Andi’s exciting life.

I have had the pleasure of buying new personal electronics lately. First up is my new, tiny, adorable MP3 player: The iRiver S10.

I usually don’t pay much attention to packaging, but this asymmetrical box was very eye catching.

“Please connect and charge S10 with a computer prior to use it.” Gotta love imports.

So cute and easy to carry in my pocket. The only real buttons are the volume and power on the sides, and the rest of the controls work by pressing the edges of the screen (where the white arrows are pointing). I have a Nano but hate the wheel, and I like these controls much better. So far it sounds great, is very portable, and has a very pretty display.

Next is my third Nintendo DS. I had a light pink import of the original DS, but Matt convinced me that I needed a new one when the Lite came out (he was so right). So, I had my trusty Coral Pink DS Lite (seen below) until it met its demise this weekend. I put it on the charger Friday night when the low battery light came on, and it wouldn’t charge or boot after that. Matt took it apart to see if he could fix it, but he said it was dead and that the battery was wet. There must have been a spilling incident that I didn’t know about.

R.I.P. Pinky.

So, obviously I needed a replacement. The question was, which color? I didn’t want to just replace it with another coral pink (bo-ring), so I had a decision to make. Matt assumed that I would get metallic rose because, since my raspberry Gameboy Color, I have always gotten the girliest color possible. I think the rose is too mauve and ugly though. So, unless I wanted to import and pay an extra $50+ for ice blue, I was deciding between crimson/black and cobalt/black, my two favorites of the current US colors. Despite my concerns that I was going to have a “boy’s DS,” I chose cobalt. It just came today, and OMG, look at this thing!

Is that a sharp-looking game system or what? The blue is dark and shiny, and the black is matte so it won’t show fingerprints. I love it. Maybe I can put a unicorn sticker on it or something to girl it up. As for the DS itself, no review is needed, right? I mean, if you don’t have one, get one (or three). No one should live a life without Meteos or Professor Layton.

Yesterday evening, I walked to the grocery store and encountered multiple elderly, Asian folks carrying humongous bags over their shoulders and checking curbside recycling bins. This is a normal occurrence in our neighborhood Sunday evening, the day before trash day. I thought to myself how resourceful it is that they are picking up what other people throw away and turning it in for money. They are working very hard for surely very little, but it must be enough money to help them make ends meet. I always greet these clever hard workers with a smile and wonder if there is some way I could help them by leaving what they need in plain sight so they don’t have to search for it.

Tonight, I happened to find out that Sunset Scavenger, our local waste service, encourages you to report recycling theft. Now I’m supposed to believe that they should be reported as thieves? The city says that it’s OK for me to turn in my recycling for cash, but once I put it in the bin it’s their property and revenue. When I throw something in a trash can, I consider it public property. If someone in need can benefit from my garbage, fantastic!

It’s not enough that dude is wearing a shirt and tie with shorts (please note tucked in tie), but what’s with that pattern ON the shorts? I didn’t get a close look, but I’m pretty sure that print is pretty ponies, possibly unicorns. The kid is probably clinging to the dad, begging him not to take him to school in that outfit. I have to hope that Matt never becomes this fashionable.

I just got a 10% off coupon from Toys R Us, and I’m pretty flattered. It says “Exclusively for Our Best Guest.” I had no idea I was their best, especially since I have only made about five purchases there ever. I guess I really stand out from the crowd.

I realize that I have a tiny audience here, but I still want to mention this to get the word out as much as I can. I just read that there are US Soldiers accepting toys and winter clothes (new or used) for children in Iraq. If you are interested in sending anything over, you can read more about it here:

http://www.rookiemoms.com/send-your-used-stuffed-animals-to-iraq/
http://www.parenthacks.com/2006/09/spread_the_word.html

For Christmas, my mom gave me this basil “garden in a bag.” You can see below it’s humble beginnings, and now it’s monstrous. I usually let all plants that I come into contact with die, but I’m way into this one. Matt was so impressed with my ability to grow this basil in a sack, that he got me this awesome sunflower in a can for my birthday. It’s from Korea. I started it on my birthday, so a week ago today, and look at it thriving already! I plan to grow many more things in cans and sacks. I just got dill in a sack started, so it will germinate in “7 to 21 days.”

Today is my final birthday of my 20s. To celebrate, we’re going on a whale watching trip, which we are very excited about. Also, check out this fantastic cake that Matt got for me.

Hm. Well, I completely forgot that I even had a blog, as is obvious from my lack of posts. I’ll just pick up from here. (Not much has happened since I last wrote.) Matt and I are going to Yosemite this weekend to go snowboarding. We’re driving up Friday and just hanging out that day, then going snowboarding on Saturday and coming home Sunday. We haven’t been snowboarding in about 3 years, so we’re going to take the baby lesson for the third time. Since we only go once a year or less, we feel like we have to start from scratch every time. Maybe since it’s still pretty early in the season, we could go again in a month or so.

Today we’re going to get Chinese for lunch, as we always do on Sunday, and then go get me a new jacket for the trip. I used to have a jacket for this purpose, but it was stolen out of the car in one of the many car break-ins I’ve had. Hopefully I’ll find something really good looking so that my high fashion sense will distract others from how much I suck at snowboarding.

Matt pointed out that the short-lived post I had with the funny cat photos was a faux pas. He said that I was stealing someone else’s intellectual property because I didn’t credit the site where I got them. So, I just blew away the whole thing. In the future, I will try not to unintentionally steal from others.