so my trade ins were actually rentals.

But I did make a couple purchases that I was pretty happy about. One is the 550 minute Blu-Ray edition of BBC's Planet Earth. Eye freaking candy, if you ask me. I remember seeing it at Fry's for 165 bucks, but I got it off Amazon for around 50 bucks. Even if it turns out being used, I'm good with that. I can't usually find a lot of content for my HD monitor, so this is cool. I have to say though, I've gotten so used to my PS3 and my monitor that when I watched "21" on a standard tv last night, it seemed like I was squinting to compensate for the letterbox. So spoilt. The other purchase was more tangible, and more delicious.

Yesterday I couldn't decide what to do with the family, and after ruling out the aquarium, the zoo, and everywhere else, I foolishly craved for Krispy Kreme donuts. So we hung out at Gilman village in Issaquah for a little bit, and then went to Krispy Kreme. I'm the funny sort who doesn't like donuts, stemming from getting sick from a donut stand in Singapore at the World Trade Center. I got like super sick from that, and so now it comes back to me whenever I stick one in my mouth. For some reason, Krispy Kremes don't have that effect on me. Anyway, we got there and once I got out of the car, the wind picked up an outdoor umbrella and blew it off the stand, and slowly hurtled it toward the car like a runaway kite. My wife told Alex to stay in the car, and Alex, having seen this thing that was 3 times his size tumbling toward him, starting going, "AHHHH! AHHHH!" But I just stopped it and held it, but it was quite amusing. Then the kids were just having an absolute ball seeing the production of said donuts. Alex kept saying, "That's so cool!" And when I took a bite of the plain donut, it was like biting into a cloud. It felt almost invisible, but for a hint of sugary goodness. Unlike others, we only made off with a couple dozen. People were walking out of there with 8 dozen or so.

So anyway, just chilling out today, probably do some gallivanting later on today. The day seems to be taking its time.

Trying to impose a non-desk evening for a while, whereby my back is turned to the world and my face is buried in a laptop or my PS3. So I'm sitting with Alex while he's exploring his new pre-school learning program. He certainly has a little problem comprehending some concepts like finding the letter between 2 letters even though the entire alphabet is listed above the problems. But overall he can get the solution if he gets the problem reexplained to him.

Well, I mentioned this on the podcast of "Pizza Bento", but i'll restate it since there's no shortage on ways to further embarass myself. But I've decided after hours of Rock Band and an episode of "This American Life" whereby a heartbroken reporter decided to write a love song after her break-up, that I will attempt to write and sing an original song for funsies. It will be composed in Garageband since I have little musical talent, and it will likely be a traditional pop song.

I came up with a hook, and had to record it immediately because I would forget if I didn't. Now the next step would be to find the notes that correspond and build it around that. This will be interesting...

New iPods need to come out quick, my musical needs are cycling through my devices faster than Apple's timeline. The mini adapter that I had for my phone to listen to music got lost somewhere, and I'm reluctant to replace the 10 dollar thingie because I'm sure it'll turn up sometime in the future. So I'm old schooling it, using a 512mb iRiver mp3 player that I used for my weddings to record vows. Its a tiny ful featured player, with radio, line in, and mic in features, through the UI is complex beyond belief. Its like 5 buttons to do sixty things. So hopefully a cheaper 199 iPod touch or a nicer and cheaper Nano will make me happy.

But now when I go to work, i'll have a ton of gadgets again.

New iPods need to come out quick, my musical needs are cycling through my devices faster than Apple's timeline. The mini adapter that I had for my phone to listen to music got lost somewhere, and I'm reluctant to replace the 10 dollar thingie because I'm sure it'll turn up sometime in the future. So I'm old schooling it, using a 512mb iRiver mp3 player that I used for my weddings to record vows. Its a tiny ful featured player, with radio, line in, and mic in features, through the UI is complex beyond belief. Its like 5 buttons to do sixty things. So hopefully a cheaper 199 iPod touch or a nicer and cheaper Nano will make me happy.

But now when I go to work, i'll have a ton of gadgets again.