Huffman Coding

Once again, it is my new year’s resolution to lose 15 pounds.  It appears my exercise buddy for this year is Netflix.

It starts with a movie that my wife has no interest in viewing with me.  Nothing holds her interest less than a plotless foreign language movie.  Then it has to age unviewed for several weeks on top of the TV hutch.

When the guilt for paying for a movie yet not seeing it reaches a fever pitch only then do I carry the laptop down to the basement and prop it up on treadmill.

The movie The Band’s Visit, I give 3 stars, 6 miles and 500 calories.

Run-in movie

Our Disneyworld trip in December was a “backup” vacation for us. We had planned to spend three weeks in Asia with girls visiting their birthplaces but it seemed, even as we were planning it, that perhaps not all of our girls were emotionally ready for the experience. So we made the switch to the happiest place on earth.

The girls had a good time, but we did realize that even just a week of constantly being on the go is a bit much. So we are splitting the 2009 trip to Asia in two. During Spring break we are taking Marissa, our almost 11-year-old, to Danang, Vietnam. The younger two are staying at home with grandma.

When we adopted Marissa a decade ago, we had no opportunity to meet her birth mother but since her address was on the paperwork, we wrote her when we got home. That is, after a year of mulling it over.

Marissa’s birth mother Hoi was grateful to hear from us. We were pleased too. With the help of a bilingual friend, we have exchanged a handful of letters and photos each year since. She was thrilled when we wrote to her last year telling her we were coming and she was disappointed to hear when we had to cancel.

So we are finalizing our itinerary and getting visas. This will be the first time Marissa will be out of the country since the age of 3 months. I don’t thing she’ll fit on the tray table this time.

It will be an experience for all three of us.

I am pretty hard to shop for.

I pretty much have everything I want and certainly everything I need. My family knows not to get presents related to my interests (bicycling, music, computers, board games) because I am pretty particular with my tastes.

Because of this, my wife announced two days ago that she had gotten nothing for me for Christmas. I printed off my Amazon wish list to give her suggestions, but told her it really didn’t matter as long as Santa has presents for the girls. But with the Amazon wish list in hand, she went to Target one last time to find something for me and found none of the music or games at the store. This was no surprise to me because, again, I do have unusual taste. If the Target down the street (or the other one up the street) carried it, would probably have it by now.

So with two days to go before the holiday, Chris said I should just get something for myself for Christmas. Less than willing to brave the last minute crowds, I suggested she use the two-pack CFL light bulbs I just bought at Lowe’s as a present, but she was not amused.

When were first married, the situation was reversed: I had no idea what to get her. For awhile there I ended up getting her a bulky sweater every year.  I(t) was pathetic.  It doesn’t help that my wife’s birthday is also in December.  I now prepare by maintaining a gift list throughout the year and I pull from it this time of year

But with Chris at work today and all the other presents taken care of, I actually hit the mall to shop for myself.  I did get another gift for Chris and even presents for my cat and the mother-in-law’s dog, but I couldn’t find anything for myself.

Then I realized Chris has already given me the best Christmas gift of all…

The gift?

“Understanding husband” points redeemable for the next time I forget something about her.  Priceless.

(BTW, the one of the CFLs didn’t work and I had to return them.)

My wife and I are planning some exciting things for 2009 and I thought I might want to blog about them.

In the meantime feel free to peruse the annual holiday letters from 2008 and 2007.