aspir(al)ing

Redeemed!

Posted by terri | Filed under family, tabemono

How long does it take to forgive a bad experience? Well, when it comes to a restaurant, a bad experience can pretty much spoil one’s desire to ever go there again. Gyotaku in Waimalu was one restaurant that I actually had frequented many times as it is just several blocks away from my house, but it was the last time I went there in March 2002 that had me thinking that I would never go there again. And unfortunately for Gyotaku, it was during the time of my blogging prime that I wrote a scathing entry about it so that I wouldn’t forget it: Read the rest of this entry…

A Happy Birthday.

Posted by terri | Filed under heart, watashi

Wow, it’s been almost 2 months since I last wrote in here. Maybe I can finally get an entry out today.

I turn 29 today, which starts the countdown to 30. I was one of those who imagined by the time 30 came around, I would have a lot of my life figured out. I’d be in a career that I went to college for, going home to a family of my own with a husband and kids. I guess it was more wishful thinking than an actual plan. And though I don’t have all those things as of right now, I am still pretty happy with how things are.

I felt like I had a glimpse into my future happiness. Not really having plans for my birthday today, I took my hunny, my friend and her daughter out to the North Shore to have lunch and wave watch at Sunset Beach. My friend’s daughter is so wonderfully cute and such a big girl at 3 and half years old compared to when I last saw her when she was a little over a year old. Interaction with her then could only be so much, but now that she’s so talkative, she’s been such a delight. And what’s been more delightful was being able to see my hunny interact with her. They played in the sand, and he still managed to be playful and fun even when she acted a little naughty.

It’s wonderful being with someone so incredibly kind and patient with children as he is with me. I really feel so lucky to have such a great guy, that I am glad that I didn’t settle just for the sake of having the husband and the kids by age 30. And though there are other things to think about, I know that I have happy future ahead, even if it doesn’t come in due time.

Feeding the Useless Information Junkie.

Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta, geektech, tunes

iPhone 2.0 has been so awesome. It’s kind of like being in a relationship that is mostly good, but you wait around hoping that the other would change for the better, and then by surprise, they actually do. I think I’ve fallen in love with the iPhone for real this time instead of just saying, “Oh yeah, I have an iPhone.” Not to say that should provide an insight in my personal life right now… (Life is pretty awesome for me right now, by the way.)

Right now, I have about two full pages of apps and so far only paid for two apps: Scrabble and Bomberman. Scrabble is fun but a major crashbag, and Bomberman is kind of boring. I have to say that the free apps have been what have impressed me the most. It’s all been said and done, so I won’t go over what they do. I guess I can mention some fun facts I learned from having iPhone 2.0.

Thanks to some random playlist in Pandora, I realized that “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” by Robert Palmer was actually a cover of an R&B song by Cherrelle in 1984. My only reference of Cherrelle is that duet she did with Pebbles in the early 90s. Interestingly enough, Mariah Carey did a non-imaginative cover of Cherelle’s song for that bombed album/movie Glitter. The song was written by Jam & Lewis, who also produced Cherrelle’s and Mariah’s versions. (And in case you are under 15, everything Jam & Lewis produced in the late 80s and early to mid 90s was GOLD.)
It’s amazing how addicting something like Loopt can be for many people; and even more so, people are willing to give their bosses access to their most currently available location…heheh, including me…but, but, it’s fun!
There are lot of two letter words that I had no idea were in existence. Now I can see how one really can be “hardcore” in Scrabble. I prefer the friendly game than the competitive one.
The very first song on the playlist currently featured in the Apple Store is called “Silver Lining” by Rilo Kiley I am in awe of Shazam for doing what many Google Searches could NOT do. I got to discover the rest of their music on their 2007 album, Under the Blacklight, which is now downloaded to my computer from iTunes.
You can pick an app out of several only because it has your name in it. I love Twitterrific!

And of course, I’m excited about my newest app, Wordpress! I first had to upgrade my Wordpress before being able to set it up on my iPhone. I guess I’ve been more excited about getting the upgrade out of the way than actually having the app on my phone, but I am hopeful that it will actually allow me to make use of this blog, which is now hitting its 3rd year. Hooray, hooray…

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (on iPhone 2.0…and MobileMe?)

Posted by terri | Filed under digital life, geektech

My iPhone has been activated since July 26, 2007. The following is a note that I started soon after and have been adding to for the past 11 months or so. Will iPhone 2.0 address all these? Some are a yes with the introduction of MobileMe; the others we shall wait and see:

iPhone Features Wishlist

Voice recorder
iDisk access
Copy and paste
Find feature
RSS feed
A checklist
Downloadable voicemail
ICal publish from phone
Email search
File storage
Acclerometer option
.mac sync
Bluetooth keyboard capability
iCal subscription
“From” field control in Mail

P.S.: I am not planning on getting the iPhone 3G tomorrow nor anytime in the near future, but I do, however, plan on buying AppleCare for my current iPhone…and soon!

Bloo’s Report Card.

Posted by terri | Filed under bloo, watashi

This entry is a several days overdue, but this is Bloo’s first year report card.

Bloo is my 2007 Nissan Versa SL Hatchback, which I bought and drove off the lot on July 6, 2007. She was my first brand new car, which I was able to ~~be in debt for~~ afford since I had finally graduated from college. She has been an awesome little car with lots of room and pep contained in her tiny body. I have especially enjoyed the CVT transmission which has made for great power and efficiency up steep hills (took it up Tantalus and it works goood!) and an incredibly smooth ride (which would be sooo much better if the C&C would fix the damn potholes every now and then).

On July 6 of this year, she had about 11,500 miles on her. Gas mileage wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be. I think at most I get about 29 MPG, but I guess if I coasted more as CVT would allow, I would get better mileage. And aside from the usual maintenance, I only had to make one trip to the dealer. In an earlier entry I complained about how the car wouldn’t start . My hunny took it to the dealer armed with printouts of a bunch of online complaints about the very same problem, and the dealer took care of it by replacing the fuel pump.

I was in love again, but I soon became the neglectful owner. I guess it all started when my car got my first little ding. Someone who parked next to me on the driver’s side pulled out their door a little too much. I’m inclined to believe that it was done in the parking lot near my house, but I guess I can’t prove it. It can be kind of a relief having your first little ding, especially when you’re not the one who caused it, but of course, who am I trying to kid? It’s a sad sight to see. And so my car since then has had less washing and less attention than it did when I first got her. She sort of became a forgotten child when I started working on getting my house fixed up. And unfortunately, the result has been this:

Poor Bloo got some gunk on her that a simple car washing weeks later couldn’t take off. Yes, I know I should have taken care of it right away, but instead I let it sort of bake itself on there for several weeks as I was attending to other things as well as jetting off to California. It finally took a trip to City Mill and the purchase of “Krud Kutter” to finally get that taken care of. Well, most of it anyway. I kind of did a half ass job then, too.

I am far from falling out of love with Bloo; she is the best car I could have ever hoped for. I shall rekindle my passion for her once again, I know it.

Cleaning house.

Posted by terri | Filed under flix, home, watashi

It has been a highly productive 5 days off as I’ve been working on moving stuff into my house while hauling trash out. Over the course of the past year, I’ve been making progress in making my house more livable, despite being back here for about 8 years now. I guess I’ve been motivated as of late due to recent events and am more determined not to have my head in the sand anymore.

My one problem in getting my house cleaned up is finding a reputable company to haul my junk away. I found a lot of ads in Craigslist, but I decided to play it safe and find a more established company. I have decided to go with 1-800-GOT-JUNK.com. I liked the convenience of making my appointment online and also the fact that they attempt to recycle what they haul away. What I am sort of worried about is that they are kind of expensive, but at least they charge by volume instead of by the hour, so it’s a bit more straightforward. They are coming on Monday, and if it is an unfavorable experience, I am bound to vent in here. Hopefully, I’ll be writing a more glowing review instead.
For my last day off today, I went to see a movie with my hunny for the first time in a long time. We made the trek to Dole Cannery so that we could watch WALL∙E on the DLP Projector. I usually don’t care to watch popular movies when they first come out because of the crowds that it attracts, particularly kids’ movies, but I figure it would be a great way to get my hunny out of the house as he had been in and out of the hospital for the past month. As I feared, there were about 50 kids there on a field trip when we got there, and we were forced to sit in the front. It wasn’t too bad because I feel we got to really experience the awesomeness of the DLP or Digital Light Processing Technology they used. It was like seeing a really huge high definition screen. And for the awesome movie that WALL∙E was, it was worth all the minor inconveniences.

A quick review of WALL∙E: the story was rather good but a wee bit on the depressing side, yet the character of WALL∙E really made it heartwarming and enjoyable. With the little dialogue it had, it reminded me of the PIXAR shorts, but with a highly expanded story. It wasn’t my favorite PIXAR movie, which remains to be a tie between last year’s Ratatouille and Finding Nemo.

And now it’s time to go back to work…

Leaving on a Jet Plane.

Posted by terri | Filed under watashi

Hopefully that plane takes off tomorrow…

Off to the Mothership I go!

Just the fax.

Posted by terri | Filed under miscellany

A big real world dilemma was coupled with the smaller dilemma of needing to fax something. My iBook has faxing capabilities and I have that cursed land line that I’m paying for month after month…but oh wait, I need to scan the document first. Not having a working scanner in the house, I figured I’d have to go someplace to get it faxed. I inquired with FedEx Kinko’s only to get a case of verbal sticker shock when the guy over the phone told me that it would cost $1.49 per page to get it faxed locally. That’s all well and good, except if you have 14 pages to fax plus a cover sheet. I’ll spare you from the doing the math; it would have costed me $20.86.

Seeing as I needed a printer as well anyway, I decided to go ahead and buy an all-in-one printer / scanner / copier from some nearby store. I figure that $20+ should be used toward something tangible that would do the same job. My first thought was, “Wow, I wish CompUSA was still around.” I ultimately decided to try out Costco, thinking that I needn’t be terribly picky, and that I would get the best value. The funny thing was that when I got there, I came to the rationale that I should get a good PSC and I had a coupon to save $110 on a good one at Costco…and I left it at home!! So after all that, I finally spent $160 (it was a deal) and some gas from my tank to drive back home to get the coupon and to buy it at Costco.

I ended up getting the HP Photosmart C7250, a printer / scanner / copier / fax. It’s fairly noisy, but I guess it makes up in function. I also like the fact that it’s wireless because I have no room near my computer for the printer and I would like the option to print from both of my computers. So it’s quite good. I would have loved to have a color laser, but I can’t complain.

I hope I’ll make good use of it down the road.

They’re back and they need work!

Posted by terri | Filed under natsukashii

So in case you haven’t heard or caught it on YouTube: the New Kids on the Block are reuniting.

And if you click on that link, you’ll agree: they sound HORRIBLE.

But apparently, it doesn’t matter how they sound. It’s fun having the New Kids on the Block back together. Whether you hated them or loved them, they have a special place in your childhood if you were born in the late 70’s, early 80’s. I guess you could say that they were the *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys of my junior high years. Seeing their Today Show appearance and all those “ladies” screaming and clamoring for them, it’s downright hilarious. I immediately thought of my best friend from elementary school being so crazy about them that her room was full of their stuff. Heck, she even named her cats Joe and Jordan. You could say that she was beyond “fan girl” status at that point. As for myself, I caught on to their infectious pop, but wouldn’t call myself a fan. My friend definitely amused me with her fanaticism, so much to the point that I would write short stories about her favorite boy band in a, uh, not so favorable light. Let’s leave it at that, but now I am curious as to where those stories went…hee hee.

I have to say I am so surprised that the New Kids on the Block are reuniting. I figured they’d be so over it, but hey, if you need the money, you need the money. And I think for those people looking to recapture a part of their youth, they’d dish out money for this once-defunct band’s reunion tour.

Way to milk that cow, guys!

Vlog 01: Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted by terri | Filed under family, monku, vlog

When I saw this comic months ago, I immediately thought of my mom:

With a mom like that, it’s not easy to shop for Mother’s Day, let alone do something for her. My first attempt at a vlog features my frustrations with my “Asian mom.”

Read the rest of this entry…

Tags: mother's day, vlog

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Aloha!

Hello from the island of O'ahu in the beautiful state of Hawaii. I am terri, a local girl who at 30 is trying to make sure that life doesn't entirely pass her by. I've recently become engaged and am enjoying living a great life in paradise.