Mia and Mommy on Christmas Eve

Mia and Mommy on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was at the house as usual.  But in the early afternoon, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa’s house to see them, take a few photos, and drop off presents.  I’m working on processing the photos to post to the photos site.

This specific photo was taken on December 24, 2010, in San Jose.

Salt - A Review

Angelina Jolie as Salt

Netflix Synopsis:

After she's accused of being a Russian sleeper spy, rogue CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) goes on the run, using every tactic, accent and disguise she knows to elude her pursuers, clear her name and protect her husband. Her supervisor, Winter (Liev Schreiber), buys her story, while counterintelligence officer Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) decidedly does not and will do anything to stop her in this fast-paced, intrigue-filled spy adventure.

My Take:

I really wanted to like this movie, and I did for about the first third. But then it took a sudden turn down when the movie changed direction from plausible to unbelievable super-action hero. I mean, I believe the Jason Bourne movies more than Salt. Granted, the film was well shot, and the chases and stunts were well choreographed. I know, it’s a movie, and things don’t have to be realistic. Perhaps it was my mistake going into this film hoping for an actual action/espionage film, as opposed to pure cartoonish action sequences. I prefer Angelina Jolie’s in Wanted than in this film.

For me, any empathy for “Salt” was lost, as the story failed to support her actions or motivation. But I guess this isn’t a movie about character motivation, but of the momentum of action.

Rating: Cable TV Worthy

Mia and Christmas

Mia and ChristmasA Christmas card type photo, don’t you think?

Ah, Christmastime.  It’s a time of joy and wonder and sharing good times with family and friends. And you know what? It’s Mia’s first Christmas!

She had a great Christmas Eve. During the day we were able to see Grandma and Grandpa. At night, she stayed up as long as she could, entertaining everyone with her cuteness and antics. Unfortunately, her eyes grew heavy just a little after 8pm. She finally fell asleep.

What do we have planned for Christmas day? More fun at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, than who knows what.   Merry Christmas to everyone!

This photo was taken on November 26, 2010. The photo is part of a session where we tried to capture images to be used for our Christmas cards. You can find the rest of the photos here. If you need the password to the photo gallery, don’t hesitate to email me at feedback [at] janella [dot] com.

Mia and Binky

Mia and Binky Mia and Binky

Binky. Waa Waa. Chup Chup. ‘cifer. Well, it’s that green thing in this photo that Mia puts in her mouth to calm herself. We were at Maggiano’s celebrating Farrah’s birthday when I snapped this photo using the Canon S95.

This photo was taken on December 19th, 2010 at Maggiano’s.

Thanksgiving 2010

Another video, instead of a photo, today.  This video is from this past Thanksgiving.  There are so many things to be thankful for this year.  This was Mia’s first Thanksgiving.  We spent the first part of the day at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast.

Later in the afternoon, we traveled to the Traber’s house with Nana for Thanksgiving dinner. As always, my sister made a great turkey, and there were plenty of other things to eat as well.

This video was taken on Thursday, November 25, 2010.

Mia and Nana

Instead of a photo today, I’m publishing a small video. Mia loves going outside. It doesn’t matter if it’s cold or raining. We bundled her up and gave her to Nana, who walked with her around the front of the house. She even introduced Mia to the lawn Santa Claus. We still need to visit mall Santa Claus this year as well.

This video was taken on December 4, 2010.

Mia Sleeping at Daycare

Mia Sleeping at Daycare

This photo was taken by the good people at our daycare.  Mia looks so comfortable, doesn’t she? Even though we miss these tiny moments because Mia is at daycare and not with us, we know she is making friends, learning, and having fun.  By the way, today is Mia’s fifth month birthday!

This photo was taken on November 3, 2010.

The Setup - A Site to See

Visit usesthis.com

An interesting site that is a collection of “nerdy interviews"revolving around hardware and software these nerds choose to use. It’s insightful to get a peak at what tools (mostly Apple Macs) and the software these nerds choose. It makes me wish I was making more money to buy some of these “toys”.

Immunizations

Mia had her first immunization shots yesterday. Oh, the pain! But she’s a trooper, a tough cookie, like her mom.

She was given three shots and a sweet liquid that was taken orally. Farrah readily volunteered to hold me, though she didn’t really know what to expect. As she tightly held Mia the nurse gave the first shot into Mia’s right leg. When the needle entered Mia’s thigh, and the plunger was pressed down, Mia let out the biggest cry I ever heard from her tiny mouth. The scream was heartfelt and piercing. The nurse then gave Mia a few drops of the sweet liquid in an effort to soothe her. It calmed her for a brief moment until the other two shots were administered to her left leg. She was given the last of the sweet liquid to calm her down a bit. But you could see the tears streaming down the side of her face. It’s heartbreaking not being able to do anything but say, “It’ll be all right. You’re fine now.”

She cried until she could cry no longer. Exhausted, she fell asleep on the drive home.

Mia was quiet for a few hours. But then she awoke screaming, most likely from the pain in her legs. I was on my way home when Farrah told me 0.8 ml of acetaminophen, as dictated by the doctor, helped Mia through the next rough few hours. I don’t think we ever heard her cry so badly.

Goodbye Vox

I’m extremely late in posting this, but it’s time to say goodbye to Vox. I hosted this blog there for a while - from July 2006 to June 2008.

The appeal of Vox, to me, was the community that was created during its inception. I found it easy to connect with people who shared common interests from various places around the world. Vox also allowed a user to post privately or to a specific group of people you designated. Unfortunately in order to comment on any post you had to be a Vox member.

Vox’s other limitations - lack of customization, lack of exporting data, lack of using a personal domain, and displaying of advertising you couldn’t control - made Vox not worth the trouble. People I had connected with started to drop off, going back to their personal websites (e.g. WordPress, Movable Type, etc). Thus ended my time at Vox.

I plan to import the view posts I have from Vox into this blog. They’ll be tagged appropriately, probably something as simple as “Vox”.

It was good while it lasted.

Darth Vader and Samsung

I’m not sure what this is supposed to mean. Is Darth Vader everywhere?