NCIS & NCIS LA: Leaving Audiences on the Edge

After several tries NCIS finally found the right blend of personalities to make a hit TV show even more interesting. The goofy DiNozzo is the perfect foil for Gibbs' serious character. The wholesome goth, Abby, is always endearing bringing out the soft side of Gibbs, playing up the cluelessness/geekiness of McGee, and pretty much throwing off the rest of the team with her quirks - definitely my favorite character. And Ziva - exotic, beautiful, funny and dangerous - providing enough chemistry with Tony Dinozzo's playboy act and bringing out Gibbs' protective quality. She definitely spiced up this team. Let us not forget McGee, the author-by-night computer genius who appears socially awkward at times, but has yet to meet a computer problem he could not solve. Add loveable medical examiner, Ducky, and the very enigmatic Director Vance and you have an exciting new season to look forward to!

I must admit, the plot of this series especially since last season has gotten extremely good. Playing up the trust issues, revealing the back stories of the characters, continually finding ways to break up the team has kept me on the edge - intently waiting for the next episode. NCIS has become my favorite show! And the way they used episodes from last season to launch NCIS Los Angeles was brilliant. I was wondering when they'd come up with a breakout show in a new city.

It's too early for me to really evaluate NCIS LA - they've only had one episode to date. The one thing I know it has going for it is the eye candy! Kidding aside, it has a lot of flashy technology, a full wardrobe department (very hollywood), a great character that is half Q and half M (of the James Bond fame) and a great location. The season premiere had a decent story line, time will tell if it gets interesting from here. The fall season on TV has been making me a very happy camper, I must admit.

iPod Nano: Wishlist Granted

I fell in love with the iPod Nano from the first time I saw them. It was the only mp3 player that would pass as eye candy to me - crazy for colors as I am. But I shied away from buying the earlier versions because it didn't have features I wanted in my mp3 player.

Here was my wish list for the iPod Nano back then:

• An FM radio tuner - I wanted to listen and discover new songs on the radio so I can buy them later, plus when I get tired of my music selection, it's good to have a backup


• A built-in pedometer - I saw the Nike+ sports kit and thought that feature should actually be built in instead of a separate add-on unit


• A dark green color - I'm partial to the dark green color of the 5th generation nano, I didn't like the light green version


• More features that justifies the price - I love gadgets with video cameras that lets you share video clips with friends online so the addition of a video camera was a big factor in selling the new Nano to me. I like the audio recorder feature as well, sometimes I think of a brilliant idea at various times of the day and don't usually carry a notebook everywhere I go so being able to record these ideas would probably help me. And I love the Genius Mixes - it takes me a long time to set up playlists, having it automatically set up for me is great!

So that is why I picked the iPod Nano 5th Gen as my gift to celebrate five years working at my current company. I'm really celebrating the fact that I get a week more of vacation time than I used to.

Are you thinking of a gift for your loved ones this holiday season? This would be a great gift for anyone who loves music! Happy shopping!

Movie Night: X-Men Origins Wolverine

Hugh Jackman kept me up last night. We had come from our weekly prayer devotion in East Los Angeles and my husband mentioned that he had already watched the X-Men Origins movie. He had rented the DVD, which just came out - and of course I wanted to watch it too! The only problem was it was already around 10:30 PM when we got back.

Any attempts at watching either a recorded TV show or a movie at this time usually ends with me watching around 10-15 minutes of the show and then falling asleep. I usually wake up at the crack of dawn to do my side projects. But I was wide awake all through the X-Men Origins movie. Aside from Hugh Jackman, the plot was quite good. I enjoyed the twists and turns the story took to get the adamantium skeleton into Wolverine. The relationship conflicts between siblings, his romantic relationship and the government had me constantly wondering, "What now? What's next?"

If you haven't seen it, call your girl friends together and watch it - definitely worth watching - and I'm not just saying that because of the eye candy! I give it two thumbs up!

Invest in Gold

I have a friend who invests in gold. She says it's a more stable investment than stocks - which we have all seen proven in the past few months of recession.

Gold coins comes in different forms like the gold American Eagles, the South African Krugerrands, the gold Canadian Maple Leaf and Australian gold nuggets among others. They do not lose their value like our local currencies, it is the safest form of money there is. It is often referred to as the crisis commodity because conditions that weaken the value of the U.S. dollar and the economy actually makes the value of gold increase. Interesting, right?

If you want to secure your future with an IRA - get one that is backed with gold instead of currency or stocks. Don't ensure a secure future using assets that lose their value in a bad economy, ensure your future with a gold coin.

Happy investing, everyone!

TutorVista: Math Tutoring Made Easy

One of the side jobs I enjoyed very much was tutoring. I used to tutor K-12 students in Maths and Sciences. I find that a lot of kids are intimidated by these two subjects, but especially by Math. I look at Math as a game, there's always a solution to the problem you just have to figure out what it is - like a giant jigsaw puzzle you have to solve. I enjoy imparting that perspective to my students and with a little Math help encourage them to develop great study habits and turn into confident Math problem solvers.


The only unsettling part of that job for me was the fact that I met up with the student's driver/chauffeur and then got driven to their house. And it probably was scary for the parents too at first, letting a stranger into their home and be with their kids.


That's why I find online math tutoring to be a brilliant idea! Imagine having an online math tutor without needing to leave or let anyone into the safety of your home.


TutorVista offers online math help at affordable prices, much cheaper than what you would find in learning centers. And you save the time and expense traveling to a learning center as well. They even offer free online math tutoring for first time users so you can find out if this program will help you.


I always had a problem accommodating several students around finals week because they always wanted more time than I had and have me over at the same days. The best part of what TutorVista offers is that the free math help is available 24/7 - you don't need to book a tutor and get slotted into their schedule. Plus when you pay for a week or a month of tutoring - you get unlimited tutoring in as many subjects as you want - not just Math. Isn't that a great deal?


So if your kids are having problems with math or any other subject, you may want to consider visiting TutorVista and get them back on track to happy learning!

Nikon D90: Falling in Love All Over Again

One of the reasons I fell in love with the Nikon D90 is because of its video recording feature. Now most point-and-shoot cameras have a video recording feature - what makes the Nikon D90's different is that it is an SLR and you can do a lot of still photo effects with an SLR. Now combine those photo effects with your video recording in HD and what do you get? Really cool video clips!

I must admit I've had my D90 for a long time now, but last Saturday was the first time I ever used the live view feature. I was in a birthday tribute concert and these group of young ladies started singing a really old song live - and they sounded like the real group. Wow!

Before I knew it, I had pressed the Live View button and figured out that pressing the OK button in the middle of the navigation controls would turn the video recording on. I didn't have a tripod so the video is a bit shaky. There was this annoying green light that shone out from the middle of the stage that made me set it to portrait mode. Here is the video, which I uploaded to YouTube.

Thank you, ladies - for making me fall in love with my D90 all over again. I hope you enjoyed watching my short video. Have a great day!

Wheatgrass: The Health Food for Picky Pet Birds

This organic wheat grass is the only fresh food my parakeets will eat. Did I ever tell you I have eight parakeets? I bought six from the pet store and adopted two from a friend. I tried getting them to eat fruits and vegetables, but however I try to feed it to them, they just won't bite. My friend said that her bird used to love plants so one day I find this organic wheat grass in the vegetable section of the grocery. I read the label that said it was good for people and pets so I bought it and put it in my birds' cage.

It was an instant hit! I thought they would just play with it, but they consumed it like crazy. My husband read that it was actually good for them. I found an article that says wheat grass is good for the health, vitality and fertility of pet birds. So now I buy some every two weeks or so and give it to them like a treat.

Have you ever watched a bird chew its food, my parakeets chew and smile when they have wheat grass. They don't like being watched so once I come near the cage they pretend like they have not had the grass. I stand watching them for a long time so eventually they chew the grass in front of me. They are such sweet little pets. I love watching them eat, play with their toys, stretch, yawn and yes, even sleep. I'm glad I finally found something healthy that they would eat!

Have a pet that just won't eat healthy? Try feeding them wheat grass and see if they will like it too!

Raves on Supernatural's Fall Season Premiere

Have you ever watched a TV series that kept you guessing season after season? Have you ever followed series whose story line never dragged or whose characters never became boring? I watched the season premiere of Supernatural last night, fully expecting that its writers would have run out of good plots by now. What else could happen to the Winchester brothers that have not happened before - Armageddon is coming, what conflicts can you add to that? Apparently, a lot more.

Sam has done his part, now it's time for Dean's. Dean turns out to be the Michael sword - when they talked about finding it I assumed that it was an actual sword, turns out it was the human vessel the angels' general needed to take for the war that was about to happen. And the twist? They needed Dean's permission, which he is not giving. And just as the angels were about to torture Dean and Sam into submission, Castiel saves the day.

The army of the angels and the demons have been revealed, but apparently there is another unseen power involved in this struggle. The unseen hand that put Sam and Dean in the airplane, away from Lucifer's rising and the power that made it possible for Castiel who had been killed off to live again. Another mystery added onto the mix!

The devil has found and taken his human vessel - the pressure is on the angels to make Dean agree to be Michael's vessel. Trust issues are revealed where his brother, Sam, is concerned. Apparently, after Sam broke the last seal and let Lucifer escape from his prison, Dean could not forgive and forget his brother so easily anymore. He declared that it can never go back to normal between them - what that means exactly will probably be apparent in next week's episode.

Good story, right? I love fall season television, don't you? Happy watching!

Movie Night: State of Play

I liked this movie, not only because it features a blogger as one of the lead characters - but because I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story.

Russel Crowe played an experienced journalist, with a huge network of sources and a 16 year old computer that sends what he writes directly to the press. Rachel McAdams played a newbie journalist/blogger who is learning the ropes of credible journalism. The writers made several plays on the blogger's inability to get sources and her mostly editorialized articles from other blogs, but they balance it off with a dialogue that described newspaper reporters as overpaid and slow to produce a story.

The newspaper reporter and the blogger teamed up to investigate a conspiracy theory involving an ambitious congressman and a private corporation that intended to replace Homeland Security. Several versions of the story was told - the versions came from the reporters' interpretation and at times deliberate misdirection from the primary characters. When they finally reached the truth, the congressman got arrested for murder, an ex-military man is shot down by the police, the corporation goes down, the newspaper reporter hesitantly writes his exclusive front page story and the blogger gains respect and half of the byline.

Sorry for the spoilers, but it is a very good movie - now available on DVD. It has the right combination of mystery, suspense and action with a hint of a love story. I give it two thumbs up! Go watch it with your friends and have your own movie night.