My setup - MacBook Pro, 20in HP monitor, Apple bluetooth keyboard

I hooked myself up with a dual monitor setup yesterday, and as I was putting everything in it’s place on the desk, I was struck by how little brand loyalty I seem to have. Here’s what’s on my desk …

• MacBook Pro laptop
• 20″ HP widescreen monitor
• Apple bluetooth keyboard
• Microsoft Mouse
• Maxtor portable hard drive
• i rocks card reader
• Canon headphones
• Lexmark Printer (out of the picture)

… oh yea, and also out of the picture is my Android phone

It’s probably not what the salesman at the store would have set me up with, but it works for me.

The laptop itself is over 3 years old now. I recently upgraded to the operating system to Snow Leopard, but otherwise the only real signs of age are few smudged letters on the keyboard … which is actually part of the reason that I picked up the bluetooth. I expect it to last at least another 2 years or so.

I got a new desk yesterday, which I’d been needing for a while. I’m really not sure how long this one is going to last (probably not as long as the Macbook). It’s totally cheap! But, it was the only one in the store that had the exact set-up I wanted … with both monitors up on a shelf, and just the keyboard and mouse down on the desk itself.

The widescreen monitor is also new … but it was totally on sale! (sometimes I shop like a girl) Don’t get me wrong, it would have been cool to get one of those Apple Cinema monitors. However, it would have cost at least 2-3 times as much as the HP I got … and to be honest I’d have a hard time believing the picture would be even 2x better. This one is pretty nice.

I’ve run a duel screen monitor set-up with my MacBook before (when I was in Iraq). This time I did something a little different, in that I made the new 20″ monitor the “primary”, and the laptop screen is now my second monitor off on the right side. I usually use that second screen for something like Tweetdeck, or if I want to read while I’m playing poker, I’ll put the table over on that screen and keep my browser here on the main monitor. I do have to give some props to the Mac: switching around the monitor positions, changing resolutions, and even deciding which one will be primary (you just drag the bar from one to the other) is about 10x easier than any dual monitor setup I’ve ever attempted with Microsoft computers at work.

Speaking of Microsoft though, even though I’ve used a Mac for 3 years now, I still haven’t been able to give up my Microsoft mouse. I was almost tempted to get one of the new Magic Mouses yesterday … but the Apple pricing put on a pause on it … the mouse cost the exact same price as the keyboard (which wasn’t at all cheap either). One of these days I’ll take the plunge; just not today.

Well, that’s my set-up. And as my wife would point out, this is where I spend quite a bit of my time when I’m home, I suppose it’s important to be comfortable and happy … lol, although what would make me really happy is one of those cool massaging chairs (hint hint if you’re reading this Ana).

On that note, I hope you’re all having a fun Saturday.

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I got in a couple of times with the girls, and we all frolicked around for an hour or so. But normally, if they had a choice, the girls had other preferences. Jaiden really likes to just play in the little plastic pool pictured above. And most of Jasmine’s friends in the neighborhood have the same above ground pool that we did … so she was always at someone else’s house swimming anyway.

And really the final straw, for Ana anyway, is that we never could totally keep up with all the leaves, grass and especially bugs that ended up floating around in the pool every day. She just thought that was totally gross for the girls to be swimming in.

So, we drained it out, packed it up, and she sold it on craigslist.

Now mommy is happy because the girls can swim in nice fresh clean water every day, and the grass is enjoying the extra drink every evening too. And as for daddy … I don’t have to mess with chemicals, and silly little nets, trying to scoop up every little blade of grass that blew in when Justin mowed the day before …

Summer actually just got a little better for me.

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We came here from Hawaii in 2009. And among many other things that Hawaii has, there is an (over) abundance of military shopping facilities. There was a big BX at Hickam, an only slightly smaller PX at Schofield, and a huge Navy Exchange at Pearl Harbor. Needless to say, we didn’t do a whole lot of shopping off base when we lived in paradise.

Here in Texas, it’s a bit more of a toss-up as to where we go when we need something. On the one hand, the main PX is almost right across the street from our house, so it’s really convenient. But some things, like clothes, they carry mostly name brand/designer stuff, so for a family with a lot of kids, Walmart is actually a little easier on the budget.

Not only that, but remember up above where I said that we have two big PXs here on post? Well, there’s a caveat; even though they are on opposite sides of Fort Hood (about a 15-20 minute drive apart), they are not identical stores. The Clear Creek store, which is over by us, has things like clothes, lawn and garden, kitchen ware, and books. If we want electronics, furniture or sporting goods, you have to go over the Warrior Way PX on the other side of the post. (Ana is actually over there right now looking for a bicycle).

Even if it is a bit of a hassle sometimes, all-in-all the military exchange is a really good deal (tax free, and generally very competitive prices). It one of the better benefits that comes along with serving.

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To say that Jaiden is a “active” little girl, at just under 2 years of age, is a bit of an understatement. Lately it seems like it’s gotten to the point where she gets into pretty much everything. So, as you can probably imagine, “watching” her can be pretty much a full time job. And since I’ve been known to enjoy my “goofing off” time, if I can find a way to keep her quiet, occupied, and out of trouble, I’m all for it.

Barney fits the bill perfectly.

It comes on PBS every day at 12:30, and you’d better believe we record it on the DVR.

Later in the evening, usually while Ana or I is cooking dinner, Jaiden will sit for 30-90 minutes watching (and interacting with) Barney on the TV. She sings along with the songs, dances, and even talks to the characters.

And the really cool thing about kids this age is that they don’t really care too much whether or not the show is “new”. Jaiden will happily watch the same episode over and over again. Along those same lines though, she also loves to watch Nick Jr … Dora, Wubbzy and Kailan are her favorites.

Sometimes I feel like a bit of a “bad parent” for letting the tv be an occasional “baby sitter” .. but then, I think as long as you choose the shows wisely, it’s not such a bad thing in moderation.

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At least 3 or 4 days a week, we do a normal military PT workout. But every Friday is “fun” PT day here at Fort Hood’s 3rd Weather Squadron. We still get together over on the tennis courts for announcements and about 30 minutes of stretching and calisthenics … then it’s off to the field for some real exercise.

Teams are picked, the goals are laid out, and we run down to our respective sides. After the “kick off”, we loosely follow what appear to be the official ultimate frisbee rules, but with a couple of local twists (mainly involving pushup). For instance …

If you try to block someone on the other team from making a pass, and they can tap any part of your body with the frisbee, you have to immediately drop to the ground and do 10 pushups. This definitely has the effect off encouraging caution while playing defense … and thus more exciting offense.

The second “local rule” involving pushup, is that each time the opposing team scores, your team has to “sprint” down to the other end and drop to the ground and do either 10 push-ups or (later in the game) 10 sit-ups before receiving the kick-off.

Despite being primarily a “fun” day, I am of the opinion that this is one of the better workout we get all week … especially for the older guys. Seriously, I’m 41, and if you ever asked me to sprint across a field just for the hell of it, I’d probably look at you like you’re crazy. However, throw a frisbee out in front of one of us old guys, and we’ll chase it down like a golden retriever.

On the flip side, the game is a bit more dangerous than our normal PT sessions. I don’t think a week goes by where someone doesn’t get injured. I’ve been on the wrong end of a twisted ankle, and a bruised tailbone since I’ve been here. Then just last week, another one of the “old guys” broke his finger during the game.

Oh well, it’s still fun.

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Last summer, when I was at training in Florida, Ana bought one of those little above ground pools for the kids. It’s nothing fancy, I can set it up and take it down by myself, but it’s not a quick process, as the thing holds a couple thousand gallons of water.

In the fall, before I left for Iraq, I drained the pool, took it apart, and packed it up for the winter. I expected to reassemble it when I got back this spring. However, I have an impatient wife. So for some reason, she (while 7 months pregnant) decided to set the silly thing at about the end of March (I was still gone). She didn’t put any water in it, but it sat there for a month and a half, so it did accumulate some rain water … enough that a bit of algae had started to grow.

Yesterday was the day that I decided to set up the pool properly for the upcoming summer …

The first step was taking it apart, so that I could get that pesky rain water out. There was just enough nasty, green water, that this task was not nearly as easy as it may sound; but it worked out eventually. Next I had to scrub off the algae … which surprisingly, Was much easier than I expected … a little brushing, and a squirt of clean water from the hose, and it came right off.

Quick reassembly (with as little cussing as I could manage), and positioning of the pool on the least steep section of our absolutely Not flat backyard, and it was ready for water … wait, it would be ready for the water after I found Ana to help me figure out which one of those silly tubes goes in which hole of the pool and pump.

The picture at the top of this post is about 3 hours later. Apparently a couple thousand gallons of water takes a little while to make it’s way out of the faucet, through the hose, and into the pool. Just before dark, I turned off the hose, turned on the pump, and put the cover on the pool. I figured the chemicals could wait until the morning.

Well, morning is here, and pool chemicals is what I’m doing. I added some stuff called Ph minus, then I have to go test the water. After that, it’s the shock treatment, followed by more testing. The the algae guard, and yep, test again. At some point, I know I have to put chlorine in there (I have a whole list of directions), and there’s even some stuff called clarifier, which sounds important. I’ll figure it all out. But really, this seems like it’s a bit more complicated than it has to be, for a pool that we bought for $100 on Craig’s List.

Back in the 90′s, when I was stationed at Opp / Andalusia Alabama, my redneck neighbor Butch had a totally different approach to maintaining a similar type of pool …

We’re standing there on his porch one day, while his kids, and mine, are swimming in his little backyard pool. They seem to be having fun, and I remark to Butch that getting a pool was a good idea. He mumbles yea (he talked like Boomhauer from King of the Hill), and points out that he’s not the only one in the neighborhood with a pool (he literally points) across the way at another pool a few houses down. And that’s where it got funny …

He tells me (with a straight face, and no irony at all) “them neighbors make it way harder than it has to be”

“How so?” I ask.

To which Butch replied: “They use all sorts of them fancy chemicals and stuff … don’t really need em”

Me (curiously): “Well what do you do to keep your pool clean?”

Butch: “About once a week, I just dump a gallon of bleach in that sucker … same difference”

I wanted to laugh, but not really, as I could, at that very moment see my two young kids splashing around in Butch’s pool. Talk about your unintentional bad parenting moments.

Ok, well let’s wrap this up, I have to go back out in the yard and test my “fancy” pool chemicals.

til next time …

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This month’s featured scent is French Vanilla

Every month, at about this time, the UPS guy shows up at our door with a nice “present”. I was going to say “surprise”, but that wouldn’t be quite accurate as I always know in advance which scent we’re going to get. It’s a different “flavor” every single month. For the past couple of years, we would get a literally brand new scent as our candle of the month. But now that the company is almost 9 years old, we have almost 100 active scents, so instead of doing a brand new concoction each month, we now get a rotation of the most popular candle scents for that particular season.

I’m not complaining a bit, as French Vanilla has always been one of my favorite flavor of candles … and I’m not just saying that because they sent me two new jars. I’ve been burning these candles for about 9 years now, and over that time I can pretty much say that you can’t go wrong with any of the fruit flavored or vanilla scents. I’m not such a fan of the flowery ones, but that’s probably just me (lol, and hopefully Ana likes them better, because I think that’s what we’ll be getting over the summer).

Anyhow, I’ve got to go get the girls out of the bath, so I think we’ll end this post here. But, I wouldn’t be much of a marketer (actually I’m not) if I didn’t get in a little plug …

If you so desire, you can learn more at our company website: Todd & Ana’s candle business

Til next time …

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Justin has been skateboarding since he was about 8 years old, and we lived in Hawaii. I’ve been taking skateboard pictures for almost as long. Justin recently came back to live with us here at Fort Hood, and we were happy to discover that there are three skateboard parks here on the post. They’re all relatively small. Nothing like the Hickam Skate Park that we used to go to in Hawaii; with it’s street course, big half pipes, and two huge bowls. But, one of them is within walking distance of our house, and all of them are free.

The one closest to our house is near the Comanche youth center. It can’t be too bad, as the boy is there for a couple of hours every day … along with many other kids, every time I’ve stopped by, ranging in age from 7 to 21. As I mentioned above, there are also two other skate parks on Fort Hood. One is in the center of the post, not too far from the hospital. From driving past, it looks pretty similar to the one we have here at Comanche. Further to the east side of the base, near the Bronco youth center, there is supposed to be a larger (and thus “better” set of ramps). We haven’t made it over there yet, but one of these weekends I do plan to grab my camera and run Justin over there for a couple of hours.

… it should be fun.

What I really like best about the fact that my son loves to skateboard, is that when you combine it with my photography, it’s an activity that we can do together, where we can both participate in our favorite hobbies at the same time.

Below are a few pictures from a “burst” series of pictures which show Justin getting some air, turning in flight, and landing perfectly on the rail. They are in order from shot #1 at the top of the page thru shots 2-4 below:

Til next time …

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When most people think of Texas, they automatically think “flat”. Not so much around here. The part of central Texas where Fort Hood is located, is known at Hill Country … and after riding my bike back and forth to work the past couple of days I can definitely confirm that we have some pretty decent hills around here.

… in fact, that the primary reason I took this picture today. In my post about riding my bicycle to work, my friend Lissie was having a hard time believing that Texas isn’t flat.

Well, I offer up as proof, this picture above which was taken from the top of one of the smaller hills that I had to ride up on my way home from work this afternoon. Needless to say, my legs aren’t too happy with me right about now.

So, yes I can definitely confirm that there are hills in Texas.

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For the next couple of months at least, I will be riding my bicycle (pictured above) back and forth to work every day. It’s not a long trip, I measured it out in the Van the other day, and it came to 6.7 miles. There are however, a couple of pretty significant hills along the way. It should be “fun” the first week or two, until I get used to it.

After a couple of misfires in my search for an inexpensive used car, I finally just gave up and decided to go with the bike idea.

I’ve actually been considering doing something like this for quite a while now. But before I went to Iraq, I already had a car, so it wasn’t as easy to justify going out and spending money on a decent bicycle too. Now, on the other hand, I am carless, and what I spent on the bike only comes to a month and a half or two months car payment + insurance anyway.

I plan to ride the bike at least until the fall when it starts to get cooler. I have two main motivations …

1. Extra Exercise – we already do military PT every day at work. But, I am getting older; plus I really enjoy food, so every lit bit of extra PT definitely helps.

2. Saving Money – I figure even if I got a relatively cheap car, the payments + insurance + maintenance was probably going to cost me something north of $200 bucks a months. While I’m riding the bike, that amount will simply be diverted into “Todd’s car fund”. In addition, I have a sneaky suspicion that gas prices are going to get up over $3 a gallon again this summer (if not sooner). I have to ride right past a gas station every day on the route to work, so if I feel like complaining about the hills, seeing the price of gas should give me a little extra motivation.

I do plan to buy a car before the winter, but I hope to have a better plan by then. Hopefully I can sock enough away with what I’ll be saving to put a better down payment on something a bit nicer. And then even more hopefully, our candle company actually has a car bonus, where they pay for a lease or car payment once you reach a certainly level. Who knows, maybe if I really have a kick butt summer selling candles I can get them to pay for it.

In any case, I’m sure I’ll have a few more stories about riding on hills here in Texas over the coming months … check back often.

Catch up with you again soon,

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