aspir(al)ing

Working It Out.

Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, digital life, tunes

It’s been over month since I got my new iPod Nano, and so I guess it’s about time I write about how that’s working out as well as how I have been “working out.” As I mentioned, I got the Nano with the intent of taking it with me when I take a walk around my neighborhood or wherever else my legs take me (while sparing my iPhone.) It has been rather successful as I have been putting some exercise into my day. It was a little scary that a man that got stabbed to death near my house on my walking route, but nonetheless, I’ve been trying to go whenever I have an evening alone. My energy levels have been pretty good lately and I think taking regular walks has mitigated my stress levels a little bit. Unfortunately I just haven’t been entirely motivated to do it everyday, but I guess I can celebrate the baby steps.

And in the spirit of trying to improve my wellness, I recently obtained a Wii Fit. It was actually a gift from a friend who remembers me from a time when I wasn’t so pudgy. I guess you could call it a “Wow, you got fat” gift, which I can definitely appreciate. I think it’s a rather fun motivator for fitness, though it can be useless if you do everything half-assed. I do wish it had better aerobic exercises, but it’s fairly good for the yoga and strength training exercises, not to mention for being a very expensive scale.

The Wii Fit, like with any “fitness program,” helps you set goals. Without much motivation, I really have difficulty achieving goals, but I suppose I should give this one a shot. I think it’s a matter of really taking advantage of the fact that I have a set work schedule, and that I need to stick to a routine. I guess it’s a matter of being motivated and not so easily distracted by the million other things I want to do. (And most of them involve sitting on my ass at the computer.)

Ha, well let’s see how THAT goes.

If anything, I’ve been able to listen to some fun music and some interesting podcasts while taking my Nano out for my walks. I’ve been tweaking with my playlists and I came up with these 10 songs that I think are the best for moving to. (I’m afraid to say that I haven’t used the Genius feature as much as I would have liked.)

“Just Dance” – Lady GaGa
“Little of Your Time” – Maroon 5
“Gotta Get Thru This” – Daniel Bedingfield
“What You Waiting For” – Gwen Stefani
“My Sharona” – The Knack
“Shake It” – Metro Station
“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” – Daft Punk
“Technologic” – Daft Punk
“Step By Step” – New Kids on the Block
“Fascinated” – Company B

And so the question for you is, do you have a favorite song you like to move to?

Sam…wha?

Posted by terri | Filed under digital life, home, shiny

As I had reported earlier, I finally purchased a new TV for my living room. I have to say that I am quite surprised that I went with a Samsung. For as long as I can remember, my household has always been a Sony one whether it be a TV, VCR, or stereo system. And if we didn’t get Sony, we would get Toshiba or Panasonic. If someone had told me years ago that a Samsung TV would be the centerpiece of my living room, I would have thought they were crazy!

I can be the first to admit that I never thought highly of Korean products. This was not due to my own personal experience, but I guess in the generation that I grew up, it was always about the Japanese electronics. And then, I dated a guy who, as an American, lived in Korea but had very few nice things to say about Korean made products. And on top of that, my mom was born in Japan right before World War II, so you can imagine her attitudes toward anything Korean might have very well rubbed off on me. To make a long story short, I steered clear of Korean-made products despite seeing its growing popularity in the marketplace.

Upon looking for a new TV, I realized Korean and Chinese brands would come up in my search. That was when I had to remind myself that there was once a time when Japanese products were considered inferior. I remember this coming to my attention when I saw a sequel of Back to the Future where Doc thought a circuit was faulty because it was made in Japan to which Marty reponds, “What are you talking about? All the best stuff is made in Japan.” It seems that we have to expect that any country can make huge strides over the course of several years, just like those before it.

After checking out all sorts of reviews and specs and then finally checking things out for myself in person, it became a toss up between a Samsung and a Sony Bravia model. I went with the Samsung because it seemed to have more value for the money, and I was namely impressed with its ability to scale standard definition TV. I bought it at the Aiea Best Buy, a place that Hunny and I normally complain about because of their high prices, but I figured since they were selling the Samsung LN40A530 at the retail price and offered a good protection plan for it, they seemed to be the way to go. They also had a deal where I could get a $100 off a Blu-Ray player, so I dove in and got that too. I really got it as a upscaling DVD player especially since Blu-Ray discs are so expensive. Yet of course, out of curiosity, I treated myself to one: Iron Man is indeed a very cool movie!

So far, it’s been pretty awesome. I think that ‘housewarming party’ I’ve been itching for might actually be a reality sometime soon. Stay tuned!

Finally upgraded!

Posted by terri | Filed under digital life, shiny, video

After much deliberation over which model to get, and whether or not getting a new TV was even a smart idea, I took the plunge and finally purchased a new LCD TV. I got a Samsung LN40A530, which is kind of on the low end of Samsung’s TVs, but it is a current model and it is a Full HD TV. It is a 40-inch widescreen TV, and in the store, it seemed kind of small but it was an entirely different story when I brought it home. This thing is a monster in my house!

I made a really quick video of the unboxing. I shall follow up with another entry later on:

Update: I realized that Flickr will only accept videos up to 90 seconds, so I had to re-upload and repost. As for the time lapse effect, that was just a feature in my P&S camera. In retrospect, I would have picked a different angle, but oh well, it turned out okay. Thankfully we weren’t doing anything embarrassing during the time lapse…hee hee.

Worth the weight?

Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, natsukashii, watashi

I spent my day off alone today, so I figure I might as well do something productive that I can do myself and that of course was cleaning my house, namely my old room. I am ashamed to say that my old room has not seen a cleaning in more than 10 years. It has mostly been used for storage of all my stuff. Up until lately, I’ve been kind of a pack rat, but in my recent housecleaning frenzy, I’ve learned to get rid of stuff — not keeping things just for the littlest sentimental value. You can imagine that it in 10 years, a lot of stuff accumulates and rummaging through it becomes this wonderful trip down memory lane. And though there are so many things I could write about for the sake of nostalgia, I think it’s more appropriate to write about what I realize I need to do for my future.
Read the rest of this entry…

Homework before TV.

Posted by terri | Filed under home, shiny

Even with all this talk of the economy going to the crapper and the crumbling confidence in our markets, I am still thinking of making a big purchase. As I have reported via Twitter, I was deciding between buying a digital SLR camera or a TV for my living room. As much as I would like to get both, I can only choose one.

The scale has tipped toward the television only because it is the most utilitarian solution. If I get the TV, I can give the TV away to someone I know who needs one (desperately.) The TV I currently have in my living room is a 19″ CRT TV which we got from Japan when we lived there. It’s come from Japan, to our house here, to my sister’s and then back here. As to why I want to replace the TV, I think it’s to make my living room a little more inviting. Prior to my housecleaning frenzy, my living room was far from worthy of having a “nice TV.” My house is still far from being picture perfect with needing the carpet cleaned (or replaced, rather) along with a paint job, but I think having a bigger TV will not be out of place in it. Another big motivation is that of being able to play multiplayer games on a bigger screen; a 19″ screen just won’t do when you’re playing Mario Kart or Mario Party on a Wii.

Read the rest of this entry…

A new member of the family.

Posted by terri | Filed under geektech, shiny, tunes

What a pleasant surprise on a day off that I had to spend sick at home:

I got my iPod Nano delivered 3 days earlier than expected!

Read the rest of this entry…

All pho feeling better…

Posted by terri | Filed under health, tabemono

Just when I write about needing to find a doctor, I find myself getting sick with a scratchy throat. And a scratchy throat can only mean one thing: heading all the way across Ala Moana during lunch for pho. For others, pho is the food of choice for a hangover, but seeing as I don’t drink (um, anymore), it has become the food for relieving symptoms of a cold. Whenever I’m sick, I always find some comfort in some pho. That yummy broth and its rice noodles of that perfect texture taste so good when I’m feeling icky.

Chicken Pho from Bale in Ala Moana

I’m probably going to take this opportunity to find more establishments that serve pho while I’m under the weather as I don’t care to eat it when I’m feeling well. I’ve been to Pho Viet in Aiea and several Bale locations on the island. I have never found a bowl of pho that I didn’t like, but I know some are better than others. Next stop tomorrow on my day off will probably be Pho Five-O in Waimalu. I hope it’s good, and I hope that I can get rid of this bug.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Posted by terri | Filed under health, watashi

Anyone in my closest circle knows what I fear doing the most: going to the doctor. I have indeed gone to great lengths throughout my life to avoid going to see one. It has a lot to do with my self-consciousness and my strong belief that the body can heal itself just fine. On top of that, my very few experiences with the doctor were rather horrible ones. It has probably been ten years since the last time.

I can only hold out for so long.

Lately, I’ve been feeling sluggish and fatigued, and what’s worse is that I find myself having trouble concentrating. Hunny has been telling me time and again to get my thyroid tested as these problems with functioning are symptoms of hypothyroidism. Seeing how he knows what he knows and reading about it on the internet, I am inclined to believe it.

Though I am nowhere near death’s door, I certainly am feeling a sense of my mortality these days. And so, the white flag is raised, and I am making the commitment to finally see a doctor. Hunny has an endocrinologist I can go see, but I also need to make the commitment to find a primary care doctor. Hunny knows first hand that not all the doctors are the same. The problem is, I don’t know where to begin in finding a doctor that is right for me. Best start is my insurance provider, of course, but it still won’t help me narrow it down.

I am open for ideas as I figure this out. I am so down for feeling better.

Moving on in…

Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta

I went ahead and moved everything lock, stock, barrel to my new domain here at aspiraling.com. As to how I came to this decision, I have an explanation here in my About page.

Moving into a new webspace allowed me to explore more WordPress themes and revisit my php skills from long ago. I have been rather pleased with the result. I’m wondering if I will put as much effort in my actual blog entries. I find myself lacking focus when it comes to composing any kind of narrative, but when it comes to coding and tweaking things, I can stay on it until the entire night is spent and gone.

And so it’s time for bed…

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…

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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.