Luke’s Baker’s Dozen, Favorites
YUM!
post up. So, in this edition of Luke’s Baker’s Dozen, I’m going to just rattle off some of my favorite things. This is intended to be totally random and I’m honestly just rattling off whatever pops into my head.
- Favorite Ice Cream: Bubble gum ice cream from Baskin Robbins. Yes, I am 100% serious. I believe that I single-handedly keep the bubble gum flavor in the rotation with how much I buy. Once upon a time, when I was a single man with two kids, I bribed them with ice cream for breakfast if they were good. They were good, and one morning we all had bubble gum ice cream for breakfast. The reality was I would’ve done it anyway, I just wanted to get something out of it. True story. Read the rest of this entry »
Return Anxiety
When I met my little guy, Logan, for the first time.
I will touch briefly on some my past, and I’ll tread lightly in regards to my first marriage. The reality is that it didn’t work and that it was over 11 years ago. There’s no hard feelings over it, and I don’t put that much thought into that marriage. She’s been re-married for 9 years and I’ve been re-married for 3 years, so we’ve both moved on. However, some of it is relevant to this topic. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: A New Year and a Positive Outlook
This is an update on my goals for 2013 (see the end of the post for why I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, I make goals). For those who didn’t read the original post, please go back and read it in its entirety here. I’m updating to keep myself accountable. Read the rest of this entry »
I Missed the Beat(s)
After that long post that I just wrote, I wanted to write something a lot quicker and less in-depth just to change things up. I can’t be totally serious and spout off 2000+ words in all my posts on here, now can I? Well, I could, but what fun would that be for any of us?
Let me just put this out there-I love music. I do. All sorts of music. I know it’s very cliché to say that your musical tastes are eclectic, but mine very much are. I won’t get into the different genres I have on my iPod or anything, because at some point that just becomes ridiculous-I have a lot. I don’t have everything, but I have a lot.
Anyway, the point of this post is to say that I totally missed out on the Beats by Dre™ thing. For one, they are expensive, and I just really don’t have that kind of money to spend on headphones, of all things (not that I don’t spend ridiculous amounts of money on far more ridiculous things, but, whatever).
When I was in Hong Kong in 2010, it seemed like everyone onboard the ship (myself excluded) bought some Beats. I referred to them as Beats by Der because they were probably knock-offs. And, yes, I find that hilarious.
I just didn’t see the point-my understanding of how they make MP3′s is that they take out a lot of the highs and the lows to compress the song. These are things you don’t typically hear anyway (or don’t notice), so it doesn’t make a huge difference in the track. And, considering that all we do anymore that requires headphones is listen to MP3′s and videos of bootlegged movies, well, it seemed like a waste of money, despite everyone telling me that they really were awesome.
Fast-forward to 2013 and second return trip to H.K. since that first one…well, I broke down and bought some Beats. They were significantly cheaper than buying them new, so I figured it was worth a shot for all the “they are awesome” rhetoric I get. Actually, I got three sets of Beats for myself for cheaper than buying one pair of the cheapest ones from Amazon would have cost me. I figured that I listen to enough stuff (music on my iPod, movies on my laptop), that I could afford to spend $70 on three sets of headphones and see what all the fuss is about.
I’m instantly in. I used the Solo’s (small, over-the-ear) headphones on my laptop to listen to movies and it was so much better than the cheapy, $10 headphones I have consistently used. I then listened to my iPod with the Tour (in-ear) headphones, and again, I’m hooked. There is a definite difference in the sound from what I’m used to. I can see what Dre is referring to on the box when he says that “People aren’t hearing all the music.” Not that I thought I was to begin with, but I thought I was hearing all of the music that was there on the MP3. I was wrong. In addition, I also have the Pro version (larger, over-the-ear) for stand-by (I have yet to use those).
So, I went back and bought myself a couple additional pair (of the Tour ones, since those are the ones I’ll use the most and are most likely to get lost). And, I may or may not have bought some as a gift for a member of my family, I can neither confirm nor deny that as someone may read this blog.
Ok, Dr. Dre-you got me. Not that we needed further proof, but these headphones are further proof that you’re awesome.
Navy Life, Part I – Deployments
My 2012-2013 Cruisebook Photo
This post is forefront in my mind because I am wrapping up this deployment and anticipating my return home to my family in a few weeks. I wanted to write specifically about my return home, but I wanted to explain deployments for those who are not familiar with them first, as I know that there are a lot of people who read this blog (or those who may stumble across it by accident, something I’m sure they will soon regret) that are not in the Navy and may not be familiar with our use of the term “deployment”. The other Armed Services have a different usage of the word deployment and I am not well-versed enough with their deployments, so I am not talking about any other branch of the service than the Navy, as I am not aware of the intricacies of their deployments. However, as I’m currently wrapping up my 6th deployment in my 15-plus years in the Navy, I think I can speak in regards to Navy deployments. Read the rest of this entry »
