Traveler’s Holiday Gift Guide for Frequent Flyers from $0 to $20

Posted on November 15, 2017

Everyone has that person in their life who is an avid traveler. This is the person who spends more of their life on the way somewhere than sitting home. We live vicariously through them via the fabulous photos they share in social media.

If you are interested in helping to fuel their adventures, consider gifting them something than any frequent flyer would appreciate. All of these gifts cost anywhere from NOTHING to $20!

1. LifeStraw Personal Water Filter ($19.99) – This is a must-have for international travelers especially who have to be very careful about water quality. The LifeStraw Filtered Water Bottle cleans up 99.9% of waterborne parasites & bacteria from water sources in countries where water quality can be an issue.

The 2nd stage activated carbon filter reduces odor, chlorine and leaves zero aftertaste too

2. 2. Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travel: Our List of the 500 Best Places to See($16.99) – The traveler’s bucket list of places to go is constantly growing. This award-winning and very popular book from the Travel Guide experts at Lonely Planet will give them a host of new ideas!

3. All in One Travel Wallet – 2 Passport Holder + Gift Box / cash tickets cards pen ($16.99) – Although frequent travelers are usually organized, they could appreciate another new option to store all the things they need for the flight in one place: passport, ID, boarding pass, money and more.

4. 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: Revised Second Edition Paperback – July 1, 2015 ($18.99) – Similar to the Lonely Planet guide, this well reviewed book provides a host of ideas

5. Offer to House Sit a Pet – ($0) – If you wanderlust pal has a pet, you know the cost of pet sitting services can be high for them. Gifting them pet sitting services during one of their longer stints away from home would be much appreciated.

6. Bake a tin of cookies for them to take to the airport – ($5) – Also pretty low cost would be to prepare a tin of cookies, granola or some other snacks that can be taken with them on a flight or at the airport.

7. Everlasting Comfort 100% Pure Memory Foam Neck Pillow Airplane Travel Kit With Ultra Plush Velour Cover, Sleep Mask and Earplugs (Lifetime Warranty) ($18.95) – A frequent traveler doesn’t leave home without the essentials for a long flight across the ocean. This kit included a neck pillow, mask and earplugs to help them get some rest on an extended plane trip.

8. Make them a Mix Tape and put it on a Jump drive, Spotify, SoundCloud or some other service. ($0) – A traveler could always use some new tunes to jam to while waiting in the airport or heading somewhere exciting. Get them in the mood with some of their (and your) fave music.

9. Pioneer Quality Audio Performance In Ear Lightweight Metal In Ear Headphone, Blue (SE-CL722T-L) ($19.99) – Speaking of tunes, the earbuds they give out on the flight cannot compare to a set of quality earbuds.

10. Create a list of Free Events going on where they are heading. ($0) A gift of list of fun and FREE activities that are happening near or around where your travler friend is heading would be a time and money saver when they arrive.

11. BONAZZA Universal International Travel Adapter Kit with 3.4A 4 USB Ports – International travelers know the challenge of finding an outlet to fit their US-based electronic devices and products like hair dryers. This travel adapter kit works in Over 150 Countries and a bonus is that in includes aUSB Power Adapter for iPhone, Android, All USB Devices ($19.95)

12. Germ Defense Kit – Protect Yourself While Traveling! 30+ Piece Kit – $14.95 – Germs are everywhere in public places and during travel, it becomes doubly important to wipe off surfaces like courtesy phones, counters and more. Your wandering buddy will appreciate this germ travel kit.

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Reviews

This New Book Explains What East Asian Parents Do Differently, Why Their Kids Learn Better (REVIEW)

Posted on November 14, 2017

Because America focuses on the individual and lays the burden to educate its school children squarely on shoulders of school systems and teachers may be the cause for pervasive mediocrity among its students compared to other industrialized nations.

So says social scientist and researcher Cornelius Grove in his latest book “The Drive to Learn: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Raising Students Who Excel” which I received this Summer complimentary in exchange for an honest review.

It took me quite some time to get through it because of life’s interruptions but also because it is tremendously densely packed with information, data, anecdotes and references that I wanted to make sure I took a comprehensive approach to digesting all of its contents before writing this review. Also, I am very interested in education and the process of raising quality children. The Sociology of child-raising is a fascinating topic to me.

Admittedly, from reading the front and back cover, I expected the book to a “bashfest” of the American education system and American children interwoven through passages levying laudatory praise of East Asian schools and kids.

It was not that really. Moreso, Grove examines various aspects of learning in the two cultures in an attempt to dissect what makes them so different.

America is an individualized society while China and Japan are Communitarian. While America focuses on the build up of the individual and self, East Asian cultures strive to develop a sense of being part of a larger community.

Different Priorities

The long and short of it is that the fundamental differences between American and Asian parents and education is that Americans aim to create “well-rounded” students. As such, schools offer a wide range of courses and extracurricular activities, including a variety of sports.

That’s not the goal of East Asian parents whose top priorities is mastery of the subjects taught in school as compared to American-style parenting that puts the top priority on growing children that are independent, creative, mentally sharp, popular among peers, physically robust, involved in their community and academic proficient.

The East Asian parent puts his/her focus on making sure their child masters topics, and grows children to be community focused and driven to fit inside the realm of expectations in the family unit and much of that effort is spent from early childhood through high school.

American parents pull back during primary years, leaving the educating up to teachers and schools. US middle class parents expect their schools to do their thing to help their child learn, whereas Asian parents are very active during this time, not relying on the school to educate their child alone. Because they are so involved in their child’s early years, by the time their children get to high school, they have developed the study habits to succeed and East Asian parents feel comfortable loosening their reigns and confident their child will do well.

Meanwhile, around this time is when American parents step back into active parenting, mainly because they see the impact of peer pressure and want to get ahead of the social stresses of adolescence. This is when American parents are hounding their kids to study more or better, to cut off the distractions of music, video games, peers, and TV, and to try to instill good work ethic in their children.

It’s kinda too late by then, Grove seemingly suggests through his writing.

East Asian parents, Grove’s research shows, pay more attention to their children’s education, sacrifice more and involve themselves in their children’s studying early on. This sometimes would involve reading the same book their child is reading to make sure they understand.

High Standards

The book also emphasizes the fact that Asian parents set very high expectations for their child’s academic performance and maintain those standards throughout their school years. They coach, they allow a child’s self-esteem to grow without using verbal flattery to extrinsically inflate or maintain this self esteem. In other words, there is little room for “participation” prizes.

Because the high standards are set so high, Grove’s data states, the East Asian child realizes that s/he is responsible for learning and expected to learn. The family and child have the burden not so much the school, teachers or school systems as it is in America. Because the family bears the duty, they must explore different options, tutors, online learning, and finding any other tools necessary to ensure the child masters the subject. They do what is necessary and do not blame the schools or school system for a child failing to learn.

The Conclusion

This book got me thinking of criticism that is levied on East Asian parenting by some Americans who may believe it is too strict, while perhaps pointing to over-stressed children and teens from that part of the world who fight hard to meet up to their parents’ high expectations, only to later have emotional and other physical reactions to failure. It’s not healthy and not something parents here really aspire to.

Grove’s suggestion by the end of the book: if this is the conclusion, then we as Americans must not espouse the opinion that East Asian children are smarter than American kids. Instead, we need to accept what makes kids from that culture different is that the approach to learning, the role of the family in ensuring learning and the classroom models in East Asia are created and set up to mold children that perform better academically, not because they are smarter per se.

My Personal Take-Away

I can certainly relate to the East Asian parenting style and feel my and my husband’s parenting style is a nice mix or blend of both. When my daughter’s class was reading one of the books from the Chronicles of Narnia, I got myself a copy so I could keep up. My husband would also read what my son was reading in literature so he could keep up.

Mom got used copies from Amazon of hers and hers copies of #chroniclesofnarnia to read with #Blerdgirl for a family discussion session later.
A post shared by JJ Ghatt (@blerdgirl) on Oct 9, 2016 at 2:46pm PDT

Together, we set very high expectations of excellence for our three children (ages 15, 12 and 9) and are actively involved in helping them reach those goals. We are both active participants in their learning all year round, including Summer time. I’ve done it from birth, purchasing toys that help develop their foreign language synapses in their brain, and investing in things like Baby Einstein and My Baby Can Read, which I credit with giving my kids a head start.

And it continued through their school-age years. I take the kids to the library after school to make sure they get their homework done because there are so many distractions once they get home. I sit there with them as they do their homework and am on hand to answer questions. I help my eldest come up with a study plan or a plan to complete a project. I’m that one who handles the literature and humanities.

My husband, a Patent Engineer and Patent Attorney by trade and degree, is in charge of math and sciences. He gives our kids extra problems from the internet to do and uses online platforms like IXL Mathto keep them sharp and sometimes ahead of their class or grade so they don’t ever fall behind.

As a result of this active parenting, our two youngest get all As and the eldest, who has some executive functioning issues he’s working with, also finally landed on the Honor Roll but only with our active involvement.

But we still believe whole-heartedly in the value of being a well-rounded individual and giving children choice at some point.

There doesn’t seem to be a conclusion to The Drive to Learn book. I found it a very interesting introspective look into what went into complex and thorough research on the different parenting styles.

I’m happy there were no out right conclusions stating that one parenting style is better than the other. However, I did ascertain some changes that American parents who are interested in getting their children to achieve academically may want to start doing, including things they need to do a little bit differently and starting from very early in a child’s life.

What to Do As an American to Draw that Drive to Learn Out Of Your Child?

Here are the 7 things I figured out you must do from reading this book:

First, instill in your child that s/he is responsible for his learning and to accept that you, the parent, will coach and train them through their learning, collaboratively, side-by-side, making sure they absorb new information and stretch their mind to master it.

Second, as a parent, step in, when appropriate to model correct actions and help shape the child’s mastery and learning. Don’t leave it up to them to figure it out.

Third, be prepared to put academics over team sports or social activity.

Fourth, abandon giving out participation praise for trying.

Fifth, be prepared to intervene when a child fails or struggles to understand a topic. Give him praise when he does well but work harder and focus more on overcoming failures.

Sixth, let your child know that you are confident they can master any topic and show them how to do it, without any hesitation of whether they will be able to master it. Drill in your child the fundamentals of how things work so s/he is fully able to absorb the other mechanics of it.

Seventh, let your child know that the goal is mastery not competency or proficiency ergo, the target is “A”.

It’s not for everyone, I agree, but the book does provide some insightful anecdotes, research, data and resources for where to go for more information. If anything, I’d say Drive to Learn is an excellent launch pad for the next step. What that is depends on who is reading and what they are searching for. Get it today at Amazon for $50 hardback, $25 paperback or $19.96 on Kindle.

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Reviews

Verdict Is In: The Lego Brick Fest LIVE is Lit!

Posted on November 13, 2017

Looking for a spectacular fun event to take your Lego-fanatic kid to? Look no further than the traveling Lego Brick Fest expo!

We got chance to explore the fantastic exhibit when it made a pit stop in Baltimore, Maryland this year.

Blogger reviewer Zach and his pals headed down to the Maryland State Grounds in Timonium to check out all the fabulous things in store for attendees: building zones, miniature golf, robotics, an area for the youngest builders, a glow city filled with structures made out of glow-in-the-dark Legos, a magnanimous wall to build structures on, a brick sandbox, a speedway to race Lego vehicles, a theater area with plays and more.

The kids marveled at the giant floor puzzle was amazing!

Lego mosaic artwork is situated throughout the exhibit.

There is also marvelous architecture and other life side structures to admire.

There are also plenty of photo oops for your family.

The boys enjoyed the gaming area as well!

The Tour continues. Future stops include : New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, Texas, Philadelphia, Charleston and Queens, NYC. Get your tickets today if you live in one of these areas! Your kid will love you for it.

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Reviews

Santa HQ at Tyson’s Corner Center Mall In Va Is A Must Visit This Season

Posted on November 12, 2017

This weekend, I headed down to the Tyson’s Corner Center Mall to attend the launch kick off event of its Santa HQ, an interactive, and engaging exhibit featuring virtual reality, social media and other engaging experiences, essentially an enhanced Santa’s workshop for the digital era..

It was a fun family mid-afternoon spent decorating Nestle‘s Tollhouse cookies, listening to a local school band perform, getting complimentary face painting and touring Santa’s Observatory near the Nordstrom entrance in the mall.

The tour kicks off with kids (and adults if they like) being “scanned” as they arrive to determine if they’ve been “naughty or nice.” Your name appears on the Nice list if you’re lucky enough to make it!

Complimentary selfie sticks are available to borrow while walking through the observatory to take photos. Guests can use special tablets to view Santa’s magical world – the night sky or Santa’s elves at work. They appear like holograms before your eyes!

But right before entering the observatory, your kids can stop off and take an “ELFIE” (a photo opp as a dancing elf).

Download the Elfie or Elf-Ray Visions app from the Apple or Google Play store onto your phone, tablet or other mobile device and the walk thru becomes an even more magical experience as trigger stations throughout the exhibit ignite animations that come to life through the device and before your eyes. It’s quite magical!

At the end, families can take a photo in front of a screen of gifts and kids get to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. Prices start at $39.99 for the photo.

I have been to a lot of holiday exhibits in the area and over the years and I must say this is one of the best Santa experiences in the #DMV (DC, MD, VA area)

Kids get a coloring book as a parting gift and parents can drop off a toy for a toy drive for needy area families while there. That equals fun and altruism all in one fun afternoon. Can’t beat that!

I read in a recent report that suburban malls are on the downturn because millennials in the GenY generation prefer living in the city and shopping online, but that prognosis does not apply to this mall!

It has so many amazing and different stores and is electrifying and bustling in there with lots of options and two food courts! Go #ShopTysons.

As a takeaway and gift for coming down to explore this year’s exhibit, the nice people at Tyson’s gifted me a wonderful gift bag filled with goodies from Origins, a sample of beauty products from Inglot which also provided complimentary make up touch ups for moms before the Santa photo, a couple of free admissions tickets to Tysons Ice Rink at the Plaza, and the latest copy of HGTV magazine, which is a sponsor of the Observatory experience.

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Run, Don’t Walk, to Disney On Ice Presents ‘Dare to Dream’ (REVIEW)

Posted on October 1, 2017

I am not sure what I loved most about the Disney On Ice production of “Dare to Dream” that opened last night at the Eagle Bank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia: the choreography (especially the aerial above-ice acrobatics), the bright and flamboyant costuming, the pyrotechnics or the overall production.

I do know that if you live in a home of Disney movie fanatics (or Disney in general), you’re not going to want to miss this opp to be their hero by getting them tickets to this show!

We expected to see how far Moana will go when she embarks on an action-packed voyage with mighty demigod Maui in a quest to save her island, become a wayfinder, and find her own identity. Anna’s devotion to her estranged sister Elsa sets her on a perilous journey to mend their bond, and stop an eternal winter. Rapunzel breaks out of her tower and teams up with an unlikely companion, Flynn Rider, as she goes to great lengths to realize her dream. Armed only with courage, Belle befriends the enchanted castle staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s rough exterior. With help from her friends and a little magic, Cinderella is determined to make the wish in her heart come true.

My daughter and I fought intense Friday traffic to get to the media Lua before the show and got there in time to grab some deelish donuts, braided knots, Polynesian chicken skewers and tropical punch!

We also took some fun photo booth snaps before settling down into our awesome Section 100 seats smack in the middle of the arena former known as The Patriots Center--compliments of the kind folks at the Feld Entertainment.

The atmosphere in the arena as we scurried down the hallways to get to our seats was electrifying.

Vendors sold everything from glow in the dark mini-ears to giant bags of cotton candy and every Disney princess accessory a girl would love.

And there were tons of princesses there in the form of adorable tikes outfitted in their best gown or Queen Elsa, Princess Jasmine, Tiana, Cinderella, Belle and Moana.

Totes adorbs! I think my ovaries were bursting at this moment witnessing all that cuteness at once!

The theme for the night is an ideal that, personally, I aspire to always embrace: “No goal is too big when we find the strength to shape our own destiny at Disney On Ice presents Dare To Dream!”

Perfect!

In Dare to Dream, hosts Mickey and Minnie take us on a journey across raging seas and snow covered mountains to spark the courage inside us all!

This show introduced Moana to the Disney family and she closed the production to much fanfare as all the kids sang along.

The second biggest hit among attendees at our show was Frozen, followed by Tangled ( the new Rapunzel sequel) and Beauty and the Beast!

Well, given these are the most recent Disney films out, it makes sense! But everyone equally enjoyed the part of the adventure featuring the Cinderella story!

It was a fantastic time, filled with oohs and aaahs, singing along, even among the parents, and marveling at the skillful and beautiful skating.

Here is a snippet of some of the performances I captured

And even though I brought a bunch of layers with me expecting it to be cold, the arena was at a pleasant and comfortable temperature. Score!

If you live near the area, then I highly advise you to nab some tickets to this show which runs through October 8. If not, check out the website for times and location near you!

Tickets start at just $20 so it’s definitely an affordable outing for the family and those on a budget should keep their eyes peeled on discount sites like Groupon for deals.

Overall, I highly recommend taking your little ones to this show. It’s most definitely worthwhile investment and a memorable experience that your kids will be grateful to have had.

I am a Feld Family Ambassador, and in exchange for my time and efforts in attending shows and reporting my opinion within this blog, as

well as keeping you advised of the latest discount offers, Feld Entertainment has provided me with complimentary tickets to Feld shows and

opportunities to attend private Feld pre-Show events.

Even though I receive these benefits, I always give an opinion that is 100% mine.

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Win 4 FREE Tix to Disney On Ice’s ‘Dare to Dream’

Posted on September 15, 2017

So guys, 4 tickets just fell into my lap for Disney On Ice’s presentation of Dare To Dream at the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, VA and I want you one lucky Bellyitch reader to have them!

SHOW INFORMATION

EagleBank Arena | Fairfax, VA | September 29-October 8, 2017

Friday, September 29 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 30 at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 1 at 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Friday, October 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 7 at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 8 at 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

If you are interested in going and don’t want to have it depend on you winning this sweepstakes, you can purchase your own tickets which start at: $20.00

*Ticket pricing is subject to change based on market demand.

Venue/Ticket Information: Tickets are on-sale now and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets via charge or by phone at 1-800-745-3000 and via www.ticketmaster.com.

To win them, Enter Below from today through midnight on Sunday, September 17, 2017! Many ways to enter! You can enter more than once! Anyone in the world can enter but the show is in Virginia so you got to get here or gift them to a family you know who can get there! Good luck!

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Reviews

What Happened When I Reviewed A Money-Saving Wholesale Farm-to-Table Meat Delivery Service

Posted on September 6, 2017

More and more families are taking advantage of companies offering whole sale, bulk foods delivery services to feed their families and save money.

Recently, I partnered up with one such fresh farm-to-table food delivery service Zaycon Fresh (formerly Zaycon Foods) to review the process of shopping and ordering online, getting in line at one of the pick up locations and prepping and preparing a meal using the product.

Zaycon Fresh launched back in 2009 and is a privately owned company based out of Spokane, Washington. They buy meats like bacon, ground beef, bacon, chicken, ribs and more direct from family farmers which keep prices low and product at premium quality with less processing and travel time to get to your table. Though not organic, but a step below, all meat are certified to not include hormones, additives, and other by products found in conventional meats.

You have to buy in bulk so it’s a great option for meat and potatoes family, families where a meal is prepared more than one time a day, those with ample freezer space because the products can take up a lot of space in your refrigerator’s freezer compartment.

They don’t sell the same items all year as there are seasonal options and specials throughout the year. Among the list of products Zaycon Fresh has offered includes:

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Fillets
Fresh Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Ground Beef
Whole Beef Tenderloins
Wild Argentine Red Shrimp
Prime Rib
Boneless Applewood Smoke Ham
Pork Tenderloin
Pork Sausage Links
Back Ribs
Bacon wrapped pork filets
Wild Argentine Red Shrimp
Kansas City Strip Steaks

After signing up on its website, I perused through their options that, at-the-time, included breaded chicken cutlets which I selected because as an on-the-go family, we needed something that was relatively easy to make and that everyone in the family would enjoy. If purchased at about $4.00 per pound at the local grocery store, I would have paid close to $100 so with Zaycon Fresh, I would enjoy a $32 savings which is perfect for a family on a budget.

Breaded Chicken Cutlets that I got to Review as Presented on the Website

I looked at the delivery dates and options available and selected a pick up window near my home in Maryland. They have relationships with lots of locations so you’re likely to find one within reasonable driving distance.

My delivery date was August 28th. When the time grew closer to my pick-up date, Zaycon Fresh sent me email and text reminders at each stage: the day before the pick up date to make sure I put in on my schedule for the next day, when the truck arrived (and any on-the-spot specials the driver might have had available), when the time was coming close to the truck to depart and a thank you for using the service.

I got the “late” text because I almost missed the truck!

My mobile phone’s charging cord died on me and it has my GPS app on it and I failed to write down the pick up address, a church parking lot in Annapolis, Maryland, before departing. Rookie move!

So after arriving in Annapolis, I had to run to the local CVS Pharmacy, purchase a cord, wait for my iPhone to charge back up, then enter the directions for the drop off location. Phew!

Ordinarily, there would be a long line of cars at the pick up location and I would have to wait but I suppose because it was close to the end of the window, there weren’t any cars there when I arrived! Score one for the late birds in the house! Woot Woot!

Fortunately for me, I brought a co-pilot, my 12-year old son with me who was able to film some footage of the pick up to give you an idea of what it actually looks like:

The cutlets came unfrozen in four large plastic bags and boxed. The plant for assembling that particular process is in the midwest but the delivery date was a few days after preparation so it is still less the time and better quality than on-the-shelf or freezer compartment meat one can get at their local supermarket or grocery store.

I talked to the driver who told me that there are some farms in North Carolina that Zaycon uses for other fresh meats and therefore, those would be even fresher when arrived!

Although the instructions say that the cutlets could be microwaved, because of the breading, I preferred the meat to be cooked a little bit more and therefore popped ours in the oven each time, set to about 350 degree for 15 minutes to achieve the texture my family prefers and I think yours would too if you opted to get the breaded chicken cutlets.

A chicken breast is packed with minerals and vitamins, including magnesium, vitamin B and B6, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin C and vitamin B12. Without the breading, it is low in fat, and baked or grilled chicken breast contains no carbohydrates.

Meals I made with the breaded chicken I got from Zaycon Fresh include a chicken wrap, a chicken salad and pasta with breaded chicken cutlet topped with marinara sauce.

I made spaghetti pasta topped with breaded baked cutlet on top, a breaded chicken topped garden salad, and a chicken wrap with tomatoes and cheese. There are lots of other recipes that I could experiment with and make.

Pasta topped with breaded chicken and marinara sauce made with my Zaycon Fresh products.

A chicken wrap I made with the breaded chicken from Zaycon Fresh

The supply could last my family several weeks and if I had a bigger, mega family, of over 5 children, this amount of food would be perfect. I think Zaycon Fresh is also great for those who operate catering or home daycare centers or other operations that prepare foods for a lot of people. Pick up times differ throughout the month and once you order one product, you won’t have to re-order that product for a while and can try something else.

Sign up today to see if there is a delivery upcoming near where you live. Use my referral link: https://www.zayconfresh.com/refer/bellyitch

My experience picking up Farm-to-Table fresh meat delivery service Zaycon Fresh. Look for the review on the blog today.
A post shared by Bellyitch_Blog – archived (@bellyitch) on Sep 6, 2017 at 3:13am PDT

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It’s Wedding Anniversary Season And James Arthur’s New Song is Perfect

Posted on August 17, 2017

A lot of people get married in August, therefore a lot of your friends who are still hanging in there are celebrating their wedding anniversary this month. I was heading home today, and a familiar song I’ve heard many many times came on the radio.

For some reason, I never paid attention to the lyrics but today I did. Wow! They really are the perfect words for a husband to dedicate to his wife. Or any partner to the other really.

I love it. If you haven’t heard it, here is the music video for it and the lyrics below that! Enjoy!

I met you in the dark

You lit me up

You made me feel as though

I was enough

We danced the night away

We drank too much

I held your hair back when

You were throwing up

Then you smiled over your shoulder

For a minute I was stone-cold sober

I pulled you closer to my chest

And you asked me to stay over

I said, I already told you

I think that you should get some rest

I knew I loved you then

But you’d never know

‘Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go

I knew I needed you

But I never showed

But I wanna stay with you

Until we’re grey and old

Just say you won’t let go

Just say you won’t let go

I wake you up with some

Breakfast in bed

I’ll bring you coffee

With a kiss on your head

And I’ll take the kids to school

Wave them goodbye

And I’ll thank my lucky stars

For that night

When you looked over your shoulder

For a minute I forget that I’m older

I wanna dance with you right now, oh

And you look as beautiful as ever

And I swear that every day you get better

You make me feel this way somehow

I’m so in love with you

And I hope you know

Darling, your love is more than worth its weight in gold

We’ve come so far, my dear

Look how we’ve grown

And I wanna stay with you

Until we’re grey and old

Just say you won’t let go

Just say you won’t let go

I wanna live with you

Even when we’re ghosts

‘Cause you were always there for me

When I needed you most

I’m gonna love you ’til

My lungs give out

I promise ’til death we part

Like in our vows

So I wrote this song for you

Now everybody knows

That it’s just you and me

Until we’re grey and old

Just say you won’t let go

Just say you won’t let go

Just say you won’t let go

Oh, just say you won’t let go

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Reviews

The One Book You Get When You Think You Suck at Parenting and Need a Pick Me Up (REVIEW)

Posted on August 7, 2017

A lot of parenting books can come off as “judgy” or “preachy”. Or, alternatively, they can overwhelm you with all the advise, suggestions and recommendations in them. You may finish them thinking that you’ll never ever be able to accomplish this thing called “parenting” successfully.

Certainly, in the public, well-meaning friends, colleagues, family and heck, random strangers, feel comfortable interjecting their opinion on your parenting skills and decisions.

“You’re Doing a Great Job! 100 Ways You’re Winning at Parenting” by Biz Ellis and Theresa Thorn is that inspirational and motivational, “don’t take yourself too seriously” book you read to decompress and realize that you rock! It’s about celebrating the tiny wins.

Within the 156 pages of this hardback coffee table gift style book, you’ll find colorful pages and over 100, pretty short entries about how awesome you are given the task at hand and the fact that you haven’t and most likely won’t cause too much harm on your kiddies.

I read the book from cover to cover while vacationing with my family this Summer and literally chuckled out loud at a few relatable and humorous quips. Like “You went out for milk…and came back afterwards. You could have used the opportunity to run away and start a new life! But you didn’t! You came back. Good job! Enjoy your milk!”

The authors, who have a very popular podcast “One Bad Mother“, did an excellent job setting the bar so low that you cannot help but smile at all the winning you’re doing as a parent every day! Yay for us!

It even covers unconventional topics many other books miss; single parenting, partnered parents and commune parents. Yeah, they still exist, I think. ha!

I would highly recommend this book not just for an expectant parent or a new one but for any parent at any stage who maybe has been beating herself or himself up about something that is likely out of their control.

It’s a quick and worthwhile read and one you can pass along to a friend in need.

Get this book at Amazon for just $10.86! Yeah can’t beat that price for a hard back book!

photo: Courtesy LA Parent by IBARIONEX PERELLO

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My Chronicles as A Cable Cord-Cutting Family

Posted on July 17, 2017

So… after another year of paying close to $3,000 for a bundled cable, internet and TV package deal and paying for channels that we don’t watch and services we don’t use (landline phone), the hubby and I decided to join the world of cable cutters!

Tread Into It Cautiously

The idea of cutting the cable cord, or giving up traditional multi-channel video programming providers (also known as cable television service), always scared me.

I’ve always been resistant to the idea because modern cable services come in a bundle of services that include landline telephone service. You know a phone that is connected to a telephone cord that is connected to telecommunications lines in the ground created decades ago. Those are ancient but they are dependable and reliable compared to wireless phones. In the interest of safety and security, I’ve always felt being able to connect with emergency services required traditional (POTS aka plain old telephone system).

A landline telephone is a dedicated residential link to the world, something very necessary in an emergency.

I’m not thinking the zombie apocalypse is coming but moreso in the instance of a huge storm that knocks our home off the power grid. What happens when we lose the ability to charge our mobile phones in our home, and our portable charges all run out of power, then all five people in our home who each own a wireless mobile phone phones would eventually die, and then if we ran out of gas of our two vehicles in the driveway depriving us of the ability to use the car to charge the phone, and the power generator died and then we’d be out of luck and unable to make or receive calls to emergency personnel or to call for help.

I admit. That’s a lot of “ifs”, “then” and hypothetical conditions that would have to occur in order to really experience a problem.

I was forced to ask myself if the $300 monthly bundled service bill (including all the local, state and federal fees, and taxes tacked on to the bill) is really worth the unlikely risk.

The answer is no.

Fear of Losing Precious Local TV

Other than the fear of losing landline telephone access, my only other hesitance was my interest in local channels. Before cable even existed and today now, you can get free over the air television via a TV and an antenna that you tune to get a signal.

Local TV is important.

Local TV provides local weather, traffic and local news and alerts. When you have a family, it is essential to be connected to what’s going on in your immediate community for your saftey, health and well being. Recalls, warnings about spikes in crime, incoming storm alerts are all things we need to know. It is not an option and a non-negotiable.

My family and I live in a heavily wooded town and so over-the-air antenna is not an option and therefore, I would need cable to be able to access local channels because antennas and other over-the-air tools would do nothing to deliver us clear free TV.

Before I did the research to see if streaming services offer Local TV and Live Local TV nowadays, I put that concern aside temporarily and set off to experiment to see how easy (or hard) it would be to join the cord-cutters society.

So Let’s Do this: First Up -Television

The first challenge was finding a streaming service to access all the channels, movies and other video programming we currently watch and love. Our kids enjoy all the children’s television options and we have one kid who adores the nature, Discovery and animal channels. My husband required all the sports channels to access soccer, and essentially all other sports. On his must have list was Fox Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN. I’m currently hooked on a few shows on TNT, AMC, Starz and HBO and I am an avid watcher of the Bravo TV Housewives shows (my guilty pleasure).

More options than traditional cable

What I discovered quickly is that there are a lot of video programming streaming services available currently. I knew Netflix and Hulu existed and were/are the current industry leaders in video streaming. Since those two took off, several other streaming services have launched. These include Sling TV, Amazon Prime, Playstation Vue, DirectTV Now and the newest YouTube TV. Here is a quick summary from Tom’s Guide:

1.HULU – If you want to keep current with the latest TV shows but don’t feel like investing in a cable subscription or an HD antenna, Hulu is the best solution. This service provides access to most major network shows (aside from CBS’ programs) and a handful of cable shows the day after they air. It also lets subscribers access a show’s current season — or often all of the program’s seasons. In addition, the service hosts a number of original shows (including joint ventures with the BBC, like The Wrong Mans and season 4 of The Thick of It), a selection of offbeat movies and a surprising amount of classic anime series. Even with a paid subscription, you have to sit through commercials, but far fewer than if you watched the same shows on cable. It cost $8 per month.

It added Live TV streaming recently for $40 per month. Along with more than 50 channels of live TV, in the new Hulu with Live TV from local channels ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in select cities plus a solid slate of cable channels, including ESPN, CNN, TNT, Bravo, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Lifetime, the Disney Channel and more (Disclosure: CBS is the parent company of CNET and Showtime.) You also get 50 hours’ worth of cloud DVR storage and an all-new interface.

You can get 45 days free!

2. Netflix – The great-granddaddy of streaming services remains the best. As you probably know, Netflix provides unlimited streaming of TV shows, movies, comedy specials and original programming (including Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards and the fourth season of Arrested Development) for one monthly subscription fee. No other service has yet given Netflix an honest-to-goodness run for its money in terms of selection, quality and performance consistency. You can even create up to five different profiles on a single account to make sure that your favorite content doesn’t mess up recommendations for your friends and loved ones.This is one of the original streaming services and currently going for $12. It too offers a free month!

3. Amazon Prime – For those who do most of their shopping online, Amazon Prime is a no-brainer. For $99 per year, you get free two-day shipping on your purchases, a free Kindle book each month, and unlimited access to both Amazon Music and Amazon Prime Instant Video. Like Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video is a veritable buffet of movies, television and original programming, like Alpha House, Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle. Thanks to a deal with Viacom — which controls Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon — Amazon Prime arguably has a better selection of comedy and children’s programming than its competitors. The service also offers unlimited access to an extensive collection from HBO’s back catalog of classics such as The Sopranos and The Wire. The separate Amazon Video provides easy access to current movies, but it’s an à la carte service. You can pay just $10 with your prime membership to skip the upfront cost. You can get a free month too.

4. SlingTV – If you like the idea of a cable subscription but feel it’s just too expensive and offers more content than you want, Sling TV might provide a happy medium for you. On paper, Sling sounds a lot like a traditional cable service: Pay a monthly subscription fee in exchange for about thirty real-time channels. But there’s no contract and no set-top box rental fee. Sling is especially handy for sports fans, as it offers a variety of ESPN channels. For cord-cutting sports fans, this alone is worth the price. Other popular networks, like NBC, BBC America, CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS and the Food Network, sweeten the deal. If you sign up for Sling Blue, which is the service’s multi-stream option, and bundle it with the more bare-bones Orange, the combo will cost you $40 per month. This service is $20 per month and also offers 7 days free and a free Roku Express when you order.

5. DirecTVNow – (Not from Tom’s but CNET) DirecTV Now has most of the live channels offered by your local cable provider, without hidden fees or contracts or extra equipment (no satellite dish required). The $35 a month introductory price for 100 channels is an amazing value. You can add HBO or Cinemax for just $5 a month each.AT&T owned Satellite company is the satellite company DirectTV’s reaction to Cord Cutters. After launching, it picked up 200,000 subscribers in a few weeks. No CBS, and live ABC, Fox and NBC only available in a handful of major cities. No cloud DVR (for now), so you can’t schedule recordings. or cable cord-cutters and the cut-curious who prioritize live TV over on-demand access, DirecTV Now is a very good value.

6. Playstation Vue – about as close as you can get to a cable subscription without actually getting a cable company involved. The service, which is available on a wide variety of systems, is Sony’s first foray into delivering live TV to its customers. Choose from four different packages: Access ($50 per month), which gives you basic channels, Core ($55 per month), which adds sports, Elite ($65 per month), which adds niche programming and Ultra ($75 per month), which adds certain premium channels. Although the service is expensive, it provides up to 90 live channels – including local sports and news – and lets you record your favorite shows.

7YouTube TV – is the newest service that is a direct competitor to cable TV. You get live local TV channels like ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC as well as cable stalwarts like ESPN, the Disney Channel, Fox News and Bravo. It’s only available in five US metropolitan areas for now: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and the San Francisco Bay Area. Watch it on a regular TV with a Chromecast. YouTube says more cities will be added in the coming months. It will offer Live TV in coming months as well. As CNET notes, there’s no CNN or TNT, no Comedy Central or HGTV, no Lifetime or MTV. YouTube gets credit for local channels, sports and Bravo, but for many people that’s just not enough for the price which is $35 per month. Start for free and get 6 accounts per household.

Wow! That’s a lot of options compared to traditional cable.

Currently, I only have two options. As I said before, I live in a heavily wooded town with no clear view of the sky, so HughesNet, Dish and DirectTV satellite services are not an option leaving me with just xFinity by Comcast and FiOs by Verizon.

If I become in happy I can go to the other, but what happens when I become unhappy with the alternative? I’ve had both, on an alternating basis.

That’s no way to live, man!

The Tech Part of Streaming I love: Conduit and Content Are Separate

With traditional cable, the coaxial cable, and now, fiber optics that bring service to your home (the conduit) is provided by the same company that packages and brings you the content. That’s power. You pay for video programming service and pay to rent the proprietary set-top box, through only which, you can access the video programming.

There has been an ongoing fight to require cable companies to make their set-top boxes available at retail locations or to permit commercial competitors to be used with the service. This move would relieve the choke hold on customers.

The rental of the set-top box can add an extra $120 or more tacked on to your bill for the year, depending on how many TVs you have in your home.

With streaming, the devices that permit the streaming are sold at retail locations for as little as $12 in some instances and a lot of these streaming services will throw one in for free if you sign a 6 month contract. Winning!

Watch market competition and capitalism at work here!

Streaming Brings Down the Cost of Video Programming Set Top box to $29 from $495

As stated above, with streaming, the service, the conduit is usually an Amazon FireStick, a Chromecast or a Roku Streaming Stick that run from $29 to $59, which is nominal one time price compared to a cable set top box which would cost from $150 to $459 a year, every year, to rent from the “cable” company.

Streaming Brings Down the Cost of Video Programming Service to $8 from $99

If you had mid-tier cable service, likely you paid close to $100 per month for it (Separate from a bundle) and there are a lot of channels you don’t watch. As noted above, you can get streaming service for as little as $8 per month.

That too was a big fight at the FCC not long ago and still it is very difficult to get a la carte tier of services so you can pick the few channels you watch and pay just for those channels. Some cable companies offer a la cart packages but they end up costing a lot of money after you add taxes and fees!

Soon, even they are not even worth it when you consider if you pay more, you get tons mpr options, you may not watch but at least, you have the option.

With streaming, everything is a la Carte and if you want to add premium channels or additional packages of content, then you can for an extra $5 to $8 per month.

That’s still a big slash in price compared to a $100 monthly bill .

No Commitment or Long Term Contracts

The other benefit to these streaming services is that once you purchase them, you pay as you go and are not obligated to stay with them for a year or longer or risk paying high early termination fees.

True Competition and Options

I love the true competition in the cord cutting world. We have the ability to move or dump a service if we aren’t happy. Consumers only have to deal with a month of non-satisfaction and can sign up for a competitor. How sweet is that?

A lot of us consumers just feel trapped in a situation a lot of times with no where to go! Mor options are best!

Streaming is Compatible with Modern Families – It Works like How we Watch TV Anyway

Oh yeah. One other concern and fear I had before considering cutting the cord: the absence of Live TV. I thought about that some and figured that we no longer watch TV the same way we did 5 years ago anyway.

Nowadays, we DVR most of the shows we watch or catch them On-Demand. We rarely watch shows when they air Live for the first time.

The exception is possibly Live Sports or very popular shows that one might want to live Tweet or watch with others in social media.

Both are among the category of shows you need to watch before bumping into spoilers online.

And because technology and competition work best, a lot of the streaming platforms offer Live TV now, even local TV, to meet the demands of customers who can just leave them at any time because they are not tied to any long-term contract.

Local TV

Similarly, a lot of streaming services are offering live TV, the only hold over or thing that would have held be back before.

One more problem: Internet conundrum and Quality of Service

The final conundrum comes from getting broadband internet.

Streaming eats up bandwidth and requires wireless connectivity. Hmmmm. After cable cutting, we have a few options for connecting.

We started off by just tethering our unlimited data plan phones with the TVs. Each of us have mobile devices with that option. But there would be a problem if we have guests in the home and none of us are at home to tether our phones to the TVs.

We return to the original issue of having limited options.

We can only get Verizon and xFinity. Because we don’t have satellite capability, like mentioned above, broadband satellite is not an option.

There are other broadband home services that serve our town but they are for businesses only.

Finally, after calling around, searching and scoping out options, I came up with the solution: buy a hotspot just for the house!

I got Verizon Wireless Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot—AC791L. It can be used for up to 24 hours to connect up to 15 Wi–Fi–enabled devices such as laptops and tablets to Verizon wireless’ large and mostly very very reliable 4G LTE network. You can even use it to charge a smartphone.

The only drawback is we are back to commitments.

It cost just $49.99 per month but if we stay for two years. * le sigh *!

It’s a deal I’m willing to take because the cost savings, freedom and flexibility of cable cutting makes it all worth it!

Net Neutrality

The last issue is that, generally, when you rely on mobile broadband, companies cap your streaming upload and download capacity after you reach a certain point. Ours is 10 kpbs, then our streaming capacity drops to 3 kbps.

That’s terrible because it means our TV would lag, buffer and our video watching experience has been diminished once we reach the cap. We would have to work around it by doing our own personal data management by day so by the evening when have enough left over to enjoy streaming. We have multiple devices that each have Their own cap so this will take work and coordination but again, this is a small challenge to cord-cutting.

It’s the price to pay.

Now that I am getting my feet wet as a cord-cutter, I am experiencing that buffer. I have unlimited wireless but after a certain max, the company will limit my upload and download speed to ensure the network is efficient. Unlike traditional broadband, which provides a dedicated fiber to home conduit, over-the-air or wireless broadband are limited by things like weather, congestion and high use during peak hours.

The argument of the FCC regulated legacy companies is that they need the flexibility to maintain the quality and efficient management of their network, and suppressing would-be “band width hogs” like cord cutters that stream is required to do so.

There is a fight in Washington, DC that has been going on for close to a decade now over a complex term called Network Neutrality.

Essentially, there is a movement to require the traditional and legacy telecom and video programming companies, called “carriers”, that provide direct-to-home or direct-to-consumer to give all users the same amount of bandwidth at the same price; and to not discriminate by giving affiliated services, partners or related offerings preferential treatment than those not associated with them.

So in other words, AT&T or DirectTV customers shouldn’t be given a better experience or deal because they also have AT&T wireless to the detriment of customers of other wireless providers.

(btw; they do. Streaming is included for AT&T wireless companies)

That’s the neutrality part. The road has been bumpy and the side that wins changes with the administration because the FCC is neutral but still whatever political party is in the White House, the chair and power shifts to that party, to put it bluntly.

The carriers argue that they need ultimate control to manage their network efficiently and shouldn’t have the government mandating their activity.

The counter argument is that you cannot trust them to not discriminate or make poor choices because they are motivated by maximizing profit over the needs of consumers, and without government mandates, the carriers have no incentive to keep prices low for consumers.

I can understand that perspective but I have already seen market competition at work and am still experiencing it now as a new cord cutter. There are constant and non stop offerings, updates, improvements and flexibility in the streaming world.

There are updates almost daily we see coming from the 7+ current streaming services shows that sometimes, the marketplace works just fine.

Because I am not tied by a contract, I remain a potential customer to all the companies offering streaming. The cost of getting me to switch is less and the likelihood of winning a competitor’s customers is high as we are not hampered by the threat of early termination fees.

It is indeed possible that marketplace solutions would work just fine.

I’ve been a telecom lawyer and tech policy writer for a long time in my other life. It is one thing to argue policy, from an abstract and theoretical perspective, but when you experience it first hand like I am as a cable cutter, you get a different perspective as a customer actually impacted by policy.

We’re still figuring it all out. My husband is totally intimidated and frustrated because he doesn’t really know how to work the remote control or all the tech involved. He is an engineer but I am the resident tech expert.

Him listening to me explain kbps to him is like me listening to him explain what he does at his job. ha!

We’ll keep you updated. So far so good!

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