Video Games

Last night at our small group study a couple of us guys had a talk about video games and the addictive nature of them. Today my wife, while looking through the fliers, found an ad for a t-shirt (pic on the right). The small print reads, "It was the worst 15 minutes of my life!" There are so many studies and surveys done about gaming and to the left is survey from the AP that shows an amazing 69% of American heads of households who play computer games. Wow! WebMD has a great article about the whole video game phenomenon: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/124/115554.

I have never been much of a gamer but there was a time when my son and I would play hours of the original Command and Conquer game. Now I have more fun building operating systems and scouring the net for the latest technology advances, which can be quite addictive as well. My son still games on a regular and consistent basis that at times seems to interfere with his life. The Bottom line is that there are a lot of theories and speculation on why one becomes addicted but medical science still is wondering about the why and how to cure the obsessive gamer.

House Hunting

To the right is a picture of one of the houses that Jenny and I made an offer on. With the housing market pummetting, lenders scrambling to keep people from forfeiting, and interests rates still halfway decent we have decided to start actively finding a home. This home is now bank owned (by indy mac) and is being offered well below market value. It is in a nice part of town and there are no neighbors across the street, or to the right of us. Very nice for a San Diego suburb. We have been comfortable renters for years, especially since the housing market has been so costly for a single income family and the one upside to renting is that the cost of any major repair goes to the owner.

Let's beat constipation

Wow - now I have seen everything. On occasion I check out various news sources that basically create an aggregate of stories in one place to save me from having to go to a bunch of different sites to see what's going on in the world (e.g. http://www.drudgereport.com). One of my favorite sites that I subscribe to is NEWS of the WEIRD (http://www.newsoftheweird.com/) where the motto is, "Proof that true stories are weirder than made-up stories." Proof of this is in the below summation from a News article that ran, not only on CNN but on AP, BBC, and most of the major outlets.

* Dozens of spas operate in Russia's Caucasus Mountains region, exploiting the mineral springs in the area, and apparently colonic treatment is a specialty. In fact, in June, the Mashuk-Akva Term spa in Zheleznovodsk unveiled a large monument to the enema (an 800-lb. brass syringe bulb held aloft by three angels). "Let's beat constipation," read one banner. Said the sculptor, "This device is eternal; it will never change. We could promote this brand, turn it into a franchise with souvenirs and awards for medical doctors." [CNN-AP, 6-19-08]

Legoland

What a great week we have had - it started out with a decision to just take a mini-vacation this year and do something local. We were really bummed not to make it back to Maine but the rising cost of air fares is just to prohibitive. It has been more than a year since we were last at Legoland and my youngest is now tall enough to do most of the rides and attractions. We treated ourselves to three days at the Legoland resort in Carlsbad. This is a very new hotel, which opened earlier this year and is probably one of the nicer hotels I have ever stayed in. One of the perks of staying here is that the hotel has its own private entrance to Legoland! It was a wonderful three days of just hanging out with the family, enjoying some entertainment, spending time relaxing, some good eating, and even some reading.

We finished the week off watching the El Cajon Fireworks show with family and a couple of friends. Of course, after the long week, both of my girls were pretty tired by the time the fireworks started and were more interested in going home than the show.

After severing in the military for almost 24 years holidays, like the 4th of July, hold a special meaning, as I have been at the 'Tip of the Spear' forward deployed, defending our freedom, like so many young men and women are still doing today. I am proud to have served but even prouder of those who are still serving and sacrificing so much that I am able to retire and enjoy the freedom they provide for us all.

Below are two items I have posted from the vacation, the top is a link to my online photo album with a few pictures from the vacation. The below that is a short (~30 sec) video of Kassie's first driving experience. That girl sure did have the look of concentration and was very competitive!

Legoland

Summer is Here!

This morning while getting some breakfast for the family I was listening to a local radio show talking about the more than one million folks who will be visiting San Diego beaches this 4th of July weekend.  During the dialogue the DJs starting talking about sunscreens and a new study that has come out from the Environmental Working Group stating that 4 out 5 sunscreens do not work as expected.  Living in San Diego and the sun my wife always has sunscreen on hand, it is just a way of life, and most of the things in the study she knew but we were still amazed by the fact that the brands we use were way down on the list (#159).  To check out the study go to this link: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/sunscreens2008/summary.php.  Along the top navigation bar you can also click on find your sunscreen to see where your sunscreen ranks.

Hayes Gray and Underway

Wow - after 24 years of being in the Navy and serving in various capacities, including four shipboard deployments, has given me a great respect for the sailors that deploy onboard US Navy ships.  I recently spent 12 days underway on the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD6), http://www.lhd6.navy.mil/. However, the difference this time is that I am now retired, and went as a civilian.  It brought back a lot of memories and gave me an opportunity to share some 'sea' stories with some of the younger sailors.  I do not miss the shipboard life though, even with today's standards and advances in technology, it is still challenging to communicate (on a regular basis) with loved ones.  There is email and they do have the ability to place phone calls underway (when the system is up), which is much better than the 'snail' mail (a.k.a letters) of my generation.

If you are interested in seeing a few more photos from the trip click on this link

 

How Does David Copperfield fly?

A very interesting video that will spoil this trick for you the next time that you see it - so be warned before watching

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