Games, and the world in general

Well, I sit here playing Dragon's Quest IV for the Nintendo DS. I have to say I am having a blast. I found a blog here on blogspot that is great as it has nice pics / a wonderful world map.

Here is the link.

While looking at this blog, I realized: How do these people create the image captures? I realized, I had no idea - if I'd like to do something like this - as to how to do this. I did some research. By just googling, I found a link:
http://www.screencapturenews.com/2009/07/07/capturing-video-from-nintendo-ds/

This was fascinating because I found they actually make a camera! Then of course there are the Emulators - which totally makes me think - NEAT! Am tempted to try out the Emulator. Not sure what I'd do with it, but *shrug* it's something interesting.

I am currently learning Java and having a wonderful time. I have to say I really needed this type of time to learn something new. I am absorbing as a result and I feel like I have time with which to do so. For those that don't know, I was laid off at the beginning of July. The latest QA jobs out there, are looking for people with experience in Java and in JUnit. My Plan?
1) Learn Java
2) Create a couple of apps that my husband has drawn up that would help him in his game tournaments
3) Learn JUnit in the process and build a test system for the apps.
4) Use the Selenium automation tool to automate from the front end
5) Display this all on our newly designed web site as apart of my job interviews.

I have to say, I am quite excited at this prospect. Isn't it amazing what happens when we get laid-off?

As I sit here

It's Saturday and I sit here contemplating the world while Irene is watching the The Backyardigans.  I think that I need to post a pic ... so here we go. This is from our trip in Disneyland this year.  We went to the Disney Princess dinner the first night we got there.  This is one of the shots with Snow White.  Unfortunately , Irene wasn't feeling all that great, so most o the pics with the princesses look like this...but that's fine.

 

I have to say...This is fun! I am going to have to get a digital book or something setup up at Shutterfly soon. :)  

Inspired....

Well I got inspired when reading Liz's posts on her crochet work. So I thought I would post something creative here. The pic I am posting is really old considering that the scarf is now beyond 63 inches in length (am using up the rest of the ball - why waste? ) :) It's a simply K3 P3 and reverse side is P3 K3. I am really enjoying it. Hopefully you can see it. I took the pic with my iPhone so the detail really isn't there. Hmm I think it is time to get my camera back out. I promised to get the Disney pics posted soon anyway. :)

Wanting to be creative

Well, I have to say that I am fighting the urge to just leave work, and go find a good knitting pattern for socks and do my stuff. So much of what I have been needing to do lately is to do something creative - write fantasy, knit something new, work on Irene's new afghan - something. Instead, I am sitting here at work and feeling ho-hum about the world.

Easter is coming up. Family is coming in. I am having to figure out what the heck I am making for the main dinner course. I know I'll do the Cooking Light Grasshopper Pie that my family loves. I know I'll probably do green beans that I know Irene will eat. The question is: What to do for the main course? Maybe I'll ask my brother. Maybe he'd be willing to help me with it...hmm. I wish I felt confident to do a Leg of Lamb. I would *love* to do that. I have the spit stuff for the BBQ *sigh*. My parents have sort shown me. But I think I need to just do it myself. hmm...

Isn't it supposed to be freezing and wet and stuff?

So, it's January, right?  I  didn't miss winter right?  Cause I think I did somehow.  We are currently getting notifications of having 74 degree weather.  I had to dress Irene in short sleeves from her Summer clothes (thank god I keep a few shirts in her dresser). It's 4pm and it's registering at around 72 degrees!!! Oh my lord! It's JANUARY!!!! WTH???

What a great IDEA!

My friend, Emeli, found this recipe.  What a great idea!  You use cookie cutters in the shape of leaves for cutting out cheese. It really looks neat.  Take a look at the pic.

http://www.cooksrecipes.com/appetizer/autumn_wreath_recipe.html

Build a Bear is adorable!!!

A quick note, if you haven't gone to see the latest Build A Bear stuff...oh my.  :)  I think that will be one of Irene's and my outtings.  They have a Reindeer (not Rudolph) as their mascot for the Christmas season. The antlers are adorned with christmas lights...and yes...they light up.  Guess what I am going to be doing!? :D

Jeeez...last post was Sept.  I need to update everyone. Next post.

First Day of School and days after

Well first day of kindergarten was as I thought.  She did great...waved us off at Kinderamp that morning - almost forgot to give me a kiss.  I thought this was ok given that I was expecting a crying fit soon afterwards but none came.  We walked out of the class room and headed across the school grounds to make it back to the car.  Marcus asked me about 1/2 way back to the car how I was doing.  I started to cry at that point.  It's amazing how I am the one not coping. Although I think Marcus was having a bit of a time too - but would admit no such thing.

We picked her up together that afternoon and she was so tired, she could hardly keep her eyes open.  NOTE: This is the first time she hasn't had a nap during school hours. Amazing huh? The rest of the week was hard but no crying fits on her part.  Just my getting over myself and being happy that she was happy.  The first week ended with a stuffed up nose and cold ensuing due to lack of sleep.  It wasn't bad the way colds go..but still made  her nap during the weekend.

Tuesday of this week was my day of getting over myself.  I got to volunteer in Irene's classroom for an hour at my lunch time.  I got there about 5 minutes early and got to listen to the singing from the room.  I found that Irene could be heard all the way down about 5 classrooms down! It was amazing. I laughed so hard.  Once I got into the classroom, I could see that she was very well integrated and happy with the kids around her and with her teacher.  Since partcipating that day, I have been content to drop her off with little to no trouble at all.  I know now that we made a good decision. She'll be fine.

Last day of Pre-School

Well today, we took Irene to see her Kindergarten Teacher for the first time (Mr. Kurley). He is terrific and Irene likes him. We got a boat-load of documentation to go through tonight (homework for parents before school starts! YAY!) :) Anyway I took pics. I'll try to post some tonight. She was thrilled to see the pretend room, and liked the library. She also LOVED the playground. She met a few of her classmates and seemed right at home.

I am realizing though, that tomorrow is going to be rough even so. She's been a drama queen the last couple of days and I expect tomorrow to be no different.

Hold on tight!!! Here we goooooooo!!! (name that TV show).

Counting down

Well I mark today as the last full day Irene will be at Quail Hollow Montessori. She's getting so excited while my heart gets heavier and heavier. I remember the day when Marcus said, "Let's check the school out and see if it is something we want to take Irene to." I can remember coming up with excuses ranging from "we're going back to paying about as much as we paid for full time day care for an infant" to "It's too far to drive. My mileage will sky-rocket" to "I just don't think she is ready". Well we did as much as I dug my heels in and wow! What a difference! The teachers have nurtured her and grown with her since she was 2 1/2. I wish I had a pic of her when she was first there. She was so small, she couldn't reach the faucet to turn on the water in the sink. She had to get a stool. It was adorable. Now, she not only can reach that, but she is mostly capable of turning on water at most adult sinks!

I mark this time because Tuesday is Brooke Knoll's Orientation. We found out her teacher's name is: Mr. Kerley. :) He's awesome. Marcus and I met him at the Parent Orientation back in April. He's a science guy. I suspect Irene will get a serious kick out of it. He's also very gentle and his room is great! I can't wait to see what she thinks! I can't remember if that particular room had computers or not. We'll find out tomorrow.

I'll post a picture of her first day on Wednesday since that is her official day. We won't actually be taking her into her class room that day as she doesn't have class until 11:55am. But will get one of her going into her Kindercamp class that the Parks & Rec has.

Now, if I only had something to make me stop worrying - no..shipping a product is not helping me at the moment.

My little one's graduation pic

I had to share. Irene's teacher took this and put it on her grad certificate.  This is now my new desktop background....I am in love!

An interesting article

So I am not sure who might find this interesting, but a few years ago, my honey (Marcus) introduced me to NPR (National Public Radio).  It's a great talk radio show with loads of different stuff. I listen to it on my way to work in the morning (Morning Edition) and then on my way to picking up Irene (All Things Considered).

About a week ago (maybe less) I got to listen to a section on Morning Edition having to do with recommendations for reading on an Airplane.  It was a combination of both adult and kids books.  It really sounded fascinating..but of course, since I was driving I couldn't write down the books.  So I went up to npr.org and searched.  Lo and behold, here are the recommendations.  I think I'll be picking up a few of these.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91364064

I did a small search.  Some of the books are on http://www.audible.com .

Gathering my thoughts

Well, this year has been a roller coaster. I don't get the feeling it's going to settle down any time soon. January began the era of Grandpa care. June entailed the end of an era with passing of Grandpa Kuchta. The estate is getting in order and as we go through his personal effects there are so many things that have been found. ID cards, and patches from 1919 for service. He was in the army at one point I believe. We've come across a bible that was written in czech. It's positively amazing to see the history.

Things coming:
Change in vehicles. With the gas prices we're getting rid of the Honda Odessey. We're going to a Toyota Prius if fate is kind to us. There is a 4 month waiting list on that one. *rolling eyes*. We'll see.
Estate closer. Fortunately I am an in-law so I am happily ignorant of the process of this for the time being.
Parents going to Scotland.
Getting the landscaping dealt with
Repairing the deck before winter
Re-sealing the deck before winter
Praying our retaining wall can last 1 more year so we can put together funds to deal with that. It's going to be expensive!
Our leaning fence in the front yard

whew..and I am sure i haven't listed it all. But listing helps. I really need to get my notebook check list. I think it will help my brain a lot.

Wii Fit here we come!

Well we were able to purchase a Wii Fit this weekend. :) YAY! that will teach me not to pre-order something that has had a serious amount of hype lately. :D. Got a tip that a shipment was coming in to Toys R Us on Sunday morning. Apparently they got a shipment of Wii's as well. There was a decent line outside when we got there at 9am (they open at 10). Marcus was first in line YAY!. We took it home, unpacked it and had a blast.

I have a Wii age: of 29 based on a fitness test. Still overweight..but when did we not know that one ;) I think my BMI was something like 28.++

Marcus had a Wii age of 44! But what's amazing...his BMI was 22.++!!! Really? Seriously? I am so happy at that. I haven't fattened him up tremendously in reality. His metabolism is really still helping him. We just have to get him moving (which he seemed to know for years). I had serious doubts. I thought for sure he was considered overweight given how I was. But nope!! Just needs to move some more! So we've taken on the Wii Challenge. We're going to exercise on the Wii Fit for 3 months - every day and see how the system works. I have to say it'll be interesting. You never really know your weight, but rather it's based on you BMI which is what is more imporant. It then charts your work so you can see your results as you go. The Wii Fit is actually pretty amazing.

Irene even loves it. We took video yesterday of her learning to hoola hoop! :D it was adorable. My favorite is the ski jump. Tonight is the Yoga. That was hard when I tried it yesterday! Talk about control. Am feeling it in my back. Other things we tried: We did tightrope walking, light jogging, doing headers with a soccer ball into the goal (while missing panda bears and kleats (sp?)). Yoga had a load of different poses that helps you to streagnthen and tone. Aerobics had dancing and many others. The Balance games were just all really inovative. We've unlocked maybe 4-6 extras (Irene having unlocked the most). Tonight I intend to that record holder ;). Unlocking more games and exercises has to do with the amount of time you spend with teh Wii Fit. Irene did 30 minutes. So it looks like for about every 5-8 minutes of work out you unlock something in the early part of the time. I expect that as you work out more, it will take longer to unlock some of the more choice games.

Oh! I believe I mentioned our Wii age above. Let me explain this a bit better: Wii Fit through a series of tests tell you how "old" you are based on your fitness level. It's not your real age it's trying to guess. It's tell you how old your body is based on how good or not so good your center of balance is and how quickly you can correct it. I am sure it is doing much more during the test (not sure what), but it is truly amazing how it works things out.

If you have a Wii, I highly recommend this. Never have I wanted to get off my duff more to do exercise than now. If you want an excuse for a Wii, never could I have imagined a better option for buying a video game system. Non-violent, group entertaining and most of all...just Fun.

In Rememberance

I say with great fondness that I will miss Frank J. Kuchta. He was born Oct 21, 1920 and passed away June 21, 2008. He was 88 years and 8 months to the mark. What a remarkable thing, huh? In case you don't know who this man is, Frank J. Kuchta was the Grandfather to my husband. He was the Great-Grandfather to my daughter Irene. Most of all, he was a man of strength and courage who lived by himself for 22 years after his wife died in rememberance of who she was and how much he loved her. He continued to drive himself around San Jose up until 2 months ago when his health got the better of him.

He's now in a better place, I believe with his wife and his daughter who preceded him. What a wonderful family I married into. I will miss him very much.

Spread the word - Firefox 3 download day

Well I have to say, this probably makes me the geekiest I have been since we decided to stay home for our anniversary and purchase the Wii on the our day. :) Firefox 3 comes out today (June 17) and they are trying to set a world record. :) I thought, "HEY!!! Why not?". So I pledged I would do it today. We're still waiting for the download. But I am looking forward to it. To the right I am going to try to put a button that will allow people to follow along in the geekiness, but if not, here is the link:

http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/

It's been a while since I've been this geeky ;)

Ok.this was funny - The Sons of Kahn

http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2008/05/26/embarcadero_buys_codegear/

Feeling like talking

You know, there comes a time in our lives where we are at a loss for words but want to talk about random stuff? Grandpa, issues, health , life, death, pain, annoyance, Irene happiness, walks, Fieldtrip, trees, HUGE, itty bitty, picnics, birthday parties, worries, sadness, loss, wonder, ways, time, talk, sounds, pretty

whew...that' whats' going through my mind today. Pretty random eh?

I cheer this news with happiness

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/15cnd-scene.html?ref=us

CodeGear has been bought :)

Well, the day finally happened. CodeGear ( a division of Borland Software) has been sold. :) to who? Embarcadero Technologies. Boy was that a mouthful to type. Yes I am happy about this. Yep, I am excited about this. Do I understand it all?? Of course not. But I am happy none-the-less. For those that need a refresh. I am a QA engineer for the Rad Studio development tool. It includes Delphi, C++Builder, Delphi for .NET and C#Builder in a single studio. I was doing genernal IDE testing for the last 5 years. This year I got moved to ActiveX/COM area. I have to say, it's fun!


Here are some posts for your perusal:
http://dn.codegear.com/article/38132

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080507/20080507005272.html?.v=1

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9937966-7.html?tag=newsmap

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/news/sections/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&newsId=20080507005314

There are a ton more out there by the looks of it, but these were the ones I've read. So, I'll be working for Embarcadero Tech soon! I wonder if they'll change building entry way and stuff again? :D