Feral pigs draw legislator's wrath

I will be crying :( I love feral pigs. They are so cute!

Concern about the increasing intrusion of feral pigs into residential areas has led to a proposal to declare open season on the animals and establish a bounty, over the objections of the state agency that promotes both hunting and protection of forest lands.

The threats posed by expanding pig populations include increased erosion, threats to native species, the spread of weeds and perhaps even increased flooding, said state Rep. Kirk Caldwell, D-24th (Manoa-University), who introduced HB2942, which calls for year-round hunting and an undetermined cash bounty for each pig killed.

Caldwell said that in his own district, pigs may have contributed to the devastation of the Oct. 30, 2004, flood that caused millions of dollars of damage in Manoa Valley. He said pigs have wiped out the undergrowth that normally slows runoff and soaks up rainwater.

"What's becoming clear is that the undergrowth in the back of the valley is getting really depleted. I went back there and it smelled like a pig sty," he said.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources opposes the bill. In testimony submitted to the House Water, Land and Ocean Resources committee on Friday, the agency said it has the authority on its own to remove seasons and bag limits, but there are reasons not to promote hunting in specific areas. The department supports meetings in communities with problems to develop solutions.

"Declaring wide-open seasons and methods would conflict with many current uses such as hiking, gathering forest products and dog walking. Portions of the Honolulu Watershed Forest Reserve in Tantalus and Manoa are not normally open to hunting because of the proximity to residential areas and the high public recreational use on the trail network in this area. Opening these areas up would put many more hunters and dogs in residential areas on a frequent basis," the DLNR said.

The committee approved the proposed measure anyway, and the bill likely is headed next to the House Finance Committee.

Woodlawn resident Sarah Preble said yesterday she has had 17 feral pigs removed from her two-thirds of an acre in Manoa Valley. She said pigs coming down the mountainside feed on her landscape plants and have left her family fearful to venture to the back of their property.

"We lived here more than 30 years before the pigs appeared. Now my granddaughters, aged 10 and 12, will not go more than 5 feet beyond the back deck without an adult. They're afraid," Preble said.

Kailua resident Mary Ikagawa said government and private agencies are spending vast amounts of money and time trying to protect the native forest at the same time the state is protecting pig populations by using closed seasons and bag limits. She said the animals are clearly one of the most severe threats to the native forest.

"The policy is brain-dead. Given what we know now, there should not be any sort of limit on the take of feral ungulates," she said.

O'ahu hunters who attended Friday's committee hearing said one of the issues for controlling the animals is lack of access. They asked the Legislature to help ensure the same kind of liberal access to mountain areas that the public has to coastlines.

The DLNR in its testimony opposed bounties, saying they generally are ineffective and may have negative consequences such as encouraging people to breed pigs, illegally hunt in areas without bounties, and trespass and poach on private lands.

Regardless of whether bounties are approved, it is clear the state needs a permanent open season on pigs with no bag limits, said Marjorie Ziegler, executive director of the Conservation Council for Hawai'i.

"Feral pigs should not be allowed to roam freely in our native forests, watersheds and private property," Ziegler said.

Naturalists working in the Ko'olau Mountains of O'ahu regularly find soil churned up by pigs, soggy wallows, native plants ripped up, and increased erosion, all caused by feral pigs, said Ryan Smith, project coordinator of the O'ahu Invasive Species Committee.

"Pigs are probably one of the most damaging invasive species," Smith said.

The problem exists statewide, with millions of dollars spent to install fences around national parks and other sensitive areas.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Unbelievable!

Do not ever buy Canon Elura 50 digital camcorder. Why? I bought this thing in 2003 and recorded no more than 10 hours of video. Now, the playback on the camcorder itself is completely garbled. I cleaned the heads and still no improvement. I called the customer support guy and he thinks I am stupid or something. Since there is no improvement with the head cleaner, you will have to send it in for fixing. Oh how much will that cost. Freakin' $140 and I don't even know what they are fixing. I have to send it in, they estimate the cost, I pay, then wait months before I could get my DV back. He didn't have a good attitude either so I got angry and hung up on him. I hate this mess!

The Bus

Many interesting things happen on the bus. Those who ride the bus will know exactly what I mean. One in particular that never seems to go away is what I call the "Comfort seat" phenomenon. I love the window seat because I get to sit next to the window, duh! What's more boring than looking at the passing cars on the road every single freakin' day. Well, today was no different. I get on the bus and sat at the farthest 2 seater window seat...I mean at the back of the bus. At the next stop, an old lady gets on and passes all those empty seats in the front and middle of bus and sat next to me. Do I have a sign on my forehead that says "Come sit next to me, I am nice"? This is not the first time either! Are old ladies attracted to me or something?

Another incident...I was on the bus going to school. A big guy got on and sat next to his "friend" (you'll know what I mean with the quotation marks). They were catching up and here is their conversation, roughly. I skipped all the catching up part because it was boring.

Big guy: "So, where are you going?"
Skinny guy: "To school."
{Me thinking - C'mon! He only had a huge backpack on!}
Skinny guy: "So, what are you studying?"
Big guy: "I want to go into Psychiatry. You know the whole emotional thing, I am good at helping people with that."
{Me thinking - Ok, pretty decent guy. He has a goal in life.}
Skinning guy: "Are you still working at that one place?"
Big guy: "No, I got fired."
Skinning guy: "Oh really? What did you do?"
Big guy: "It's not like I did anything wrong. I just got into a heated argument with my mom which escalated and escalated and we fought. The cops came to arrest me. My boss didn't want trouble so he had to fire me. He really likes me and I understand why he had to fire me."

{Me thinking - Wow, fight with mom...didn't do anything wrong...wants to go into Psychiatry and help people. I am so confused}

Big guy: "Well, it was nice talking to you. I'll see you around."

Skinny guy: "Bye!"

The big guy stood up and sat at another seat. He didn't get off the bus until like 3-4 stops after.

{Me thinking - This guy is coo coo for cocopuffs!}

24 Hour Fatness

A few days ago, I went to the Aloha Run Expo. It was full of free stuff and games too. Best of all, I was lucky for once and won 2 shirts, a soda, a bag, a water bottle, and a multicolor wrist band. How great is that? Then 24 Hour Fitness comes along and ruins everything! There was this guessing game thing at the booth - if you guess your fat percentage correctly, they will give you a free shirt. I regularly check my fat percentage on my lovely fat scale at home and I am about 16%. The stupid guy at the booth poked me a couple times, criticized my relaxed posture, and came up with 27% fat!!! Not only that, he gave me a few tips to being healthy. He said, "When you stand, try not to bulge your stomach out. Stand upright, especially when working on the computer. Your fat percentage is ok but you can do better. Take some time and walk around more." I swear I was gonna punch his eyes out, kick his fat belly, and shave his ugly curly stinkin' hair (which by the way is sort of like Lionel Luther's hair). Then I will challenge him to a swim race where I swim backwards, continually kicking him in the face. Who the hell is he to give me "how to be fit and healthy" lessons when he obviously has not been working out for the past decade!~%$@!!!

Marking 25 years of wild panda conservation

Washington, DC – This month marks WWF's 25th anniversary of wild panda conservation in China. On December 23, 1980, WWF and Chinese researchers headed into the cold mountains of southwestern China to conduct the first-ever intensive research programme on wild pandas, their habitat and their behaviour. A quarter century of work moved giant pandas from the brink of extinction to a solid foundation for survival if conservation efforts continue.

According to the results of a survey conducted by WWF and China's State Forestry Administration, there are nearly 1,600 pandas in the wild, over 40 per cent more animals than previously thought to exist. The last panda survey in the 1980s found around 1,100 giant pandas in the wild.

“Contrary to popular myth, wild panda conservation is really about saving their forest homes, not improving their breeding,” said Karen Baragona, head of the Species Conservation Programme at WWF-US. “We are making sure that pandas have a safe and healthy place to live.”

Protecting panda habitat means protecting some of the richest temperate forests on Earth that shelter more than 100 other mammals, 250 bird species, and thousands of other animals as well as the water supply for 400 million Chinese people.

“The most pressing threat to wild pandas is habitat fragmentation from economic development activities like road construction and timber extraction,” said Baragona.

Across the panda's range, habitat is fragmented into many isolated patches — some just narrow belts of bamboo 1,000–1,200m in width. Within these patches, a network of some 60 nature reserves protects nearly half of the panda's habitat. Small, isolated populations have less flexibility to find new feeding areas during periodic bamboo die-offs. WWF works with the Chinese government to reduce threats to panda habitat, restore forests and reconnect isolated patches by establishing new panda reserves in critical corridor areas.

Protecting panda habitat sometimes requires unusual efforts. Communities living on the outskirts of panda reserves often extract fuelwood — illegally but of necessity — from inside the reserves, amounting to about three tons a year per household. In several pilot sites, WWF has offered farmers energy efficient stoves fueled by manure. Reconfigured pig sties and restrooms capture waste in a reactor tank and the gas produced in the tank is fed to stoves for cooking. With waste from just two pigs, a family can cook three times a day for at least ten months of the year without taking fuelwood from surrounding forests. People are happy with the arrangement because it saves the time and effort of collecting fuelwood, their food cooks faster, and odor and insects have been virtually eliminated from pig sties and toilets. Now the provincial government is considering subsidizing widespread conversion to biogas stoves.

WWF became the first global conservation organization to work in China and opened the door to new conservation opportunities that benefit wildlife, places and people in the world’s most populated and fastest growing nation.

Over the past twenty-five years, WWF achieved numerous conservation successes in China — from laying the foundation for a scientific panda conservation plan to bringing Pere David’s Deer back home to protecting millions of hectares of critical wetlands under the Ramsar Convention.

Small conservation achievements underlay larger ones. For example, WWF helped local villagers make and oversee plans for restoring reclaimed farmland to its former wetland state near Dongting Lake in Hunan Province. Villagers also participated in developing alternative livelihoods compatible with wetland conservation, establishing fish breeding and eco-agriculture associations. Over the course of this WWF restoration project, household incomes increased fivefold.

But, there are many challenges to building a sustainable future for China. WWF is still working to halt biodiversity loss in China, stop the degradation of freshwater systems and water quality, and build a culture of sustainability among other efforts.

For further information:
Caroline Liou, Deputy Communications Manager
WWF China
Tel: +86 1065227100 ext. 3239
E-mail: caroline@wwfchina.org

Funny thing

My parents LOVE to snack and well, me too :) They told me they gained weight lately and I advised them to exercise and cut down on the snacks. I mean, sugar and nuts are great but not excessively. Then my mom said something really hilarious which kind of backfired at me. She said, "Well, if I finish all the snacks, then I don't have to worry about snacking anymore. So I'll just finish everything up then go on a diet." I told her it doesn't exactly work that way. I advised them to snack at a minimum (so they last longer) and exercise at the same time.

So I found these really yummy oatmeal crisps in my snack cabinet and I started... They are semi-sweet, thin, and totally delicious. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, they are there to make me happy. Just now, I realized how much I have been indulging myself with these stupid oatmeal crisps and I want to stop before I gain weight. So I was thinking, "Hmmm...I'll just finish them up then I don't have to worry about a thing." Well, it turns out my mom was right. It's really hard to stop snacking when you've been doing that since you were born. Oh, I just realized something else. This philosophy goes with Cheetos, Cheese Puffs, my sister's almond cookies, and everything else!

Smallville #100

Those who are fans of Smallville, who do you think will die in the 100th episode? I could've watched the episode today but the stupid UH Rainbow Wahine game is on and postponed Smallville until Sunday. I can't wait! I have been such a bad girl...I went to the TV spoiler websites to find out who will die but they just got me more confused. I know it was a bad thing to do but I could've known today if it were not for the schedule change. Grrr! I love Chloe so I want her to stay. I seriously don't think Chloe will die because who will watch Smallville when she's gone? Lana is not going to die because I saw another scene with her and Clark in the preview. That leaves Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent. Now the car crash was a red truck...who drives a red truck? I am thinking it's Jonathan Kent because he is being recruited to another show so WB is cutting him off Smallville.

Worst Nightmares

What the hell is going on???

UPN and WB are merging into CW? How "original" can they be with the stupid name. And...current UPN and WB programs likely to find their way onto the new network include "America's Next Top Model," "Gilmore Girls," "Supernatural," "Veronica Mars," "Girlfriends," "Reba" and the WWE's "Smackdown." Okay, what about Smallville, One Tree Hill, and Charmed? They can't just merge without the viewer's consent. Afterall, WE SUPPORT THEIR FREAKIN' ASSES (obviously I am beyond mad). And what about the TV schedule? This is all messed up. Why can't they just keep everything the way it was! Grrr...ridiculus and absurd!!! You can read the stupid story here.

Disney buys Pixar? Why does Disney always have to be Number One! "The addition of Pixar significantly enhances Disney animation, which is a critical creative engine for driving growth across our businesses," Iger said in a statement. Do your own work cheater! You can read this stupid story here.

Nothing makes sense anymore. The fate of my favorite TV shows are in peril and now I have to "LIKE" Disney since there is no more Pixar!!!

Mochi-tsuki

The Ohana Festival was held today at the Japanese Cultural Center. Of course, our piggish nature would never miss an opportunity to pig out. As expected, the line for the Okonomiyaki booth was a mile long since okonomiyaki, a Japanese style pancake/pizza, is not served in many restaurants and is supposed to taste very good. Since the line was too long, we decided to hop over to the Andagi booth. The most interesting part of the festival was the mochi pounding (mochi-tsuki) demonstration. Mochi is made first by steaming large batches of mochi-rice, which is then placed in a huge stone basin (usu) for pounding. Strong men use large wooden hammers (kine) to beat the rice-dough in a rhythmic manner. If their timing is off, someone may get hurt.
When the rice-dough is ready, it is pinched off in small balls and filled with azuki (a sweet bean paste) or other yummy sweet ingredients. This is first time we ate fresh mochi and it tastes really good!

I can see!

After nearly a whole year of procrastination, we finally told the owner our ceiling light fixture is broken. We weren't living in the dark ages all this time. The room was bright even with only one floor lamp. However, after I rearranged the room to a more reasonable and practical layout, I found a working ceiling light would really help to brighten my workspace. Prior to the rearrangement, my desk was next to the balcony where the morning sunlight would creep through the window screens and the curtains, eating my computer screen. So I moved the desk to the opposite side of the the room next to the kitchen where I sacrifice an airy open space for a darker yet breezy and more workable location. With the ceiling light, now I can see!
Inspired by the show FreeStyle on HGTV, I rearranged the living room/working area all by myself.

Home...is wonderful

I don't think any of my friends that are studying away from home are as homesick as I am right now. Everytime I leave San Jose, I have this terrible feeling. I thought I would get better at coming and going but it gets worse. I think I have been so close to my family, especially my parents, that I hate the notion of leaving home and being away from my parents. I try really hard to comfort myself but I just end up missing my family even more. I thought of calling my parents every hour, preventing them from doing anything but answer my calls so they get sick of me...hee hee. My baby niece, who just turned one year old, was so thoughtful to call me when I landed. She repeated, "wah wah wah gu gu wah po po wah". Well, one way to comfort me is to plan my next trip back home :) If only I didn't have school and work.......

Now I will go develop huge pictures of my family to put on the wall. Their heads in the pictures will be so big, bigger than my head! Real people size!

Dream couch

For the past few months, our coffee table has been leaking (sounds kind of disgusting) ... dropping (ah, better word) powdery wood particles on the carpet. It's like bird droppings, one poop here and there. We didn't know what it was so we just left it alone. Then a week ago, we looked under the table and saw 4 piles of powdered wood. We thought, hmmm...maybe it's time to buy a new coffee table. And so begins out quest for a new coffee table. Let me say the furnitures in HI are EXPENSIVE! A freakin dingy end table is $200. Imagine how much a coffee table will cost! On our quest, we found the perfect one and we absolutely love it. It's a bit on the pricy side for mainland people but it's considered a good price for Hawaiians. We love it cuz' it's small and stylish. For $200, this is a pretty good deal in HI. An ugly coffee table at Walmart costs $130. Might as well invest for something nice now and take good care of it. We were going to buy it yesterday but we laid out our options again.

1. Keep the table and wait until it falls apart
2. Get rid of it and not buy a new one ever again
3. Use boxes and a cloth to cover it (college style)

HappyOblivion thought the little creatures eating the table might invade our entire apartment so either way we are getting rid of the table. I guess he is right.

We also did a little window shopping and I found the couch and coffee table set of my dreams. I say dreams because the darn thing costs $13,000.

Christmas Lights

We went chirstmas lights hunting all over Oahu the other night. It's always fun looking at what people have done to brighten up the holiday season. These houses were also on the news, that's how we knew where to look. First we went to Hanapaa street in Kapolei. Three houses were fully decorated from top to bottom. One house even had a christmas tree made with empty beer bottles.
This house had a choo choo train that smokes up every 10 minutes or so. It's really cool! The little guy in the middle moves his hands up and down playing the drums. The next house had a family of snowman and cute looking penquin. I bet the 2 ballons at the very top were bought at Costco, hee hee. Then we went to Kaiakua street in Ewa. The entire street was decorated with christmas lights. This house tood out for obvious reasons. People were actually singing carols at this house. We got scared so we ran away. This was at somebody's backyard. The entire entrance was blocked off by all these Costco bought decorations. Well, at least remember seeing them at Costco. So creative! The most creative and cutie gingerbread boy and girl I have ever seen. They are so adorable. Last stop for the night was Honolulu City Lights. The decorations were the same as last year's so nothing too dramatic. Of course, you can never miss the shaka Santa and the beautiful and gigantic Christmas tree right outside of City Hall. Every year the City Hall display the Christmas tree and wreath contest. These are the ones I like the most even though they may not be first place.

X'mas R2D2

Hallo everyone! HappyOblivion bought me a really super duper cool Christmas gift. Well, he gave it to me a couple days ago but I didn't have time to blog it. It is a 17-inch R2D2 robot! It responds to commands, dances for you, and plays games with you too. If you pat him on the head too hard, he gets mad and doesn't listen to you. Oh and if you yell at him, he runs away. For some odd reason, he never listens to me but always listens to HappyOblivion. I say bad R2 and he shines a red light at me. I tell him to go patrol the room and he wants to play hide-n-seek with me.

Pride & Prejudice

The romance, the love, the frustration all portrayed so beautifully in the very little encounters they had. One scene captures your heart and leaves you breathless all because "You have bewitched me body and soul". Such peaceful happiness as the story concludes with "Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy..." I absolutely love this movie. Matthew MacFayden and Keira Knightly are spectacular and their performances are flawless. I urge you all to watch this movie because once is just not enough.

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

TiVo

As most of you already know, HappyOblivion and I are HUGE TV fans. We are also extrememly busy and sometimes we don't have time to watch all the shows for a particular day. Now, the VCR can only record one show at a time but often we have to watch 2 shows at the same time. What to do? We bought a TiVo!!! It was a great deal and it was very hard to resist. I figure now it's the time to buy it since we are both very busy. Yeah yeah, $13/month but if we pay the lifetime fee we don't have to worry about anything until the DVR breaks down. I am so excited!!!