Monthly Archives: December 2010

How has the Great Recession affected your holiday season?

Has it?

Am I the only one who swears that they’re going to spend less and then completely blows it?

I’m going to beg for rainy day advice from y’all. We’re dying here in Los Angeles.

Today is the fourth consecutive day of rain with at least another three on the horizon, and we’re not quite sure what to do with ourselves.

Alexander was supposed to go to a laser tag party this morning, but he woke up with a cough and feeling a little crummy. I seriously debated sending him a little bit sick, because Laser Tag is a place where they can run around like hooligans and get some energy out.

I thought the other moms might get bugged if I sent a sick kid. Understand that I didn’t keep him home because it’s the right thing to do, I kept him home because I was afraid of being ostracized. Do not mistake me for being a good citizen.

Even though Alexander felt a little crummy, he still had plenty of energy.

You might have seen my twitter updates. I know other moms in Los Angeles are feeling a little weepy when they look at the forecast.

We’re a tender crew. Us Angelinos aren’t really sure what to do on the second rainy day. We know how to handle one rainy day, a day indoors never killed anyone, but asking us to go three days, or a week indoors pushes us all past our breaking points.

I don’t want to see another movie.
I don’t want to go to the gym, again.
I’m not interested in museums.
I’m tired of telling the kids that they shouldn’t use sleeping bags on the stairs and pretend it’s a luge.

I don’t know how to fill the coming days.

If you live anywhere that has actual weather can you please fill in the blanks. I need help.

Recently I was complaining about the fact that I have to help my daughter do community service as part of her grade for school.

I was wrong.

Last night Jane was on the phone with her friend, and he wanted her to join him and his family at The First X-ian Church where they would be handing out toys to children whose families couldn’t afford them.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I wasn’t excited about about waking up at 6.30 on a Saturday Morning, but Jane was insistent. The four of us bundled up, and went to the donut shop. I bought nine dozen donut holes and another dozen donuts. We arrived at the Church and saw a sea of umbrellas.

The kids went up a rear stairwell, and entered the room where the gifts were being given. As children arrived they would say their age, and then a toy ticket was issued, the kids would go to Santa and he would give them an age/gender appropriate toy. Some kids left with play dough, one lucky girl left with a bicycle.

Mr. G walked up and down the line handing out donuts to kids who asked, “Are they free?”

I took this video, and started to narrate it, but when I tried to say that these would be the only gifts that children in my community would get this year I choked up a little. So I didn’t narrate much, or well. I was busy trying to not cry in public.

I’m basically a selfish person, most of us are, and I give begrudgingly, but I give. This time it was because my daughter asked me to.

*If you sent me children’s toys this year this is where they ended up. I know it’s not the best PR in the world, but it’s a good thing, so thanks for having sent them.

Alexander wanted to see Tron, and he wanted to see it at his favorite theater. My son adores the Gold Class Cinemas, and hardly wants to go anywhere.

Today was the first day of ChrisHanuKwan Vacation, so we grabbed a friend and went to Pasadena for for a noon movie.

Tron was fabulous. I know you’re going to think I’m goofing on movie reviews here, but I’m absolutely sincere when I tell you that Alexander, his friend and I went to see the movie, I watched the first 40 or so minutes and then I fell asleep.

It’s not my fault though, because at the Gold Class Cinemas the seats are huge and plush, and they recline. Plus they provide pillows and blankets if you ask for them, combine that with a sweet chinese chicken salad plus a few bites of beignets (Alexander calls them adult donuts), I think you can see that a nap was inevitable.

I slept for the better part of an hour.

I woke up just as Sam Flynn was joining forces with his father and escaping the virtual world. It was wonderful. I’m not joking when I say that I saw a complete movie, it was beautiful, the music was perfect, the effects were extraordinary, and the actors could not have been better.

I’m pretty sure Jane wants to see the movie too, I’m going to try taking her so I can see the whole thing.

I love the concept, and if you match the plotline up with today’s Wikileaks news, it’s an incredibly relevant movie.

Here’s a little video of my $29 nap.

Last night I was invited to watch a webinar introducing Dell’s new touchscreen computer. I love my touchscreen computer for a million reasons, but after a year of daily use I have a lot of questions about touchscreen computing.

Dell invited four mom bloggers to be in attendance, and at least a dozen more to attend the password protected webinar (I was logged on and was one of 13 people).

Here’s the webinar.

At 20 minutes in Miss Lori asks Dell my question about screen size. Someone also asked my follow up question about “why is big too big?” My screen is 26 inches, and I’d like my next one to be a little bigger. I like having the ability to open windows side by side, and with a few more inches I could comfortably look at three windows side by side.

I asked repeatedly about the computer’s processor. Buying a computer without knowing what processor it is running is a like buying a car that has cylinders, but no one is really sure how many.

I don’t blame the women in the room for feeling like they have to be Dell cheerleaders. I understand feeling the pressure to like a product after you’ve been treated kindly by a company. If I was in the room I’d also feel excited about the “prettiness” of the computer as well. I really and truly get that part of being the guest of a brand.

The presenter did mention the kid in the dorm room quite a few times. I love the idea of a PC/TV for young adults who don’t necessarily have room for two devices, but keep in mind that they’ll probably also need (at a minimum) a netbook to take to classes as well.

I had two takeaways from the webcast: Dell has a nice new User Interface, and Dell has a touchscreen.

A MacBook will be smaller (a full ten inches smaller), but only $50 more, and where the Inspiron One has a AMD Athlon™ II X4 610E (2.3GHz/2MB cache), the Macbook has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache.

There is no bluetooth on this system. For many folks that’s a deal breaker.

It is pretty. Pretty counts in a home office. I’ll be the first to tell  you that, but much like my cars, I want my computers fast, fun and safe.

It’s entirely possible that the Insprion One is a fabulous computer, and a great solution, it’s just as likely that it’s an over-sized netbook and a real piece of junk. Apparently I’m going to have to wait for Dell to do a webinar for the men if I want to get any real information.

Which is just embarrassing for everyone.

I’m a Reddit lurker. I’ve only posted a few things there, and they haven’t been received well. I do find things and share them from Reddit to Twitter, because some of the things you find on Reddit are so fabulous they beg to be shared.

Although I read Reddit daily (more than once daily, I use Alien Blue when I’m bored… which is too often), I’m not a huge part of their community, though they are a part of mine.

Reddit has a Secret Santa program, and this is the first year I’ve participated. I sent a gift to a redditor who is expecting a baby, so I looked for non scented candles (nothing says Happy Holidays like morning sickness) and attractive stationary. I hoped that I’d get something cool in return like Bacon Flavored anything, or a new utilikey (get one, they’re fabulous).

I never in my wildest dreams thought that a stranger would take time out of their lives and paint me this.

Who would be bold enough to dream that big?

Check out heyjinah on Reddit, she’s the lady who made me fall in love with the internet all over again.