11.12.2009

The Little Hilarities of Predictive Text

Ok, so everyone knows that predictive text is a little bit... asynchronous. Like when you think you're putting in a word with a series of three or four button pushes, but forget to cycle through the choice your program predicted for you in order to get to the real one, sometimes the consequences can be unintentionally hilarious. Or alternatively horrifying. I think I'll share some of the long list I've compiled over the years in little snippets. The first that comes readily to mind is "Cafe Rio." We all love their delicious Tex-Mex cuisine, picked-fresh pico de gallo, hand-stretched tortillas, and delicious cilantro-lime cream dressing. You almost feel naughty eating it. Thus, when you try to text your friends, it's only appropriate that the first option that pops up is... Cafe SIN. Imagine what their Key Lime Pie or Sweet Pulled Pork would be like if the grim reaper or the cherubim were making it... I imagine it would still be pretty darn good. Have you guys noticed any? Send over the best, funniest, or most damning you can think of. Cnt w8 4 m.

11.10.2009

Back and Ready for Action

Well, the wedding went wonderfully, the honeymoon was a dream, and the wifey and I are settling into the first weeks of marital bliss. Erin has been cataloging some of it, and wrote a fantastic post about the honeymoon here. The best part about our trip to Cozumel? Erin loved it. Who knew I would so enjoy spoiling mi amor? :D But now, back to reality. Which can be rough sometimes. Don't get me wrong, it's SOOOOO much nicer having my best friend around all the time, and suddenly the little stressful things seem to melt away when I get to wake up next to my wife, but reality has a tendency to hit hard when you're coming back from a vacation. And in that reality I have observed some things. Here are a few of those nuggets I have observed about the immediate post-honeymoon. People LOVE us. And People LOVE Pyrex. Why not combine those loves? We feel so blessed and loved and appreciated by all those people who came to wish us well, send their love, and help us as we start our new lives. We will never be able to thank everyone adequately for what they have done for us, both in terms of gifts and financial support, but also for their friendships and their relationships with us. That said... enough mushy stuff. That's not why you people read this blog, I think. So, the love often came in the form of Pyrex. That magical glassware you can bake with. Think I'm kidding? Let me put it this way: we got a lot of Pyrex. To the tune of 40+ pieces. We could open an industrial kitchen in our apartment with the cookware we've received. Again, we're extremely grateful for it. We've already used it. And a lot of it. It's amazing to walk into the apartment and see our piles of gifts occupying their own corners of the living room: We have the "To Use" pile, filled with useful, creative, fun, and unique gifts. We have the "To Return" pile, filled with useful, creative, fun, but unfortunately not unique gifts (THREE sandwich makers. Someone was obviously receiving my Christmas Wish Lists as a teenager). And we have the mighty "Pyrex" pile. I'm going to try to stack the Pyrex to the ceiling tonight. Just for fun. Midnight's not so bad. It's 6:45 am that is the real "Witching Hour", a time of the day invented by Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies himself in order to torment the souls of men. That's why my alarm goes off at 6:40. And only later does it go off at 6:45. And then again at 6:50. And 6:55. But at 7:00, I'm definitely up and out of the sheets. And by 7:05 I'm climbing out of bed. Who invented the work day that started at 8? "Grumble, mumble... sleepy tumble, bed is comfy, and in the mornings, I bumble." Budgeting Software is AMAZING YNAB has been, already two days in, a very impressive piece of software. And very helpful in getting us on track towards getting out of debt (bless BYU for keeping us too far out of debt) and on the road to saving. Geeze. I think I just became my father. NETFLIX is AMAZING And now I'm back to me. I think NetFlix is totally cool. Even more so now that you can stream instantly to your computer. This is especially convenient when your sole tv/movie media access point is your desktop computer placed conveniently in front of the couch. For a few bucks a month, we can really save by foregoing a cable bill. And now I'm back to my father again. I'm just waiting to start saying stuff like "When something's worth doing, it's worth doing well." Which is true... Gift Cards are Kind of Awesome And by kind of, I mean EXTREMELY. There's nothing quite like the thrill of taking a pile of gift cards to your local super store and having the sweet (but somehow slightly cantankerous) old woman put their individual amounts onto one uber-gift card. It's like having Excalibur bestowed upon you. The purchasing power in your hands has gone from middling or mundane to super-human. You feel as though you've been chosen. That you have realized your calling. And your purpose on earth, at least for the next two hours, is to buy stuff. Don't believe me? Try it. Just remember to follow this advice: when walking through said super store, you are required to hold out the new uber-card and allow it to guide you to the items you need/want/desperately-must-have-or-you're-going-to-die-in-the-store-right-now-so-we-have-to-get-it-now-no-ands-ors-or-buts-about-it-Mr. If you follow the urgings and nudgings of the Card, you will find yourself in consumerism nirvana. And then you'll have to unload all the stuff you got when you get home. And wonder how the stuff you just bought makes it into the "To Return" pile...