Sony Ericsson HCB 150 - I Want One!

I understand that California is going through some law changes this summer. Everybody driving a car as of July 2008 needs to be using a hands free device if they are using a cell phone. I knew this a while back so I picked up a Parrot Drivers Headset so that I could start the hands free experience while driving a little early. I didn't realize this at the time but after it arrived I found out that my ears are strangely shaped and these in-the-ear buds don't stay in my ear; they just fall out.

Flor however had better luck with it and liked it nicely, it has a nice car charging dock for it so it's always charged and always has a placed to be stored while not driving so I gave it to her. Since then however I've been in the market for a new device. I don't really care for the standard over the ear models that are meant to be portable. I'm really only in this for a car kit. I don't want to have to worry about charging it and I don't want to have to worry about messing around with attaching it to my body... which led me to this awesome discovery of the Sony Ericsson HCB 150, which won't be released until the 2nd quarter of this year. I can't wait; I've fallen in love. This do-dad is looking awesome.

Bluetooth Car Speaker Phone

It's just a bluetooth speaker phone system for the cell. It attaches to the sunshade visor in the car, has a display showing who is calling, has a text to voice recognition and will hold a charge for ever and a day. It can even link up to multiple phones so we'll be able to pair it with Flor's phone too if we ever have to switch cars. Ohh yeah, did I mention how cool it looks. Check it out:

...and from Sony's website:

HCB-150 Specs

Network Features
Bluethooth® Technology: Bluetooth® 2.0 + EDR3, Auto Pairing™ technology3, pair up to 5 phones3

Power
Battery Life (Approx): Talk time - Up to 9 hrs, Standby time - Up to 700 hrs
Battery Type: Li-Polymer 900mAh

Display
Technology: OLED display with tilt function

Weights and Measurements
Dimensions (Approx.): 130mm x 80mm x 25mm1
Weight (Approx.): 180g

Regarding the pending release of the HCB 150:

"Sony Ericsson has announced the new Bluetooth hands free Car Speakers HCB-150. The SE HCB-150 features a convenient text 2 speech feature & verbally alerts you who is calling. The Sony Ericsson HCB-150 has a talk time of up to 25 hours Yes 25 Hours & 700 hours standby time. The Bluetooth Car Speakerphone Sony Ericsson HCB-150 will be available globally from Q2 2008."

Groundhog Day - ASL - Sea World - A Winning Combination

Saturday, February 2 was Groundhog Day. How did Flor and I celebrate? We went to an ASL funcion at Sea World! Everything was translated into sign language! Very cool, and after walking around we ended up hitting up The Anheuser-Busch Brewmasters Club for a little beer tasting. Interesting experience to say the least. The day was a lot of fun as was watching Flor and Lindsay learn new sea-related words in sign and it was cool seeing all the people signing to each other everywhere we went. Check out this sweet translation!


Woman Signing at Sea World's ASL Day from Brian Mounts on Vimeo.


I ended up taking my camera with me and I went crazy taking pictures. Here they are over on Picasa Web.

Simple Ways To Stay Young - Tips From Best Life Magazine

Best Life Magazine has been my favorite magazine for a while now. I've been a subscriber for a little over two years and I devour the magazine in a aday or two each time it arrives in the mail. I then proceed to reread a lot of the content throughout the month as I take it to work with me and lay it on my bed side table for bed time reading.

One of my favorite pages in the magazine is their Age Erasers - The Science of Staying Young section. I have a fondness for simple things and longevity so this section caters specifically to me as they feature between 5-10 easy things every month that help you stay young. For the sake of my enjoyment of this section I think I'm just going to regurgitate them from time to time here on my blog. So without furth ado, here some Age Erasers as stated from the Sept. '07 issue.

1. "Taking too many vitamins increases your risk for fatal prostate cancer. A recent study conducted by the National Cancer Institue followed almost 300,000 men over five years and found that those who took multivitamins more than once a day along with additional supplements of zinc, beta-carotene, or selenium nearly doubled their risk for fatal prostate cancer. Despite the dangers of high doses, there was no risk associated with men who took a multivitamin once a day." (This is nice to know since I take a One-A-Day men's health multivitamin)
2. "10% of deaths in America are caused by a sedentary lifestyle, according to Harvey B. Simon, MD, editor of the Harvard Men's Health Watch. He says that fewer than 25% of Americans get the excercise they need and suggets that walking one to three miles a day can give you the same health benefits as a cardio-heavy aerobic workout." (This too is nice to know as I bowl a couple times a week and walk to lunch at work often. Flor and I also just got an elliptical for the home so I think I'm doing OK.)
3. "1.6% - Percentage of reduction in brain volume in people who have more than 14 drinks per week, according to neuroscientists at Wellsley College, MA." (I am pushing this limit as a bottle of wine has about 5 glasses worth split between me and my lady that's about 2 1/2 on a nights dinner with a bottle of wine. A few wines a week and I'm more than halfway there. Not to worry though, I don't need that extra 1.6% brain volume anyway.)

Throwing Money Around

So last Saturday night the 2nd I did something I don't normally do. I just up and bought a new computer on a whim. Well, it wasn't just a whim. My old computer is nearly 4 1/2 years old and is starting to make a lot of weird noises and a lot of questionable errors. So in the interest in not losing all my computer contents Flor gave me her blessings and I just found one online and painfully made the purchase.

If you know me well I always hesitate making big purchases. I don't know why. I just don't want to part with hundreds of dollars. To commemorate the experiece Flor coached me on through the checkout process and snapped a few pictures for us to look back on and laugh at a few years from now. After all, the computer stats will stink in a few years:


The price will look like chump change in a decade:


And I look terrible in of all these pictures:


Anyway, everything will be laughable eventually so I guess I shouldn't sweat it... but I swear this computer seemed like a good deal at the time. :)

An Evening At The The Opera: Wagner's Tannhäuser

So I haven't blogged much lately For reasons that are somewhat lacking. I have been busy with school but I think the real reason is my lack of interest in actually writing anything lately. That's all my MBA class is, writing. I write forum postings and papers constantly. It's making me feel like writing is a very boring thing to do. Even though I have many things on my mind I just can't seem to want to site down and write about them. I will try however.

Two weeks ago on Tuesday January 29th, Flor and I got awesome tickets to see Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser at the San Diego Civic Theater; it was incredible! We were the beneficiaries of deeply discounted tickets due to a student initiative at UCSD. For $30 we got to sit on the orchestra level almost halfway up to the front. We had a great view and the music was beautiful. The opera was 3 hours plus one hour of intermission so it was long but we had a great time.

We went with Lindsay and Cat and they relayed to us a message from Steven. When told we were all going to the Opera he said: "The Opera! That's so boring!" Well, I must say it was not boring Steven and we are going to do it again... next Tuesday. Bring on Mary, Queen of Scots!

Book Review: Personality Plus For Couples by Florence Littauer

Almost a full month ago I finished up Personality Plus For Couples. This was one of the two books that Flor and I were encouraged to read as part of our pre-marital counseling back in October when we met with our Pastor, Scott Peterson. Both Flor and I really enjoyed reading this book as we were able to discuss it all the way through. I think we both really enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more than the second half though. The second half was a grind of a read. I'm not sure if it was any one reason it just didn't seem that helpful to the subject matter; it seemed to only be there to take up space.

The premise of the book, though a little overly general, was to demonstrate that there are four main personality types that all people fit into to some degree. It's pretty much impossible to to be 100% of any of the four types though so the book comes with a nicely developed but not to long test to determine what percentage of each type you and your mate are. There are combinations that are somewhat normal and there are combinations that don't occur very often... as it played out I was one of the weird types. I tend to be passive, reserved, and introspective (Phlegmatic) and "gettr done", take charge, lets start a project type (Choleric). These two types naturally repel one another so it's strange to tend to be both.

Flor ended up being Phlegmatic and Melancholy, or one who tends to be a perfectionist, a more normal combination. Anyway, it was fun learning about these different types and labeling ourselves and our friends in their respective types. We also found joy in learning that both of us are predominantly Phlegmatic, which bodes well for us having a peaceful relationship together. I also have tendencies to get things done so I'll keep us moving forward but Flor has tendencies to do things right so she won't ever let me do a shabby on anything.

The book was nice to learn what tendencies people of various types have and it was nice to see what needs people of the various types have so that we can be aware of what to expect for each other, how to deal with each other, and how to better care for one another.

Again the second half of the book went more into specific circumstances for various combinations of people looking at specific stories. All of the stories however seemed pretty much the same and very lame. They all revolved around friction in a couples relationship and how it was repaired through the very knowledge of the personality types. This was pretty campy in my opinion as every story seemed exactly the same and there was no real work that was taken in any situation to fix the underlining problem. There were some bright spots through it and a few of the stories were entertaining as well as informative but a future reader would be more than fine just reading the first 120 pages of this book and then putting it down.

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My other book reviews.