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grass jelly, anyone?

January 10th, 2010 4 comments

Since Chickie, Shirley and Kim knew all about Pocky, I’m curious to see if they’ve tried this item that I recently spotted at my local korean grocer:
grass jelly drink
It’s COCONUT flavored Grass Jelly Drink!

…umm, grass jelly??? what in the world is that and why have a coconut flavored version? is it any good?

and NO, I didn’t purchase one to try. at least not yet anyway…

Pocky Men’s bitter chocolate??

December 23rd, 2009 4 comments

pocky men's available at the local korean grocery store

ummm, pocky men’s??? I’m not exactly sure what the marketing team of this product is trying to say but I don’t particularly have pockmarks all over my face so I guess these bitter chocolate snacks aren’t for me.

OK, ok, apparently it’s a famous japanese brand of chocolate covered pretzel sticks. But come on, couldn’t they have settled on calling it something a bit more appetizing than “pocky”. and why is it for men only? is there an alternative flavor for women?

I ordered these in the wrong size!

December 18th, 2009 No comments

miniature-sized books
I didn’t realize I was ordering miniature-sized versions of these Eric Carle books! I guess that’s one of the hazards of ordering online. I’ll have to make an effort in the future to read the product descriptions in detail. especially the dimensions of the products!

The kids love Eric Carle’s illustrations but man, the impact of those lovely drawings aren’t as great when they’re teeny-tiny!

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a kitten for Christmas

December 7th, 2009 7 comments

holy crap. the wife just called and said that she’s going to get the kids a little kitten for Christmas. Apparently, she was at the local pet shop looking to get a lil’ parakeet or something but wound up being lured by the calls of a cute kitten. I told her to stay away from that place. I just knew she’d walk out of there with something cuddly and adorable. I guess this’ll be an early Christmas gift for the boys since you can’t just stuff a kitten in a closet until Christmas morning. or can you? :P

so, any tips on raising a cat? I’m not really a cat-lover myself.

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This old man, his 12-year old, Ashley Greene and Maxim magazine

December 1st, 2009 3 comments

Well, I guess it’s about that time for “The Talk” with my 12 year old son. I just discovered him with this month’s issue of Maxim magazine.

For those that aren’t familiar with the magazine, it’s a monthly men’s magazine with a bit of pop culture, sports, fashion and of course photos of scantily clad women in suggestive poses. It’s NOT “Playboy” territory since there’s no nudity but still, I don’t feel it’s appropriate reading material for a 12 year old. Anyway, I’m more concerned about the content in the magazine more than the photos. There’s a lot of frank talk about sex and some recent articles featured an investigation (in graphic detail) on reality show murderer Ryan Jenkins and a behind the scenes look at what happened to the high-end strip club Scores in NY.

You’re probably wondering how my son got a hold of an issue of Maxim. OK, well, I happen to subscribe to the magazine. I know, I know.. Hold on, before you make any judgements… let me back up and explain why I get it in the mail. I was a subscriber to Blender Magazine (a pop culture mag similar to Rolling Stone) which went under earlier this year. The publisher converted over the Blender subscribers to a sister publication which happens to be Maxim. So, it’s not like I *chose* to subscribe to Maxim… it just happened to show up at my door after the demise of Blender. and who am I to complain about a mag that features photos of sexy women every month?

ashley-greene

Anyway, I had a long conversation with my son last night about how it wasn’t cool for him to take my stuff without permission. I explained to him calmly that the material in the magazine is akin to a “R” rated film. Just like how he’s not allowed to watch a movie that’s rated “R”, he shouldn’t be reading Maxim.

Honestly, it was pretty surprising to find that he’d be interested in the magazine. He’s still into Pokemon and Nintendo for goodness sakes!! In our conversation, he told me he was just curious about the issue since it had Twilight’s Ashley Greene on the cover. I didn’t really push for more info and just made the point that he shouldn’t be taking or viewing stuff without my permission.

As for “The Talk”? I’m going to hold off for now. I’m not sure if he’s ready to get into the nitty gritty of all that. OK, OK, *I’m* not ready to go into the nitty gritty with him. I mean, he’s had sex-ed in school so he’s aware of the basics. But to go beyond the school info and into sexual images, urges and self gratification? I can’t go there just yet.

Read more…

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hankering for a new gadget

November 20th, 2009 No comments

Like most guys, I love little electronic gadgets. It probably all started for me back in the days of those primitive handheld electronic games like Coleco’s Electronic Quarterback and Mattel’s Electronic Baseball. As a matter of fact, I think I still have the Electronic Quarterback stored away in my attic somewhere. I make it a point to not dig it up and turn it on because my personal memories of it are a lot more fun than the harsh reality of what it’s like to actually play with it now. Those lil’ red LED lights and fixed block patterns aren’t going to “wow” anyone nowadays. But man, it was the hi-tech gadget to have as a kid way back when!

old-electronic-handhelds

as you can see, I pre-date the Nintendo GameBoy-era but you already knew that about me, right?

Anyway, these days, I’ve been hankerin’ for one of those pocket HD camcorders. I don’t know why since I have video capable digital cameras and of course a regular camcorder. I guess, it’s the simplicity of those lil’ FlipHDs. I don’t know. but I want it!!

Gizmodo just posted a comparison of the popular pocket HDs a couple days ago. they declared the Flip Ultra HD as the winner of their shootout. but I’m personally leaning toward the Kodak ZX1 at the moment since it’s built a bit more rugged and claims to be “weather resistant”. So far, I haven’t seen a fully water-proof/shock-proof model yet. Since I’m known to drop things from time to time, I’d rather have something more rugged than stylish. Hopefully I’ll be able to find one for cheap during one of those after-thanksgiving sales.
Read more…

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time to buy some new tires

November 11th, 2009 2 comments

With the heavy rains in our area the last couple days, I was made well aware that I was overdue for tire replacement on my SUV this morning. I had a hell of a time driving into work on these slick roads. My old tires aren’t BALD or anything but they sure didn’t grip the roads that well. While on the interstate, I could feel the front-wheel drive slipping underneath me. I had to keep it well under the speed limit and also made a conscious effort to stay far from other cars. Especially when there are so many ignorant people SPEEDING down the interstate during these conditions!!

It seemed that I wasn’t the ONLY one having problems with the rain-soaked roads. I passed a number of accidents and actually witnessed a Honda Accord spinning out of control after hitting a rather large puddle on the highway.

Luckily I made it to work OK. but the forecast calls for the rains to continue on for the next two days. ugh.

Here’s an excerpt from the local news about the wet road conditions

Slick roads caused several wrecks across the Triangle Wednesday morning, and the Interstate 440 Beltline was especially treacherous.
A car hydroplaned and flipped over on westbound I-440 between Glenwood Avenue and Lake Boone Trail shortly after 2 a.m., and crews had to cut a woman out of the car. A pickup overturned on eastbound I-440 between Six Forks and Wake Forest roads about 10 minutes earlier.

The storm that started the week as Hurricane Ida weakened Tuesday after making landfall in southern Alabama.

“We are going to get a lot of rain in our area. We’ll likely have some flooding issues around here by the time it’s all said and done on Friday,” Gardner said.
Car dealers on Wake Forest Road cleared vehicles off their lots in case nearby Crabtree Creek flooded.

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Carolina Cobra breaks down at Carowinds

October 22nd, 2009 3 comments

a week after our visit to Carowinds, one of their coasters malfunctioned with riders on board. yikes!

Carowinds - carolina cobra

I can’t say that I’m surprised at the news since we had witnessed a number of rides breaking down during our visit to the amusement park. Luckily none of the coasters broke down while WE were on them.

It’s interesting to note that the coaster that broke down is their newest coaster. You’d think that the newer coasters would be “safer” than the older ones.


Carowinds coaster breaks down with riders on board
Published: Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 From Staff Reports – WSOC – TV

Carowinds newest coaster, the Carolina Cobra, failed to catch on the lift hill and rolled backwards with eight passengers on board Saturday afternoon.

The passengers were able to exit the ride onto a nearby platform. All of passengers were taken to first aid. Seven of the riders were released back into the park; the eighth was taken to a local hospital and examined.

No serious injuries were reported.

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fun with konglish – Golden…

October 21st, 2009 2 comments

yes, I get my kicks searching for konglish-type items at my local korean grocery store.

konglish - golden WHAT brand?

yup, I’m just a little kid trapped in an old man’s body. heh. :P

watching the wash go round and round

October 19th, 2009 2 comments

now with colder temperatures upon us, we took our winter comforters out from storage. They smelled like the needed some freshing up so we decided to head out to the local laundromat to get those comforters washed. as you might have guessed, they’re a bit too bulky for the washing machine at home. anyway, we haven’t been to a coin operated laundromat in AGES so it took a while to find one near us.
waiting for the dryer to finish
luckily we found one that had one of the washers that could handle larger loads. it took $8 in quarters plus a couple bucks for detergent (we forgot to bring our own – that’s how out of practice we are!!).

then of course there’s the additional time waiting around for the dryers to do their thang. anyway, it was fun sitting there reminiscing about our youngers days when a visit to the laundromat was a regular requirement.

of course we’re thankful that we no longer have to spend time each week at the coin operated laundromat!! ;)

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