Thanksgiving Kraze

Did anyone go crazy shopping for After Thanksgiving Sales?

As always, I never made it to the 5AM shop til' you drop deal. I woke up this morning at 4:30AM to pee and went straight to bed. Then I woke up at 8:30 and thought, maybe I'll go to Walmart and BestBuy to see what's left. I went shopping for exactly 1 hour and came back with nothing. I almost bought this orange flavored chapstick but that was it. Very disappointing sales this year. Or maybe it's just Hawaii because the ads had nothing interesting on sale! I also did one stupid thing. I looked at the Fry's Electronic ads AFTER the sale. I wanted so many things!!! One being the wireless PSII controllers, and the wireless PCcard, the 300GB hard-drive, PSII games...

Next year, next year...hopefully I'll wake up :)

My TiVo Review

When it comes to TV, I am very picky and needy. You may have heard from many TiVo owners that the technology is great. No doubt TiVo can do many wonderful things. However, I would not praise it like others have. Here is why:

1. Cannot record more than 1 show at the same time: This is a BIG negative because many of the shows I watch overlap! To overcome this problem, I split the cable to both TiVo and the VCR so I can record at least 2 shows at the same time and watch a third one.
2. Cannot record one channel and watch another with TiVo features at the same time: Could be good because if you set up the TiVo to record earlier in the week and you forgot the show is on that day while you are watching TV, the channel switches automatically to the channel being recorded. This problem is easily fixed because TiVo uses one of the TV's INPUT channels. So if you want to watch another channel, switch back to regular TV and watch anything you want. However, once you switch, you no longer have the TiVo features.
3. TOO many options: Wondering why this is bad? Well if you are used to the "regular" VCR type of recording shows, setting the timer manually, the TiVO may make you confused and frustrated in the beginning. You have options on 4 quality settings, record on time or a couple minutes early/later, and when to delete the show from memory. You can leave these settings alone but seeing all these options pop up could be overwhelming.
4. Not enough manual options: TiVo sure has many capabilities but one thing that bothers me is the timer setting. Let's say you like to record a show from 1:00 to 2:32 (2 minutes extra because you want to see preview for next time). If you want to record another show after that and you set it from 2:30 to whenever, the TiVo gets confused and asks if you like to clip the previous recorded show by a couple minutes. If not then there is no option for you to start recording the second show 2 minutes later! If you go to manual set up, the time settings are in 5 minute increments so you are bound to miss 5 minutes of either show depending on what you decide to do.
5. Multiple remotes: If you often like to watch one show and record another at the same time, then you are bound to play with multiple remotes. When you are watching TiVo, you use the TiVo remote. If you switch back to regular TV, you use the TV remote. If you have stereo system, you use a different remote. Ok, then you have the VCR remote. Confusing ey?

Told you I am needy. Apart from the negatives, TiVo is worth the money. Below are some of the things I like about TiVo. You can go to TiVo's website for full listing of capabilities.

1. FF, RW, Pause: You can do all those for 30 minutes while watching a show. If you are like me and like to watch TV and do work at the same time, you are bound to miss something interesting. Not to worry, you can go back at least 30 minutes and watch what you missed. Oh and if you have to pee in the middle of a movie, pause it! Take your time to pee and won't miss a thing. This feature is great for watching sports.
2. Ease of recording: In a hurry in the morning but you really have to record a show? No problem. You can set up the TV to record in less than 10 seconds (if you know what you are doing).
3. Watching recorded shows: No more waiting for the tape to rewine back to the beginning. You can pick a show and watch with just a click of a button. Oh and don't you hate it when you over fast forward the commercials and you have to rewine it back to the end of the commercial? Well, it won't happen with TiVo. If you over FF the commercials, TiVo will automatically go back to the end of the commercial! Neat ey?
4. Organized: TiVo is very good at keeping everything organized. The "To Do List" has a list of shows you set up to record. The "Now Playing" has a list of shows you need to watch.
5. Season Pass: Set up a show for season pass and you will never miss your favorite show because TiVo will autmatically record all the new episodes for you. You don't need to set up the TiVo to record every single week!
6. TiVo suggestions: TiVo will come up with a list of shows you may like to watch when you start watching TV. This is great because you get to watch the old shows that are not worth the money to rent. Just go to "TiVo Suggestions" every now and then and see what it has for you. Just yesterday I recorded "Silence of the Lambs" because TiVo suggested it. Oh and also "Gremlins 2", hee...
7. TV grid: When you press the "TV grid" button on the remote, it will give you something similar to the Yahoo!TV grid. You get to see all the shows playing now in all channels.
8. Favorite channels: TiVo has the option for you to set up a list of your favorite channels. You can set it up so that when you want to record or look at the TV grid, only your favorite channels appear. You don't have to waste time by going thru all the other stupid channels.

If you are looking for a reason to buy TiVo, the only reason you need is that you watch ALOT of TV. Otherwise, I advise you not to buy it because you won't benefit much with TiVo.

Quest for the 3 eye dude

Believe it or not, I have never watched Toy Story I with the cute 3 eye alien. For the past 2 weeks or so, HappyOblivion and I were particularily crazy about this little guy. When we walk to go play basketball, we always stop by Foodland (supermarket) to check out the 3 eye dude trapped in toy machine where you have to use a claw to grab it. We could not get to him because he was stuck in a corner against the glass. So we decided to go on what we call a "Quest for the 3 eye dude." HappyOblivion looked online for all the Foodland locations on Oahu and for 2 separate days, we went to at least 3 locations each day. The first day was disappointing. We put $5 and got nothing. They were so cute but stuck. One of them had another stupid looking girl doll on top of him and was flashing her naked butt as us. I was so mad!!! Anyway, the second day, which was 3 days ago, we went to another supermarket (Starmarket) and thought we'd go check it out. There he was, lying face up on the top waiting for us to grab him. First dollar in, nothing. Second dollar, HappyOblivon strategically calculated the angles and mathematically worked out the curvature of the claw and he got it! We saw the claw grab it, slowly go up and down he goes into our hands. I bet he was saying "the claw, the claw" when the claw grabed him. We were so happy and loud that the people in the cashier registers looked at us. Well, what can I say, it was hard work. We also could not find any toy store that sells these guys. Starmarket is a truly five star experience!

Tea for 2 & 2 for Tea

This is by far the best Pillbury creation. If you love Pillsbury biscuits but don't want to eat 8 all at once, then this new product is for you. The biscuits come in vacuum sealed packs with 2 in each pack. Perfect for two. The commercial is just so very cute! Muah!

http://www.pillsbury.com/View/breads/perfectportions.asp