2008 Year in Review

2008 was another great year for us because it was very fun watching Lucas grow up from a baby to a little boy. He is like a sponge, wanting to learn about anything. Anyway, here are some highlights of 2008:

Best book: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Runner up: Power Play by Joseph Finder

Best movie: The Dark Knight
Runner up: Slumdog Millionaire

Best video game: Call of Duty 4
Runner up: Gears of War 2

Best techie purchase: Asus EeePC 1000H netbook
Runner up: Nikon D60 D-SLR

Best deal of the year: Sprint SERO cell phone plan ($30 per month for 450 min, unlimited Internet, unlimited text)
Runner up: 24" HP 1080p LCD monitor with HDMI for $199 (regularly $499)

Best finance deal of the year: Saved nearly $700 from the eBay/Microsoft Live cashback promotion (30% cashback on eBay purchases)
Runner up: Made $1,900 this year from credit card cashback rewards and selling on eBay and craigslist.

Best travel experience: Staying at the $2,000 per night Lowell Hotel at the Upper East Side in Manhattan, New York City
Runner up: Hanging out at Chrissy Field, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our family and friends. May 2009 bring you the best of luck and happiness!

Slingbox Solo

Another gadget that I've been playing around with lately is the Slingbox Solo, a device that enables you to watch your TV anywhere you have an Internet connection. This is called "placeshifting." So for example, if I am out of town and need to watch the Lakers on local TV, I can log on to the Slingbox software and control my cable DVR as if I was home, enabling me to watch my TV on my PC. I can also use it on my Windows mobile Motorola Q9c cell phone.

The Slingbox is connected to the cable DVR via component video cables. It also is connected via ethernet to my Internet router. It controls the cable DVR box via IR signals, and the Slingbox software even emulates the remote control that I have at home. So, if I am in bed and want to watch a Heroes recording on my DVR, I can use my EeePC netbook and watch it from there. The possibilities are endless!

Kidspace Children's Museum

This past weekend we drove up to Pasadena to take Lucas to the Kidspace Children's Museum. It's a museum designed specifically for kids age 2-8. They have themed rooms that the kids can explore, for example they have a arts and crafts room, an archaelogical dig room (where they can pretend to be in an ant hill), an outdoor tricycle track, an amphiteater for storytime, outdoor gardens, and a spouting water area. Lucas enjoyed it all, especially the tricycle track. He wanted to ride on one and to figure out how to pedal on his own! He didn't want us to help him at all. I guess we figured out what to get him for his Christmas present!

After the museum we drove over to the Americana at Brand in Glendale. It is a very nice outdoor shopping center in the mold of the Grove in L.A. They also have a free trolley that circles the property. Since Lucas loves trains, we rode in it and stayed on for a few times. He enjoyed it a lot. We also treated ourselves to half a dozen Beard Papa cream puffs. They're great!

Christmas Tree

We went to Home Depot a couple of weekends ago to get a Christmas tree! We got a 7 foot Noble Fir for $40. We also ended up getting new shatterproof ornaments as we were afraid that Lucas might play with the glass ones and break it. So the ornaments we got from Target for $20. The tree makes our house smells like a pine forest.

San Juan Capistrano

A couple of weekends ago we decided to make a day trip down to San Juan Capistrano. We wanted to check out the Mission San Juan Capistrano and its historical Spanish architecture. We enjoyed it. The fountains, filled with fish and lilies, were beautiful, as well as the nearly 300 year old buildings. The chapel was fantastic as well. After our tour we just walked across the street, past the train tracks to Zoomars Petting Zoo.

Lucas had a grand time feeding and petting the sheep. However, he didn't pay much attention to the rabbits and guinea pigs though. All in all a nice day to spend a Saturday with the family!

More pictures here.

Nikon D60

After much waffling back and forth and doing a cost-benefit analysis, we decided to jump on a new digital camera, the Nikon D60. It's not just a regular digital camera either, it's a Single Lens Reflex (SLR). We made the leap because we had outgrown our Canon point and shoot. The Canon just couldn't keep up with Lucas anymore, as its slow shutter speed constantly resulted in missed shots. While I thoroughly used (and still use) the video mode on the Canon (something that the D60 lacks), the superior speed on the Nikon was a refreshing change in very which way. I can literally snap snap snap away without experiencing the dreaded shutter lag.

The Nikon D60 has a 10.2 megapixel sensor, with a 2.5 inch LCD screen and caputures images at a speedy 3 frames per second. The starter kit came with a Nikkor 18-55 mm Vibration Reduction lens. It is a lot more complex than the Canon in every way, and has almost infinite ways to capture a shot. I am still learning to this day on what settings to use under certain situations. The camera, out of the box, has several useful presets that work very well, and I've mostly been sticking on the P (Program) part of the presets as that Program preset automatically adjusts the settings to suit the shot. I've also used macro and landscape modes as well.

Owning a D-SLR isn't cheap however. The kit that I bought retails for $599 but I bought it on sale for $440. I also purchased a Nikkor 55-200 mm VR zoom lens for another $100. Add to that the 8GB SDHC card (which can hold 1000+ shots), and total price is around $550. But we feel that this is an investment that will last us for many years, and should grow with us as our photography needs (and Lucas) grows.