Hum Tum (2004)

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Joel

Bah. Truly one of the worst Indian movies I have ever experienced. I don’t understand how this Bollywood film, Hum Tum, is highly rated — the film ratings online give it a high number of stars, and a friend of mine swears it is a great film. I, on the other hand, did not enjoy it all. At all!

This romantic “comedy” stars Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji as two people who inexplicably keep meeting up at various points in time. They obviously have sort of attraction between them, but usually Saif Ali Khan’s character “Karan” does something loutish or piggish, and the two go their separate ways for another period of time. I couldn’t find any redeeming traits for the Karan character, and could not understand why Rani Mukerji’s Rhea would continue to be attracted to him. I wasn’t all that impressed with the songs, but the story plot turns just bugged me way too much.

Hum Tum (2004)

Hum Tum (2004)

 

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I forgot to mention the cat leashes

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Joel

In all the hub bub this month, I forgot to mention that we bought leashes for the cats. Yes, leashes.

We used to enjoy letting the cats out into our backyard for some sun and to enjoy all the wild animals (read: squirrels and birds) running around are enclosed backyard patio. Sure, it was a little difficult at times to convince the cats to come back inside, but some wrangling often eventually worked. Sadly, that bit of freedom for the cats ended after Scamper (pictured below) decided he’d rather take every opportunity to escape whenever possible. He’s a fat cat, but don’t be deceived. He’ll leap over brick walls and fences, and he refuses to listen or return home. About a year ago, around 5am, he escaped through our back door, ran out into the parking lot, and I spent the next 45 mins chasing him around the lot and the lawns, and all sorts of places. Good cat? Yes. Means well? Yes. Total asshole when he gets outside? Also yes.

How do we let them get some excitement outside, but in a controlled way? Why, cat leashes, of course! I saw these at the local pet store, and for $20 each, they seemed like genius. I can take my cats out for a walk, they get some fresh air, I get some peace of mind, someone films me walking my cats, it goes viral, and I become filthy rich from all the publicity. Win-win, situation.

In the late afternoon on Father’s Day, we broke open the leashes, and attempted to outfit one on Toasty, but he didn’t like it, and ran off. We got the leash on Scamper, verified it was secure, and took Scamper out into the backyard. He immediately tried to bolt out the yard (jerk), but I had him by the leash this time. Boom, snapped right back. He tried to bolt two more times, then gave up and laid down under a bush. And that was it. He lay there for another 20 mins, doing nothing. He wouldn’t walk around, he wouldn’t sniff. He gave up…. on life?

I got fed up on waiting for him, as I was getting bitten by early evening mosquitoes, so I picked up this limp pancake of a cat, and walked him back inside. Wow. Without the ability to escape, he gave up all reason to live. After all we’ve done for him, he just wants to get away. In the picture below, he’s not tired. I put him down, and you can actually see the despair and lost of will in his eyes.

What a jerk.

Cat leash, or did I hunt and capture a wild cat?

Cat leash, or did I hunt and capture a wild cat?

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My Father’s Day sunglasses

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Joel
My new Ray-Ban sunglasses

My new Ray-Ban sunglasses

I’ve been wanting a nice pair of sunglasses for awhile now. My problem has been that I have had a tendency to drop, break, or lose them in the past. Because of that risk, I often purchased cheapo sunglasses from the NJ Turnpike travel plazas or box stores. I do admit that I wished I could have nice ones, so I quietly pined for them.

Father’s Day rolls around this year, and my wife comes through for me once again. She takes me to the mall, and we find a Sunglass Hut kiosk at our Macy’s. After some browsing, we found a nice pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses in gunmetal grey.

Woohoo!

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A Saturday night at Six Flags Great Adventure

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Joel

After attending a funeral for a friend’s father in Pennsylvania on Saturday, we came home and some of us took a quick nap (my wife.) Others who couldn’t nap (me and the kids) finished watching the original 1953 film classic The War of the Worlds. Around 5pm, we got ready to go to Six Flags Great Adventure for a few hours. We purchased season passes last month, and our goal was to hit Six Flags at least once a month with the kiddos. With a season pass, it didn’t matter if we went in the evening for a few hours — we were still getting value out of the cards. We stopped for a quick dinner at a McDonald’s down the street from Six Flags, then hit a number of the kid-friendly rides. I don’t know if it was a factor that it was the evening, but even on a Saturday night, the lines for most rides were short. Heck, Josh and I hit Skull Mountain twice in a row.

If the evenings are like this all the time, I could get used to just going in the evenings.

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A Friday of family fun

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Joel

Friday, June 21st — School is out, and what to do with the kids? The last day of public school was Wednesday, and camp doesn’t start until Monday. On Thursday, Namita took Josh with her to the office, and I heard he had a lot of office work to do. I, on the other hand, planned my week so I could take Friday off.  Ah, the joys of ensuring coverage of the kids. Josh and I ran some errands, then we biked for an hour in the morning. After a quick lunch out at a local Japanese restaurant, we finished our errands, picked up Lily, then met up with some family friends (and Namita) at this indoor play facility called iPlay America. It’s an interesting place — arcade games, air hockey, small rides, and even go-karting. They also appear to host concerts and kids birthday parties. They used a debit card system where credits are deducted for every game you play. Interesting place. Namita had used her Groupon and family fun search skills to find a coupon to get us a number of credits, and organized a nice outing with some family friends. I’m glad I married a fun entertainment coordinator.

After 2-3 hours of wrangling the kids, the adults got tired, and all 9 of us went to the local Cheeburger Cheeburger for dinner. Can I tell you that I miss milkshakes? They are awesome.

Lunch with Josh on our day off
Playing some driving game, tensions are high.
Bumber hovercraft?
Whack-a-mole
Swinging away
Bowling for fun
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Cub Scout Closing Ceremony

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Joel

We had the closing ceremony for Josh’s cub scout pack this past Saturday. I can’t believe it’s been a year of den meetings, pack meetings, popcorn fundraising, getting badges, and outings. What do I think of Cub Scouts? It’s been interesting. Josh and I have done all sorts of activities that we might not have had an opportunity to do without being connected through the scouting organization. What does Josh think of scouting? I think he likes it. He’s so laid back that it’s hard to tell, you know. He’s officially moved up from Wolf to Bear, and I hope we can get a head start on working on badges this summer.

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Lily’s “Spring Sing” and Pre-K Graduation

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Joel

On Friday evening, Lily’s day care hosted their annual “Spring Sing” end-of-year concert/show, as well as their pre-K and Kindergarten graduation ceremony. Both sets of grandparents, as well as my sister, were able to attend on a Friday night. Among the performances from each class, I had to say that I was most impressed with Lily’s teacher who choreographed two short numbers from The Lion King. I would also say that I was even more impressed watching Lily perform. Out of all the activities that Lily has tried, she enjoys dance the most. When she is dancing, she is laser-focused. I even heard that during practices, she would get irritated at the other kids for not knowing their parts. Watch Lily’s performance below (slightly to the left of the star), and you can decide for yourself if this little girl likes to dance or not.

VID00154 from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.

After the show and graduation, we all walked back to our house for dinner. It was nice to get everyone together.

 

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Latest network speed test

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Joel

I still wish Youtube was more responsive. I’ve added Youtube’s constant buffering problems to the running list of “Banes of Joel’s Existence.”

2765826074

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Weekend in Virginia for a 75th birthday party

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Joel

My wife’s aunt was celebrating her 75th birthday party, and the family intended to celebrate with a dinner out. We hadn’t been able to visit all of her Virginia relatives in a long time, so this was a good opportunity to see family, to be with family, and a quick opportunity for a weekend away for our own family. We looked at staying with a few different relatives, but ultimately opted for staying on our own at a hotel in Reston, VA. Staying at a hotel gave us a lot of flexibility and privacy. We packed the night before, went to work (and school) on Friday as usual, but we hoped to leave at a decent hour without hitting too much traffic on the road to VA. With plans never quite working out as smoothly as originally planned, we left at 7pm from our house. The drive is only 4 hours, but the variables could be a killer. Traffic in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia? The huge storm that was threatened for the week?

We lucked out — the traffic was non-existent, which I think was due to the impending storm forecast, which also didn’t pan out. We had smooth sailing all the way to the Waffle House in North East, MD (our usual stop), then more smooth sailing all the way to Reston. Wow, what a nice drive. We arrived around 11pm at the hotel, and the Westin was really nice. We went to bed around midnight, as I think everyone was pretty tired.

In the morning, I went to grab a quick breakfast for everyone at a nearby Einstein Bros. bagel shop, then we hit the road to Annandale, to have a Korean-style BBQ lunch at Honey Pig with Nums’ friend Patrick who lives down in DC. We last saw Patrick in April 2012 in Washington while we were visiting at the Smithsonian. This was no museum food court, so this was already a higher quality lunch. In the late afternoon, my niece Sofia (and my sister-in-law Anju) came over to the hotel to swim with us in the hotel pool. After that, we all got ready for the birthday dinner.

Dinner itself was at the Thai Luang Restauant in Herndon, VA. As Joshua is allergic to peanuts, and we never take him to Thai restaurants, this would be a nervous first. We sat him next to us, and we selectively picked out stuff for him to eat. No issues, and we all had a good (and safe) dinner. After dinner, we drove over to one of the relative’s houses for birthday cake / dessert (and after party?) Much better — kids had more room to run around, and the adults could rotate around and talk to everyone.

Sunday morning after another quick breakfast, we were on the road again for NJ. Thankfully, no traffic, we made it home in record time.

After a fast four hours, we arrive at our destination on a late Friday night.
A fancy Westin lobby.
More of the lobby.
Josh and Lily are pretty excited about staying in a hotel.
I think my wife is excited too.
Checking out the shower.
I find it an interesting touch that they alternate the mat in the elevator.
Fanciest looking Best Buy I ever done see.
Saturday lunch with Patrick at the Honey Pig Restaurant in Annandale, VA.
Josh is Korean pop star Psy.
As am I.
Lunch with Patrick.
Good evening to you!
Rajamma aunty’s 75 birthday party — dessert at the house.
The cousins.
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I pulled the trigger and paid Verizon $80 for a new Actiontec MI424wr router

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Joel

Two years of waiting and thinking. I wanted a new router that supported 802.11n speeds. It wasn’t important for years, as most of our devices ran on 802.11g. I do admit to buying a Wireless N adapter for the Tivo Premiere, with an expectation of one day moving to an 802.11 home network. For a time, I was transferring tv shows from the Tivo to the home PC (and later my iPhone 4), but Verizon and many other cable providers now block any copying. Since last year, however, we’ve added two new smartphones and one Nexus 10 tablet that all support 802.11n speeds. I eventually would like to finally get a tablet of my own this year, so that would make 5 devices that could take advantage of faster wireless speeds.

I’ve never been a fan of how Verizon forces customers to use Actiontec routers. There are so many nice and feature-packed routers out there on the market, but unless I want to maintain two devices, and figure out how to properly bridge them, I’d be stuck with the best Actiontec I could get. In the end, I wanted to keep it simple — one networking device. Verizon now offers the Actiontec MI424WR GigE router, which is the latest router to support 802.11n. It also has Gigabit Ethernet and a number of other features, but I’m mostly interested in the faster wireless speeds. What’s not so good about it? It’s a single stream router. In a mixed network (comprised of devices that run on g or n), the Actiontec’s compatibility mode will drop the entire network down to g speeds. The nicer dual band routers on the market will support both g devices and n devices — each would run on their own frequency band, and not impact the other. Sweet for everyone else, big caveats for me.

I would also have jumped in earlier, except Verizon will not just send you the new router when your original basic 802.11g router is working fine and dandy. To get the newer Actiontec, you have to pay the $79 fee, and that’s why I’ve waited two years. This year, I decided to pull the trigger on it. Verizon broke the fee up over the next three bills, and let me know that the router would arrive in 3-5 business days. In 3 days, it was here.

In slightly related news, we also acquired a new (and free) table with drawers that we put our black-and-white laser printer on, instead of using a tv tray that we purchased back when we were newlyweds. Sensing an opportunity to reorganize, I cleaned up, and changed the layout for a bit. I had no real issue with setting up the router,  though I had some difficulty to get the Tivo wireless N adapter onto the network, but eventually reran setup on it, and all was good again. Well, mostly good. It’s supposed to light up green on 802.11 g networks, and blue on 802.11n networks. Right now, it’s green, and that perturbs me. Luckily, I can still sleep at night, but I’d still like to figure out what the deal is with it.

After dabbling with the router settings, I’m sticking with 802.11n-only (“Performance” mode) for now, but I’m sure I’ll have to dumb it down to the slower speeds later. For now, I just want to see if there is a noticeable difference in speed.

New printer stand and setup
New Actiontec 802.11n router
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