And here is an example of Andrew's fascination with numbers and math.
Finally, here are some samples of Andrew's creative side. He is left-handed, after all.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Artwork & numbers
Here is a sample of Elizabeth's day care artwork.
And here is an example of Andrew's fascination with numbers and math.
Finally, here are some samples of Andrew's creative side. He is left-handed, after all.
And here is an example of Andrew's fascination with numbers and math.
Finally, here are some samples of Andrew's creative side. He is left-handed, after all.
Friday, March 07, 2008
One year with Elizabeth
Yesterday (March 6) is the one-year anniversary of Elizabeth's adoption day. It's almost hard to imagine now a time when she wasn't part of the family.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Walking, talking machine
It's been a while since I've posted an update on Elizabeth. A while back I posted a short video of some of her first, wobbly steps. A few months later, she's walking like a pro, and starting to talk, too. She's come a long way since she started the Ponseti treatment for her club feet!
Ski school
Yesterday, we put Andrew in ski school at Winter Park, hoping that would help him improve faster than we can teach him ourselves. We put him in Level 2, where they spend the day on the "magic carpet" - a tiny hill with a conveyor belt the kids stand on to get up the hill. Looks like it was a little too easy for him, so next time it'll definitely be Level 3, where they ride up a real ski run on a cart pulled by a snowmobile. His instructor said he spent a lot of the morning crying for mommy, but in the afternoon he calmed down and skied great - the best in his class.
This is Andrew's 3rd season on skis, but he's only been skiing a few days each season, and only a few runs per day. He started with a little rubber strap to keep his ski tips together, but we took that off this year and he's done great without it. He loves to go fast, he can do a snowplow (or as we call it, a pizza wedge), and he can turn fairly well. Amy and I took him for a run with us before his lesson started, and again after his lesson was over. He didn't want to go afterward, but he said he would go if we gave him a Pez candy afterward. He drives a hard bargain!
This is Andrew's 3rd season on skis, but he's only been skiing a few days each season, and only a few runs per day. He started with a little rubber strap to keep his ski tips together, but we took that off this year and he's done great without it. He loves to go fast, he can do a snowplow (or as we call it, a pizza wedge), and he can turn fairly well. Amy and I took him for a run with us before his lesson started, and again after his lesson was over. He didn't want to go afterward, but he said he would go if we gave him a Pez candy afterward. He drives a hard bargain!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Landlords
For a few years now, off and on, Amy and I have been looking to invest in real estate. We actually signed a contract for a 4-plex a few years ago, and the very next day I got laid off from my job when StorePerform decided to ship all of their software development to India, and then we all moved to China for a while, so that deal fell through. (By the way, StorePerform is now bringing development back to the US. Ha ha!) Recently we made 2 offers on a duplex in Lakewood and the seller finally accepted our offer. With a little luck, we'll be able to lock in a decent mortgage rate and we'll be landlords in about a month.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Geek in training
I mean that in the nicest possible way. After all, I'm a geek myself! Andrew seems to have a gift for - or perhaps an obsession with - arithmetic. Almost every day, while in the midst of other activities like playing or eating, he'll start quoting arithmetic equations. "3 plus 3 plus 3 is nine", he'll say, followed by "1 plus 2 plus 3 plus for is .... 10!". At his preschool, he's writing a "math book", which consists of handwritten pages of math facts - mostly addition, I think. At home last night, our next door neighbor came over to play with him, and instead of playing with her he spent his time writing his own home version of the math book. At one point, he said, in a most serious tone of voice, "I love writing math books".
Let's hope this lands him a really good scholarship one day!
Let's hope this lands him a really good scholarship one day!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Mr. Mom's potty training
Amy and I decided to potty train Elizabeth. She's only 21 months old, but when she joined our family at 11 months old, she was already trained pretty well. In China, starting at just a few months old, they put children on the toilet at regular intervals and leave them there until they pee. When they start going, the adults whistle, and the Pavlovian effect takes hold. Pretty soon, they can set the kids on the pot, whistle, and viola - potty time!
We made Andrew go cold turkey (no more diapers - period) when he was 2 and a half years old. Over a 3-day weekend, he learned quickly that he didn't like being soaked in urine. We started the same technique on Elizabeth 2 days ago (except for overnight - she still needs a diaper then), with mixed results. To top it all off, Amy took off with some girlfriends for the weekend and left me in charge of potty patrol. Liz makes it to the toilet about half the time, but in a single 1-hour period this afternoon, I had to clean up 3 accidents - meaning 3 changes of clothes for Elizabeth, and me too.
C'est la vie!
We made Andrew go cold turkey (no more diapers - period) when he was 2 and a half years old. Over a 3-day weekend, he learned quickly that he didn't like being soaked in urine. We started the same technique on Elizabeth 2 days ago (except for overnight - she still needs a diaper then), with mixed results. To top it all off, Amy took off with some girlfriends for the weekend and left me in charge of potty patrol. Liz makes it to the toilet about half the time, but in a single 1-hour period this afternoon, I had to clean up 3 accidents - meaning 3 changes of clothes for Elizabeth, and me too.
C'est la vie!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Andrew the author
Andrew is quickly learning to write letters and words. The other day, entirely of his own initiative, he wrote the following on a piece of paper:
He's written several short letters recently - one to Santa, a few others to friends - but in those cases, mom or dad wrote the words first for him, and then he copied them down. In this case, he did it entirely on his own.
Ole Andrew can rit on the paprTranslation: Only Andrew can write on the paper
He's written several short letters recently - one to Santa, a few others to friends - but in those cases, mom or dad wrote the words first for him, and then he copied them down. In this case, he did it entirely on his own.
Thailand and Cambodia (May 19, 2002)
This is another installment in the series: 'Round the World Revisited. I sent this email from Thailand on May 19, 2002 during our 6 month journey around the world.
Hello, everyone. Here's our latest installment from
Thailand.
Bangkok - our first experience in Asia. We call it
"organized chaos". Lots of people say they don't like
it because it's too crazy, but that's exactly why we
DO like it! You never know what you're going to see
when you turn the corner. It might be a beautiful old
temple, a modern skyscraper, a shabby market selling
mystery foods, a horrible pile of rubbish, or dozens
of shops selling huge Buddha statues. Whatever it is,
though, there's sure to be tons of dogs roaming the
street and through the shops (remember to watch your
step).
Some observations on Thailand:
Food: Excellent! It's rare to find bad food here. Much
of it is nice and spicy, just how I like it. And
cheap, too. Coconut curry, Thai salad (Yam), and Pad
Thai are some of our favorites. It seems to be safe to
eat from dubious looking street vendors. At least, we
haven't had any problems yet. And there's food
everywhere. The most common Thai "restaurant" is a few
folding tables and chairs on a sidewalk, with a single
wok and surprisingly varied menu. At some places, we
saw carts selling roasted beetles, worms, crickets,
and even scorpions. It does a body good!
Transportation: roads are good, and Bangkok has modern
trains, good buses, and tons of taxis. They still
manually control the lights at many big intersections,
though. Public buses are cheap and reliable but
private ones (run by dubious tour companies) are often
delayed or broken down, and they stop way too often --
so the driver can collect a commision for bringing
tourists to a restaurant.
Plumbing: One thing they definitely have not mastered
is plumbing. They can't seem to connect two pipes
together, and often times our sink drains onto the
bathroom floor, sharing a floor drain with the shower.
In the (cheap) places we stay, we typically get a
sit-down toilet with a bucket to use for flushing. The
locals, though, normally have squat toilets.
Religion: Buddhism is prevalent. It's not quite what I
expected, though. Too superstitious. Every cab and bus
has a mini shrine hanging from the mirror or sitting
on the dash, and boats have ribbons made by monks
wrapped around their bows; this is to bring good luck.
(With the crazy way people drive here, they need it. )
Every shop and home has a spirit house (a small
shrine, usually on a pedestal) in which the spirits
live. Monks in their orange robes are omnipresent,
although talking on mobile phones and smoking call
into question their austerity. Apparently, one can be
ordained as a monk for as little as a week, then go
back to a normal life and add the honor to one's res
Language: Thai is a tough language for westerners.
Every syllable is spoken with one of 5 different tones
(low, medium, high, rising, or falling) and the
meaning of a word depends on its tone. Thus "Mai mai
mai mai mai" (with the correct tones) means "New wood
doesn't burn, does it?" Be careful how you say "thank
you" (khap kuhn khrap) or it may turn out to mean
something like "your mother was a hamster."
Massage: for about $4 per hour, you can get a great
massage here. The style they use is a mix between
"normal" massage, chiropractic, and accupressure.
Leeches: that's right -- worms that sink their teeth
into you and suck your blood. Really nasty buggers,
but apparently not really a danger. They seem to
prefer the taste of "farang" (westerners) over the
locals. Really creepy to find one squirming on your
body and chowing down when you didn't even feel it.
--------------------------------------------
Here's how we've been spending our time. After a few
days in Bangkok, we travelled south to the islands.
First on the west coast, we stopped in Krabi and
visited Wat Tam Seur, an amazing monastery and temple.
We climbed 1200 steps to a shrine perched on top of a
sheer vertical cliff.
Next stop Ko Lanta (Ko means island), where we went
diving at an absolutely beautiful site, Ko Ha. 80 feet
of visibility, great corals, and 4 octupus changing
colors before our eyes. Then we took a small boat to
the small island of Ko Hai, which is relatively
undiscovered with only 3 small resorts on a beautiful
beach with a great view of 3 huge limestone pinnacles
facing the island. From here we took a day trip to
Emerald cave, where we swam through a cave and emerged
on the other end inside a hidden lagoon surrounded on
all sides by vertical cliffs several hundred feet
tall.
We did an overnight tour of Phang Nga bay, which is
amazingly beautiful. It's filled with hundreds of tall
pinnacles rising up to a thousand feet straight out of
the bay. We spent the night at a muslim fishing
village built on "stilts" rising out of the bay next
to a small island. Out of 250 buildings, only 2 are on
land.
Before crossing the peninsula, we stopped for a few
days in Khao Sok national park, which is a thickly
forested area dominated by a large reservoir. This is
where we had our encounter with leeches. Other than
that, it was a really nice example of Asian jungle,
complete with bamboo, monkeys, and hornbills.
Now in the Gulf of Thailand, we spent several days on
Ko Tau, a nice little island with lots of good (and
cheap) diving.
After a short stopover in Bangkok, we travelled to
Angkor in Cambodia. This is the famous site of 8th to
14th century Khmer ruins. Getting there was a fiasco
in which we spent 14 hours travelling about 250 miles.
We spent 5 hours with 7 other people in the back of a
pickup truck on a terrible pot-holed, dusty road from
the Cambodia border to Siem Reap (the town near the
ruins). This is the Cambodian version of a bus. We
were supposed to be in a real bus, but our bus
supposedly was broken down (it was a scam all along --
there was no bus).
Despite all that, the pickup afforded a great view of
the Cambodian countryside and villages, which are
definitely third world. We saw men plowing their
fields with buffalo power, huge carts the size of a
U-haul being pushed by a dozen men, begging children
galore, whole families on a single moped, etc. So how
do you transport live pigs in Cambodia? Answer: tie it
upside down on a plank and strap it to the back of
your moped (legs kicking in the air). If you have
multiple pigs? Stuff 2 or 3 of them into a little
wicker cage and strap that to your moped.
Angkor is truly amazing -- words can't do it justice.
I would highly recommend it to anyone. It is the ruins
of an advanced civilization which build huge Hindu and
Buddhist stone temples with the finest artwork
imaginable. The largest and most famous temple, Angkor
Wat, is surrounded by a 600 foot wide moat. It's outer
wall is over 3 miles in perimeter, and it stands about
300 feet tall. Almost every square inch of stone is
covered in the highest quality carvings depicting
battles, Hindu epics, and everyday life. It's terrible
to think how wars have reduced this civilization to
such a primitive state.
That's all for now. Next up is northern Thailand and a
week or two in Laos. Hope everyone is doing well back
home!
Brad and Amy
Hello, everyone. Here's our latest installment from
Thailand.
Bangkok - our first experience in Asia. We call it
"organized chaos". Lots of people say they don't like
it because it's too crazy, but that's exactly why we
DO like it! You never know what you're going to see
when you turn the corner. It might be a beautiful old
temple, a modern skyscraper, a shabby market selling
mystery foods, a horrible pile of rubbish, or dozens
of shops selling huge Buddha statues. Whatever it is,
though, there's sure to be tons of dogs roaming the
street and through the shops (remember to watch your
step).
Some observations on Thailand:
Food: Excellent! It's rare to find bad food here. Much
of it is nice and spicy, just how I like it. And
cheap, too. Coconut curry, Thai salad (Yam), and Pad
Thai are some of our favorites. It seems to be safe to
eat from dubious looking street vendors. At least, we
haven't had any problems yet. And there's food
everywhere. The most common Thai "restaurant" is a few
folding tables and chairs on a sidewalk, with a single
wok and surprisingly varied menu. At some places, we
saw carts selling roasted beetles, worms, crickets,
and even scorpions. It does a body good!
Transportation: roads are good, and Bangkok has modern
trains, good buses, and tons of taxis. They still
manually control the lights at many big intersections,
though. Public buses are cheap and reliable but
private ones (run by dubious tour companies) are often
delayed or broken down, and they stop way too often --
so the driver can collect a commision for bringing
tourists to a restaurant.
Plumbing: One thing they definitely have not mastered
is plumbing. They can't seem to connect two pipes
together, and often times our sink drains onto the
bathroom floor, sharing a floor drain with the shower.
In the (cheap) places we stay, we typically get a
sit-down toilet with a bucket to use for flushing. The
locals, though, normally have squat toilets.
Religion: Buddhism is prevalent. It's not quite what I
expected, though. Too superstitious. Every cab and bus
has a mini shrine hanging from the mirror or sitting
on the dash, and boats have ribbons made by monks
wrapped around their bows; this is to bring good luck.
(With the crazy way people drive here, they need it. )
Every shop and home has a spirit house (a small
shrine, usually on a pedestal) in which the spirits
live. Monks in their orange robes are omnipresent,
although talking on mobile phones and smoking call
into question their austerity. Apparently, one can be
ordained as a monk for as little as a week, then go
back to a normal life and add the honor to one's res
Language: Thai is a tough language for westerners.
Every syllable is spoken with one of 5 different tones
(low, medium, high, rising, or falling) and the
meaning of a word depends on its tone. Thus "Mai mai
mai mai mai" (with the correct tones) means "New wood
doesn't burn, does it?" Be careful how you say "thank
you" (khap kuhn khrap) or it may turn out to mean
something like "your mother was a hamster."
Massage: for about $4 per hour, you can get a great
massage here. The style they use is a mix between
"normal" massage, chiropractic, and accupressure.
Leeches: that's right -- worms that sink their teeth
into you and suck your blood. Really nasty buggers,
but apparently not really a danger. They seem to
prefer the taste of "farang" (westerners) over the
locals. Really creepy to find one squirming on your
body and chowing down when you didn't even feel it.
--------------------------------------------
Here's how we've been spending our time. After a few
days in Bangkok, we travelled south to the islands.
First on the west coast, we stopped in Krabi and
visited Wat Tam Seur, an amazing monastery and temple.
We climbed 1200 steps to a shrine perched on top of a
sheer vertical cliff.
Next stop Ko Lanta (Ko means island), where we went
diving at an absolutely beautiful site, Ko Ha. 80 feet
of visibility, great corals, and 4 octupus changing
colors before our eyes. Then we took a small boat to
the small island of Ko Hai, which is relatively
undiscovered with only 3 small resorts on a beautiful
beach with a great view of 3 huge limestone pinnacles
facing the island. From here we took a day trip to
Emerald cave, where we swam through a cave and emerged
on the other end inside a hidden lagoon surrounded on
all sides by vertical cliffs several hundred feet
tall.
We did an overnight tour of Phang Nga bay, which is
amazingly beautiful. It's filled with hundreds of tall
pinnacles rising up to a thousand feet straight out of
the bay. We spent the night at a muslim fishing
village built on "stilts" rising out of the bay next
to a small island. Out of 250 buildings, only 2 are on
land.
Before crossing the peninsula, we stopped for a few
days in Khao Sok national park, which is a thickly
forested area dominated by a large reservoir. This is
where we had our encounter with leeches. Other than
that, it was a really nice example of Asian jungle,
complete with bamboo, monkeys, and hornbills.
Now in the Gulf of Thailand, we spent several days on
Ko Tau, a nice little island with lots of good (and
cheap) diving.
After a short stopover in Bangkok, we travelled to
Angkor in Cambodia. This is the famous site of 8th to
14th century Khmer ruins. Getting there was a fiasco
in which we spent 14 hours travelling about 250 miles.
We spent 5 hours with 7 other people in the back of a
pickup truck on a terrible pot-holed, dusty road from
the Cambodia border to Siem Reap (the town near the
ruins). This is the Cambodian version of a bus. We
were supposed to be in a real bus, but our bus
supposedly was broken down (it was a scam all along --
there was no bus).
Despite all that, the pickup afforded a great view of
the Cambodian countryside and villages, which are
definitely third world. We saw men plowing their
fields with buffalo power, huge carts the size of a
U-haul being pushed by a dozen men, begging children
galore, whole families on a single moped, etc. So how
do you transport live pigs in Cambodia? Answer: tie it
upside down on a plank and strap it to the back of
your moped (legs kicking in the air). If you have
multiple pigs? Stuff 2 or 3 of them into a little
wicker cage and strap that to your moped.
Angkor is truly amazing -- words can't do it justice.
I would highly recommend it to anyone. It is the ruins
of an advanced civilization which build huge Hindu and
Buddhist stone temples with the finest artwork
imaginable. The largest and most famous temple, Angkor
Wat, is surrounded by a 600 foot wide moat. It's outer
wall is over 3 miles in perimeter, and it stands about
300 feet tall. Almost every square inch of stone is
covered in the highest quality carvings depicting
battles, Hindu epics, and everyday life. It's terrible
to think how wars have reduced this civilization to
such a primitive state.
That's all for now. Next up is northern Thailand and a
week or two in Laos. Hope everyone is doing well back
home!
Brad and Amy
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Caucus
Amy and I just attended the Democratic caucus for our precinct. Four years ago, 12 people showed up for our precinct. This year, we had 74, and we had to park a half mile from the caucus site (Alameda High School) where about 30 different precincts caucused. Our precinct supported Obama over Clinton by more than a 2 to 1 margin. We don't know yet what the state-wide results are.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Van Halen
I spent Friday night at the Van Halen concert at Pepsi Center with some friends from high school & college - Dominic, Bryan and Steve.
The review
It was a damn good rock 'n' roll show. Depite the various shortcomings which I mention below, it was a great nostalgic blast for the fans of the original VH. There were only 2 hints of the Hagar era: a few guitar solo riffs lifted from 316 and the "5150" tattoo on Eddie's shirtless back. These guys still know how to entertain a crowd even if their stage show doesn't exhibit the manic excess it did back in the day.
The crowd
Ten seconds into the opening song, You Really Got Me, a drunk guy directly behind us took a dive into my buddy Bryan, causing a domino-like chain reaction of people falling and beer spilling. In the process he got his foot stuck in my seat (the kind with the seat bottom that flips up) and spent the next two minutes struggling to yank it out. After that he kept his drunk ass snugly in his own seat until he disappeared about half way through the show. The average age in the arena was about 35-40 years old, but there were a surprising number of teenagers, many of them with their parents. I'd say 75% of the fans were male; it was a definite sausage party.
The set list
The song list was the same as every other show on the tour, which is fine. The played all the hits and dug deep for some surprises like "Little Dreamer" and "Romeo Delight". Every album from the Roth era was represented, with the first album dominating. The true fans were not disappointed. The capped it off with an encore of 1984 and Jump. I was disappointed, just like the last 2 times I saw the band with Hagar, that nobody played keyboards (unless you count the sound stage guy). For "I'll Wait", "Jump" and "And the Cradle Will Rock", keyboard music appeared from the ether while Eddie stood there pretending to play guitar until it was time for the guitar solo.
The sound quality
In a word: disappointing. I don't think acoustics are a strong point at the Pepsi center. "The Can" is a more appropriate name for this place as a concert venue. The sounds were muffled and it was tough to hear the guitar through the din. It was loud, like you'd expect a VH concert to be, but it wasn't ear-splitting, AC/DC-circa-1990 volume I feared it might be. They didn't turn up the amps to 11 this time around, thankfully.
DLR
Diamond Dave still puts on a decent show for an over-the-hill rocker, but he certainly can't hold a tune - or a scream - like he used to. He also went into a silly rambling reminiscence of teenage party times for what seemed like 10 minutes, while strumming an acoustic guitar and eventually breaking into "Ice Cream Man".
Eddie
Ed is skinny and was shirtless all night. He actually looked like he was having fun. His guitar solo was nothing new. It's the same incoherent mix of recycled riffs from Eruption, Little Guitars, Cathedral, Mean Street, and 316 that he's been doing for decades. As a guy behind us said during the solo, "write something new, Ed". Those are some damn impressive riffs, though. And amazing to see how effortless he makes it look.
Alex
Grandpa Alex is looking old these days, but he can still keep the beat. He still wears his signature karate-style headband. His drum solo was a furious few mintues of arms and legs pounding the skins and cymbals as fast as humanly possible, but with very little apparent rhythm. The huge gong behind the drum set was just begging to see some action, but sadly went untouched throughout not only the solo, but the entire show.
Wolfgang
It's disappointing that Eddie tossed Michael Anthony aside like one his millions of cigarette butts. But I can't hold that against Eddie's son and competent new sidekick. The kid can play bass and sing backup with the best of 'em. Probably sings a lot better than Lee Roth these days. He could use some coaching on his stage presence, though. Not much going on there.
The review
It was a damn good rock 'n' roll show. Depite the various shortcomings which I mention below, it was a great nostalgic blast for the fans of the original VH. There were only 2 hints of the Hagar era: a few guitar solo riffs lifted from 316 and the "5150" tattoo on Eddie's shirtless back. These guys still know how to entertain a crowd even if their stage show doesn't exhibit the manic excess it did back in the day.
The crowd
Ten seconds into the opening song, You Really Got Me, a drunk guy directly behind us took a dive into my buddy Bryan, causing a domino-like chain reaction of people falling and beer spilling. In the process he got his foot stuck in my seat (the kind with the seat bottom that flips up) and spent the next two minutes struggling to yank it out. After that he kept his drunk ass snugly in his own seat until he disappeared about half way through the show. The average age in the arena was about 35-40 years old, but there were a surprising number of teenagers, many of them with their parents. I'd say 75% of the fans were male; it was a definite sausage party.
The set list
The song list was the same as every other show on the tour, which is fine. The played all the hits and dug deep for some surprises like "Little Dreamer" and "Romeo Delight". Every album from the Roth era was represented, with the first album dominating. The true fans were not disappointed. The capped it off with an encore of 1984 and Jump. I was disappointed, just like the last 2 times I saw the band with Hagar, that nobody played keyboards (unless you count the sound stage guy). For "I'll Wait", "Jump" and "And the Cradle Will Rock", keyboard music appeared from the ether while Eddie stood there pretending to play guitar until it was time for the guitar solo.
The sound quality
In a word: disappointing. I don't think acoustics are a strong point at the Pepsi center. "The Can" is a more appropriate name for this place as a concert venue. The sounds were muffled and it was tough to hear the guitar through the din. It was loud, like you'd expect a VH concert to be, but it wasn't ear-splitting, AC/DC-circa-1990 volume I feared it might be. They didn't turn up the amps to 11 this time around, thankfully.
DLR
Diamond Dave still puts on a decent show for an over-the-hill rocker, but he certainly can't hold a tune - or a scream - like he used to. He also went into a silly rambling reminiscence of teenage party times for what seemed like 10 minutes, while strumming an acoustic guitar and eventually breaking into "Ice Cream Man".
Eddie
Ed is skinny and was shirtless all night. He actually looked like he was having fun. His guitar solo was nothing new. It's the same incoherent mix of recycled riffs from Eruption, Little Guitars, Cathedral, Mean Street, and 316 that he's been doing for decades. As a guy behind us said during the solo, "write something new, Ed". Those are some damn impressive riffs, though. And amazing to see how effortless he makes it look.
Alex
Grandpa Alex is looking old these days, but he can still keep the beat. He still wears his signature karate-style headband. His drum solo was a furious few mintues of arms and legs pounding the skins and cymbals as fast as humanly possible, but with very little apparent rhythm. The huge gong behind the drum set was just begging to see some action, but sadly went untouched throughout not only the solo, but the entire show.
Wolfgang
It's disappointing that Eddie tossed Michael Anthony aside like one his millions of cigarette butts. But I can't hold that against Eddie's son and competent new sidekick. The kid can play bass and sing backup with the best of 'em. Probably sings a lot better than Lee Roth these days. He could use some coaching on his stage presence, though. Not much going on there.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sick as hell
I've spent the last week with flu-like symptoms, or a particularly strong cold. On several days, I didn't hardly do anything except sleep, and I haven't had much appetite. The doctor checked for strep, but that came back negative, so I suppose it's a virus. I went for a run last Sunday - the day before I started feeling sick - and I wonder if that did me in. It was a fairly nice January day for Denver, with temperatures in the upper 30s, and when I stepped out the front door to check the temperature, I didn't even feel a breeze, so I didn't cover my ears. That was a mistake, because there was a breeze, particularly on the run back home. My ears were freezing. Also, in addition to 20 minutes of easy jogging, I ran 1 very fast mile around the track at Green Mountain high school. That's 6 minutes of sprinting, and consequently, 6 minutes of pretty cold air pounding on my throat and bronchial tubes. It was my throat, bronchial tubes & ears that started bothering me the next day.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Cowboys with Blackberries
We took the kids on Friday to the National Western Stock Show and rodeo - a Colorado institution. There's no doubt this is the largest gathering of people in cowboy hats anywhere in the state. You can generally tell apart the folks that wear cowboy hats and boots for real, and the posers who dust them off once or twice a year so they can fit in with the crowd. It's amusing and incongruous to see cowboys chatting away on their cell phones and blackberries like a bunch of urban teenagers.
As for the kids, the Andrew enjoyed petting and feeding the baby goats and sheep, but Elizabeth was a little bit freaked out by all the critters. Andrew's favorite part of the night was when we bought him a bag of gummy worms.
As for the kids, the Andrew enjoyed petting and feeding the baby goats and sheep, but Elizabeth was a little bit freaked out by all the critters. Andrew's favorite part of the night was when we bought him a bag of gummy worms.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Beaver Creek
I've been wanting to ski Beaver Creek for years, and finally had a good excuse to go on Saturday. My fraternity brother Eric Ianuzi was in town from Connecticut, mainly to ski, but also for an exhibit of 2 of his paintings at the DU art school. I joined Erid and another of our fraternity brothers, Rhidian Orr, on Saturday at Beaver Creek, which had about 4 feet of new snow this week. It was a near-epic ski day, with plenty of Colorado's famous powder. To top it off, Rhidian's wife got us $40 lift tickets - that's $52 less than the full price $92 tickets - ouch!
Monday, January 07, 2008
Powder day
I woke up at 5:30 this morning and checked the snow report. 7.5 inches of new snow and 12 inches in the last 48 hours at Winter Park. My work calendar was nearly empty of meetings (which is very unusual) so I decided to take a powder day. No, I didn't lie and take a sick day - just took a vacation day. Of course since I get PTO, a sick day is the same as a vacation day.
Amy and I had had a great time, and found some good powder stashes. A storm hit on the drive home, and a few miles from the house, I hit a patch of ice at a red light and bumped the car in front of me. Fortunately, he was driving a big ol' SUV with a solid bumper, and my 4Runner's bumper was the only part that got messed up. Nothing bad, no cops, no insurance claims.
Amy and I had had a great time, and found some good powder stashes. A storm hit on the drive home, and a few miles from the house, I hit a patch of ice at a red light and bumped the car in front of me. Fortunately, he was driving a big ol' SUV with a solid bumper, and my 4Runner's bumper was the only part that got messed up. Nothing bad, no cops, no insurance claims.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Soda and fudge
Andrew's grandma made some fudge for Christmas, and Andrew has a new favorite food now! The other day, while grudgingly finishing his meal, he told us "I wish everything was made of soda and fudge." I couldn't help but point out that if his wish came true, he could never have ice cream.
Americanized Chinese Food
Since returning from China just over a year ago, I've purposely avoided the typical Chinese restaurants that cater to gringos. The reason is that real Chinese food isn't anything like the phony fare you find on the menu at those restaurants (sweet and sour pork, pu pu platter, General Tso's Chicken, etc.) - it's much better. I have gone out of my way on several occasions to drive down to Denver's China town (near Alameda and Federal) and found authentic Chinese grub at Superstar and King's Land, which satisfied my cravings for the good stuff.
There's a Szechuan restaurant near home at Garrison and 6th Ave, and I've been craving Sichuan (aka Szechuan) food for a while, so I thought I'd try it. Amy and I dragged the kids there on a last-minute whim on Friday night, and it was disappointing. Nothing on the menu that resembled the fantastic and spicy Sichuan food we had in China. Just your standard Americanized Chinese menu. Blah. The only redeeming thing about the place is that we learned that Sichuan means "4 streams" (Si meaning 4 - which we already knew, and chuan presumably meaning stream).
Anybody know where to find authentic Sichuan food in Denver???
There's a Szechuan restaurant near home at Garrison and 6th Ave, and I've been craving Sichuan (aka Szechuan) food for a while, so I thought I'd try it. Amy and I dragged the kids there on a last-minute whim on Friday night, and it was disappointing. Nothing on the menu that resembled the fantastic and spicy Sichuan food we had in China. Just your standard Americanized Chinese menu. Blah. The only redeeming thing about the place is that we learned that Sichuan means "4 streams" (Si meaning 4 - which we already knew, and chuan presumably meaning stream).
Anybody know where to find authentic Sichuan food in Denver???
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
5:05 on a treadmill
I'm still training to run a 5 minute mile, which is tough with snow and ice everywhere for the past several weeks. This morning, I ran a 5:05 mile on the treadmill at the gym, which is faster than I could run it outside, I'm sure, where I actually have to propel my body forward rather than just move my legs fast. Anybody know how to convert treadmill time to real time?
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Australia (March 29, 2002)
This is another installment in the series: 'Round the World Revisited. I sent this email from Australia on March 29, 2002 during our 6 month journey around the world.
Greetings from Australia (Oz)!
Quiz: translate the following phrase from Australian
into English: "I've got tinnies in me eskie, mate!"
(answer at the end of this message)
First some observations about the differences between
New Zealand and Oz.
1. Northern Australia is hot! In fact, I dare say it's
freakin' hot! In Cairns and Darwin it seems to hover
around 99 degrees (that's 37 to the locals) with high
humidity. At night it gets all the way down to about
85. Southern NZ was getting a bit chilly by the time
we left.
2. Australia is swarming with 20-25 year old kids
running around in swimwear looking for cheap beer. And
the tourism infrastructure is really geared to cater
to them. The average NZ tourist is slightly more
mature and sober.
3. Prices. Food in Australia is dirt cheap, but cars
are not. We paid US$12 per day for a nice 4-door car
in NZ, but in Oz cars are running about US$30 per day
for a tiny Daihatsu with a squirrel cage for an
engine.
On to our adventures. We started in Cairns on the
north east coast, and did a 3 day live-aboard diving
trip on the great barrier reef. We also took the
advanced open water diving course. A great time,
except for the broken air conditioning on board the
ship (refer to #1 above). We did 8 dives plus
snorkelling, including a night dive, deep dive (28
meters/90 feet), and a boat/drift dive. Great marine
life -- colorful corals of every variety, giant clams,
white-tipped reef sharks, giant Maori wrasse
(friendly, approachable, and several hundred pounds),
turtles, etc. Visibility wasn't spectacular, but
decent.
Next was a few days' driving around the tropical
north, including the Wet Tropics World Heritage area
(rain forest preserve). It's fairly rare in that the
rain forest comes right down to the coast. We were
able to spot a wide variety of wildlife, including
crocodiles, cassowaries (huge flightless birds),
lizards, wallabies, brush turkeys, scrub fowl (build
huge ground nests 9 feet tall and 15 feet across),
giant yellow orb spiders (bigger across than your
hand), possums, pademelon (tiny marsupials) etc. But
no luck spotting the elusive Platypus.
Next stop Darwin, in north-central Australia (the
Northern territory, which is NOT a state, kind of like
the old territories of the western U.S). Our primary
aim here was to visit the huge Kakadu national park.
We're here at the end of the wet season, although this
has been a relatively dry season. We did a guided 3
day tour, and our guide was a real Aussie character,
ala "Crocodile Dundee" or Steve Irwin (the Crocodile
Hunter). He loved to hike around barefoot and had a
vast knowledge of "bush tucker" (outback foods),
aboriginal culture, and the flora and fauna. Plus he
told some great stories! The tour was great and we saw
some amazing country, with impressive sandstone
formations covered with lush vegetation, ancient
(10000+ year old) aboriginal rock art, and beautiful
water falls and swimming holes. We really got off the
beaten track where there were no trails, and he even
got us to follow him barefoot up a canyon
appropriately called the "garden of Eden" where we
climbed up a waterfall and took in the scenery. It
definitely wasn't your typical tour of 50 old farts
packed into a big tour bus.
We also did a 1-day tour at Litchfield Nat'l Park,
which was similar scenery and swimming, but much more
crowded. The highlight for me was seeing hundreds of
huge black bats -- flying foxes -- hanging from the
trees, and a little rock wallaby with a joey (that's a
baby) poking it's head out of her pouch.
Here's a question for you MBA types out there: how
does a pub give away free meals and free beer and
still make money? There's a bar in Darwin which gives
away free dinners 7 nights a week -- all you have to
do is get a ticket from any tour company. So 7 of us
from the Kakadu tour went for our free meal after our
tour, and were surprised that the food is actually
pretty good. Not only that, but after we sat down, the
bar tender brought 3 free pitchers ("jugs") of beer to
the table. By now we've had 3 free meals at this
joint. Not bad! There was a place in Cairns that had
free meals too -- they really compete to bring in the
partying crowd of young backpackers.
Next we're off to Katherine Gorge, where we'll do some
exploring before we begin a 4-day volunteer project
with Australian Conservation Trust. We'll be
revegetating an area of thermal pools (presumably
damaged from too many people visiting the area), and
hopefully meeting some great people. We've done
trail-building projects back home and the people we
meet are always interesting.
Quiz answer: "I have cans of beer in my ice box,
buddy!"
We hope all is well back in the USA! Happy Easter!
--Brad and Amy
Greetings from Australia (Oz)!
Quiz: translate the following phrase from Australian
into English: "I've got tinnies in me eskie, mate!"
(answer at the end of this message)
First some observations about the differences between
New Zealand and Oz.
1. Northern Australia is hot! In fact, I dare say it's
freakin' hot! In Cairns and Darwin it seems to hover
around 99 degrees (that's 37 to the locals) with high
humidity. At night it gets all the way down to about
85. Southern NZ was getting a bit chilly by the time
we left.
2. Australia is swarming with 20-25 year old kids
running around in swimwear looking for cheap beer. And
the tourism infrastructure is really geared to cater
to them. The average NZ tourist is slightly more
mature and sober.
3. Prices. Food in Australia is dirt cheap, but cars
are not. We paid US$12 per day for a nice 4-door car
in NZ, but in Oz cars are running about US$30 per day
for a tiny Daihatsu with a squirrel cage for an
engine.
On to our adventures. We started in Cairns on the
north east coast, and did a 3 day live-aboard diving
trip on the great barrier reef. We also took the
advanced open water diving course. A great time,
except for the broken air conditioning on board the
ship (refer to #1 above). We did 8 dives plus
snorkelling, including a night dive, deep dive (28
meters/90 feet), and a boat/drift dive. Great marine
life -- colorful corals of every variety, giant clams,
white-tipped reef sharks, giant Maori wrasse
(friendly, approachable, and several hundred pounds),
turtles, etc. Visibility wasn't spectacular, but
decent.
Next was a few days' driving around the tropical
north, including the Wet Tropics World Heritage area
(rain forest preserve). It's fairly rare in that the
rain forest comes right down to the coast. We were
able to spot a wide variety of wildlife, including
crocodiles, cassowaries (huge flightless birds),
lizards, wallabies, brush turkeys, scrub fowl (build
huge ground nests 9 feet tall and 15 feet across),
giant yellow orb spiders (bigger across than your
hand), possums, pademelon (tiny marsupials) etc. But
no luck spotting the elusive Platypus.
Next stop Darwin, in north-central Australia (the
Northern territory, which is NOT a state, kind of like
the old territories of the western U.S). Our primary
aim here was to visit the huge Kakadu national park.
We're here at the end of the wet season, although this
has been a relatively dry season. We did a guided 3
day tour, and our guide was a real Aussie character,
ala "Crocodile Dundee" or Steve Irwin (the Crocodile
Hunter). He loved to hike around barefoot and had a
vast knowledge of "bush tucker" (outback foods),
aboriginal culture, and the flora and fauna. Plus he
told some great stories! The tour was great and we saw
some amazing country, with impressive sandstone
formations covered with lush vegetation, ancient
(10000+ year old) aboriginal rock art, and beautiful
water falls and swimming holes. We really got off the
beaten track where there were no trails, and he even
got us to follow him barefoot up a canyon
appropriately called the "garden of Eden" where we
climbed up a waterfall and took in the scenery. It
definitely wasn't your typical tour of 50 old farts
packed into a big tour bus.
We also did a 1-day tour at Litchfield Nat'l Park,
which was similar scenery and swimming, but much more
crowded. The highlight for me was seeing hundreds of
huge black bats -- flying foxes -- hanging from the
trees, and a little rock wallaby with a joey (that's a
baby) poking it's head out of her pouch.
Here's a question for you MBA types out there: how
does a pub give away free meals and free beer and
still make money? There's a bar in Darwin which gives
away free dinners 7 nights a week -- all you have to
do is get a ticket from any tour company. So 7 of us
from the Kakadu tour went for our free meal after our
tour, and were surprised that the food is actually
pretty good. Not only that, but after we sat down, the
bar tender brought 3 free pitchers ("jugs") of beer to
the table. By now we've had 3 free meals at this
joint. Not bad! There was a place in Cairns that had
free meals too -- they really compete to bring in the
partying crowd of young backpackers.
Next we're off to Katherine Gorge, where we'll do some
exploring before we begin a 4-day volunteer project
with Australian Conservation Trust. We'll be
revegetating an area of thermal pools (presumably
damaged from too many people visiting the area), and
hopefully meeting some great people. We've done
trail-building projects back home and the people we
meet are always interesting.
Quiz answer: "I have cans of beer in my ice box,
buddy!"
We hope all is well back in the USA! Happy Easter!
--Brad and Amy
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
6-year-old telemark skiing on moguls
At Mary Jane, it's not uncommon to find 6-year-olds skiing black runs. On Sunday, though, I saw a little guy cruising down a black run - moguls and all - wearing telemark skis. Kinda embarrassing when a first grader can free-hill ski as good or better than I can on the bumps. I like to think they have an unfair advantage due to their low center of gravity.
Amy, Andrew and I all went skiing at Winter Park on Sunday. This is actually the 3rd season that Andrew's been on skis, and he's doing great. He still likes us to hold onto his harness, but he doesn't realize that we're not assisting him at all - he's doing it all himself.
Amy, Andrew and I all went skiing at Winter Park on Sunday. This is actually the 3rd season that Andrew's been on skis, and he's doing great. He still likes us to hold onto his harness, but he doesn't realize that we're not assisting him at all - he's doing it all himself.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Preschool Holiday Concert
Andrew participated in his first ever performance on a stage: the Free Horizon Montessori School Holiday Concert. His combined Primary (pre-school) and Kindergarten class jammed the stage to sing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Dreidel Song, and The Twelve Days of Christmas. In the audience, a few hundred parents with video cameras watched with smiling faces. Andrew sang well and enjoyed himself, even if he did get a bit lost during some of the verses, and fidgeted a bit. Good job, Andrew!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Explaining infinity to a 4-year-old
How do you explain the concept of infinity to a 4-year-old? I've been struggling with this for a few weeks now. Andrew can count to about 100 now, and he loves to shout out numbers that sound huge, like "five hundred thousand". Trying to outdo his friend Quentin in the big numbers game, he asked me, "what is the biggest number of all"? "Infinity," I told him. This leads to interesting conversations, such as:
Dad: "You would have to keep counting forever to count to infinity."
Andrew: "You mean until you die?"
Dad: "Well, uh, even longer than that."
Andrew: "What is infinity plus one?"
Dad: "That's also infinity. Infinity isn't a normal number. No matter how high you count, you can always count 1 number higher, so you'll never count to infinity. It's kinda complicated."
I find myself using that same explanation for other questions, such as "why is the day shorter in the winter?"
So now Andrew has a new phrase he likes to use. "It's kinda complicated..."
Dad: "You would have to keep counting forever to count to infinity."
Andrew: "You mean until you die?"
Dad: "Well, uh, even longer than that."
Andrew: "What is infinity plus one?"
Dad: "That's also infinity. Infinity isn't a normal number. No matter how high you count, you can always count 1 number higher, so you'll never count to infinity. It's kinda complicated."
I find myself using that same explanation for other questions, such as "why is the day shorter in the winter?"
So now Andrew has a new phrase he likes to use. "It's kinda complicated..."
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Belize
Dec 1: the journey
As always, Andrew thoroughly enjoyed the ride on the underground train at the airport. From there, the first leg of our flight took us through Dallas. Amy's secret seating scheme to reserve 3 seats but skip the middle seat served us well. We reserved an aisle seat, the opposite aisle seat, and the window seat, but not the middle seat; no one else got that unreserved middle seat, so it was ours! From Dallas to Belize City, we didn't get so lucky, until the couple across the aisle from us discovered that they lost their passports. Their loss was our gain - 2 extra seats on a flight that was otherwise completely full! Next was a 14-seat puddle jumper that took us 30 miles to the village of San Pedro on Amergris Caye - the smallest plane I've ever been in except for a short joy ride in a sail plane (glider). What is ambergris? A secretion from the intestines of a whale, once used to make perfume, and at the time, more valuable than gold. Next was a short taxi ride to the dock, followed by a boat ride through the dark to the Costa Maya Reef Resort, about 6 miles north from San Pedro. There aren't any real roads outside San Pedro, so boats are really the only way to get there.
Dec 2: relax
On Sunday we let the kids enjoy the pool and the sand, and we snorkeled around the resort's pier. A school of about 400 bonefish puttered around a sand flat just past the end of the pier, and hundreds of grunts hung out under the shade of the pier.
Dec 3: snorkel
Belize, just south of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, is a small country with only about 250,000 residents. It's home to the world's 2nd longest barrier reef, which sits about half a mile from the front door of our beach-front room. A nice spot for snorkeling called Mexico rocks is a short paddle on a sit-on-top kayak from the beach. Dozen of coral "heads" (small groups of coral) are separated by sand flats in about 10 feet of turquoise water. Amy and I spotted a large southern sting ray up close, and a large variety of smaller reef fish. Quite good snorkeling, though not the best I ever experienced. How did we do this with 2 small kids in tow? We left them with grandma and grandpa for a few hours.
Dec 4: snorkeling in Hol Chan marine reserve
Hol Chan is a reserve at the southern tip of the key. We joined a group of 4 others plus our guide. The first stop is a cut in the reef where we snorkel down one side, across the cut, and the back up the other side of the reef. Here we saw 2 large spotted eagle rays with about 8 feet of wing span. The graceful fish are amazing to watch. The next spot is known as shark/ray alley. Here the nurse sharks, southern sting rays, yellow fin snappers, and jacks are well accustomed to tour boats feeding them chum. I'm not really crazy about the idea of feeding wild animals, but the result here is an incredible and very memorable experience. We were actually able to reach out and touch the 3-6 foot long nurse sharks, while the rays were so tame they would swim straight to us and I could grab their wings.
Dec 5: diving; Andrew falls in the drink
On Wednesday morning we went for 2 dives. The first was a deep dive to 100 feet just outside the reef, starting with a swim through a short cave. The area has deep coral canyons, a wide variety of hard and soft corals, and a decent number of reef fish. The 2nd dive was in much shallower water maybe 1 mile from the heart of San Pedro. Once again the guide used food to lure the sharks and rays, and they were even tamer than yesterday. Here, you could easily reach out and grab a nurse shark by the tail and let it take you for a short ride. They didn't even try to get away when you swam toward them. One shark acted like a dog when we grabbed it, turned it upside down and rubbed its belly; the shark seemed to enjoy it! After the feeding frenzy, we swam around and saw a turtle and another spotted eagle ray, this time up close. Awesome. In the afternoon I cast Ron's fly rod from the end of the pier while Andrew watched. After one cast, I heard a big splash - Andrew had fallen right off the end, about 4 feet into the shallow ocean below. I immediately jumped in after him, and was proud when he popped up to the surface with his eyes wide, but didn't panic, tread water like a champ, and remained calm. Another man on the pier pulled him back up, and then Andrew was actually pretty excited about his little adventure, and went running to tell mommy all about it.
Dec 6: back to Mexico rocks
On Thursday we ventured back to the coral heads in front of our resort. This trip was better than the first, with brighter sunlight and a more aquatic life, including another nurse shark and another eagle ray, again up close and personal. Andrew and Elizabeth enjoyed the pool and the beach -yet again!
Dec 7: fishing in the lagoon
Ron (Amy's dad) and I ventured in a 2-man kayak out to the mangrove-surrounded lagoon on the west side of the island with 3 fly rods. Ron explored the lagoon 2 days before, and plotted his course on his GPS. Without it, you could easily get hopelessly lost in the narrow channels and confusing, small lagoons. I landed a small bonefish and small barracuda, and we spooked a school of large snook but weren't able to land any of them. As I paddled back, we trolled a fly and Ron landed a decent size barracuda which we kept for one of the maintenance men who worked at our resort and told us he liked barracuda. After paddling 10 miles with my bony butt on a hard plastic kayak seat, I was happy to be back on land.
One other thing: all of us endured mosquito and sand fly bites, but somehow Elizabeth was almost unaffected. While we had dozens of itchy bites, we could only find one spot on Elizabeth that appeared to be a bug bite. Lucky girl!
Day 8: from hot to cold
On Saturday we woke to our 7th consecutive beautiful, 80+ degree sunny morning overlooking clear blue ocean. 12 hours, 1 boat ride, and 3 airplane flights later, we landed in Denver in the middle of a snowstorm at 18 degrees Fahrenheit, scraping ice off the windshield.
Overall, Belize was great. The diving and snorkeling was great and very memorable, even if it didn't fully live up to the hype of being the world's greatest. Prices in Belize are high, since almost everything is imported. Groceries cost about double what they would at home.
The Costa Maya Reef Resort is above average, but not fantastic. The beach and pool were nice. The isolated location makes it quiet and relaxed, but with the next resort about half a mile away, you don't have a lot of choices - you're pretty much stuck with what they offer you. Food prices were high, some meals were good, and some were mediocre. Service was slow. Our room was spacious and adequate, but far from superb. The dishwasher was broken, although they did fix it, and the AC in one room didn't work.
As always, Andrew thoroughly enjoyed the ride on the underground train at the airport. From there, the first leg of our flight took us through Dallas. Amy's secret seating scheme to reserve 3 seats but skip the middle seat served us well. We reserved an aisle seat, the opposite aisle seat, and the window seat, but not the middle seat; no one else got that unreserved middle seat, so it was ours! From Dallas to Belize City, we didn't get so lucky, until the couple across the aisle from us discovered that they lost their passports. Their loss was our gain - 2 extra seats on a flight that was otherwise completely full! Next was a 14-seat puddle jumper that took us 30 miles to the village of San Pedro on Amergris Caye - the smallest plane I've ever been in except for a short joy ride in a sail plane (glider). What is ambergris? A secretion from the intestines of a whale, once used to make perfume, and at the time, more valuable than gold. Next was a short taxi ride to the dock, followed by a boat ride through the dark to the Costa Maya Reef Resort, about 6 miles north from San Pedro. There aren't any real roads outside San Pedro, so boats are really the only way to get there.
Dec 2: relax
On Sunday we let the kids enjoy the pool and the sand, and we snorkeled around the resort's pier. A school of about 400 bonefish puttered around a sand flat just past the end of the pier, and hundreds of grunts hung out under the shade of the pier.
Dec 3: snorkel
Belize, just south of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, is a small country with only about 250,000 residents. It's home to the world's 2nd longest barrier reef, which sits about half a mile from the front door of our beach-front room. A nice spot for snorkeling called Mexico rocks is a short paddle on a sit-on-top kayak from the beach. Dozen of coral "heads" (small groups of coral) are separated by sand flats in about 10 feet of turquoise water. Amy and I spotted a large southern sting ray up close, and a large variety of smaller reef fish. Quite good snorkeling, though not the best I ever experienced. How did we do this with 2 small kids in tow? We left them with grandma and grandpa for a few hours.
Dec 4: snorkeling in Hol Chan marine reserve
Hol Chan is a reserve at the southern tip of the key. We joined a group of 4 others plus our guide. The first stop is a cut in the reef where we snorkel down one side, across the cut, and the back up the other side of the reef. Here we saw 2 large spotted eagle rays with about 8 feet of wing span. The graceful fish are amazing to watch. The next spot is known as shark/ray alley. Here the nurse sharks, southern sting rays, yellow fin snappers, and jacks are well accustomed to tour boats feeding them chum. I'm not really crazy about the idea of feeding wild animals, but the result here is an incredible and very memorable experience. We were actually able to reach out and touch the 3-6 foot long nurse sharks, while the rays were so tame they would swim straight to us and I could grab their wings.
Dec 5: diving; Andrew falls in the drink
On Wednesday morning we went for 2 dives. The first was a deep dive to 100 feet just outside the reef, starting with a swim through a short cave. The area has deep coral canyons, a wide variety of hard and soft corals, and a decent number of reef fish. The 2nd dive was in much shallower water maybe 1 mile from the heart of San Pedro. Once again the guide used food to lure the sharks and rays, and they were even tamer than yesterday. Here, you could easily reach out and grab a nurse shark by the tail and let it take you for a short ride. They didn't even try to get away when you swam toward them. One shark acted like a dog when we grabbed it, turned it upside down and rubbed its belly; the shark seemed to enjoy it! After the feeding frenzy, we swam around and saw a turtle and another spotted eagle ray, this time up close. Awesome. In the afternoon I cast Ron's fly rod from the end of the pier while Andrew watched. After one cast, I heard a big splash - Andrew had fallen right off the end, about 4 feet into the shallow ocean below. I immediately jumped in after him, and was proud when he popped up to the surface with his eyes wide, but didn't panic, tread water like a champ, and remained calm. Another man on the pier pulled him back up, and then Andrew was actually pretty excited about his little adventure, and went running to tell mommy all about it.
Dec 6: back to Mexico rocks
On Thursday we ventured back to the coral heads in front of our resort. This trip was better than the first, with brighter sunlight and a more aquatic life, including another nurse shark and another eagle ray, again up close and personal. Andrew and Elizabeth enjoyed the pool and the beach -yet again!
Dec 7: fishing in the lagoon
Ron (Amy's dad) and I ventured in a 2-man kayak out to the mangrove-surrounded lagoon on the west side of the island with 3 fly rods. Ron explored the lagoon 2 days before, and plotted his course on his GPS. Without it, you could easily get hopelessly lost in the narrow channels and confusing, small lagoons. I landed a small bonefish and small barracuda, and we spooked a school of large snook but weren't able to land any of them. As I paddled back, we trolled a fly and Ron landed a decent size barracuda which we kept for one of the maintenance men who worked at our resort and told us he liked barracuda. After paddling 10 miles with my bony butt on a hard plastic kayak seat, I was happy to be back on land.
One other thing: all of us endured mosquito and sand fly bites, but somehow Elizabeth was almost unaffected. While we had dozens of itchy bites, we could only find one spot on Elizabeth that appeared to be a bug bite. Lucky girl!
Day 8: from hot to cold
On Saturday we woke to our 7th consecutive beautiful, 80+ degree sunny morning overlooking clear blue ocean. 12 hours, 1 boat ride, and 3 airplane flights later, we landed in Denver in the middle of a snowstorm at 18 degrees Fahrenheit, scraping ice off the windshield.
Overall, Belize was great. The diving and snorkeling was great and very memorable, even if it didn't fully live up to the hype of being the world's greatest. Prices in Belize are high, since almost everything is imported. Groceries cost about double what they would at home.
The Costa Maya Reef Resort is above average, but not fantastic. The beach and pool were nice. The isolated location makes it quiet and relaxed, but with the next resort about half a mile away, you don't have a lot of choices - you're pretty much stuck with what they offer you. Food prices were high, some meals were good, and some were mediocre. Service was slow. Our room was spacious and adequate, but far from superb. The dishwasher was broken, although they did fix it, and the AC in one room didn't work.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Off to Belize
Amy, her parents, and our kids are all hopping aboard an airplane tomorrow morning and going to Belize for a week. We'll be staying on Ambergris Caye, and hope to spend time snorkeling, diving, fishing, and otherwise enjoying the beach. After this morning's 10 degree (F) temperature, I'm really looking forward to some warm weather.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Leaving NZ (March 14, 2002)
This is another installment in the series: 'Round the world, revisited. I sent this email on March 14, 2002 from New Zealand during our 6 month journey.
We are off to Aussie (as the Kiwis call Australia)
tomorrow so we thought we would give you an update on
the rest of our adventures in New Zealand.
Free Advice - Don't do a glacier hike in the pouring
rain. Although the waterfalls tumbling off the cliffs
are beautiful in the rain, the ice and river crossings
are treacherous. Not to mention that being soaked to
the bone isn't much fun either. Despite the rain we
did get to walk on the glacier and glimpse some of its
mysterious blue caves.
After the glacier we headed south through the lakes
region and went on a jet boat ride. Wanaka and
Queenstown are both set on huge lakes and are pretty
little towns. We then tried to go up to the Cascade
Saddle overlooking Mt. Aspiring and its glaciers. We
were again thwarted by rain (It may be rainy, but at
least it is windy) and ended up seeing the inside of
Cascade hut.
We continued south to Fiordland and the famous Milford
Sound. Before going to Milford we met up with some
friends from home, David and Heather Schutt. We also
spent a couple of days of relative luxury on an
overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. The sound
(actually a fiord since it was carved by a glacier,
not a river) was really cool. It is much larger and
less traveled than Milford. The walls are nearly
vertical, thousands of feet tall, with more waterfalls
than I could count. Finally we got some good weather
for the cruise, a rarity on the West Coast.
After the cruise we drove over to Milford Sound which
is stunning as well. The constant drone of scenic
flights overhead only slightly diminishes the
enjoyment of the view. We hiked up Gertrude Saddle
for a better view and it was definitely one of the
highlights of the trip. Brad tried fishing on the
Eglington river and caught nothing after spotting only
a single fish on a mile of river.
We had to make sure and visit the third major island
of NZ and went over to Stewart Island for a couple of
days. We happened to be there at the opening of the
newest NZ national park, Rakiura. We got to see the
prime minister and Sir Edmund Hillary speak. The town
had all kinds of festivities for the occasion and we
had a good time. We also visited the nearby bird
sanctuary of Ulva Island. It was really amazing to
hear so many birds calling and the waves lapping and
the breeze through the leaves. We watched a Weka
(remember the Chicken-Duck) pull the moss off a 3 foot
section of log in search of food and a robin tried to
land on Amy and picked at both of our boots.
We drove through the Catlins (along the southeast
coast) where Brad finally caught a fish - a whopping 9
incher!!!. We spent a couple of nights in Dunedin.
The architecture there is really neat - mostly
Victorian. We also went on a tour where we saw
penguins, sea lions and fur seals up close - some as
close as 10 feet.
Now we are in Christchurch and will be off on the
plane in the next few hours.
Hope this email finds everyone well.
Brad and Amy
We are off to Aussie (as the Kiwis call Australia)
tomorrow so we thought we would give you an update on
the rest of our adventures in New Zealand.
Free Advice - Don't do a glacier hike in the pouring
rain. Although the waterfalls tumbling off the cliffs
are beautiful in the rain, the ice and river crossings
are treacherous. Not to mention that being soaked to
the bone isn't much fun either. Despite the rain we
did get to walk on the glacier and glimpse some of its
mysterious blue caves.
After the glacier we headed south through the lakes
region and went on a jet boat ride. Wanaka and
Queenstown are both set on huge lakes and are pretty
little towns. We then tried to go up to the Cascade
Saddle overlooking Mt. Aspiring and its glaciers. We
were again thwarted by rain (It may be rainy, but at
least it is windy) and ended up seeing the inside of
Cascade hut.
We continued south to Fiordland and the famous Milford
Sound. Before going to Milford we met up with some
friends from home, David and Heather Schutt. We also
spent a couple of days of relative luxury on an
overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. The sound
(actually a fiord since it was carved by a glacier,
not a river) was really cool. It is much larger and
less traveled than Milford. The walls are nearly
vertical, thousands of feet tall, with more waterfalls
than I could count. Finally we got some good weather
for the cruise, a rarity on the West Coast.
After the cruise we drove over to Milford Sound which
is stunning as well. The constant drone of scenic
flights overhead only slightly diminishes the
enjoyment of the view. We hiked up Gertrude Saddle
for a better view and it was definitely one of the
highlights of the trip. Brad tried fishing on the
Eglington river and caught nothing after spotting only
a single fish on a mile of river.
We had to make sure and visit the third major island
of NZ and went over to Stewart Island for a couple of
days. We happened to be there at the opening of the
newest NZ national park, Rakiura. We got to see the
prime minister and Sir Edmund Hillary speak. The town
had all kinds of festivities for the occasion and we
had a good time. We also visited the nearby bird
sanctuary of Ulva Island. It was really amazing to
hear so many birds calling and the waves lapping and
the breeze through the leaves. We watched a Weka
(remember the Chicken-Duck) pull the moss off a 3 foot
section of log in search of food and a robin tried to
land on Amy and picked at both of our boots.
We drove through the Catlins (along the southeast
coast) where Brad finally caught a fish - a whopping 9
incher!!!. We spent a couple of nights in Dunedin.
The architecture there is really neat - mostly
Victorian. We also went on a tour where we saw
penguins, sea lions and fur seals up close - some as
close as 10 feet.
Now we are in Christchurch and will be off on the
plane in the next few hours.
Hope this email finds everyone well.
Brad and Amy
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Kiwi Update (Feb. 26, 2002)
This is another installment in the series: 'Round the world, revisited. I sent this email on Feb 26, 2002 from New Zealand during our 6 month journey.
Howdy, y'all.
Before a summary of our recent travels, here's some
things we've noted about New Zealand.
1. Highways. There's not a single road in this country
which is straight or flat for more than about half a
kilometer, and they allow passing on 2-lane roads
around blind curves and hills. They also have nice
signs like "2 fatalities this month :-(" and my
favorite, "Dangerous drivers next 24 km".
2. It should be a requirement of all developed nations
that its citizens make a valiant attempt to keep
insects out of their homes. Not here, though. There
are horrible swarms of biting sandflies everywhere,
and everyone leaves windows wide open day and night.
No screens, either! The only screens we've found were
at the most basic 4-wall huts in the backcountry --
I'm talking 2 full days' hike to get there.
3. Plumbing. We've already talked about the toilets
(and thanks to the sharp folks who told us about the
half flush and full flush buttons). But separate
spigots for the hot and cold water? Makes it hard to
get warm water.
4. What do kiwis call a cooler (or ice chest)? A
"chilly bin".
5. What do kiwis call a small house or cottage? A
"bach". I asked if that's short for "bachelor pad" but
the guy I asked didn't know.
6. The weka bird. I like to call this thing a "chicken
duck". Looks like -- you guessed it --a cross between
a chicken and a duck. It's a native bird like the kiwi
but not as rare, and not nocturnal, either.
7. Genetic Engineering. Kiwis have taken a strong
stand against GE. It's everywhere: signs at farms
boast "GE free NZ" and much of the packaged food you
buy is clearly labeled "GE free".
And here's what we've been doing. Since our last
report, I caught a nice 18 inch rainbow trout on the
Tongariro river which we cooked for dinner. Caught a
few smaller rainbows there, too. From there, we drove
to Wellington, the nation's capital, where we toured
Parliament and watched a movie (they sell ice cream
and beer at the movies) to kill time before catching
the 1:30 am ferry to the south island. Once across, we
spent 2 days kayaking in Pelorus sound, which was
pretty remote and nice, but really windy -- we didn't
even have to paddle much for a few hours. We camped at
a bay which we had all to ourselves (except for a few
million sandflies - nasty little buggers) and even did
some paddling after dark, when the paddles cause the
"bio-luminescense" in the water to glow. Pretty cool.
Next we heard about an organization called Willing
Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF). Folks like us work a
half day on the farm in exchange for free room and
board. We needed a break from our adventure, so we
decided this would be a good way to settle down for a
few days and better meet some real kiwis. We stayed on
Tony Sparks' 10-acre farm on the west coast for 4
days. We herded cows, Amy shucked garlic, and we both
helped sand and varnish his interior walls. He's got a
4-year old daughter named Hana who was a lot of fun.
We also met his girlfriend and her 2 kids and heard
all about their soap opera lives in the small
community of a hundred or so people. We worked extra
one day so we could take a day off and go caving. We
hiked and rode inner tubes through a cave with a
stream running through it. The cave has tons of tiny
glow worms on its roof which glow like stars.
Next we went on a 5 day backcountry tramp. I attempted
to fish on the remote, upper Taipo river for 3 days,
but no luck here. Spotted a huge trout, probably 25
inches or more, but couldn't hook him, and then the
persistent rains every night made the water too murky
to spot any fish for the rest of the trip. Quite a
tough hike over unmarked trails, boulder-hopping up
and down river beds, and stream crossings. We used a
3-wire bridge, which is just that - 3 cables strung
across the river with V-shaped braces to stabilize it.
The 3-wire was probably 100 feet long. Also used a
cableway, which is a little cart hanging from a cable.
This thing was about 250 feet long and has a crank at
either side to get it across. Quite fun! At the end of
the trail, we hitched a ride back to our car (don't
worry, mom, I'm safe).
Since I had no luck fishing the river, I decided to
spend a few days at Lake Brunner and the surrounding
streams. More frustration for a day and half before I
finally landed a 22 inch brown trout from the lake at
sunset (using a woolly bugger for you flyfishers out
there). It might be the biggest fish I've ever caught.
From there, we traveled farther south on the west
coast to the tiny town of Okarito (no stores, no gas
station). We took a boat tour of the lagoon, learned
about the country's efforts to control the population
of the introduced possum and stoats, which kill kiwi
birds and destroy native forest. This is a great
little town. After we returned to the campground from
a few hours' hiking, we found a fresh-baked loaf of
bread waiting at our tent from the owner of the boat
tour company!
That's all for now. Tomorrow we do a full day of
hiking on Franz Joseph glacier.
Hope everyone is doing well back home.
--Brad and Amy
Howdy, y'all.
Before a summary of our recent travels, here's some
things we've noted about New Zealand.
1. Highways. There's not a single road in this country
which is straight or flat for more than about half a
kilometer, and they allow passing on 2-lane roads
around blind curves and hills. They also have nice
signs like "2 fatalities this month :-(" and my
favorite, "Dangerous drivers next 24 km".
2. It should be a requirement of all developed nations
that its citizens make a valiant attempt to keep
insects out of their homes. Not here, though. There
are horrible swarms of biting sandflies everywhere,
and everyone leaves windows wide open day and night.
No screens, either! The only screens we've found were
at the most basic 4-wall huts in the backcountry --
I'm talking 2 full days' hike to get there.
3. Plumbing. We've already talked about the toilets
(and thanks to the sharp folks who told us about the
half flush and full flush buttons). But separate
spigots for the hot and cold water? Makes it hard to
get warm water.
4. What do kiwis call a cooler (or ice chest)? A
"chilly bin".
5. What do kiwis call a small house or cottage? A
"bach". I asked if that's short for "bachelor pad" but
the guy I asked didn't know.
6. The weka bird. I like to call this thing a "chicken
duck". Looks like -- you guessed it --a cross between
a chicken and a duck. It's a native bird like the kiwi
but not as rare, and not nocturnal, either.
7. Genetic Engineering. Kiwis have taken a strong
stand against GE. It's everywhere: signs at farms
boast "GE free NZ" and much of the packaged food you
buy is clearly labeled "GE free".
And here's what we've been doing. Since our last
report, I caught a nice 18 inch rainbow trout on the
Tongariro river which we cooked for dinner. Caught a
few smaller rainbows there, too. From there, we drove
to Wellington, the nation's capital, where we toured
Parliament and watched a movie (they sell ice cream
and beer at the movies) to kill time before catching
the 1:30 am ferry to the south island. Once across, we
spent 2 days kayaking in Pelorus sound, which was
pretty remote and nice, but really windy -- we didn't
even have to paddle much for a few hours. We camped at
a bay which we had all to ourselves (except for a few
million sandflies - nasty little buggers) and even did
some paddling after dark, when the paddles cause the
"bio-luminescense" in the water to glow. Pretty cool.
Next we heard about an organization called Willing
Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF). Folks like us work a
half day on the farm in exchange for free room and
board. We needed a break from our adventure, so we
decided this would be a good way to settle down for a
few days and better meet some real kiwis. We stayed on
Tony Sparks' 10-acre farm on the west coast for 4
days. We herded cows, Amy shucked garlic, and we both
helped sand and varnish his interior walls. He's got a
4-year old daughter named Hana who was a lot of fun.
We also met his girlfriend and her 2 kids and heard
all about their soap opera lives in the small
community of a hundred or so people. We worked extra
one day so we could take a day off and go caving. We
hiked and rode inner tubes through a cave with a
stream running through it. The cave has tons of tiny
glow worms on its roof which glow like stars.
Next we went on a 5 day backcountry tramp. I attempted
to fish on the remote, upper Taipo river for 3 days,
but no luck here. Spotted a huge trout, probably 25
inches or more, but couldn't hook him, and then the
persistent rains every night made the water too murky
to spot any fish for the rest of the trip. Quite a
tough hike over unmarked trails, boulder-hopping up
and down river beds, and stream crossings. We used a
3-wire bridge, which is just that - 3 cables strung
across the river with V-shaped braces to stabilize it.
The 3-wire was probably 100 feet long. Also used a
cableway, which is a little cart hanging from a cable.
This thing was about 250 feet long and has a crank at
either side to get it across. Quite fun! At the end of
the trail, we hitched a ride back to our car (don't
worry, mom, I'm safe).
Since I had no luck fishing the river, I decided to
spend a few days at Lake Brunner and the surrounding
streams. More frustration for a day and half before I
finally landed a 22 inch brown trout from the lake at
sunset (using a woolly bugger for you flyfishers out
there). It might be the biggest fish I've ever caught.
From there, we traveled farther south on the west
coast to the tiny town of Okarito (no stores, no gas
station). We took a boat tour of the lagoon, learned
about the country's efforts to control the population
of the introduced possum and stoats, which kill kiwi
birds and destroy native forest. This is a great
little town. After we returned to the campground from
a few hours' hiking, we found a fresh-baked loaf of
bread waiting at our tent from the owner of the boat
tour company!
That's all for now. Tomorrow we do a full day of
hiking on Franz Joseph glacier.
Hope everyone is doing well back home.
--Brad and Amy
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
New Zealand week 2 (Feb 9, 2002)
This is another installment in the series: 'Round the world, revisited. Amy wrote this email on Feb 9, 2002 from New Zealand during our 6 month journey.
We've been here 2 weeks now and it has gone by very
fast. Brad is off fishing today leaving me to keep
you all informed.
First off - a number of you wrote to tell us that the
2 buttons on the toilet are for a half and full flush.
For the life of me I can't tell the difference of one
from the other. Some others have asked if the toilet
swirl the other way. Actually they don't seem to
swirl much at all. The water pretty much just goeas
straight down. The flushing mechanism definitely is
not as good as what we are used to.
From the Bay of Islands we travelled down to Rotorua
which is a big Maori cultural area and has lots of
thermal features. We went to a hangi which is kind of
like a Hawaiian Luau, but this was much less touristy.
We saw some traditional dances and songs and ate
traditional food. It was very good. We went to one
of the thermal areas which was neat, but nothing next
to Yellowstone. The one geyser they have they have to
puor soap into to reduce the surface tension of the
water to make it erupt.
Next we went on a proper tramp, 4 days three nights.
We went on the northern circuit in Tongariro national
park. It is one of the "Great Walks" which are some
of the most popular walks in NZ and are best marked and
have some of the nicer huts. We stayed in huts each
night which are basically cabins with bunks in them.
They have a gas heater and gas stoves so it is pretty
cushy for the backcountry. They are not as nice as
the winter huts in Colorado though, but better than a
tent for sure. One of the days of the hike was the
Tongariro Crossing which is supposed to be the best
one day hike in NZ. The day we crossed there were 300
people on the 10 mile stretch. It was crowded, but
not too bad. There are steaming volcanic craters,
lakes that filled old craters and lakes of various
shades due to the minerals in the soil. The rocks are
also various shades from black to red to yellow.
Really cool.
On the drive to Rotorua they were having updates of
the Super Bowl along with the news. They were calling
it the game that stops America. My condolances to
Jason Holschen.
[Editor's note: if I remember correctly, Jason's team the Saints lost that Superbowl]
We've been here 2 weeks now and it has gone by very
fast. Brad is off fishing today leaving me to keep
you all informed.
First off - a number of you wrote to tell us that the
2 buttons on the toilet are for a half and full flush.
For the life of me I can't tell the difference of one
from the other. Some others have asked if the toilet
swirl the other way. Actually they don't seem to
swirl much at all. The water pretty much just goeas
straight down. The flushing mechanism definitely is
not as good as what we are used to.
From the Bay of Islands we travelled down to Rotorua
which is a big Maori cultural area and has lots of
thermal features. We went to a hangi which is kind of
like a Hawaiian Luau, but this was much less touristy.
We saw some traditional dances and songs and ate
traditional food. It was very good. We went to one
of the thermal areas which was neat, but nothing next
to Yellowstone. The one geyser they have they have to
puor soap into to reduce the surface tension of the
water to make it erupt.
Next we went on a proper tramp, 4 days three nights.
We went on the northern circuit in Tongariro national
park. It is one of the "Great Walks" which are some
of the most popular walks in NZ and are best marked and
have some of the nicer huts. We stayed in huts each
night which are basically cabins with bunks in them.
They have a gas heater and gas stoves so it is pretty
cushy for the backcountry. They are not as nice as
the winter huts in Colorado though, but better than a
tent for sure. One of the days of the hike was the
Tongariro Crossing which is supposed to be the best
one day hike in NZ. The day we crossed there were 300
people on the 10 mile stretch. It was crowded, but
not too bad. There are steaming volcanic craters,
lakes that filled old craters and lakes of various
shades due to the minerals in the soil. The rocks are
also various shades from black to red to yellow.
Really cool.
On the drive to Rotorua they were having updates of
the Super Bowl along with the news. They were calling
it the game that stops America. My condolances to
Jason Holschen.
[Editor's note: if I remember correctly, Jason's team the Saints lost that Superbowl]
Elizabeth's first day in day care
Amy started a part-time contract working on the Lawson HR/payroll system at Catholic Health Initiatives. She's excited for the chance to spend a few days a week interacting with adults, and the extra money will be nice, but we were a little worried about how Liz would react to being without mom for a full day. It turns out she hardly missed mom at all. I'm not sure if we should be relieved or concerned. I thought for sure she would go into hysterics when Amy left her at Kindercare, but she had no problems. Amy said the Liz wasn't even particularly excited to see her when she picked her up. I guess she must be having lots of fun at Kindercare.
Here's what her report said Elizabeth did on day 1:
Here's what her report said Elizabeth did on day 1:
- Went outside and got leaves and took them inside
- stacked soft blocks
- painted with water colors
- ate well @ lunch
- cryed [sic] while laying down for nap / woke up happy
- put foot braces on at 12:20 took off at 2:20
- colored with markers
- sang and danced
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Mao: The Unknown Story
I just finished reading Mao: The Unknown Story, a biography of Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. It is based on years of research including extensive interviews with many of Mao's inner circle. It's full of intriguing history, especially the close relationship between communist China and the Soviet Union. Ultimately, it's a story of an utterly evil megalomaniac who delighted in inflicting violence and suffering on other people and caused the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese.
Some of the book's revelations:
Some of the book's revelations:
- Mao was never driven by ideology. The communist party was merely a convenient vehicle by which he could gain personal power.
- The so-called "Long March" of Mao and his band of communists in the 1930's, one of the most overblown myths of Mao's personality cult, was no heroic struggle. Rather, deals made between Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists and Stalin allowed Mao's army to proceed. Later in the march, Mao intentionally sacrificed a huge number of Red Army troops under the command of a rival for his power base, Chang Kuo-t'ao.
- In 1946, Mao and the Red Army were on their last ropes fighting the Nationalists in northern Manchuria, where they had only one remaining strong post in the city Harbin. The Nationalist Army was advancing with much superior strength, and Mao had become resigned to abandoning the city and resorting to guerrilla warfare. He was saved at the last minute by a most unlikely ally - the United States. The US put heavy pressure on the Nationalists to call a cease fire - at the very moment Chiang Kai-shek was on the verge of victory. Mao issue an order to disperse the troops and resort to guerrilla warfare on June 3, but rescinded it on June 5 when the cease-fire was declared. According to the author, this cease fire was probably the single most important decision affecting the outcome of the civil war, which of course the communists won.
- The Great Leap Forward, a 5 year economic plan from 1958 to 1963, caused the deaths of 38 million Chinese from starvation and overwork. As if that's not bad enough, these deaths were not the unintended consequence of failed economic policy. Mao caused the famine by selling most of the nation's crop to the Soviets and other allies in order to buy weapons, and especially nuclear weapon technology. Even when made fully aware of the mass famine across the country, Mao pushed to extract even more crops from the peasants.
- The reason Mao launched the brutal cultural revolution in 1966 was to purge his rivals in the party and in the Army, whose influence was becoming a threat to his totalitarian power. Even his closest and most loyal supporters were subjected to torture and imprisonment. Liu Shao Chi, one of the top party members, was imprisoned and tortured for 3 years until dying in prison in 1969. Amazingly, his death was not made public until after Mao's death, because Mao was so worried that it arouse sympathy for Liu.
- Over the course of Mao's rule, 70 million Chinese died at Mao's hands.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
'Round the World Trip - Revisited
Back in 2002, Amy and I took 6 months off from work and traveled around the world. It was a life-changing experience, not to mention a lot of fun. During our travels we sent emails to friends and family, since this was before I had a blog - before just about anybody had a blog, I suppose. I decided it would be fun to dig up those old emails and post them here. Be looking for them over the coming days. Here is the first one we sent, on February 1, 2002.
New Zealand: week one
We arrived in Auckland on Saturday morning and spent 3
days in the city. Had a bit of trouble finding a room
since it's summer here, but it worked out ok after
some help from the tourist info center. The museum had
some great exhibits on Maori (indigenous people)
culture and history. On Sunday we took a ferry to
Ronitoto island, a 600-year old volcano, and hiked to
the top. Monday we took a cruise out in the harbor to
spot dolphins, and were able to follow a pod of about
20 dolphins as they rode the bow wave of our boat. We
had dinner in an English pub where everyone was
watching Cricket. Can't figure that sport out -- I'll
have to get a book and figure out the basics. We'd
like to catch a rugby match too, but the season
doesn't start til Feb 22, apparently.
Anyone know why NZ toilets have 2 buttons on the tank
to flush? We haven't figured it out yet either. Both
of them seem to do the same thing. Also, they call
bell peppers "capsicum" down here. Took us a while to
figure that out.
We decided to rent a car -- should be about the same
price as taking buses everywhere -- for NZ$28 per day
(about US$12). We drove norht on Tuesday, stopping in
one of the few remaining Kauri tree forests. These
huge trees are thousands of years old, and one
particular tree was 5.2 meters in diameter (that's 16
feet across). The forests here look really ancient,
like something out of Jurassic park -- probably all
the giant ferns. Next, we spent 2 days tramping
(that's Kiwi for "hiking") the coast. Didn't pass a
single person the first day. Had about 6 miles of
beautiful beach all to ourselves.
Now we're at the Bay of Islands, leaving tomorrow
morning for a 2-day sea kayak trip. Having a great
time!! Starting to develop a Kiwi accent of my own,
but that should wear off soon.
New Zealand: week one
We arrived in Auckland on Saturday morning and spent 3
days in the city. Had a bit of trouble finding a room
since it's summer here, but it worked out ok after
some help from the tourist info center. The museum had
some great exhibits on Maori (indigenous people)
culture and history. On Sunday we took a ferry to
Ronitoto island, a 600-year old volcano, and hiked to
the top. Monday we took a cruise out in the harbor to
spot dolphins, and were able to follow a pod of about
20 dolphins as they rode the bow wave of our boat. We
had dinner in an English pub where everyone was
watching Cricket. Can't figure that sport out -- I'll
have to get a book and figure out the basics. We'd
like to catch a rugby match too, but the season
doesn't start til Feb 22, apparently.
Anyone know why NZ toilets have 2 buttons on the tank
to flush? We haven't figured it out yet either. Both
of them seem to do the same thing. Also, they call
bell peppers "capsicum" down here. Took us a while to
figure that out.
We decided to rent a car -- should be about the same
price as taking buses everywhere -- for NZ$28 per day
(about US$12). We drove norht on Tuesday, stopping in
one of the few remaining Kauri tree forests. These
huge trees are thousands of years old, and one
particular tree was 5.2 meters in diameter (that's 16
feet across). The forests here look really ancient,
like something out of Jurassic park -- probably all
the giant ferns. Next, we spent 2 days tramping
(that's Kiwi for "hiking") the coast. Didn't pass a
single person the first day. Had about 6 miles of
beautiful beach all to ourselves.
Now we're at the Bay of Islands, leaving tomorrow
morning for a 2-day sea kayak trip. Having a great
time!! Starting to develop a Kiwi accent of my own,
but that should wear off soon.
5:49 mile
I shaved 6 seconds off last weeks' pace and ran a mile in 5:49 this morning. It was the same course - 4 laps around the track at Green Mountain. If I improve by 6 seconds each week, that would get me to five minutes within a few months.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Grandpa's birthday
Amy and I are lucky to have all of our parents living within a short drive from home. My dad's 68th birthday was this week, and we got them all together at our house to celebrate with a steak dinner. We got a photo of them with the kids, too.
Happy birthday, Dean!
1 mile
How fast can I run 1 mile? I've been wondering that for a while now. After running a marathon at a pace of 7:35 per mile, surely I could run a single mile in 5 minutes, right? Wrong. I ran 4 laps around the track at Green Mountain High School this morning in 5:55. I'll be working on my mile speed in the coming months and see if I can break the 5 minute barrier.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Andrew's oddball ear trick
Andrew does this odd thing with his ears. He's done it for quite a while, but he's discovered that the other kids at preschool get a kick out of it, so now he's doing it more than ever.
It looks painful to me, but doesn't seem to bother him at all. Crazy kids these days.
It looks painful to me, but doesn't seem to bother him at all. Crazy kids these days.
Halloween 2007
Elizabeth enjoyed her first Halloween celebration yesterday. I don't know if she was real keen on the costume, but she loved the candy!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
First steps
Elizabeth has taken her first wobbly steps! After spending the first year of her life with bilateral club foot, 3 months in full-leg casts, and then wearing the Ponseti brace most of the day since then, she's doing great!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
World Series tickets
Along with millions of other fans and ticket scalpers, I tried my luck yesterday in the Colorado Rockies' online sale of World Series tickets. Like 99% of them, I didn't get tickets, but instead spent several aggravating hours failing to connect to the ticket vendors' overworked and underpowered web servers. The whole system crashed on Monday so they tried again Tuesday, after the Rockies made the absurd claim that their site was the victim of an attack. The only "attack" was the massive number of fans all trying to buy tickets at the same time.
Friday, October 19, 2007
The vasectomy report
I apologize if any of this is incoherent. I'm still a little groggy from the valium. I just got home from the vasectomy. It's rather strange to be laying in a doctors office with your pants off and have 2 female nurses prep'ing your privates to be cut open. I was supposed to get a valium drip, but the nurse couldn't get the needle in right - after trying 3 different veins. She finally gave up and the doc administered a shot of valium. I quickly felt the drug take over, and next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and it was all over. I was totally out of it during the procedure, and was quite surprised to learn it was done. I was also the most intoxicated I've been in years as I got dressed and plopped into a wheelchair. Amy wheeled my to the exit, pulled up the car and drove me home. Looks like I'll spend most of the next day on the couch with an ice pack on my crotch.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Snipped
I've got an appointment with the doc tomorrow afternoon. Love my 2 kids, but don't want to have any more. So I'm gettin' snipped. The brochure from the doctor says I should expect to spend a couple of days taking it easy. It even has a picture showing a middle aged guy kicking back in his easy chair while his wife serves him food. That doesn't sound like such a bad way to spend the weekend!
Childhood toys
My brother and his friend Michael were in town (they live in Breckenridge) and came over for dinner tonight. Andrew loves to play with his Uncle Erik, and they had a great time wrestling, playing with cars, reading books, etc. I pulled out a box of toys that I had when I was a kid - my mom gave them to us a few weeks ago - and we were taken back to our childhood for a few hours. Some of the toys in the box from my mom:
- ping pong ball gun
- pop gun
- toy airplanes
- fake poop (2 different types)
- rubber snakes
- a kazoo
- gyroscope
- rubic's cube
- handheld ball-in-maze game
- rubber bigfoot figure (Erik said it used to scare him)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Rockies in the World Series!
Along with 50,000 others at Coors Field last night, I watched the Rockies sweep the Diamondbacks to win the National League Championship. It was a great and rare experience. The best part was that Eric Byrnes, the D-backs trash-talking left fielder, got slapped with the 3rd out in the 9th inning to end the game. After the D-backs were down 0-2 in the series, Byrnes said that the Rockies didn't outplay Arizona, rather they were just lucky.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Help kids with club foot
For anyone who would like to help the 150,000 kids born with club foot each year, I now have a personalized page where you can donate to the Ponseti International Association for the Advancement of Clubfoot Treatment.
I recently saw video of a Phillipino girl whose bilateral clubfoot went untreated until she was 10 years old. The Ponseti method corrected her feet without surgery, and without the high expense and likelihood of pain that accompanies it.
When we consulted with doctors at the Children's hospital in Denver, they told us that Elizabeth , at 1 year old, was too old for the Ponseti method and would need surgery. This is all too common with doctors in the US since they either don't know the Ponseti method, or they know they can make a lot more money performing surgery.
I recently saw video of a Phillipino girl whose bilateral clubfoot went untreated until she was 10 years old. The Ponseti method corrected her feet without surgery, and without the high expense and likelihood of pain that accompanies it.
When we consulted with doctors at the Children's hospital in Denver, they told us that Elizabeth , at 1 year old, was too old for the Ponseti method and would need surgery. This is all too common with doctors in the US since they either don't know the Ponseti method, or they know they can make a lot more money performing surgery.
Rockies are rockin'
I've never been a big baseball fan, but I've actually enjoyed watching the Rockies in the playoffs. I got a call from a friend tonight who has tickets to game 4 of the NLCS on Monday might. The Rockies now have a 3-0 series lead over Arizona, which means that game 4 could send them to the world series.
Sucky ducts
I've been gradually working on improving my home's energy efficiency. Today's rainy weather made for a good day to stay inside, so I decided to check the ventilation ducts. The house was built in 1971, and apparently whoever did the duct work was a lazy, drunken buffoon. It's surprising that any hot air made it all the way to vents. I went through a hell of a lot of tape and duct sealer putty.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Brace relief
Elizabeth visited her doctor earlier this week and got some good news. Her feet look fine, and she can now wear her brace only 12-14 hours per day (overnight and during naps) instead of 18 hours per day. The extra hours of freedom every day should help her learn to stand a walk pretty soon.
Stock options pay out
When I started working at BoldTech back in the boom days of 1999, I got stock options. When I left almost 5 years later, I exercised some of those options, and it finally paid off. BoldTech was acquired by Perficient a few weeks ago, and I earned nice return on my investment. Not enough to retire early or buy that 40 foot yacht, but a nice bit of cash nonetheless.
Since Amy and I are close to buying an investment property, that money go right into our down payment. What an exciting way to spend my unexpected bonus. ;-)
Since Amy and I are close to buying an investment property, that money go right into our down payment. What an exciting way to spend my unexpected bonus. ;-)
Friday, October 05, 2007
October harvest
Garden fresh tomatoes in October? Yup. I was out in my backyard picking ripe red tomatoes yesterday. Not only tomatoes, but cucumbers, chiles and even a few raspberries, too. It's a balmy 83 degrees in Denver today. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Bugling elk
This is the time of year when the elk in Rocky Mountain National Park put their mating ritual on display. The dominant bulls gather a harem of cows, and then spend lots of time and energy keeping the young upstart bulls from moving in. The park is home to hundreds, probably thousands, of elk which are habituated to humans and not at all afraid of them since they can't be hunted (legally) in the park. The result is quite a good show, despite the crowds. Two years ago we got really lucky and got to watch a 7-point bull lord over a harem of 25 or so cows and nearly as many calves. The bull was about a hundred yards from the trail, and some of the cows as close at 10 yards away. Our luck wasn't quite as good this weekend, but it was still a good show, and we heard lots of bugling. Didn't get any good photos of the elk, but here's a shot of the family at the end of our hike.
Burrito face
We gave Elizabeth a bean burrito for dinner tonight, with a predictable but amusing result.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
New Ponseti web site
There is a new web site for the Ponseti International Association. According to their estimates, it costs only $100 to treat a child in a developing country using the Ponseti method. Thanks again to my friends and family who donated enough to treat 9 children!
Too early for fall colors
On Saturday, we joined our friends the Desmarteaus (Brian, Marnie, Katelyn, and Ethan) for a short hike and a picnic on 10,000 foot Kenosha pass. A few of the aspen trees are starting to put on their annual autumn spectacle of bright golden leaves, but not too many yet. By next weekend, I'm guessing they'll be in their prime at this elevation, but it will be a few more weeks until they turn at lower elevations.
Almost standing
Elizabeth is almost standing on her own now. She can easily pull herself up and enjoys standing while holding onto something. She'll step sideways around a table or chair, as long as she can hold on. She is still wearing her brace about 18 hours per day, and our doctor has recommended that we spend 5 minutes each day stretching her right ankle. I don't think it hurts her - it may be a bit uncomfortable, but she hates it anyway. Being immobile for 5 minutes may be the worst part.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Second tier amusement parks
Amy and I treated the kids to a 3 day weekend of kid-centric fun. Saturday's destination was Heritage Square, a rather odd jumble of separate attractions, owned by separate companies, anchored by a Victorian theme town. The highlight is the alpine slide, which is a lot of fun, and probably worth the $7 cost. Elizabeth thought zooming down the hill on a sled was the greatest thing ever. Her only disappointment was that the teenager and geezer on the 2 sleds in front of us seemed to be deathly afraid of breaking the 3 mile-per-hour barrier, so we had to wait for several minutes for them to get the hell out of the way so we could get some speed. We also rode the train that circles the place, which was rather lame but mildly enjoyable for the kids.
Sunday was lazy day at home. Andrew played most of the day with the neighbor kids, while mom and dad kept Elizabeth entertained.
Monday began with a 3-mile hike through Roxborough state park. This place has beautiful scenery, abundant wildlife, and great trails. Well worth the 30 minute drive from home. Our hike included a close encounter with a doe deer, who wandered within a few dozen yards of us as we rested on a bench, and then got spooked and bounced away after a couple of loud snorts in our direction.
Monday evening was the big event Andrew looked forward to all weekend: Lakeside amusement park. On their last weekend of the season, they offer 10-cent ride tickets, and kids' rides are only 1 ticket. That's cheap entertainment folks, even after you pay the $2.50 per person entry fee. It's probably no surprise that this somewhat dilapidated and very dated park doesn't attract the beautiful and well-heeled crowd. In fact, it seems to be a magnet for the obese, people with really bad teeth, and various other oddballs. It's really quite a freak show. My favorite sightings tonight were (1) the trashy-dressed young woman who used her cleavage as a cell phone holder, and (2) the overweight guy with a long red goatee wearing a kilt and an Iron Maiden T-shirt.
Sunday was lazy day at home. Andrew played most of the day with the neighbor kids, while mom and dad kept Elizabeth entertained.
Monday began with a 3-mile hike through Roxborough state park. This place has beautiful scenery, abundant wildlife, and great trails. Well worth the 30 minute drive from home. Our hike included a close encounter with a doe deer, who wandered within a few dozen yards of us as we rested on a bench, and then got spooked and bounced away after a couple of loud snorts in our direction.
Monday evening was the big event Andrew looked forward to all weekend: Lakeside amusement park. On their last weekend of the season, they offer 10-cent ride tickets, and kids' rides are only 1 ticket. That's cheap entertainment folks, even after you pay the $2.50 per person entry fee. It's probably no surprise that this somewhat dilapidated and very dated park doesn't attract the beautiful and well-heeled crowd. In fact, it seems to be a magnet for the obese, people with really bad teeth, and various other oddballs. It's really quite a freak show. My favorite sightings tonight were (1) the trashy-dressed young woman who used her cleavage as a cell phone holder, and (2) the overweight guy with a long red goatee wearing a kilt and an Iron Maiden T-shirt.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Ponseti Video
I found this video showing Dr. Ponseti receiving an award from the Children's Miracle Network. It has some good footage of his work, as well as his acceptance speech where he gives a summary of his long medical career. The most unfortunate aspect of his work is that not enough doctors are learning his technique. There is only 1 doctor in all of Colorado trained by Ponseti, and few American doctors are learning it. There seems to be more interest from doctors overseas. It would be sad if Americans had to travel to overseas to treat their childrens' clubfoot.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
69th place on Pikes Peak
I finished the Pikes Peak Ascent on Saturday morning, and thanks to generous donations from friends and family, I raised about $900 for the Ponseti International Association for the Advancement of Clubfoot Treatment ! I can assure you it was the toughest 900 bucks I ever made.
I beat my personal goal by about 1 minute, finishing the 13.3 miles and 7,815 vertical feet in 3:05:03.
Some stats
I finished in 69th place overall (out of 1647 finishers), and 63rd place (out of 1162) among male runners. That's close to the top 4th percentile overall, and in the top 6th percentile for the men. In the 35-to-39-year-old-male category, I was 12th out of 189, which is in the top 7th percentile.
The 1st place finisher was Matt Carpenter (a perennial favorite) at 2:12:56.
Results from the race are posted here.
Play by play
Mile 1: a relatively easy stroll up a gently sloped & paved road through Manitou Springs.
Miles 2-5: "The W's" at the foot of the Barr trail. So-named for the way the dozens of switchbacks look on a map as they climb a steep 2500 feet or so above Manitou. This is a single track trail crowded with runners, and little room to pass. At about mile 3, I started tracking my position - the number of people I passed, the number who passed me. By mile 4, the pack thinned out enough that passing wasn't a problem anymore. In most races, mile markers tell you how far you've run so far. In the Ascent, they did it backwards - they tell you how much distance to the finish line. Its was rather disheartening to see the "11 miles to finish" sign when I was already tired and gasping for air.
Miles 6-9: Finally, a break from the steeps. Still uphill, for sure - there are no significant flat sections on the trail, much less downhill, but it's a welcome break from the W's. Beautiful trail, too. It'd be nice to come back sometime when I could enjoy the scenery.
Mile 10: "We're baaaack!" (the steeps and switchbacks, that is). This is the last mile of tree cover. It's also where I got passed by a skirt. Literally. A woman wearing a pink running skirt passed me here.
Miles 11-12: You break through tree line at 11,800 feet of elevation, right at the "3 miles left" sign. Staring down at me is the east face of Pikes Peak - 2,300 vertical feet to go! At this point my heart is literally in pain from pumping so hard. Except for the top few dozen runners, no one is actually running at this point in the race. It's a fast hike at best. The trail gets really steep again, but now it's also more rugged and uneven, with big rock steps to boot. This is a high-altitude, voluntary version of the Bataan death march, with hundreds of stick-thin runners trudging forward in pain.
Mile 13: No rest for the weary. They saved the steepest, rockiest terrain for last - the Golden Steps! For a few brief moments here and there, I feel light headed, and the pain in my chest (that would be my heart) isn't letting up. I pass a few people who've run out of gas, and a few others who reserved some juice for the end pass by me. I think I improved my overall position by 1 place since I started keeping track about 10 miles ago. I crossed the finish line at 3:05:03, a minute faster than my personal goal.
If that doesn't sound fun, then just imagine turning around and running back down the same trail again. That's what hundreds of people did on Sunday morning for the Pikes Peak marathon. About 70 ridiculously fit and insane runners did what's known as "The Double" - running the Ascent on Saturday and then the full marathon the very next day. And you thought I was crazy!
I beat my personal goal by about 1 minute, finishing the 13.3 miles and 7,815 vertical feet in 3:05:03.
Some stats
I finished in 69th place overall (out of 1647 finishers), and 63rd place (out of 1162) among male runners. That's close to the top 4th percentile overall, and in the top 6th percentile for the men. In the 35-to-39-year-old-male category, I was 12th out of 189, which is in the top 7th percentile.
The 1st place finisher was Matt Carpenter (a perennial favorite) at 2:12:56.
Results from the race are posted here.
Play by play
Mile 1: a relatively easy stroll up a gently sloped & paved road through Manitou Springs.
Miles 2-5: "The W's" at the foot of the Barr trail. So-named for the way the dozens of switchbacks look on a map as they climb a steep 2500 feet or so above Manitou. This is a single track trail crowded with runners, and little room to pass. At about mile 3, I started tracking my position - the number of people I passed, the number who passed me. By mile 4, the pack thinned out enough that passing wasn't a problem anymore. In most races, mile markers tell you how far you've run so far. In the Ascent, they did it backwards - they tell you how much distance to the finish line. Its was rather disheartening to see the "11 miles to finish" sign when I was already tired and gasping for air.
Miles 6-9: Finally, a break from the steeps. Still uphill, for sure - there are no significant flat sections on the trail, much less downhill, but it's a welcome break from the W's. Beautiful trail, too. It'd be nice to come back sometime when I could enjoy the scenery.
Mile 10: "We're baaaack!" (the steeps and switchbacks, that is). This is the last mile of tree cover. It's also where I got passed by a skirt. Literally. A woman wearing a pink running skirt passed me here.
Miles 11-12: You break through tree line at 11,800 feet of elevation, right at the "3 miles left" sign. Staring down at me is the east face of Pikes Peak - 2,300 vertical feet to go! At this point my heart is literally in pain from pumping so hard. Except for the top few dozen runners, no one is actually running at this point in the race. It's a fast hike at best. The trail gets really steep again, but now it's also more rugged and uneven, with big rock steps to boot. This is a high-altitude, voluntary version of the Bataan death march, with hundreds of stick-thin runners trudging forward in pain.
Mile 13: No rest for the weary. They saved the steepest, rockiest terrain for last - the Golden Steps! For a few brief moments here and there, I feel light headed, and the pain in my chest (that would be my heart) isn't letting up. I pass a few people who've run out of gas, and a few others who reserved some juice for the end pass by me. I think I improved my overall position by 1 place since I started keeping track about 10 miles ago. I crossed the finish line at 3:05:03, a minute faster than my personal goal.
If that doesn't sound fun, then just imagine turning around and running back down the same trail again. That's what hundreds of people did on Sunday morning for the Pikes Peak marathon. About 70 ridiculously fit and insane runners did what's known as "The Double" - running the Ascent on Saturday and then the full marathon the very next day. And you thought I was crazy!
Monday, August 06, 2007
Less than 2 weeks til race day
It's less than 2 weeks until I race in the Pikes Peak Ascent. I've turned the race into a fundraiser for the Ponseti Foundation, which seeks to improve treatment for clubfoot. So far I've raised about $500 in donations, and I'm hoping to double that amount. I've been training hard, including an adventurous 4 hour solo run up a trail on Mt. Evans. After getting lost and going the wrong direction for several miles, the seldom-used trail got progressively more steep and rocky, then turned into nothing more than alpine meadow with rock cairns to mark the way, then alpine swamp (yes, my feet were soaked), before reaching summit lake at 12,000 feet. From there I kept marching up the road toward the summit. Amy dropped me off at the trailhead (approximately 9000 feet elevation) in the morning, and picked me up near the summit 4 hours later.
Many thanks to all my friends and family who have supported the cause. If you'd like to support the cause, click here for more info.
Many thanks to all my friends and family who have supported the cause. If you'd like to support the cause, click here for more info.
Chinese tattoos
Chinese characters and themes are en vogue as tattoos these days. Here's a bit of advice: if you're gonna get some Chinese characters permanently tattooed on your body, make really sure you know what they mean.
Some of my Chinese former co-workers are in Denver now, and one of them went to the Dragon Boat Festival a week ago at Sloan's Lake. He was working at a booth for the Chinese American Council when an American guy approach and showed him the tattoo of a Chinese character prominently displayed on his leg. He asked, "can you tell me what this means"? The character on his leg was the Chinese word for "stupid".
How appropriate!
Some of my Chinese former co-workers are in Denver now, and one of them went to the Dragon Boat Festival a week ago at Sloan's Lake. He was working at a booth for the Chinese American Council when an American guy approach and showed him the tattoo of a Chinese character prominently displayed on his leg. He asked, "can you tell me what this means"? The character on his leg was the Chinese word for "stupid".
How appropriate!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Running for a good cause
On August 18, I'll be running the Pikes Peak Ascent to raise money for the Ponseti International Association for the Advancement of Clubfoot Treatment. You can support this great cause by making a donation to the association in honor of my masochistic endeavor - racing 13.32 miles and 7,815 vertical feet! Information on how to donate is below, but first, here is some info about club foot.
Club foot is one of the most common birth defects, affecting approximately 150,000 children each year. Although the condition is treatable, many children in poor countries don't receive treatment and are disabled for life. Dr. Ignacio Ponseti pioneered a non-surgical method of correcting club foot, and this association is committed to advancing the treatment of children with clubfoot deformity through education, improved care, and research.
My daughter Elizabeth was born with club feet, and thanks to Dr. Ponseti, she is well on the way to a full recovery. Some day, I hope she can hike - or even run - up Pikes Peak with me.
More about the race:
The Pikes Peak Ascent is 13.32 miles long and climbs 7,815 vertical feet (1.5 vertical miles!), ending at the 14,115 foot summit of Pikes Peak. If you're curious to see the race route, here is a link to a very cool Google Earth map showing the trail. Here is how the high-altitude portion of the course is described on the race's web site:
I would appreciate your generous donation! Since I don't have any other way to know how much money my friends will raise, I would appreciate it if you would leave a comment on this blog or send an email telling me how much you donated.
You can make a secure online donation at this link to the Ponseti International Association for the Advancement of Clubfoot Treatment. If you'd rather send a check, please make it payable to: Univ. of Iowa - Ponseti Fund and send it here:
Ponseti Fund for Advancement of Clubfoot Treatment
c/o The University of Iowa Foundation
P.O. Box 4550
Iowa City, IA 52244-4550
I very much appreciate your support in raising money for this great cause!
Club foot is one of the most common birth defects, affecting approximately 150,000 children each year. Although the condition is treatable, many children in poor countries don't receive treatment and are disabled for life. Dr. Ignacio Ponseti pioneered a non-surgical method of correcting club foot, and this association is committed to advancing the treatment of children with clubfoot deformity through education, improved care, and research.
My daughter Elizabeth was born with club feet, and thanks to Dr. Ponseti, she is well on the way to a full recovery. Some day, I hope she can hike - or even run - up Pikes Peak with me.
More about the race:
The Pikes Peak Ascent is 13.32 miles long and climbs 7,815 vertical feet (1.5 vertical miles!), ending at the 14,115 foot summit of Pikes Peak. If you're curious to see the race route, here is a link to a very cool Google Earth map showing the trail. Here is how the high-altitude portion of the course is described on the race's web site:
There’s a reason trees don’t bother growing above 12,000' on Pikes Peak. They can’t! Makes one wonder if trees are smarter than runners. Above treeline most runners take 30 minutes or more, some much more, just to cover a mile. What little air remains can’t satisfy the endless stream of zombies hoping only to survive their next step—a death march right out of a scene from Dawn of the Dead. Adding insult to injury, it might start to snow!My personal goal is to finish in 3 hours, 6 minutes, which would put me in the top 7% of finishers with an average pace of about 14 minutes per mile.
I would appreciate your generous donation! Since I don't have any other way to know how much money my friends will raise, I would appreciate it if you would leave a comment on this blog or send an email telling me how much you donated.
You can make a secure online donation at this link to the Ponseti International Association for the Advancement of Clubfoot Treatment. If you'd rather send a check, please make it payable to: Univ. of Iowa - Ponseti Fund and send it here:
Ponseti Fund for Advancement of Clubfoot Treatment
c/o The University of Iowa Foundation
P.O. Box 4550
Iowa City, IA 52244-4550
I very much appreciate your support in raising money for this great cause!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
No more casts
Elizabeth is out of her casts now! We took the casts off both of her legs on Saturday morning after about 14 weeks of casts. She sat in the bathtub for a while to soften the plaster, and then Amy cut through with an old butter knife, which takes a long time, but it means we don't have to worry too much about cutting her. Her feet look almost normal now! Not only that, but now we can give her proper baths and let her play in the pool.
She still has a long road of treatment ahead of here, though. For the next 3 months, she'll be wearing a specially designed brace and shoes for 18 hours per day, and then she'll wear a similar brace at nighttime until she is about 4 years old. These photos show her feet before the casts, after the casts, and with her new brace contraption.
Above: before the casts
Above: after the Ponseti treatment
Above: the new-fangled brace contraption. Doesn't she look thrilled???
She still has a long road of treatment ahead of here, though. For the next 3 months, she'll be wearing a specially designed brace and shoes for 18 hours per day, and then she'll wear a similar brace at nighttime until she is about 4 years old. These photos show her feet before the casts, after the casts, and with her new brace contraption.
Above: before the casts
Above: after the Ponseti treatment
Above: the new-fangled brace contraption. Doesn't she look thrilled???Monday, July 09, 2007
10 years
Amy and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary last Friday. We saved a bottle of wine from our wedding day and opened it over the weekend. It was a little past it's prime, but still drinkable.
Ten years sounds like such a long time, but it doesn't feel like a long time. I love you, Amy!
Ten years sounds like such a long time, but it doesn't feel like a long time. I love you, Amy!
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Camping - with 2 kids
Amy and I are camping veterans, and Andrew spent his first night in a tent when he was just over 1 year old. This weekend, we eased our way into a new level of outdoor accommodations, with a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old joining us in the tent. This experiment was somewhat complicated by the Elizabeth's two full-leg casts. We decided to spend just a single night in case the experiment went horribly, horribly wrong. Fortunately, it all worked out. We even had fun, I would say. We camped at about 9000 feet elevation near Keystone, and the toughest part was keeping the kids warm overnight. I'd guess the low temperature was around 40. We bundled them up in hats and gloves, and covered them with multiple layers. Now we're ready for a longer stay in the great outdoors.
Based on a tip from my brother, we drove to Lower Cataract Lake after leaving camp this morning. The aptly named lake, on the east flank of the Gore range, has an impressive cataract feeding into it. The waterfall tumbles several hundred feed down a jumble of boulders and into the lake.
Based on a tip from my brother, we drove to Lower Cataract Lake after leaving camp this morning. The aptly named lake, on the east flank of the Gore range, has an impressive cataract feeding into it. The waterfall tumbles several hundred feed down a jumble of boulders and into the lake.
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