Shibuya, Tokyo - The Busiest Intersection in the World...

I've been back from Japan since June, but am still slowly cracking away at making my videos from the trip. Here's the latest from Tokyo's famous Shibuya intersection. This is widely regarded as the world's busiest intersection. Enjoy:

"I Want My Dirty Dirty Diaper..."

Kids never cease to amaze parents. Here's an example from our recent trip to Japan. While there, Benji decided he could no longer be saddled with clean diapers. It's sort of like how you become attached to those favorite blue jeans way after they are worn out...



Next time, I will be wearing a diaper, too. That way I can give him my leftover dirty dirty diaper...

Watching the 2015 Super Blood Moon with Kids...

I had heard that some people are preparing for the end of the world based on the 2015 Super Blood Moon we had last night. As we were out for a family walk, we saw the shadow of the earth taking over the moon's glow.

I got home and set up my camera, fixed to track to moon as it rises and goes red. When reviewing the footage I realized how amusing my kid's conversations were, so that became the new focus of the video.



I didn't get stellar footage with my basic home-use equipment. But hey, I can get better footage again in only 18 more years...

Super Blood Moon rising

Super Blood Moon and a plane passing on the right

High Life in Pinetop...

It just so happened that my parents found themselves with an extra room in a rental property in Pinetop for the week, so my wife, kids and I got to be the lucky recipients of the vacancy.

We actually stayed a week in a cabin once before this summer already. Anna was a bit bored. So, this time we made sure we had enough activities to keep her from feeling that way. I was perfectly fine doing nothing and relaxing. But I had fun being busy, too.

Our place was more of a townhouse than cabin, but we called it a cabin anyway. The "cabin" is in a complex with a main office connected to a game room (complete with pool table, ping pong, checkers, Foosball, etc), a weight room, a Jacuzzi and there's always fresh popcorn on tap. They also had bikes to rent.

Anna is actually riding a bike that my parents brought. Maia loved the bike she borrowed.

My dad brought up his inflatable kayak and we took it out for a spin a couple times in Rainbow Lake.

 Of course, we couldn't have come this close without visiting the Snowflake Temple. I was shocked at how far in the middle of nowhere the Snowflake temple is. If I hadn't known better, I would think I was in the wrong place up until I saw the Angel Moroni in the distance.

 While we were at it, we took a small detour to the very small one-horse town called Woodruff. It's about 30 miles out of Snowflake. It's remarkable to think that people actually still live there. Especially when you see the types of homes there...

My favorite part about this home is that I saw a new satellite dish mounted on the other side. 

 My grandma is from Woodruff. No offence to the residents, but it's just a bit too slow for my speed. I am sure grandma can honestly say it's a nice place to be from, but probably not in.

On our last full day, we drove out to Sunrise, the ski resort. It's summer in Arizona, so you can imagine that we did not ski. The park is open with activities like sledding, and riding the ski lifts to the peak for the view. We did the latter only. It was still surprisingly cold. We had to break down and pay way too much for hot cocoa at the lodge at the top.

And, just like that, the whole week passed us by. It went so fast, I felt like we barely got there when it was time to go home. This time, we keep Anna busy enough to avoid boredom. The only problem is that it worked too well. Now that we are back home we are all bored of our regular life...

That's all of us except Benji, who took this untouched photo. Not bad for a 2 year old, eh?

Music in Your Head, with Trekz Titanium safe headphones...

I finally found safe headphones that look, sound and work great, finally. 

I've always been on the hunt for good headphones. I have a dozen around my house at any time, much to the chagrin of my wife. I suppose I'm always looking for that perfect sound, and not quite finding it. For every positive, there's a flip-side of problems with headphones.

• The problem with ear buds is that they can be uncomfortable and cause fatigue. 
• The problem with over-the-ear headphones is that they get hot and sweaty and are cumbersome to carry around.
• The problem with corded headphones is that the cord gets in the way. 
• The problem with Bluetooth is the sound is potentially less full range.
• The problem with noise cancelling headphones is that effect can damage your hearing with prolonged use.
• The problem with noise isolating headphones is that you may be unaware of important ambient sounds around you.
• The problem with neither noise cancelling or isolating headphones is that you are then less likely to hear the music well. 

Well, now I think I may have just found the solution to these problems and more. Introducing

Trekz Titanium

the new Trekz Titanium by AfterShokz!

These use a new and booming technology called "bone conduction." Basically, rather than sit on your ear, these sit in front of your ear and pulse the beats through your bones to the base of your ears! 

I've been using bone conduction for years, but in a different way. If you've ever used a Jawbone Bluetooth handsfree headset, you have too. That used bone conduction to send sound out. This uses the same technology to send it in. 

It's safer, too. Why? Because 1) you can't damage your ear drum with loud music and 2) you won't be cut off from the ambient sounds around you. You can hear the music clearly, and also what is going on around you as needed.

These have a great bluetooth driven wonders last 6 hours on a charge, are water and sweat resistant and include perks like dual noise canceling mics, voice prompts, smartphone integration and a 2-year warranty. 

Check out this cool video about them:

AfterShokz Trekz Titanium 

I already ordered mine. This is not available to the public yet, so if you are interested, you can go through me.

Follow my exclusive link here. Once in, you can sign in with your own account or for simplicity, you can sign in with your Facebook account (it won't post to your timeline). You may have to sign in then click this link again to make sure the offer and discounted price shows up for you.

There is a limited number of people who can get this, so if you want to be one of them, act NOW!

If you want to be the first person you know to have these, check out this link and contribute. Once these go for sale in public, the price will go up and you'll be late to the party.

Check them out now! The offer expires and has a limit of people who can get them at this lower than retail rate!

Cool New Video Website Creation Tool: Covert VideoPress...

Ok, so I don't normally do a lot of product promotion on this site, but I just had to pass this one on. I even talked about his on my homepage. I've been playing around with a cool new product called, "Covert VideoPress."

I've made a ton of videos over the years and have over 100 of them on YouTube now. Because of the licensing I use (I let Google pay for the royalties of the music in my videos), I have yet to monetize on my creations. But, Covert VideoPress is a tool that I, or anyone really, can use to make money on videos, EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T CREATE THEM! I could try to explain it forever, but this video does a better job than I would... Check it out and see for yourself!

A Benji By Any Other Name...

You know you have a trouble-making toddler when this happens. We have been working on teaching Benji our real names, in case he gets lost and doesn't tell people his mom's name is "mommy." So we asked him what his full name is.

His reply: "Benji, No!"

The boy has heard "no" after his name so much, he now thinks it is his last name...

New Name, New Life...

In the time that I have owned this blog, it has gone through quite some changes. It started with an awful puke-green theme that was practically 8-bit and called "Lost in Laie." Then I cleaned up the theme, but kept the same as I was still in Laie, Hawaii going to school. 

When I'd take long breaks at my parent's house for the summer, it was called, "Menace in Mesa." And just as I was doing another overhaul of the face, I moved to Guam thus naming the blog, "Gone in Guam."

Well, now after 9 long years, it's time for a new skin and new title to match the new locale and phase of my life. I've packed up the family and left Guam to live life a little differently. I am still doing my real estate investments under Bodine Enterprises. I'm also keeping my IT skills fresh with Bodine IT and Bodine SEO, a search engine optimization service. I'm sure you have noticed there is no 9-5-er in there. I am considering getting back into the radio game, my old employer Kim Komando is hiring now, and I'm back in town. 

Long story short, I'm doing a lot, but in a few odd directions, so for now, the blog is now renamed the oddly-spelled but phonetically correct "Phloundering in Phoenix." 

More to come...

Why... Why... Why... Why... Why... Why... Why... Why... Why... Why... Why... Why... ?

Anyone who has ever had a toddler knows the infamous "Why" cycle. A well-meaning parent makes the effort to try to explain some faucet of modern life to their youngin' only to get a follow-up question: "Why?"

Answering that question only spawns another question: "Why?"

Naturally, that loving parent patiently attempts to dig in deeper to get to the core of that probe, only to be met again with another "Why?"

After about 10 cycles, the parent either starts to pull their hair or look for duct tape to wrap around the little inquisitive terrorist's head.

Not long ago, we were all out for a family outing. I don't remember which one of us made the mistake of entertaining the first "Why?" but it happened. Benji couldn't wrap his mind some concept (or more likely just likes watching us stumble to find the next answer). When Anna and I finally gave up, our four-year-old, Maia, decided to take over, which was fine with us.

To our surprise, the back-and-forth did not go the way one would have anticipated.

Benji: "Why?"

Maia: "Because."

Benji: "Why?"

Maia: "Hm. That's why!"

Benji: (Pause) "Ohhh. Thaaat's why!"

Conversation over.

Anna and I looked over at each other in awe. Maia is the new Benji-whisperer...