Hunger Games...Enders Games

Crock Pots

Two Thanksgivings ago (2010), I bought a crock pot to use for the festivities.  For two years in a row, I made honeybaked ham in the crockpot.  It was pretty easy.  Layer the bottom with brown sugar.  Place the spiral cut ham on top of the brown sugar.  Coat the outside of the ham with more brown sugar.  Slow cook in the crock pot for 6-8 hours.

And before today, I used the crock pot for a total of those two times.  I know, what a waste.  Just never decided to get a crock pot cook book or even look for recipes online.

My friend Amy taught me an easy pot roast recipe for my crock pot.  She even bought the ingredients for me too :-)  One pot roast, one small bag of baby carrots, three cans of peeled potatoes, and some water.  Season the pot roast with salt (or garlic salt) and pepper.  Just that easy.

I feel like an idiot since I've had this wonderful cooking device for over a year and have not taking advantage of it's simplicity in cooking.  But now I have atoned for my sin.

Thanks, Amy, for being that catalyst to help me use this great cooking tool...the crock pot.  I'm planning to use it more often.

Birthdays

Now that I'm a little older (well, it's all relative), I'm not fond of the celebrating of my birthdays.  Or should I say, that I still like the attention and celebration, but I would not necessarily want people go out of their way to throw a big party for me.

Every year, my family (parents, brother, and extended family) throws me a little birthday party, and this year is no different.  That's one of the great things about moving back to Jacksonville in 2006, that I can be present in the celebration of our lives.  For 15 years, I was away to college or working in other parts of the country, so I didn't have this closeness to my family.  

BBQ (Filipino style) is always in order.  Some veggies, like corn or beans, accentuate the main dishes.  The obligatory rice is prepared, as well as potatoes, and rolls.   I can never get tired of this menu.  No birthday cake this year, and I'm totally fine with that.  

After the feast, a few of us watched the movie Antwone Fisher.  I saw this movie in the big screen back in 2002 and thoroughly enjoyed watching it again tonight.

As always, I just love how the family comes together to celebrate our lives.  Today it was for my birthday.  I love my family.  We're getting up there in age, and I know that the inevitable will happen and we're going to move on from this mortal life.  But for now, I am grateful that we can come together to celebrate my birthday today.  

Forgiveness

I messed up a few weeks ago.  And I knew an apology was in order.  But for a few weeks I avoided the inevitable, not sure how the reaction would be if I showed up in person to ask for forgiveness.  It's easy for human behavior to ignore the situation and hope that it would go away, but I knew I had to take an initiative to make amends.

So I did.

And the visit was very amicable, better than what I thought it would be.  The person I had offended graciously accepted my apology, and we could continue on with our relationship.  

I'm grateful that I can ask for forgiveness, and more importantly people choose to forgive.  Both are virtues and commandments from Heavenly Father.  And it is part of the refining process to be more like Him, because He does a good deal of forgiving, believe me.

Sometimes our thoughts prevents us from doing the right thing.  Fear is a common component of that.  But when we just choose to press through those fears, we are able to accomplish those things that are generally good, and in this case, I was able to ask this person for forgiveness.  

Scriptures

The world is full of ideas and decisions that pull you every which way, and if you are not firmly rooted in some core values, then you would fall for anything.  It's interesting reading the polarizing opinions from CNN news articles.  The latest articles include who should provide free contraception, the passing Whitney Houston, Obama invoking the teachings of Jesus to justify increasing the taxes for the rich.  

That's why I am thankful for scriptures, because the teachings of God, written by His prophets, give us a set of guidelines by which God wants us to live our lives.  Some people think that the commandments are restrictive, that it doesn't allow us to explore the full range of our choices.  But in actuality, it does simplify our lives, because we then do not experience the consequences of bad choices.  

Life isn't necessarily easier, and by no means do I consider myself a perfect saint (heh heh pun unintended).  But the "rules" set forth by our Heavenly Father, give us strong roots in a shifting landscape of values.  And I'm glad that I can strengthen my faith through reading the scriptures.

The Nothing Box

A girl I was dating a few years ago shared with me this concept of how a man's brain and a women's brain are different.  It is summarized in this YouTube video.  

Men's brain is segmented into little boxes, and can only pull out one box at a time (ie we don't multitask).  We have a box for the job, a box for the family, a box for the play, etc.  Men also have a "nothing" box, where they think about absolutely nothing.  

That's actually my favorite box towards the end of the day.  I just want to go home, veg, and think about absolutely nothing.  

I'm thankful that I have that nothing box.  

High Definition TV

Today, after a few years of AT&T U-verse, I switched back to DirecTV.  Regardless, it's electronic bliss.

I remembered back in the early 2000's when the concept of High Definition TV was coming to fruiting and by 2009, standard TV was going to go bye bye and if you still had an old standard TV, you had to buy a converter.

In terms of sports, I think a lot of people would rather tune in to the TV, because the picture is so lifelike, and with all of the different camera angles, you have a better view of the game at home.

I bought my first and only LCD TV in 2007, a 42" Sharp Aquos.  I remember it clearly because concurrent to the purchase, I had to go through an unfortunate experience of having to put one of my brother's dogs to sleep.  I couldn't really feel excited about our new toy when we just lost a pet's life.  Interesting thought process that puts things into perspective.

But nonetheless, HDTV brought home entertainment to another level, from sports games, to movies and shows, and even the game systems that utilize the sharp resolution.

Thank you to those smart engineers that have enhanced our viewing pleasure.