07.07.09
Streaming Video
We upgraded to a Blu-ray player this weekend. First, let me say, that I don’t care at all about Blu-ray or improved video quality, and I don’t like that Blu-ray discs are twice as expensive as DVDs. But we didn’t buy it for that reason and hubby assures me that we will not buy Blu-ray discs now just because we can. We bought the Blu-ray for streaming, Netflix streaming that is. And wow, I love it!
The player easily connected with our wireless network. I pulled up Netflix on the laptop and began adding fliks to our “watch now” queue and they instantly appeared on the TV. We were quite impressed with how easy it was to set up and add and watch movies. We’ve only watched two movies on it so far. On the second one the audio wasn’t quite synced right with the video (I reported this to Netflix, by the way).
Reasons why Netflix streaming is awesome:
- It’s free for Netflix members, which we are
- We can watch movies without waiting on the DVD
- I don’t have to pay $4.99 to buy a movie on the satellite just because we don’t have any new Netflix DVDs yet
- I will probably cut back on the # of DVDs I get from Netflix at one time, thus saving me money! (i.e. take my 3-DVDs-at-a-time plan down to 2, or something)
For those of you totally green with envy right now and feeling like Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (”I want it NOW!”) but you don’t want to spend the money on a Blu-ray player, you don’t have to. Netflix sells a box just for streaming for $99. You can also stream with the Xbox360. If you have a Blu-ray player (only certain brands do it) and no Netflix, sign up for their 1 DVD at a time, unlimited number of DVDs a month, plan for $8.99 and stream as much as you want — for less than the cost of 2 movies from satellite or the movie store.
05.12.09
Baked Lays Southwestern Ranch
I tried these new Baked Lays today. They are Southwestern Ranch and had very good flavor. They’re not hot, per se, but have a twang of after-heat. I liked them well enough to try again sometime. Check ‘em out!
03.29.09
My official drink of summer
Sierra Mist has a new flavor for summer – Ruby Mist. Sierra Mist + Ruby Grapefruit. It’s so good I’ve decided it will be my official drink of summer. Plus Target had coupons for free 2 liters. They didn’t actually have 2 liters in stock, so I had to buy cans, but it doesn’t matter since I’ll be getting more anyway.
01.07.09
Knitting
My co-worker Jo taught me how to knit scarves a few months ago so now I’ve got the knitting bug. The top one is the first one I made. I like it pretty well. It’s very “fall” and soooo soft.
After this one I made three as Christmas presents for my sister, sister-in-law, and my mom. I knitted pretty much in every free moment I had from Thanksgiving until Christmas Day! Yeah, I knitted my mom’s on Christmas Day!
This bottom one is one I made for Finn. It’s so cute because it’s little — only 6 stitches across and about three feet long. He looks adorable wearing it! Now I have requests from Caden and Hubby too. And my sister liked hers so well she wants me to do one just like it for a friend’s birthday. And I bought a pretty purple yarn and fur to make another for myself. Sounds like knitting is my new hobby!
11.18.08
Pomegranate 7UP
Publix was giving away samples of this tonight. I didn’t even have to taste it to know I wanted to buy some. I love flavored lemon-lime drinks and this one is a good one! (On a sidenote, did you know cherry limeades at Sonic are just Sprite with cherry syrup?)
Remember when Cherry 7up first came out in the 80’s and the commercials looked like your whole tv was filling up with pink soda? I loved that stuff! Peach Nehi or Peach Sunkist are other carbonated fruity favorites. Another current soda that’s similar to the Pomegranate 7up and also good is Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist. I recommend trying them all.
11.17.08
Let Us Rap
I am a very picky eater and as a rule don’t eat most things green. One exception to this is lettuce. However even with lettuce I’m selective at when I eat it. I only eat lettuce as part of a salad. I do not like lettuce on sandwiches, and I do not like lettuce on any warm foods like hamburgers or tacos, or taco salad even. So a week or so ago, when my husband first suggested I try chicken lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang’s, I wasn’t the least bit interested. Seasoned chicken sounded good, but wrapped in a big lettuce leaf? Why? Why not just eat the seasoned chicken alone with a fork?
So for last night’s date night (thanks to my mom who came and hung out at my house after the kids were in bed) we went to dinner at P.F. Chang’s and ordered lettuce wraps. I was very leery but took baby steps and tried a small strip of lettuce with a good-sized scoop of chicken and the “petal” sauce mixed by our server, Rose. I was surprised that I didn’t even taste the lettuce. As long as there was ample chicken and sauce to balance it out, I didn’t even notice the lettuce, other than it’s crunch, which I liked. I still don’t want to try lettuce on my burger or taco, but I’d consider making these at home sometime. They seem pretty kid-friendly too.
06.19.08
The “Pipe”
An impromptu stop for a milkshake at Burger King yesterday led to my discovery of the “BK Pipe” straw. The straw comes with the new Oreo Sundae Shake. In case you can’t ‘tell from my picture, let me make clear that this is a big straw. I measured it when I got back to work and it’s a quarter inch across. That’s about the same width as a finger. Pretty large compared to traditional straws.
I’m guessing that the logic is you need a bigger straw to slurp up all of the Oreo cookie pieces. The cookies in the Burger King shake are not obliterated into a fine dust like in the other places’ Oreo shakes. However, the Pipe didn’t really suck them up either. After all the ice cream was gone I still had to use a spoon to scoop up all of the Oreo pieces at the bottom. I give Burger King credit for trying though. An article on CNN said the “Pipe” is part of Burger King’s effort to be more “cool” for the younger, Gen Y (especially males) crowd.
I have to say though, that before I realized the “Pipe” was a special straw exclusively for the Oreo shake, I had this thought: “Do Americans really need everything to be so much bigger, better, faster that we now need wider straws to guzzle our mega-size drinks?” Glad to discover that isn’t the case (yet).
05.02.08
Summer Break
I’ve got a two month break before I have to hit the books again so I’m going to take this opportunity to read all I can read, appreciate good movies and good music, and take better care of myself. I was too busy at the beginning of the year to make any New Year’s resolution, so you can call this my summer enrichment program or something. Here’s what I’m into:
Books
I’m currently reading “Dr. Space,” by Bob Ward, about Wernher von Braun. I got an autographed copy for Christmas and have been reading it a little here and there ever since. I’m about a third of the way through, and after that I’m going to read “The Choice” by Nicolas Sparks. Two other books on my “want to read list” are “To Infinity and Beyond: the Story of Pixar Animation” by Karen Paik (and the guys who started/run Pixar) and “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch.
Music
I’m really liking Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” and Miley Cyrus’ (aka, Hannah Montana) “See You Again.” While always a fan of country female artists (Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, Carey Underwood, to name a few), I’ve recently reconnected with my country roots. My country favorites right now are “What Kind of Gone” by Chris Cagle, “You’re Gonna Miss This” by Trace Adkins, and anything by Taylor Swift.
Movies
As for movies, a few titles on my Netflix queue are:
- In the Valley of Elah
- Margot at the Wedding
- Rendition
- Goya’s Ghosts
- Day Zero
- Enchanted
- Juno
- Cloverfield
- 27 Dresses
- When the Levees Broke
I’ll certainly take any suggestions for good flicks, good music or a good book.
