What a glorious Thanksgiving vacation this has been. I can no longer call it a weekend, or an extended weekend, as I’ve been off for six days. I had off Thursday, took a vacation day for Friday, had the weekend, and took Monday and Tuesday off as well. Six days to recharge my batteries, and I feel very refreshed with a clear head.

Thursday

We spent Thanksgiving over at my in-laws, but my parents and my sister (and husband and baby) also attended. It was a big shindig to say the least. My wife and her sister cooked up all the sides, and others provided the turkey and other sides. My wife started cooking Wednesday night with a homemade pumpkin pie, and the rest of Thurs morning cooking. I tried to stay ahead of her by washing and drying utensils and pans as she moved onto the next dish. Thanksgiving was a great success, and we came home to a relatively clean kitchen.

After we came home and put the kids to bed, we watched Timer on Netflix.

Friday

Hmmm, Chicken Fried Chicken

We avoided all the Black Friday hoopla. As a family, we had lunch for the first time at our local Cracker Barrel. That was an interesting experience with southern cooking. I didn’t eat much, but I was stuffed. I guess southern food is inherently very filling.

We attempted to catch an early afternoon movie showtime for Tangled, but they were sold out. We purchased tickets for the 5:15pm showing of  Tangled, but still had 2+ hours of time to kill. Instead of going home and coming back again, we decided to run some errands like getting Lily a haircut, and shopping for some essentials at Target. I’m looking forward to using our new can opener.

Saturday

Thanksgiving Dinner #2

A day of relaxing and cleaning up at the house during the day. In the evening, we drove up to northern NJ for a Thanksgiving dinner party with friends Sunil & Ligy at their house.

Sunday

As we got home late the night before, the kids were tired, Lily especially. While Nums and Josh went to church, I stayed home and Lily slept until 12:30pm. At one point, I had to check that she was still breathing, but she was just tired. A very happy girl greeted me downstairs when she finally woke up. The kids watched Sleeping Beauty again on Saturday, so maybe Lily got the wrong idea?

A very tired girl

One of my wife’s friends was coming back to NJ Sunday night, but her ride fell through. Josh and I drove in the evening to pick her up from the Philadelphia airport. The traffic on the NJ Turnpike was pretty bad, so we were a little late. On the round trip back North, I took I-295 which was was a much better alternative than sitting on the NJT twiddling my thumbs.

We also did a huge cleanup downstairs in the basement, and we tossed out much of the kids’ baby toys and stuff we didn’t need anymore. We’ve been slowly parting with clothes that don’t fit us and the kids anymore, but there was much more downstairs that needed to go, no matter how hard it was. We got rid of kids toys, no-longer-used bookcases, my old Sony VCR, the baby bouncer, and all sorts of other baby stuff. We have more baby clothes to donate, but much is gone. It’s a big year for us, and we’re moving to the next phase of our life. Sadly, that involves parting with the things we don’t need anymore.

Monday

New tables & chairs

A nice day at home while everyone else went to school and work. I ran through a big list of things to do. I put together a table and two chairs for the kids to use in their room (where the old crib used to be), replaced burned-out light bulbs in the house, sorted additional old papers and junk in the basement, tied up and tossed old boxes, and replaced the wipers on the Toyota. The kids table was missing this one lock washer, so I had to make two trips to Home Depot to find the right one.

Tuesday

I wasn’t originally taking Tuesday off, but we had Josh’s first parent-teacher conference today and I didn’t want to miss it. My wife took off, so we made it a nice day together. Afterwards, we had lunch at Ploy Siam (thai cuisine) in Robbinsville. We had a coupon for a free entree there, but they ultimately didn’t accept it, as the waitress explained that the coupon that went out wasn’t “approved.” What the what?  She did say we could use it again for a dinner for 15% off. Whaaaaa? Very odd, to say the least. We took it in stride, and enjoyed the food and the excellent ambiance. Later, I did some top-to-bottom vacuuming and carpet stain scrubbing. We celebrated with some takeout from our favorite wings place and giving the kids some well-needed baths.

Summary

In a nutshell, that was my Thanksgiving vacation. More photos, including others from November, are now posted online for your viewing pleasure. I missed two floating holidays due to work in the past two months, so I finally got to take the time off now. It feels great, and now I’m in the home stretch on my audit and the work remaining for the rest of the year. I still have a day or two in the works to take off before Christmas, and I’m still looking forward to the week off between Christmas and New Year’s.

Friday, we braved awkwardness of taking the kids to the movies, and went to watch Disney’s new animated film Tangled. It’s an updated take on the Grimm’s fairy tale of Rapunzel. It’s animated obviously, and starring the voices of Mandy Moore (the pop singer) and Zachary Levi (the guy from Chuck.) The singing was nice and reminded me of a Broadway musical, and the animation was truly astounding. The story was entertaining, and you liked the Rapunzel character. Of course, it’s another princess character, so Disney will be making millions off of little girls who need a new Disney Princess to add to their collection.

The kids liked it a lot, but near the climax where it got scary, Lily got scared and started crying. We tried to calm her down, but I had to take her out as she started to really cry. I wasn’t expecting that, but she had not napped during the afternoon. I’m sure that contributed to the semi-meltdown.

Tangled (2010)

Thursday night, after we got home from Thanksgiving lunch/dinner, we put the kids to bed, and watched a movie. We streamed Timer, a 2009 “sci-fi fantasy” film starring Emma Caulfield.

When implanted in a person’s wrist, a TiMER counts down to the day the wearer finds true love. But Oona O’Leary faces the rare dilemma of a blank TiMER. Her soul mate – whoever and wherever he is – has yet to have a TiMER implanted. Staring down the barrel of thirty and tired of waiting for her would-be life partner to get off the dime, Oona breaks her own rules and falls for Mikey, a charming and inappropriately young supermarket clerk with a countdown of four months.

This was a romantic comedy of sorts, with a dash of sci-fi in there. It didn’t ask a whole lot of probing questions, but it was decent entertainment and the characters were interesting.

Timer (2009)

I have no words to describe the statistical likelihood that we have changed six tires on the Toyota Highlander this year, and now staring in the face of yet another flat tire. Count ‘em:

1. Mid June, 1st flat tire that started this whole adventure. We replaced two tires.
2. August, after our Midwest road trip, we replaced the remaining original Toyo tires.
3. Early September, 2nd flat tire of the year.
4. Late September, 3rd flat tire of the year.

I took a 1/2 vacation day this morning, and I’m sitting at our local Toyota dealership while they patch the tire.

4th flat tire of 2010

Update: Toyota patched the tire at no charge, as it is covered under the original road hazard warranty. I didn’t even have to pay for labor. What a relief.

Last Christmas, I got two new PS3 games as gifts. Actually, they’re the last two new games that I added to my collection. I don’t play often, so when I get something new, it’s real news. Of course, my definition of real news is probably debatable. Generally, I like to play for the relaxation and immersion factor, but the number of games I’ve actually completed can be counted on one hand. Hmm, I should give myself credit, as it’s probably about 10 fingers. Maybe even 3 hands.

Wasn’t I talking about something? Oh, right. I eventually completed Uncharted 2 after two weeks of much gameplay. AlthoughI still had Batman sitting next in the queue, I’ve been too busy with work and home life to sit and play much of anything this year. I also played some of Bioshock that I got as a gift a while back, but I’ve played that on and off. Now, I was fairly excited for Batman:Arkham Asylum to come out. It looked awfully promising. Still, work life was busy, and we had much going on here. Trips, busy weekends, many late nights working. Also, it was a little hard to play and see good detail on a 32″ SD screen. I ended up storing the game, and never took it out after some initial game play.

Just for fun, I decided to give it another go on Batman: Arkham Asylum, and what do you know? It’s actually kinda fun after all. It’s an over-the-shoulder 3rd-person action game, but I’ve been playing in my off-hours on the weekends this month. I’ve started to get the hang of it, and I’m enjoying the story. Furthermore, I enjoy walking around the island and searching for the Riddler’s game riddles and trophies. I’m not sure why I would like this particular aspect, but I similarly had to look for treasures in the Uncharted game series, so maybe I’ve been trained like Pavlov’s dogs to achieve a measure of satisfaction for finding a virtual trophy.

Gameplay video embedded below, courtesy of IGN. I am the Dark Knight of central NJ.

Jiss & Aji

Wow, you know you’re getting old when:

1. You find gray hairs in odd places on your body.
2. You get called an “uncle” or an “auntie” (if you’re Indian.)
3. People (including relatives) who were kids when you were growing up are now getting married.

My little (young and in stature) 2nd cousin Jiss is now engaged, and we attended a luncheon celebrating her engagement on Saturday. It was supposed to start at 11:30am, but we were running late as usual. I drove like a maniac all the way up to Rockland, but there was no real rush. The lunch itself was running, as they were waiting for some folks from their church attending a baptism to arrive, including also waiting for their minister. The appetizer hour was stretched an additional hour.

Josh & Lily before they ruined their clothes

I wish we hadn’t stressed ourselves out rushing to another event that was running on IST (Indian Standard Time.) It’s always the case though. We’re always running an hour late, and the Indian events that we attend are late to start as well. We rush, but maybe we shouldn’t. What we should do is start getting ready an hour early, as we need that extra hour of buffer time to get the kids dressed and out the door.

I felt the lunch was highlighted by Lily spilling an entire glass of mango lassi on the new salwar that my parents got her from India, and this was the first occasion to wear it. I’d say Josh was better behaved and more careful while eating, but that would be an untruth. He ruined his new shirt by rubbing his right sleeve through his plate of Indian food. You KNOW that curry powder is going to permanently stain. Sigh. Life with kids, folks.

Congratulations are in order for my cousin Jiss and her fiancee Aji. I wish them the best on their big endeavor. I hope they remember this important adage from the Dalai Lama:

Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.

Big milestone today — Josh lost his first tooth. He has (had) two loose teeth for the past few weeks, but we discovered last night during dinner one was very loose. We figured it would fall out in the next day or two. Right after lunch time today, Josh said it fell out while he was playing at the gym. He’s keeping it in a little “treasure chest” they gave him at school.

What a smile!

My wife and I are still a bit stunned. These past five years with Josh and Lily have gone by so fast. They were so small not that long ago, and now my son is going to elementary school and lost his first tooth. It’s mind-boggling. I went through some old video of Joshua, and comparing him then and now. The embedded video below is from April 2007 after he turned two years old.

Reading part 1 – April 2007 from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.

Ah yes, go ahead and say it. Don’t let me stop you. Get it out of your system. Joel drank the Kook-Aid and bought Apple.

No, I didn’t. Well, yes, I did stick with Ma Bell (AT&T), and upgraded to the Apple iPhone 4. After three years, I’m finally trying an Apple iPhone. All the naysayers and complainers have so much to say, I suppose. What happened to your love for Rim and BlackBerry? Why didn’t you move to Verizon? Why not an Android phone? Why not a new Windows 7 phone? Do you love Steve Jobs that much? Let me answer all the questions.

1. What happened to your love for Rim and BlackBerry? I’ve had two BlackBerries now since 2007 — the Curve and the Bold. Both were great for their times. The Curve introduced me to smartphones, and the Bold was great. The trackball is wearing out and malfunctioning on my Bold, and I was getting tired of the form-factor. I’ve seen my wife’s HTC Incredible running Android, and I’ve been both impressed and jealous. The touchscreen, the apps, the size of the screen. Oh, jealousy is a terrible thing. I respect the BlackBerry, but I wanted something new and different. Sadly, I found the Torch to be underwhelming. 
2. Why didn’t you move to Verizon?  Um, I’ve been with Verizon, and I respect Verizon. I don’t have any real complaints about AT&T, and I like the benefits of being on GSM — voice and data simultaneously. People argued that LTE is coming to Verizon in Dec, but that’s just a trial in some major NFL cities. Also, consumers will need handsets to handle both LTE and CDMA for a while until new handsets come out. It’s going to be a long while.
3. Why not an Android phone? I like Android, but I didn’t like the Android phones at AT&T. Maybe next time.
4. Why not a new Windows 7 phone? I did check out the Windows 7 phones at the AT&T store Saturday night. They are interesting, but I don’t want to be a guinea pig for a 1st-gen Windows phone. Sorry. Microsoft has a tendency to burn their customers, their app marketplace is tiny, and they haven’t figured out copy & paste yet. Also, my music is on iTunes, and I’d like to have it all.
5. Do you love Steve Jobs that much? No, I don’t care. I never drank the Kool-Aid. I just want to try being an iPhone user, and experience the advantages and disadvantages.

The upgrade was easy enough, and it’s been a few days now.  So far, I have no complaints. I’m trying to be careful with it, because of the ongoing Glassgate. I’m personally not one for bumpers and cases. I like holsters and I appreciate the need for a scratch-resistant screen protector, but these cases are ridiculous. I’ve seen folks carrying their iPhones in these bulky cases. Why? I initially resisted getting a bumper for the iPhone, but two reasons made me get it:

1. I’ve seen the display models at various AT&T stores. Apple says the glass is 30% more scratch-resistant and tough, but all those phones on tethers that don’t leave the display are all scratched up. Hmmm, that’s not good. What would happen if you used it outside the store?
2. I know me. I can make electronics disintegrate into dust in my hands. I need protection for my phone. My phone needs protection from me.

My new iPhone 4

I relented an bought a screen protector for $10, and a $30 Frog case. The case is nice and svelte, and even gives me a nice grip.

So after a few days, what do I think of the iPhone 4? It’s a nice phone. The BlackBerry phones are more email and communications-oriented. Excellent integration with email, addressbook, maps. The iPhone is more media-centric, with an emphasis on web-browsing, listening to music, watching video. Web pages look much better, as does email. Video and photos look nice. I don’t have any problems with reception, it’s fast and responsive, and I like the overall comfort. Typing on the virtual keyboard is painfully slow, but I’ll have to adjust and adapt.

Sunday night, we watched Hot Fuzz, a 2007 British action comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Simon Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, an overzealous British police officer (constable?) who is so good at his London job that his dept transfers him (out of jealousy) to the sleepy town of Sandford in the countryside. However, the town begins to experience many fatal accidents, and Angel investigates with his not-so-helpful partner, played by Nick Frost.

What attracted me to this film was Pegg and Freeman, a comedic duo who I first saw in Shaun of the Dead (a 2004 action. I didn’t see all of Shaun of the Dead, nor do I like zombie movies, but these two guys were utterly brilliant.  If they can make me enjoy a zombie movie, I can watch them in anything. This film runs about two hours, and I did find it entertaining. However, I think it ran 20 minutes too long. Definitely a good rental.

Hot Fuzz (2007)

Last night, I watched Batman: Under the Red Hood, a 2010 direct-to-video film based on the two DC Comic Batman storylines  ”A Death in the Family” and “Under the Hood“. The film is the eighth in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. It was released on July 27, 2010. The film begins with the death of Jason Todd, the 2nd Robin, at the hands of the Joker. The film flash-forwards five years to the present day in Gotham, and the arrival of Red Hood.

Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part vigilante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotham with the efficiency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. Killing is an option. And when the Joker falls in the balance between the two, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened.

Excellent movie, but not one for children. It’s PG-13, with violent themes not appropriate for young children. I found Jason Todd’s torture and death to be especially brutal. The voice acting is good, with new actors stepping in, such as Bruce Greenwood as Batman/Bruce Wayne. newcomer Jensen Ackles as Red Hood (excellent!), and Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing. Although I’m normally a fan of John Di Maggio, I didn’t like him here as the Joker. In case you were interested, Rogue’s Gallery favorites Black Mask and Riddler also make appearances, but I liked seeing Nightwing the best.

Did I mention Jason Todd’s death was brutal? I genuinely felt bad.

Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)