High of 99 today?

I wonder what the heat index will really sit at...

Guess who's the class clown in my family

DQ dipped cone dessert stop

Chuck E Cheese

Treated the kids to Chuck E Cheese. Realized I need to take them to a real arcade over the sabbatical.

Sabbatical - Day 9

At the Virginia Eye Consultants waiting for my mom's cataract surgery. The appointment time was at 2pm. It's already 2:44pm. My mom is 80 years old and diabetic. Not being able to eat all day because of the surgery is killing her. We made a couple of sandwiches for her so that she can eat as soon as the surgery ends.

Fixed the actuator in my 2005 Honda CRV!

Instead of paying $200-$300 dollars to have my actuator fixed by Honda, I decided to get the part and try fixing it myself. It wasn't too bad! I did find out there's this "Honda Bond" that is one of the stickiest things I've ever touched. (Try not to let your hair touch it if you attempt this at home.) Surprisingly, excluding the actuator, it only took a few screwdrivers and a wrench to fix the door!

Here's a picture of the door before I started work:

This is the after I took off the panel:

After pulling off the weather protection stuff from the sticky honda bond:

The actuator is the yellowing piece on the bottom:

Crossword - Day 8

I didn't make time to do the crossword on Sunday, but was able to complete today's puzzle in under 16 minutes. Woohoo! My sister, Zabrina, would have like this one because of 40 across -- OKAPIS. We were just talking about that animal because no one could tell if it was a zebra or a giraffe.

Sabbatical - Day 7

Spent most of the day driving back down from Northern Virginia. Great day for driving. Lots of traffic, though. There was an accident in the Hampton Rhoads Bridge Tunnel.

I have to say that MOG is my friend. Right before I left my house in Northern Virginia, I downloaded eight albums for my trip in just a few minutes!

Crossword - Day 6 - Completed!

Completed in just under 30 minutes!

Sabbatical - Day 6

On the road back to Northern Virginia for a birthday party this afternoon. Stopped at a new Five Guys for lunch.

Thunderstorm rolling in

Crossword - Day 5

I wonder what would happen if I did the crossword at night instead of in the morning...

Buried!

What is this?

Bigger sand crabs today

Beach again!

Nikon Camera Battery Recall

Just in case you own a Nikon D-SLR, I just found out that there's a recall on certain batteries.

Nikon Battery Recall for EN-EL15

Scratch and Sketch

Our fishing plans fell through yesterday afternoon. So, I went out to run some errands and then I stopped by Barnes and Noble and picked up some "Scratch and Sketch" books for this kids. Here's a few pics of their artwork:

Crossword - Day 4

Had to use the browser to do the crossword this time since the kids were using the ipad. Faster, but missing more. (Under 24 minutes)

Karen Klein

I'm deeply saddened that children would act this way to anyone, especially their elders. At the same time, I'm really moved at the outpouring of people who've seen this as wrong and have shown their support of the bus monitor.

Karen Klein on Google News

MBP Retina is pretty awesome

I went with a friend to the Apple store over at McArthur Mall last night to checkout the new Retina display MacBook Pro. It really is pretty incredible. Surfing the web and watching videos is kind of pixely and blurry, but I'm sure that will get better soon. As for text... I popped open a terminal window. It's pretty amazing. You can make the font incredibly small, but it's still legible. Aperture was amazing. You can really see photo stuff so much better! As for weight, it's definitely lighter than my current MBP.

Day 3 - Stats

Ponytails attempted - 3
Ponytails made - 2
Internet connection diagnosed - 1
Hours spent at beach - 3
Pieces of Adobo eaten - 3

Another hot day!

Crossword - Day 3

Forgot to post this up yesterday... Missing some, but nearly everything correct.

Five more cents...

... and I would've had 2012!

It's simmering

Cooking chicken adobo

Sandy City

North of boardwalk

Looking south

Leilani the sand crab vet

Parker fortress

Peyton loves the water

Sand crabs captured!

Breakfast in a bag

Classics Unearthed!

These towels are not only older than my children, they are probably older than most of my colleagues at work! (Just in case you're wondering, that's E.T. on the second towel.)

Two Ponytails

Usually, I'm a one ponytail dad. I have just never gotten really good at making two of them and having them positioned well. But it's sabbatical time, so I figured, "Why not try to improve my ponytails skills?"

Sabbatical - Day 3

Today, I'm trying out The Weather Channel app since the Yahoo! Weather app didn't have enough detail. Looks like the beach is a go for today!

Day 2 - Stats

Stromboli's Eaten - One half
Aerobeds infalted - One
Pushups - 10
75K Mile Checkups - One
Letters Written - One

Best Pizza in Va Beach?

It's hard to tell because of the lack of a sign, but that's Neighbor's Pizza -- probably the best pizza in Va Beach. They have a bunch of books on shelves when you first enter the door. The owner lets you take one and them just bring it back when you are done. Lots of people love the calamari. I think the Stromboli's are right up there with the pizzas. Oh, and since I know you're gonna seek this place out, make sure to order some pepperoni rolls when you get there.