Magic Gadgets: Chromecast

Ali is truly one of best gift givers I’ve ever known.  It’s one of the things I love most about her.  Google announced the release of Chromecast on Wednesday (July 24).  The gadget quickly sold out on all shopping sites. 

 To my surprise, there was a package from Amazon waiting for me when I got back from my run today.  Sure enough, I am the proud new owner of the hottest gadget on the market today!  I have no idea how she did it, but I love the surprise.

Now we can stream our favorite new show (House of Cards) onto the TV with MUCH LESS headache.   Also worth streaming to large format HD: Moses vs Santa Claus.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Over the last several months we’ve seen two commercials and two movies filmed right outside our Apt.   Now that we’re parking the car in a garage (and not worrying about street parking), the filming days are really a lot of fun.  In the past 24 hours we’ve watched our section of California Street go from thoroughfare to armed patrol area, in which, the curfew laws are strictly enforced. 

They’re filming for The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes today.  We’re already counting down to it’s release next year!

After all of this setup, coordination, and filming…I can’t imagine that they’ve captured any more than 30 seconds worth of final-cut footage.   Although it’s exciting for us, it must be mind numbing for the crew.  We watched as they filmed this sequence at least ten times over.

Maui in a Minute

Volcano – How many people get to say that they biked down a volcano with their mom?  I do!  The group jumped on bikes shortly after sunrise at the top of Haleakala and down we went.  A couple of hours later we were in the little town of Paia enjoying a breakfast at Moana Café.

Waterfalls – The main attraction of the Road to Hanna are the waterfalls.  We saw no fewer than six waterfalls and loved each one of them.  The Maui waterfalls are one of those things that don’t photograph well.  Experiencing them in person does far more justice.

Beaches – At times it felt like there were more beaches than Banyan trees.  My favorite, Kalama Beach Park, was just a couple miles away from the condo and along the path that I would run.

Luau – Luaus are a Hawai’i must.  Ours was buffet style.  The pork and chicken was excellent.  I tried just about everything poi, lomi salmon, and all four deserts.

Sunrise – We were picked-up at 2AM for this little experience.  We drove for better than two hours to the top of Haleakala where we dawned winter gear to help protect us from the elements.  At 10k feet, the temps were in the 30’s and manageable by my standards.  The wind, however, had some bite.  It made me wish I had my ski goggles and an extra layer.

Shaved Ice – I wanted to have a shaved ice before I left the island.  When I did, I got it from Ululani’s Shaved Ice: mango, passion fruit, and coconut were my flavors.  They sell three different sizes: mini, small, regular.  I had to laugh because even the mini was too big for a normal human being.  Anyhow, I repeated this love affair for the next three days.

Vistas – Everywhere I looked was another unforgettable view.  It’s tough to go wrong with beaches, sun, volcano’s, and palm trees.  I have an odd compulsion that to name inanimate objects (like trees).  I named the palm tree off of our balcony “Georgina.”

Noteworthy – I had a difficult time getting out of SFO.  The Asiana plane crash happened while I was on my way to the airport.  My flight was delayed, delayed, delayed, and then finally cancelled.  I was fortunate to get out of San Francisco the following day.  During takeoff, I was on the east-facing side of the airplane and had a clear view of the wreckage.  …not exactly the thoughts I wanted going through my mind during takeoff!