50 years from now -> "I told you so" ?

An Inconvenient Truth is an important film that everyone should see. Despite what the naysayers say, I don't believe the movie is a fraud, a political ploy, or a manipulation of the facts. From what I've read outside of the film, no one in the scientific community disputes the facts and predictions. And the facts are pretty grim. Even before watching this film, we've tried to minimize use of electricity & gas (admittedly, saving money was the primary motivator) and we've recycled everything from junk mail, empty soap boxes, packaging to plastics, aluminum, etc. I've recently seen segments on TV on solar power for homes. I remember the ones mentioned on the show were expensive but perhaps there are more cost effective solutions. Viks and I are now re-thinking about the next car we buy as well. Even if you don't buy into Kyoto, doing the above saves you money. Viks and I joked that perhaps where we live today will soon be beach front property.

The image above of the polar bears has saddened me the most and echo what we've seen on BBC's Planet Earth series. Due to global warming, Polar bears have to swim farther and farther out to get food. While they are good swimmers, they obviously cannot swim forever and many drown.

Sprinkler #3 busted

Sometimes it's really easy to take life's conveniences for granted...until they break. At our house, we have 5 different sprinkler "regions" and I recently started to notice the 3rd region was looking rather dry and patchy compared to the lusher green of the other regions. Being a numbskull, it finally dawned on me that the timer was busted. I had originally thought that since region 3 is under sun exposure for the entire day that it wasn't getting enough water but I didn't bother to check to see that the sprinklers were actually working. *sigh* Our lawn maintenance guy is nice enough to fix these things for me since he did our original landscaping. Until it's fixed, it is a minor inconvenience to have to come out twice a day and manually water the lawn.

BTW, anybody want to come over and help me pull some weeds?

Off the beaten path

As I mentioned in my earlier post, The Last Kiss soundtrack is a winner. I've put it on repeat for most of my work day today. A nice selection of tunes that passes the "you can listen from beginning to the end without skipping a track" test (well, almost..I am not too crazy about track 14).

1. Chocolate - Snow Patrol
2. Star Mile - Joshua Radin
3. Pain Killer - Turin Brakes
4. Warning Sign - Coldplay
5. Ride - Cary Brothers
6. El Salvador - Athlete
7. Hide And Seek - Imogen Heap
8. Reason Why - Rachael Yamagata
9. Hold You In My Arms - Ray LaMontagne
10. Prophecy - Remy Zero
11. Paper Bag - Fiona Apple
12. Today's The Day - Aimee Mann
13. Arms of a Woman - Amos Lee
14. Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (Reprise) - Rufus Wainwright
15. Paperweight - Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk

I never really took notice of "Chocolate" from Snow Patrol's Final Straw CD until I saw the movie. Just shows how music coupled with film imagery are so powerful together. Aimee Mann's "Today's The Day" is my favorite track on the CD.

Bitten by Supplemental Property Taxes -> OUCH

Today I opted out of our impound account due to the "reserve requirements" aka BS fees. When I called my local county tax Colllector today to send my local property tax bill to our home moving forwards, they informed me that I had never paid the supplemental taxes in 2006. The reason I missed it was because the bill was sent to the wrong home address last year. This had completely caught me off guard as being a rookie homeowner I never knew I would have to pay such taxes. I'm still pretty irritated that I have to pay this since it was so unexpected but I guess the faint bright side is that I can deduct the amount for our 2007 taxes.

The Last Kiss

If you liked Garden State, this one is worth a look. I didn't know much about this film going in. From the title, I actually thought it would be a sugary, formulaic, romantic comedy. Now that I've seen the movie, I didn't think it was so much of a comedy. Maybe "dramedy" would be a more accurate description.

The film looks into the lives of a circle of friends in their late 20s going into their 30s and they experience what some might call a pre-mid-life crisis.

Michael (Zach Braff) is not yet engaged with Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) but they are expecting a child together. Jenna believes she has Michael all figured out, that love and marriage is black and white and can be neatly plotted out. Michael is terrified in what he percieves to be the "finality" of marriage. At a wedding, he is drawn towards Kim (Rachel Bilson). Kim's youthful charms and sensuality prove to be a bit too hard for Michael to resist.

Chris (Casey Affleck) is married and has a child with Lisa (Lauren Lee Smith). Their baby was suppose to bring him and his wife closer but that has turned out not to be the case.

Izzy (Michael Weston). Sh*t happens is the understatement of the year for this guy. Just about everything that could go wrong in Izzy's life happens. His relationship with his longtime girlfriend Arianna has recently ended, his father is deathly ill and he is expected to take over his family business.

Kenny (Eric Olsen) is the ultimate free spirit. He lives for the moment and doesn't really fret too much about the future.

We also witness the troubled marriage of Jenna's parents Stephen (Tom Wilkinson) and Anna (Blythe Danner).

While the characters are obviously flawed, they feel real. Just when you are about to not like a certain character, you see a glimpse of a different side to them and you become sympathetic. We can see ourselves or possibly know someone who has been in their situation(s). While the film centers on Michael, Jenna and Kim, the supporting cast is terrific and they are also given enough screen time to allow their characters to be fleshed out. The film also works without being overly melodramatic and doesn't force any life lessons onto you.

Initially I had mixed feelings on the ambiguity of the ending but I now lean more towards it being appropriate and intentional and was somewhat relieved that there was no "Hollywood ending." However, I can also understand how some may feel a little underwhelmed by the ending after all the emotional investment.

Like Garden State, a nice soundtrack is also featured here.

Overall, The Last Kiss is an interesting examination of commitment, the rite of passage in going from your 20s to your 30s, the underpinnings of love, and takes a hard look at the innards of love rather than romance. Stephen: "What you feel only matters to you. It's what you do to the people you love. That's what matters. That's the only thing that counts."

Maggie's high school graduation and getting busted

Viks and I went to Maggie's high school graduation dinner at Kado. Maggie will be going to Dartmouth in the fall and beginning that next exciting chapter in her life. Way to go Maggie :-)

I also got a misdemeanor ticket (section 21456) in Korea town later in the evening for crossing the street crosswalk on a flashing red hand. I was pretty upset as I thought the cop was being really petty but I guess they are more strict in downtown. I'm still trying to figure out my options here.

Blockbuster Total Access

It's summer time which means TV re-runs (and a lot of mindless reality shows). Time to catch up on some great movies missed or overlooked. Last year we rented a lot of movies from Hollywood Video. The deal back then was $14.99 / month for older movies and you could rent three at at time for a five day period. This was fine cause we hadn't seen a lot of those older movies anyway and we didn't want to pay over $14.99 . We had stopped membership after three months upon our list as well as other priorities came up.

This year, the deal with Hollywood Video doesn't seem to be so great. I threw away the flyer.....err...I meant RECYCLED the flyer but the details are here. The key takeaway is that you need pay a minimum of $24.99 / month just to be able to rent two new releases at a time and HV doesn't deliver to your home.

Now I know Netflix is all the rage these days but I personally never liked the fact that you could not return/exchange at a retail store. I want instant gratification! And I want it now!

Blockbuster Total Access is what I consider to be the "best of both worlds." The finer details: There is a 2 weeks free trial period and it's $17.99 / month afterwards (they also have lower prices plans as well). When you first sign up, you create a queue of movies and you have to wait until your first three movies are delivered to you but Blockbuster will give you a coupon for one in store rental while you're waiting for your first three DVDs to be delivered (very fast 1-2 business days). After you receive and watch your mailed DVDs, you can mail them back yourself with pre-paid envelope -or- you can bring them back to the local Blockbuster store and they will let you exchange for three in store rentals. The great part is that while you are watching your three in store rentals, the online queue will still continue to send out your next three DVDs. So you're pretty much never without a movie. The one caveat is that the in store rentals have a 2-5 day limit while the online rentals are unlimited days.

My strategy has been to use the Blockbuster store to get Standard Def DVDs and use the online method to rent HD DVDs since none of the stores around me carry HD DVDs yet.

Some GREAT movies recently rented:
- The Prestige
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Apocalypto
- Happy Feet HD DVD (I thought the movie was OK but the hi-def picture was jaw dropping amazing)

Some HORRIBLE movies recently rented (I want those hours of my life back):
- Pirates of the Carribean The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Van Wilder Rise of Taj
- Smokin' Aces HD DVD ( fantastic HD picture quality but the ending of the movie was a huge let down)

Attempted Fraud!

My Visa card company called me this morning and notified me that some chump had recently tried to charge a large amount from an electronics e-tailer and a small amount from Fredericks of Hollywood. I did not make purchases from either (although for sh*ts & giggles maybe I should have said "Fredericks? *blush* uh... yah, that was my purchase.." ) Luckily I am not responsible for any charges and my credit card company is resolving the issue. I am pretty happy on how swiftly they addressed and corrected the situation.

What I am still stumped on is how the person managed to get my CC #. I don't make online purchases in public areas and when I do I always use "secure connections." The CC rep said that it was possible they might have tried a lot of numbers until they found one that worked. Being paranoid about fraud, I often check my balances online (almost daily) for this sort of thing.

Edit 6/14: I also minimize credit card statements sent to our home. And we shred EVERYTHING incluing our address info. Basically all sensitive info to the best of my knowledge/ability should not be floating around. So even with those measures someone still got the CC #. What a bummer.

Taking some days off

Korean dinner at Sa Rit Gol (3189 W Olympic Blvd). Pretty good hole in the wall. The cod was really good.

We saw a bunch of cops in congregating with their BMW motorcycles in downtown Ventura.

Mission San Buenaventura

Park in downtown Ventura.

Stopping by at a beach off of PCH

Viks had this week off so I took a few days off too. We took a day trip along PCH. Here we stopped to grab lunch at a Patio cafe right off of PCH.

Some good news

Viks recently scored in the 97% percentile nationwide among first year Ophthalmology residents on her OKAP ! *Thunderous applause* So what does this really mean? Well, as I understand it a higher percentile score can help secure an Ophthalmology Fellowship. For a number of reasons, Viks is still undecided on that. I am still pretty amazed how Viks can amass and retain large amounts of reading material in short little spurts here and there. That is something I have never been able to do.

Coming soon ..or maybe not.

Here is a pretty good CBS news story of our company technology showing how "Telepresence" is more than just marketing buzz. For the first time in a long time I really do believe in our old marketing slogan "changing the way we work, live, play, and learn." It's an old slogan but I think it still captures a lot of what our company strives to achieve each day. OK, I'll be the first to admit that, yes, I'm drinking the company Kool-Aid. But seriously, I am a believer that video will significantly change our lives (if I didn't then I am working in the wrong company).

The obvious "work" impact:

• Less commuting (which means less stress on the commuter and more time can be spent doing real work vs being stuck in traffic. Also the commuter saves $$$! on gas) . Do you really think traffic is going to get any better?
  
• Less business air travel
  
• Better corporate/social responsibility: Reducing carbon emissions for a Greener Earth.
• Collaboration takes on a whole new meaning.
  

"live" and "play":

• Less commute time could potentially translate to more quality time with family.
  
• How great would it be to see and talk to your family and friends over your HDTV set? Keeping in touch takes on a whole new meaning.
• A phone call on your mobile handheld can easily become a video call.
• The content you want to watch now revolves around your schedule. Everything is on demand. No more DVRs or HD set top boxes.
  

"learn":

• Overcrowded classrooms are a thing of the past.
• The girl you're "hitting on" in class is in fact living in a different country.

I don't pretend to know all the above outcomes here but you get idea.

Over memorial, I met the brother-in-law of our neighbor who telecommutes at IBM doing IT Project management. It was great to meet another telecommuter. We talked about the joys of working in our boxers, the productivity benefits as well as some of the challenges such as the need to overcommunicate in order to stay visible. I remember thinking at that time how beneficial video might be if I had it. Technically I could set it up a web cam today but I feel the pains (quality, performance, etc) outweigh the benefits. Also the folks on the other side do not use video daily at this time. Which brings me to my main point here. Video is inevitable. It will change our lives in many ways that we may not appreciate or realize today. It will eventually even be Joe-six-pack friendly. But it will take a while. Like most things in life, buying the latest & greatest is cost prohibitive. Same story here. But there is also the hurdle of networking infrastructure. Video is a bandwidth hog. Just looking at the consumer side alone, our 1.5Mbps - 6Mbps broadband connections are not designed for full HD streaming video over IP. As a comparison OTA HDTV uses 20-25Mbps using MPEG2 compression. However, newer codecs, such as AVC (MPEG-4) and VC-1(Windows Media) are now available that can reduce HD data rates to eight Mbps or even below. That may be the trick here. In fact, I -think- that is what our company solution is using today. Broadband networks outside the US ( ie Korea, Japan) are much farther along than we are. On the mobile wireless side, there is still the question of pending 4G standards . I've been reading how we won't see 4G until at least 2015. Bummer if that were true. What about 3G? To my knowledge, there is no form of compression that allows high quality video over 3G networks.