TUESDAY TWO - HAPPY LAST TUESDAY AND LAST DAY OF 2013

(Somewhere in Utah, near Monument Valley - July 2013)

I was about to finish this Tuesday Two post for the last day of 2013 (December 31^st) when my husband asked if we could go to a movie.  He said that we should leave right away to catch the matinee.  We thought we could get the senior discount rate in addition to the reduced fare for the early show.  Being a “dutiful and submissive” wife (yeah right), I stopped blogging and went to the movie with my husband.

(Santa Barbara, California - July 2013)

It costs only $4.00 each ticket for the 4:30 show but we spent $15 for a combo of large popcorn and large strawberry Slurpee.  For a smaller combo, we would only save $1.50.  This is the reason why we have become a society of “supersize” and fighting (losing to) the epidemics of obesity!

What movie did we see?  We saw “Hobbit, the Desolation of Smaug”.  I closed my eyes 2/3 of the time.  Even my husband admitted that there were too many fighting scenes.  Be warned of the ending if you are planning to see the movie – that is all I am going to say ….

(A pair of sea lions having a political debate - California, July 2013)

OK, back to the last day of 2013 – here is looking back at a few major events by the numbers:

33 – My family and I have been living in America for 33 years.  We have come a long way from the first day (January 1980) when we arrived in New York City from the refugee camp in Indonesia.  We are thankful to be living in America and did our best to be productive citizens.

(Benjamin at Elephant Feet, Highway 160 in Arizona - July 2013)

52 – I reached another milestone on my fifty-second birthday.  I am thankful to celebrate one more birthday.  It is not too bad being older when compared to the other option. 

24 – My husband and I celebrated our 24^th Wedding Anniversary.  It has not always been “happily ever” but we weathered the tough times and continue to grow old with each other.

26 – We also celebrated our 26^th Anniversary on July 4^th when we saw each other across the crowded cafeteria at the United Nations and it was “love at first sight”!

(Lovers Rock, Utah - July 2013)

5,150 – Our annual road trip in 2013 was from St. Louis to San Francisco.  It took 12 days and a total of 5,150 miles including visits to Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, spent a few days in SF, drove along Pacific Coast Highway (Big Sur/CA Route 1), visited Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and took the long way home thru Hoover Dam (Arizona/Nevada), Monument Valley and Arches National Parks (Utah).

Compared to other years, I would say that 2013 was an uneventful and smooth-riding year.  It was not the best but definitely not the worst.  It was a typical year with many setbacks and challenges.  With the new year, we are ready to move forward, to continue to keep calm and carry on …

TUESDAY TWO - "BO" aka iPad2

I have mentioned many times that I am "a day late and a dollar short" and that has been the story of my life. By now the whole world already knew about "the new iPad" or iPadHD or iPad3. Just last month, I finally purchased the iPad2 Wi-Fi + 3G 32GB White. We have been talking about it for a few years (we were impressed when QQ let us use his iPad when we were in NYC 2010 Thanksgiving) and thought we would get the iPad at Christmas time but never did. More than a year later, February 2012, we were at the Apple store and after the nice young man named "Bo" showed us all the wonderful stuff that we could do, I asked my husband for his wallet, took out CP credit card and say to Bo, "Sold - one iPad for my 51st birthday"!

Thus, it is only fitting that I name the iPad "Bo" after the young man who patiently answered all the questions us geezers asked. (It would have been much nicer if he would also mentioned that we should wait a few more months and get the latest model, the iPad3 instead.) It is also fitting that I write about the iPad2 for this week Tuesday Two post, just in time for the announcement of the new iPad. Of course, there are accessories to go along with the iPad. So far, I have purchased the cover with built-in wireless Bluetooth keyboard, a stylus pen so smudges from our fingers won't be all over the screen and just to be on the safe side, the handy microfiber screen cleaning cloths. I still need a camera connection kit so I could easily see my photos taken during our roadtrips and would not have to wait until after we got home to start orgazining the 10,000+ photos.

When we first brought Bo home, he had a hard time connecting to the wireless network. Bo would be connected then disconnected the next time we used it. After consulting with QQ and search the web to find out what the problems were, we decided that it was time for a new router. And everything worked fine after we installed the new router. We have been enjoying Bo since (QQ thought we returned Bo because we did not say much after calling him for help with the wireless connection.) We already downloaded a few apps, (how about my beloved Red Wings logo as screensaver, pretty cool eh?) especially those that would be helpful to our upcoming roadtrips. The only problem is I have become an addict to playing Scrabble almost everyday. I have gotten pretty good at the game. My highest score is 475 and I enjoy the challenge of not only not leaving any letters on the rack but also getting higher score. Thank you, Steve, for the wonderful things and the joy the iPad has brought to us.