Laie Hawaii Temple Cultural Celebration

The Laie Hawaii Temple recently had major remodeling done to it. It closed for two years and is finally operational again. To celebrate it's reopening, all the youth from the islands of Oahu and Kauai created a Cultural Celebration and performed for the Prophet.

The celebration was divided into sections: early Hawaiian culture, immigration, Joseph F. Smith, temple construction, and World War II (I think there were a couple more but I don't remember them all). I wanted to share some of the more interesting and fun sections of the performance. This first clip was showing the early Hawaiian culture through dance.



This next dance was showing the importance of the immigrants brought to Hawaii to work in the fields. The Chinese were the earliest and most numerous; however, other immigrants included Filipinos and Portuguese. This group includes the kids from our Ward.



This last clip was from the section of building the temple.

Halloween Party

Romney and I went to her cousin's Halloween Party. We were originally told that no one was going to wear a costume, then the last minute they decided everyone should come in a costume. Well, we went with what we had. I wore my exercise clothes and Romney had a cat-ears band and black clothes. Anyway, it was a fun party and we're glad we didn't just sit home alone.

Halloween Toy

I know it's after Halloween now, but I had to post this. My co-worker knows how much I love zombies so he got me this little toy at the new Party City store that opened here. I took a short video of it.

Pirates of the Caribbean films in Hawaii

So Johnny Depp and his crew were here in Hawaii filming the 4th installment of Pirates of the Caribbean. They had their ship out at Kaneohe Bay during the day and all the actors would arrive around 10pm or midnight to film, taking the ship out of the bay. Romney's cousin, Jaymie, went several times to see if she could get a chance to see him, which she did. Romney and I wanted to go get some video of the pirate ship during the day but when we got there, it was super crowded. Jaymie had gotten a parking ticket for parking along the side of the road so we didn't dare do that. Instead, we just drove past and Romney filmed it from the passenger's side window. The video is short but a bit shaky so hopefully it won't get you too sick!

What the iPad is...

Here are some of the things I like to do around the house, at church, in meetings, or on trips:



Imagine if I had to lug all these things with me on my business trip I'll be taking in October. It would be a pile like this:



Now, thanks the the amazing iPad, this is all I have to take as this will accomplish it all (and more).

iPhone apps that work great on the iPad

Romney and I are always trying out new apps on the iPad, but let's face it: a large portion of the apps that we try are iPhone/iPod apps. Unfortunately, a lot of them don't look so well on the iPad once you increase the app to fill the entire screen. But here are a list of apps that we have found to be a lot of fun, even if the graphics aren't perfect.



Words with Friends: I've never been good at Scrabble so it's amazing I like this game at all. However, the fact that I can "cheat" by placing any tiles I want and then hitting the submit button to see if the word qualifies as a "real" word without the opponent knowing how many times I do this and without any penalties if I'm making up words, lets me play this game without any shame. Both Romney and I have multiple games going and are enjoying it a lot.



Battleship: We love the fact that we can play against each other over WiFi or Blueooth since I can use my iPhone and Romney uses the iPad. Brings back many great childhood memories, without the ones of lost pieces!



Peggle: My good friend, Justin Call, convinced me to try this game. It's a pretty fun game, one that Romney especially likes. Going full screen doesn't seem to make it less attractive.



Charadium: This game is a lot of fun to play with random opponents. It's pretty much pictionary over the internet. You take your turn drawing a word while the other people are guessing what you are drawing. You can choose to pass if you don't know how to draw the word it gives you, although you will be docked a few points. Then, someone else draws while you are trying to guess what it is. You can change the color of the "marker" to help out. Once, we had Romney's cousins over who have iPods. We all played a private game just with each other sitting in the living room. It was a great way to play without needing paper, makers, etc.



Bookworm: Another word game that Romney really likes. It gives you a pile of letters that you can try connecting in any sequence to make a word, so long as one letter is touching another. It's pretty addicting as you are always trying to form longer or more complicated words for higher points.

Well, I guess I should cap it here. However, there were several more but I'll just list them below. Definitely worth taking a look at.

Angry Birds
WordWarp
Bejeweled
Parachute Ninja
Veggie Samurai
Luxor
Car Mania

Great iPad Apps!

It's definitely nice having so much more screen real estate on the iPad compared to my iPhone. This really allows for some great apps that I've come to rely on for everyday use. Here are some of our favorite.



ABC Player: Although I wish the video quality were a tad bit better, this app is great. We love to watch WipeOut so if we miss our weekly dose, we can go straight to the iPad and watch it there. Romney also loves to watch Ugly Betty. There is a con with this app: the shows that are available only have a few episodes you can watch and they sometimes change up what shows they have available to watch, so today you might get a few episodes of your favorite show but tomorrow that show may no longer be offered. Still, an entertaining app for the iPad.



TapTap Radiation: Anyone who loves Guitar Hero or Rock Band will find some entertainment out of the Tap Tap apps for both iPhone. This one's specifically for the iPad and it's a lot of fun.



Betty Crocker Cookbook: What can I say? I love to cook!!! Okay, honestly, I don't like cooking and wish I never had to do it again. So this is actually one of Romney's favorite apps. Quite convenient when we're wondering what to make for dinner or for creating a shopping list before going to the grocery store so we make sure we have all the ingredients we need.



We Farm/We Rule: Since these games are pretty much the same thing, I'll clump them together as one game. I'm not sure why, but these games can be highly addictive. You build a farm or kingdom and accumulate money and experience points that allow you to enlarge your land and build new buildings or increase your farming capacities. I have several of Romney's cousins that I play with as I visit their farms or kingdoms to see how they are progressing and to submit an order from one of their businesses. It's all done in real time so I can place an order for a bag of grain. I then leave the app and when the designated amount of hours have passed, I can return and collect the bag of grain from my friend. They get money and experience points and I do as well. It's a time drainer but one I can't seem to stop playing.



MaxJournal: I'm not really sure why I wanted a journal app on the iPad. It's just such a convenient size and easy to take with you anywhere you go. I keep a journal and write in it once a week fairly regularly. I have to remember to take with me when we go on vacation. With the iPad, I'll always have a journal with me. I've been experimenting with taking notes with it as well since I like how it dates it for me. So far, it's only okay for that as there is no way to format the text for bolding, underlining, etc. But I'm still loving the format of the entries, almost like a calendar. Plus, I can always decide to export it via email as a pdf and make sure I don't lose what I've written so far.

Again, the list is too long, but here's a few more that I won't bother writing anything about. Check them out.

MultiPong
Memory Cards
Stick Golf
Netflix
Food Network
Harbor Master
BBC News

Apple's iPad - Review

Romney and I have done a bit of traveling and will do some more before the year is out. Since we don't own a laptop anymore, we used traveling as an excuse to buy an iPad. We've been thinking about it for a while, wondering if it would be a tool Romney could use for her work, assuming we got the 3G version that would allow her to access the internet anywhere. Maps would come in handy for her driving from appointment to appointment. Before taking off, she could consult her map by just typing in the address and it would give her step-by-step directions. Plus it could work well as a notebook to take notes at her visits and in any staff meetings. Anyway, she decided it might not be worth it. However, with the traveling coming up, and me staying away from home longer than she would, we decided to go ahead and get one.

First, let me tell you, we LOVE our iPad (Romney as much as me!). It's become our little companion during the evenings. We do all kinds of things with it like playing games, surfing the internet, using Facebook, taking notes at meetings, watching TV shows, reading, looking up recipes, and a myriad of other things. I've been reading about how other people interact with theirs and how most people don't take it around with them throughout their normal day. They say it is more of a couch computer and I'd have to say that's true. It is so nice to just sit on the couch and watch a show in the evening on the TV while using the iPad to do other things. It's just so relaxing. However, I do take it to work every day and use it during lunch. (I've tried several times to get Romney to take it to work like we originally thought of doing, but she doesn't seem too interested anymore.) I used to pitch in and pay for the newspaper at work and read some of it during lunch. Now with the iPad, I don't pitch in anymore and just read the stories I'm interested in on my iPad.

I will do other posts on the types of apps we have on it and what we really like to use it for. Truthfully, I could probably do tons of posts as there's so much about it that we like. But I'll keep it to a minimum.

Update to the Eye Surgery post

Well, I was finally able to get the VHS tape converted to DVD thanks to Mark and David. (Thanks a ton, guys!) Anyway, it took some more finagling to get it ripped onto the computer in a format that would allow some basic editing so it wasn't so long and boring. Then I had to convert it again to a format that would allow me to upload it to YouTube. Anyway, it's done. I hope you guys all find it interesting. Click this link to see the post again and watch the show. Don't forget the popcorn!

Wall-E

At the Alameda County Fair, Romney and I ran across a booth that made all kinds of movie characters out of metal scraps. They had Michael Jackson (which we got for Romney's brother, Taylor's, birthday), Yoda, Predator, Alien, Iron Man, and tons of others. However, our favorite was Wall-E. We got it for 50% off as my parents had become friends with the vendor. Anyway, here are photos of our Wall-E.

The Alameda County Fair

Another thing that kept us busy for a while was the Alameda County Fair. My parents were heading there to sell their Kangoo Jumps and Good Vibrations massagers/exercisers. They asked if Romney and I would be willing to come help them for a long weekend if they paid our airfare. We talked it over and decided that we would go on the 4th of July weekend since that would probably be the busiest weekend of the fair and that's when we'd be of most help. However, we also decided that since Romney didn't have very many vacation days and is trying to save up for our Christmas trip to her parents' home in Visalia this coming December, she would go home on the following Tuesday whereas I would stay most of another week. That way, I would be there two weekends, pretty much through the end of the fair.

The fair itself was kind of a disappointment. My parents had been told before going that the San Francisco Bay area was one of the least effected areas of California because of the number of people with really good jobs, so the fair hadn't been hurting the past few years as might be expected for California's state of its economy. However, the attendance at the fair this year was pretty low. And those who did come had their hands in the pockets as they walked around, stopping at no particular booths.

Romney and I have been married for three years now and not once had we been separated. We were a little nervous that we'd decided to let a week be the duration of our first separation (rather than just a night or two). But we were committed to helping my parents. I must admit, it was pretty difficult. I shamelessly admit that I am rather attached to her and I believe her to me as well. However, I must give credit to where it's due: Romney had the harder end of the bargain. Her parents drove up to spend a day and a half with us and ended up driving her to the airport on their way back home. So Romney had to say goodbye to me and then to them at the airport, board a plane by herself, and then walk into an empty apartment and spend each night by herself for most of a week. On the other hand, I was with my parents the whole time, busy working 12 hour days in the fair, keeping myself occupied the whole time. She's such an angel.

My eyes are burning! (Updated with video)

First, I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I have been really busy lately for multiple reasons, several of which I will post about shortly. But I have some really exciting news I'd like to share with everyone (and no, Romney is not pregnant!) I officially need glasses and contacts no longer.

I decided that it was about time I had LASIK eye surgery. I am at an age where I would be able to benefit the longest from doing it. In other words, you have to make sure your eyes are not still changing (specifically getting worse) which they say is usually by your late 20s or early 30s. Mine haven't changed in several years of going to see the optometrist. So, if I have it now, I shouldn't need glasses again until my eyes deteriorate from old age, if even then. Perhaps all I'll ever need is reading glasses. So I should get a good 20 or more years out of the surgery.

The surgery was on Thursday morning. I went in for an hour and a half but the actually surgery lasted only 20 minutes or so. I had them tape it but need to get it digitized so I can upload it here, so it will be coming soon. They started off numbing my eye with eye drops. Then they lifted up my eyelids to fit a ring around my eyeball that would vacuum suck my eyeball a little bit, lifting it out of my socket slightly. This then allowed the first laser to create bubbles between the top layer of skin and the cornea, ultimately separating them. Then, an incision is cut in the shape of a C that allows the top layer of skin to be pulled back, exposing the cornea. After this part, they put me under the actual LASIK machine that zapped sections of the cornea in a very precise pattern, burning the cornea into the right shape to give me corrected vision. (If you want more scientific details on all this, I can give more or you can Google it). The most interesting part of the surgery for me as the patient was the fact that during this minute of burning on both eyes, I could smell burnt flesh. Lastly, the surgeon laid the flap of skin back down over the eye and smoothed it down. That was it. I was done! Although my vision was foggy from the thick eye drops she put in my eye, right away I could see as if I had contacts in.

I went home and about half an hour after the surgery the numbness started wearing off. I started to feel a burning sensation in my eyes and couldn't keep them open. Even closed they burned and watered like mad. I had been warned about this and told that it's best to go home and sleep it off. So they gave me a set of goggles I had to use all day and sleep with for the next week and one pill to help me sleep as soon as I got home. I ended up taking a 5-hour nap but, when I woke up, my eyes were fine. So yesterday I stayed home from work to further recover but I was fine the whole day. I went back in for a one day post-op visit and they looked at the flap to make sure it was still straight and not wrinkled. They tested my vision and I am now at 20/15, which means that when someone with average eyes can see something at 15 feet, I an be as far back as 20 feet and still see it, so better than average. HA! It's a miracle!



So I've posted a video of my procedure and you can see them lift up the flap and zap my eyeball. Romney was viewing the whole procedure from out in the hall through a viewing window. I was excited to get the video converted so I could see what my own surgery looked like. Any questions or comments, let me know in the comments below.

The Breaults visit Hawaii

Kim and I met when I signed up to go to BYU's London Study Abroad program back in 2003. Since then, we both went back to Provo and graduated and then I took off to Hawaii while she took off to Washington, DC. She came to visit Hawaii a few years ago and then came back with her mom later. So this was her third visit, although this time with her husband, Joe!

While they were here, we were able to meet up one evening to catchup. Romney and I took them to one of our favorite places: Menchies. It's a frozen yogurt bar where you have a large cup and can walk up to several frozen yogurt dispensers and put how much of whatever you want into your cup. Then you go to the toppings bar and do the same. Unfortunately, that's when your cup is weighed and you are charged according to how heavy it is. It's all the fad here lately with dozens of shops opening up all over Oahu. They had never been to one before so it was a nice surprise for them. Here's proof of our outing.



Kim and Joe, it was fun having you here in Hawaii again! Hope you liked it as much as we do.

Chinese New Year in Downtown (Chinatown) Honolulu

This Valentine's Day actually coincides with the Chinese New Year this year. Romney's family here in Hawaii will be doing a get-together the day before. Since we now live downtown, our neighbors, the Alexanders, invited us to go walk around with them to see all the Chinese festivities going on in Chinatown. Enjoy the clips below.

New Apartment

Romney and I moved at the end of November to a new apartment. We are still in Honolulu, just closer to our jobs. We were also ready for a change of scene and felt that Downtown Honolulu was a great way to see some change. There are lots of galleries down here and they do a free admissions once a month. I can now walk to work; it's like four blocks to the Archives. We pay about $100 more a month but we get a larger apartment (still a one-bedroom but more area), secured entry and parking, a swimming pool, and we are on the 26th floor so our view is spectacular. We are happy with our move and are glad to be done with the other place. Here is a short video of the sunrise on Christmas Eve from our living room windows. (I accidentally bumped the camera so ignore the sudden change in the horizon.)