Furniture Upgrade

Momoko is getting her own study. It is our fourth bedroom that used to be my study. I am moving my stuff downstairs. Momoko need a lot of bookshelf space. Right now she has none. We place to move a bookshelf from the basement up for her.

Momoko decided that a small area behind the closet door could house a second bookshelf. It had to be small to fit back there. Momoko looked around and decided she wanted one from Ikea. I thought we could drive my truck there today to pick one up. Momoko talked me into bringing her car. After all, this wss going to be a small bookshelf.

We got to Ikea in the afternoon. The parking lot was jammed. We got lucky and got a close packing space. Inside we headed upstairs to find a maze. I had Momoko talk to the information people to get us to the bookshelf department. It took a long walk through the maze to get there. The bonus was that the bookshelf Momoko wanted was on sale. Ikea is really good for inexpensive furniture.

We had to then go downstairs in the store to locate the bookshelves that we could bring home. Upstairs only had the floor models. The lower level was also a maze. Momoko found a shortcut. We borrowed a cart that was parked in a corner, and wheeled the bookshelf out. The thing was really long. It barely fit into Momoko's car. I wish we had brought the truck. That's what the truck is for.

As I was loading the bookshelf into Momoko's car, it started to hail on us in the parking lot. Great. At home, Little Kat helped me unload the large and heavy bookshelf into the house. Little Kat fears he will be the one who has to put the thing together.

Gem Dilemna

I am playing the game DragonVale a lot on my iPhone. One of the most previous resources in the game is gems. They help you buy some things that can only be purchased with gems. They also speed up lengthy tasks. I think you start the game with a few gems. You can get more gems by having friends give you gem gifts. You can also have your dragons compete in events at the colosseum. The final way to get gems is to pay real money for them.

I always enter my dragons in the competitions. However those take 24 hours to complete. I also participate in gem gifting to friends. These friends usually return the favor. It does not cost you anything to give a gem gift to a friend. The only limitation is that you can give away a maximum of 3 gems a day. That worked fine when my friend were Kit Kat, Momoko, and Little Kat. Now I added Grannie Kat to my friends list. Ooops. Three gems total among four friends means somebody will not be getting a gem each day.

Momoko thought I might be able to skip giving the gems to the high ranked players like Kit Kat and Momoko. I thought I could alternate between the friends. That way I evenly divide them up. Just can't give everybody a new gem each day. There is one final option. You can buy a "gem tree" in the game. That increases your daily gift giving quote to 6 per day. The only problem is that the gem tree itself costs 100 gems. This is a big time catch 22.

I could do what Momoko and Little Kat did. They just spend some real cash and bought up some gems. However that option feels like cheating a bit. I don't want to artificially speed up my game by paying money. That defeats the purpose of the game. The fun in the game is that you have limited resources that you need to manage. I am sure I will figure this out.

Hibachi Birthday

Kit Kat wanted us to take her to a Japanese steak house for her birthday. Momoko let her bring along two friends. Since Kit Kat is now 18, she is allowed to drive other teens. She picked up both her friends. We met up with her at the restaurant. A waitress who could barely speak English took our order. We arrived in time for happy hour, where select items are an amazing half off.

Kit Kat's friends seemed apprehensive about the Hibachi dinner. Kit Kat took the lead in showing them how to order. She also made her friends try some of the more exotic foods like sushi. Momoko let me order an appetizer. I got something I never tried before. They were some pork dumplings. Little Kat loved them, as did I. Momoko got some shrimp tempura sushi. That was edible because they deep fry the shrimp first.

Our chef gave us the normal show while cooking. He kept calling the soy sauce "coca cola". He would play games like giving some of our party just a little food, while others got much more. A couple of us tried to catch broccoli as he flinged them at us. We failed. As usual, the guy knew how to cook the most delicious fried rice you ever tasted. I was surprised to also get some noodles with our dinners.

After dinner, Kit Kat's friends came back to our house for the unwrapping of gifts. Kit Kat's friends got her a music CD and a picture frame. Both had nice pictures of Kit Kat and her friends on them. Little Kat got Kit Kat a rock as a joke. Momoko got Kit Kat a personal coffee maker. There were a number of other gifts exchanged as well. At the end, Kit Kat served up a red velvet cake that she insisted she bake herself.

The World of Joe Peacock

I was reading this article by a guy named Joe Peacock. Had never heard of him before. He started talking about being in a gym, but promised that this was not a gym story. Okay. He almost lost me there. But I read one. The guy proceeded to describe how he lifts weights with the boys frequently in the gym. There is a certain teenager that recently joined them. Appanrtly the teenager reminds Joe of himself when he was in high school.

The teenager recounts a story of how his only friend abandoned him because he was weird. This set Joe off. He knew that this kid was just like himself 15 years ago. So Joe sits the kid down, and explains how things work in high school. He proceeds to inform the kid that things will get better for him. The kid is excited because he looks up to Joe and the other weight lifters. The kids parents happened to be in the back, overhearing what Joe had to say.

Now this Joe guy is a muscle man who also wrestles. He is also a kind of outcast due to his unusual interests. One thing is for sure. I love this guy's writing. His book was on sale for $1.60 on Amazon. By the time I got my act together, his book had risen in price to $6.00. I still think I might buy the thing. Joe is known for his crazy stories. If his other stories are anything like this gym experience, I think he just got himself another die hard fan.

Happy Birthday Black Kat!!

Muscial Cars

Momoko had to go to a conference yesterday. So I needed to drive Little Kat to school. Kit Kat would pick him up after school. The only trick was that people were coming over our house in the morning to get a ride with Momoko to the conference.

Luckily we have our double/triple wide driveway. Still we needed to plan ahead. I was going to be the last one out of the house. So I parked in the car port. Next to last was Kit Kat. She parked in front of me. Momoko parked in front of us all. This left the space on the street open where I normally park. It also cleared up a whole lane of driveway where Kit Kat normally parks.

Little Kat's technology teacher came and took the street spot. Another teacher arrived, saw all the cars, and parked across the street. She could have had a whole lane of the driveway to herself. My truck was parked in the corner of the driveway as usual. Since nobody else parked in our driveway, it made it easy when everyone came home. They all just parked in their normal place.

It was a little odd when I left for school in the late afternoon. Little Kat's teacher was still in his parked car outside our house. I guess he got into a cell phone call, and did not want to illegally drive and talk at the same time.

The World of DragonVale

I downloaded an app called DragonVale onto my iPhone a while ago. The game required a lot of training in the beginning. Boring. So I deleted it. Then I found that the family was playing it. They begged me to play so that I could "gift" them some gems every day. Gems are rare and can speed things up in the game. It costs you nothing to gift them to friends. You just need to play.

How could I refuse? I started playing the game to give the family daily gems. While I was there, I completed the tutorials. Then I found the game to be very fun. You are free to make a lot of decisions. However you will want to maximize your gold, gems, and dragons. That will help you earn experience and level up.

You spend most of your time waiting for things to complete in the game. Gems speed activities up. But you have limited gems. The game is free. However they allow you to purchase items in the game for real money. Momoko was late like me to start the game. But her progress was suspiciously fast.

Little Kat figured out that Momoko was spending real money to speed up her progress. When he got some iTunes cash himself, Little Kat followed suit and paid to make his game accelerate. The makers of the game are happy with this. Kit Kat has been playing the game the longest. She did not use money to speed up her progress. She continues to be the top ranked player in the family. I am in last place.

Althought I love to level up in this game, the goal is the journey and not the destination. I want to have fun playing the game for a long time. If I rise up too fast, I will be done with the game too soon. I do have some plans to make a lot of gold in the game. It just takes a lot of time to set that stuff up.

Contractor Cleanup

Our handyman team spent all of last week working on our house. They mostly attended to the bathroom in our master bedroom. They completed all the work except the replacement of our back storm door. That is on order and should be here in two weeks. The handymen did some moderate cleanup of the mess they made. However there is more work to be done.

Momoko got a new air conditioner in her study. It is located high on the wall. She had to go get an appliance extension cord to plug it into the wall. Momoko's towel rack in the bathroom fell off the wall twice. This is a left over from when the kids painted the bathroom. They lost the original screws to the towel rack. The replaced them with screws that just don't quite work. Might need to just buy a whole new towel rack.

The handymen put down some new tile in our shower. They had to take the shower doors off entirely to do so. When they put the doors back, they installed them backwards. The doors work frontwards or backwards. However now the cruddy inside of the doors faces on the outside. It just looks bad. I attacked them with Kaboom soap scum remover. It seemed to work quite well. I wonder what kind of evil chemicals are in it.

I did want our handymen to give me a quote on building a massive shed in our back yard. This is no small feat. They need to remove the metal shed we have, including the concrete base it sits on. Then they need to build up a level concrete pad that is much larger than the old one. These guys will have to get a permit for the shed, which from my own experience could be a long task. I figure this shed is going to cost a small fortune. But we really want a new shed.

The State of Repairs

The handyman team I hired has been coming to the house every day this week. They arrive early, so I need to be awake earlier than normal. It looks like they finished installing an air conditioning unit in Momoko's study. All their equipment is still in there. So we have not arranged the furniture back to normal in that room. It is an inconvenience as Momoko and I use her study frequently.

The handmen have been rennovating the bathroom in Momoko and my bedroom. At first we could still use our shower. But now with some new tile on the floor we cannot. It is okay. They kids have a shower in their bathroom. Little Kat bleached it out so we could use a clean shower. I was impressed with the shower head and water pressure in their shower. Not too shabby.

After the handymen left for the day, some other dude showed in front of our house. He freaked out Kit Kat. Momoko made me go out and talk with him. He is a concrete subcontractor for our handymen team. I showed him where I want a new shed. He will need to pour a concrete slab underneath the new shed.

The concrete guy seemed concerned that I had some problems with our patio. I told him not to worry since we really don't like our patio. One day I will hire someone to raze the whole patio and start again from scratch. The concrete guy was really impressed with my old pickup truck. He wanted to buy it. I had to refuse any offers because the truck comes in handy all the time. Plus my dad gave me that truck. Lot of sentimental value there.

Handy Help

I called up my trusted handyman around a month ago. There were a lot of items that needed repair around the house. The handyman came over, took a look around, and gave me some quotes. They were reasonable as usual. I asked them to do just about all the work I requested. Yesterday my handman said he could start the work today.

I set my alarm to ring early, as my handyman is usually an early riser. Sure enough I got a call before 8am. He would arrive around 9:30am. Today is the last day of spring break vacation for the family. They were all asleep this morning at 9:30am. I had to work though. Luckily I am working from home.

When the handyman arrived, I had to wake up Momoko. The handyman needed to get into our bathroom to do a lot of work. Momoko wanted to take a shower, but the time for that had passed. She can still use the kids bathroom for showering. It is just not as nice as our bathroom.

The handyman has a brother who assists him with all his work. The bro came over later and punched a whole through the wall in Momoko's study. We previously had a window air conditioner in that room. But we want our window back. A new air conditioner was installed through the wall for us today. Just need to buy a heavy duty extension cord to run this new A/C.

Sonic is Supposed to be Fast

Last night I set an alarm for 8am to ensure we checked out of the hotel in time. It was not needed. I woke up after 6am. Played some games in the morning. Woke Little Kat up at 8am. Tried to call Momoko. Could not get a signal. After I rebooted my phone, I found Momoko called me last night.

Little Kat and I were ready in about 30 minutes. We loaded our stuff in the car. Then we waited until Kit Kat and Momoko were ready. We helped them carry their stuff downstairs. Momoko and I checked out of the hotel. Seems they gave us the last night free on both rooms. Woo hoo.

Momoko drove us home since Kit Kat was still stick. Momoko showed Kit Kat how to exit the city from the hotel Kit Kat plans to visit this summer. It was a long drive until we hit Sonic. We were famished. Little Kat and I went outside to sit on at the outdoor tables. However it was too cold for Little Kat. We went back in the car when the food arrived.

Service at this Sonic was slow. Then Momoko placed a second order for some extra frieds. She had to dial up the attendant to get them to deliver the fries. Kit Kat's friend had bought in the few free newspapers that arrived this week. The mail truck came with a box of mail, along with a few packages.

Some of the gerbils got into a fight. They were not mortally wounded. Kit Kat is spending tonight over her friends' house.

An Alarming Situation

Kit Kat was not feeling well today. We had planned to go putt putt golfing at her request. However she wanted to skip it now. So after lunch, we drove back towards the hotel. I heard my phone go off as we neared the hotel. We parked and saw the fire alarm flashing on our hotel building. I checked and found that Momoko had called me. She had to evacuate the building. I told her to meet us at the car. We picked her up and got the heck out of dodge. I did not want to get blocked in by the fire trucks and ambulanaces that were arriving.

We drove West for a while. Momoko spied some smoke in the distance across the bay to the North. I wanted to head North. We did make a small detour North to visit the beach community there. The homes were all custom. They had very little land. Then we headed South to stay away from fire trucks. We ended up on the main road to enter the beach. As we neared the beach, I headed towards the hotel.

Momoko was concerned that our gas was running low. I asked Little Kat to determine whether gas costs the same whether you pay with cash or credit. He was unable to do so. I showed him how to tell. Then I handed him a lot of money, because Momoko thought her car would require a lot of expensive gas.

Little Kat pumped the car full. I was disturbed that he had no clue how much change he was due. I accompanied him back into the gas station to ensure the change was correct. Back at the hotel, I asked Little Kat to estimate a dinner bill if our meals cost $35 and our drinks $2.50. He had no idea how to attack such a problem, even when I gave him pen and paper. He requested a calculator.

I sat down with Little Kat and taught him some strategies to figure out problems like this. Note to self: Need to spend some more time with Little Kat on his old school math skills.

A Late Start

I woke up this morning as usual. It was early compared to the rest of the family. Spent a few hours playing PC and iPhone games. Read some news. Sat around. Called Momoko at noon. She was not feeling well. They were still in bed in their room. So was Little Kat.

It would take a while for Kit Kat to get ready. Little Kat and I walked to the grocery store across the street. We bought Momoko some seedless grapes and spring water. When we returned, we fed Momoko and picked up Kit Kat. Kit Kat herself was not feeling so great. She wanted a place where she could eat a salad.

Little Kat wanted to eat at a restaurant that we have never been to before. We headed North and found few prospects. Then we went South and found some restaurants of interest. Most of them would not open until 4pm. Little Kat told me we should go to the boardwalk. We parked by the hotel that Kit Kat will return to later this summer with her friends.

We walked a number of blocks and found this strange Italian place. Everyone was happy with the menu. It was mostly an outdoor restaurant. However we went inside as it was cold. There was some commotion with the one other patron in the place. When it was time to pay the bill, I found out why. Their credit card machine was broke. So was all the ATMs around the place. Luckily I always carry a wad of cash in my wallet. I paid the bill and we headed back North to the hotel.

Happy Hunger Games

Momoko and Kit Kat visited a weird restaurant today. So Little Kat and I were on our own. We walked up to a restarurant we knew well. It was a long walk both ways. I slept most of the afternoon because of that. I woke up hungry. The family returned to the restaurant for dinner. Then we headed West for the good movie theaters.

Momoko was eager to see one of the earlier shows. Hunger Games was playing every 30 minutes, so I was not worried. We arrived just after one of the shows started. I checked with the ticket lady. She told me only one fourth of the tickets had been sold already (the theater was not crowded). We decided to watch the movie immediately instead of waiting for the next one.

Some of Little Kat's friends warned him that the movie was not that good. They were wrong. I have not read any of the books. But the movie was quite exciting. I jumped out of my seat at least once. There were many stars in there. I did not recognize the lead actress (aside from the Hunger Games hoopla). Her initial love interest in the movie is the boyfriend of Miley Cyrus.

Now we are hooked, and are ready for them to do the second movie installment from the Hunger Games series.

Dinner Delays

The family had a late lunch today. Then Momoko and Kit Kat had a funnel cake. So we planned to eat late. The girls came over to our room around 8PM. We headed down to the hotel restaurant. I had a big credit there from booking so many nights at the hotel. We waited a while at the empty hostess station.

After getting seated, we waited even longer to see a waitress. But we could not bolt. I had a big coupon. Little Kat and I ordered sodas. We also ordered a crab dip appetizer. Momoko got a pair of crabcakes. Kit Kat got all you can eat ribs. I got shrimp scampi. And Little Kat got chicken on top of pasta.

The crab dip came in a bread bowl. It was worth the trip and delays. They brought Kit Kat what looked to be a full rack of ribs. Little Kat and my meal came with garlic bread. Momoko and Kit Kat got rools. Service was slow all around.

This was one rare instance that I gave a 10% tip. I usually give around 15% tip for lackluster service. We had non-existent service. However we all left full. And the meal was half price due to my credit.

Mirror Maze and Shopping

Today we decided to park a little further up on the boardwalk. I drove down some of the low numbered streets. We got lucky and found an unmetered space right next to the boardwalk. Kit Kat did some shopping for beachwear. Some of them looked good. But they all got rejected by Momoko due to price.

Next we drove down to the end of the boardwalk. I checked the prices for the Mirror Maze that Little Kat wanted to enter. Momoko showed the employee a coupon, and I told her we went to Ripley's yesterday. That got the price low enough for me to purchase two tickets. Little Kat and I went in.

There was some kid that had been inside the maze for a long time. He was a "know it all". I tried to ignore him. Little Kat seemed to like him and talk with him. Little Kat did the maze three times. Then we did it backwards two times. Finally I bought Little Kat some glasses that made it impossible to navigate the maze. We proceeded very slowly through one more time.

I used some coupons I got from the hotel to buy some clothing. Kit Kat got a tie-dye hoodie jacket. Little Kat got a green ball cap. Then we went to the hotel gift shop where I used more vouchers. Momoko got a fancy bag. We also picked up an ornament that looked like a canteen which holds sand.

Night Life

We spent about four hours out on the boardwalk this afternoon. I did not put sun screen on my face. So my cheeks got a little red. Afterwards I decided to sleep off the pain. I awoke to Momoko calling about our dinner plans. I was not hungry due to a large steak sub lunch. Therefore we sent the kids down to the pool.

There was a further delay after swimming as the kids washed off the chlorine. We then proceeded to an ice cream shop for dinner. The school secretary is working there for spring break. We did not see her as she works the day shift. Kit Kat got a milkshake. Little Kat was not allowed one because of his allergies. All of us that got french fries were given more than we could eat. Momoko walked out with an ice cream she can't seem to get anywhere else - chocolate chip coconut.

Momoko forced us to spend some quality time together playing card games. The rest of us voted to play the quickest game we knew. That is Monopoly cards edition. I had one goal. Make sure Little Kat did not win again like he did last night. I was successful. Right now Little Kat is playing Momoko's iPad, helping her progress in this dragon game. I think I might play an iPhone game myself.

Life on the Beach

I woke up this morning in our hotel room and took a shower. When I got out, Little Kat said someone was at our door. He thought it was housekeeping. The maid asked if we needed the room done. I said not yet. She showed me that our door had the "service requested" sign on it. Some joker had switched the sign around from "Do Not Disturb" to "Service Requested." Fail.

Momoko drove us down to the boardwalk. We walked for what seem forever to find the restaurant we remembered that had the same name as Little Kat. When we got there, most of the family ate seafood. I alone had a steak sub. I was surprised when my credit card was declined. Luckily I have several credit cards.

After lunch, I took Little Kat to rent a fun cycle. It is a bike that is low to the ground without any direct steering. You have to lean to turn. Kit Kat tried it out, but was unable to turn the thing. Little Kat rode hard for an hour. Momoko found some small jewelry that cost big bucks. It had to stay in the jewelry store.

We let the kids go into Ripley's Believe It or Not. They said the best part was a tunnel with a rotating exterior. It made the kids fall down even though they were walking a straight line on a level surface. Now that we are back at the hotel, the kids have gone swimming in the indoor poor. It is a bit too cold to go out on the beach yet. Momoko is hoping for warmer weather.

A Sonic Situation

Momoko drove us out to the beach today. I proposed we get some BBQ on the road, halfway to the beach. Momoko thought we should try to make it to Sonic. But that was 2 hours from home. We were all getting a bit hungry when we discovered a Sonic that was not on their website's map.

We made a U-turn and a bee line to the restaurant. Little Kat and I went to sit at the tables. Momoko and Kit Kat ordered from the car. Some Sonic employee told me to wait 1 minute to qualify for half price drinks. I pushed the button to order and asked whether I could get the half price special. The person on the intercom said I could do that in 60 seconds. I told her it would take us 60 seconds to order, and so we would like to get the discount.

After we ordered, the person on the intercom said we could not get the discount since we started the order before the discount time. That was silly. I did not iniatially care that much about the discount. But after an employee encouraged us to ask for it, and I thought up front we had established that I could get a discount, I now wanted that darn discount.

I asked the Sonic employee to confirm whether we would get the discount if I would place the order right at that second. She said yes. So I asked her to cancel our previous order, and reenter it again to give me the discount. She complied and we got like 2 bucks off our bill.

It is nice for them to have a sale on drinks. I figure it gets customers during the slow hour. But don't talk me into getting the special and then tell me the computer won't accept the special. That's just a big fail. Luckily their food is awesome. Otherwise I don't like messing with such shennanigans.

Beach Upgrade

I got a letter in the mail from a hotel on the beach. They had some good rates if you go before summer starts. We decided to hit the beach for spring break. By the time I got the week off from work, the oceanfront rooms were no longer available. We had to get a room that faces the street or side of the hotel.

The only good news is that the room prices are even cheaper than ocean front view. Just before we were going to head to the beach, I figured since the rooms were so cheap, we could rent two rooms. That way everyone gets their own bed. There is much more room to spread out. Good stuff.

I had Momoko make the second reservation for us. Then I went to the bank to pay her back in cash. Ooops. The local ATM was out of money. Had to travel further South to get the cheese. We do have fish and gerbils that need tending to while we are gone. Kit Kat's friend has agreed to take on the job. We had her by twice to observe and practice the feeding. All set for beach duty now.