Archive for "Reviews"
El Laberinto del Fauno
Posted on June 10, 2007 by Ching under Movies, Reviews.
After watching Pan’s Labyrinth
The film has elements reminiscent of me of Legend
Anyway, I highly recommend this movie. It is well worth enduring the subtitles.
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The Ring
Posted on May 21, 2007 by Ching under Babies, Reviews, Sex, Travel.
I was going to title this post as “The Ring of Terror” but thought it overly dramatic for a post about birth control. As you all know Brian and I do not plan to have children in the near future. Actually, we don’t plan to have children in the far future either. Children are pretty much out of the question.
I have been on the Ortho Evra birth control patch for many years. Aside from it getting gunky, falling off on occasion, and square discoloration all over my body I really had no complaints. I used to get a three-month supply for only $40 through mail order. Not too bad.
However, last year they made a change so the cost almost doubled. Instead of $40, the cost went up to $70. So suddenly, all of the downsides of the patch which were not a big deal before were no longer acceptable. I finished out the rest of my year on the patch but Brian and I decided that we would explore other alternatives.
Oral contraceptives were out of the question because of my pill phobia. Even as small as the birth control pill is, I just can’t do it. I think it tastes bad (this is probably mostly psychological) and it makes me queasy.
I had heard of the ring before but I had never tried it because I thought it was weird. I mean, who wants to shove a foreign object in there? Anyway, at $40 for a three-month supply (like the patch used to be) and being non-oral, it seemed like a best alternative.
This is my first month (I’m on my third week, actually) on the ring and so far so good. Although, I have been reading some weird things about it. Some of the most common complaints include the ring unexpectedly falling out during intercourse or during regular day-to-day activities (which I dismissed as people just not inserting it properly or far enough), feminine itching, infections, mood swings, weight gain, nausea, and blood clots. None of these really bothered me. However, today I read that the blood clots have led to some fatalities. That’s pretty scary. Although, I doubt that the FDA would approve something that is bad for you. (more…)
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The Holy Grail of Footwear
Posted on May 5, 2007 by Ching under Life, Reviews, Travel.
I bought three new pairs of shoes over the last week. This is amazing for someone like me who rarely shops. I wanted to blog about shoes today because I want to brag about this amazing deal I found. The shoes pictured on the left are a pair of Tribeca Get the Scoop sandals, $72.99 at Zappos. If you’re wondering why they’re pricey it’s because Tribecas are made by Kenneth Cole. Anyway, I was convinced that I could find them cheaper elsewhere on the web. Mission accomplished! I found the exact same shoes at Shoemall (through Amazon)
Why the sudden shoe obsession? Well, shoes are an important part of our upcoming anniversary trip to Jamaica. I’ve read that shoes actually occupy the bulk of your luggage on these sort of trips. Even if you plan to pack light, somehow you end up having to bring several pairs of shoes. You’ll need shoes for horseback riding, water shoes for climbing the falls, beach sandals or flip flops for the beach, dressy shoes or sandals for fancy dinner night, sandals for your sundresses.. The list goes on and on and on. A lot of people will bring shoes for every outfit. On the other hand, Brian and I fully intend to accomplish our goal of packing light, so we plan to bring only a couple of pairs each. That got us thinking, could we find a single pair of shoes that would work for everything? Thus, the hunt for a pair of versatile shoes went…
The hunt began last weekend with trips to Payless, Shoe Carnival and Target. Payless and Shoe Carnival both had “buy one pair get the other pair for 50% off” (BOGO) sales going on. Brian and I tried our best to find versatile shoes for each other at one place so we could avail of the BOGO offer. Unfortunately for us, he couldn’t find shoes for himself at Shoe Carnival and I couldn’t find shoes for myself at Payless. We didn’t find anything at all that would work at Target so Target was immediately out of the running. Anyway, we still managed to take advantage of the BOGO offer because he found two shoes for himself at Payless and I found two shoes for myself at Shoe Carnival.
Brian’s versatile, all-purpose shoe find is a pair of black water clogs. They’re like Crocs but they’re made by Airwalk. The shoes can be worn as a slip on or with the attached back strap. He plans to wear the shoes for everything including horseback riding. He also plans to stretch the dress shoe rule at Le Gourmet by going to dinner wearing the water clogs. I’ve read in the Couples message board that this practice is frowned upon but a few have actually gotten away with it. Brian is not averse to going against the norm for the sake of packing light so he will try to do it. His other pair is a pair of canvas sneakers. He got them for no other purpose than the BOGO offer. Well, that and he’s wanted a pair of light canvas sneakers.
My versatile, all-purpose shoe find is Skechers Bikers Excursion. These sandals are the best. I plan on wearing them anytime I do any kind of walking on our trip, including horseback riding. I ended up getting a 5.5 size and they fit perfect. There was no break-in needed. The shoes felt great the second I put them on. I also walked a mile on the treadmill in these shoes to see if they would be uncomfortable at some point. That point never came.
The only downside to these shoes is that they look weird when worn with a swimsuit. So my second pair is a pair of Skechers sandals that I can wear with my swimsuits. It was tough convincing Brian to let me have my second pair because my first pair cost quite a bit more than we planned to spend on shoes originally. The BOGO offer helped, though. Anyway, I guess we didn’t completely accomplish our goal of finding the perfect pair. However, I think we came pretty close.
If we need to declare a winner of this shoe hunting contest, I’d have to concede that Brian wins this round. After all, he’s going to pass a pair of water clogs off as dress shoes. That’s going to be something to see. LOL.
While we’re no longer shopping for shoes (we certainly can’t afford to buy any more after this shopping spree), the perfect pair is still out there. Someday I will find it — the holy grail of footwear. But we’ll have to continue the hunt another time, when we are not so broke. =P
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Ching Recommends
Posted on April 27, 2007 by Ching under Reviews, Toys, Web.
I thought I would share some cool stuff with everyone. I’m sure you’ve probably tried some of these programs while you may not have heard of others before. These programs, web sites, and tools are all really cool and come with our seal of approval.
OpenOffice
OpenOffice consists of the following components: Writer (wordprocessing application) , Calc (spreadsheet application), Impress (for presentations), Draw (graphics package), Base (database application), and Math (to insert math equations into documents and presentations). It is the poor man’s MS Office. With Mr. Gates cracking down on pirated versions of his software, this OpenOffice is your best alternative. I don’t use it myself, but it is what they use at APL and it works quite well.
WordPress
Of course, I gotta plug WordPress. It’s what powers this blog, as well as mom and dad’s blog, as well as the MKMVPA web site. It rocks!
Flickr
The best photo storage, photo sharing, photo community, photo anything ever!
Google Notebook
The best way to take notes while surfing the web. It is a great research tool. It is my brain.
Foxit Reader
The best PDF viewer and printer there is. It is better than Acrobat Reader because it loads faster. Ask Brian. He will swear by this program.
RoboForm
This is yet another tool that Brian swears by. He loves RoboForm. Without RoboForm, Brian wouldn’t be able to login to anything. You know how you can’t live without your cellphones because all of your phone numbers are in it? Well, RoboForm is to Brian’s passwords as cellphones are to your phone numbers.
Google Calendar
Yet another Google tool I can’t live without. I keep multiple calendars on Google Calendar — my school calendar, work calendar, and personal calendar which I share with Brian so he knows what my schedule is like at any given moment. Brian also shares his calendar with me so I can see what he is up to. In addition, I participate in the MKMVPA calendar. Google Calendar rocks!
DVD Shrink
Brian swears by this program also. He’s been using it for at least five years. He loves it.
GIMP
The next best thing to Adobe Photoshop if you don’t have any money to invest in software. Great tool. Used this for a while, but I have Photoshop now. =P
Google SketchUp
A good 3D modelling tool. Another winner from Google.
ZSNES
An open-source Super Nintendo emulator. Great for video game old school fans.
Addicting Games
Speaking of games.. You can find some cool games here.
Alright. That’s it for now. Don’t say you never got anything out of reading this blog. Until next time.
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A Wonderful Afternoon of Procrastination
Posted on March 10, 2007 by Ching under Flickr, Food and Drink, Movies, Reviews.
Brian drug me to see 300 today. Prior to actually watching the movie, I really had no idea what it was all about. Brian, being the comic book freak that is, had already read the graphic novel. He’d been eagerly awaiting the movie’s release and could hardly contain himself. Although, it was I who had to be shushed in the middle of the movie for vocalizing my awe and excitement.
I highly recommend seeing this movie. It is rated R because of the graphic battle scenes and occasional nudity. The gore is not gross, though. It is very beautifully done. In fact, the entire movie is beautifully done. Every scene is picture-perfect. Nay, painting-perfect. It is the best movie I have seen thus far in 2007. Granted, I have been too busy to do much movie watching, but I expect that it is the best movie that I’ll see this year.
Since Brian drug me to do his thing, I drug him to do my thing. So we went to Cocoa Dolce after our movie. Cocoa Dolce is this new (they’ve only been around for 15 months) gourmet chocolate shop on 37th and Rock. Master chocolatier and proprietor Beth Tully likes to call her shop a chocolate lounge because it’s like a cozy little coffee shop offering chocolate beverages and gelattos besides the vast offering of delectable chocolate confections.
We’d driven by the store many times going to Dillon’s and QuikTrip and other places in the area but we’d never really considered going in until after we saw Ms. Tully speak at WSU on Thursday. She is a very articulate, impressive, amazing woman. I suspect she could sell a refrigerator to an eskimo. Our curiosity was piqued and so we went.
At $52 per pound, she was quite accurate when she described her demographic. In decribing her niche target market, she described her product as a luxury item. Most of us don’t really think of chocolates in that way but she is absolutely right. Gourmet chocolates such as these probably wouldn’t appeal to the average person who is satisfied by your run of the mill grocery store candy. Although, for those with enough discretionary income to indulge, the delicious morsels are an indulgence worth every penny.
Brian and I don’t see ourselves going back every week, after all we are pretty pragmatic and frugal these days. However, we agreed that we could afford to splurge just this once. Or maybe a few more times in the coming weeks. We have already talked about returning to try some of the gelatto. One patron described it as putting even Coldstone Creamery (our favorite ice cream shop) ice cream to shame.
Oh, their sugar free chocolate selections are also worth mentioning because they don’t taste sugar free at all. You can buy some of their stuff through the Cocoa Dolce online store. I promise that you will not be disappointed. Brian and I give Cocoa Dolce our seal of approval.
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