the impending solstice

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worthwhile ramblings

Worthwhile is cutting up your grapefruit in its own bowl rind, preparations laid for the eating experience, vesicles severed for the efficiency of feasting on the delectable fruit.  And oh, reader, isn't it so with our life's undertakings?  That what we do is worthwhile, when it takes time, when it lays preparations for the big event, when it makes the next thing all the easier?

We're working on this house, see, and it is coming together.  The interior, is, perhaps, half done, depending on how much the remaining half drags out.  It also depends on how much time I spend on making things like bed frames and stairwell rail gates, and so on, instead of doing only the necessary items.  I know the "mud room" is going to take some attention.  It will be our last room--an added 'office' or 'sun room' which "opens up our house to the wildlife preserve of the backyard".  We will add a door to make it more functional as a porch and back entrance, and we have yet to see what we will do with the windows.  I'm thinking we'll get some monsters from our local Restore and totally reframe that wall.  We'll see.  That is the part of the house that has suffered most from deferred maintenance and some storm/roof damage.

The living room, where I am sitting now, will also take some work.  it seems like these walls have a quarter inch of texturing on them.  It looks pretty bad, and sloppy, and I am not all about making it look absolutely gorgeous, but it needs some serious attention.

I am pleased that the parents are coming in in a week.  Really, they are coming to see their new granddaughter.  But since that only takes a few moments, I get to rope them into doing a lot of work.  I'm looking forward to getting these living room walls painted.

I read this China Study book, and I am surprised to find myself mostly convinced that my animal-based diet days are mostly behind me.  A number of factors have pointed me in this direction over the years, and I have the feeling that I'll get more serious about it.  We'll see.  But the main points for my personal choice are these:

Health.  What's good for the bowel is good for the body.
Peace.  No more death to animals on my behalf, or contributing to big business animal production.
Simplicity.  It is cheap, which I like, to not buy meat or eat out, and it ties one to nature to eat like a tree elf.
And now, again, Health.  It turns out that animal protein seems to be associated with the major diseases of affluence (heart disease, cancer, ...), so why do we consume so much of it?

This list wouldn't be complete if I left off that it is cool to eat whole foods, plant-based veganish, and so of course, that's really why I am doing it.

Unfortunately, I have a spouse to convince that it is cool to eat a whole foods, plant-based veganish diet, or I'm not going to have much luck with this new lifestyle.  We'll see how that goes.

It turns out I've written much more than I expected.  Bonnie, the spouse, is done with a curtain so now it's time to call it a day.

Thank you for reading.

tomorrow's "to do" list

We are getting more and more excited about the impending arrival of family to these southern parts.  The last few days it's been rain by the bucketfuls, and now we're looking forward to family members arriving by the twos or so.

Tomorrow on my list of things to do:  

Paint baby room trim

Finish the bathroom.

  sublist:  shower fixtures, pedestal sink, towel hangers, hang cabinet, hang mirror, beginning to install light/fan is optional), 

Help Bonnie load things around 10.

We will go to Cliff's house to work on his laundry/storage room and maybe other various things.

I will go get a paycheck between 9 and 3.

Finish the stairwell rail

   sublist:  glue remaining joints, bevel top edges, sand smooth, schedule staining and finishing

Install mini shelves

Check out a possible tree job at Evan's

Go work on remaining trusses or

Taizé service at 6:00

coat #2 on baby room trim, touch-ups

May your Advent season be pleasant in all the right ways.

Christmas Spirit and miscellaneous updates

I admit: I wanted to get a Christmas tree today. Yessir, I feel the old Christmas spirit, sure enough. But I think we'll settle for some free pine cuttings. We did hang up some lights, and the boys' newly finished room is looking festive enough. We even set up the stereo to play Christmas music while the boys drift off to dreams of sugarplums and ginger cookies.

But this is not the northern Christmas of sleigh rides to Grandmother's house, or even coats and mittens. I need to mow the lawn.

I went fishing Friday, and enjoyed a good day with Jeffery catching a haul for dinner and more, with various fish biting all day long.

I have one week to read book of The China Study before it is due. I found it today--it had been lost for a while in our heap of displaced things, things being moved from room to room while we renovate the house we're living in.

President Obama eased my nerves today about sending more troops to Afghanistan.

Bonnie looks exactly like usual, except for the half globe protruding from her front like she's trying to sneak around a bowling ball under there.

We made Advent wreaths the other day. Ours turned out pretty well but it didn't last too long. I mean, it still exists, but Isaac took the first opportunity to drag it through the house by the candles. It lost a little splendor on that one.

We seriously need to get in gear with collecting our memories and making some photo albums of some sort. Well, there's a ton of stuff that needs doing, isn't there.

Probably the best story to report is of going to the urgent care clinic the day before Thanksgiving to get a tetanus booster and some stitches. I cut my wrist because I just couldn't take it any more. Just kidding, of course. I cut my wrist because I was using a bad nail-puller. It pulled through over the one finish nail head, and my wrist went onto the next finish nail head. the nail head punctured my skin, but the inertia of my wrist also meant that the nail head was to pull through about an inch of my skin before the wound delivery was over. Luckily, I avoided great injury, but it was in a bad place to heal on its own, and the three stitches have helped it heal nicely.

Health is a good thing. Thankfully Great Granny "New Knee" Carson is healing well. We look forward to seeing her in the Spring. As for the Idaho Becker family, I guess we'll see you in a few weeks!

a few of my favorite things

Instead of painting ceilings tonight like I wanted, I am waiting for joint compound to dry, and hence, jotting down a few of my favorite things.

The website www.doityourself.com arms the willing with some know-how and companionship for fixing things. I have gleaned from there quite a bit about my furnace. Tonight I got a multimeter to test voltage getting across some of the components in my heating system, and let me tell ya, I think I can take on the world.

I like a grapefruit that has a half a cup of juices to squeeze out after you've eaten out the fleshy goodies. It is not a requirement for an excellent grapefruit, but it is a nice bonus.

I really like sweet olives. Sweet Olives, where have you been my whole life?! The other evening Trent and I were wondering about a delicious fragrance in my backyard. What is that smell? we wondered. It smelled like peaches, we decided. Mmmm, that smells just like sweet peaches, we exclaimed. But we could find no blossom among the flowers that gave off such a scent. Plus, this was not just some faint whiff of some remote blossom.

(You might wonder about flowers in November, so real quick, let me list off some in our backyard that are blooming now: ginger, camelia, azalea, canna lily).

Curious, I emailed my neighbor to see what he knew. Maybe, I thought, they have a cobbler in the oven. He knew nothing of the scent or its source. Google was my next go-to-resource. Nothing informative, but I did find some local LSU Ag Center faculty who contributed to a column that indicated to me they knew which way was up in local horticulture. I sent them a message, like one ant in the colony transmitting brain signals to a couple others. One of them wrote back soon about two likely candidates for such a smell right now.

And sweet olive was the winner. When daylight came, I found a small sweet olive tree in our backyard, with little white flowers easy to miss. I also found three largish sweet olive trees behind my neighbor's property. Let me tell you, what a fragrance. And at this time of year, what a treat.

Olive is a great name, but we have no name set in stone for our XX offspring in utero.

I am thankful for self-employment. A gal checking me out at Lowe's today thanked me when I wished her a Happy Thanksgiving. "Do you work?" She asked. I was a little puzzled. When you turn 1,000,000,000 seconds old, your lightning fast neurons take tours to Svalbard and other exotic locales. "I work a lot" I replied. I had a multimeter in the bag and a 10 foot 1x4 so I thought it was an odd question. "I mean, are you working..." and then I understood that she meant to ask if I was scheduled to work on Thanksgiving. But again, my answer was awkward: "I work for myself, so I work every day." But I assured her that I'd be spending some quality time with the family, and work hard to make Bonnie happy, which is the best work of all (I left out those last details in my conversation which was coming to an end as I was hustling out the door).

the salvage yard

the salvage yard

acres of twisted frames

left where piled

strewn out across another kind of car lot and

silently laughing at time

eating away a working world while

the graveyard of spent dreams

sleeps its undeath

a paradise of other men's treasures:

in one windstar like mine

only red and with no tires et cetera

two intake manifold runner controls for the taking,

in another windstar like mine

only red

and with the gas tank in the back seat

and with the engine dismantled but laying sidewise in its chamber

and thorny brambles growing into the hood

and with no tires et cetera

two more intake manifold control runners for the taking

(spares for the spares)

for $20, plus $2.50 in ATM fees

and $2 in bank fees for using a nonChase ATM

but actually for free,

except for giving a guy some cash

since he had some tools to help take out

four intake manifold runner controls

a great alternative in this economy

for paying $400 a piece

for two new intake manifold control runners

plus labor

but also a paradise in the usual sense

you know, literally,

where the cars' souls wait

and with grace are saved

by God or man

or as nature does

by the nature of that which waits.

car talk

First of all, my experience at the salvage yard yesterday deserves a poem, and definitely should be mentioned up front so you see that it really made an impression. What a marvelous experience, which I'll narrate another time. The end result is that I found some mechanisms which I needed to replace in our van in order to pass an emissions inspection. The mechanisms new cost about $400 and I need to replace two, so I was happy to find some for practically free.

My morning this morning consisted of replacing these two mechanisms. It took three hours, but let me put it into perspective. Four bolts. Unfastening four bolts, then refastening them. In order to making the replacing easier, we dismantled the alternator, which gave us some more room, but it was still a tight space that was barely manageable. The alternator didn't take much time at all. If you do the math, that's a lot of time, for unfastening and refastening four small bolts.

I like Autozone, which helped with some tools, although I had to buy a flexible extension. I also am grateful of Eddie who helped over the phone. And I am even thankful for the mechanic whose shop got $200+ from me for him doing some diagnostic work, changing out a solenoid (which itself cost $65 of the sum) behind everything which he had to do with his fingers and not his eyes, and also for checking out the replacements, and doing some coach work. I learned quite a bit tackling this problem myself. I now know quite a bit about intake manifold runner controls.

Ah, the joys of bedtime! I just put the boys to bed, and they are squalling their heads off. Now they have quieted down some. Hmmm. Yep, they were getting out of bed and out the door, down the hall, to start to beseech us to read them a story. Now they are squalling their heads off in bed again. But you know me, I will go read them a story soon. Probably a Curious George story.

Well, there was more to blog about, but this will have to do for now.

Except, let me say, the fall weather is beautiful!!!!!!!!

code P1537, etc

I bit the bullet and had our van Windy taken in to the shop for a mechanic to figure out what is going on with the intake manifold control runner (bank one). It took me a few weeks to actually find the two valves. This morning I found I could take off the top to check for vacuum, but that is about as far as I got, except for the other day when I squirted WD40 at them and got the malfunction indicator light to turn off for 60 miles. I would like to keep fiddling with it, but our free emissions re-test deadline is Saturday.

Trent and I moreorless alternate days working with the tree service. The other day, actually, just before Ida blew into town, we cut the top out of the large gum tree behind where Trent is living. by top, I mean the top 5/8 or so. It was exhilarating. Trent helped with trimming the oak trees we have there, and now I need to get him over here at the place where we are staying. Aside from all the available tree trimming, we need to finish changing out windows and so on. Plus, I am turning a little shed we have out back into a handy tool shed.

I used bamboo poles cut out of our backyard for the dowels in our closets. Great idea! Also, we are cutting up small ones for ornamental curtain rods.

Today is bebero day in Korea. Those are the candies like Poky, or tall straight chocolate dipped unsalted pretzel sticks. If you arrange four in front of you on the table it looks like 11 11. Happy Veteran's Day.

Isaac started jumping today. That is, stepping from one high thing onto another, with glee.

Orry woke up the other day talking about cantilevers. What?! Yes, that's right. I think we have Curious George to thank for that.

Proud, And Not Proud

Happy November!

The things I am proud of:

Having a new niece and nephew is a great celebration. But there are the other things. For one, I have fixed our furnace, which wasn't working. I had to dig in and study it, and it turns out to be a mysterious missing flame sensor is all. But I ordered one on line and installed it and everything is working and the total cost was < $25. I really like fixing things. I am also tackling some small problems with our van Windy that are causing it to fail emissions testing.

We also picked a bag full of satsuma oranges in Houma, and lots of persimmons and some limes. We have been eating lots of satsumas lately, enjoying them being in season.

Bonnie made some awesome Halloween outfits. I'm proud of that, of course.

The things I am not proud of:

I am no good example these days when it comes to Halloween candy. The way I stuff it in would make you think I was 12. Plus, Bonnie was making delicious cookies, so I've decided to focus on abstinence in my diet.

There were some other things, I'm sure, but none come to mind now.

Why?

A few days ago, Orry became Mr Why. Everything is "Why?" And we are on our toes to come up with reasons for evrthing. 'Evrthing' is how little who'shernamecurlylocks says it, so that's how we cool family members say it as well.

Isaac has started signing more and communicating newer ideas in his 17 month old way. He really likes books and will always show up at your feet with a book in both hands. He's only so-so in getting read to; as long as the page turns and visual content match his short attention span, he's fine with it. He still likes animals a lot.

Lurking under the oversized torsos of her sisters-in-law, Bonnie is entering her last trimester. She is holding up pretty well functioning in half of a house being remodeled. I had been meaning to mention that Waldorf salads with their fruit make for a tasty and healthy dinner diet. It's a little pricey for fresh berries this time of year, but when you're not buying so much meat, it's all good. Tonight, though, we had fish in buttery bread crumbs with baked sweet potatoes and salad. Lemon wedges crank up the tastebuds' experience a notch.

I am finishing up a couple handyman jobs. we are also working more for the tree service that hires Trent and/or I occasionally, and these days about three days a week. Progress on our priority projects is slow. Rain slows our foundation work at the add-on. Busyness slows our remodeling at the house where we live. Thanks for all things good, the bills are getting paid, and we're all mostly healthy and happy.

Troy Galore

Wow, tonight is a beautiful clear night sky. We only get so many of these in town in Baton Rouge. My old friend Orion (aka the Butterfly) is back by midnight. It is a good time of year.

All you moms with magnificent middles look marvelous. It is the baby boom of this Becker branch. I love it.

My latest project is picking up nice used toilets. The plan is to craigslist them clean, with new innards, new hardware, and brand-new toilet seats still in the packaging, with all the help needed for installation, all for one low price. This could be lucrative side work. I will keep you posted.

Meanwhile, our plumbing seems to have a slow spot between the house and the street, so there goes my Sunday morning. I saw that I can rent at Home Depot the same big auger that the plumber uses, so if little snake doesn't do it, Big Snake will. After tomorrow, maybe that will be my new nickname.

One more touch-up once-over with the light blue color "Nurture" in the master bedroom, and we shall move into it and move on to the next room. There goes my Sunday evening.

October is a wonderful month.

another troy weblog entry

Last week, Oct 13th, to be precise, just after 10:30 am, I crossed over into the 10 digits. For the number of seconds I have depended on breathing my own air. I shall not ever get into the 11 digits. It is a new age, and I feel a little wiser for it.

I was wise when I zipped to the library to get something printed at the last second, and although the time was tight, got in when I had one minute left on the computers, logged on, opened my document, and printed it out with not 3 seconds to spare. Plan B was to go a few miles to the main library which was open for another hour. Instead, the entire outing was 10 minutes. Or 600 seconds.

I was not so wise last week when I drove the tree service truck for the first time and drove it over the Mississippi River Bridge with the emergency brake still engaged. I probably drove it for 600 seconds with its braking system fighting its driving system. That was not wise.

I lugged around a number of 80 lb concrete bags today. It made me feel glad I am not 80 lounbs overweight. A lounb is the new way we write pound. Today, Trent and I poured concrete, 2 bags at a time or so, for 4 hours and 6 minutes. That is, for 14760 seconds. We were a few bags short.

I was trying to meet a schedule I composed for the day, which was itself altered already a couple times. The discouragement with schedules is when they waste more time than they create. However, there were some good things about the busted schedule. For one, I mowed our lawn. And two, we got a new post put in for our mailbox and our neighbors', all of which fell over when termites ate away the wood that held them up, and I think phonebooks getting stuffed inside the boxes also contributed.

That's it for I paragraphs.

Louisiana's weather these days is much more bearable. Did you like reading another troy weblog entry?

P.S. Isaac started talking in the past three days since I wrote last. He started talking quite a bit, playing the repeat game with Daddy, Mommy, Ball, Baby, Diaper, No, Juice, Change.

little wren

Yikes, so much for being current.

We moved back from Korea, bought our first minivan, roadtripped across the US tracking Jupiter in the evening sky each night. We arrived in Baton Rouge and resumed our lives as if we never left for Korea.

We are living in our Kingcrest place and changing the windows, roof, and updating each room while we live here. We are also doing some work at our little Sparrow place. We plan on being around working on these projects for the next few months and selling maybe one or two places.

As soon as Trent rolled into town we got into a wasps nest, got bitten by fireants, and I promptly got into some poison ivy somewhere. I am pleased to report that I was able to beat it without a doctor's visit/prescription this time. It started mild to moderate and by the time it got really bad I was on top of it with rubbing alcohol (the wintergreen kind), calamine, and over-the-counter hydrocortizone cream. Finally, it was the Benadryl that did the trick.

We are just about finished with out master bedroom. Our master bathroom is next to be finished, unless we get to painting another room or two before I get all finished with installing the bathroom sink and toilet. We still need to grout the bathroom floor tile and I have a little prep work left on the walls as well. Meanwhile, there are many boxes around and we don't have the sort of space we would like. Having one room done will help, but not right away, as we'll have to move into that room from the next one while we do that room, which won't take too long.

I am establishing a pleasant natural order in the jungle wildlife preserve of our backyard. We have some wildlife friends. One of the friends is a little wren that sleeps in our carport. There is no nest, and she sleeps in one of two places, but she's there roosting most every evening. Also, she does not take of her toilet in that place--she just sleeps there. Quite untimidly, as we frequently are passing by her or approaching her. It is strange bird behavior that I don't really understand. Maybe a former tenant gave her little crumbs? I doubt that. Maybe more likely is that the carport was used only rarely for the past year plus, and even now, we don't go out much in the evening, so with our quiet neighborhood maybe the carport overhang is a nice quiet safe place in general.

Bonnie made cloth napkins and we have a good amount of furniture ready to realize its place in the Becker household. Bonnie also joined up in the handbell choir, and those ladies are playing their seasonal debut today.

We have been getting a gas out of the awkward family photos website, where a recent Becker submission is all the rage.

Orry is going on 3 1/2. He talks a lot and plays all sorts of games. Isaac is going on 1 1/2. He talks very little and plays the following games. Dog. This is when he barks to indicate there is a dog and other animals. The variation is Lion, where he growls. Chase. A favorite for kids and grown-ups alike. And most recently, Repeat. We finally got some enunciated words out and just the other day our little Gonzo started repeating some voiced sounds and finally said clearly Mama and Dada. Before, other than his barking, his only real word of frequent use was "ball". He also started dancing last week.

We went without home internet access for over a month. Now we're rolling.

Gonzo

Posterity might assume that one name followed another, and our nickname for Isaac was inspired by something like the following. But no. Many of you readers may know otherwise. What was the precise inspiration for that delightfully wonderful name? It came to me one night when I was watching a pianist perform a marathon feat of the longest concert ever. His name was something like Gonzago, which made me think of Gonzaga, and then, voila, it came. I looked it up in the dictionary and liked it even better.

Little Gonzo Becker. Isaac Manuel "Gonzo" Becker. You probably have to take it for a test drive for a while, unless you're like me, and you can tell a perfectly approrpiate name from the get go.

Oh, and let me not omit the main motivation for a nickname, which is that Isaac, although a great name, is just too popular these days. And even one of our first thought of nicknames, Izzy, is also too popular as a result. Gonzo, though. Now there's a name for you.

'Ancient Gonzo Wisdom'

• Excerpt: 'Ancient Gonzo Wisdom'

Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson, edited by Anita Thompson, paperback, 432 pages, Da Capo Press, list price: $18

Like Norman Mailer and Allen Ginsberg, Hunter S. Thompson practiced the interview as an art form. This amusing collection pulls from 30 years of conversations and reveals the gonzo journalist to be much more of a craftsman than he is often given credit for being. It would, in fact, make a great gift to any budding journalist.

"The truth is never told across a desk," he tells one interlocutor, "or during nine-to-five hours ... I call people at night." On citations: "I use quotes like little jewels." He dishes on presidents and criminals.

He is also terribly prescient. In 2003, he cautions a young reporter on changes to come. "Man, I don't envy you where you're at. See, you're part of the first generation that's going to do worse than your parents did." (Coming July 6.)

so that not one month passes since the last weblog entry

Yikes, I've been deliquent on the current news.

We're having another baby, godwilling, in January 2010 or so.

I have been unable to secure an actuary entry level job as of yet, or even an interview or modicum of interest. Anything can change.

In practicing with spreadsheets and Microsoft Access, I have created a task list of 13 things.

Orry, now three, is quite reasonable for a youngster.

Little Gonzo is starting to put together signs. "Food" "more" He is also a little climber. He loves to climb onto the arm of the couch and look out the window.

Out the window there are beautiful skies. Summer is here, and it reminds me how relative heat is. It's so hot, for example. But not hot enough, apparently, to warrant air conditioning, although I'd love a swamp cooler or other cooling machine. The sun is really hot when it's shining on yuo, but it gets comfortably chilly at night.

Our rooftop garden has produced one strawberry, and is producing a few tomatoes, a zucchini, and some peppers.

Lately I have been reading some uplifting eco-news. It gives me the sort of hope that at once feels good to read about fellow earthy types, and also stimulates me more regarding activism, options, and choices.

Bonnie and I also had a heyday looking at http://www.totallylookslike.com.

We have been hiking a fair amount, including a hike to the top of a local mountain a few weeks ago. That was good fun.

This is my first thecurrenttroydanielbecker blog that diverges from my myspace blogs.

Peace out, reader.

milk, graves, great winged things

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
milk, graves, great winged things
Current mood:miscellaneous

I started to drink the milk, knowing full well that it was sitting unopened at room temperature for a day. I wouldn't have done this the day before the big exam, but I suspected I would be just fine drinking the lukewarm milk. It made me wonder about pasteurization, so I looked it up.

It turns out that this milk is UHT pasteurized, or ESL pasteurized. That's ultra-high temperature, or extended shelf-life. These little boxes, I read, can sit for months unopened at room temperature. Which again makes me wonder, because the school is particular about the expiration dates. And I doubt that everyday we get milk that's six months old. But, anyway, this process is supposed to extend shelf life and reduce the need for refrigeration. However, it has its drawbacks of course, as the heat flash really stresses or destroys the milk proteins. But I'll tell you, this particular carton of lukewarm milk, like most Korean milk I've drunk, tastes delicious and creamy.

That whole episode reminded me that I have more to tell you. So I researched about Korean graves. now I've told you some, if I recall accurately. About how the graves are around here and there on hillsides. About how we saw some hillsides on the way to Seoul which seem to be predominantly for grave use, but that you can't just easily go find a Korean "cemetery". Then I read a great little piece in what I guess is a great little book. Called Things Korean.

Google Books is awesome. It scans books quickly and makes kind of like a giant library. In this way, I can check out the book. And I will sum up a little for you, but feel free to take a look at the entry about Mudeom, a Grave's Grave.

The idea is that these Korean customs allow a gravesite to return slowly to the earth, as the memory of the person fades in the lives of the living.

As for moths and butterflies, it was said that some people like butterflies, while some people hate moths. And I tend to like both. But my view of moths shifted, from the nasty little "millers" of my youth, to beautiful Luna moths and other great winged things I've observed later in life. (Not to forget, one great insect of my youth was a hummingbird moth.).

Butterflies are great, and so easy to like, but one might also note that the little "skippers" whose larvae harmed crops are a little pesty at least, and their wings have that dust that tends to make one feel unclean. However, who cannot love these insects, upon greater investigation, for the mysteries of their metamorphosis, their gift of flight, migration and super sensory perceptions where applicable, for their contribution to pollination and the grand life-cycle, and in the case of many, for their beauty if that alone were not all?

Three Current Blogs

Friday, May 22, 2009

Pass!, Orry, Gonzo Current mood:warm Thank you, Bonnie, for writing the 1200th comment, for pressing my shirt, and for taking double duties the last few months while I prepared to school some actuary exams. Here I am at Taeseo Elementary School in Taebaek, Korea. Yesterday, since it rained so much, they postponed Sports Day until Monday. So now I get to experience the joys that go with that. In yesterday's rain, I was inside a testing center in Seoul doing untold nasty things to the P actuary exam. I have to admit, it felt good to get that done with. A pass is a pass, and I was really hoping for at least just a pass, but I think that I scored the highest possible score or so. Official results will be in in eight weeks, but for now I am collecting unofficial congratulations papers from the testing site. I suppose the job hunt begins. Looking into the opportunities currently, I'm not sure I'll land a hot job yet, but we'll see. Apparently fresh young graduates are a lot more appealing than old ducks like me. But we'll see. There's some charm left in this gray quacker. You're probably wondering about the next of six more tests I need to take before I become an Actuary Fellow. That, I think, will be in November. But I still need to look into details and maybe choose a direction and decide which test to take next. And all that might come after getting a job if I get one, so we'll see. I do want to start on something soon though, that I might cut down on the study crunch and spread it out in order to enjoy more of the precious family life. The precious family life? Maybe some of you are wondering about Orry's or Gonzo's disposition. Little Gonzo is my fun new nickname for Isaac. Try it, and you'll like it too. Orry, the easy baby, has developed into a nearly three year old image of his father, which is to say he exhibits any of the following descriptions when it comes to having his way, whether his way is logical, sensical, or otherwise: hard willed, insistent, persistent, adamant, demanding, stubborn. He also will throw a fit or scream or exhibit other socially unacceptable behaviors. What?! you say? That little angel? But yes, it is so. We wonder, sometimes, because he seems to be too frustrated and angry too much of the time. But I think we'll work on perspective and feelings and what we can and cannot control, not to mention continuing to improve all relationships in and out of the household, that we can be better examples, cultivate good healthy growth, et cetera. Bonnie also pointed out the amount of attention sharing that Orry does on account of little Gonzo. So we are taking pains to make sure Orry has good swaths of Orry time. Little Gonzo is at a great age. He is the explorer and he's figuring things out. He's quite the game player and boy can he eat. He is getting weaned which seems to not faze him at all that I can say. He is getting faster feet although he's still a wobbly toddler. He is more ticklish than Orry was and he is such a fun little laugher. He likes various people and is just about as easy as Orry was. Although he screams more than Orry did. Orry healped teach that, I think. They have screaming bouts sometimes. That high pitched yip that little kids are so good at that pierces the sky? Yes. To make up for lost time with the Korean language, I am going full force now. I'm back at the folk tale translation and on to learn more of this language now. But before I end up this blog, let's tally the subjects of upcoming blogs. You know I still need to blog about where dead Koreans go. And then there's the moths and butterflies. And did I tell you about sharing my first Korean cab ride, with a Korean stranger? And I suppose an update is due for the salamander eggsacs and the tadpoles. And I need to get some pictures and videos up too... Thank you for your participation in my life. Wednesday, May 20, 2009 Hwangji Elementary Current mood:lepidoptery Here I am at a new school, ready to fire off four different classes of third grade. Hwangji Elementary is a much bigger school. It actually is nice to have something unmathy to command my attention for some portion of these 24 hours before I take the next actuary exam out for dinner and a good time, then never call her again. Today after school it's a train to Seoul for the night. I would teach at Hwangji again tomorrow except for my special leave for the exam. That will be the schedule for upcoming weeks. Hwangji on Wednesdays and Thursdays, except that I have teachers classes at Taeseo on Wednesdays after lunch.... Time for class! I like butterflies, and I like moths too. More about that, later. Wednesday, May 13, 2009 happy feet, pricing adjustments Current mood:birdy There was a really fun time to be had for a short while in Seoul when we were walking away from our dinner rendezvous point near Hongik University. There a guy had set up a drum circle where passers-by could sit and drum or dance or watch. So Orry and Trent and I had some drum fun. Then Bonnie bought a couple skirts. I was still also experiencing the elation of dancing. Not my dancing, but Orry's happy feet. After dinner and before Baskin Robbins we went to place in a park where some guys were rapping to some beats to a congregation. There Orry became quite the hit for his dancing moves. So you can look forward to those videos and photos. Surprise! Back in Taebaek we experienced our first price adjustments in Korea, as cab fare minimums rose 22% and our cheap kimbap joint raised their prices 17-33% as well. However, as I mentioned last time, the azaleas are so vibrant--it is a fair trade. kimbap: A daurian redstart like the one spying on Trent and me while we collected dirt yesterday for the rooftop garden:

Return from Seoul, all things considered

Return from Seoul, all things considered
Current mood:vernal

Dear few readers, let me continue to tirelessly keep you abreast of our lives and other goings-on in Korea: On the way back from Seoul, I saw wisteria blossoms cascading down their vines, gracing the hillsides, if not superior at least more delicate and romantic than Bacchanal decor. The rest of Korea probably woke out of Spring earlier than a week ago, but it was this last week that our little city broke herself away from the clutches of Old Man Winter. It was this week when you look at the hills and think and then rethink if you weren’t mistaken that a week ago weren’t they brownish? The buds on twigs have developed into fine leaves, blossoms have become spent, and even the least eager of dandelions have gone white-haired in the attempts of reproduction.

In Taebaek, this last week has belonged to the azaleas. The cheery cherry trees, the Japanese Magnolia blossoms, and other various Spring harbingers have made their showing and moreorless left. The bleeding hearts, next, were an unsecreted delight. But now, the glory of the azaleas promise to bring the full force of Spring to Taebaek. In the sunny places where water is abundant, the purples and pinks will make demands of your eyes. In other places, buds poke at the colors yet to come. One of my personal excitements is to get in the mountains at the right times, where they are covered with mountain azaleas. With the abundance of such life, who can fail to feel hopeful for another year to come?

Another delight this last week has been lilacs, mostly white, which have blossomed and smelled terrific. There is also a lilac-like mountain blossom with the sweetest aroma. Maybe it is a Japanese lilac.Maybe none of you laughed at that. And maybe even a few of you wondered if I forgot which country I am in. But really, it is a sort of joke, because some of the things over here are named in the western world as Japanese this or that, even though the Koreans also might have it as well. So it is like a joke, but it might be the case, really. If the wireless internet connection on this train were stronger, I could probably try to look it up instead of finishing this web log.

Other various flowers and blossoms have brought Spring in. But the real sign that Taebaek has moved on from Winter happened on Thursday. That is when the town became alive with plant starts. And really, I’ve been a little antsy for this for weeks, feeling like some tomatoes should be going in the ground, and so on. We got a few miniature tomato plants from a flower shop to sate me. But on Thursday, trucks arrived in Taebaek with the bounty of greenhouses to our newly greened city. Tomato starts, pepper starts, and maybe anything else, for anyone with the right number of South Korean won. It was funny, because seriously, all the appropriate stores became stocked with these goods, packing away the dried Chinese dates (We could also play the game with China, but it’s funnier with Japan because of the residual strife between Korea and Japan, like brothers who have forgotten they were brothers) and peddling now these seasonal needs. On the agenda for this week is some dirt collection at our Becker house. Dirt is scarce in our immediate vicinity, but a short walk away there is mountains of it. So I will get some, along with some worms for our compost barrel. And we’ll get some of those starts to finally produce a garden on our humble roof.

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We are glad to be back from Seoul. I will leave the reporting of our events for now, but let me say how nice it was to pass the one actuary exam. I have just 11 more days until my next test, so I will be cramming it in for a while. It is the test that I already prepared for once, so in some sense I am ready. But in another important sense, these next 11 days are very very important.

Some of you probably wonder what is going on for us, long term. Will we be staying in Korea? Coming back to the states? Moving to Greenland? To answer this question, I will say I can not answer it for certain at this time, but I will give you a rundown of upcoming decisions that might give you some idea.

We really like it here, and we are here, and so, if it were only that, I think it is safe to say both Bonnie and I would love to stay here. On top of that, with Trent and Nicole staying here and having a baby, we have even more reason to want to stay here. Living next to Trent has been a real treat for me after so much time of living apart. You could call it a Trent treat. Or Troy’s Trent treat.

On the other hand, we are far away from everyone else. But it’s nice to have the conveniences of our age, and email and keep in touch. I am pleased that Bonnie and her parents are in touch almost every day thanks to Skype, where they not only talk to each other, but have video calls so that they get to see the kiddos.

Other big factors. First of all, for whatever reason, Trent and Nicole might not end up staying here. It is too early for any of us to know for sure what will be available to us, let alone what we will finally decide. Then, there is the chance of finding a good actuary position. I will start some serious looking after I pass the next exam, and it may be that I can find something desirable to take up in September. If nothing ideal comes up, another year over here would provide ample preparation time to pass some more exams and become even a better candidate for actuary opportunities (We’re talking about a series of about eight exams over the next five years or so to become a “fellow” actuary and earn top dollar.). Lastly, there are the Baton Rouge properties which maintain for us a small passive income. This, above everything, is probably the largest deciding factor for what will happen this summer. If things remain the same, we will be fine. But things will not remain the same. Still, we may be fine. We have to see what happens. There is also the possibility of Bonnie’s belly swelling with another baby yet again. We are sort of on the fence about this, and September seems to be our “golden” month when it might be “most convenient” to choose to have a baby in Korea, or move back to the states for number three God willing. I think Bonnie would like to be within 10000 miles of her mother at childbirth. Let us see.Staying here would be great, language-wise, for Orry, and Isaac too. Not to mention their parents. Also for reasons of cultural observation. Moving to another country besides the US, like Greenland, would be another adventure. It doesn’t seem in the cards for us. But I should say, exactly a year ago, we had not an iota of foreknowledge that Korea was at all in our window of possible futures. And now we can tell that the ajumas on the train are talking about the Summer cabbage.

Happy Mothers’ Day.

Gangwon Comprehensive Museum, Gee Gee Gee Gee Gee

This long weekend was a lot of fun.  Monday was the exhausting day.  We went to the Gangwon Comprehensive Museum, and then the beach.  Our camera's battery failed after the first station of over a dozen at the museum.  We were taking photos of the amazing rocks, but what we missed out on was everything else.  Perhaps top of the list were all the carved wood exhibits in station four.  We are talking about enormous trunk chunks carved into brilliant one piece multi part mural scenes.  15 feet by 6 feet, for example.  With plenty of depth to carve out an intricate little world.  At the restaurant on the beach, we found some international sand sculpters.

I still managed to put in lots of study time and I'm ready for this actuary test on Friday.   It means another trip into Seoul, so we'll see how that goes.

For today and tomorrow, however, it's back to the "grind".  My schedule changes slightly this week and tomorrow I think we meet with elementary teachers from around our district to confer about teaching English classes for other schools.  Which has been part of our schedule since March, which is why my teaching schedule has been so lax these past couple months.

We're getting ready for birthdays in our house.  Isaac likes to stand and toddle.  Orry likes to learn our Korean songs with us.  My Korean song to learn is:

Bonnie put together another tasty meal last night, with some beef, broccoli, and ginger.

taking over the city/menu

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

taking over the city Current mood:green Today is a beautiful Spring day, no kidding. It is still, and sunny. Crisp still in the morning, but we did put some diapers on the line before I went to work and they're probably dry by now (less than an hour later). We are considering some travel for our upcoming four day weekend. But we'll have to see. The delicate matter is that my big test is in 10 days, so this upcoming weekend is really crunch time. But we'll see. We are pretty sure about traveling to Japan in July, but even with that, we keep postponing the purchase of our tickets. Isaac's solo steps are becoming more frequent, but he still hasn't switched mobility modes, and that's just fine with us! He has started to communicate a little more with sounds other than primal screams, and also with his hands. He is a little eater, that's for sure. We are always thinking of nicknames for him since it turns out Isaac is a popular name. I think Peach is out of the running, however. At church, an "interim pastor" sat by us this week and gave us a brief sketch of the sermon. She has been put in charge of taking care of us, I think. Beginning yesterday, Orry started taking care of a little bear puppet we have at the house. We are talking about sending him to preschool starting in May so we'll keep you posted. The hills are greening, the dandelions are taking over the city, and the cherry blossom petals are littering the streets. We went hiking on Saturday morning and took some more photos, which we'll have to share. One of the critters we photographed is a red squirrel. Now, I thought I knew what a red squirrel was, but, being a native American, I didn't know, really. the "red" squirrels in the New World are not red squirrels, see. Red squirrels are Old World squirrels. And their ears are extra tufty, giving them quite a distinct appearance. Moreover, they don't have to be red. The one we saw was a charcoal gray color. No signs of morels yet. I haven't been able to determine if they exist here, but I suspect they do. Tuesday, April 28, 2009 taking over the menu Current mood:sea snaily Dear reader, it has been too long since I reminded you of the culinary delights I feast on from day to day. Lest you imagine, in your mind's eye, that I feast on hamburgers or mashed potatoes and gravy for my school lunch, with a side of canned corn and a brownie or some chocolate pudding for dessert, let me remind you: no. Today, for example, we had what I guess after some translation attempts are sea snails. Yes, I just found it: Sea Snail Salad featured on this page. Sea snails, vegetables, and of course, pepper paste. And the verdict? I have to say Yum. The other day, the surprise was squid and apple salad. Now I guess Spring is the season for these curious salads, but this, too, was slathered in pepper paste. And again, Yum. A curiously rewarding combination. Other than that, lunches are the usual. Some soup, usually spicy. Rice. Kimchi. The occasional fruit, like the cherry tomatoes we had the other day. We also had a curry with pineapples and raisins in it recently. I know it's not common to get two blogs in one day from me, but here they are, today. The beautiful Spring day turned cold Winter, that cold beast void a soul, licked his lips and took back the day, bringing cold rain and black clouds, and nothing for us to do but shiver in his icy breath. Coming up, I must at some point blog about torrents. Wow. And still waiting is the blog about where dead Koreans go. For now, all my best.

salamander eggs and numbered days

It's raining now.

Over the weekend we saw a bunch of salamander eggsacs. We saw one salamander. We saw this on our Saturday morning exercise hike. We also saw lots of frog eggs. It is that time of year.

We have continued to use our laundry line on the roof. When it's hot and dry and windy it takes less than a half hour to dry things!

Isaac was sick last week but he's feeling better now. I was sick too, but I was never feeling all that bad. Isaac's temperature was up past 103. He had some tonsillitis and got some antibiotics from the doctor. Isaac didn't like these antibiotics at all.

The cherry tree blossoms in Taebaek are all quite fantastic. It's so nice to see the springtime blossoms. I guess these April showers will bring some May flowers, too.

I have had my nose in the actuary exam study guides. 18 days.

Which reminds me. My calculator has a built in function for determining the number of days between dates. As in, Isaac was 300 days old on March 7th. My dad was 10080 days old when he had me, and I was another hundred days plus old when we had Orry. And Trent will be a little older come November than my dad was when he had Trent. And my mom and Bonnie are close to the same age when it comes to their childbearing. As you know, we passed up my 11111st day last summer. But did you know we also passed up Orry's 1000th day? Anyway, stuff like that.

Now I must go prepare for teaching second grade.

Thank you, as always, for reading.

BPOP, and an eventful weekend

The first bit of news to report is that on Wednesday I noticed a
curious small bump on the joint of my left middle finger closest to my
palm and on the palm side. It is a bony nodule about the size of a
lentil. So Thursday morning I hit the Internet research and gave the
self diagnosis of a small bone tumor that is rarely mastitic, or, more
probably BPOP. BPOP stands for bizarre something something
proliferation and as it may suggest to you reader, this little lentil
might grow into something more, well, bizarre. This sort of growth is
known as Nora's Lesion after a doctor who described it in the early
eighties. Apparently it is an odd pathology that occurs most commonly
where it occurs on me in people my age. Next on the docket is to see a
doctor and get some documentation and recommendations. It is
removable, oftentimes with recurrence, presuming, of course, it is what
I think it is. On the other hand, if it weren't to bizarrely
proliferate, I am fine with leaving it alone for all of my days. It
doesn't seem to affect me much, except in knowing that it's there,
which has really bugged me the past five days. Also, it is "in the
way" in the sense that its placing is inconvenient for holding things
and pushing strollers sometimes. But no biggie. Yet.

So, how does one keep his mind off of a bone tumor? Well, on Friday we
took a day trip to a nearby flower festival, where I went on national
news again. Here is what I didn't tell them in our brief interview:

I found out last week that Friday was a school vacation day for our
school, so we planned on traveling to some nearby cities where they put
on festivals to celebrate the beautiful spring blossoms. We decided on
Samcheok, the next town over, which is putting on a canola or "rape
flower" festival. Did you know that canola's name as such comes from "CANadian Oil Low-Acid"? It's modified rapeseed, or as the Korean's call it, "rape flower". I
don't know if what we were in was canola, or actual unmodified
rapeseed. Probably the latter I guess.

So, we called a Samcheok Tour Info number and spoke with some people
about how to best get to the festival. We planned on taking the train
and it doesn't have a main "Samcheok" stop, but has a couple stops in
Samcheok. We were told to get off at the Shingi station, whereupon we
would take a bus into town and then another bus to the festival site.
Too many buses, I thought--we'd probably just take a taxi. But anyway,
we set out for our family adventure.

This is all after I went and exchanged some won for dollars at the
bank. My new idea is to change our money into dollars but keep it in
Korea, and if the exchange rate goes bad again, I can change dollars we
have here into cheap won, speculating that the won will get good (or at
least better) again. On the other hand, if the won keeps getting
better, that's okay, too. It keeps us from having to change money at
the worst possible rate. Unless of course it gets real bad, and then I
change my money back into won, and then it never ever gets good again.

The train ride was beautiful. Just leaving out Taebaek station, we
started getting into areas where the cherry blossoms were at their
best. Actually now, just a few days later, I am seeing more blossoms
in Taebaek too. I guess because of our altitude, we usually experience
the cherry blossoms up to a month later than elsewhere. Anyway, it was
wonderful to see the blossoms and the Spring scenery. This continued
on until our destination, the bustling Shingi station which is near the
middle of nowhere.

At the Shingi station, I realized that we were misled, because the
helpers there didn't seem to be very familiar with getting into
Samcheok by bus. Well, they were able to find out easily enough, and
they told us. There were two buses we could catch, and they showed us
where. One was leaving in 10 minutes, and it was a short walk. But
another was leaving in 40 minutes, in case we missed the first one. We
hiked up there and missed the first bus. Actually, we were in the
right place at the right time, but we didn't know it. Until later.

We gave up waiting for the first bus, which had already come to the
stop we passed up unknowingly. We then proceeded to wait for the
second bus, which was the right place for the first bus. We waited and
waited, and finally gave up. Now, I will admit, this would have been a
good time to have a timepiece. Because as soon as we crossed the road
to inquire at a convenience store/shop/restaurant about getting a taxi,
the bus went by, not a minute off schedule at 1:30pm.

I think any normal person would be experiencing dismay or anger at this
point. But not me of course. I garnered more chi and waited
peacefully for another 40 minutes for the next bus. Bonnie, actually,
was the peaceful one. We learned some Korean from a Learn Korean book
we thankfully brought.

It turns out, that not but a five minute walk away from where we waited
for more than an hour, is one of the most splendid looking museum
complexes I have seen.

click it to see more:


But, it's probably good that we didn't know it, or as opposed to
waiting around for more than an hour, we would have walked there, and
we would have been sucked in, and we would have missed the rapeseed
festival.

We did see it right away after boarding the bus, though, again to my dismay.

Getting into Samcheok was worth it though. The main bus terminal
offered the peace of mind I wanted because they had buses going back to
Taebaek later in the day that we could take, instead of getting back
out to the Shingi station or trying to discover an alternate train
route. The actual twon of Samcheok is right near the coast, so the
weather was milder (It was downright hot where we waited near the
Shingi station).

As soon as we got the taxi to the rapeseed festival, we were in another
sort of heaven. All the dismay and hot waiting melted away into the
distant past, as we watched the cherry blossoms fall like snow. The
fields of yellow lay ahead in promise, next to the festival tents, and
other colors drugged our eyes while the mountains on the one side and
the sea on the other made us forget all our troubles. Or, maybe it was
the beautiful smells. It was like sticking your nose in a morning
glory, without the trouble of keeping it there. Our atmosphere, for
the couple of hours we were there, consisted not of air, but of that
delicate delightful aroma.

When I was eighteen, and I lived in the little farm house east of
Jerome, and I moved a lot of pipe, I moved pipe in canola fields. I
did tell the interviewer that I had seen rapeseed before, in my
country. But I didn't tell him about the farmhouse.

The interviewer and his camera crew snatched us Taebeckers and took
their footage. It was a quick, pleasant experience actually. Of
course we didn't know for sure if we would make the news, but at church
yesterday we heard a lot about it.

We saw beetle grubs bigger than mice. We ate rapeseed pancakes. We played in bubbles and smiled and laughed. It was fun.

We took a bus back to Taebaek and that's the end of my rapeseed festival story.

However. That was just Friday. And now I realize I must hurry to
describe the rest of our weekend in just a few minutes. I have to go
to class, and I'm sure you have to do something important too.

Saturday morning we hiked with Trent to our exercise mountain. Then
instead of coming home the way we went, we took a roundabout
exploration that got us home seeing some new things, new routes, new
exercise stations. We saw the names of some flowers which I'll have
to describe another time. Later in the weekend we found that our
favorite exercise mountain bird is called a black-capped chickadee.




Yesterday we started our happy Easter by making use of our rooftop clothesline. That was fun.

And our Sunday included a hike up to another new place right outside of
downtown, which is another mountain climb. We just walked up a little
way to a neat resting place, temple, and coal workers monument (of some
sort). There are some beautiful tulip trees blooming these days. Some
girls were collecting dandelion greens. This was Trent and me, Orry
and Isaac. It was fun.

It makes me want to write about the Korean dead. Because on hillsides
like this, you'll see some graves. But I'll have to write about that
another time.

Then that evening we had porridge together with Nicole's parents. As a
Korean treat, we all went out after that to Noraebang, and we all sang
songs and laughed and danced.

To top it off, later that night, Bonnie and I watched a Woody Allen
movie we had downloaded. Michael J Fox, Woody Allen, and Blossom, of
all people. Don't Drink The Water.

What a week.

Tang & Exotic Fowl

There are these rice dumplings that have the consistency of marshmallows. Also there is banana milk, apple milk, and grape milk, the last of which reminds me of goatmilk yogurt flavored with Tang, which was a remote treat in a the goaty memories of my childhood. The milk doesn't taste goaty, to be sure. It's just that the grape flavoring reminds me of the Tang.

Today we went to a small bird area that reminds me of the bird area one mile south in Jerome, over a ways from the Hintons. And, well, near that new Canyonside School Building, right? Anyway, what did we call that? The Bird Farm? It was a place I only went to maybe once or so if ever. But basically there is a variety of fowl. This place in the middle of nowhere had a couple of ostriches. And a peacock which fanned its tailfeathers (ah, i now recall going to the bird farm with a kindergarten or early school field trip--where I saw for the first time the same thing--peacock pomp). It also had some ponds with fish, some demonstrations of how flowing water can be made to assist with milling, a tunnel showcasing the days of coal mines (Taebaek's bygone glory), et cetera.

For a musical treat of curious exotic fowl, visit here.

There were lots of sitting places. It was a nice relaxing time in the countryside. Unfortunately it was also when the kiddos usually nap. But once in a while you've got to take adventure over routine. And we don't get offers to go see exotic fowl every day.

updates, and more about ants

Updates are in order.

The other week Isaac started signing including pointing, waving, nodding, and so on. He started standing on his own with gusto, and almost takes steps. He also loves crawling all around, giving kisses, getting hugs, playing peek-a-boo, pattycake. His babbling is a little more orderly, and he'll go into phases of saying "aba" (Korean for daddy), but it's still pretty babbly. However, he's quite adept with his hands. He started eating just about everything he can eat at this age, and likes to fill up with us whenever we eat. He is, in my estimation, a fairly easy baby, having a minimum of fits and squirms, and mainly only if he's tired.

Orry started drawing faces and objects with more discernable features. Like small circles and dots for eyes, and spiders with many legs and so on. He uses Korean more for introductions and phrases like thank you, and demonstrates a lot of new concepts and ideas every day it seems. He likes to go on excursions with Bonnie during the day, and well, he likes just about everything. He was in a really whiny phase lately, but seems to be on the tail end of it (I'm not holding my breath there). He is partly well mannered and an all around good and fun little tot. He likes "studying" Korean flashcards, and entertaining himself with reading materials, as I reported earlier. He is quite reasonable and growing more aware of his emotions.

Bonnie gets the MVP award for the last few months (if not years). And she also earns the Most Improved award. She has been gobbling up Korean food like a Korean lately, and also learning the language more than any of us. We got some books in Seoul that she's going through and I think it helps her fill in some language gaps. Plus, last week she went to this reading-to-your-tots center and got some easy Korean books that she's excited about, and all that really helps language acquisition.

I get the math award, for my continues studies and practice of applied mathematics. In a way I am making up for the lazy practice of math since my high school days. I am the type that likes to learn the theory and structure, even at the cost of believing what is taught as opposed to rigorous investigation of mathematical proofs. The upside is that I conceptually understand a good bit of the relationship and know-how of various fields within mathematics. The downside is I have always been mostly unpracticed with the mechanics of working out the applications of theory, and working on "real-life" problems that use mathematics. As it turns out, this is precisely actuarial work. So I am getting a new training on material that is pretty familiar. Apart from that, I eat and sleep and play with the tots and Bonnie a few hours each day. And I teach a few English classes each week at school, as required by my employment. My fun classes are kindergarten and sixth grade.

The mountains are snowy again, but this morning was so calm and pleasant that I suspect Spring is on its way again.

Ants, they say, weigh on average .3 milligrams, which is 3x10^-7 kg. There are between 10^16 and 10^17 of them, those little rascals. This means there are between 3x10^9 and 3x10^10 kgs of ants. Which is another way of saying three billion to 30 billion kgs. Humans, on the other hand, weigh an average of 50 kg (5x10^1kg), and as you know, there are fewer than (but close to) 7 billion (7x10^9) of us. So we weigh, collectively, less than (but close to) 350 billion kgs (35x10^10). It looks like we outweigh ants by a factor of ten.

However, I could not find good sources for the weight of an average ant, nor for how many there are. I put these figures together from a wikipedia article on biomass, which was very much less than reliable. For a good wikipedia article, though, that is well sourced, and interesting, check out this ant wikipedia entry. And, for a good read, if your anterested at all, check out Journey to the Ants. In online form, I read about a supercolony in Japan that had over a million queens and their respective colonies interrelating in one humungous ant city. I also read somewhere that an ant colony of normal size has has many brain cells as a human. Again, I am skeptical.

fruits that begin with k

Now in Korea is the season for delicious kiwis, and also the curious little fruit known as the kumquat. We had our first kumquat family experience. In fact, I can't remember for sure if I have eaten a kumquat before. I think I have, but I don't think I ate it correctly.

This time, I googled the way to eat a kumquat, to be sure:



Well, Orry was given a couple of these sweet-tart little gems last night on our grocery stroll. Then, when we got home and ate them, I decided to go back and buy a bag. They are delicious!

As for kiwi, wow. We just love delicious kiwi, so we've been buying them as well.

On another note, Isaac is standing on his own now. No marathon feats yet, but it's a new game, I think.

The sky was bluer than BB King this morning. Against the backdrop of the sunkissed hilltops I found a likeness to the blue blue ocean and the gray-brown-green of the similarly fractal coastline.

A cold snap came through the other night and we woke up to frosted mountains. It cleaned up the air from the Asian yellow dust, and although it got nippy again, the clarity of the air makes it even sound like Spring is nigh.

I like that this is the country of the morning calm. On my walk to work today, the only sound I could hear was the rustle of my hood. I was a mobile organism in a petri dish six times the size of the moon.

You know, no doubt, about key limes. Here is a list of other K fruits for your curious mind, dear reader:

• Kakadu lime
• Kakadu plum
• Kutjera
• Karkalla
• Keppel fruit
• Kandis fruit
• Kundong
• Kahikatea

an update to start with

It's a night of little sleep, and so, I write.  One of the first issues is what to do about blogging on this blogspot as well as myspace.  I guess what I'll do is copy at both places for a while and see what happens.

The story idea of the night is set in the future, when humanity has evolved.  A neohuman student is studying the history of the neohuman evolution, and is writing a school report about it.  In the report it is revealed that the evolution happened during the current-day times, when software was developed that helped bridge a gap with the communication of autistic people.  And, it turns out, that in the future, most everybody is autistic.  But also, there is a relationship with technology that enters into the evolution of life--because part of the competitive edge is owing to the technology that comes out of this software development.  Anyway, that's just the framework for the story.  The actual story would have to be like Slumdog Millionaire, which we finished watching tonight, and contain a good blend of love, hope, and themes of destiny, brotherhood, and the rest of the marvels and plight of the human condition.

I am nearing up on one billion seconds of age fast enough.  Here is a synopsis for those of you just tuning in, or those of who you like to read updates:

I was born and still think of myself as an Idahoan.

I grew up on a farm.  Or a few farms, actually.

I lived with my grandparents during the transition period between childhood and adulthood.

This means that I was first madly in love when I was a child.

I went to college and graduated in four years and never changed my major from mathematics after declaring it my freshman year.  Upon graduating, though, I moved to Japan and taught English.

But in between graduation and moving to Japan I got married!

After living in Japan for a year, I lived in Portland, Oregon, and worked teaching English as a second language, and as a math instructor at a vocational college, and a few other jobs.

I have had more jobs in my life than I have had girlfriends, but fewer than the number of half-birthdays.  Unless, well, it depends on what you mean by jobs.  And girlfriends, maybe.

In Oregon is where I got divorced.

Then I hitch-hiked across the country.  I was restless.

Then I started graduate school in Louisiana, studying mathematics some more.

In 2004 I finished with that, not finishing what I set out to do.  I had started with the buying, selling, fixing-up, and renting of real estate.  The renting of which I am still involved with.

In 2005 Bonnie became such a part of my life that it was impossible to extricate myself from her grasp, and we tied a wedding knot.

And had one little boy.  And another.

And then we moved to Korea.  Where I am teaching English to kindergarteners and second graders tomorrow.  Unless there is some sort of Korean change of plans I am yet not aware of.

Currently I am studying for actuary exams.  The current plan is to see what opportunities are available after passing a couple, and taking that route.  Or, possibly staying another year here teaching and taking another exam or two to perhaps find better opportunities yet.

I am also learning Korean.

We live in a small two bedroom apartment on the second floor of a house very near our town center.  It is awesome.  Our rooftop access will allow for a garden this year, but I need to find to do the following.  I need to collect some pots.  I need to collect some dirt.  I need to find where i can get some tomato starts and other plants, or seeds.  Completing these tasks is a fun but unpredictable adventure in a foreign land with a foreign tongue.

The other idea for the night is to make a book of book or story ideas.  And maybe it is something I can just write a blog about.  A blog of book ideas that maybe one day I'll publish as a book.

producing an archive of sorts

I wanted to import my myspace blog but it's not friendly like that. However, in order to collect my earlier blog stuff together (and make it searchable), I am cutting and pasting a few years of blog in this one message which is backdated to show up earliest in thecurrenttroydanielbecker. Unfortunately, some formatting including hyperlinks is not pasting. If I wanted to import each one I think I could, but we're talking about a couple hundred pages, and I don't think I'm going to get around to it. If I do figure out a better way before myspace goes under (or I otherwise cancel my account), I'll replace this long post. Also, until then, for a nice (but unsearchable and unfriendly navigable) format, you can hop to myspace.com/troydanielbecker/blog


Feb 28, 2010
postful.com
I will use this blog, perhaps my last ever on myspace, to tell about my new discovery this evening.  It is postful.com, and I found it when I had the idea that what I really need is a service that sends snail mail from letters I write (on the computer, in email, etc...).  I googled it and found postful.com.

Postful is pretty much like a big printing/mailing company.  But you can get postcards sent for 59 cents, and letters sent for 99 cents.  Now, it's a little pricey, compared to doing it yourself.  But sometimes I feel like I'll never get it done if I don't just do it, and still yet sometimes I don't just do it.  Now, automation to the rescue.  

The best thing is that it is a service that is great for families.  For example, I send Granny a letter by emailing the letter that I want to send to grannydorothy@postful.com.  They print it up and mail it to her.  (I included a second page of the letter which was a collage of photos--at 25 cents for that extra page).  Now, if any of you should ever start apostful.com account, you also can send email to grannydorothy@postful.com--you don't even need to set it up (I already did that--which, anyway, only took a few moments).

Postcards are neat because you send the photo for one side and a small message on the other, and it's just 59 cents.  I wonder about the photo quality, so maybe I'll update later with a report.

Anyway, in this way I hope to get some of those stories that I wrote about in a previous blog.  Oh, you didn't read that blog?  Just check outthecurrenttroydanielbecker.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading, yo.
11:14 PM
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Feb 11, 2010
tomorrow and the day after the day after tomorrow
Tomorrow is the day my paternal grandfather would have turned 91.  Bonnie's maternal grandmother would have turned 88.  Abraham Lincoln would be celebrating 201 years of life after birth, as would also Charles Darwin.

We started playing the new Monopoly City game.  I have won two games, the most of any Baton Rouge Becker, so I am the Monopoly champion.  I think I will cease playing chess for now, finally.  

I added up numbers for my remaining expenses on projects, and I'm quite pleased with attainable light at the end of the tunnel.  Lots of sheetrock work awaits.  I'm not excited about that, but oh so thankful that Trent will help it go by with much better company than the company I have when I do things myself.

I experienced a new weather condition today.  When the sleet started this morning, it really saounded like it was raining small ice crystals.  Out in it, you couldn't even sense them falling, except for the quite conspicuous sound, like millions of tiny ice crunches.  As the precipitation picked up, it was more like the sleet and freezing rain we all know.  But at the beginning--strange.

I love spending time with my family.  Read more about us all in Bonnie's blog, if you haven't already.

Valentine's Day is an extra special day in our family, because that is when Bonnie turns 26 each year.  But if you ask her, she might tell you 22.  I think she's into perpetual youth.  Me?  I'm into perpetual Bonnie.  Anyway, I need to think of something romantic we can do, like maybe finding a romantic action movie to torrent, or maybe going to play darts or pool together.  I know!  I can arrange all the dirty diapers that need to be rinsed in a heart shape in our bathroom sink, so that when she goes to rinse them out, she will have a warm smile in her heart.  Or, maybe I'll clean and wash the car and take her to the movies but then decide they cost too much these days and take her downtown instead and walk around the riverside and talk about days gone by and days ahead.


11:40 PM
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Jan 1, 2010
reading, veganism, gestation
What a fine time I had with the family over the past couple weeks here in Baton Rouge. 

I have a problem with writing things these days. I suppose the biggest report is that Orry is a little reader these days. He sounds out words like a champ, and likes to read and write a little each day. Also he types, picking out the letters and the sound. He typed these:

orry
hat
sad
hot
kld

As you can see, he is not the most advanced yet. Also, the other day, when we asked him to read "top" he read it from right to left. He'll do that, and he'll write a word backwards as in mirror, and sometimes, I think, even backwards with the letters oriented frontwards. Anyway, that's fine, because we're tickled he likes to do those sorts of things instead of drawing crayon on the newly painted walls.

As far as me, I am pretty convinced about veganism for optimum health. I'm not a non-meateater myself, but sure recognize a plant based diet as a treatment and cure for obesity and some cancers and other pathologies. I guess most of this comes from reading The China Study and its critiques. Actually, it all comes from that. I've always leaned towards vegatarianism owing to the killing of animals and the unnecessary energy going into feeding animals to feed us. On top of that, there is the "big industry" meat production and egg and dairy production and I've frowned at all that. But then, there is the appreciation of animal life and flesh and the smaller scale animal farming which I've got behind in my day. But reading The China Study and about the argument more has tipped me over the edge. Now, like I said, I'm not vegan myself, but I did convince Bonnie to change our menus more in that direction and we're having good fun with all that.

We discovered quinoa, for example.

We also cooked mirlitons, finally.

And now, I will go get Isaac out of the bath. He is fine, and so is Bonnie, although she is in quite an uncomfortable time of her gestation.
9:15 PM
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Dec 14, 2009
worthwhile ramblings
Worthwhile is cutting up your grapefruit in its own bowl rind, preparations laid for the eating experience, vesicles severed for the efficiency of feasting on the delectable fruit.  And oh, reader, isn't it so with our life's undertakings?  That what we do is worthwhile, when it takes time, when it lays preparations for the big event, when it makes the next thing all the easier?

We're working on this house, see, and it is coming together.  The interior, is, perhaps, half done, depending on how much the remaining half drags out.  It also depends on how much time I spend on making things like bed frames and stairwell rail gates, and so on, instead of doing only the necessary items.  I know the "mud room" is going to take some attention.  It will be our last room--an added 'office' or 'sun room' which "opens up our house to the wildlife preserve of the backyard".  We will add a door to make it more functional as a porch and back entrance, and we have yet to see what we will do with the windows.  I'm thinking we'll get some monsters from our local Restore and totally reframe that wall.  We'll see.  That is the part of the house that has suffered most from deferred maintenance and some storm/roof damage.

The living room, where I am sitting now, will also take some work.  it seems like these walls have a quarter inch of texturing on them.  It looks pretty bad, and sloppy, and I am not all about making it look absolutely gorgeous, but it needs some serious attention.

I am pleased that the parents are coming in in a week.  Really, they are coming to see their new niece.  But since that only takes a few moments, I get to rope them into doing a lot of work.  I'm looking forward to getting these living room walls painted.

I read this China Study book, and I am surprised to find myself mostly convinced that my animal-based diet days are mostly behind me.  A number of factors have pointed me in this direction over the years, and I have the feeling that I'll get more serious about it.  We'll see.  But the main points for my personal choice are these:

Health.  What's good for the bowel is good for the body.
Peace.  No more death to animals on my behalf, or contributing to big business animal production.
Simplicity.  It is cheap, which I like, to not buy meat or eat out, and it ties one to nature to eat like a tree elf.
And now, again, Health.  It turns out that animal protein seems to be associated with the major diseases of affluence (heart disease, cancer, ...), so why do we consume so much of it?

This list wouldn't be complete if I left off that it is cool to eat whole foods, plant-based veganish, and so of course, that's really why I am doing it.

Unfortunately, I have a spouse to convince that it is cool to eat a whole foods, plant-based veganish diet, or I'm not going to have much luck with this new lifestyle.  We'll see how that goes.

It turns out I've written much more than I expected.  Bonnie, the spouse, is done with a curtain so now it's time to call it a day.

Thank you for reading.
11:37 PM
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Dec 8, 2009
tomorrow's "to do" list
I know how you love to read the details here, so I cut and pasted part of my latest blog atthecurrenttroydanielbecker.blogspot.com

We are getting more and more excited about the impending arrival of family to these southern parts.  The last few days it's been rain by the bucketfuls, and now we're looking forward to family members arriving by the twos or so.

Tomorrow on my list of things to do:  

Paint baby room trim
Finish the bathroom.
  sublist:  shower fixtures, pedestal sink, towel hangers, hang cabinet, hang mirror, beginning to install light/fan is optional), 
Help Bonnie load things around 10.
We will go to Cliff's house to work on his laundry/storage room and maybe other various things.
I will go get a paycheck between 9 and 3.
Finish the stairwell rail
   sublist:  glue remaining joints, bevel top edges, sand smooth, schedule staining and finishing
Install mini shelves
Check out a possible tree job at Evan's
Go work on remaining trusses or
Taizé service at 6:00
coat #2 on baby room trim, touch-ups

To read more, you can always read up on me at my thecurrenttroydanielbecker blogspot.

10:50 PM
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Dec 1, 2009
Christmas Spirit and miscellaneous updating..
okay, but you'll really be missing out if you don't check out thecurrenttroydanielbecker.blogspot.com


9:36 PM
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Nov 25, 2009
a few of my favorite things
to read about doityourselfing, sweet olives, and more, check it:

http://thecurrenttroydanielbecker.blogspot.com
8:30 AM
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Nov 13, 2009
car talk
First of all, my experience at the salvage yard yesterday deserves a poem, and definitely should be mentioned up front so you see that it really made an impression.  What a marvelous experience, which I'll narrate another time.  The end result is that I found some mechanisms which I needed to replace in our van in order to pass an emissions inspection.  The mechanisms new cost about $400 and I need to replace two, so I was happy to find some for practically free.

My morning this morning consisted of replacing these two mechanisms.  It took three hours, but let me put it into perspective.  Four bolts.  Unfastening four bolts, then refastening them.  In order to making the replacing easier, we dismantled the alternator, which gave us some more room, but it was still a tight space that was barely manageable.  The alternator didn't take much time at all.  If you do the math, that's a lot of time, for unfastening and refastening four small bolts.  

I like Autozone, which helped with some tools, although I had to buy a flexible extension.  I also am grateful of Eddie who helped over the phone.  And I am even thankful for the mechanic whose shop got $200+ from me for him doing some diagnostic work, changing out a solenoid (which itself cost $65 of the sum) behind everything which he had to do with his fingers and not his eyes, and also for checking out the replacements, and doing some coach work.  I learned quite a bit tackling this problem myself.  I now know quite a bit about intake manifold runner controls.

Ah, the joys of bedtime!  I just put the boys to bed, and they are squalling their heads off.  Now they have quieted down some.  Hmmm.  Yep, they were getting out of bed and out the door, down the hall, to start to beseech us to read them a story.  Now they are squalling their heads off in bed again.  But you know me, I will go read them a story soon.  Probably a Curious George story.

Well, there was more to blog about, but this will have to do for now.

Except, let me say, the fall weather is beautiful!!!!!!!!

7:54 PM
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Nov 1, 2009
proud, and not proud
Happy November!

The things I am proud of:

Having a new niece and nephew is a great celebration.  But there are the other things.  For one, I have fixed our furnace, which wasn't working.  I had to dig in and study it, and it turns out to be a mysterious missing flame sensor is all.  But I ordered one on line and installed it and everything is working and the total cost was < $25.  I really like fixing things.  I am also tackling some small problems with our van Windy that are causing it to fail emissions testing. We also picked a bag full of satsuma oranges in Houma, and lots of persimmons and some limes.  We have been eating lots of satsumas lately, enjoying them being in season. Bonnie made some awesome Halloween outfits.  I'm proud of that, of course. The things I am not proud of: I am no good example these days when it comes to Halloween candy.  The way I stuff it in would make you think I was 12.  Plus, Bonnie was making delicious cookies, so I've decided to focus on abstinence in my diet. There were some other things, I'm sure, but none come to mind now. 8:06 PM Like · Comment ·Views (57)·Edit Oct 21, 2009 another troy weblog entry Last week, Oct 13th, to be precise, just after 10:30 am, I crossed over into the 10 digits.  For the number of seconds I have depended on breathing my own air.  I shall not ever get into the 11 digits.  It is a new age, and I feel a little wiser for it. I was wise when I zipped to the library to get something printed at the last second, and although the time was tight, got in when I had one minute left on the computers, logged on, opened my document, and printed it out with not 3 seconds to spare.  Plan B was to go a few miles to the main library which was open for another hour.  Instead, the entire outing was 10 minutes.  Or 600 seconds. I was not so wise last week when I drove the tree service truck for the first time and drove it over the Mississippi River Bridge with the emergency brake still engaged.  I probably drove it for 600 seconds with its braking system fighting its driving system.  That was not wise. I lugged around a number of 80 lb concrete bags today.  It made me feel glad I am not 80 lounbs overweight.  A lounb is the new way we write pound.  Today, Trent and I poured concrete, 2 bags at a time or so, for 4 hours and 6 minutes.   That is, for 14760 seconds. We were a few bags short.   I was trying to meet a schedule I composed for the day, which was itself altered already a couple times.  The discouragement with schedules is when they waste more time than they create.  However, there were some good things about the busted schedule.  For one, I mowed our lawn.  And two, we got a new post put in for our mailbox and our neighbors', all of which fell over when termites ate away the wood that held them up, and I think phonebooks getting stuffed inside the boxes also contributed. That's it for I paragraphs. Louisiana's weather these days is much more bearable.  Did you like reading another troy weblog entry?  You might want to check outhttp://thecurrenttroydanielbecker.blogspot.com 7:47 PM Like · Comment ·Views (62)·Edit Jul 27, 2009 the present and the future, as of today You are probably wonder what has been going on.   First of all, I have been listening to a lot of astronomy podcasts lately, which I enjoy. Also, I have been scheming with the other Taebaekers about how to start a noraebang stateside. Lastly, the plans are this, that we arrive in Idaho on August 18th.  After a brief visit and procuring a vehicle, we will go to Alberquerque, Texas, and then Houma/Baton Rouge, saying hi along the way to those who live there.   At that point it is yet undetermined, but likely that we will stay in Baton Rouge from 6 weeks to 6 months or so.  A lot depends on projects we have in Baton Rouge and what job I will find where, if any. 6:15 PM Like · Comment ·Views (59)·Edit Jul 3, 2009 a visit to the korean dentist With a squealing zipping scaling machine, my tooth surfaces were cleaned so that if I were to die and my skin decay, leaving my smiling skull, I am sure that even you would be able to slide your finger along my teeth and think of ivory piano keys.  It cost 5500 won, about the cost of a large jug of milk and two moon pies, or a giant bag of m&ms. The decision is official.  For now we shall be completing only this one year contract.  Our plans for now are heading back to the states at the end of August.  Optimistically, I would like to fly to somewhere in the West, then buy a vehicle that uses a fuel alternative not derived from fossil fuels.  Then we will head across the states toward Louisiana, seeing family and friends along the way, in maybe California, Utah, New Mexico, Woming, Colorado, Texas.  I know, not exactly an expeditious path, but we like road trips and we shall see.  I do want to get back to Louisiana and get some work done on our properties, so we shall see indeed.  Wherever we go and however we get there, I have some slick teeth to travel with. 10:59 PM Like · Comment ·Views (48)·Edit Jun 29, 2009 profile cleanup june 2009, news So that this weblog isn't a waste of your time, whether you are faithful reader or curious stalker, let it be known that this last weekend we have discussed the likely event that instead of staying in Korea another year, we will instead return to a broken economy and have a go at making an actuary career from the states instead of from afar. Our plans are uncertain, but for the first time, leaning towards redomestification. And now, the cleanup: during 2008, 2009, incomplete movie list: recently watched: Bridge to Ter, Taken (Morel), Kung Fu Panda (Osborne, Stevenson), Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle), The Brothers Grimm (Gilliam), Darjeeling Limited (Anderson), Running With Scissors (Murphy), Annie Hall (Allen), Holiday (Cukor), Bonnie and Clyde (Penn), Wanted, Eagle Eye, Stepbrothers (McKay), Burn After Reading (Coen), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher), Be Kind Rewind (Gondry), Cassandra's Dream (Allen); Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Allen); The Dark Knight (Nolan), Bedtime Stories (Shankman), The Day the Earth Stood Still (Derrickson), Twilight (Hardwicke), Pinocchio (Sironi), Golden Compass (Weitz), Wall-E (Stanton), 3:10 to Yuma (Mangold), Marathon (Jeong), Stardust (Vaughn), Juno (Reiter), Little Manhattan (Levin), Matrix Reloaded (Wachowski), The Bourne Movies (Liman, Greengrass), Ironman (Favreau), Prince Caspian (Adamson), Stranger Than Fiction (Forster), Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich), Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End (Verbinski), Love Me or Leave Me (Vidor), Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest (Verbinski), Nacho Libre (Hess), Broadway Danny Rose (Allen), Rushmore (Anderson), Teacher's Pet (Seaton), The Prince of Egypt (Chapman, Hickner, Wells), Total Recall (Verhoeven), The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Adamson), Stardust Memories (Allen), Ella Enchanted, Small Time Crooks (Allen), Ratatouille (Bird, Pinkava), Delgo (Maurer), Talledega Nights (McKay), 11:14 (Marcks), The Devil Wears Prada (Frankel), Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Ozon), Mrs Henderson (Frears), Daisies (Chytilova), I was a Male War Bride (Hawks), The Green Mile (Darabont), Waking Life (Linklater), Across the Universe (Taymor), Mr Smith goes to Washington (Capra), Heaven (Keaton), Smiles of a Summer Night (Bergman), Spanglish (Brooks), Falling Down (Schumacher), Night at the Museum (Levy), Mr. Moto's Gamble, Iris (Eyre), Waiting for Guffman (Guest), The Holiday (Meyers), I am David (Feig) book list: currently reading: mass actuary study material The Happiest Toddler on the Block, Karp; Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child, Gottman; assorted Learn Korean books; recently finished: The Jungle Book, Kipling; Elijah of Buxton, Curtis; Journey to the Center of the Earth, Verne; What the Buddha Taught, Rahula; God: a biography, Miles; House of Sand and Fog, Dubus; Letters to a Young Mathematician, I Stewart; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, M Haddon; (I think this last list pretty much sums up my 2008 reading list of complete books (other than children's picture books). O_o ) 7:40 PM Like · Comment ·Views (54)·Edit Jun 27, 2009 hiking treats and knee pits Did you want to read about Orry's and my nice long hike this morning?  Or did you want to catch the latest blogs you've missed from my other blogsitehttp://thecurrenttroydanielbecker.blogspot.com?   We saved several small bugs and worms from peril.   Worms in dry places, small butterflies in the water.  A green walking stick hanging out on some nongreen exercise equipment.   We put a bunch of mosquito or fly larvae or otherwise tiny little things in peril by getting them off of the safe rock where they were living, and into the pool where hungry tadpoles were waiting. Right away we started seeing wild strawberries, and eating them.  By wild strawberries, I mean these: They are barely sweet, mostly just a tiny watery treat. But then we saw wild raspberries.  I was curious, because they were very orange.  I wondered if they were just not ripe, but they otherwise "looked" ripe.  I tried them and decided that it was just a certain orange colored type of berry, because the ripe ones tastes like ripe raspberries.  Also, you seen my blog about "mountain berries", and these didn't appear to be them.  They appeared to be exactly like raspberries, except orange. Next we saw some red raspberries.  They weren't as deep a red as some raspberries I remember, but distinct from the others only by being some shades redder.  I asked an old lady who happened to hike by what they were, and she used the same old term "mountain strawberries"... Mind you, Orry and I were going to town on these berry brambles. We stayed out twice as long as usual, making our way and foraging for berries.  There is a little mountain spring up by "Salamander Stream", so we got some cold fresh water there. You are probably wondering about the tadpoles.  The salamander tadpoles have four tiny legs and they use them a little.  The frog tadpoles have the teeniest back legs sprouting unused.  We caught a few and inspected them, much to Orry's delight. It was a good time. Right now Orry is napping and little Gonzo is exploring around the apartment.  Bonnie's knees are sweating and so are my elbows.  By that, I mean Bonnie's knee pits, or popiteal fossae, and my elbow pits, or antecubital fossae.  Actually, I think the fossa is too precise for what I mean.  but you know what I mean right?  Hot and sweaty in the backs of your knees that makes you want to stand in front of a fan, or in the insides of the elbows, and you want to stand in front of a convenience store cooler with the door open for a minute. It's not that hot, it's just uncomfortably warm until a short while after sunset. 1:59 AM Like · Comment ·Views (50)·Edit Jun 24, 2009 shoes, bats, old drivers, tiny houses, Up, dams, enough 1.  I have the squeakiest shoes in this school, Hwangji Elementary, where I come to teach twice a week.  They are guest shoes, which I don't like that much, but I can't seem to be bothered to grab my own pair of extra shoes to wear, either.  Maybe next week.  The good thing about the guest shoes are "jiap" nodules.  "Jiap" is the Korean word for what the Japanese call--and what we've adopted into English as--shiatsu. 2.  I saw my first Korean bat yesterday.  It was bigger than any other bat I've seen close up. 3.  A couple days ago one of the students at this school died when he was run over by an old man driving a car.  His friend, in one of my classes, is recovering in the hospital.  The parents are in a bad state, understandably. I am all for age-based discrimination here.  If you're over 75, you shouldn't be driving unless you can pass a screening process, and even then, better judgment should be used when it comes to month-to-month or day-to-day driving capacity.  Between 65 (yeah, I know it's early, but that's when statistics start to rise alarmingly) and 75, increased requirements should be instated.  Currently, some states have similar legislation, but what I haven't seen, yet, is broad social programs to provide elderly free or cheap transportation when and where they need it.  It is one terrific benefit of more (efficient) public transportation and city planning. Do you know an old driver?  You should do what you can to help prevent this driver from causing an accident where he or she may be killed or kill others.  If you are wondering how to go about this, here is a link where you can read up.  It might help point you to resources that help you brooch a usually sensitive topic. 4.  The other day I ran into a fun link of "How to live in a tiny house".  I followed it, and want to share it with you.  How to live in a tiny house.  If you get into it, check out thistiny house blog and here is a tiny house newsletter.   The other treasure trove is Wiki's "how to" collaborative "how to" manual where you can discover how to wear white dresses, or skin a squirrel.  Or, if the entry doesn't exist, you can add it yourself.  Hmmm....  How to find a salamander...  How to start an irrigation siphon tube...  How to find a square root longhand...  How to dig a well.  How to read your mind.  The opportunities are limited by imagination only. 5.  We watched Up.  I really need to update my movie list.  Actually, I think it might be time to scrap it, because it would take a lot of effort to catch it up, and I don't think anybody gives a hoot, do you?  I don't, really.  If I did, I would start a spreadsheet, list each movie, and after watching it, score it and include some notes, thoughts, or critiques.   And come on.  If I was going to do that, I might as well be doing something else more useful.  Like taking out the compost. 6.  We stayed at a special guest house last weekend with some friends from church.  It was built in front of an Os dam.  I thought it was an Os dam.  But actually I wasn't hearing our friend right.  It is actually an "earth dam", which is an embankment dam, or one made primarily of compacting rocks or soil with an impervious zone (made of clay or plastic or concrete or other things).  This particular dam helps generate a small amount of electricity and also is a hold of drinking water and water used for industry. You can read about dams here. 7.  Seven things are enough for today, are they not?    Bonus: 6 months until Christmas. 11:00 PM Like · Comment ·Views (40)·Edit Jun 8, 2009 age, family news, berries Granny is 79, my mother is 53, I am 31, and Orry is 2.   What's neat is that these four generations are represented by these ages that are prime numbers.  "Prime number" is 최수공 배수 in Korean.  Kids are often prime, and primes are not all that uncommon as human ages.  But still, let us celebrate. Let us celebrate also for the whisper of new life in Bonnie.  We've got a new heartbeat in our family, and at this stage, it is about to have some limb buds and a mouth dent, et cetera.  Our predicted due-date according to ultrasound measurements is near the end of January, and we're all tickled a happy shade of pink. Well, I knew a little math talk would suck you in, and then I could deliver the family news.  I'm glad you made it this far. If you wonder about Korean mountain berries, I can tell you that they are a little different from raspberries, and quite a treat. 10:19 PM Like · Comment ·Views (50)·Edit May 28, 2009 cheating death, and so on Current mood:thankful Well, if Death is out to harvest us before we're ready, I have certainly cheated that grim reaper.  Imagine a list of things any wise man in his right mind would ask for, and what have I not experienced?  At the tender young age of thirtysomething, I wonder if even a nice lengthy life isn't all that relative since I have, by Korean standards, outlived a four-year-old by a factor of eight.  A sixteen-year old by double.  And if I am not wise enough to compose such a list, hmmm, it becomes doubtful that I know what actually is on it.  But, as if keeping score, let me say that the tally marks for life blessings comes to no small sum.   Family sure is up there on the list.  There is the appreciation and delight of the family I've grown up with and continue to grow with, as well as the wonder and delight of creating a family within that family.  From my own grandparents and forbears to the yet unspawned spawn of spawn...  what a smile on my heart for the continuity and experience of it all. From the associations of family my thoughts move to the free agents of relationship--friends.  To the friendship which endures beyond even our own stubborn and wiley ways.  Perhaps in this realm let us pigeonhole God, or fit God into family, or save God for another category altogether.  But let me say this about God, and friends.  It's been good.  Even when it's been bad.  (This is the optimist speaking). For living at a time to be able to experience the Earth not altogether unspoiled, yet not wholly a mystery, I am glad.  And this goes for the cosmos and our position in it and other details of physics as well. Before my declarations get too sentimental and I start naming names (cough, Bonnie, cough cough,) let me just say how appreciative I feel today, of having good health, for  discovering relatively young that happiness is not hiding under a rock or things, and so on. 6:35 AM Like · Comment ·Views (40)·Edit May 25, 2009 milk, graves, great winged things I started to drink the milk, knowing full well that it was sitting unopened at room temperature for a day.  I wouldn't have done this the day before the big exam, but I suspected I would be just fine drinking the lukewarm milk.  It made me wonder about pasteurization, so I looked it up. It turns out that this milk is UHT pasteurized, or ESL pasteurized.  That's ultra-high temperature, or extended shelf-life.  These little bozes, I read, can sit for months unopened at room temperature.  Which again makes me wonder, because the school is particular about the expiration dates.  And I doubt that everyday we get milk that's six months old.  But, anyway, this process is supposed to extend shelf life and reduce the need for refrigeration.  However, it has its drawbacks of course, as the heat flash really stresses or destroys the milk proteins.  But I'll tell you, this particular carton of lukewarm milk, like most Korean milk I've drunk, tastes delicious and creamy. That whole episode reminded me that I have more to tell you.  So I researched about Korean graves.  now I've told you some, if I recall accurately.  About how the graves are around here and there on hillsides.  About how we saw some hillsides on the way to Seoul which seem to be predominantly for grave use, but that you can't just easily go find a Korean "cemetery".  Then I read a great little piece in what I guess is a great little book.  Called Things Korean.   Google Books is awesome.  It scans books quickly and makes kind of like a giant library.  In this way, I can check out the book.  And I will sum up a little for you, but feel free to take a look at the entry about Mudeom, a Grave's Grave. The idea is that these Korean customs allow a gravesite to return slowly to the earth, as the memory of the person fades in the lives of the living. As for moths and butterflies, it was said that some people like butterflies, while some people hate moths.  And I tend to like both.  But my view of moths shifted, from the nasty little "millers" of my youth, to beautiful Luna moths and other great winged things I've observed later in life.  (Not to forget, one great insect of my youth was a hummingbird moth.).   Butterflies are great, and so easy to like, but one might also note that the little "skippers" whose larvae harmed crops are a little pesty at least, and their wings have that dust that tends to make one feel unclean.  However, who cannot love these insects, upon greater investigation, for the mysteries of their metamorphosis, their gift of flight, migration and super sensory perceptions where applicable, for their contribution to pollination and the grand life-cycle, and in the case of many, for their beauty if that alone were not all? 10:16 PM Like · Comment ·Views (30)·Edit May 21, 2009 Pass!, Orry, Gonzo Thank you, Bonnie, for writing the 1200th comment, for pressing my shirt, and for taking double duties the last few months while I prepared to school some actuary exams. Here I am at Taeseo Elementary School in Taebaek, Korea.  Yesterday, since it rained so much, they postponed Sports Day until Monday.  So now I get to experience the joys that go with that.  In yesterday's rain, I was inside a testing center in Seoul doing untold nasty things to the P actuary exam.  I have to admit, it felt good to get that done with.  A pass is a pass, and I was really hoping for at least just a pass, but I think that I scored the highest possible score or so.  Official results will be in  in eight weeks, but for now I am collecting unofficial congratulations papers from the testing site.  I suppose the job hunt begins.  Looking into the opportunities currently, I'm not sure I'll land a hot job yet, but we'll see.  Apparently fresh young graduates are a lot more appealing than old ducks like me.  But we'll see.  There's some charm left in this gray quacker. You're probably wondering about the next of six more tests I need to take before I become an Actuary Fellow.  That, I think, will be in November.  But I still need to look into details and maybe choose a direction and decide which test to take next.  And all that might come after getting a job if I get one, so we'll see.  I do want to start on something soon though, that I might cut down on the study crunch and spread it out in order to enjoy more of the precious family life. The precious family life?  Maybe some of you are wondering about Orry's or Gonzo's disposition.  Little Gonzo is my fun new nickname for Isaac.  Try it, and you'll like it too.  Orry, the easy baby, has developed into a nearly three year old image of his father, which is to say he exhibits any of the following descriptions when it comes to having his way, whether his way is logical, sensical, or otherwise: hard willed, insistent, persistent, adamant, demanding, stubborn.  He also will throw a fit or scream or exhibit other socially unacceptable behaviors.  What?! you say?  That little angel?  But yes, it is so.  We wonder, sometimes, because he seems to be too frustrated and angry too much of the time.  But I think we'll work on perspective and feelings and what we can and cannot control, not to mention continuing to improve all relationships in and out of the household, that we can be better examples, cultivate good healthy growth, et cetera.  Bonnie also pointed out the amount of attention sharing that Orry does on account of little Gonzo.  So we are taking pains to make sure Orry has good swaths of Orry time.   Little Gonzo is at a great age.  He is the explorer and he's figuring things out.  He's quite the game player and boy can he eat.  He is getting weaned which seems to not faze him at all that I can say.  He is getting faster feet although he's still a wobbly toddler.  He is more ticklish than Orry was and he is such a fun little laugher.  He likes various people and is just about as easy as Orry was.  Although he screams more than Orry did.  Orry healped teach that, I think.  They have screaming bouts sometimes.  That high pitched yip that little kids are so good at that pierces the sky?  Yes. To make up for lost time with the Korean language, I am going full force now.  I'm back at the folk tale translation and on to learn more of this language now. But before I end up this blog, let's tally the subjects of upcoming blogs.  You know I still need to blog about where dead Koreans go.  And then there's the moths and butterflies.  And did I tell you about sharing my first Korean cab ride, with a Korean stranger?  And I suppose an update is due for the salamander eggsacs and the tadpoles.  And I need to get some pictures and videos up too...   Thank you for your participation in my life. 7:19 PM Like · Comment ·Views (30)·Edit May 19, 2009 Hwangji Elementary Here I am at a new school, ready to fire off four different classes of third grade.  Hwangji Elementary is a much bigger school. It actually is nice to have something unmathy to command my attention for some portion of these 24 hours before I take the next actuary exam out for dinner and a good time, then never call her again. Today after school it's a train to Seoul for the night. I would teach at Hwangji again tomorrow except for my special leave for the exam.  That will be the schedule for upcoming weeks.  Hwangji on Wednesdays and Thursdays, except that I have teachers classes at Taeseo on Wednesdays after lunch.... Time for class! I like butterflies, and I like moths too.  More about that, later. 6:00 PM Like · Comment ·Views (51)·Edit May 12, 2009 happy feet, pricing adjustments There was a really fun time to be had for a short while in Seoul when we were walking away from our dinner rendezvous point near Hongik University.  There a guy had set up a drum circle where passers-by could sit and drum or dance or watch.  So Orry and Trent and I had some drum fun.  Then Bonnie bought a couple skirts. I was still also experiencing the elation of dancing.  Not my dancing, but Orry's happy feet.  After dinner and before Baskin Robbins we went to place in a park where some guys were rapping to some beats to a congregation.  There Orry became quite the hit for his dancing moves. So you can look forward to those videos and photos. Surprise!  Back in Taebaek we experienced our first price adjustments in Korea, as cab fare minimums rose 22% and our cheap kimbap joint raised their prices 17-33% as well.  However, as I mentioned last time, the azaleas are so vibrant--it is a fair trade. kimbap: A daurian redstart like the one spying on Trent and me while we collected dirt yesterday for the rooftop garden: 4:17 PM Like · Comment ·Views (37)·Edit May 10, 2009 Return from Seoul, all things considered Dear few readers, let me continue to tirelessly keep you abreast of our lives and other goings-on in Korea:  On the way back from Seoul, I saw wisteria blossoms cascading down their vines, gracing the hillsides, if not superior at least more delicate and romantic than Bacchanal decor.  The rest of Korea probably woke out of Spring earlier than a week ago, but it was this last week that our little city broke herself away from the clutches of Old Man Winter.  It was this week when you look at the hills and think and then rethink if you weren’t mistaken that a week ago weren’t they brownish?  The buds on twigs have developed into fine leaves, blossoms have become spent, and even the least eager of dandelions have gone white-haired in the attempts of reproduction.   In Taebaek, this last week has belonged to the azaleas.  The cheery cherry trees, the Japanese Magnolia blossoms, and other various Spring harbingers have made their showing and moreorless left.  The bleeding hearts, next, were an unsecreted delight.  But now, the glory of the azaleas promise to bring the full force of Spring to Taebaek.  In the sunny places where water is abundant, the purples and pinks will make demands of your eyes.  In other places, buds poke at the colors yet to come.  One of my personal excitements is to get in the mountains at the right times, where they are covered with mountain azaleas.  With the abundance of such life, who can fail to feel hopeful for another year to come? Another delight this last week has been lilacs, mostly white, which have blossomed and smelled terrific.  There is also a lilac-like mountain blossom with the sweetest aroma.  Maybe it is a Japanese lilac. Maybe none of you laughed at that.  And maybe even a few of you wondered if I forgot which country I am in.  But really, it is a sort of joke, because some of the things over here are named in the western world as Japanese this or that, even though the Koreans also might have it as well.  So it is like a joke, but it might be the case, really.  If the wireless internet connection on this train were stronger, I could probably try to look it up instead of finishing this web log. Other various flowers and blossoms have brought Spring in.  But the real sign that Taebaek has moved on from Winter happened on Thursday.  That is when the town became alive with plant starts.  And really, I’ve been a little antsy for this for weeks, feeling like some tomatoes should be going in the ground, and so on.  We got a few miniature tomato plants from a flower shop to sate me.  But on Thursday, trucks arrived in Taebaek with the bounty of greenhouses to our newly greened city.  Tomato starts, pepper starts, and maybe anything else, for anyone with the right number of South Korean won.  It was funny, because seriously, all the appropriate stores became stocked with these goods, packing away the dried Chinese dates (We could also play the game with China, but it’s funnier with Japan because of the residual strife between Korea and Japan, like brothers who have forgotten they were brothers) and peddling now these seasonal needs.   On the agenda for this week is some dirt collection at our Becker house.  Dirt is scarce in our immediate vicinity, but a short walk away there is mountains of it.  So I will get some, along with some worms for our compost barrel.  And we’ll get some of those starts to finally produce a garden on our humble roof. ******************************************************** We are glad to be back from Seoul.  I will leave the reporting of our events for now, but let me say how nice it was to pass the one actuary exam.  I have just 11 more days until my next test, so I will be cramming it in for a while.  It is the test that I already prepared for once, so in some sense I am ready.  But in another important sense, these next 11 days are very very important. Some of you probably wonder what is going on for us, long term.  Will we be staying in Korea?  Coming back to the states?  Moving to Greenland?  To answer this question, I will say I can not answer it for certain at this time, but I will give you a rundown of upcoming decisions that might give you some idea. We really like it here, and we are here, and so, if it were only that, I think it is safe to say both Bonnie and I would love to stay here.  On top of that, with Trent and Nicole staying here and having a baby, we have even more reason to want to stay here.  Living next to Trent has been a real treat for me after so much time of living apart.  You could call it a Trent treat.  Or Troy’s Trent treat. On the other hand, we are far away from everyone else.  But it’s nice to have the conveniences of our age, and email and keep in touch.  I am pleased that Bonnie and her parents are in touch almost every day thanks to Skype, where they not only talk to each other, but have video calls so that they get to see the kiddos. Other big factors.  First of all, for whatever reason, Trent and Nicole might not end up staying here.  It is too early for any of us to know for sure what will be available to us, let alone what we will finally decide.  Then, there is the chance of finding a good actuary position.  I will start some serious looking after I pass the next exam, and it may be that I can find something desirable to take up in September.  If nothing ideal comes up, another year over here would provide ample preparation time to pass some more exams and become even a better candidate for actuary opportunities (We’re talking about a series of about eight exams over the next five years or so to become a “fellow” actuary and earn top dollar.).  Lastly, there are the Baton Rouge properties which maintain for us a small passive income.  This, above everything, is probably the largest deciding factor for what will happen this summer.  If things remain the same, we will be fine.  But things will not remain the same.  Still, we may be fine.  We have to see what happens.  There is also the possibility of Bonnie’s belly swelling with another baby yet again.  We are sort of on the fence about this, and September seems to be our “golden” month when it might be “most convenient” to choose to have a baby in Korea, or move back to the states for number three God willing.  I think Bonnie would like to be within 10000 miles of her mother at childbirth.  Let us see. Staying here would be great, language-wise, for Orry, and Isaac too.  Not to mention their parents.  Also for reasons of cultural observation.  Moving to another country besides the US, like Greenland, would be another adventure.  It doesn’t seem in the cards for us.  But I should say, exactly a year ago, we had not an iota of foreknowledge that Korea was at all in our window of possible futures.  And now we can tell that the ajumas on the train are talking about the Summer cabbage. Happy Mothers’ Day. 4:09 AM Like · Comment ·Views (32)·Edit May 8, 2009 Lotte World Troy:  We went to Lotte World yesterday, and had a gay old time.  Orry had a "car" ride, a "hot air balloon" ride, and a monorail ride.  He also went on a kiddie ferris wheel.  A kiddie revolving rising ride, a fantasy dreamland tour on a little train.  We watched an animal theater.   I rode the French Revolution, and exciting rollercoaster.  Bonnie rode the tree swing.   Bonnie:  Lotte World is a pretty awesome place.  There's a hotel, shopping center, department store, indoor amusement park, outdoor amusement park, restaurants, and a lake.  We went after 4 pm to avoid the heat and to get a sweet discount on the ticket prices.  Orry didn't seem like he was having that good of a time.  We took an early train and he only had a half hour nap so he was a little tired and cranky by the time we got there.  I know he had a great time, because at night when we talked about our day, he was really excited to tell me that he rode a car and a hot air balloon.  Isaac had a good time, I guess...  He rode all the rides with us, but the most excitement came from all the people that "oooh"ed and "ahhhhh"ed over him, his hair, and his eyes.  He's such a ham, smiling for everyone.  I was sure to wash their hands and faces really well when we got to the hotel because each child got touched about a hundred times by different people.  I guess the thing that impressed me the most was how they managed to fit so much stuff indoors.  There are roller coasters winding all around the place, water rides, train rides, toy stores on every corner, restaurants and snack bars to satisfy your every whim, carnival games, arcade games, photo opportunities, a stage for performances, and much more.  Also note that this amusement park is in the heart of the city, so to speak.  This isn't like Disney World, relatively isolated on it's own sprawling acreage.  There are office buildings and apartments so close that people are looking out of the windows and seeing smiling faces and hearing the delighted screams of many children.   If anyone has a chance to see it, they should, just for the sheer novelty of the place.  But don't be confused, it doesn't hold a candle to my favorite, Disney World.... Troy:  Also there were lots of Disney t-shirts worn by the peeps.  It was so big.  There was all sorts of stuff we didn't see.  We missed out on the folk museum and the natural ecology experience.   But, it's more to do for next time!  Let me tell you, we were tuckered out by the end of the day.  I thought I was in pretty good walking shape from walking so much in Taebaek, but especially carrying one or the other tot throughout the afternoon, and walking around and around, and standing in line a few times, it can really take its toll. Luckily, we have the awesomest hotel to come to.  It started as a Mother's Day "gift" to Bonnie, staying in a nice hotel.  But searching for such resulted in this sweet online find where we made online reservations for about half price, so we're staying in this nice hotel for less than the cost of staying in a hostel!  So I guess the Mother's Day gift turns out to be a gift for the pocketbook as well.  And it's a Best Western.  While definitely Korean, they have such "oddities" here, like a bathtub and shower curtain.  And carpet?!?!  Anyway, a great place to stay, and our room for about $40/night....  You can't beat that in Seoul unless you couchsurf. Today we have a bunch of adventures planned out, and some unplanned.  It's getting to be 8:30, so let's be off! 4:48 PM Like · Comment ·Views (22)·Edit May 5, 2009 Gangwon Comprehensive Museum, Gee Gee Gee Gee Gee This long weekend was a lot of fun.  Monday was the exhausting day.  We went to the Gangwon Comprehensive Museum, and then the beach.  Our camera's battery failed after the first station of over a dozen at the museum.  We were taking photos of the amazing rocks, but what we missed out on was everything else.  Perhaps top of the list were all the carved wood exhibits in station four.  We are talking about enormous trunk chunks carved into brilliant one piece multi part mural scenes.  15 feet by 6 feet, for example.  With plenty of depth to carve out an intricate little world.  At the restaurant on the beach, we found some international sand sculpters. I still managed to put in lots of study time and I'm ready for this actuary test on Friday.   It means another trip into Seoul, so we'll see how that goes. For today and tomorrow, however, it's back to the "grind".  My schedule changes slightly this week and tomorrow I think we meet with elementary teachers from around our district to confer about teaching English classes for other schools.  Which has been part of our schedule since March, which is why my teaching schedule has been so lax these past couple months. We're getting ready for birthdays in our house.  Isaac likes to stand and toddle.  Orry likes to learn our Korean songs with us.  My Korean song to learn is: Bonnie put together another tasty meal last night, with some beef, broccoli, and ginger. 4:44 PM Like · Comment ·Views (20)·Edit Apr 28, 2009 taking over the menu Dear reader, it has been too long since I reminded you of the culinary delights I feast on from day to day.  Lest you imagine, in your mind's eye, that I feast on hamburgers or mashed potatoes and gravy for my school lunch, with a side of canned corn and a brownie or some chocolate pudding for dessert, let me remind you: no.   Today, for example, we had what I guess after some translation attempts are sea snails.  Yes, I just found it:  Sea Snail Salad featured on this page.   Sea snails, vegetables, and of course, pepper paste.  And the verdict?  I have to say Yum. The other day, the surprise was squid and apple salad.  Now I guess Spring is the season for these curious salads, but this, too, was slathered in pepper paste.  And again, Yum.  A curiously rewarding combination. Other than that, lunches are the usual.  Some soup, usually spicy.  Rice.  Kimchi.  The occasional fruit, like the cherry tomatoes we had the other day.  We also had a curry with pineapples and raisins in it recently. I know it's not common to get two blogs in one day from me, but here they are, today. The beautiful Spring day turned cold  Winter, that cold beast void a soul, licked his lips and took back the day, bringing cold rain and black clouds, and nothing for us to do but shiver in his icy breath.   Coming up, I must at some point blog about torrents.  Wow.  And still waiting is the blog about where dead Koreans go.    For now, all my best. 12:53 AM Like · Comment ·Views (36)·Edit Apr 27, 2009 taking over the city Today is a beautiful Spring day, no kidding.  It is still, and sunny.  Crisp still in the morning, but we did put some diapers on the line before I went to work and they're probably dry by now (less than an hour later). We are considering some travel for our upcoming four day weekend.  But we'll have to see.  The delicate matter is that my big test is in 10 days, so this upcoming weekend is really crunch time.  But we'll see.  We are pretty sure about traveling to Japan in July, but even with that, we keep postponing the purchase of our tickets. Isaac's solo steps are becoming more frequent, but he still hasn't switched mobility modes, and that's just fine with us!  He has started to communicate a little more with sounds other than primal screams, and also with his hands.  He is a little eater, that's for sure.  We are always thinking of nicknames for him since it turns out Isaac is a popular name.  I think Peach is out of the running, however. At church, an "interim pastor" sat by us this week and gave us a brief sketch of the sermon.  She has been put in charge of taking care of us, I think. Beginning yesterday, Orry started taking care of a little bear puppet we have at the house.  We are talking about sending him to preschool starting in May so we'll keep you posted. The hills are greening, the dandelions are taking over the city, and the cherry blossom petals are littering the streets.  We went hiking on Saturday morning and took some more photos, which we'll have to share.  One of the critters we photographed is a red squirrel.  Now, I thought I knew what a red squirrel was, but, being a native American, I didn't know, really.  the "red" squirrels in the New World are not red squirrels, see.  Red squirrels are Old World squirrels.  And their ears are extra tufty, giving them quite a distinct appearance.  Moreover, they don't have to be red.  The one we saw was a charcoal gray color. No signs of morels yet.  I haven't been able to determine if they exist here, but I suspect they do. 6:15 PM Like · Comment ·Views (40)·Edit Apr 19, 2009 salamander eggs and numbered days It's raining now. Over the weekend we saw a bunch of salamander eggsacs.  We saw one salamander.  We saw this on our Saturday morning exercise hike.  We also saw lots of frog eggs.  It is that time of year.   We have continued to use our laundry line on the roof.  When it's hot and dry and windy it takes less than a half hour to dry things! Isaac was sick last week but he's feeling better now.  I was sick too, but I was never feeling all that bad.  Isaac's temperature was up past 103.  He had some tonsillitis and got some antibiotics from the doctor.  Isaac didn't like these antibiotics at all. The cherry tree blossoms in Taebaek are all quite fantastic.  It's so nice to see the springtime blossoms.  I guess these April showers will bring some May flowers, too. I have had my nose in the actuary exam study guides.  18 days. Which reminds me.  My calculator has a built in function for determining the number of days between dates.  As in, Isaac was 300 days old on March 7th.  My dad was 10080 days old when he had me, and I was another hundred days plus old when we had Orry.  And Trent will be a little older come November than my dad was when he had Trent.  And my mom and Bonnie are close to the same age when it comes to their childbearing.  As you know, we passed up my 11111st day last summer.  But did you know we also passed up Orry's 1000th day?  Anyway, stuff like that. Now I must go prepare for teaching second grade. Thank you, as always, for reading.   8:27 PM Like · Comment ·Views (56)·Edit Apr 12, 2009 BPOP, and a very eventful weekend Current mood:happy The first bit of news to report is that on Wednesday I noticed a curious small bump on the joint of my left middle finger closest to my palm and on the palm side.  It is a bony nodule about the size of a lentil.  So Thursday morning I hit the Internet research and gave the self diagnosis of a small bone tumor that is rarely mastitic, or, more probably BPOP.  BPOP stands for bizarre something something proliferation and as it may suggest to you reader, this little lentil might grow into something more, well, bizarre.  This sort of growth is known as Nora's Lesion after a doctor who described it in the early eighties.  Apparently it is an odd pathology that occurs most commonly where it occurs on me in people my age.  Next on the docket is to see a doctor and get some documentation and recommendations.  It is removable, oftentimes with recurrence, presuming, of course, it is what I think it is.  On the other hand, if it weren't to bizarrely proliferate, I am fine with leaving it alone for all of my days.  It doesn't seem to affect me much, except in knowing that it's there, which has really bugged me the past five days.  Also, it is "in the way" in the sense that its placing is inconvenient for holding things and pushing strollers sometimes.  But no biggie.  Yet. So, how does one keep his mind off of a bone tumor?  Well, on Friday we took a day trip to a nearby flower festival, where I went on national news again.  Here is what I didn't tell them in our brief interview: I found out last week that Friday was a school vacation day for our school, so we planned on traveling to some nearby cities where they put on festivals to celebrate the beautiful spring blossoms. We decided on Samcheok, the next town over, which is putting on a canola or "rape flower" festival.  Did you know that canola's name as such comes from "CANadian Oil Low-Acid"?  It's modified rapeseed, or as the Korean's call it, "rape flower".  I don't know if what we were in was canola, or actual unmodified rapeseed.  Probably the latter I guess. So, we called a Samcheok Tour Info number and spoke with some people about how to best get to the festival.  We planned on taking the train and it doesn't have a main "Samcheok" stop, but has a couple stops in Samcheok.  We were told to get off at the Shingi station, whereupon we would take a bus into town and then another bus to the festival site.  Too many buses, I thought--we'd probably just take a taxi.  But anyway, we set out for our family adventure.   This is all after I went and exchanged some won for dollars at the bank.  My new idea is to change our money into dollars but keep it in Korea, and if the exchange rate goes bad again, I can change dollars we have here into cheap won, speculating that the won will get good (or at least better) again.  On the other hand, if the won keeps getting better, that's okay, too.  It keeps us from having to change money at the worst possible rate.  Unless of course it gets real bad, and then I change my money back into won, and then it never ever gets good again. The train ride was beautiful.  Just leaving out Taebaek station, we started getting into areas where the cherry blossoms were at their best.  Actually now, just a few days later, I am seeing more blossoms in Taebaek too.  I guess because of our altitude, we usually experience the cherry blossoms up to a month later than elsewhere.  Anyway, it was wonderful to see the blossoms and the Spring scenery.  This continued on until our destination, the bustling Shingi station which is near the middle of nowhere. At the Shingi station, I realized that we were misled, because the helpers there didn't seem to be very familiar with getting into Samcheok by bus.  Well, they were able to find out easily enough, and they told us.  There were two buses we could catch, and they showed us where.  One was leaving in 10 minutes, and it was a short walk.  But another was leaving in 40 minutes, in case we missed the first one.  We hiked up there and missed the first bus.  Actually, we were in the right place at the right time, but we didn't know it.  Until later. We gave up waiting for the first bus, which had already come to the stop we passed up unknowingly.  We then proceeded to wait for the second bus, which was the right place for the first bus.  We waited and waited, and finally gave up.  Now, I will admit, this would have been a good time to have a timepiece.  Because as soon as we crossed the road to inquire at a convenience store/shop/restuarant about getting a taxi, the bus went by, not a minute off schedule at 1:30pm. I think any normal person would be experiencing dismay or anger at this point.  But not me of course.  I garnered more chi and waited peacefully for another 40 minutes for the next bus.  Bonnie, actually, was the peaceful one.  We learned some Korean from a Learn Korean book we thankfully brought. It turns out, that not but a five minute walk away from where we waited for more than an hour, is one of the most splendid looking museum complexes I have seen. click it to see more: But, it's probably good that we didn't know it, or as opposed to waiting around for more than an hour, we would have walked there, and we would have been sucked in, and we would have missed the rapeseed festival. We did see it right away after boarding the bus, though, again to my dismay. Getting into Samcheok was worth it though.  The main bus terminal offered the peace of mind I wanted because they had buses going back to Taebaek later in the day that we could take, instead of getting back out to the Shingi station or trying to discover an alternate train route.  The actual twon of Samcheok is right near the coast, so the weather was milder (It was downright hot where we waited near the Shingi station). As soon as we got the taxi to the rapeseed festival, we were in another sort of heaven.  All the dismay and hot waiting melted away into the distant past, as we watched the cherry blossoms fall like snow.  The fields of yellow lay ahead in promise, next to the festival tents, and other colors drugged our eyes while the mountains on the one side and the sea on the other made us forget all our troubles.  Or, maybe it was the beautiful smells.  It was like sticking your nose in a morning glory, without the trouble of keeping it there.  Our atmosphere, for the couple of hours we were there, consisted not of air, but of that delicate delightful aroma. When I was eighteen, and I lived in the little farm house east of Jerome, and I moved a lot of pipe, I moved pipe in canola fields.  I did tell the interviewer that I had seen rapeseed before, in my country.  But I didn't tell him about the farmhouse. The interviewer and his camera crew snatched us Taebeckers and took their footage.  It was a quick, pleasant experience actually.  Of course we didn't know for sure if we would make the news, but at church yesterday we heard a lot about it. We saw beetle grubs bigger than mice.  We ate rapeseed pancakes.  We played in bubbles and smiled and laughed.  It was fun. We took a bus back to Taebaek and that's the end of my rapeseed festival story. However.  That was just Friday.  And now I realize I must hurry to describe the rest of our weekend in just a few minutes.  I have to go to class, and I'm sure you have to do something important too. Saturday morning we hiked with Trent to our exercise mountain.  Then instead of coming home the way we went, we took a roundabout exploration that got us home seeing some new things, new routes, new exercise stations.   We saw the names of some flowers which I'll have to describe another time.  Later in the weekend we found that our favorite exercise mountain bird is called a black-capped chickadee. Yesterday we started our happy Easter by making use of our rooftop clothesline.  That was fun. And our Sunday included a hike up to another new place right outside of downtown, which is another mountain climb.  We just walked up a little way to a neat resting place, temple, and coal workers monument (of some sort).  There are some beautiful tulip trees blooming these days.  Some girls were collecting dandelion greens.  This was Trent and me, Orry and Isaac.  It was fun. It makes me want to write about the Korean dead.  Because on hillsides like this, you'll see some graves.  But I'll have to write about that another time. Then that evening we had porridge together with Nicole's parents.  As a Korean treat, we all went out after that to Noraebang, and we all sang songs and laughed and danced. To top it off, later that night, Bonnie and I watched a Woody Allen movie we had downloaded.  Michael J Fox, Woody Allen, and Blossom, of all people.  Don't Drink The Water.   What a week. 7:06 PM Like · Comment ·Views (49)·Edit Apr 5, 2009 Tang. Exotic Fowl. There are these rice dumplings that have the consistency of marshmallows.  Also there is banana milk, apple milk, and grape milk, the last of which reminds me of goatmilk yogurt flavored with Tang, which was a remote treat in a the goaty memories of my childhood.  The milk doesn't taste goaty, to be sure.  It's just that the grape flavoring reminds me of the Tang. Today we went to a small bird area that reminds me of the bird area one mile south in Jerome, over a ways from the Hintons.  And, well, near that new Canyonside School Building, right?  Anyway, what did we call that?  The Bird Farm?  It was a place I only went to maybe once or so if ever.  But basically there is a variety of fowl.  This place in the middle of nowhere had a couple of ostriches.  And a peacock which fanned its tailfeathers (ah, i now recall going to the bird farm with a kindergarten or early school field trip--where I saw for the first time the same thing--peacock pomp).  It also had some ponds with fish, some demonstrations of how flowing water can be made to assist with milling, a tunnel showcasing the days of coal mines (Taebaek's bygone glory), et cetera. For a musical treat of curious exotic fowl, visit here. There were lots of sitting places.  It was a nice relaxing time in the countryside.  Unfortunately it was also when the kiddos usually nap.  But once in a while you've got to take adventure over routine.  And we don't get offers to go see exotic fowl every day. 3:33 AM Like · Comment ·Views (39)·Edit Apr 2, 2009 updates, and more about ants Updates are in order. The other week Isaac started signing including pointing, waving, nodding, and so on.  He started standing on his own with gusto, and almost takes steps.  He also loves crawling all around, giving kisses, getting hugs, playing peek-a-boo, pattycake.  His babbling is a little more orderly, and he'll go into phases of saying "aba" (Korean for daddy), but it's still pretty babbly.  However, he's quite adept with his hands.  He started eating just about everything he can eat at this age, and likes to fill up with us whenever we eat.  He is, in my estimation, a fairly easy baby, having a minimum of fits and squirms, and mainly only if he's tired. Orry started drawing faces and objects with more discernable features.  Like small circles and dots for eyes, and spiders with many legs and so on.  He uses Korean more for introductions and phrases like thank you, and demonstrates a lot of new concepts and ideas every day it seems.  He likes to go on excursions with Bonnie during the day, and well, he likes just about everything.  He was in a really whiny phase lately, but seems to be on the tail end of it (I'm not holding my breath there).  He is partly well mannered and an all around good and fun little tot.  He likes "studying" Korean flashcards, and entertaining himself with reading materials, as I reported earlier.  He is quite reasonable and growing more aware of his emotions. Bonnie gets the MVP award for the last few months (if not years).  And she also earns the Most Improved award.  She has been gobbling up Korean food like a Korean lately, and also learning the language more than any of us.  We got some books in Seoul that she's going through and I think it helps her fill in some language gaps.  Plus, last week she went to this reading-to-your-tots center and got some easy Korean books that she's excited about, and all that really helps language acquisition. I get the math award, for my continues studies and practice of applied mathematics.  In a way I am making up for the lazy practice of math since my high school days.  I am the type that likes to learn the theory and structure, even at the cost of believing what is taught as opposed to rigorous investigation of mathematical proofs.  The upside is that I conceptually understand a good bit of the relationship and know-how of various fields within mathematics.  The downside is I have always been mostly unpracticed with the mechanics of working out the applications of theory, and working on "real-life" problems that use mathematics.  As it turns out, this is precisely actuarial work.  So I am getting a new training on material that is pretty familiar.  Apart from that, I eat and sleep and play with the tots and Bonnie a few hours each day.  And I teach a few English classes each week at school, as required by my employment.  My fun classes are kindergarten and sixth grade.   The mountains are snowy again, but this morning was so calm and pleasant that I suspect Spring is on its way again. Ants, they say, weigh on average .3 milligrams, which is 3x10^-7 kg.  There are between 10^16 and 10^17 of them, those little rascals.  This means there are between 3x10^9 and 3x10^10 kgs of ants.  Which is another way of saying three billion to 30 billion kgs.  Humans, on the other hand, weigh an average of 50 kg (5x10^1kg), and as you know, there are fewer than (but close to) 7 billion (7x10^9) of us.  So we weigh, collectively, less than (but close to) 350 billion kgs (35x10^10).  It looks like we outweigh ants by a factor of ten. However, I could not find good sources for the weight of an average ant, nor for how many there are.  I put these figures together from a wikipedia article on biomass, which was very much less than reliable.  For a good wikipedia article, though, that is well sourced, and interesting, check out this ant wikipedia entry.  And, for a good read, if your anterested at all, check out Journey to the Ants.  In online form, I read about a supercolony in Japan that had over a million queens and their respective colonies interrelating in one humungous ant city.  I also read somewhere that an ant colony of normal size has has many brain cells as a human.  Again, I am skeptical.   6:07 PM Like · Comment ·Views (33)·Edit Mar 23, 2009 fruits that begin with k Now in Korea is the season for delicious kiwis, and also the curious little fruit known as the kumquat.  We had our first kumquat family experience.  In fact, I can't remember for sure if I have eaten a kumquat before.  I think I have, but I don't think I ate it correctly.  This time, I googled the way to eat a kumquat, to be sure: Well, Orry was given a couple of these sweet-tart little gems last night on our grocery stroll.  Then, when we got home and ate them, I decided to go back and buy a bag.  They are delicious! As for kiwi, wow.  We just love delicious kiwi, so we've been buying them as well. On another note, Isaac is standing on his own now.  No marathon feats yet, but it's a new game, I think.   The sky was bluer than BB King this morning.  Against the backdrop of the sunkissed hilltops I found a likeness to the blue blue ocean and the gray-brown-green of the similarly fractal coastline.   A cold snap came through the other night and we woke up to frosted mountains.  It cleaned up the air from the Asian yellow dust, and although it got nippy again, the clarity of the air makes it even sound like Spring is nigh.   I like that this is the country of the morning calm.  On my walk to work today, the only sound I could hear was the rustle of my hood.  I was a mobile organism in a petri dish six times the size of the moon. You know, no doubt, about key limes.  Here is a list of other k fruits for your curious mind, dear reader: Kakadu lime Kakadu plum Kutjera Karkalla Keppel fruit Kandis fruit Kundong Kahikatea 7:27 PM Like · Comment ·Views (41)·Edit Mar 22, 2009 neohumans, my life, books within a book It's a night of little sleep, and so, I write. One of the first issues is what to do about blogging on this blogspot as well as myspace. I guess what I'll do is copy at both places for a while and see what happens. The story idea of the night is set in the future, when humanity has evolved. A neohuman student is studying the history of the neohuman evolution, and is writing a school report about it. In the report it is revealed that the evolution happened during the current-day times, when software was developed that helped bridge a gap with the communication of autistic people. And, it turns out, that in the future, most everybody is autistic. But also, there is a relationship with technology that enters into the evolution of life--because part of the competitive edge is owing to the technology that comes out of this software development. Anyway, that's just the framework for the story. The actual story would have to be like Slumdog Millionaire, which we finished watching tonight, and contain a good blend of love, hope, and themes of destiny, brotherhood, and the rest of the marvels and plight of the human condition. I am nearing up on one billion seconds of age fast enough. Here is a synopsis for those of you just tuning in, or those of who you like to read updates: I was born and still think of myself as an Idahoan. I grew up on a farm. Or a few farms, actually. I lived with my grandparents during the transition period between childhood and adulthood. This means that I was first madly in love when I was a child. I went to college and graduated in four years and never changed my major from mathematics after declaring it my freshman year. Upon graduating, though, I moved to Japan and taught English. But in between graduation and moving to Japan I got married! After living in Japan for a year, I lived in Portland, Oregon, and worked teaching English as a second language, and as a math instructor at a vocational college, and a few other jobs. I have had more jobs in my life than I have had girlfriends, but fewer than the number of half-birthdays. Unless, well, it depends on what you mean by jobs. And girlfriends, maybe. In Oregon is where I got divorced. Then I hitch-hiked across the country. I was restless. Then I started graduate school in Louisiana, studying mathematics some more. In 2004 I finished with that, not finishing what I set out to do. I had started with the buying, selling, fixing-up, and renting of real estate. The renting of which I am still involved with. In 2005 Bonnie became such a part of my life that it was impossible to extricate myself from her grasp, and we tied a wedding knot. And had one little boy. And another. And then we moved to Korea. Where I am teaching English to kindergarteners and second graders tomorrow. Unless there is some sort of Korean change of plans I am yet not aware of. Currently I am studying for actuary exams. The current plan is to see what opportunities are available after passing a couple, and taking that route. Or, possibly staying another year here teaching and taking another exam or two to perhaps find better opportunities yet. I am also learning Korean. We live in a small two bedroom apartment on the second floor of a house very near our town center. It is awesome. Our rooftop access will allow for a garden this year, but I need to find to do the following. I need to collect some pots. I need to collect some dirt. I need to find where i can get some tomato starts and other plants, or seeds. Completing these tasks is a fun but unpredictable adventure in a foreign land with a foreign tongue. The other idea for the night is to make a book of book or story ideas. And maybe it is something I can just write a blog about. A blog of book ideas that maybe one day I'll publish as a book. 12:11 PM Like · Comment ·Views (38)·Edit Mar 19, 2009 A special day with Orry Current mood:happy One thing I really like about the arrangement of my life is getting to spend what seems like extra time with the tots.  On a busy week, I see them before work in the morning, and sometimes just a little in the evening before it's bedtime, but on special days like today, well, let me tell you: We woke up this morning and got ready for the special day.  Instead of like most days, Orry was planning to go to school with me today.  Except, I think he forgot the plan between yesterday and today (Don't let me lead you to believe that his little memory isn't developed.  Why, just yesterday, he related to me a memory previously unspoken, which happened on a plane ride last August.).  Anyway, we got dressed, ate some yogurt, and headed off to school. Now, school is just about 1.6 kilometers away, and I think he was walking like a trouper for the first third.  The second third he did all right, but he got a ride for most of the last third.  Walking is fine, but walking with purpose (to get somewhere)--well, is it any two-year-old's cup of tea?  We did manage to walk the fifteen minute walk in about 25 minutes however.   When we got to school we changed our shoes and went to Kindergarten.  Now, I sort of feel bad about surprising the kindergarten teacher in this way.  But not too bad.  I mean, I was able to spend all morning in there with him, and last term we had the invitation to come and spend select playtimes with the group, so I sort of felt like it was within bounds.  Of course, his presence is going to be a little disruptive, but I was pretty sure that I could help keep it to a minimum.  And I think I was right, now that our day is over.  It was most disruptive right when we got there, before the start of the day really. Orry has really come a long way since he first started "sampling" the kindergarten last fall.  Back then he had no real grasp of the "group" idea, and that's come around quite a bit by now.  He played a new game today, for example, which is, dance and move around while the piano is playing, but freeze when it stops.  He had to "get it" by watching everybody else, and sure enough, with only a little coaxing, he participated and got it. The other challenge having to do with the group concept is sitting when they all sit, and practicing patience when it's listening time, even though you really want to play.  I was pleased and surprised at how Orry did this all morning long.  Not without some management on my part, but by and large, he did what is expected of the kindergarteners, which I think is amazing for his age. What the morning entailed: First there was reading time where we look at books and then sit in the center of the room when we're done. Then Miss Eun talked about things like the date, days of the week, and other things which I think were what do you do at home or what are you going to do this weekend.   I interject here to remind those of you who haven't been to kindergarten in a while that there is a lot of talk-and-listen time where you stretch out something simple (like what I just said) into a 40 minute interval where all the kids get to say a thing or two and sometimes you even recap by writing the things down on a sheet of paper on a clipboard, and then recap again by going over the items.  Meanwhile the kids get multiple chances to say or repeat things, they get a lot of language listening skills, and also they practice patience, as well as the wonderful art of slowing down time that we sometimes forget once we've ordered our world into manageable sense. It was then a bathroom break and some sitting and singing.   Then there was a period of playing for a short while while two of the students went to get the crate of milks for the classroom. Then we sat and stretched out the giving and getting and sitting and opening and drinking of milk into about a 20 minute interval. Then it was free play time, followed by pick-up time. Then it was organized play time where the students are encouraged to play at various craft or learning stations. Somewhere in here there was more song and that aforementioned freeze-game. Then we had another bathroom break probably.  Before we gathered around and learned how to jumprope. Even teaching to jumprope was a much longer process than I would have guessed.  It entailed a full and detailed lesson with much reiteration.  Then everybody got a chance to try, one by one, following Miss Eun's four-step method.  Then most everybody got to try to jump five times in a row, again, one-by-one with everybody engaged in watching and cheering.  Then Miss Eun showed where the classroom jumpropes are and how to get them out and put them away. Finally it was time to wash hands and line up for lunch.  Whereupon we walked in a line down the hall, quiet as mice, and into the cafeteria, where we were served breaded octopus tentacle (with mustard), kimchi fried rice, rice cakes, and seaweed-mussel-soup. After lunch, Bonnie showed up to take away our little firstborn, who is growing up as fast as time will allow. 9:35 PM Like · Comment ·Views (26)·Edit Mar 17, 2009 to eat a radish in your throat... I like our little place.  Bonnie has done a lot of work to make it homey, and when I opened up the bathroom the last time I have to say it actually smelled pleasant and inviting. Do you know about fels-naptha?  Telcia used some in making some laundry detergent.  The process of making one's own soap is a little inspirational to me.  Although I still tout Dr Bronners soapmaking excellence. Did you hear that Isaac started teething in Seoul?   Exciting plans being laid have to do with travel this summer to Japan.  Airfare is super cheap right now and we are looking into working for a week on a farm in Japan in exchange for room and board.  I'll keep you updated.  Hopefully by then I will have passed the first two actuary exams.  May is the next test date and I am resuming review and study effective today. Okay, now, to leave you with a Korean folk tale: The Man Who Became A Cow Once upon a time there lived a lazy man in a rural village.  This lazy man never worked at all.  While his wife worked diligently in the vegetable field, Lazybones only napped. One day the wife complained to her lazy husband.  Lazybones became angry, and so he left the house.  In the heart of the mountains, Lazybones met an old man.  This old man was making a mask out of wood.  Lazybones spoke with the man: “Grandfather, what are you making?” “I am making a cow-head mask…” “But why are you making it?” “If a lazy person wears it, good things will happen.” “Oh, really? Then, I will try wearing it at once.” Lazybones tried on the cow-head mask.  And then he really became a cow.  Lazybones was surprised: “Grandfather!  Please take off this mask!” But a human voice did not come out.  Instead, the only sound that came out was “Moo, moo.”  The old man brought the cow to the market.  And the old man sold the cow to a farmer. The next day the farmer ordered the cow to work.  The cow had to work all day long from dawn until night.  Then Lazybones thought: “Oh, it’s too difficult.  I would rather die.” At this, Lazybones remembered the words spoken by the old man.  When the old man sold the cow, he said to the farmer like this: “If this cow eats a radish in its throat, it will die.  Therefore, be careful about radishes.” Lazybones in the mask had to work the next day as well.  While he was doing so, Suddenly Lazybones ran to a radish field.  And he ate a radish.  Soon, Lazybones changed again into a man.  The farmer was very surprised.  Lazybones explained the story to the farmer in detail.  And Lazybones returned to his house.  And from that time on, Lazybones worked very diligently.  And together with his wife lived happily ever after. 10:48 PM Like · Comment ·Views (23)·Edit Mar 15, 2009 friday the thirteenth I am embarrassed to write that I did not pass the actuary examination.  Let me give you a run-down of the past few months.  I decided to take it in January, and got right in on studying.  At first, it seemed like it was going to be easy.  But as I got into more material, I realized that it was going to be a lot of memorizing and relearning.  At least, I decided, it was an advantage that I have already learned the material--that I am, in fact, fairly comfortable in my understanding and comprehension of the test material.  However, a few weeks before the exam time, and I was studying like a gang-buster.  I was getting nervous about the test because all the applications and "doing the math" was a lot harder than understanding the concepts.  It is an aspect of knowledge not unfamiliar to any student of math, I am sure. I studied and studied, and by the second day before test-time, was confident that I was practiced enough and ready for the exam.  When I sat for the exam on Friday, I was somewhat nervous, but not too much.  My first problems were difficult, and I got that feeling that perhaps the test was going to teach me a lesson.  But I soon realized that the test questions were randomly ordered and that those first couple were the hardest ones. By the end of the exam, I was happy and relieved.  I felt underwhelmed by the test content, and although I didn't fly through it, I felt confident about 23 out of the 30 questions.  I was thinking to myself about how the hard work had paid off.  But then the screen came up that told me that preliminarily, I did not succeed in passing.  Of course, at once I wonder about the official result.  Did I eke by, barely?  But the preliminary results are rarely wrong (1 in the past years, for about .0001 error), so I am not banking on beating those odds.  It means that of those I thought I had right, I must have missed at least a few.  So, I'll sit for the test again in a couple months, and bone up even further on the material.  There are plenty of cases where some shortcuts and more familiarity with the various distribution processes will help answer more of the questions more quickly, leaving more time for some more thorough reckonings. It was sort of a bubble-burster, of course.  It being my field, and me a master, and, I should say, even more pointedly, probability being my area of mathematics (The exam is called a Probability exam), I cannot emphasize enough that it is embarrassing for me to not pass.  Bonnie asked if I had failed before at exams or anything.  Of course, I have, but this is something I set my mind on, and when that happens, I usually end up achieving what I set out to do.  I have had a couple of failures recently though.  One was the children's book project of a couple years back.  Another was this Korean English Essay contest.  Not to mention any of a dozen book projects that haven't taken off.  But instead of feeling thwarted, I sense even more motivation to bury the next several exams. Course of action: I shall apply to take the test again in May.  I shall get some supplementary study guides to help prepare (instead of developing my own study from the available testbank material).  And in May, the exam will be sorry we met. ***************************** Aside from not passing that exam, we made the most of our Seoul excursion.  We checked out more tiny slices of that giant city, the size of which boggles my mind.  I guess it is about the population size of New York City, speaking in regard to the metropolitan area, squeezed into 20% to 30% the land area.  It's hard to compare global cities sometimes, based on different statistics or measurements.  Seoul is apparently as dense as Tokyo, though my personal impression differs.  Anyway, this is more dense than NYC by a factor of almost four.  I haven't been to New York City, so I can't tell of my impressions there. We were squeezed into a subway, which was preceded and followed by cars just as full, all of which run on some ten subway lines, all full.  Where are so many people going?  We were a family of little ants scurrying through an enormous pile, seeing this little tunnel and that, eating Indian food here, Italian food there. One of the highlights for me was a walk along an ancient fortress wall built when defense of land wasn't just legal rigamarole.  This place wasn't featured on most tourist maps, and so, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll where we were by far the most foreign of elements. 8:14 PM Like · Comment ·Views (16)·Edit Mar 1, 2009 on optimism and toilet paper Current mood:optimistic I am permitting 30 minutes to blog amongst my math studies: I needed to go to the bathroom.  Number two.  So I started to go, then, in mid-stride, wondered if I should stuff some facial tissues in my pocket in case the bathrooms didn't get stocked.  But no, I decided.  It is, afterall, the first day of our new school term (and school year), and it doesn't seem the bathroom tissues wouldn't be there on the important first day. I was an optimist, see.  I was an optimist, and when I made it down the hall to the bathroom, sure enough, there was plenty of toilet paper for my gracious use. But this isn't the only time in life when being an optimist can get you in a messy situation.  How often does the opportunity arise for the optimist to "get shit on"? Of course, that's not the optimistic outlook, is it.  The optimist says, "Well, it's just a little shit, and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter." The last few weeks have been a good illustration of this very point. We got back into Taebaek, as you know, in drought conditions and water restrictions.  And our little apartment still had mold and still had bugs, and to beat that, we couldn't get our heating system to work.   We kept our positive outlook, and gratefully stayed with Trent and Nicole for some time while we got things figured out.   We found another great looking apartment which we thought we could get for the price the school was willing to pay.  But no, it came and went before we could get a contract.  The school, at this point, was able to get "our" apartment rented.  We couldn't understand at first.  When they showed me an available apartment way out of town, I told them "no" because I thought we could stay at Trent's until we found another golden opportunity.  But then we realized we had to move our stuff within 10 days, so I said "okay, let's move out to Emart" (The one attribute of this out-of-the-way place is that it is by E-mart, which is like the Korean Walmart.  And so, if you know us well, probably understand we don't take it to be so much of an attribute.).   Unfortunately, this place also went under contract before we could get it.  But, then came another opportunity.  And this place seemed to be a lot better location.  I was hopeful again.  And the moving date was set at March first. I was not 100% optimistic.  Especially after time went by from first inspecting the little place, it shrank in my mind and became darker and smellier.  By the time March came along I wasn't very positive that Bonnie would like it, that even our few possessions would be able to fit, that it would work at all.  I told myself that our worse-case-scenario was still pretty pleasant: that we could still stay at Trent's and although we'd have space issues there as well, it is nice to spend the extra family time!  Not only that, but our contract is up in less than six months, so if we are to move, it is not so long to endure. But March marched in, with Venus passing up the moon once again in the sky.  And our move went as smooth as chrome.  A Korean moving service was hired and I think I could write a whole blog about their expedience and the superior Korean moving way.  We got our belongings moved into the new place and we like it and we are happy.   Still, there's a few things that might be described as shit on your ass.  Like, the bathroom is too stinky and supposedly is going to be fixed (what they are going to fix I do not know, because it seems to be the ubiquitous Korean problem of not having traps in their drains).  Actually, I think that's the only real stinker.  It is small, but you can call that cozy.  And it needs some more cleaning, but that gives us something to do.  At least there are no mold problems, and we haven't seen any of those mysterious tiny bugs which infested our other place and seem to exist nowhere else. And the perks, let me tell you.  First off, it's a house, not an apartment.  To be more accurate, it's the second story of a house, and it is like an apartment.  But it's in more of a neighborhood locale instead of an apartment complex.  And it's smack in the middle of downtown.  As in, the market is out our front door and ten paces to the left.  The Hwangji pond is ten more paces to the right.  Give or take.  The distance to my school has been cut in half.  And it's still within a $1.68 taxi ride to Trent and Nicole's.  Restaurants abound, so we'll probably eat out more, but with the market right out front, maybe we can try fixing some new things too. Oh, but the best thing is that it has a roof access.  So we can camp out under the stars if we want.  Or have our dinner on the roof.  Or sit up there and watch the city in the foreground and the mountains in the back.  The roof on houses like these have a clothesline and an area to make kimchi.  They are flat (I guess I should explain), and they have a small wall all around them.  In otherwords, they are intended for use.  Like gardening and so on, although you have to haul up the pots and dirt.  Anyway, I'm excited about that. And anyway, like I was saying, there were plenty of downers in the past few weeks, but in the grand scheme of things, it's all good.  We lost a few opportunities that seemed good at the time, but we're happy with what turned out. 10:57 PM Like · Comment ·Views (19)·Edit Feb 25, 2009 25 twenty-five word sentences. 1.  This first sentence of all these sentences actually refers to itself, enumerating its number of words, the grand total of which is, of course, twenty-five. 2.  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy brown dog, only to discover on the other side an angry farmer with a shotgun, fully loaded. 3.  Sally sells seashells by the seashore South of Seaport, since Sally's selfish sister stole Sally's savings and with it sought and bought those silly seashells. 4.  Trent sits on the couch and figures out a sudoku mess while Nicole lounges beside him snuggled up in a blanket, wondering what went wrong. 5.  Trent holds a red ink pen in his left hand while his right hand holds the sudoku book, open to the puzzles of medium difficulty. 6.  Writing a sentence of exactly twenty-five words reminds me that my life has its limits, and it will be exactly what I make of it. 7.  Bonnie, poor thing, is putting the tots to bed by herself, even though all her husband is doing is writing these twenty-five word sentences. 8.  Well, after writing the last sentence, I put off this blog and went and helped Bonnie, having saved the seven sentences for this time, instead. 9.  Oh, I almost posted this weblog entry on February 25th, at the time 2:25, except that I was one day and one minute late. 10.  To keep from having to rewrite lost blog material, I sometimes (like the other night) find it useful to save my blogs while writing them. 11.  One of my favorite sentences is the next one, which I love to hear uttered from Orry, Bonnie, other family members, or others--why not? 12.  I love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very much. 13.  The sun, higher in the sky than last month, brings promise of Spring, change, new life, happiness, and my heart, thinking of such things, smiles. 14.  That last sentence (13.) was the first one that I typed up and it happened to be twenty-five words exactly, the first time counting through. 15.  I realize sentence thirteen is a compound sentence, but nobody said I couldn't use compound sentences (or count the words in parenthetical phrases either, yo). 16.  What would be harder is to make each sentence consist of words that do not decrease in length sequentially--short words first, long words last. 17.  Instead of trying it myself, I'll leave it as an exercise for the ambitious reader, in case any of you might be reading this still. 18.  Another fun and exciting challenge would be to see how short you can make a sentence (counting letters), or how long, using exactly twenty-five words. 19.  This is so short, using only small words that make for lots of words but only a few a's, b's, and c's, and other letters. 20.  That last sentence wasn't much fun, so I will abandon the attempt to write a short or long sentence, and instead, tell you about Isaac. 21.  Isaac is sitting on the floor, talking into the pink lid of a plastic jar that holds his plastic toys that are shaped like foodstuffs. 22.  Now he moved to the little table where he got some paper and two pens, and by golly, it looks like he wants to draw. 23.  But if he wants to draw he needs to change his approach and scratch the paper with the pens instead of chewing on the pens. 24.  Isaac was being so cute I had to stop writing and take some photos of him, which ended up with me taking away his pens. 25.  Well, Trent and Nicole are home now, so time to get off of the computer and have some social interaction with them (Bonnie is napping). 11:26 PM Like · Comment ·Views (8)·Edit Feb 24, 2009 25 Korean words 1.  Kimchi  --fermented bok choi, sour and spicy. 2.  Hangul  --the written Korean language system 3.  Dubu  --Korean for what the Japanese call tofu, soy bean curd. 4.  Hanbok  --traditional Korean garb 5.  Fujisan  --What the Koreans call Mt Fuji, same as in Japanese. 6.  Miguk  --the US country 7.  Hanguk  --Korea 8.  Yeongguk  --England 9.  Yeongeo  --English 10.  Sagwa  --Apple 11.  Mashisseoyo!  --Delicious! 12.  Eoma  --Mommy 13.  Apa  --Daddy 14.  Agi  --baby 15.  Chingu  --friend 16.  Sangsaengnim  --teacher 17.  Hakkyo  --school 18.  Kim  --Korean for what the Japanese call nori, toasted laver. 19.  Bap  --cooked sticky rice 20.  Mandu  ----Korean for what the Japanese call gyooza, potstickers 21.  Nunsaram  --snowman 22.  Soju  --Korean for what the Japanese call sake, rice wine. 23.  Maekju  --beer 24.  Mul  --water 25.  Kamum  --drought We are scheduled to move apartments on March 1st.  The last week has been a sort of mess, but I think everything's going to be moreorless fine.  I am continuing to study for the first actuary exam.  Orry is learning more expressions.  Isaac is practicing mobility and balance.  Bonnie is holding together our existence, like the strong mysterious forces in an atom. I have a new book idea.  Well, I guess the twelve chapter one peetered out in the middle of the first chapter.  But this new book idea, instead of telling what it is about, I will write it instead.  There is no excuses for not getting a full manuscript done with while I am here in Korea.  Not even studying for a math exam.  So I'll get on that, instead of talking about it. 1:46 AM Like · Comment ·Views (10)·Edit Feb 22, 2009 25 things not linked to the next thing 1.  Jazz 2.  Tea 3.  Kumquats 4.  Iocane Powder 5.  Truncation 6.  Sleepwalking 7.  Flying Squirrels 8.  Glasses 9.  Thomas the Train 10.  Kimchi 11.  Rocket 12.  Strawberry Ice Cream 13.  Window Pane 14.  Cities and Knights 15.  Siphon 16.  Telcia 17.  Fizz 18.  Venus 19.  Catastrophe 20.  Basilica 21.  Dishwasher 22.  Textile Fibers 23.  Haiku 24.  Macaroni 25.  Boat Many thanks to the family members who contributed to some of these.  Yep, we sit around and name unrelated words sometimes.  It's a game, called "cottonmouth," apparently.  Lately we also played some poker, and pinochle, as usual.  But what has occupied much of our thoughts lately has to do with staying or moving apartments, and all the drama that has gone into that. Trent and Orry and I went for a nice hike up into the hills today, where we spent some time at an exercise center.  We hula hooped and jumped some rope and Orry made me proud by climbing up and down one of the ladder-like exercise stations.  We also spent some time at the top of a hill, where we threw down some pinecones and small stones. 2:44 AM Like · Comment ·Views (14)·Edit Feb 20, 2009 25 things I can see right now 1.  One squawling babe. 2.  Two boxes, each about 20 inches long, 14 inches wide, and 5 inches tall.  They are used to "babyproof" a storage unit with similar sized cubby holes. 3.  The boxes are lined up on the floor by Orry. 4.  Orry, sitting on one of the boxes, choo chooing like a steam engine. 5.  One quiet baby, now disrupting the line-up of boxes, pushing it out of line while he tries to get up on it. 6.  One squawling babe again. 7.  One mom on a brownish sofa, comforting a squawling babe. 8.  Mom and tot going to go take a nap. 9.  One round orange exercise wheel with acupressure nodules and magnets.  You stand on it, and then twist your hips. 10.  Eight colorful plastic pieces of food scattered around the room. 11.  The dynamic shadows of steam on the window shade. 12.  Clothes draped on the drying rack. 13.  A blue tote bag with Korean smiley animal faces.  We use it for groceries. 14.  A projector on a wooden stand which is fastened to the wall. 15.  The wall has a floral wall paper that is quite colorful with mostly muted tones on a green background.  16.  A bag of popcorn, being fiddled with by Orry.  "I like it." says he. 17.  Two of four wooden sticks that are used like dice in Korea. 18.  A few select games sitting atop a small stand in the corner of the room.  They are a travel chess set.  A go/Korean-chess board, and pieces.  Cities and Knights.   19.  Now the two boxes are being pushed, locomotive style, across the floor. 20.  The floor is a yellowish vinyl rollout.  It is a little "bubbly" in a few places. 21.  Now "Orry's" yellow stool is on the "train".  It is going for a ride. 22.  Two apple slices rest in a dish on the table.  Those apples had a rough morning. 23.  The table has a glass top.  Under the glass are 32 white pieces of paper arranged to make a checkered area. 24.  A few memories of last night's poker linger around the table. 25.  A bottle of Jeju water also sits on the table, with a few other things.  It is half full. 8:27 PM Like · Comment ·Views (18)·Edit Feb 18, 2009 25 random star things 1.  Aldebaran is the eye of the bull, in Taurus.  Taurus makes a V, in front of Orion, or in other words, between Orion and the Pleiades. 2.  The Plieades are the seven sisters.  They were used in history as an eye exam for sharpsightedness. 3.  The Plieades is Subaru in Japanese.  It looks like a mini-dipper. 4.  The stars you see when you look at and around the Plieades come from the same, relatively recent burst of star formation.  It is what is called an open star cluster.  All of these stars formed in the last 100 million years.  Baby stars. 5.  Taurus is also mainly an open cluster, the Hyades.  Aldebaran, however, just happens to be in the same line of sight.  Aldebaran is closer. 5.  The big dipper also contains an eye exam.  One of the stars is actually two stars which appear in nearly the same line of sight.  It is known as the horse and rider, Mizar and Alcor.  Mizar itself, is actually a fascinating binary system of binary systems (two orbiting stars in orbit together with two stars that are in orbit together).  6.  The widest part of the dipper is about 10 degrees in length.  The two pointer stars, Merak and Dubhe are about 5 degrees apart.  To us on Earth they point to the north star Polaris.. 7.  Polaris is in the little dipper.  The two dippers are also known as the bears.   8.  The bears don’t really look like bears.  Except as rendered by H.A. Rey, the man who wrote the Curious George books.  If you ask me, he rediscovered the bear in Ursa Major, which looks remarkably like a bear.  It is backwards from the more common bear renderings. 9.  Cassiopeia looks like a W.  It is across Polaris from the big dipper.  Cassiopeia is a Queen, sitting on her throne.   10.  Cassiopaeia is the Queen of Ethiopia, wife of Cepheus.   Cepheus is also in the stars, next to Cassiopeia and also close to the little dipper.  It looks sort of like a cartoon house.  Alderamin is its brightest star.   11.  Cassiopeia and Cephus had a daughter Andromeda, who was pursued and rescued by Perseus on Pegasus, chained to the rocks by her father for the sea monster Cetus.  This is all in the sky. 12.  Hercules looks like a trapezoid.  13.  Hercules is next to Vega.  Vega and Deneb and Altair make up the summer triangle, which is almost a right triangle. 14.  Vega is part of a small parallellogram called Lyra. 15.  Deneb is the back end of the swan Cygnus, which looks like a cross, or a great flying swan. 16.  Altair is at the head of the eagle, Aquila, which flies toward Cygnus. 17.  The winter triangle appears to be an equilateral triangle, formed by Orion’s Betelgeuse, Sirius the dog star, and Procyon, the bright star of Canis minor. 18.  Boötes looks like an ice cream cone.  It contains Arcturus, a bright star.  You can find Arcturus by following the “arc” of the handle of the big dipper. 19.  Sagittarius looks a lot like a teapot.  You are looking towards the center of our Galaxy when you look towards Sagittarius. 20.  The band of brightness know as the Milky Way is the densest part of our galaxy--the thick plane where most of the stars lie.  It is bright because of all the many stars.  Great masses of galactic dust also help to shape the bright band. 21.  There are two general generations of stars to observe today..  Our Milky Way Galaxy contains older stars towards its center.  The Sun is of the younger population. 22.  Star is a city in Idaho. 23.  Stars’ main line of business is fusion. 24.  Jane Taylor wrote the words for Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star when she was 23.  The poem is as follows: Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky! When the blazing sun is gone, When he nothing shines upon, Then you show your little light, Twinkle, twinkle, all the night. Then the traveller in the dark, Thanks you for your tiny spark, He could not see which way to go, If you did not twinkle so. In the dark blue sky you keep, And often through my curtains peep, For you never shut your eye, Till the sun is in the sky. As your bright and tiny spark, Lights the traveller in the dark,— Though I know not what you are, Twinkle, twinkle, little star. 25.  Castor and Pollux, the stars in Gemini, are above the dogs, behind Orion and below Auriga the charioteer. 6:45 AM Like · Comment ·Views (17)·Edit Feb 10, 2009 a castle, a few random science reports, and so on Current mood:fascinated First off, I just learned about this Bishop Castle in Colorado. A guy, Jim Bishop, decided to build his own place, which turned into, by and by, a great castle, which he continues to work on: with intricate ironwork walkways: and a roomy interior: Now, there is a lot to say about this, but i'll leave it at this, that I am inspired by his application of himself to his creation. And I am looking forward to visiting it and checking it out. wiki Bishop Castle here, and here is another informative site, and . *************************************** But this is only the beginning of information for the day. I also read a great article about what's in a name. Scientist's name fruit fly genes not without humor. But the problem is, when corresponding genes are found in humans, doctors do not want to have to tell people they have the gene, calling by it's funny name. You can check out this NPR article if you're interested in the funny names. And then there are the birds, able to see magnetic fields. This is most fascinating, but I'll just highlight the articles for you if you're into it. What caught my eye, and What I found after looking. Finally, plan on looking at Venus and the moon again on the 27th or 28th. Even during the day, and it will look neat to see them so close. You had better check it out on the night of the 26th so you can get your bearings, and then follow the moon around the sky the next day or two, observing Venus close by. ************************************* Isaac is crawling "like a tiger" a lot now, although it's still awkward. He also cruises and still plays the standing games (holding onto things). He also "bonks his head" from time to time, so we're keeping our close eyes on him. The quotes above are from Orry. He likes to find metaphor the way children do and he is very expressive. We like it when he relates his memories to us and just talks and talks about what he sees or this and that. He also can be quite the rascal. I think he's enjoying staying at Trent and Nicole's with us these days. 8:33 PM Like · Comment ·Views (22)·Edit Feb 9, 2009 a special "welcome back" soup Current mood:warm A gonad, technically, is a gland (such as the testes or ovaries) that produces gametes. So I don't think it is inaccurate to say that I ate fish gonad soup today, which had these in it: These sumptuous delicacies are full of little eggs. Contrary to some of the egg sacs I've eaten from Louisiana fish, these were delectable, and of an aggreeable texture, cooked in the soup. I was skeptical, but I give a thumbs up. If that weren't enough fun for one dish, the soup also contained another piscine innard, the intestines. I found a photo of the exact soup we ate, but you'll have to copy and paste this URL into your browser to see it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taekjinshin/320585349/  I was even more pessimistic about tasting these squiggly looking morsels. But the intestines, like the gonads, were surprisingly tasty and of agreeable texture. ************************************* It turns out that all the traditional korean housing right behind the school that I wanted to buy was razed last month while I was gone, in order to build that roadway for firetruck access. Other than that and all the missing water, Taebaek is like we left it. Oh yes, and another 1000 won store popped up. It also turns out that a place in town serves wriggling octopus, so if any of you ever come over to visit, you too can feel the futile grasp of tentacles on your teeth and gums. ************************************* The largest rays have wingspans of up to 25 feet. I would like to see footage of such a monster. It seems like one so big could stomach Isaac, if not Orry, if not more. Here is a photo of the largest I found: ************************************** Taebaek has some snow and ice but it is quite warm and sunny these days. 11:00 PM Like · Comment ·Views (16)·Edit Feb 8, 2009 25 random things For more tidbits, you can check out any of my other 186 blogs from the last couple years.  But, as of Feb 8, 2009...  1. I have been to all but five states. 2. Three of the five states have two word names. 3. Four of the five states are North of the Mason-Dixon line, and one of the states is almost entirely South of the Mason-Dixon line. 4. Two of the five states have names that begin with letters in the last fifth of the alphabet. 5. Three of the states are in the bottom fifteen least populous states. One of the five states is in the top fifteen. 6. One of you live in a state I haven't visited. 7. I have climbed the state highpoints of North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and 17 other states. 8. The first highpoint climb I made was Mt Borah. The latest was Mt Sunflower. 9. The state highpoint I have most frequently visited was in Iowa. 10. I hitchhiked across the continent once, visiting 17 states. 11. I don't live in the states. 12. My children's ancestors are Japanese. And German. And Portuguese, or more specifically, Azorean. 13. I was not born in a hospital. 14. I have the strength of two average men combined. 15. I want to walk across the world. 16. One of the preceding three statements is not true. 17. I like chocolate. 18. I like trees. 19. I like Rube Goldberg machines. 20. One of these four statements is false. 21. My earliest favorite dream that I remember was a vivid pink dream which included Strawberry Shortcake, the greeting card character. I must have been 6 or possibly 7. 22. I have seen an origami crane smaller than a pinhead. 23. I love watching the clear night sky, and I like finding Venus in broad daylight. 24. I like the sound of silence, like the quiet of the desert. 25. My dad carved me out of wood, and I was a puppet until I turned into a real boy. *************************************     Today it's back to school in this drought-stricken town.  So expect some new exciting news from me next time.     4:41 PM Like · Comment ·Views (20)·Edit Feb 7, 2009 the drought, the book, the boys Current mood:awake We find ourselves back in our little city of Taebaek.  Where there is a severe water shortage.  Where we now have no water supply in our apartment.  Where we heat our home with hot water.  Where we must wash our cloth diapers every day, with water.  And of course, where we cook our rice with water, and quench our thirst.   Nicole and Trent have water access two hours a day, so we suspect our water will come on as well, for some particular hours of the day.  But we don't know yet when that is, nor can we tell how long this will last.  Apparently it is unprecented, this drought year after last year's remarkably heavy snows.  But we just rolled into town yesterday, and are not up-to-date with our Korean current events. As it is, we are over at Trent and Nicole's, sleeping half the night, in my case.  It is cozy, and familiar, and good to be part of the Becker Invasion once again. ****************************************** Chapter one would be January, and I think would showcase Orion.  Many of you know the stories of Orion as the hunter, and so he stands for a raw and real aspect of man that is very alive today, whether it be repressed or relieved in business, relationships, hobbies, or for some, hunting or other sport. This ignores the matter that the main stars of Orion form a very conspicuous image of a butterfly.  And I think it is a perfectly appropriate constellation for the first--for new beginnings.  A butterfly is a new lifeform, emerged from the chrysalis, but it has lived, of course, its life as a larva.  It was born from an egg, crawled around on its caterpillar legs, and lived its caterpillar life. And so have we.  Yet every new year, and every moment, we are a new lifeform. So, appropriately, we look at the stories of Monarchs, of recreation, and perhaps dabble in the stories of our beginnings, in chapter one.  It is a big chapter. But February, chapter two, there is a month for you.  I think Sirius and the dog constellation would take over for chapter two.  A dog following at the heels of his hunter is one bold image.  But how about a dog chasing a butterfly?  Of all the constellations, the dog really looks like a dog.  Well, a trapezoid with a tail, really, but with stars at the right places.  Chapter two can also talk about the little dog constellation, the Winter Triangle, particular stars in the Winter sky.  And loyalty and freedom, which is captured nicely between the hunter's and the butterfly's dog. Orry and Bonnie are dogs, in the Chinese zodiac.  Which brings up another twelve symbols and their stories to incorporate into this book.   If February is the dog, then January might be the cock, which, as Nicole can tell you, is probably appropriate for beginnings (Shame!  I am thinking Rufus and the beginnings of days, not the beginnings of babies.). Telcia and Isaac are rats, which would correspond with April.  This sounds good, because I think that is the "beginning" which corresponds with the first full month of Spring. Let's have a looksee: Jan  Cock Feb  Dog Mar  Boar Apr  Rat May  Ox (corresponds with the Taurus birthsign)   Jun  Tiger Jul  Rabbit Aug  Dragon Sep  Snake Oct  Horse Nov  Ram Dec  Monkey I am reminded also that our own zodiac is a resource for these months, and for good reason.  But the reason is backwards from what we see in the sky on the nights, which is what I want to showcase.  More of an explanation would be in the book.  And it is another set of symbols and stories to incorporate into it all. It sounds like fun. ************************************** I think while I have nothing but hours until dawn, I will also give an update on the tot and tyke.  Orry continues to be expressive and quick with games, social cues, and learning to satisfy his curiosity and fill in the patterns he recognizes in language and his environment.  He is also quite his own little individual.  When we got on the empty bus yesterday, he marched right to the back, climbed up on the window seat, plopped himself down and readied himself for the ride home.  The first half of which, he slumbered like a baby, and sometime soon I will post a delicious photo of him lost in oblivion on the bus seat.  After he woke, he simply sat, and watched the world from his window vantage.  Partly, this is from jet lag.  But I was surprised with him monitoring the world and making his comments and observations like a little man. Isaac is developing some games of his own.  He has a few physical games to repeat, like crawling to you, grabbing your hand, getting up to standing, and taking a few steps to you, supported of course.  He likes that.  And yesterday, he discovered rolling from his back to his front and sliding off the hotel bed onto his feet into a standing position.  He repeated that a few times but I think our bed at home is too tall for that game.  He sits comfortably and still crawls and scoots and occupies himself well.  As my mom pointed out, he is quite dactile and seems to have a healthy interest and curiosity in all things.  He has continued to babble some, and sometimes will play repeat games with some unvoiced noises (razz and gasp), but otherwise isn't seeming to express verbal faculties yet.  I have detected in him a comprehension of communication however, and we are beginning to sign the basics for him. 12:04 PM Like · Comment ·Views (21)·Edit Feb 6, 2009 sleep finally, and the end of life Current mood:happy We got into Korea so half asleep we could hardly stand anything but to get a room and go to sleep.  Go to sleep and sleep until we could sleep no more.  Go to sleep and rest rest rest from our days of weary travel.  We got really lucky right away with an information kiosk that called our "Guest House" hotel and also gave instructions about how to catch the Taebaek bus.  So, thinking that we will stay in Incheon tonight or maybe also tomorrow night as well, we came in and went to sleep and slept and slept... ... until 3:30am.  That brings us up to the current time.  Well, I am awake, making a weblog report of our experience, and Bonnie is sort of awake.  Isaac is awake.  And little Orry slumbers. Orry had a hard time connecting in Japan because he was asleep at the end of our very long flight into Japan, so the connection meant his sleep was interrupted.  But I think that Japan flight was rough for all of us, because we all just needed to close our eyelids and we didn't get that much sleep on the flight anyway.  We were aware enough to note how awesome the Korean Air flight service was, and toward the end of our flight when it came time to fill out the immigration forms I felt like I was barely functioning to perform the task.  It brought me back to the graveyard days when I would be working half asleep. Sleep and sleepiness are curious states of being. 2009 Goal #1: Become an actuary. 2009 Goal #2: Write a book. I think this time I will write a 12 chapter book about my own mythology, with a few tales and stories and a lot of information about the night sky. The movies I watched on the extremely long plane ride were Bonnie and Clyde, Holiday, and Annie Hall.  All of these movies ended sort of abruptly, like it was time to be over and most of the plot business was wrapped up.  Now that I think about it that's how I'd like my life to be.  Not like Bonnie and Clyde's, nor like the marriage of Alvie Singer and Annie Hall, let alone Johnny Case and the Setons.  But like all of these movies, I'd like a nice ending when it's over, and not a horrible drawn out ending that never ends or that ends too late (or that ends too early, of course!).   And while on funereal topics, I'd like the Funeral March and Clair De Lane at my funeral if I have one.  Other songs too, but both of these evoke particular moods I want to share with those remembering my life. Our stateside travels were terrific and I hope to blog more about them---maybe before dawn if I don't get sleepy again.  Thank you for the laptop, Elizabeth, and the outlet adapter, Nicole and Trent, which makes all this possible. 12:55 PM Like · Comment ·Views (26)·Edit Feb 1, 2009 wedding, snowboarding, actuarial exams Telcia's happy wedding was a wonderful event.  What took the cake was the load of cinnamon bowknots prepared and baked in memory of the Becker grandparents.  It was good to see so many friends and family assembled in one place for a joyous occasion.  As always, it is amazing to see how much time is passing by the aging of the cousins' kids as well as other relatives. The full house at the Beckers' is becoming less full.  I am heading to Boise to go snowboarding, hooray! We are thinking about getting back to Taebaek to a frozen apartment, and lots of snow maybe?  Of course, when that times come, I will be a year older and wiser. I take an actuary exam in March.  This is to begin a new chapter of life, presumably.  After I pass some exams, I can get a "real job" as an actuary, so we'll see how that goes. 12:03 PM Like · Comment ·Views (27)·Edit Jan 25, 2009 positive outlook while traveling: priceless Current mood:happy Yesterday was going to be bad, but a positive outlook turned the day around.  First thing at the airport, well, no, first thing was waking up at 4 after going to bed about midnight.  That wasn't so bad for me because of residual time change habits, and I took a nap or two earlier in the day while Bonnie bless her heart busily packed up everything into our baggage plus two extra bags we had to borrow to accomodate it all.  But first thing at the airport a couple hours later and I bumped last week's hand wound which commenced to issue blood like the spring at Hwangji Pond issues water.   Of course, being the type of parent I am, I had some tissue in my pants pocket, and I used this to help stop the wound while I wrestled our baggage and boys to the ... Delta ticket gate. It was a mistake to fly Delta again.  The service was horrible.  The plane gates were switched around and it took alert customers and too long to figure out what was going on, standing in line for half hours at a time only to find the line is the wrong line.  We almost didn't make a connecting flight--not because we were late at all, but because they overbooked the flight into Twin Falls.  But we made it to the halfway point of our travels.  We are now in Idaho, the land God made fairly recently. But anyway, after we paid $15 each for our checked bags and hustled down to the right gate where we would be told it is the wrong gate, I noticed I had blood rivulets on my light pants left leg below my knee. Great, I thought.  And it was still a spell before I could go wash it off because I still had to wrestle our boys and carry-on bags to a place where we could sit, then wait there for Bonnie to take a trip to the loo.  Finally I got into the bathroom, and lo and behold, the blood rivulets washed clean off in a jiffy thanks to stain guard in my pants.  So I remembered then and there that it is good to have a positive happy outlook instead of a dour miserable one, and I was mostly cheerful the rest of the day in spite of our travel woes. The biggest challenging for our travelling is not wrestling all the bags and kids, which is less than pleasant to be sure.  Rather it's parenting Orry well during our bustle.  Especially because he screams and wants to do the opposite of what is expected. But, we have arrived, as they say.   I got a haircut right away and trimmed my beard.  We ate a feast fit for Christmas and passed out meat cutters and other gifts. Did I mention that Isaac learned to babble?  Well yesterday I neither saw nor heard it, so maybe it will take a while to relearn. Hopefully I can get some photos up soon of our recent days.  It is photo time here at the Beckers, being near a wedding, and it's great to see all the snapshots of our younger selves. We left 70 degree weather in Louisiana.  We arrived to some dirty snow here and there in Idaho.  Wet days but not snowy days...  Or I guess it snows overnight but melts right away. Telcia, the bride-to-be, is looking at her journal from years gone by.  It's exciting that she is getting married, and our family is beginning a new chapter, which hopefully will be even better than the good chapters we've already lived. My dad used his lathe to make some neato wooden candleholder centerpieces for the wedding reception.  Everybody's excited about that as well.  7:48 AM Like · Comment ·Views (29)·Edit Jan 22, 2009 a dream story, and rolling a twelve Current mood:talkative Let's see.  I had a good blog topic, but I guess I'll just ramble until it comes back to me.  It came to me this morning while, oh yes.  Well, no, that's not it, but I remembered something. I am making adjustments to my jet lagged body and mind.  I think the sleep/wake part of it is normal now, or at least, socially acceptable.  The last of it is that in the morning I am hungry for dinner, and I'm not that hungry most of the day.  Of course, that could have something to do with all the sweets I snack on. So this morning I was thinking about my dreams and what to blog about.  Since I can't exactly remember, I guess I'll write about my dreams.  Let's see, well, I had a dream about the grandparents' land.  It is interesting how the dreams adjust slowly to keep up with waking life, but this part of the dream had to do with the changes of the area around the house and barn.  Anyway, it was only a piece of a dream.  The dream actually was a good story idea.  So I will try to tell it like a story. It turns out that everything is affected greatly by the movements of the earth.  As in earthquakes and such.  Every time the earth surface changes greatly, it triggers the evolution of life and not just biological evolution, but all sorts of social change as well.  So, it turns out, the past couple centuries have had great effects owing to the subcrust goings-on.  As usual, technology and science advance to the point where we can change our surroundings, and as we discover this link between social changes and the mantle, we exploit the correlation with depth charges here and there for the common good.  It turns out that the hero of the story, himself at the fate of the underearth, must bring about a new human age, not by destroying the technology, but by raising the awareness of humanity to be above our messing so much with fate.  In my dream, there was something about magnetic currents and earthquakes and happiness and depression. So far my blog idea isn't coming to me.  Maybe it is meant to be lost from posterity. I am really looking forward to trimming off my whiskers.   Orry has a cute phrase when he instructs, sadly, "Wipe your tears...."  What he really wants is for you to wipe his tears, but he is in a stage of pronoun confusion.  It's interesting, because he understood it before at some level, but now has it misunderstood (actually, probably understanding it at a more thorough level than before, but not as thoroughly as you and me).  He and I may be going to Baton Rouge today to take care of some matters, see some folks, a tiger, and so on. I would just like to remind everybody that the victims who gave up most in the recent rescue landing of the plane in the Hudson River, where the geese who gave up their lives.  There have been times when birds have cost human lives, but we invade airspace at a far greater proportion, I'd say. And, that reminds me.  I've rolled these two dice something like 130 times and have not got double sixes.  How lucky or unlucky am I?  You just need to think of the possible 36 combinations, and figure out how many ways include no double six (35 ^ 130).  Then you divide the total number of ways to roll the dice 130 times (36 ^ 130).  That's about .026.which means if I repeated this game 100 times, I would only expect this outcome a couple times.  Which means I was really lucky, or unlucky.  But this doesn't increase my chances of rolling a twelve next time, dear reader.  That probability is still 1/36, for the dice don't have the memory we do, of the previous 130 rolls. 6.  4.  8.  6.  3.  6, 8, 5.   11.  4. With that, I'll leave this weblog to your cognitive faculties, looking forward to next time, no doubt. 9:53 AM Like · Comment ·Views (14)·Edit Jan 20, 2009 what we miss and what we don't Current mood:optimistic It's good to have grapefruit, but I do miss the grapefruit shampoo. It's good to have a real beer like Samuel Adams and to have delicious cheese. I wouldn't say I miss any Korean foods really, although I miss the small portion food style. Of course I miss the convenience of everything a walk away. But the Bourgs are stocked up, so it's not like we have a lot of necessities. Most of all I miss the normal routine and comfortable familiarity of the day to day life in one's home. Not to mention it is nice when it is day when it's supposed to be day, and night when it should be night. It's good to have English all around, but on the other hand, I don't want my Korean backsliding too much, and there's an awful lot of language around that I'd just as soon not understand (Not the Bourgs, I mean advertisements and people being mean to each other and so on.). I think the only things Bonnie misses are Trent and Nicole. Isaac crawls onto the first step of the stairs as if he's going to continue on up. He pushes himself up and holds the stair down by pressing on it with his body. Sometimes he'll get his mitts on the second step, but usually he's just crawling perpetually towards the stairs, his socks or pajama bottoms slipping back with each step. He is apparently proud of his accomplishments such as pulling himself up on the steps. He is more ticklish than Orry was, and grins more with that wide mouthed Trent grin than I remember from little Orry. The weather is fine down here. It's a little cool today--when we got in town it was downright sunny and warm. We ate some King Cake.  Now, on this long awaited inauguration day, it is time to get some breakfast.  7:00 AM Like · Comment ·Views (15)·Edit Jan 19, 2009 Yesterday (including a personal mention concerning you, Emily Maverick) Yesteday was a big day for us.  Orry saw his first rainbow.  Or, he recognized his first rainbow, we should say.   Bonnie saw a bald eagle in Houma. And, to top it off, Isaac started crawling, up on his knees.  It wasn't much, but he's definitely getting up on his knees instead of just scooting.  And, the neat thing is, he did it first in our Stanford house, where Orry did the same thing 22 months ago. We were at the Stanford house after church getting some belongings from the attic.  It turns out also that we know the renters in Stanford, which was an interesting demonstration of the tightness of social networking.  Evan put them there for us.  But the guy is somebody I met through a good friend of Evan's, years ago.  The girl I didn't know, but when Bonnie walked in, they recognized each other and made a connection through some of Bonnie's old friends and classmates. Coming back into Baton Rouge was good for recognizing these connections.  I saw a few former students.  And your boyfriend, Emily, of all people.  The trip has risen in my mind the notion of knowing somebody, especially our friends.  What does it mean to know somebody?  I find sometimes that those who are supposed to know me, sometimes don't, in strange ways.  Meanwhile, friends of old, like Donnie Lee from my grade school days and whom I haven't seen in over a dozen years, can reminisce about yesteryear and catch the kernel of who I am in his recollections. These weekend I hung a door, changed locks, and did a dozen small things at Southland, including filling eighteen bags with densely packed leaves.  I also sliced into my hand with a utility knife.  Some of my flesh squeezed through the slice and looked like miniature entrails oozing out of the wound.  And boy did it bleed.  But it is healing nicely as far as I can tell. We are enjoying more American food, but every evening when it is time to be social, I feel like I have been awake on night shift all night and it hurts to keep my eyes open.  Today I'll nap and see if I can't feel like I'm on the right side of the earth again by tonight or tomorrow. 9:07 AM Like · Comment ·Views (16)·Edit Jan 16, 2009 sleep, stuff, children's books It would be easier to adjust to the new day and night rhythms if we didn't have the wee tots waking up and getting sleepy at the reverse hours. Our days and Nights almost exactly flip-flopped, so in one sense it is nice, except naptime turns into sleeping all night long, and our night's sleep is only a nap. But Isaac isn't on such a simple schedule anyway, so each morning, first at 3am and now at 4am, he wakes and is ready for a meal and a good few hours of play. But theoretically he should adjust more quickly, since he has more sleeping times. One of the surprising things is how much we eat over here. Why, in one meal I think I ate as much as I usually do in a day in Korea. In fact, when I had a tall glass of root beer float I thought to myself that I have not drunk so much of one thing at once since, well, probably since Trent and I drank all that soju, and even that was a nice gradual drink over the course of a couple hours. Well, we do have taller glasses at the Seon Myeong Beckers', so maybe I drink quite a bit from time to time. But it was weird to be served some 20 ounces of sugary beverage with ice cream. Needless to say I gobbled it up, somewhat groggy with sleep. The first day I felt a little jet-lagged and sick, but yesterday I didn't feel bad. So what have I been thinking about lately, you ask? Well, there is the case of the sick pelicans in California. It sounds like pelicans are drinking antifreeze, but that's unlikely. I also have been thinking about language and early social development, owing to the boys. And, as usual, there are the stars, fairly abundunt and glorious our first night here in Houma. We went to the library yesterday in Houma and played in the kid's area. This weekend I will spend in Baton Rouge by the looks of it, and hopefully take care of as much house stuff as possible. As usual, I think of our future, careers, money, flossing, etc. Right now I'm thinking about playing bags of nouns. By the way, Bonnie and I were also discussing a trip to use our crappy timeshare ripoff while we are in Idaho. Like to the big house in the snow or something. So that may be in the works, and we hope it would be a family vacation, especially for you Fleshers and whoever else has vacation time or can manage. More details will come soon. Do we miss Taebaek? No, not really, but come on, we're going back in a couple weeks and we'll be there for another half year at least, so we wouldn't be missing it, would we? What are your favorite's children's books? I saw a list of "the best" but it had only oneFrank Asch story. Of course all the usuals were on there, but not School Bus, or the great The Bunnies Are Not In Their Beds. And come to think of it, only one Eric Carle book or so, whereas he's made dozens of great books for kids not yet really learning to read. And then there is Sammy the Seal, a children's book classic which Orry seems to really like. Okay, that's your early morning report from the underbelly of the United States. Have a good day. 4:07 AM Like · Comment ·Views (4)·Edit Jan 14, 2009 five stories, two brothers We are holed up in Houma, shifting our circadian rythym, and eating American foods. Story 1.  Our new English Center was freezing during our English camps this week, because our heating system was on the fritz.  Now, it's shoes off and toeless slippers on inside schools in Korea, and my little toes were numb with cold after a couple hours on Monday morning.  Our visiting elementary students were no hardier than I, so around 10:30 I brought everybody in to the nice and toasty head teacher's room to warm up for a few minutes.  On Tuesday, we let them go home a little early.  I don't know about the students, but I wore a couple pairs of socks. Story 2.  It took us three good attempts to buy the correct bus tickets from Taebaek to the Incheon International Airport.  When we finally arrived before our departure on Tuesday, I thought we had everything except for my wallet, which I couldn't remember grabbing.  But I had it afterall.  The extra socks made my feet too toasty on the busride.  But the good thing about layering is that until a certain point, you can take a layer off. Story 3.  Our arrival into Incheon was met with celebration, even while we were handing out cash for a hotel room on the 11th floor to the "hotel reception office" on the 9th floor.  The room had a bunch of cabinets, a sofa, and four beds.  We went out and had delicious Thai food.  Back in our room, we stayed up late playing cards on the bed.  Our Becker Invasion of Korea was to retreat for a few weeks. Story 4.  We carried our baggage and all our extra layers in three different airports and boarded three airplanes to make up our 24 plus hours of travel.  Our Wednesday was augmented in the weird way of adding twenty four hours at one point even though we subtracted hours less than hourly as we headed east.  It makes your head a little dizzy, but not as dizzy as a deficit of sleep over some 30 hours of child-minding and plane-sitting.  Our Continental Airlines entertainment services were subpar, but we did manage to watch Happy Feet. Story 5.  In the Incheon Airport, we found a Korean Traditional Cultural Experience Station where visitors could make some decorated Korean rice paper things and read some books about Korean things, ask questions to Assistants wearing traditional Korean garb, and all around experience Korean Traditional Culture.  There are two brothers who look after their parents until they die. After their parents die they evenly divide what belongs to whom and end up continuing to work side by side diligently, taking care of their respective land.  One day the older brother decides to treat his younger brother, who has just gotten married, so at night he takes a bag of rice from his own stores and puts it in the stores of his brother, who would never agree to receive such charity if asked.  But the next morning, is boggled to find that he has just as many bags of rice as he did before he gave one away.  So the next night he repeats the process, only this time he finds another man on the path, who turns out to be his brother, who is doing the same thing, only giving the older brother a bag of rice because his family is bigger and so he might need it more.  The two laugh at the discovery of each other, as the story falls in place for them as it probably already did for you, dear reader.     Some of you may not know our family details, but sometimes I want to remark on what I call the Becker debacle and what about this and that.  But when I read the above story in the Korean folk tale book, I thought to myself, how much better it is, to relate the story of the ideal, to marvel at that, and endeavor to make it real, moreorless. 8:48 AM Like · Comment ·Views (2)·Edit Jan 9, 2009 our lives are... You can spend a lot of time watching these: I guess they are advertisements for a Japanese switch company (Pitadora Switch or "Suittchi"). Number 22 is great, if you want to limit the amount of time you spend but still want to see a great one. So is number 30. If you watch these without the theme music you are missing out on the full effect. So, Isaac is climbing up on things quite a bit. Not to standing, but to a kneeling or leaning position. He is getting a lot stronger and climbing over our door thresholds. He is also starting to get slightly skinnier.  Our lives are a complex interconnected series of little and sometimes impressive events or creative undertakings that ultimately accomplish very little in a generally pleasing way. Probably one of you will write the 1000th blog comment now. 1:18 PM Like · Comment ·Views (39)·Edit Jan 6, 2009 good movies about death We watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. If you want to watch a movie about death I can't think of a better one. Although I am interested in compiling a list of good movies about death, so if you have recommendations, let's have them. I just can't stop thinking about this movie. What's more is that this morning upon waking I just couldn't get it out of my head, as in, it was bothering me I was thinking so much about it. I can't tell you that I have been affected such by a movie. I left out a great point of our weekend, which happened on Friday while we were setting off for Seoul. At 3:00pm I spied Venus, which goes to show that it can be seen in broad daylight, if you know where to look. It so happens that it has been near the moon and so, fairly easy to locate. Next month, well, in three weeks you'll get another chance when the moon and Venus are close again. 8:43 PM Like · Comment ·Views (32)·Edit Jan 6, 2009 our weekend in a city of strangers Ha! Our weekend was like this. We went to the second biggest city in the world. We saw a bookstore with as many shoppers each day as the student body of LSU. That's on a slow day. We stood in line for tourist destinations. On the other side, great food, relatively inexpensive, was all around. The subway system reminded me of the marvels of modernity (Compare world subway systems here.). The boys had it rough. The whole days long they were told what to do, instead of their usual mostly free-for-all days. As it turned out, spending most of the weekend in arms, Isaac developed the skill of getting up on things, showing it off today now that he's loosed on the floor once more. Orry, over the weekend, bonked his noggin in the same place above his right eye, for the fourth time. It is quite a goose-egg. And multicolored, recording various accidents over the past weeks. We are seriously considering a helmet. We all had it a little rough. I will leave out the good parts, but we rolled into Taebaek after 2am last night, weary and travelworn. We saw a grand palace and took in the sights from the Seoul Tower (see some here). We went to an area called Insadong and saw the City Hall and bell tower where days ago multitudes rang in the new year. We also saw an aquarium (here), and toured around some departments stores.  And we ate delicious Korean food and saw many "fusion" restaurants which focus on a blend of cuisines. For lunch yesterday we had a pizza with mozzarella and basil. And a kiwi smoothie. Yum. Our first couchsurfing travelling adventure went well. Unfortunately we missed our first rendezvous point and not without the inconvenience of our hosts. But even in spite of this they were especially generous and cheerful and pleasant. Look for photos and more details to come! 1:09 PM Like · Comment ·Views (38)·Edit Dec 30, 2008 An upright and outstanding report of the outright upstanding Current mood:cultured At this time yesterday I was spying Venus in nearly broad daylight. Today wispy clouds soar across the sky. So yesterday, it was at the Haeshindang Park where we went to the Cultural Folk Museum. But a better name would have been Penis Plaza. Because there were phallic representations here and there and everywhere. And yes, they weren't just suggestive pillars and poles--they were conspicuous and celebrated dongs, here and there and everywhere. Replications of masculinity, these weren't your incidental dangly body parts. They were most detailed replicas and exaggerations of erections, balls and what have you. Some of you may be wondering if there were any womanly counterparts, and yes, in the museum, there were a few rock pudenda.  So what's the story? Well, it is a fisherman's village, and as the story has it, nobody used to catch much, until one disgusted fisherman peed in the water, then caught a great catch. A little bit of superstition and human culture later, and you have a curious center of homage to the male sex bits. And fishing. There is a lot of interesting stuff about fishing, but how the penises are expected to be a side note, I have no idea.  As you can see for yourself if you desire, for I am posting a sampling of photos. Of course, you must ask yourself, what about the photos you didn't take? Secondly, maybe you should reconsider your next vacation. You know, fly to Korea, and investigate this spectacle for yourself. 11:20 AM Like · Comment ·Views (57)·Edit Dec 31, 2008 solar manipulation, and reflections First, allow a little treat to play while you peruse this blog. Hopefully I have arranged it well so you can watch the video while you read the blog. Now, there is so much to blog about that I will complete this later after uploading some photos I'm sure you all will enjoy. What I can tell you is that there are such things as striped icebergs, but not large frozen antarctic waves.  Also, we had more raw seafood today. The snails we ate were steamed. I'm not sure how they prepared the squid entrails, but they were quite delicious. Also there were foods that neither we nor our Korean friends could understand. Something about reproductive organs. We went on a Sunday adventure with our family friends. It was a good time. We had this meal, saw the seaside, and went to Haeshindang park, home of the fisherman folk village museum. It was, um, an uplifting experience, which you too will enjoy, by and by. At 4:20, I spotted Venus. It is the earliest yet. And thanks to some pine trees in the foreground, I could explain exactly how to find it, but no one else could see it, try as they might. I have had lots of practice, seeing it the other day at 4:25, but I understand: it is dim in the daylight, and difficult to see. It was almost an hour later before we saw it again after we left the folk museum. Orry was the second person to see it. And let me tell you about fatherly pride, my goodness. Anyway, before that, we walked down to the rocky coastal area and for the first time I saw many sea sponges washed up on the shore. On the downside of today, I found a list of essay winners for that essay contest I entered a while back, and I was not on the list. Another Taebaek English teacher got an honorable mention, so I am not without envy, and also I am disappointed to not have been recognized. Having said that, I should pour myself more into the next writing project, and let this one be done with, which is a weird grammatical convention. To leave off on a positive note, we have English camps this week to be excited about, and it looks like we're couchsurfing in Seoul next weekend. And just thinking about all the anniversaries and weddings these days strums wedding songs on my heartstrings. Not to mention there is the continuous merriment of Christmas, and soon, all the joviality of a new year's arrival. 2:48 AM Like · Comment ·Views (44)·Edit Dec 25, 2008 inspired by assumption Current mood:contemplative Last night I spent over thirty minutes in the cold with my family and a pot of hot soup, wondering why our Korean friends weren't at their home for the dinner potluck party they invited us to.  Actually, all the clues were there.  They security code didn't seem to work, they didn't seem to be home when we called from the intercom system, and then, when we got to their door, nobody answered, nobody appeared to be home.  And not only were they not there, but no other dinner guests were showing up.  We speculated: was there some last minute email or phone call that we didn't get?  We waited and waited, until finally we gave up and left. And on our way walking off the premises, we walked passed another identical building, and wait a minute, it was their building, and we were waiting for the party at the wrong apartment in the wrong building.  We arrived to the building by taxi, and assumes we knew where we were, but we didn't realize there was another row of apartment buildings and we weren't at the building were we assumed we were! The anecdote makes me think of math and the universe.  First, mathematics is axiomatic, and builds constructs of reality based on a few initial assumptions.  Assumptions which possibly could be wrong-headed, like standing in front of the wrong apartment wondering why reality doesn't seem to fit expectations, assuming you are where you think you are.  As for the universe, either we only understand a tiny fraction of the matter and energy that exists, or our assumptions are inaccurate or incomplete.  There has been more news about dark energy lately, and I'm reminded of my efforts earlier to find an explanation that makes observations fit with the discrepencies of our theories. This afternoon I am also reminded of last night because I had made some assumptions about our vacation days based on what I was told.  And every day for the past week it seems like these assumptions were broken down, little by little, until a culmination today.  I didn't even think we had work today, twenty four hours ago.  Then I thought we had a half-day.  Then, right at noon today, after the students were all sent home, I learned that we teachers are taking pictures, and that, moreover, we are then going to go eat lunch, and then we are going to come back to finish off the workday.  So now, I am back, finishing up the workday, although I don't really believe it because I halfway expect that at some moment I may hear the news that we have the go ahead to leave early for our one day Christmas vacation. One way we prove something in mathematics is to make an explicit assumption, and rigorously follow the implications until we find a contradiction, which reveals that the assumption is invalid.  This happens a lot in Korea, because we assume so much.  Because, well, I guess a lot of our comprehension is intuitive.  Nodding, and so forth.  Not to mention we miss a lot of memos. And now I will go, and continue to finish up the workday until it is finished or I am informed otherwise. 8:41 AM Like · Comment ·Views (31)·Edit Dec 24, 2008 Space, English, Christmas The Earth is in that position in its solar revolution where the axis tilt has pointed away from the Sun the most, which is to say Winter is here. Every evening on the way home from work I've been spying Venus in the still light sky. It's always neat to see such a bright heavenly body while it's still light out. Yesterday I saw it before the sun had set, because I also saw sunlight on the mountaintops. We don't see sunsets per se, because we are so in the mountains, but we can tell if the sun is "up" when the mountaintops are still buttered. It's fun spying Venus because once I see it I can't believe it isn't more conspicuous. But sure enough, I look away, and then look back and try to find it. It is while I am walking, so I know the whereabouts. But finding it exactly while it's still so light is a fun challenge. Try it if you haven't, looking in the southwestern sky around sunset. Today we had the grand opening of our English Zone at our school and we're going to have English camps there starting next week. I thought we were getting extra days off for Christmas and the New Year, but no. We get the days off themselves, which is good, but no extra days. I still think we'll go to Seoul, but next weekend instead. Stay tuned! Christmas is only days away. I am in a festive, happy mood. 12:21 PM Like · Comment ·Views (34)·Edit Dec 18, 2008 Details regarding a Korean school lunch My school is seemingly without Christmas cheer.  But the lunches and the ubiquitous red pepper paste and the various green vegetables (be they from earth or sea) can stand in the place of Christmas decor. Some of you, hearing about the curry, spaghetti, and french toast of Clean Your Plate Wednesday, might need a reminder of the Korean reality of the everyday lunch.  So let me tell you about our lunch today, which centered around a traditional Korean dish of wrapping small pork cuts in leafy greens.  It was my first time to see this dish served at school.  And also for the first time, the leafy greens were steamed or boiled cabbage.  Usually the leafy greens are fresh green or red or romaine lettuce, bok choi (or "beju" in Korean), and beefsteak plant (gaennip).  The sauce served to help dress your little sandwich is a fermented soybean paste.  And then, today, there was the garlic clam red sauce which is meant to also complement the taste of the savory pork cutlets.  It makes sense right?  You have the tasty pork, the texture of the clam, the bite of the raw (or almost raw) garlic bits, the spice of the red pepper, the fermented tang of the soybean paste, the enveloping base of boiled cabbage.  If that wasn't enough, there were onion slices and greens in the sauce as well.  And there was rice, of course.  And a nice seaweed and dubu soup. Note, this was the first time I can remember that kimchi wasn't served with school lunch. We did, however, get honeydew melon slices.  We have been getting more fruit since I mentioned it to the dietician. ****************** I dreamed about moustaches last night.  I was inbetween dream-realities of having a 2008 moustache, and an asyymetric yet glorious walrus moustache of the nineteenth century. ****************** At the end of lunch today, A fourth grade boy came up to me and said "I hate you."  I said, "Okay."  Then I told him to go get me some tissue paper, which is the Korean napkin if it can be said there is such a thing.  You see, I wanted to guard against particles of red sauce which onlookers might think I am saving for Bonnie but really they just happen to cling to moustache and beard whiskers.  Without hesitation he went and fetches me some tissue paper.  I told him thank you in Korean when he came back.  He said, I guess, not to say thank you.  "Why?" I asked.  It is an age-old device to get the speaker to say more thing in hope of better understanding what is going on.  Alas, his reply was incomprensible to me.  Maybe he told me that my moustache is thank you enough. 10:10 PM Like · Comment ·Views (10)·Edit Dec 18, 2008 Am I did? Current mood:amused I have been having a fun time lately with English grammar.  I like studying language, and my latest foray has me back with my mother tongue, investigating the hows and whys and whats of modal verbs.  My favorite part of looking at the English journals is getting insight on how difficult it can be to string various helping words together.  Sentences like "I would have had to have been eating." give me a little shiver about mastering Korean.  Will I ever look at such a sentence in Hangul and feel the impression of comprehension in my mind?  The teachers I teach keep English journals, and they write as much as I write in Korean, only I tend to go for the complex, and they tend to be satisfied with the simplest way to express an idea.  In both cases, our communication is pretty garbled, but we correct each others' journals and in this way learn the languages better. I have to laugh at the way we know and use our modal verbs.  "It might snow tonight" = "It could snow tonight."?  How about "It might not snow tonight." versus "It couldn't snow tonight."?  Do we actually ever say "had better" as in "You had better eat your vegetables."?  And think about the construct "would rather".  As in "I would rather have had to have been eating my vegetables." As in, rather than having to have been eating skate. A bunch of words attach to verbs to change their grammatical mood.  These act as modals but use infinitives.  I want to dance, I need to dance, I like to dance, I love to dance, I hate to dance, I prefer to dance, I refuse to dance.  I would like to dance.  I can't stand to dance.  I ought to dance.  I dare dance.  ("Dare" sometimes doesn't use the infinitive!)  I used to dance.  I have to dance.  Did you use to dance?  Did you use to have to dance?  I never used to have to dance.  I don't have to dance now, but I do like to dance every now and again.  (As an exercise try negating all of the above dancing statements). Of course, all of this material is beyond the scope of the teaching I do in the Elementary School.  But it's fun and helps me learn more about English, and in turn, hopefully more about Korean as well. Where the snow is, I can only guess.  Here it is, the hind end of December, the hind end of 2008, and it rained last night before it got cold enough to make snow.  We have a wedding anniversary to anticipate, Christmas to celebrate, a new year to look forward to.  Maybe you haven't heard yet about Bonnie's podaegi.  It is a Korean style baby sling that hugs a tot to a mothers back, using straps to support the child. Isaac's new ability is shifting to peer around one side or the other if Bonnie turns slightly one way or the other.  It is adorable, of course. Oh wow, I didn't before see the over the shoulder throw:  .. Bonnie does it (I think) by sitting Isaac on the couch and then sitting in front of him. Am I did?  No, I haven't worn it.  I don't think men can wear this in Korea.  It's like sitting with your legs under you. 12:05 AM Like · Comment ·Views (13)·Edit Dec 16, 2008 introducing the five minute blog... How much can I write in five minutes?  Well, let's see.  . . Today for lunch we had some good beef and radish soup.  And rice and kimchi, of course.  Also we had some dubu (pressed soybean curd aka tofu) with spicy red sauce.  And some octopus with red sauce.  Tomorrow is a good menu.  Spaghetti, curry, french toast, yum!  I'll be cleaning my plate I wager.. I am reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I am playing a few games of online chess.  And Bonnie and I have been in a downloading movies mood, watching Wall-E the other night, and Golden Compass last night.. Taebaek is still pretty much snowless.   It is a very fine day today.. We are planning a couchsurfing trip to Seoul soon.  It is exciting. A lot more information is like all this--kind of bland.  I'll blog again when I have something better to report.  Like becoming fluent in Korean, or unveiling more Korean mysteries.  Or attaching pictures.  I would report about the won versus the dollar, but it's too depressing.  Oh, and besides, I'm out of time.  I'll run to class now. 6:24 AM Like · Comment ·Views (34)·Edit Dec 14, 2008 welcome to exercise mountain! Current mood:accomplished This morning Trent and I met at a rendezvous point at 0700. We then climbed the nearest peak which some of you might recognize from some of our photos. It was a steep arduous climb, and I was surprised to see others on the trail, but we met two other hikers at the summit and saw several other gents and ladies on the course.  Most of the people we saw at exercise points. These are places where exercise equipment is erected, much like a gym or obstacle course, but outdoors and in one locale. By each of these places we saw there is also a collection point for mountain spring water. At the first place, which we came to shortly after we began, several older men were doing their morning exercises, one of them jogging in place on a small metal disk which I think can also be used as a sort of merry-go-round (you stand on it and spin it, twisting and stretching your back). The other place, which we came to near the end of our hike, hosted much more equipment, including hula hoops and an exercise station that is most easily described as a captain's wheel. Here, a couple old ladies were using the equipment. It was quite a sight to see them doing sit-ups and calisthenics. We noticed that they came up with their water bottles to fill them at the spring, then to exercise, and then to haul back down the hillside.  The peak offered a beautiful scenic point, and along part of the ridge we were able to watch the mountain shadow retreat across Taebaek. Also while the sun was newly up we also saw the just past full moon ready to set on the western skyline. And all the mountains looked very scenic in the morning clouds. Orry can tell you all sorts of things himself. His latest fun activity is using the paint program to make all sorts of colorful designs. Sometimes his little regard for social norms and niceties keep him from being so cute. Isaac scoots across the floor and investigates whatever he notices. Oh, so this morning was the first time in a long time I have used an alarm to make sure I would get up at a certain time. It wasn't very successful, in that I woke up a few times throughout the night to check and make sure I hadn't missed the alarm. There was a slight dusting of snow atop the mountain, and now this Sunday is pretty sunny. So, I guess you might call us anxious for snow in South Korea. 6:53 AM Like · Comment ·Views (37)·Edit Dec 8, 2008 school fumes and snow Our school smelled like fumes this morning.  There are the paint fumes, because our school is undergoing renovation.  It needs it, don't get me wrong, but I think a large factor in the renovations is that we are getting a new English center and other school will bring their students to our school.  Titivation is in order.  You want others to have good impressions. Other fumes are from the heaters.  They are designed well for kerosene heaters, and most of the exhaust is vented outside.  But there remains that gassy odor that reminds you that heating is going on.  I am glad that our apartment is heated with hot water in the flooring.  That, too, uses gas to heat the water, but the exhaust is much more contained and all vented out (and it's natural gas, not kerosene). Then there are the fumes of uric acid that waft from the urinals, reminding one of Friday's skate. There is the fuming of the vice-principal, with whom I share an office-room.  He and some other teachers were going at it today.  About what I do not know.  Hopefully not me.  Some of the teachers are fuming because they have a lot of work to do lately because of tests that are going on today and tomorrow.  Incidentally it makes my job more lax, so while their jobs are harder mine is easier.  Sometimes you just need to go out and eat some skate to get the tension out. The head teacher, who also shares our room (it is his room, actually--the "head teacher room"), likes to smoke.  When he comes back in, I wouldn't say cigarette fumes follow in his wake, but that cigarette smell definitely emanates like some ghastly ghostly indicator of his addiction.  I try not to be by him after his smoke breaks.  But if I happen to pass him in the hall, I wonder if he doesn't take one last drag from each cigarette and then instead of breathing out, just lets the smoke filter out of his skin for the next so many minutes. On a brighter side, today has also been a day of snow and of sunshine.  First the snow, which makes a day so beautiful.  Then some sun, and then some snow again.  It's been nice.  I am sure everything will be sloshy on the way home, but maybe some more clouds will roll in some more snow tonight and we can wake up to a world blanketed in lovely white goodness tomorrow morning. 8:17 AM Like · Comment ·Views (24)·Edit Dec 6, 2008 skates at christmastime Trent and I ate some skate. Now, don't be put off from ever eating skate. Apparently it doesn't have to taste like ammonia. It is just the way it is prepared in Korea. The cartilaginous fishes tend to taste of ammonia if not handled particularly (something about their urea). Well, in Korea it is prepared in order to maximize this cleaning agent smell. The skate is fermented to bring out that ammonia goodness. Apparently if skate is handled differently, it can be a delicious delicacy. As it is, I could hardly manage to swallow my little skate steak, eaten with kimchi and pork in hopes of hiding the taste. They also served something like skate tempura which I optimistically tried, thinking the experience might be tolerable. When the next dish came out, the skate soup, one whiff of the ammonia smell and I figured I didn't need to try it. I have saved the best for last, though. While all these skate samples were terrible, If I would have stopped at the very first dish I would have only good things to say about skate. The first dish was skate innards, and if I understand correctly, the liver in particular. Now that was delicious! And with that ultra soft and delicate texture of other raw seafood. It was like the sea urchin goop from a few weeks ago. It is solid enough to pick up with chopsticks, but once in your mouth, you're not sure you can call it a solid. Mmm, now that was amazing. While looking online for skate info, I also learned this about skates, that you can take a skate corpse and make a Jenny Haniver out of it. Oh, Trent and I had a good guy's night out with the men who teach at my school. First we had grilled pork ribs, then we played four ball, then the skate, then an hour or whatever in the singing room Noraebang. Oh it was freezing outside, but our hearts were warm with camaraderie and ammonia.  I am not done telling you about the skates. At that restaurant, the walls are written on, and you too can write on these walls with markers when you visit. Now the place is a record of our Becker Invasion. For posterity. ******************************************* There is a funny madness to the choreographing of synchronized Christmas lights. I would give you links, but there are so many of them. Well here is a sample to get you started:  .." Youtube helps a lot in our holiday glee. We play our favorite holiday songs, Bonnie crocheting, and me in my cap, the tots nestled in bed while visions of sugarplums dance in their noggins to the tune of "nobody nobody but you" or "single ladies". 2:30 PM Like · Comment ·Views (42)·Edit Dec 3, 2008 moustaches, the many descendants of Benjamin Franklin, and more... The mountain tops are just dusted with what looks like confectioner's sugar.  Or no, the sugar was dusted and then blown away maybe.  Actually, less frigid temperatures following last week's cold snap has tricked the azaleas and some trees into a spring growth which soon will get nipped in the bud.  I am concerned for those plants.  Ah, if it were the direst of my concerns! Our new mobile Isaac is really something.  Bonnie exclaims that he is also bigger than Orry was at his age, although his head is not so disproportionate.  He sure is a grinny little baby.  What a delight! Orry is making his consonant blends quite clearly now, giving extra attention to his pl and bl and so on.  Also, he is now Mr "What's this?".  When we read familiar books he likes filling in the missing words that you pause for. I have started a Korean diary to practice learning Korean.  That is part of the reason I have recorded weblogs less.  Another reason is that the English Center at our school is preparing to open and I am preparing for that.  Students from the outlying areas of Taebaek will visit the school to get English instruction they would otherwise miss. Bonnie didn't like my recent moustache and sheared beard.  She thinks the moustache needs more trimming to match the shorter beard.  In fact, I cut off half the moustache, but in a fashion which makes it "sharp".  Like lip bangs, except that it is thick enough that it makes an overhang above my upper lip.  Imagine taking the scissors and trimming this moustache right above the lip: I think you would identify it as a major on this chart: And of course, a few more days and it will look something ilke this: For now, though, Bonnie says it's sharp enough to open a letter. Sharp enough to cut a diamond. Sharp enough to engrave a tombstone. She is using hyperbole, of course, to make her point. And while I'm telling you about our conversations, let's talk about the bloodline of Benjamin Franklin. I learned once in the New England states, that Benjamin Franklin has forty something illegitimate children. So I wonder, sometimes, about the children of these children, and their children, and so on. A couple hundred years, and that can be quite the progeny. So Bonnie and I were guessing who are contemporaries are that share the genes that ran through the blood of that great thinker and doer. We agreed on three. Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and yes, Michael Phelps. Happy December! 2:26 AM Like · Comment ·Views (56)·Edit Nov 29, 2008 the prayer suggestion, the boys, the amusement park Bedtime prayer basics: Dear God, Thank you for the day. Thank you for making us, and thank you for making the world. Keep us safe tonight, and keep us safe tomorrow. Be with travelers everywhere. Touch the lives of those who are lost. Help those who need it most. Amen. Isaac has begun to scoot across the floor. Like crawling, except that he wriggles on his belly. Those of you who are into such things can check out our little tot on my videos. He is just on the verge of sitting up by himself. That is, he can do it, but if allowed, he will fall on his face after a while. I sheared my beard, after I finally got some lookalike photos for my art lookalike painting. Some of you faithful readers may remember the picture I once displayed of Knute Heldner.  We had a grand time on Friday as a family. We went on an excursion provided by our city for foreign families. We ended up going to an amusement park near Seoul. It was a lot of fun, and now you can consider yourself updated for when you see some photos to be uploaded some time in the near future. Orry is raking some pasta into his gullet. He manipulates tools with such skill, and uses enough of an imagination and communication skills to separate him quite distinctly in ones mind from primates other than human. Primates like the golden snub-nosed monkey or the ring-tailed lemur, which we saw at the amusement park yesterday. I call it an amusement park, but it was a combination of zoo and theme park with roller coasters as well as a skating rink and sled hill and so on. We took a "safari ride" and saw lions and tigers and bears, and we also took a boat ride through a "global village" of so many action figurines acting out little scenes from various countries. We also saw polar bears and prairie dogs, meerkats and bats, santa claus and rollerblading trash boys. Now, what was it that you were going to do? Oh, that's right, you were going to go check out what surprises await your attention in my videos section. 6:24 PM Like · Comment ·Views (39)·Edit Nov 25, 2008 the past so many days, including my brother’s birthday, not mentioned in this blog except here. Current mood:happy I got word of an essay contest to enter, so I wrote an essay, which I finished just in time to submit on Friday. Then I had a school function for the teachers and staff. I will tell about it below. Finally, we had our Korean language competition today--all the English speaking school teachers in our city. This last event will make part of the news on national television (?!) for those of you in Korea. It wasn't that big of an event. But it helps morale, you know. For the Koreans, whose tax won (15%) go to education, including a hefty sum to pay for the importing of native English speakers. And for us foreigners, who like to get together and socialize and share our similar and dissimilar stories and compete. I received the prize of most utility, a blanket. This was a third place prize, of which there were five. As for the school function for the teachers and staff, we sent the students home after lunch on Friday, whereupon, we faculty and staff boarded a bus for a trip across the country. Have you ever been on a party bus? If so, then it will be easier for you to imagine what it was like. There was plenty of alcohol and food to go around. And then, when we reached our destination area, west of Seoul (We live on the east side of Korea.), we enjoyed a local delicacy, barbecued eels. The eels were cooked on hot rocks, and let me tell you, they were fresh. We know this because although most of the eel was cut up, the tails were still a few inches long, and they were wriggling and flipping when they were first put on the rocks. The eel tasted like fish, perhaps a bit oilier. This was the first dinner. Our second dinner was a little later at a different place where they served us raw octopus, which didn't just wriggle around on the serving dish, but also on your chopsticks and in your mouth while you chewed it. These were tentacles only, for the most part, and they were chopped up into eatable hunks. But these hunks were alive. You know the grippy suction cups on octopus tentacles? These suction grips would grab onto the inside of your mouth. Well, not your mouth, because you weren't there. But if you were, if you would have dined on these octopus legs, they would have gripped their last grip in your mouth as well. To chase down the octopus, we were then served steamed shrimp. I am, of course, spoiled in this regard, owing to Louisiana arthropod cuisine tutelage. So, I can say critically that I was not over impressed. But, ah, it was fine to eat tasty shrimp again. We also enjoyed small crabs which were cooked and munched whole. Afterward we sang and danced at some joint, partaking in the Korean version of karaoke, which is called noraebang (rhymes with long). And why not? With technology these days, why should we not enjoy the tunes made famous by the likes of Three Dog Night, Nirvana, Blood Sweat and Tears, Marilyn Manson, singing our own sorry versions, in one room with the coworkers we will shamelessly drink our coffee with on Monday? We continued the gaiety at our hotel, separated by our gender, where the men played cards and ate more chicken. I don't know about the women, but I bet they all wisely went to sleep. The next morning we were wakened to board the bus by 8, and we ventured off for more Korean cultural exploration. This was great. We ferried the bus across to a large island where we went to a large temple. Really, even touring in the bus was nice, because there was a lot of new Korean things I hadn't seen, like ginseng fields, and also the construction of Eastern style roofs. The temple we saw was called Bomunsa. It had a large buddha carved into a cliff that is sheltered by an overhanging rock. Also, it has a temple building carved into a cave at the temple "base", which is quite a ways up a mounatina to begin with. Outside of the cave is a 600 year old chinese juniper tree that looks like "a dragon belching flames". Some of the buildings and structures are very old there. Some of them are brand new. It was a nice hike up to the stone wall buddha. I didn't have a camera during the trip, but I took lots of mental pictures. After the temple experience, we ate at the touristy area nearby, where I had things I've never had before, like a really sour yet tasty rice vinegar wine of some sort. The lunch there was a bunch of seafood mostly. Oh, I forgot about breakfast, which was a three fish dish, although I counted only two types of fish. Oh, and I saw and identified for the first time sea squirts. I think we ate those, but I'm not sure. After lunch, we started the long trip home. Which culminated in excitement about a half hour before our arrival. That is when the techno music was its loudest, the Koreans dancing the craziest, the tour bus turned most into what you can imagine to be a party bus. And, incidentally, when most all of the alcohol was gone, or pocketed by some of the greedier staff or faculty for later. I would tell you about the panty hose face mask with a clementine dangling at the toe of the stocking, but I think this aspect of the weekend trip is an aspect better left in the minds of those who were there. 2:35 PM Like · Comment ·Views (131)·Edit Nov 17, 2008 korean fishing, four ball, cuttlefish There were the sea urchins, cracked open undelicately, then delicately supped. There were the fishes caught and kept. Not exactly trophy fish, all less than about six inches in length. There were the 20 foot rods that brought these fish to their honorable ends. But the best part of the Korean fishing trip was the salty air, the anenomes, the relaxing clamor of the saltwater molecules crashing into the rocky sea coast. You can go here for a sampling of Korean fishing, but I didn't find the main fish we caught, which looked like what you can see is called a red rockfish.We ate these fish raw, some with only pepper sauce, and some with pear and gaennip, onions and peppers, tossed in an oriental sauce that would make even your tongue water after trying some.  We went on this grand adventure with one of my Korean schoolteachers who speaks only a little English. What a good time! He brought us to some traditional Korean housing where he grew up, which is no home to his younger sister and her family. Thanks to all of them for such a good experience. ******************************* I wanted also to tell about our English camp where I explained about Thanksgiving, made hand-turkeys. We traced our hands and then cut them out to decorate them with turkey things. Not even one student turned down the first, third, and fourth fingers and snickered. Trent and I both worked at this English camp, and we spent a good amount of time practicing and playing a form of billiards called four ball. The objective point is not making the struck balls to go where you want, but making the striking ball to go where you want. Anyway, as for the Korean students, they were divided into teams. The teams competed for prizes by being the most involved, the most enthused. My team won. We had a team handshake. Our name? Shiny Friends. **************************** Clementines (like tangerines and satsumas) are a variety of mandarin oranges. They are seedless. It's what we are gobbling up here as they were turkey and it is Thanksgiving every day. I thought the cuttlefish was another name for an octopus or squid. But no, a cuttlefish is another type of cephalopod. 3:49 PM Like · Comment ·Views (41)·Edit Nov 14, 2008 language, delight, engagement! These days I am working on my chess game which enables me to procrastinate writing an essay for an essay competition about English in the Korean education system.  Also I am working on studying some Korean for a Korean language competition coming right up.  I need to study more, write limericks less.  Did you see my snood limerick in the bulletin?  If not, you should check it out.  Also check out the videos directed in said bulletin, if you haven't already. Today I will go to another English camp, where tomorrow I will teach 80 korean kids about snoods and other things.  We will make hand turkeys, if all goes as planned. Orry is drawing concentric circles.  They're not really circles, not really concentric, but I think it is a skill worth noting.  Also he is saying amazing things.  I mean, amazing to us, who just held his little clumsy toddling body just a year ago, when he could say but a few words.  His comprehension level is high too.  It's a delight. Isaac, with spastic stretches, grunts, and awkward rolling, clumsily maneuvers his body to reach a desired item.  He smiles and laughs when you play with him.  When it comes to our children, there is a lot of delight. Our school got fitted with seasonal heaters.  Kerosene is used, but in a way that minimizes fumes.  It is beautiful crisp cold weather we are having. Not to waste your time, I will share with you my joy that my youngest sister is engaged to be married soon, and I am tickled.  It starts a new chapter in one's life, you know.  Not just getting married, but also being in a family with you and all your siblings married.   3:32 AM Like · Comment ·Views (52)·Edit Nov 12, 2008 The day I forgot my shoes Current mood:amused This week has been a busy one.  After our bustling Sunday, on Monday I had a emeting after work to discuss the English camp soming up this weekend.  I really wanted to skip out because I feel comfortable with email discussion when it comes to teaching plans and schedules.  But when I got there and there was lots of food, I didn't mind discussing the details in person. Tuesday also had an afterwork dinner.  The details are these:  Tuesday was a big day for my school, Taeseo Elementary.  For the past couple months we have been planning a school festival--kind of like a concert / talent show for parents and the principals of other local elementary schools.  The teachers have been busy practicing routines with the students, and all around there has been a lot of effort into this special day.  And with 20 routines taking up about two hours, you can imagine the production.  Classes were cancelled yesterday, while the morning was a rehearsal and the real thing set for 2:00.  I want to mention that I missed the memo that it was free lunch, apparently allowing the kids to all eat at the early lunchtime.  I usually go to second lunch, which is when most of the students dine, so when 12:40 rolled around I headed to the cafeteria, only to find it vacant.  Luckily, the lunchladies served me up and I ate my reddened cucumbers, hot spicy soup, kimchi, rice and vegetable pancakes by myself.  They also gave me some seasoned laver, yum, for my rice.  The lunchladies are great. Anyway, the festival went fine.  You can imagine for yourself a large room full of elementary students' parents and grandparents.  There was a lot of crowding to get photos of young'uns, and the afternoon was not without mothers standing on chairs for a better view.  The routines included drumming, song and dance, skits, bellydancing of course, jumping rope, playing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on recorders and a taekwondo exhibition. Afterwards, there was some cleanup and putaway time, but our dniner was scheduled for 5:30 and work is finished at 5.  Instead of gonig home for all of two minutes and then getting a taxi back across town, I wanted to hang out at the school, finish my plans for the English camp, and just go directly to the restaurant for dinner.  Unfortunately that wasn't happening, because at 5:00, everybody had to leave.  But still, at least several of us went directly to the restaurant instead of going home first.  There we enjoyed jovial conversation and a few good laughs.  In Korean. But I was keeping a secret.  Because when we got to the restaurant I realized that I had forgotten my shoes.  Now, I know that sounds odd, but you must understand that instead of my shoes I was wearing slippers that everybody wears inside at school.  So it wasn't like I was barefooted.  I was just wearing the "guest slippers" that I use everyday while at school.  I was really embarrassed, and I guess some others may have seen my mistake, but luckily nobody said anything, and I was saved from some pretty socially awkward embarrassment. After the dinner, which consisted of ribs, rice noodles, vegetables, and assorted shellfish, I was saved further humiliation again, discreetly avoiding the situation where one might notice my footwear.  I got a ride back to my place, but then remembered that it was the other Beckers' that I needed to go to, so I hoofed it in my slippers to SeonMyeong Samcha.  They are slippers with lots of little shiatsu nodules to stimulate your feet while walking.  But after a good wakl, the stimulation can get uncomfortable.  That is what I learned, the day I forgot my shoes. While I was walking across Taebaek in my slippers to meet up with my family, the other guys went to another restaurant and ate raw skate, which tastes like ammonia, and cooked silkworm pupae.  Then they played billiards.  I missed out on the male bonding I guess, but I'm sure glad I missed out on the ammonia. I wonder what shiatsu is in Korean. Peace. 2:20 AM Like · Comment ·Views (45)·Edit Nov 10, 2008 the wonders of the Korean calendar Current mood:happy Our weekend was eventful.  First, there was a delicious dinner on Friday we shared with other foreigners living in Taebaek.  Then we all went out singing in the karaoke style, which Koreans call noraebang (singing room).  The next day We went swimming at a place called Kangwon Land.  It hosts not only a swimming pool and resort, but also a theme park and Korea's only big legal casino.  We swam, and then bathed in the public Korean style baths.  All this is a half hour outside of Taebaek.  After all that good wet fun, we went over to the Seon Myeong Beckers' for a delicious dinner that had no rice until dessert time.  I shouldn't leave out how we played a one hand game of Pinochle that night.  On Sunday we had church and lunch, then Trent and I went hiking with a couple other foreigners in Taebaek (Saskatchewan's Rob and Kat, who blog here).  It was a nice scenic hike, even if it was pretty rainy.  After this, I watched Isaac while Bonnie went to Emart and got a dinner invitation from a family at our church.  Well, we thought it was a dinner invitation at their place, but it ended up being a meal at the church with a couple dozen other members, and I'm not sure what the purpose was, really.  It had something to do with kick-volleyball, I think. There is an essay contest that has a deadline fast approaching.  Also our Learn Korean competition is fast approaching.  Also our school is having an overnight bonanza of fun in Incheon in a couple weeks.  Next on our slate is an English camp and a fishing trip next weekend.  And who would have guessed it, but tomorrow is a kind of Korean valentine's day, where chocolate sticks are exchanged.  I think.  The calendar calls it Bebero Day.  It also says 시랑하는 연인끼리 꽂을 선물하고 빼빼로를 나눠먹는 날, which I think has something to do with giving flowers.  It also calls this Friday Movie Day.  Ah, the wonders of the Korean calendar. Speaking of wonders, I think there another mystery has been unveiled.  A few months ago, I was greatly disturbed by noises in the night.  It may be that there was a purging of spirits or some such traditional ritual that was taking place, as is common around these parts during that time, it turns out.  It sounds a lot better than the reasons my imagination conjured. And, speaking of conjured, I just read a fine story written by an author namedChristopher Paul Curtis.  He is another fan of Kurt Vonnegut who has captured a lot of the United States of America for a story set in Canada.   More Americans should read this book, called Elijah of Buxton.  Especially young readers, especially in the South. And, speaking of reading, thank you for reading this. 2:30 AM Like · Comment ·Views (43)·Edit Nov 6, 2008 vegetable advice Current mood:chill I am not clear about the details, but when you ask a Korean their birthday, you get a date from the lunar calendar.  This date corresponds with a different date from year to year, so that somebody might tell you their birthday is one month, but it is actually celebrated on another day in another month.  I will probably investigate more details and report to you later. Last night we watched a movie set in days gone by--the wild west as it were.  I know there are varying opinions on who would prefer to have lived in these times or not.  Some are so thankful to not endure such times, and others would very much like to have lived back then.  What better lesson we have to consider regarding the times of our lives.  Our grandkids' grandkids (or some of them, in the least) will sometimes pine away for the days that our ours.  Let us live them in appreciation and determination to make of them something to live for!  And to our grandkids' grandkids we say, your days are difficult to predict, we can imagine countless scenarios, ponder so many different outcomes.  But to every generation, and the generations that come after, whether stuck in time, social status, or location, we offer the advice of a flower or tree:  bloom where you are planted. The clouds rolled in last night and blanketed our Korean mountains like so many babies at preschool naptime.  As a consequence it felt not nearly so cold this morning.  We are, however, shivering in the school, with no sunshine spilling in from the windows to warm our backs. 3:12 AM Like · Comment ·Views (55)·Edit Nov 5, 2008 clear day, huge cheeks Current mood:happy The past couple days have been so clear.  Clear enough to see the Korean Sasquatch shiver in the cold from miles away, if such a beast exists. The night sky is a delight on nights as clear as these.  Two bright planets grace the western sky with the waning crescent of moon at sundown.  I want to say that Jupiter is closer to the moon and Venus is nearby, setting earlier than the other two.  Look next month for a small triangle formed by the moon, Jupiter and Venus.  Also there are shooting stars from the Leonids which culminates next week.  I hope to get out of the lights one night soon and gaze more at the stars, with a cold nose.  I have been enjoying the Summer triangle while possible and last night we could see almost all of Pegasus,Taurus and the Pleiades. Last night we went out for more grapefruit gelato or sherbet or sorbet or whatever.  Orry was functioning on less than enough sleep and so seemed particularly grumpy.  We saw the kindergarten teacher at the gelato place, and he gave a nice bow, however. Once we got home, Isaac had his first stinky poopy diaper, finally processing and evacuating some rice cereal added into his mammal milk diet.  He is otherwise adorable in his toothless way.  Look soon for a few adorable new videos. I am watching the US dollar and the Korean won, eager yet not eager to trade in some won.  I need to get a good of rate as possible, but the rate is depressingly unfavorable compared to months previous. see a graph here see some huge cheeks here Now, I could go on and tell you more about Korean birthdays and the lunar calendar and so on, but instead I will save that for another blog, another day, and leave this weblog at that. 6:50 AM Like · Comment ·Views (38)·Edit Nov 4, 2008 from restoration to golden illumination If you were on the edge of your seat about the toilet tissue at our school, don't you worry: the toilet paper has been restored. My morning's musings were taxonomical.  I was thinking about the classification of all things.  This came from, um, well, I'm not sure where it all started, but I considered that fungi, and indeed, insects, could use greater social esteem.  Maybe if slime wasn't so slimy, and cockroaches so revolting.  But oh well.  Was I thinking about enzymes?  Oh!  It was the rumination of cheese-making that led into this morning's musing.  I was considering "rennet", a principal cheese-making ingredient which is an enzyme from calf stomachs that helps break down cow milk. Or kid stomach to break down goat milk.  Little Isaac uses a similar enzyme complex for Bonnie's breastly goodness, but each mammal's rennet is specific for mother's milk.  Anyway, this led into thoughts about the classification of all things. Which is what our brains like to do.  But any taxonomy is one particular way to order the universe.  It can be done in many ways, or from distinct points of emphasis or precision.  Nevertheless, it is very human to categorize things, even though it tends toward the automated, the robotic, the computer-processor, which is, afterall, designed to ape the mind of us great apes. I was musing about scientists classifying things when the unpleasant odor of sewage offended my nose.  I then decided that classifying all things ought to be a social priority of less importance than this: providing for most people a sewer system that minimizes such malodorous wafts.  Is it a lot to ask?  I can't imagine that smart city planning, tall vents, and odor traps, can't reduce the human-odor interface to practically nothing.  That said, maybe it's good for us to smell our own stink every now and again.  I mean, more than in the bathroom--to smell our communal sewage and reflect: ah, yes, that is humanity, that is society. This led into more musing, of course.  Politics.  For what is it that governs our social objectives if it is not our regard for our politicians and our government.  Do the local Korean congresspeople know that I smell sewage a few times as I walk up the road in the morning?  Let alone the cutural differences, I wonder if their noses get offended by such scents.  If it is normal for them then so be it.  I have a vision for humanity that is aware enough of itself to separate itself away from its stink.  And not in a way that compromises the natural way, one would hope. But anyway, as my musings turned more political I envisioned a conservative platform of letting one to one's own stinky way .  I envisioned a socialist platform of projects designed for the greater good at the cost of all.  I imagined the corruptibility of both.  I continued to think more in this way--how I am not so trusting of others to like the stance that leaves people's government up to the whims of corporations or individuals.  Nor am I trusting enough to generally trust others to create the rules and regulations for how much who can do what.  But above all, I am trusting enough in myself and in others, that, shy of totalitarian repression or injustice, I think I can thrive.  And anarchy may hamper security, but I could go for the adventure. I thought some more in this vein until my ride picked me up and my day sort of started.  But I did notice how beautiful the golden morning sunlight was on the same green-orange hillsides I mentioned last night. If you have not wasted enough time reading this, maybe you'd be interested in checking out the ever-so-cute House Gecko. Or, as you can find on my profile: tiny animals on fingers. 7:31 AM Like · Comment ·Views (26)·Edit Nov 3, 2008 favorite things, and so on A few of my favorite things from today: The bronze evening sunlight on the autumn colored hillsides. Korean fifth-graders chanting in support for Obama.  When they first asked me "do you like... " it sounded like 'Oh-bahn-mahn' and I wondered if it was another wrestler I didn't know about.  You can imagine my glee when I heard that Obama's international support had reached into our little school! Going to the school bathroom with a handful of Kleenex tissues in my pocket, because where was the toilet paper today? ********************** This weekend I had fun at my first "English camp".  Schoolchildren who were interested, from our neighboring school, went to a youth center in the hills where we spent our Saturday evening and Sunday morning together.  The children had five hours of instruction, which means I taught the same lesson to five different groups.  I talked about Halloween and we made jack-o-lantern faces on paper.  I spent the night at the youth center (the had other adults who were in charge of watching the kids), and it was fine accomodations.  There is extra pay for things like this. We had house guests last night and that was pleasant.  Andy is a Canadian English teacher who has been here a few years.  He is married and they have a boy of 15 months.  Bonnie had some guests today at the house as well.  It is nice to entertain people, entangle ourselves in local social networks. I am entertaining the notion of having my unruly after-school students write lines, such as "I will go to class on time, and I will listen to my teachers." multiple times.  Like 30, maybe?  Maybe I will give more sentences to some students and fewer to others.  Anyway, I found a site called starfall.com that they actually seemed to moreorless enjoy today--the ones that were there and not out playing soccer or milling around the school grounds. I finally had the "brain soup" you might have read about in my sister-in-law's blog.  My brain soup had squid, octopus and crab as well, but don't think the crabmeat was separated from the shells.  They were just hacked up crabs.  I don't know what the "brains" are, but they are inedible.  The soup might sound good, right? but it was mostly only worth writing home about for its novelty.  It was spicy in the usual Korean way.  The rest of lunch was delish.  Did you come up with a limerick today? 10:27 AM Like · Comment ·Views (49)·Edit Oct 31, 2008 Happy Halloween! & realities galore While many children in the USA intake sugars and sugar substitutes at alarmingly high rates, Korean grade-schoolers nearly antipodal are learning about jack-o-lanterns in a way that reinforces reading, listening, and pronunciation, using shapes like triangles and circles, taking instruction with scissors and gluesticks, and making faces and facial features on their own paper jack-o-lantern.  "You smile when you're happy."  "You frown when you're angry." It is a drizzly grizzly autumn day here in Taebaek.  My thoughts drift to warm cozy things like mittens and fires in fireplaces.  Long johns and hot chocolate with marshmallows.  Ear muffs and oatmeal. Meanwhile, as all of you can see, I remember our gecko--one of our little friends that helps make the South a better place.  Where do geckoes go in the Winter?  They hibernate.  In a warm cozy reality of their own, one suspects. Reality of their own?  States Otto Liedenbrock, fictional scientist: "Science has been built upon many errors; but they are errors which it was good to fall into, for they led to the truth."  States Emerson Cod, fictional private investigator: "The truth ain't like puppies, a bunch of them running around, you pick your favorite. One truth...!" Yet I rebut: Our perspectives, geckoes' included, are each of them constructs of reality, if they are but embedded within one grander ultimate reality. Thus warmly and philosophically yours, I report to you that other Korean gradeschoolers at the moment I write this, are tooting away on their recorders, to the tune of the popular Christmas hit, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.   Do you wonder what I will eat for lunch today?  Me too.  Probably rice, some sort of soup, and some other things.  For now, I will go enjoy a breaktime with other teachers, and then get on with the rest of my day.  Thank you for reading. 2:31 AM Like · Comment ·Views (40)·Edit Oct 29, 2008 get to know bonnie Current mood:blessed hi, i'm bonnie.  i am currently engaged in the upbringing of two little tykes.  today we are on our way to the school where troy, my handsome witty husband, spends his weekdays.  my weekdays are spent a) tending the primary needs of my five month tot isaac: giving him attention, teaching him how to nap, changing his diapers, and feeding him breastly nourishment. b) cultivating the mind and experience of my two year old orry: playing chase and tickle, doing exercises, coloring and drawing, folding and flying airplanes (including flying him on my feet).  i like to switch roles and let him fly me on his feet as well, even though i just support my own weight on my long beautiful legs which are still on the ground from the knees down.  then there are the cars cars cars, and the little blocks we like to line up.  and of course i take care of his needs as well, preparing him breakfast and lunch, cleaning off his hands and face, helping him take a nap when he is sleepy, and taking him to the toilet when he needs to go.  we also like to read books and sometimes watch the tv and attempt to decipher some gibberish.  or we put on some videos of the backyardigans and then i like to sing and dance along with orry sometimes. and c) i also tidy up the house and wash the dishes, vacuum and dust and do the laundry!  that's quite a job because all the clothes must be hung to dry, and many of them need ironing.  also, it should go without saying that we use cloth diapers, so that adds to the laundry load of course.  and since we dry our clothes indoors, there is also the humidity regulation of the apartment i deal with.  also i keep stock of our pantry and hosehold supplies, so often there is a grocery list i work on throughout the day.  not to mention the menu planning and preparation of most of our evening meals. i am quite the woman!  and i am a good age to have such a happy family, and i look great too.  we get out quite a bit during the week, and i usually tote isaac in a baby carrier.  we have some friends from church and we also try to see troy's brother trent and his wife nicole quite a bit, and any other social invitations that we are able to attend! i studied fashion desing and can't wait to get my mitts on a sewing machine.  currently i want to make a re-cycled clothing boutique and size all the clothing personally.  for example, this dress would be "ashley-sized" or this pair of pants would be "nicole-sized" and in this way create a personal atmosphere with clients and shoppers.  except most of the clothing will probably be heeyoung-sized or hye-jung-sized or other names like eun-hi-sized which don't lend themselves well to romanizations. i also like chocolate, and shopping, and love notes from my husband, even though he's so busy at work he doesn't have much time to write me any.  also i like watching pushing daisies, which is such a clever little serial on tv these days, and we get to watch it with no commercial breaks.  we also watch the office for a laugh.  i like to read too, and i'm studying korean so i can express something other than milk in this foreign land. hmm, well, what else would you want to know?  i miss my family back home but we manage to talk quite a bit on skype.   i am a proud homeowner and i miss the house we moved from in the states.  i also miss chevy, my smart and handsome dog. i cut orry's and troy's hair last night.  they both look pretty keen.  yep, i am quite the woman. we hope to do some traveling this winter.  japanese blood flows in my veins and i want to go there and see if their seaweed is as good as the seaweed in korea. 1:53 AM Like · Comment ·Views (58)·Edit Oct 28, 2008 Donghae, Svalbard Our weekend to Donghae in a hundred words: Taxis and train.  Oranges and Yeast Barley Hard Tack.  Patronage.  Mosquitoes.  Morning, beautiful mountains, trees, streams and falls.  Boys, breaks, Mr Moon from San Jose, family trip, Twin Falls, detour of 1000 stairs.  Valleys and ridges, ravines and cliffs, ropes and river rocks.  Hello rocks, hello moss.  Wobbly rocks, leaf traps, freedom, freedom with a timelimit, photo fun, back again, back pain, convertible back pack, back relief, backwashing and hot tub, cold tub, family room spa experience, saunas aplenty, expensive taxi rides, cheap food, grapes and orphans, baskin robbins, a big spider or small tarantula.  Hearts.  Daytime train ride home. I have been posting my blogs before photos, but if you're interested you can peruse our photos in Bonnie's myspace or facebook pages.  Lately, owing in part to Axel and Otto traversing Iceland to journey to the center of the Earth, I have been daydreaming of living in such exotic locales as Svalbard and Jan Mayen.  Exotic as in walruses, not mouse-deers. A mouse-deer, or chevrotain: Now, it is getting cold in Taebaek.  Nevertheless, the persistent sun shines down its golden warm rays, which are quite comfortable on one's back. This upcoming weekend is my first experience with an English camp.  It's an overnighter for the children, grades 3-6, who meet at a youth center and have English activities and fun, I'm not sure yet in which order.  I am looking forward to it. Isaac is getting more adept with his rolling over and also slightly better with his arm manipulation and grasping.  He sure grins a lot, and I have to say I am glad he is happy and healthy and well cared for.  Orry is asking more questions about things, and is insatiable with play.  We (including him, hopefully) are learning about his moods and needs.  His motor skills are developing quite well, and he is also happy, healthy, and well cared for, thankfully. 5:15 AM Like · Comment ·Views (28)·Edit Oct 24, 2008 leaflessness, vacuum cleaning, elementary talent show Current mood:happy Wind is blowing in the promise of a cold winter.  The trees of nearby mountain tops have lost their leaves, giving some of the hills the appearance of unfortunate balding women.  Fall colors still abound, and some glorious vermillions and scarlets can still be found, but not from my office window, from which I gaze, thinking about one woman in particular with thick black beautiful hair and not a hint of baldness in spite of the tangles of lost hairs each day found by the vaccuum cleaner or the bathroom drain. The vacuum cleaner is every bit as good as an expensive toy.  Armed with it, I stalk pesky fruit flies which are mysteriously over abundant.  It has several functions and options, a swivel head which is just a delight to push around.  It is lightweight and convenient to carry from here to there in our little two bedroom apartment.  It creates a miniature tornado in the collection cylinder, where it collects a tangle of hair, lint, and so on.  But the best part comes when you pop it open to clean it each month or so.  The bagless system emplys a series of filters, and the small canister, which opens precisely and neatly, has packed within it a cleaning brush.  A couple filters encased in another small canister fit precisely and neatly in place, they can be removed, taken apart, cleaned with the small brush.  The whole procedure is something that you want to do again and again until you can do it blindfolded, in the dark.  Therefore, you vacuum every chance you get, so that you can clean it again before too long.  I think Bonnie is delighted that it is like an expensive toy for me. Today we venture out.  It is exciting.  Like a journey to Iceland, only shorter, and with fewer volcanoes.  I will report later, of course, so stay tuned for that. Yesterday was a fun festival day at the cultural center that is very close to our apartment.  Even though this was during school horse, I was able to go to it, and I called up Bonnie and got her to come with the boys.  We watched the performance part of the festival, which included the showcasing of many of the schools around Taebaek, each school contributing some "talent" or cultural exposition.  It was really great, with an array of activities.  There was singing, drumming, ocarina playing, fan dancing, wheel chair dancing, traditional korean dancing, belly dancing (by our own Taeseo elementary girls), contemporary dancing, a taekwondo display, a beatbox performance, swing dancing, some folk music, and gosh, it was really quite a show.  It deserves more of a report, but I'll leave it at that for now and just say that it was especially impressive to be put together in a month with elementary kids (some of the presentations were middle and high school as well). As always, thank you for reading! 3:30 AM Like · Comment ·Views (44)·Edit Oct 21, 2008 a chameleonlike report of trivial goings-on Current mood:happy I need to upload more photos.  Last weekend, which you probably read about here, was even busier for me, since Friday was a big field day at our school.  We went to Donghae, the whale fossil museum, the beach, we had a picnic in the countryside. Then the weekend, during which we were accosted in our home by religion peddlers we hospitably invited in.  They returned yesterday and there is no slaking my fury at their disregard for social niceties and their persistence in touting their beliefs. I realize that my writing cannot be unaffected by the delicious English I am devouring, written the century before last by one Jules Verne.  Yes, if you are wondering, Verne sported a moustache, and also a beard, which is, in my opinion, a more gallant and wholesomely superior enterprise. Who cannot love turns of phrases such as "Ah! women and young girls, how incomprehensible are your feminine hearts!" and "unless he very considerably changes as he grows older, at the end he will be a most original character." Anyway, reading Journey to the Center of the Earth  is only part of my daily workload.  Today, on a day where I have a sum total of 100 minutes of classroom instruction, I was told at the last minute that 40 of those minutes are to be cancelled or postponed.  So instead of teaching fifth graders how to teach English speakering listeners about their city, their province, their customs, I instead get to report my goings-on to you. It is rainy today.  Last night we had some Korea-lash, courtesy of Nicole and Trent.  It is like goulash, with a few necessary twists. We are hoping to sample public transportation this weekend traveling to another city.  Actually Donghae again, where we hope to revisit the temple we saw and go hiking, maybe visit the beach.  Maybe the whale fossil museum (an activity which I am sure we could all do well without, for how many times can you gaze at fossilized whalebone and not read inscriptions penned in a foreign script?). And now it's lunch time, and I shall go eat. 8:44 PM Like · Comment ·Views (39)·Edit Oct 18, 2008 fish, horses, and silos One of you will log the 5000th viewing of my blogs.  Thank you, dear readers, for reading.  Here are some likenesses for your reading pleasure: Christians came by our house today.  I didn't know they were peddling religion until it was too late.  We told them we didn't want to give our phone number, but a lady got on our phone and called her cell phone.  It wasn't a very positive cultural experience.  The charge of Christianity in this nation has shocked me.  It is like I am a fish in water, sometimes. Speaking of water, yesterday I found some sea tangle at the beach.  Joking, I told some kids to eat it.  Joseph ate some (Joseph is the foreigner teacher who teaches along with me at my school).  Since anything he can do I can do better, I ate some too.  It wasn't any better than the sea tangle we get with our lunches.  But it wasn't any worse.  And, I have to admit, it seems like Joseph is learning Korean faster than I am.  I am like a horse racing for Korean fluency, and he is a good horse to run with. Today we got ripped off today downtown bargaining for produce and getting the wrong change from our taxi.  On the upside, we had some delicious Korean meals, first at a restaurant for lunch, and then at our pastor's place for dinner.  So we are like those grain silos where tons of grain are stored, but little mice steal kernels and more kernels every chance they get. 1:54 PM Like · Comment ·Views (46)·Edit Oct 16, 2008 lunch, and fun with hyphens Well!  I was going to be so original, and blog about my school lunch.  You can see a photo in my autumn photo album if you look.  But then I got the wild hair to google "korean school lunch" and I got some great results. Click here if you want to read some other blogs about it.  And yes, I agree that you would really have to want to waste some time to follow these links. A blog about lunch yesterday. A blog about lunch today. It should not surprise you that my lunches are different from this school's, but you will observe similarities.  Today, in the photo I took, you will see that I had spicy fish soup, Korean vegetable pancakes, some tasty chicken, and of course kimchi and rice. So now that an ongoing lunch blog is out of the question, let me tell you about how much I appreciate Mrs No, the first grade teacher I work with.  Before today, you wouldn't have heard me talk highly about Mrs No.  But today I had half of her class without her in the room (she had the other half), and I realized that her moderately disciplined classroom is actually moderately disciplined compared to the classroom in her absence.  In my writing, you are no stranger to the analogy here and there, but indulge me on this one, for first grade today was like herding wild goats with a castanet and a bum leg. Where the helper teacher was I don't know (the helper is the librarian who can understand some English and comes in sometimes to try to help with translations and explanations)--maybe he decided I could handle half a class on my own.  When he came I wished he hadn't.  First of all, I realized that the moderately disciplined classroom was actually moderately disciplined in his absence.  As soon as I had summoned him, 6/15 of the class got permission from him to leave to the bathroom, and then explaining the duck-duck-goose-like-game to the students was like herding wild goats with a three-legged-race partner, and castanets. Don't think I gave up on the duck-duck-goose-like game however.  After this trying class, I had the opportunity to try it again in my after-school class with first and second graders.  This time it went like a charm, because I had more space, fewer kids (ha ha), and we eased into the game by first learning duck-duck-goose.  One little girl burst into tears at one point.  I think she was embarrassed about not knowing some colors or not understanding the game.  But she was back to smiles before too long and that aside, it was one of the best after-school classes we've had. Tomorrow we are doing something in another city.  I don't know what we're doing, or much about anything at all really, except that as far as I know we are going to Donghae and I should probably wear my non-dress shoes. I've had fun with hyphens in the last few paragraphs.  You? 5:38 PM Like · Comment ·Views (31)·Edit Oct 15, 2008 autumn hillside, korean poetry Current mood:curious It's October, but the mountains are adorned with august finery.  The tallest tops are a burnt red, while the hillsides closer to town are the variegated shades one expects in autumn.  The brilliant reds from last week have become more subdued, regal in the sense of the king in battle more than the king at coronation. The blooming flowers at this altitude are mostly all chrysanthemums in purple and yellow.  When we went to lower elevations we saw plenty of petunias, marigolds, cosmos and hibiscus.  Hibiscus is the national flower of Korea--maybe I told you already.  It is in their national anthem, translated as "Rose of Sharon" but I know it by hibiscus, not "Rose of Sharon".  Also there are daisies in bloom.  The regular white petaled daisies, and especially in the mountains, more of the smaller sort with lavender colored petals.  A few flowers go unidentified or unreported. Most of the little gardens have been harvested, plants uprooted or cut off and either hauled off or bunched and grouped up for mulch or compost.  It is fairly nippy, though we have yet to get out the winter coats.  At the coldest so far we've donned our hats and sometimes scarves. In fifth grade today I got to ask the students "What's special about Idaho?"  Last class we talked about several of the states so today we had a competition to see how much students remembered or can read from their notes.  Besides potatoes, they know that Idaho has mountains, forest, and it is where Mr Becker is from.  I didn't yet tell them about the raptors, the rivers, or the craters of the moon. Today I am curious about Korean poetry, particularly sijo.  Sijo is like haiku, except rythym is more important, as they are meant to be sung.  The curious of you can wikipedia it, orclick here.  For several of you, maybe a translated  example will suffice.  This a popularsijo by seventeenth century Yun Seondo: You ask how many friends I have? Water and stone, bamboo and pine. The moon rising over the eastern hill is a joyful comrade. Besides these five companions, what other pleasure should I ask?   2:58 AM Like · Comment ·Views (47)·Edit Oct 14, 2008 miscellany and blah blah blah part four Current mood:good So we went to the traditional Korean housing commnue, sat aruond the table bbq pits and feasted on pork and mushrooms.  Koreans like to wrap bbq items with various side sauces and dishes in lettuce leaves, and this is what I refer to when I mention bulgogi.  We cook it ourselves at the dinner table on a bbq pit. That evening, we taught the game "zoo" to a few, played it, drank a little alcohol for good measure.  Bonnie and I strolled to the beach late at night While the SeonMyeong Beckers minded the sleeping tots.  There we joined the reverie of many Koreans, jumping rope and enjoying life.  At the beach, a bright spotlight shines out a quarter mile on the water, where some islands jut out of the East Sea.  It is a scenic place for young Korean lovers.  They sell soup and fireworks into the night.  We set off some sparklers.  We didn't try the soup.  We walked there with some other foreigners, but ended up strolling back ourselves.  We were surprised to see that we were staying very close to the Gramaphone Museum and Edison Museum I blogged about before (I think).  It is on a lake right near the beach. When we awoke in the morning we did something else, which included a fantastic "royal meal" at a restaurant.  There were hundreds of dishes set on the table.  It was a delicious feast.  We bid adieu and went our separate ways after that.  It was a bustling few days and we were glad to get back to our partment with working lights.  And whew, that brings my report to a sort of end. Now, let me tell you about a few good things.  First of all, there is a moustache blog that is worth every bit of your few spare moments.  You will find it on my myspace profile after a while, but here it is for you to enjoy right now if you want: http://mustachesofthenineteenthcentury.blogspot.com/ Then, there are these girls who sing acapella as a music group from Berkeley.  You might want to check them out.  Here they are doing the cranberries: http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=M512ZmwRDjM Then, let me tell you about the kiwi yogurt here in Korea.  Delicious sweet yogurt taste.  Little chunks of kiwi fruit.  Delicious. Did you ever see a Korean seesaw?  That is something we did on our excursion that didn't yet make the report.  We also got a pumpkin and fed a rabbit.  Oh, that last day we went to a sheep farm--that's what we did.  Bonnie and Orry and I got to feed some roughage to some sheep after a short hike up a hill.  It was a consolation activity because we didn't get to go mountain climbing like it said on the itinerary. Or, the version for the performer: Ours was more like the humbler of these examples. Our pumpkin is yellower than the pumpkin you're thiking of, something between a cantelope and a volleyball. 1:28 AM Like · Comment ·Views (33)·Edit Oct 13, 2008 the korean cultural experience excursion part three You are on the edge of your seats about the ginseng socks, the head twirlers, the other families who are crazy enough to relocate continents?  Allow me to sate your curiosity.  When we arrived in Gangneun, Bonnie and were pleased to see some little towheads running among the legs of the other foreigner teachers.  One family lives nearby us in Taebaek, and they have three little girls.  We know them from orientation and they came with us so far, so that was no surprise.  But another family, from Toronto, was also at Gangneun for the cultural experience, and we were tickled to make their acquaintance.  They have two boys four years old and 18 months in age, and they live in Gangneun.  I forgot to mention that while the girls got to keep the pretty necklaces they made in the Donghae mountains, the boys got some giftsets of neato ginseng socks.  We all laughed and laughed, musing that all we needed was some giftsets of underwear to make us set for the year, but I bet each of us was in silent awe when we finally opened the gift sets and found the aromatic ginseng scent wafting from the socks.  Even more amazement is to be had since the scent lasts post-washing.  Bonnie and I have speculated that the fabric is comprised partially of ginseng fibers.  They are nice socks.  I wasn't wearing my ginseng socks when we watched the head twirlers.  This was the Korean traditional dancing of the area, which imitated the process of planting, cultivating, and harvesting rice.  There were four types of percussion instruments, and a guy plaing a sort of flute.  And there were lots of dancers dancing about in single file and otherwise.  One fourth of the dancers had neat headgear which sported white streamers.  When the dancers twirled their heads, the streamers twirled about in beautiful streaming orbits.  At one culmination, a human pagoda was formed and one dancer pulled out some super head twirling, with a giant streamer four times the usual length.  In this fashion, she swung her head about and made some super elleptical orbits which were just fascinating and matched in size the excitement of the onlookers. I thought to myself, amidst the chanting and drumming, how spectacular it was to see such a dance, also in the context of being such a cultural contribution to national and cultural identity.  But then I thought of cheerleading in the states, and how we, too have our cultural identity, our customs, our rah rah rah sis boom bah, two four six eight who do we appreciate?  I don't know, though, the imitation of the rice reaping and sowing just seems so much more wholesome and meaningful than skirty hip gyrations and tumbling, not to offend any current or former cheerleaders out there.  America has its perks, too, though, don't get me wrong, but not in the dance department, (although I don't know where I'd be today if it weren't for Christina Aguilera's Fighter video). Before I lose you at the head twirling, our cultural extravaganza continued when we all took a bus up a coastal windy road past where a giant ship graced the side of a cliff. We then boarded a tor boat which took us down the coast, again past the giant ship-hotel.  During this time we fed seagulls from our hands on the racing boat.  We held out a shrimp treat, the seagulls approached the boat with their eyes on the prize, then swooped in to take the treat in flight.  It seemed silly to me at first, but it was fun.  After a while, the boat turned around and went back.  It would have been more pleasant if the boat used a greener fuel source.  Or if we could have understood any of the Korean tour information announced over the loudspeaker. What we did understand was that this was a place for catching squid.  Because there were thousands of squid drying all over the place.  I haven't found a picture that shows it, but this gives you an idea: As another blogger blogged, "It is amazing that they can pull up so much squid regularly, and there is still enough left in the ocean."  What amazes me is that there are so many places like this, which leaves a similar impression in visitors' minds. Ahhh, after the harbor cruise and the thousands of drying squids (we also saw some drying rays), we took a dip at a mineral bath.  this was more gender separation, and a good thing, since it was nude communal bathing.  It was pleasant, but Orry was not very compliant or adventuresome and cried out too much for others to be able to relax, I feared.  However, a coffee shop above the baths overlooked the sea, and the whole experience was quite peaceful, even for my in my particular fatherly circumstances. We bussed to a place known for its making of tofu, or dubu in Korean.  The tofu was tasty and the soup it was in was also tasty, and I think many of the foreigners liked this food stop the best of all.  What's more is that we could witness the making of the stuff the old-fashioned way, and that was interesting.  The guy who was working the sea water and the bean curd in a small steamy room was like a cartoon character, especially when he talked in an expressive rich voice. That night it was bulgogi at a place of accomodation where a small community is set up with traditional Korean housing.  I wanted to finish the report of the excursion, but I have more to tell, so until next time, dear reader... 10:59 AM Like · Comment ·Views (32)·Edit Oct 12, 2008 the korean cultural experience excursion part two One important aspect to mention about our Korean cultural experience excursion, is that nobody really knew what was going on.  Our Korean leaders had  a schedule, but I think it was only a guideline, and it seemed that they were changing up the plans here and there, and maybe they weren't on the same page at all times.  We all rendezvoused at one school, where we loaded up into a bus, except for we four Beckers who rode in a car with the main supervisor teacher of the program in Taebaek.  But we didn't know what was going on (I reiterate).  I mean, I think most of us had the impression that we were going to meet up with people from our province or region.  So when we pulled of into this little area a hal an hour later, most of us assumes it was for a ten minute travel break which seem to be customary.  It was a beautiful scenic area for a little break, with the cabins, a small pond, the mountains with foliage turning for fall.  Then we started to get a small presentation about the history of that village in particular, how in the 50's the mountain dwellers came together, slashed and burned, made the little community using wood, and so on.  I compared it to the farm life of my father growing up in Jerome. At that time it became apparent that the place was to be an event of our cultural experience.  But did that mean we were staying the night in the rustic cabins?  Were we to meet up with more foreigners?  Was this experience just going to be us from Taebaek? We took photos and then made the dok and toured some of the old buildings including where they thrashed the rice and made flour (I think).  We cooked some food in a large underground steam pit, we saw some jujubes and crab apples, and we ate a feast of a dinner.  Then we got in the bus and left, so we expected that we were still on our way to meet up with other foreigners. And we did, by and by.  But first we went to another city, then ventured into the mountains to another quaint little (but much larger than the rustic commune) tourist village wherre we would spend the night.  We arrived at this nice hotel, which reminded me again of the old days, although it was about five stories, each level was a small bright pink on white hallway of probably five or six rooms.  I meant to get a photo but we might have to do without. What I can't show you enough photos of is our experience at the Samhwasa Temple the next morning.  Wow.  You can google it yourself if you want to see more.  They offer to host visitors, and I am wondering if this is feasible for a future excursion. See more photos here. Anyway, this was in the morning.  Before we got to the morning, we packed into the hotel and were promptly separated by gender, except for our boys.  The men went out drinking in the "front yard" area outside.  Drinking included a lot of fried chicken and, later, fruit.  One of the interesting chicken dipping sauces was a blueberry sauce, yum.  The women and children were collected in the "family room" of the hotel, which is a large gathering space on the first floor.  There they made necklaces and gossiped, I'm sure. We Beckers with tots ducked out of the nights' activities before the festivities got too wild.  The same cannot be said for all Beckers in Korea.  In any case, the whole crew was up and at em for an early morning breakfast of BimBimBap (I think all of us were expressing something like, "In the morning?!" for this dish is not served without hot pepper paste and kimchi.), and a small mountain climb which brought us to the aforementioned temple which was a beautiful sacred place. Also in the morning, at the hotel, we saw some preying mantises, and one of them was preying on a rather large insect.  Yes, it was worth traveling across continents to see. After the climb, and some more group photos, and the preying mantises, we headed out of the mountains and into the main city, which is Donghae, a port city about twice the size of Taebaek.  There we visited a whale museum, and the beach and then zoomed on for a soup lunch where we had in our soup a jujube fruit which was delectable and delicious boiled, a gingko fruit, beef on the bone, and an assortment of plants and fungus. Then, on to Gangneun, which is a port city about twice the size of Donghae.  And it was there that we met the other foreigners and began the official Korean Culture Experience program.  I say that, because the place we convened is a place dedicated to the exposure of Korean culture to foreigners, and they had arranged a two day experience full of programs and events for us to savor. But, speaking of Korean culture, I am experiencing some right now, in my very own home.  Bonnie is making pancakes.  And they are a lot like pancakes you or I or little black Sambo might expect.  Except, they have the syrup on the inside, and they are green.  Yes, inside-out green pancakes.  That's how it is done in Korea.  But they are delicious, and close to home in taste.  The syrup is a sort of cinnamony sugary crystals that is spooned into some bread dough.  This is fried on the griddle and flattened with a Korean pancake flattener (what else?!).  Yum.  Bonnie picked them up at Emart yesterday.  She is an awesome world traveler. Oh, wow, before I go on and tell you about the head whirlers and our harbor cruise and the mineral spas, I better give you a break!  And I will get ready for church.  And maybe eat another green pancake. 12:34 AM Like · Comment ·Views (30)·Edit Oct 11, 2008 when a date is not a date, and the korean cultural experience excursion part one For the past few days, our family has been attending a wonderful eventful business trip of experiencing Korean culture.  I am feeling very grateful for the opportunities provided to us at little cost, and grateful to the school I work at who agreed to cover what little cost there was.  This was an extravagant few days and we saw and experienced a lot, and I'll high light a few items to follow.  But let me start with what I thought was my first experience eating a non-dried date. As many of you know, we've had an issue lately with the light circuit in our apartment.  Last week when a coupld dudes from the school were trying to work out what was wrong, one of them pulled out some nutty looking fruits from his pocket for Orry.  I though, oh, that is strange, acorns, for they looked like medium sized acorns.  Now I know from experience from my youth that acorns are too bitter to be edible, not to mention a faily tough nut to get into, unless you have small incisors and little paws made for such a purpose.  So I figured this must be something new.  The man bit into one of the fruits to show Orry how it was done, and I took one for myself.  Wow!  I was surprised at the sweetness and the soft surrending texture.  I thought for a moment at the familiar taste.  I asked the man for the name, and he said "Daeju".  Now you might cock your head in puzzlement but by and by I figured that this was a Koreanization of "date", as the "ch" sound that makes the "j" in "Daeju" could come from a "t" or "ts"  as in "dates".  And the sweet familiar taste was definitely datelike.  But I thought, don't dates come from the middle east, from trees like palms? I didn't google it at that time.  Instead, when I was eating school lunch the next day, I asked the man where he got those "daeju".  And he explained that there was a tree nearby a bus stop nearby his apartment.  I was curious, still believing that I had had my first undried date. On our Korea experience excursion, I found the tree, for they are putting on this small fruit quite abundantly at this time of year.  The tree looked like nothing I could imagine as a date tree, although it looked kind of like a Russian Olive tree, which I knew from back in Idaho...  Well, you can see for yourself right here: And the fruits can be better seen here: We tasted some fruits, talking about if they could be dates, or, curiously, something like a Korean kiwi we heard about, but no, those Korean kiwis are more like kiwis, only smaller.  Finally we got a translation:  jujube.  Although it is sometimes referred to as a red date or Chinese date. In fact, a date tree is a different order, a sort of palm tree, and quite unrelated: And I think I have had dried jujubes before, come to think of it.  But still, it is a new experience, and if you were here I'd like you to sample one of our jujube fruits. *************************************** Where we saw the jujube trees was a little mountain commune from the 50's where we had our first meal together as a group of foreigners on this Korean culture experience excursion.  There we saw how the cabins were roofed with slats made from oak boards, which they called oak bark.  Maybe the oak bark was just for the upper most layer?  (not counting the rocks and boards used to hold the shingles in place, of course). Here you can see more of the sort of construction: The best part of this was that we could ask a lot of questions about this and that gadget which we saw around in the buildings, and also we got to make "dok".  "Dok" is like "mochi" in Japan.  You pound some sticky rice until you have some fairly elastic stuff that's like dough.  you roll the dough, cut it up, roll it in the powder made from smashing roasted soybeans, and voila, you have a tasty treat.  several pans full of tasty treats.  It was fun to make them as a group, and I hope to report more in the captions of photos coming soon. In these cabins, whih were quite high in altitude, we saw how the cow had a room in the house, and the Ondul floor heating system tied in with the kitchen fire, and how the bedrooms and living area was situated to best serve the purposes of shelter, convenience, and comfort. That night we pulled into a rustic resort, where we would have an evening separated by gender, a morning with preying mantises, and more to report, but for now, let me wrap this up and let you get on with your day, dear reader. P.S. Yes, the light circuit problem has been resolved and we are using our lights once again, which is a nice convenience of our contemporary times.     10:40 AM Like · Comment ·Views (32)·Edit Oct 9, 2008 if all goes well..., dinner, autumn Today a lot of things happen that we don't know much about yet.  An electrician is supposed to come some time.  We hope he can fix our electrical circuits and that we can use our lights again.  It has been an interesting few days, or evenings, rather.  There is some short circuit somewhere between the breaker box and the switches on the light circuit, and it would be really nice to have the use of our lights.  When will this electrician come to our house?  Supposedly in the morning, but will he finish in one morning?  If so, no problem.  If not, well, read on. At 11:45 I am supposed to call a taxi for Bonnie.  We usually get picked up at the convenience store right outside of our apartment complex.  But this time Bonnie has baggage.  If I can successfully communicate the driver to go to the entryway right in front of our apartment, no problem.  If not, well, read on. We packed a nice sized suitcase with all our things for the next few days.  I recalled my marital status when I arrived at school and saw Joseph's miniature duffel bag with the necessities of only one man.  As long as Bonnie can handle the suitcase and two boys, it will be no problem.  The suitcase includes a bunch of absorbent diaper fillers we found at the supermarket to go with our g-diapers. We have experimented with the diaper fillers and they seem to do the trick.  If they continue to work for the duration of our trip, fine.  If not, well, read on. Bonnie and I are meeting around noon at a school where a bunch of newbie foreigner English teachers are going on a Korean Cultural Experience for the next few days.  If everything works out nicely.  Hopefully the electrician won't need access to our place while we are gone--or at least maybe they can get access from our landlord.  Hopefully, even if Bonnie has to lug the suitcase and find a taxi herself, she will be able to meet me at the rendezvous point.  Hopefully if the diapers fail to contain the contents, they will fail at convenient times or at times which make for hilarious stories.  And hopefully most everything goes with a minimum of hitches for the trip, and we all have a wonderful time! Last night we dined with the Ma family, which was delightful and I will leave for the reporting of others.  I just want to say that our first experience at a Korean home went well as far as I know.  The Ma family we met at the church we've been attending and they have a five or six year old girl. Finally, let me mention at greater length the beautiful autumn hillsides.  Each day it just gets lovelier and I hope to post some photos when we get back from our trip.  Much of the foliage is in the process of turning colors, and it's just beautiful to see the season again. 12:50 AM Like · Comment ·Views (28)·Edit Oct 7, 2008 korean twinkies I assume you were wondering about the fighter jets and the Korean twinkies.  The fighter jets, from time to time, really roll across the sky.  This morning there was an onslaught shortly after the beginning of school.  Except for the loud woosh that persists through the Korean mountain air, it is no major disruption.  I guess we are used to fighter jets in these parts.  There is fairly active military action around these parts and I don't know exactly what it's all about, but I guess it's the norm.  It's my understanding that Korean boys of 18-20 or so have a mandatory military experience or something like that for a couple years. I had some Korean twinkies this morning.  It is a small cake that advertises on its wrapper to be filled with custard.  But really it's a creamy filling a little like twinkies.  They aren't  very good, but it's worth "writing home about" because it is much like the idea of a twinkie.  I don't really miss twinkies any more than I miss stoplights. The family came to school again today but I'll let Bonnie blog about that.  In a few minutes I will go teach some teachers English.  It is a fun part of my teaching week and I look forward to it.  Most people know a little English, and everyone who went to college somewhat recently know quite a bit.  But Even those who know it well from school aren't that used to speaking or hearing it, and it's oftentimes in the recesses of memory, so even though someone has learned a lot of grammar, you still might get the mipression they speak zero English.  The class with teachers allows me to see that indeed, many individuals know quite a bit--it's just about tapping into what they know and getting them to practice English.  Yay!  We meet for a couple hours a week, and I have seven students of which I can expect four or five each session. Lunch was good today.  There was squid, some beef stuff, some bean sprouts, a leafy fermented soybean soup, rice, and kimchi of course. The autumn tints are gracing the hillsides.  Be ready for more photos! Still no lights at the Beckers' at night. 6:47 AM Like · Comment ·Views (28)·Edit Oct 5, 2008 Becker boy updates, darkness Isaac is seriously going to town talking to himself in on the bed. By talking, I mean razzing and cooing, gooing, and making various mouth music.  It is a delight.  He is faring well, treated with some sort of antiviral medicine presumably, and is a lot better than last Thursday.  He still has a husky cough occasionally, and it is possible that this bronchiolitis will persist into the winter, but he's on top of it now and he is eating and sleeping again, and generally feeling good, like normal. We are in love with a grapefruit gelato or sorbet or sherbet.  Yum.  It was by chance that we tried it, because it was pink and looked good, but boy, is it a tastebud treat.  I like that there are so many things grapefruit over here.  Cleaners, shampoo, juices, and now delicious icey goodness.  This place that we went to has a great atmosphere.  We should brings some toys and games next time, or some paper and pens, and write letters to some of you. We got a super cutie letter today from one of the girls at church who is Bonnie's age, and who you can see, and about whom I've written previously, who has the 5 month (now six month old) who is half the size of Isaac.  The mommy wants to get to know Bonnie more, and of course she is inconvenience because she doesn't speak English, but she could jot a letter and understand written English quite a bit.  So Bonnie wrote back to her and I hope they'll meet later this week and have a play date. Don't let me leave the topic of Isaac without providing more of an update.  The little gurgler has begun to hold his hands as if he had some magic beans that he can't quit handling.  He can't quit handling them beause he is so curious about their magical powers.  But little does he know that if he throws them out the window, a giant beanstalk might grow, which might house a terrible giant.  A giant that speaks only Korean. And as for updates, Orry.  Gosh, where to start.  He started bowing and greeting people in Korean, I think I may have written about that. Today he demonstrated that he gets the idea of counting 23, 24, 25... for the 30's, 40's or whatever, but I don't think he differentiates those high numbers yet, for example 24, 25, 26 sounds like 34, 35, 36.  And when we're counting that high, it's just pattern following at this point.  But still, impressive to observe as a father and math magician. Yesterday was a big day for Orry.  He learned the idea of gender, and can now tell you who is a man, who is a woman, and even maybe girl or boy.  But if you were to give him a test, watch out!  Like he did with the countries, he likes to give you an incorrect answer and then say, "Noooooo..." And laugh with everybody at his silly antics.  "Hmmm," you're probably wondering, "then how do you know if he understands gender?"  But, reader, I tell you, when you see him think about which is the wrong answer, and see the little grin creep onto his face as he retorts, you would see that it is plain that he knows that Grandma Tammy is indeed not at a man, Noooo.... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Also yesterday, Orry has figured out how to use the mousepad on the laptop.  So he's going to town on sesamestreet.org, sorting dogs, and clicking on eggs to count.  I tell you, that's a sight, watching your youngster articulate himself with technology in such a way.  I mean, I understand, it's a basic coordination step, but it just boggles me, that just so short a time ago he was lifeless, and even a shorter time ago with such little ability to express himself or manipulate his environment. He is parroting just about anything, and isn't getting confused that poopoo is what he does on the toilet, even though it is the name of a character in one of our Korean books.  At least, I hope he's not getting confused. We told you about tracing letters and coloring "in lines" and he still amazes me at some of his coordination with the crayon.  So I just wanted to mention that again.  But lastly, let's mention that he was singing You Are My Sunshine yesterday.  Oh, and he is so cute when he dances.  He does the thumbs up dance.  Did I catch that on video yet?  Okay, new objective for this week. This week is our Korean Cultural Experience week and we're excited about that.  We'll report on it more after the fact as opposed to before. Meanwhile, I report to you now from a dark house, because our circuit that has the lights is tripping the breaker.  So all our outlets work, but no lights.  Lamps seem to be different here, if that's what you're wondering next.  There are expensive desk lamps, but not the lightsource you'd put on a surface for warm ambient light.  Another objective for this week. Good night or good morning.   1:34 PM Like · Comment ·Views (50)·Edit Oct 2, 2008 yeontan and respitory distress Current mood:hopeful Oh goodie: knowledge.  With images. So the cylindrical whatchmacallits are called YEONTAN.  They look like this: And you can read about them here. Here are a couple interesting articles.  This one is from last June, and this one is from last October. Basically we are talking about coal briquettes that are used for heating homes, and traditionally for heating food as well.  It looks like they are distributed to poor households but I don't know how it works locally yet.  Anyway, I'm not interested in getting them in our place, since I think we have enough carbon monoxide from your vehicles.  But I was interested to find out how the Koreans use them for humidifying and/or dehumidifying.  Our apartment has a heated floor system of heating the home, which is popular in this country because apparantly they used a heated floor system traditionally, channeling heat under the floors--you can read more about it from the wikipedia site under ondol. Anyway, I am glad to mark a mystery off my list.  I was curious about the humidifying and dehumidifying because our apartment gets humid from air-drying our clothes and also not having a bathroom fan.  However, the winters are apparently cold and dry and the use of our heater is said to dry out uor places.  And preeminently, the doctor recommended that Isaac breathe fairly humid air to help his cough and lungs. To update you on that, we might go into the hospital later today depending on how much Isaac doesn't improve.  We got some medications yesterday and they seem to help.  He has a patch which apparently helps dilate the bronchal passage, some antibiotics, some decongestant, and something else.  It seems like too much medication for such a young tyke, but the Koreans seem good about not over-medicating, so we'll go with the flow for now.  It's a three day treatment with the instructions to take him to the hospital today if he doesn't improve.  He has improved a little, and Bonnie is going to observe him and tell me sometime soon if we're going to go to the hospital or not. We appreciate your concern and prayers for our health.  We think it's mainly the exposure to so many new germs.  Everybody touches our kids, so it's different from our exposure level in the states, where aside from church once a week, our exposure was minimal.  And evern though they adored the babies at church, the handling of the children wasn't as excessive as it is here, where strangers on the street want to click their throats and say "Oh how cute, a baby foreigner." or, "what a cute mostly unasian boy" in Orry's case.  Of course, I do not know if they really what they say when they speak in Korean.  Unless they say a familiar greeting or hold up a few fingers and try to guess an age.  Anyway, we are concerned about asthma or other respitory distress, but we are eating well and hoping for the best with the general thoght that our immune systems are getting a good conditioning. And you never know, maybe the end times will come, and we will outsurvive everybody elsem and Isaac will swindle Orry out of his birthright, and father future generations, all of which whom will adore Bob Dylan. 3:46 AM Like · Comment ·Views (42)·Edit Oct 1, 2008 mysteries, manliness Current mood:happy I still don't know about the stucco trees.  I also don't know about these cylindrical clay looking things that probably have something to do with Korean home heating or cooking.  They get thrown away throughout the week and have a special dumpster to themselves, and there are a lot of them.  We supposed that maybe charcoal goes in the many little holes they have, and this is lit and heats the whole clay thing.  There are plenty of other guesses.  Trent and I googled for answers but I think we're going to have to pantomime another conversation about this one. What we also don't know about is what is going on where for this upcoming three day weekend.  It looks like there is a festival near the Hwanji pond.  We also heard about the mountain top festival.  We'll wait and see how we're all feeling to see what we will attend.  There was also discussion about going out-of-city. So, Isaac is the most pitiful, though Orry's coughing fits would also give you an opportunity to spend your compassion.  Isaac coughs and has a lot of mucus and feels terrible at times, you can tell.  He will still put on a smile though to, so altogether it really pulls at your heartstrings.  Today all the family members will have our alien registration cards, which will make us feel more free to use the healthcare system.  Also today, we might go to the doctor once again to see if they want Isaac on any medication.  I think it is something we just have to endure, watching for a high fever, of course.  But we'll see. Bonnie is doing a great job of tending to their needs, taking care of our little place, and taking care of me.  I hope we can find a sewing machine soon and we're looking at ovens.  I know, it's not fine jewelry or exotic vacations, but it will help from day to day and then we'll see if we can't take care of the jewelry and exotic vacations before too much time goes by. Dear reader, perhaps you wonder how I got to work this morning?  I walked.  It is a nice walk, and all along I was thinking that wherever we ever live, it should be within reasonable walking distance to places we go.  I usually get a ride with Mr Shin and his wife who teach at my school and the school next to my school.  I walked along the river and looked at the trees on the hillsides.  It is quite cool now, and some of the foliage is turning colors.  The sky is overcast, an autumn white.  And it rained or misted a little this morning and on my way to work.  Of course, I was too manly to use the umbrella.  Although I was just the right manliness to have one in order to be prepared for real rain, if it rains. 1:34 AM Like · Comment ·Views (47)·Edit Sep 29, 2008 tracing letters, silver nano mats The biggest news I think I have omitted until now, and that is that Orry can now trace letters and became much more discriminate and skilled with his pen/crayon/marker.  This happened all in a day, last Thursday, using some of the materials we got in the care package I believe.  Bonnie and I were sort of shocked.  But there is little Orry, tracing out the letters.  It looks sloppy, and, well, like a two year old did it, but it made us realize that he isn't just two, but two going on three.  And that's three going on four in Korea. We returned to the same church on Sunday--it's the church you see in my Myspace photos.  It would seem we are taken into the church, who knows, as new members it seems.  It's hard to tell exactly what's going on, but we are welcomed warmly.  This Thursday we'll meet and do some English lessons in trade for some Korean lessons.  We'll see how that goes.  Friday, as some of you already know, was our schoolteach monutain climbing day.  For this, they send the students home early and pack their backpacks full of alcoholic drinks and food, get in a bus and go up a road to finish off the ascent by foot.  Then a giant raffle is played, and one of the prizes one by one of my coteachers is a pair of rubber gloves (as in, for the kitchen).  Pictures are taken, and then a grand descent is undertaken, which actually takes you to the top of a couple other mountains.  On the way, you stop and have a picnic meal and a few drinks with your fellow school teachers.  It is really quite something. Well, in case you were wondering, it is sort of funny how little we foreigners know about what is going on.  For example, none of us seemed to know that this mountain climbing trip was a district wide event attended by all the teachers in Taebaek.  So we were surprised to see the other foreigners of town.  Except that some of them didn't attend, like Trent and Nicole, who were a little under the weather.  Also, the booze was a surprise.  I was wondering why everybody had a backpack, but then it became more apparent as the day wore on.  Also, we really had quite a nice picnic at high altitude.  There were chicken wings, pork cuts, and of course kimchi.  Perhaps to affect one more, they thought it was a good idea at this picnic to mix their cups with a shot or so of soju and the rest of the cup with beer.  It was a fun little excursion. Again, what I liked was the community development of the coworkers.  It is a nice comraderie when we work together and play together as well. On Saturday we went to the doctor for the third time.  It might surprise you that the doctor was available on Saturday?  Well, going to the doctor is like going to a clinic, it seems, and I'm not sure if they have hours, or if this doctor just lives in that little room, with his strange and familiar medical instruments.  Anyway, it is very affordable, and hopefully the boys are on the mend. We got some great gifts at school today.  Some towels and some things called silver nano mats.  I think the silver nano mats are for when you go mountain climbing, you can pull one out of your backpack, and sit on it when you have your soju. More later, dear reader. 1:36 AM Like · Comment ·Views (41)·Edit Sep 21, 2008 Another episode of "What’s This I’m Eating?" Current mood:productive Mr Becker: What's this I'm eating? Mr Shin: Just a moment [Shin gets out his cell phone.  A convenience is that Koreans' cell phones, which they call hand phones, have built-in language translators that translate between any of about 6 or so languages.  Then Mr Shin reveals the answer to Mr Becker's question.].  It's tangle. Mr Becker: Excuse me? Mr Shin:  Tangle.  [At the quizzical look] Tangle. Mr Becker: Can you spell it? Mr Shin:  Tangle. Mr Becker: Tenko? Mr Shin:  Yes, tangle. Mr Becker:  How do you spell that?  [mimes writing on cafeteria table] T-E? Mr Shin:  Yes,  T-A-N-G-L-E.  Tangle. Mr Becker:  Tangle? Mr Shin:  Tangle. And that is how I came to know that I ate dried tangle for lunch.  When I got back to a computer, I was able to find out that it is sea tangle, a type of seaweed, probably helping out in the fiber department. This tangle, and I really have no tangle experience to compare, was a salty-sweet dried tangle that had a somewhat pleasant but unquestionably edible taste.  I thought it was a little like eating dehydrated pumpkin rind or something. But don't get me wrong.  Lunch was great today, with a "miso" and green leaf soup, rice of course, some beef and something, and bean sprouts with mild pepper paste.  And tangle, and kimchi of course.  I ate my stainless steel tray clean and washed it down with a carton of milk. I have to say "miso" because everything that is Japanese is not Japanese to Koreans, and so they surely have their own name for it.  To be neutral I should say fermented soy paste soup. Also, as a bonus to today's lunch, I received from the health teacher a small poster with lots of mountain flowers and their Korean names. I hope that Bonnie and the boys are doing fine.  Yesterday Bonnie hurt her wrist somehow and it was giving her problems so I hope she's managing. 4:27 PM Like · Comment ·Views (48)·Edit Sep 22, 2008 Pinochle, LSU Football, and another Limerick Of The Day Current mood:amused Another weekend of the Becker invasion of Korea.  We played lots of pinochle.  There is a fair share of shooting the moon and near double families that keep us going.  Plus, it's a competitive game and all of us are equal or nearly equal.  But I think it's about time to break out the Settlers of Catan. We cooked some meals together.  I myself experimented with chestnuts and sweet potatoes.  Yum!  Plus we had lots of other goodies, culminating last night in a smorgasboard of leftovers and new foodstuffs gracing our table.  We eat on six inch plates. We are thinking how awesome it would be to get a breadmaker.  I am thinking "early Christmas present."  We miss an oven.  I shall investigate. I updated myself on LSU football this morning.  It's a little unusual being out of the college football loop, especially after last season.  Of course, with internet access, it's feasible to be in the loop--it's just that we don't have things set up at both Beckers' pads, and we spend a lot of time over at Trent and Nicole's (The Seon-Myeong Beckers).  We ourselves are the Dae-Rim Beckers.  We have an awesome setup with our TV which doubles as an extended monitor for our laptop and a great way to watch movies.  But our disadvantage is our tight living room space. We went to church yesterday.  It was nice--a Methodist service Korean style, with a nice nursery area I discovered a little sooner than halfway through.  In that area, there are playthings and boardbooks that I can read because it's just one word on one page, giving you vocabulary for fox and cucumber and so on.  After church instead of coffee and snacks there was an all-out meal together.  And then coffee and snacks.  It was nice and a good chance to have some more interaction with Koreans, especially for Bonnie and the boys.  We also saw quite a few familiar faces at the service and meal--we'll go back next week, or else visit another church that's nearby Trent and Nicole's. I am excited to go hiking with the teachers this Friday.  It is nice that coworkers do so many things together to assist in keeping good relationships. I am not so excited about my afterschool classes.  They are classes that I am not sure exactly what is going on, except that I have the kids by myself, and that the later class goes from 3:00-4:30 and is way too much time to have a bunch of third through sixth graders.  Hmmm....  Maybe we'll do some art today. I once tried to think of a limerick But was stumped by a rhyme.  This was it: What rhymes with Korea? Except "gonorrhea"? And so I said, "Limerick-shlimerick!" 2:16 AM Like · Comment ·Views (49)·Edit Sep 19, 2008 from fungal infections to fiber Current mood:rushed I am not saying this is a true story, but just imagine.  Imagine you live in a country where you don't speak the language, and you need some simple anti-fungal medication for a candida infection, you know, down there.  Some of your usual options are viable.  You could get some friends who speak a little bit of your language to go to the drugstore or pharmacy, and get some help procuring some medication.  Or, you could go by yourself, and use dictionary words and miming to make your needs known.  The best part is when your burden is shared by a pharmacist who must make sure he understands what you need, and that you understand what you are getting (Pills or suppositories anyone?).  You were clever enough to jot down several words on paper in case there was a need for further explanations.  But in the end, you are impressed because the pharmacist, who must be as equally embarrassed by the situation, does more miming and uses more dictionary words to get his point across than you did. At the school where I teach, the teachers and administrators got together on Wednesday afternoon for some volleyball.  It was a time of mandatory fun, and it was quite enjoyable.  Afterwards we drank Pocari Sweat (I saw this before in Japan, a mix of Gatorade and Squirt, except perhaps a bit saltier than Gatorade) and Ice Coffee.  The Volleyball court doubles as a tennis court on the school grounds.  It is a nice dirt surface which was suitable for volleyball, even in loafers. Behind our school there is a neighborhood of traditional Korean housing, all one-level, that looks kind of like run-down shanties but Actually seems to function as affordable livable space.  There are no spaces for vehicles, and it looks like quite a bit of communal living, but I think it also looks attractive, minus the tin roofs.  There are a lot of Eastern style rooflines which I really dig. Yesterday's school lunch.  It was a spicy one, with a spicy soup which was less broth than usual, but so spicy as only to endure with quantities of rice.  Then there was the mackerel with pepper sauce, and some potato slices with spicy tomato paste.  The rice was delicious, as usual, and helped cool down the other things.  But as I was choking a little on some fish bones, I wondered about a diet with little fiber.  I mean, our school lunches never have fruit.  Our vegetable servings are usually moreorless a smattering of small carrot filings, and whatever comes in the onions, seaweed, and of course, the kimchi.  Oh, I've got to run but of course, dear reader, there's more where this came from.   2:33 AM Like · Comment ·Views (47)·Edit Sep 17, 2008 befuddlement, unbefuddlement, befuddlement There is just so much to write.  First of all, I've got to get off my chest one of the finer aspects of this life, which is that we can walk into town and get two big tuna sushi rolls for the value of about $3.50.  These are packed to go and sent with some pickled radish, although if you stay you get the sushi rolls with a table full of goodies and it only costs $3.  These are the big rolls, the ones that cost about $6-$12 a piece back home.  In fact, I cannot understand how restaurants make their money, except that many people eat out often.  And, I think that maybe they get a lot of their produce from homegrown plots which really cuts down on material cost of food. Speaking of homegrown plants, I have finally identified the leafy plant that befuddled me for a while.  It is green tea!  At least, that's what I thought until I just now googled it and saw the images didn't reflect my expectations.  Hmmm, I guess I'm still befuddled.  Okay, not anymore.  Here is the plant: It is Korean Kkaennip, Perilla frutescens, or in English: Beefsteak plant, Chinese Basil, or Wild Sesame.  But my, it tastes like green tea to me.  As In green tea ice cream.  Maybe what I always thought was green tea ice cream is actually green wild sesame ice cream. Anyway, this herb was in our sushi rolls last night.  But we pass by a garden of it walking towards downtown. It seems like there is more to write.  I have given you one end of the dining-out spectrum.  On the other end, I found a Japanese restaurant that seats you for dinner starting at the value of 50, 70, or 90 dollars per person.  Soju, their rice wine, can be purchased in supermarkets for less than $1 per bottle (~12 oz?). We are getting more acquainted with grocery shopping.  There are a couple supermarkets to choose from, and we are finding out what's best to get where.  One of our favorite treats we learned this summer from a couchsurfer from Belgium, who introduced us to canned peach halves with balls of tuna fish salad.  This is a refreshing summer treat, but we're finding that it's a delightful inexpensive dinner side here that is not one bit Korean, even though the couchsurfer who introduced it to us was adopted as a young child from Korea.  It is not that we want to get away from all things Korean, but that hints and breaks from time to time help us feel not so removed from all familiarity.  The principal just told me that it wasn't that plant that I saw in my sushi roll, but I beg to differ. Okay, on with my day.  I am going to read to the fifth and sixth graders about mosquito bites.  Don't scratch it!  Buzz Buzz.  A flying mosquito bit my arm.  A bump appeared at once.  It was very itchy.  And so on... 2:08 AM Like · Comment ·Views (36)·Edit Sep 16, 2008 mountains, magpies, shoulders Current mood:happy It is the last day of my five day weekend, and time for a report.  On Saturday Trent and I went hiking to a local peak called Taebaek-san, which actually included a hike along a ridge going to four different peaks.  The mountain hike itself was just right.  We hiked up to the smallest peak first, which was very beautiful, looking across level upon level of mountains into oblivion.  Then the next biggest peak had a bunch of large cairns piled up at the top.  By large I mean as tall as a house or taller.  A man was meditating at this peak, and I was impressed because at this particular peak the flies were extraordinarily plentiful.  Then, the next peak was a gathering place where thousands ascend during the night of December 31, in order to see the first sunrise of the new year.  It is an open field at the peak where there is again a large cairn that is built actually more like an altar with a exterior wall and a rock altar constructed inside. I guess we'll get our own photos on here soon, but until you can peruse them... At last we ascended the fourth and tallest peak, took our photos, and began our descent. (I am uploading the photos now, including some of which Orry took at the park.  I have to say, some of his photos are among our best, because they are not taken with an analyst's eye--it's just push the camera towards what you want to capture, and click, and sometimes the moment or featured object, in its noncentrality, is captured better than "getting it in the frame".  For example, look at his photo of the peppers, compared to mine.) During our descent we happened upon a stucco tree.  At this we chuckled and shook our heads, that the Koreans would cement a tree.  We saw on the map that this was a "Yew Community" and that many yew trees (which are poisonous) grow here and are celebrated as trees that live 1000 years before and after death.  But to cement these trees to preserve them?  Well, the first tree was dead, but then we saw more and more with this "cement tree paste", and we decided we couldn't really decide for sure if it was cement or something else.  I mean, it wasn't like sidewalk cement, definitely softer with some give, but not much softer.  We turned into scientists, looking for trees with it and without, examining features and trying to decide this or that about it.  Was it always on the southern part, was it just on the trunk, was it only in knots and vulnerable parts of a tree?  Was it not in some knots?  Was it only on yew trees?  And so on.  After the descent out of the yew trees we stopped seeing the cement tree paste patches, and we're no closer now to answering our fundamental questions about what the stuff is and why it is there.  But we'll ask when we can and through some broken English and conversation with effort, we'll get closer to the answers.  The best we can postulate is that it is something applied to help preserve and protect the trees.  How and why it is the way it is, well, maybe we'll find out something more soon, and faithful reader, I'll keep you updated, don't you worry. After a while of descent, we came out of the park and onto the main road.  The idea was to catch a bus back into Taebaek, and with a little more patience this plan would have worked just fine we imagine, since we saw a couple buses driving by.  But with our limited ability to understand the bus timetables, and our American lack of patience, we walked, and walked, and walked until we were home which was over 6 miles.  And that was probably the hard part about the hike if there was one, just having a longish hike after we were done.  Altogether our total miles logged were probably 14 or so, and it wasn't a killer, but our legs were a little sore the next day.  As we put it, it is just getting us in shape for snowboarding this winter.  We left around seven and returned around four, give or take. We saw a nice little farmhouse with goats on the way home.  Also we saw a whitewater stream entering into the main river (another investigation to be undertaken).  We saw magpies and chipmunks and some little birds with dark stripes kind of like a chipmunks that seem to scuttle up and down the trees instead of hopping and flying.  We saw crows and some big water bird by the river that we haven't identified for sure.  Also along the way there is a lot of terrain that looks like it is uprooted as if by wild boars.  Also there are lots of mushrooms here. By now I wanted to report on church, but we haven't gone yet.  It's on the schedule for next week.  On the agenda for today is another trip around the city including a stop-in at the library.  You must be wondering if we are all feeing better.  And we are.  Isaac is still coughing a little, but I think the rest of us are at or near a full recovery, and Isaac himself hasn't had a feverish fit since last Wednesday.  However, Nicole is reportedly under the weather with symptoms similar to ours, so hopefully she will heal well and soon.  I still walk around a lot with Orry on my shoulders.  He likes to walk on his own, but sometimes his pace leaves something to be desired.  It is nice to go slow, especially to see all the ants and other insects, but usually we are on our way to point B with intent, not to mention the dangers of walking so much next to traffic, so he gets to ride on my shoulders quite a bit. Now I'm interested in some breakfast cereal.  Goodbye for now. 12:40 AM Like · Comment ·Views (38)·Edit Sep 10, 2008 giving Korea some love Conifers make the fractal skyline very evident in the near background, less apparent in most hills and mountains, but only a few peaks can be seen from afar where it looks like a blue mountain and trees cannot be distinguished.  For the most part, we have these beautiful green mountains all around.  The conifers looks soft, like larches, maybe, and I anticpate a grand turning of colors coming soon.  I'll keep you posted.  Meanwhile, amidst the city foliage, there are quite a number of gingko trees, their exotic leaves gracing the trees in their ancient way. I would say that Korea is colorful.  Jade asked that question on Skype this morning.  What a great chance to see and talk to family members!  I'm digging Skype, and overall this week is going a lot better.  Anyway, as far as color goes, I'll tell more next time, maybe with some more photos, but I wanted to hop on here and send a quick update to check in, reminding myself and others that what we see is a landscape of forest and mountains. 12:47 AM Like · Comment ·Views (40)·Edit Sep 7, 2008 Green Gegguri and other Korean tidbits Current mood:busy Today I told the Korean story of Green Gegguri to fifth graders in English.  It was a successful use of fifteen minutes.  What I will do with the third graders In 50 minutes I do not know, but maybe it will use the same story, but a ten minute version, for the sake of attention spans that can withstand only so much incomprehension. What?!  I liked the school lunch today, and Friday's was good too.  Could it be that I am getting used to sour spiciness?  Perhaps the school lunch planner is trying to satisfy my western taste?  Or maybe it was the delicious more-familiar food we ate over the weekend, congregating for one big Becker bunch at Trent and Nicole's for almost the entire weekend. Sadly, Isaac is more sick these days, but I am only occasionally coughing, and not such fits, and with not so much infected sinuses.  Also Bonnie and Orry seem to be doing better, so I think we're on the up and up and I hope Isaac follows suit. We played a few games of Pinochle this weekend, and watched some movies.  It was a good relaxing weekend that you might consider a lot of loafing around, but in our case, being in Korea, it was loafing with intent.  Partly to take a break from Korea, partly to put our heads together about our surroundings. Taxi rides are cheap and so we take the taxi quite often from one place to another.  We Daemil Beckers will walk over to the Sunmyong Beckers', and then take a taxi back at bedtime, or they will walk over to our place, we will walk downtown, then all hop in a taxi to come back up the hill. Everything is quite hilly, as I mentioned before.  The hills and mountains all around the city make for a great background.  The sky has pretty autumn clouds in the evening, and I'm reminded of Coeur D'Alene.  The days are usually fair and fine, or with wispy high clouds, and just the slightest nip to the air (probably only picked up by Louisianas) to remind you we're in the mountains.  It gets quite cooler at nights, just right to sleep by (unless you have some sick family members and then you might think it's a little too chilly). More stars prick the night sky from our dwellings, although to get a full night sky we'd need to be elsewhere.  It might be a small city, but it is very concentrated, and time and again I am impressed with how big and busy the downtown area is, how it seems like the place must be much more populous than it reportedly is. Just how populous is Taebaek?  Wikipedia says just over 56000.  And 6 Beckers.  The Taebaek Mountains are a range down the east side of Korea stretching from in North Korea all the way down South Korea.  Taebaek Mountain itself is just a ways from our town and hopefully we will visit it soon and bring back a bigger report.  When I finally get pictures of downtown uploaded, ask yourself if the place looks just the size of 56000 inhabitants. Okay, I need to get off of here and upload those videos of Isaac and Orry, and make sure I have a good lesson for third graders. 4:36 PM Like · Comment ·Views (39)·Edit Sep 3, 2008 korean and gustav miscellany Current mood:quiet I don't know the details about the garbage system, except that there are five or so bins for various recylcing material, three bins set aside for organic waste, and then a heap of bagged trash which can't be handled in the above manner, like snotty tissues, I guess.  The bags cost won, so that is how you pay for your trash removal, with the incentive of recycling and composting as much as possible.  It seems like a good system, unless you can't read the bins.  Judging from the contents of the bins, it looks like we're not the only ones who can't or don't read them, or maybe there just isn't enough motivation to separate the garbage well. I have one more dose of medications left, for this evening.  I'm not feeling optimistic that my cough and congestion will be much abated by tomorrow, but we'll see.  It still seems that without the medications I have an ugly cough and congested sinuses. I can't wait to get home and see how Bonnie is doing.  We really need Internet access at home, but it seems like there is some government crackdown on new internet accounts until September 28th.  What??!  It is possible I did not understand correctly.  Meanwhile, we await a landline, or a prepaid cell phone for the time being.  Tomorrow I hope to get Bonnie here to school to use the phone.  Or maybe we'll get her to the PC Bahng tonight where she can spend some communication time.  We are incredibly disconnected from the Louisiana family, except for appreciated updates from Evan. I downloaded Skype today but now we have issues with how to pay for credit to call US phones.  Also, I do not know if it will charge an arm and a leg to the US cell phone user if I call a US cell phone.  Baton Rouge endured quite the storm from the sound of it, and it sounds like our big crepe myrtle (of the purple snow) blew over, not damaging any building.  Houma, by the looks of the national news, suffered strong winds and damage, but not too much flooding?  We don't even know if the Albuequerque crew made it out of town from the memorial service (they were scheduled to fly out on Sunday). Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh..... So, of other curiosities, there are the orange, strawberry, chocolate, and original milks that are served at break time (mid-morning), and no liquids served with lunch except the soup, and some timy cups of barley tea for adults.  I am saving my mid-morning milk for lunchtime.  And no, I haven't tried the orange milk yet. The school bells are a classical lick from, well, I can't tell, unfortunately.  Maybe I will record it with my new microphone and play it for you on my profile to identify. Speaking of which, there are some new photos and videos.  I am going to upload those now, so that when tomorrow arrives (or whenever, for you, whenever you read this), you can see some smiling faces and new surroundings.  These photos go back to before our arrival, so there is a hodge-podge for your perusal. 6:09 AM Like · Comment ·Views (51)·Edit Sep 2, 2008 you must have been wondering about the spoons The spoons are shaped funny.  That is, they are quite circular (not quite like a soup spoon, and flatter) and on longer, narrower handles than seems familiar. I forgot to mention that Orry started coloring "in the lines".  Of course, it's not really in the lines, but it is targetted to be in a specific area.  For example, he sees a circle, and he'll color in the circle.  It still looks like children's scribbles, mind you, but it's a progression from indiscriminate scribbling. Isaac is all but sitting up.  Propped up on a pillow, he flexes his tummy and neck to sit up, but when he is sitting up, he just doesn't have the muscle (or control) to keep him balanced.  He coos and goos and smiles quite a bit, in spite of his occasional cough and little bit of congestion. The rest of us are faring better than yesterday.  The medicine seems to be very effective and hopefully we're over the sickness hump. Our apartment, like most around here, has no bathtub, but only a shower.  The entire bathroom is tiled in so that it's sort of like a sauna.  At least our toilet and sink (and shower) are in the same room.  Also our washing machine drains onto the bathroom floor.  The drain, instead of being in the shower area, is directly in front of the sink. We live on the third and top floor of our apartment building at the Daelim Apartments.  It is near "downtown Taebaek", sort of central in the area, which is convenient.  I think I could walk to the school (less than 30 minues?) where I work on a fine day.  So far I get a ride from another teacher. You might be wondering about how Bonnie is taking to the new surroundings and new life.  She seems as robust as usual, in spite of her sickness.  She seems more adventurous than me in some aspects, learning this and that or going to this and that place.  Today is her day with the dictionary, and I got the feeling she was going to go to a little mart by our place to get some water and things. We have been advised to not drink the tap water, and it is clear to me why "Koreans don't sweat," because they don't drink much liquid in the first place.  Last night there was a big welcome party dinner, during which Orry and Isaac experienced lavish attention, while Bonnie and I drained a couple of the few bottles of nonalcoholic beverage and a caraffe of water, all of which was intended for our table of eight. The alcohol, fairly sweet spirits, is called soju.  They pour for each other but turn their heads to the side when they drink.  It is intriguing.  The dinner party all around was a fun event and I can understand its purpose, drawing all the coworkers together for quality time. Today was our first teaching day.  I started out with first graders, knowing about it immediately before walking down the hallway and into the classroom.  It was  a success, although not without the discipline concerns of most first grade classes, probably.  Disadvantage: I am yet unable to learn how a teacher says something that means, "You must behave." I have another class (sixth grade, on the other side of the spectrum) in about fifteen minutes, so let me jot some notes, and I'll have to tell you about the garbage system next time. 2:05 AM Like · Comment ·Views (49)·Edit Sep 1, 2008 patience, ignorance, separation We are enduring exercise after exercise in patience, ignorance, and separation.  The latest of which is this hurricane bearing down just about right now on what looks like Houma, Louisiana.   That puts a storm surge right in Lake Pntchartrain and the Crescent City, so it looks like another disaster which might make or break New Orleans. There was the memorial service of Grandma Takeko on Saturday.  It is a hard time to be disconnected from the family, since we've had little or no internet access.  I am set up with the Internet at work, where I am now, at an Elementary School in a small city called Taebaek.  My goal is to get the internet at home and then trade every other day with Bonnie as to who gets the laptop during the day.  We have lots to tell.  Hopefully, our illnesses culminated already.  We went to the doctor's clinic today and got some medications which will treat our sinus infections and coughs.  Last night was the worst night, and this morning little isaac gave a couple coughs, so I hope we beat this before it gets hims down too.  I was just coughing until a few days ago and then the three biggest of us got nasty sinus infections too.  Yuck!  It's not so bad that i'm entirely miserable (except for when I'm up 3/4 of the night hacking away), but it is enough to put a damper on things. It's cool here.  Apparently this is Korea's highest city ("city" being > 50K population.  It's hearsay for now.).  Most everything is quite green, and lots of prety flowers and plants, as if the culture as a whole took my advice about farming the backyards, and every little strip of earth in the public domain.
We arrived Friday night and laid low most of the weekend.  One, we were under the weather and wanted the rest.  Two, we didn't know where we were, or where Trent and Nicole were, or much of anthing, really.  I got out and got some provisions, and I went looking for the other Beckers, since I knew where their apartment complex was.  But to no avail, until Sunday when our paths crossed.  Oh, what joy!  We live about a 12 minute walk apart.  And hills.  Everything is so hilly here it is quite a shock--my time in the hurricane inflicted south has acclimated me to flatness.
I am going to stop right here for now but expect more from me later.
Other than Orry's cough and snotty nose, he is doing well. 
Isaac is manipulating his hands more and is working hard on sitting up.
We have a good apartment and we're as happy as can be.
5:50 AM
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Aug 27, 2008
completion, connection, congestion
Current mood:sick
First of all, it is 3am and I shouldn't be so awake.  But I can feel our adjustment sliding a little day by day, so it won't be long until our bodies feel like we're in the right time zone. 
San Francisco was great, but as some of you already know, we got the call on Sunday morning that our grandmother Takeko died, which is a welcome relief to us, because her life was complete.  There are a hundred good things to say about Takeko, even from just the short time few years since I met her, but I will keep it short, expressing that her kindness and engagement of life will live on in those like me who were touched by her life.  I am proud and glad to father some of her great-grandkids.  :)
Now we are in a small town on the coast which has some glorious mountains apparent in the background.  Our resort hotel, which is much humbler than it sounds, is right on the beach, so of course we've made a nice sandcastle, and although I haven't taken a salty dip in the sea, it is coming on, I can feel it.  The waves are nice and big and there are a couple surfboards to be seen, although as we've heard, for the Koreans, summer has ended.
I will save many of my observations for later or elsewhere, but I am very happy and encouraged about our experience so far.  The orientation program including meeting with foreign teachers who have already been placed and have some experience really kicked in the hope and encouragement.  Also, visiting some schools (as part of the orientation) connected me to the children who are the students, and I am reminded about the joys of teaching, the smiles and the excitement of foreigner contact for so many Korean children.
We won't know exactly where we are placed until Friday, but it looks like anywhere in the province is going to provide us with a wonderful Korean setting.
One of the delights to share with you is seeing another double stroller here at the orientation.  There is not just one other family, but a few.  One family is a copy of ours, except that the wife is teaching and the husband is watching the kiddos, who are a 2 year old boy and a 9 month girl.  Another family has a 4yr old, 2 yr old, and 1yr old girl.  They brought two "nannies" (one is a cousin of the father) and both parents are teaching (They are from South Africa.).  Another family has a girl who is around 2. 
So there are some ready playmates for Orry, although Orry, Bonnie and I are still recuperating from some colds we got around our departure, so we're not overdoing it with the exposure to others, except poor Trent and Nicole, but we're trying hard not to kiss them on the lips.
Unfortunately, even though our reosrt hotel is wired for wireless internet, it is deactivated for some reason, so our only chance for computer use is to use this one public computer, which almost always has a short during all hours except the most ridiculous, like 3-4am.
We are studying more Korean.  It's easier to learn while you're here, of course.
Some of you may be wondering about communication disconnections or other negative concerns about our experience.  The only thing I can say is that the coordinator that we worked with ended up resigning just last week, and some of our particulars, coming as a family, was not passed on to the next in command.  But on the flipside, I am especially encouraged by the extra attention and consideration of the program leaders as they try to find good placement for us.  Also, I am encouraged by Bonnie, bless her heart again, who is gung ho about our experience, even being under the weather, making heart-warming statements like, "If our apartment is just as big as this [hotel room], it will be perfect."  Our hotel room, which leaves something to be desired if you ask me, is a small but functional space (it does have a bedroom with a door).  It is a change from our cozy three bedroom house, but "change" is partly why we're here, right?
If you've been woindering about what sort of insects we've been seeing, then you might be disappointed to hear that I have seen more of the usual.  We saw a couple preying mantises, one of which was quite large.  Some little skipper butterflies.  Some wasps.  Some mosquitos.  Some flies.
Orry is making sentences quite well, even demonstrating the ability to correctly use his subjects and some pronouns.
Isaac is discovering his hands.
Cough Cough.  Okay, good night, good morning, or good afternoon, faithful reader.
12:20 PM
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Aug 24, 2008
no a/c, sea lions
Current mood:adventurous
My darling wife.  She is marveling at the weather in San Francisco, that it feels like air conditioning in the rooms where there is none, that you'd need a sweater in August.  That there are sea lions barking in the background.  That the ideal of a happy comfortable streetcar ride isn't always the reality.

We have arrived and spent the night in San Francisco, and we're excited about meeting up with Trent and Nicole in a couple hours!

10:11 AM
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Aug 21, 2008
patience, animals
Current mood:anxious
My first two descendents are napping, and my co-progenitor is out for lunch with her pops.  Let me tell you about a test of patience.  That is what happens when you are less than 48 hours away from take-off, and the passports of you and your family are not in your hands.  Where are they?  They are being sent by express mail from the embassy, stamped with visas, guaranteed to be delivered to you tomorrow.  Guaranteed by whom?  By the United States Postal Service.  Gah!


Meanwhile, there are bags to stuff full of belongings, but otherwise, we're ready, you might say.

We arrive in San Francisco around noon on Saturday, and we're hoping to leave our baggage at the airport, go couchsurfing and check out the Chinafest there that weekend.  Also we might get to see some of Bonnie's cousins.  We may opt for the hotel, but we're getting some interested couchsurfing hosts, so let's see.  There are free guided walking tours, too, so in any case, we'll be set.  And we're excited to see Trent and Nicole on Sunday morning.

Our last days in Louisiana have been characteristically rainy, and sunny, and hot and humid.  We went to New Orleans yesterday and didn't get cussed out by any crazies.  We went to the aquarium and saw some sharks and pacu and surinam toads.






12:34 PM
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Aug 15, 2008
click me, i’m a waste of time
At the bottom of this blog is a green patch widget. I want to see if I generate greenbucks if you click it. It's no big deal.

Now I am chilling, unbachelor-like, at the Bourgs, with the family. This morning I finished up one of the projects around the house (finishing that little roof I made in the back above the french doors on the garage apartment), packed up everything we're leaving at the Bourgs, and hit the road. Actually it was just about 5pm by the time I hit the road.

Then I proceeded to talk on the phone for a long time. Not on the phone directly, because I am more concerned than ever about cell phone radiation. But on a microphone and ear bud that passes for comfortable.

I have to say that this last Michael Phelps finish was remarkable. It's one of those sentences that is either very true or very false.

It was good to see the boys again. Bonnie too.

This morning something I touched is giving me a poison ivy like reaction. Maybe it was that poison ivy I pulled out of the garden. I am hoping that my body is successful at staving off a full blown reaction. I got itchy the other day as well, and managed through it without the oozing contagious blisters and long-term reaction. My remedy is benadryl and relaxation. Here's hoping.

Just click it. You know you want to. Click:
..

8:44 PM
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Aug 14, 2008
red beans and swordfish steak
Current mood:talkative
Yes, I am baching it tonight.  and in case you balked over that word, it is a shortened form of the verb "to bachelor" or "to go it alone, in the style of a bachelor".    Not the kind of bachelor that paints the town red, but the kind of bachelor that cleans out the freezer and eats what he finds within.
So how is the swordfish steak, you wonder?  It is tasty, though not at all overwhelming in its fishy taste.  Probably the most noteworthy aspect is the consistency, which is markedly firm.  It goes well with the red beans and some leftover pita bread from yesterday's greek food run.
I am baching it because the wife and kids have escaped our empty house to go live with the inlaws for the next week.  I will happily join them tomorrow, but first I will spend half the night finishing the boxing of items, the throwing away and storing of other items.  Our empty house is not exactly empty.  I have a lot of important papers to go through, this and that to toss, and tomorrow when I go, a carload of belonging to pack with me--belongings to burden the inlaws with while we're out of the country.
Today was a happy day.  We have been draggin out our last real estate transaction for some time, and it has finally been completed today.  For those of you wondering, my friend is going to manage our properties while we are gone (for a price), and enough peace of mind is afforded to make us happy, to be sure.  My biggest project probably is to find some good tenants for this house while we're gone, but if I am unable to do that in 8 days, my friend can do a good job of it in my stead.
Also, I sold two goodie boxes of stuff on craigslist.  This was just random stuff we pulled out of our kitchen shelves and utility shelves.  Instead of donating it or tossing it, I thought about making a craigslist listing, and sure enouhg, it got snatched up.  We've sold quite a bunch of stuff there, you know.
And, speaking of internet things, why don't you all click on my green patch widget on my myspace homepage.  I think when you do that, I get greenbucks, and I want to try it out and see.
The facebook green patch application is one of those horrible wastes of time, but it's kind of fun and harmless.  In fact, it actually supposedly helps save the rainforest, but if you want to do that, there are a gazillion better ways, like turning off your computer, planting some vegetables in your backyard, getting rid of your automobile, and so forth.
8-14-8.  Isaac turns 11 weeks old today.  He is close to 16 lbs.  He is happy and healthy.  Just look at him in the new photo album I just made.  He is pretty strong with this and that, is just starting to grasp his hands and move his arms a little at will.  He is pretty good at looking at you, and will coo and gurgle from time to time in response to your oohs and aahs.
I am 30.5 years and 10 days old.  I am close to 165 lbs.  I am happy and healthy, and fairly strong with this and that.  I am a fast learner still, but have not mastered the Korean language yet, by any means.
Since some of you actually read my last blog, which was longer than weblogs should be, I thought I could ramble for a bit longer on this one as well, but no, I should have stopped or summed up paragraphs ago.  Thank you for reading.
6:49 PM
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Aug 12, 2008
Magical Monday, ready to go
Current mood:amused
I was hoping for a magical Monday.  I guess you could say we got one.  but if last week was a week to forget and remember, let me tell you about our Monday the eleventh.
Instead of waking up early and putting things in the attic and then going to the Vital Statistics office to be first in line in order to get Isaac's birth certificate, I woke up super early, about 3:30, and did a variety of things before 7:30 rolled around.  Then I proceeded, as planned, to Vital Statistics, where I have been going every day or every few days for the last five or six weeks.
I was there a little early, and the clerks, familiar with me, went to look up Isaac's info, even though it wasn't quite opening time.  But something was wrong, so we waited the extra minutes, and then found out that the system was down.  They got on the phones and fonud out that the system was down across statewide.  It took about a half hour for this final determination to take place.  Everybody else in the line went away, but I had a few minutes to spare, so I waited.
I had a few minutes to spare, meaning that early that morning I had arranged to go to the New Orleans Passport Agency (with Isaac's birth certificate, in order to get him his passport).  That appointment was at 10:30.  We also had a doctor's appointment at 8:45.  And I was supposed to get Isaac's birth certificate, run home to pick up the family for the doctor's office, and then we would hightail it to New Orleans.  So really, I only had a few minutes to spare.
But no, the computer system was down (whatever that means).  So I went to pick up the family, and just dropped Bonnie and Isaac off at the doctor's office, while Orry and I would go spend the next 45 minutes waiting in hopes that the system might get up and running.
When 9:30 rolled around and still no luck, I started to call the Passport agency to change my appointment time (it takes about one hour to get to New Orleans).  While I was on the phone, however, the system became available, and at long last I held in my hands an official certificate of Isaac's birth.
I went to get Bonnie, but we still had to stop by the house, so I went ahead and called the passport agency to push our appointment back afterall.
Then, on the way to New Orleans, much to our dismay, our front tire tread came off.  I masterfully brought the car to a stop, thinking to myself that well, I can change it in no time and we'll still make it.
I was not so masterful with the tire, only because it had a hubcap locking mechanism I had no experience with.  So I spent way too much time trying to pry off the hubcap.  Some transportation workers clued me in about the removal of the locking mechanism, and I got it changed pretty quick, but the whole process took long enough that it was necessary again to push back the appointment time, this time to 11:30.
So we were rolling down the interstate at a safe 50-55mph with our little donut spare on our nice sized Cutlass Supreme.  And then Orry had to pee.  Now, I've left out the part about how our air conditioning doesn't work (I tried to charge it myself and ended up draining what coolant existed on account of the older fittings which aren't compatible with the equipment I have), and how we are sweating and hot and holding in our curse words.  We exited the interstate for Orry's toilet break and to get some Gatorade.
By the time we were to Lake Pontchartrain, I was hoping we would make our 11:30 appointment.  They make it very clear on the automated system that if you are 15 minutes late your appointment is dropped.  I called again to see if we could have a 12:00 appointment, but no, they close at 12:00 and 11:30 is the last available appointment of the day.  What I was hoping for was that we would get there by 11:45.  Did you read that the scheduling system is an automated system?  It takes about 6 minutes to call and press all the right buttons and say yes or no, and could you please repeat your selection?  And that is because I had memorized most of the sequence from my ealier calls.
I called the national passport number to see if I could talk to a person to see if we could make sure that we could get accepted even if we were a few minutes past our fifteen minute grace period.  A nice agent told me it was up to the compassion level at that particular agency, that it seemed to him that 15-20 minutes was acceptable as long as they weren't slammed.  Being used to inferior customer service in the South, I wasn't encouraged.  We had considered trying again the next day when the whole tire explosion occured, but do you know what?
*****This is the point of my blog:
Making big changes to the way things are, necessarily creates some hardship.  If anybody thinks it is easy to move across the world, even if it is adventureful and wonderful, I want to bring to attention that the leaving of friends and family, from the comfortable and familiar, from one way of life to another, it exercises a person's adaptability, not just in the adapting to things new, but in adapting to things left behind.
In actuality, making worthwhile changes always takes great efforts.  In our case, just the logistics of getting all our entry red tape lined up for moving to Korea, has left me thinking time and again, "so this is why people don't change."
*****end point.
Anyway, that is what I was thinking after changing the tire, and later on, as we were driving into New Orleans, faced with the reality that we may well be repeating the motions the next day, hopefully without the flat tire.  And that if we couldn't get Isaac's passport by Wednesday, that we would bring him into Korea without a visa, that we'd spend a day or two in Korea taking care of the deal there, instead of here and now, ahead of time.  But there is something to persistence, and I was really hoping mine would pay off, as I realized we were going to be lucky to get to the passport agency before they closed the doors at noon.
Traffic was semi-agreeable, but parking in New Orleans is always a fun adventure.  I pulled along the building at something like 11:58 and Bonnie jumped out to go up to the 13th floor and plead with the officers.  I circled a few blocks, found a good parking spot, hauled the boys and our nice double stroller up to meet Bonnie.
Happily, everything went dreamy from there.  We made our application for the passport, were instructed to come back at 2:30 to pick it up, and then went to the Aquarium and Riverwalk area to bide our time.  The Aquarium is closed on Monday, and it started pouring while we were in the Riverwalk area (which is covered), but this is a good thing, since it meant that we were not sweltering in the heat, and that the ride home was looking to be cooler.  In the end, sure, we got a little wet pushing our nice double stroller around the streets of New Orleans.  We also spent, what, $8? on a delicious burger and fries, the kind that make you think, "ah yes, the USA."
Isaac's passport looks cute, and it will continue to look cute, for years more.  I just don't know if it will be recognizably him five years from now.
Anyway, we are passport carrying family of four now.  I sent off for the visas early this afternoon, and then we'll be ready to go as far as international government is concerned.
 
2:27 PM
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Aug 10, 2008
a week to forget, and remember
Current mood:pleased
I'm tickled to see so many blogs out there.  Keep writing, and I'll keep reading.
This last week was a doozie.  Monday morning started out disagreeably.  Our 9am doctor's appointment turned into an hour and a half at the office, waiting for the rectifications of some clerical or administrative errors.  Finally, a rescheduling was in order, no doctor was seen (It was just a well-visit for Isaac), and we now have the doctor's appointment this upcoming Monday, hopefully not to repeat the events of last week.
On the way from the doctor's office we endured the harrowing experience of a near accident, when a pickup pulled across an intersection right in front of us.  I hit the brakes and luckily he did too, or we would have crashed.  It was easy for me to stay calm since I was driving, and it would have been a low speed collision anyway, but I think Bonnie's blood vessels constricted, especially the ones going to her brain, because she released some expletives that were happily repeated by Orry for the rest of the drive home.
Then we found out that our last real estate transaction that was supposed to close in July was not going to happen the first week of August either.  In a wacky way, this makes everything not so bad, because all of the items left on our list are all intertwined, so when something is pushed back, it makes it not so bad that everything else is getting pushed back as well.  However, it is no small reality that d-day is fast approaching.
Items on our list.  So, at long last our (Isaac's) birth certificate is reportedly available.  I say that because I still have to go get it in my hands before I'll breathe that sigh of relief.  No birth certificate, no passport, no passport, no entry, no entry, no departure, and it would really be nice to get Isaac's visa before we leave so that we don't have to go through the immigration hoops in Korea.  Tomorrow will be fun because now we need to all drive to New Orleans and get Isaac's passport there.  Hopefully.  If everything goes smoothly.
Our little home has become very unhomelike.  We have stored, donated, and sold most everything we have.
The week wrapped up nicely though.  I ended my last good Louisiana tutoring job.  I finished a good project with Evan (only a couple more small projects for me), and just when I had given up selling our extra houses, I got one last call that might prove to be the connection we have been waiting for.  On top of that, we saw a bat last night flying above our driveway, and we heard an owl.  And we spent some of this weekend observing the hot air balloon fastival that is happening this weekend in Baton Rouge.  Little else is as uplifting as hot air balloons.
8:57 AM
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Aug 1, 2008
why it rains
Current mood:happy
During the rain yesterday, Bonnie pointed out the smallest frog I've seen.  You can see ithere, although I realize the photo is not the best quality.
And here is our current gecko neighbor.  It is difficult to appreciate his size in this photo, or that he is in a top corner, positioned vertically, looking down. His size is about two inches not including his tail.
And here is Bonnie's eye.
Orry and I have been exercising to practice the control one can have of one's body.  Like standing on one leg and so on.
Isaac and I have been looking at each other in adoration and wonder.
Bonnie and I have been, well, what did you think I was going to say?, we have been cleaning the spare room, boxing up extra belongings and memorabilia, and taking extra things to the thrift store.
Yesterday I bought some facia and hardware to finish up some exterior trim work.
Right now it's one of those delicious summer rainstorms, trying to scour Louisiana of racism and spilt oil.
1:40 PM
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Jul 30, 2008
farewell fauna, Julys, social interchange
We saw a "red-capped woodpecker" in this delightful little kids' book Birdsongs.  It is like "Red", our red-headed woodpecker.  We will miss Red a little, as we will miss our geckoes and anoles.  I will not miss our latest mockingbird resident, which relentlessly wheezes like a whining dog, apparently under the impression that its territory is being compromised by I don't know, us, Chevy, Red?  Or maybe it is a strange mockingbird way to get a mate.
I am still digging Frank Asch books.  You can learn more about him and them atfrankasch.com.
Issac's plugged tear duct finally cleared last week or so.  I had been meaning to tell you earlier, those of you who might have been concerned.  Anyway, he has two smiley eyes and a little laughy grin for you and you and you, if you want to come see him.  The rest of you can see photos and video, when I get them loaded.
Bonnie has started taking the boys on a walk in the mornings.
Today I am tackling the overhang of our garage apartment, sprucing everything up, caulking and painting in order to wrap up that project before it's time to move.
Getting shirts over Orry's large head is sometimes really funny.  We have had to do away with at least one shirt, because it fits fine on his body, but getting it on and off was just getting ridiculous.
We are really reducing our belongings, and getting things arranged in our house.  I scored a dozen great boxes at Walmart the other day.  No, Walmart, we will not shop your goods, but we will take away your scrap boxes when we need some.
July is almost over.  It has been my 31st July.  Nine years ago I got married and went away to Japan all in the month of July.  The next July I moved back to the US by way of Hawaii, where we got a bunch of our valuables stolen.  In spite of the losses, the Julys have been pretty good, as far as I can remember.  My hitch-hiking July was memorable.  It seems like once I climbed Mt Borah in July, which stimulated my highpoint kick of climbing state highpoints.  I guess the remaining states will have to wait, but they'll be there, I'm sure, as long as I will be.  July is such a summer month.  I always think I like Spring and Autumn best, but when it's Summer I love Summer.  When It's Winter I love Winter.
You guys have been generous with your kudos.  In actuality, the kudos should go to the readers.  If written word never was read, it would do some good for the writer, probably, but the social interchange of thoughts and ideas is part of the fabric of our relationships.
7:58 AM
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Jul 27, 2008
animal identification, updates
Haven't you checked out my friend Animal of the Week?  I am becoming quite the animal identifier, having identified last week the mystery animal, which is a small insect that grows out of the hind end of wasps and other insects.  And you have to see the animal of the week this week, which is the adorable red panda that lives in the Himalayas.
Two of our passports are here, and two more to go.  I upoaded our photos from which we got our identification photos, so you can see how cute Orry's and Isaac's passports are.
Today we started putting up some of our furniture and things on craigslist.com.
Orry calls himself "Izzy" as in "Where is he?"  The irony is that this is a nickname we have picked out for Isaac, which may stick at some point in the future, but not now.
Orry's sentences and recall continue to get more and more impressive.  This evening he was getting his familiar books and "reading them".  Actually, no, what he was doing was saying "goodnight ________" to everything he saw in the books.
Isaac has begun to be "with it" somewhat.  He will look at you and smile.  He is a chunky little baby, not as fussy as he was last week--we believe cousin Amie who suggested to us that babies fuss and then they grow (physically or cognitively).  Anyway, now Isaac has become more of a nice "easy baby" again.
Bonnie and I are doing our darnedest to learn Korean while preparing the house.  It is fun, learning together like a couple of schoolchildren.
Thank you, dear reader, for bearing with even these mundane reports.  The weblogs are bound to get more exotic soon.
12:42 AM
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Jul 22, 2008
more Korean, mystery bug revealed!
The more I learn about Korean, the more there is to learn. Anyway, the vowel situation isn't as bad as I thought.  It turns out that the hard vowel I mentioned is closer to the uh as in ugly--close enough that it will do.  So that makes for vowels I can at least reproduce.  It still just feels so funny, reading like a first grader, only slower, because I know the meaning of hardly any words, and there's no guessing.
We got some learning materials and we're going through them.  What's funny is that Orry repeats the sounds from the CD easier than we do, even if some his blends and vowels are garbled.  Also he still is all about repeating the last several syllables, so on long expressions, it's just the "ham ni da" or whatever that gets repeated.  Well, it feels the same when we do it too.
So, the mystery bug got identified as a type of leafhopper.  When I think of leafhopper, I think of the little green or white leafhoppers, but it is one of the larger families of insects, and if you google leafhopper in general, you can see the type of bugs we're talking about.  We don't have an exact name for it, but a leafhopper is specific enough for me.
By the way, check out this bug:

It is related to our mystery leafhopper.  For more similarly weird bugs, check out the tree hoppers down a ways at this webpage.
Well, that's all I have to say for now.  Except that Bonnie made some more delicious mint chocolate chip cookies.  Yum!
4:09 PM
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Jul 18, 2008
green, green, green, ...
Foremost on my mind is this stupid lesson I've learned to the tune of $2500 regarding a "free" timeshare opportunity.  That's a lot of DIY identification photo savings.  The story (which is classic) is about misrepresented non-cancellation contracts, so be careful what you sign, especially in Florida.  And, if any of you want to stay in a five star resort somewhere in the world, for up to two weeks, you might let me know and you can probably stay for as cheap as you want to pay me to alleviate our losses.  Or, we'll try to arrange a vacation from Korea to see if we can't actually use what we're paying $2500 for.  What a rip.
On the bright side, I found a five dollar bill yesterday, and a $20 bill last week.  What's with that?  I have found my share of pennies, and sometimes some other shiny coins.  But $25?  And in a week?  I would look around for another large note, but if things happen in threes, and I found these bills not expecting to find them, I better not expect to find another bill, you know?
Okay, that's enough about money for one morning.
We have a ripe tomato.  It's hot here, and a daily sprinkle is really making everything grow.  In fact, I am going to go mow the lawn now, and then we are going to go run some errands, look for some inexpensive luggage, and so on.
Isaac is turning more into a little smiler.
Orry is stringing words together the way hot dogs are made.

 
7:48 AM
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Jul 15, 2008
apricots, the dream EYC
Current mood:thankful
Isaac is making little grunting noises.  I am eating another rootbeer float.
My mom wrote about eating apples and raspberries from her backyard.  Meanwhile, it costs us 50c a piece for apricots. Apricots.  At times in my life, you could sit in a tree and eat all the apricots you want, for free.  You could pick some apricots while irrigating because there was a tree on one of the ditchbanks.  And, then, there was this tree, and then hundreds of small seedlings, in our garden at the Jerome farmhouse.  Eight years ago I took my picture by this tree, and you can see it is loaded with fruit.  There were some earwigs, to be sure, but you could always get some good fruit.  In fact, I remember picking and picking, and throwing to the goats more apricots than I have eaten in the past few years.  Well, we got four at the store the other day, and I'm going to go feast on one right now, even though apricots don't go very well with rootbeer floats.

Mmmm.  To be fair, in my reporting of the facts, these 50c apricots have twice the volume of the homegrown and wild-cultivated ones provided to me in my youth.  And they are delicious, and no earwigs.

 
Now, onto the real motivation for this weblog of July 15, 2008:
I had my last day of EYC at Trinity as youth director.  It was a dream EYC day, really, as many of my favored students were there, and we had a grand time.  I am writing my farewell for the newsletter, and it has been a good time of growth and positive experience at Trinity.  I expect that I'll be in touch with some of those kids for their lives, and I'll always have fond memories of Trinity and think of it as another family.
I need to record the happenstance of our choosing to go to Korea.  It has to do with EYC.  Our many Plan A's were falling through, and I wondered if we would/should stay in Baton Rouge.  The Korea opportunity came up, and we thought it was sort of a fantasy.  But it kept looking better and better the more we investigated.  Meanwhile, I was struggling some with the idea of leaving Trinity and the youth group.  However, the key weekend I got a call from another local yuoth director whose program was cut at the church she serves.  So I talked to our Rector right away and told him about our opportunity and explained that this seemed like just the chance to get the other youth director on board.  And now, it has all come to pass, and is exciting to see how providence has, well, provided.
That's all to report for today.  Thanks for viewing my weblog.
8:59 PM
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Jul 13, 2008
sharks and waterspouts
Current mood:thirsty
The fishing trip was terrific.  Some of you may remember the mosters we caught a few weeks ago.  The rays that my dad and I caught although we were ill equipped to get them up to the boat?  Well, Jeffery and I caught them, or their bigger cousins.  This time we had the rods and line to bring them up, and let me tell you about it.  These rays were about five feet in width, and they each grabbed a line within minutes of each other.  It took at least thirty minutes (forty-five?) to pull in the first one and another twenty to get the second one.  They were big enough, that when I caught the first glimpse of the first one, it startled me a little, a creature of such size at the end of my line just a couple meters away.  That was after wrestling it off the bottom with a good deal of my strength, effort, and endurance.  The second one was harde but I think because I was more worn out.  Jeffery and I took turns a couple times, but it was just a hard go.

The stingrays were only one aspect of our great day.  The ride out was super, as expected.  We caught a bunch of little trout, which was sporting fun.  Once we got out to the pass, we ventured further out to some oil rigs.  We didn't catch anything out there, but it was fun bucking the gentle swells on the way out.  Large boats with enormous booms mimicked the pelicans in their stately slow-motion movement over the water.  Dolphins traced trigonometry functions through the water, and I saw more mullets and other small fish jupming out of the water than I remember seeing before.  Also, out in the deeper water, I saw a lot more swimming crabs.  When we came back in from the rigs, going with the waves, it was like surfing, kind of, and we came in in a third of the time--a lot smoother than going out.
Then we caught the rays.  And then we moved to another place, into shark infested waters, where we caught a nice shark about six feet long, and another smaller shark (4-5 feet?) that was a black tipped shark.  They are known for the way they breach out of the water when they're first caught, like other sport fish.  It was fun.  After the rays, though, they seemed easy to tire out and reel in.

We would have caught more sharks and other fish, probably, but this is when we saw the waterspout.  You know, a tornado on the water.

It looked like that, only taller, and with more bend up high.  It stayed there for about a half hour and was touching down for at least ten minutes or so.  Anyway, as soon as we saw it we headed back for the day, not wanting to flirt with danger, I guess.  It was around the area where we caught the rays, but we had since moved from there.  It was my first time to see such a thing.  It didn't look too intimidating, but I didn't like the idea of another one forming overhead.
We had watched some rainclouds to our east almost all morning long, and it was out of these that the waterspout eventually emerged.  It was fascinating.
Our arms were tired, though.  It was a good day.
1:37 PM
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Jul 11, 2008
Going Fishing
Current mood:imaginative
In the morning we'll set out.  We'll get the boat, get some ice and bait, and head to the boat launch.  We'll buzz out onto the water and the sun will emerge from the distant horizon.  As the morning swells with sunshine, so our hearts swell with something like peace, and glee with being alive, for witnessing the birth of a beautiful day.  We'll skim out across the water to where the land stops and the gulf really begins.  If it's not too windy we'll venture out even more, and we'll come back only after our arms are tired.

9:20 PM
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Jul 10, 2008
sixteen cents, birth certificates, korea
Current mood:jolly
You go into the CVS drugstore, expecting to pay $8 for passport photos of your wife and kids.  This is a savings, because at the US Post Office they charge $15 per person.  But then this happens:  You have taken the photos on your own camera at home with a white background.  So you upload the photos and make ID card photos using the kiosk.  Since you only need two photos of each family member, you make two photos of your wife, and each of your two boys, all on one photo sheet.  When you get it printed, you wonder if you still will pay $8 per person, or if you can actually get these three sets of photos for the price of one.  But when you go through the register, the total price is only sixteen cents.  It's only sixteen cents because the clerk didn't do anything--you did everything yourself.  That's sixteen cents for three sets of passport photos.  It doesn't get better than that.
Although it does get better than that.  In fact, the whole day is really quite nice.  On the downside, we are unable to apply for Isaac's passport until we get his birth certificate.  Hopefully we will be able to get it next week, and we will have to expedite its handling to get to us in time.  I guess we can pay for that with the money we saved from the passport photos!  Bonnie's passport changes because her name changed.  Notice: If you get married, change your passport that year and it doesn't cost you as much as if you wait more than a year.
here is a map for you to study:

Here you can see that Gangwon is sometimes spelled Kangwon.  "Do" means province, I guess.  See Cheju Island down here on the bottom?  That is where Korea's highest mountain is.  Maybe that's where Trent and I will be someday, while the girls are shopping for the latest fashions.
6:41 AM
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Jul 9, 2008
learning korean, math test, updates
It has been brought to my attention that it would be good to study words like "bathroom" and "help".  And that sounds right.  "mok 'k sit"? and "do-um" or "dop-da".
I already have on my list "Where is _______", so now I can make a sentence:
mok-'k-sit eo di ye yo?
That reminds me.  One tricky thing about Korean is that they have a vowel sound distinction that we also have in English, but which I don't really have in my accent.  It is that "aw" vowel that you hear Easterners make when they pronounce Laura, or aura, or saw, or, well, I don't know, because I don't pronounce those words with the right vowel sound.  I say "Laura" and "aura" exactly like I would say "Lora" and "ora", although I can hear the difference of the Easterners, and of course I can make the vowel sound if I try--It's just a little unusual for my mouth.  In other words, like saw and lawn, I pronounce it like "a" in "father", but really, this vowel is about halfway between aaahhhhh and ooohhhhh.  Anyway, it is a distinct vowel in Korean, so I'd better get used to making it.  Interestingly, it looks like over there they also have the "a" as in "apple" vowel and the "e" as in "yes" vowel, but the last couple generations have blended that into indistinction, which surprises my mouth and ear (presumably), since those sounds are very different to me.
I'm used to dialect vowel shifts, thanks to my time in the North and the South.
*************************************************
Some good math questions: 
You have ten consonants and eight vowels.  Syllables are formed in the fromat consonant-vowel, or consonant-vowel-consonant.  How many syllable combinations can you make?
Bonus.  Six of the vowels can be modified with an extra mark to make the dipthong y+vowel sound.  Seven other vowel dipthong combinations exist.  Now how many Syllables can be formed?
Double Bonus.  Four of the consonants can be modified to have extra aspiration.  Five of the consonants can be modified to become glottalized.  Now how many syllables can be formed?
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I can finally update my books, having finished God: a Biography.  It was a fascinating and insightful read.
I finished it while in the Social Security Administration Office, waiting to get a SSN for Isaac, which I didn't get, because we have to wait for verification of his birth, or something.  How we are going to get a passport, I don't know, but we'll try and find that out this morning.
As much as I hate to say it, I doubt we'll have such a nice beautiful back yard in Korea.  And I also doubt we'll have such nice, big, clean windows.
What we will have, presumably, is this:

and this:

The town that opens up to the mountainous national park where the top photo was taken, is right on the beach of the Sea of Japan a.k.a. the East Sea.
**************************************************
Next week is my last as youth director at Trinity.  We've hired my successor, a youth director I've worked with before, and I'm excited about the future for Trinity.  It's exciting to go off into the world, but moving locations always has its bittersweetness.
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Orry is making lots of three word sentences.  Yesteday we made a rocketship out of the double-stroller box.
Isaac, meanwhile, is plumping right up into a little gordita.  I'll upload some more photos.
1:07 PM
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Jul 7, 2008
1 to 10 in Korean, anyone?
Current mood:cantankerous
Bill likes il
Lee likes i
Mom likes sam
Pa likes sa
Joe likes o
Luke likes yuk
Phil likes ch'il
Paul likes pal
ku, ship on my cruise ship,
ku, ship on my cruise ship.
All those names and numbers rhyme, of course, even though if you read it like English it doesn't look like it.
I have been trying to learn some more Korean and getting used to reading it phonetically.  Tonight we had a wonderful dinner, and I learned words like tuna and garlic and basil.  You know, the basics.
The red-headed woodpecker must have taken up in one of our trees, because we see him in our backyard now every day.
The mushrooms are spent fruit, withered and wizened from their robust fungus form.  Now I guess they're left to rot like the fungus they are.
Guess what I just had?  Yep, a small rootbeer float.  Um, we won't be having that in Korea, to be sure.

8:40 PM
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Jul 6, 2008
mountains and caves
I wanted to go to our youth group today and let the kids be the first to officially know that we are moving to Korea.  Now the cat is out of the bag.  And the cat is a landmass almost 40000 square miles in area.  It has the second biggest city on Earth, and is also known as the "land of the morning calm".
Where exactly we are going we do not yet know, but it is in the province of Gangwon, and it looks like anywhere within this province is a fine place to be.  It has mountains and caves.
I will be teaching English over there.  Now, a couple weeks ago, we didn't know any Korean at all.  But now we can count to ten, thanks to a cute jingle I composed, and thanks to the simplicity of numbers in Korean, that means we can count to 99.
The symbols for writing are wonderfully simple.  Fewer than twenty basic symbols are arranged a myriad of ways for a great number of possible syllables.  I am getting better at reading it phonetically, but it will be some time before we amass some working vocabulary.  One thing I can say to myself now is "Gam sa ham ni da."  Which is "Thank you.".
We will leave right around August 20th.

The highest peak in South Korea is on that Island, of JeJu.  However, Gangwon is home to an important mountain and national park up there by Sokcho.
3:42 PM
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Jul 4, 2008
seven short paragraphs
I was glad to hear some more coconut experiences.  Right now I am having another sort of coconut experience, eating some delicious german chocolate cake.  Coconut milk in soups and curries, yum.  Our lemongrass soup we make with coconut milk, and it is a tastebud's dream.
Yesterday we had a family photo shoot in beautiful St Francisville, Louisiana.  Hopefully Bonnie will blog about it.
We sold our Jeep.  Among other motivations, we hope to contribute less to the consumption of fossil fuels.
I am feeling rather unpatriotic this fourth of July, but happy Independence Day to you all.
More purple snow in the backyard.  Heavy rains gave the mushrooms a drink.
Orry and I used some finger paints to paint some fireworks.  Maybe tonight we'll go to the river and see some.
What a weak blog.  I can't expect to get Telcia's kudos like this.  But hopefully you'll all still come back and read the next one.
4:45 PM
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Jul 2, 2008
i forgot to write about the purple snow
Current mood:happy
So none of you had a coconut experience?
I forgot to write about the purple snow.  In June and July, the crepe mrytles bloom, and our enormous crepe mrytle dusts our backyard with something like a purple snow.  It's beautiful.  It's unseasonably comfortable here for I don't know, another day, maybe.
One of you who reads this will mark the 3000th view of my blogs.  Thanks, Readers!  I know some of you, namely my parents, probably read and reread these little gems, not because they are works of art, but because you miss me oh so much.  But in any case, I appreciate your reading.
Did you hear about Bryce Canyon?  Nothing new, but a delightful report on how it came about. 

Oh, and I was just going to tell you that we are keeping an eye on those mushrooms from time to time.  We can see them from our bedroom window, and they mostly all have big caps now.  We view them from the bedroom window, which is oh so nice and clean, thanks to the Becker workers who came and helped us get some stuff done while they were here, on vacation!
July is a good month.
 
7:05 AM
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Jul 1, 2008
fungus, birds, boys, and coconuts
First, there are the mushrooms.  The other day mowing the lawn, I saw no fewer than five different types of mushrooms.  Fungus really gets me.  A group of 10-14 fruitbodies were growing where we usually park the vehicle.  It is fun to watch them grow day by day.
Yesterday Bonnie, Orry, and I were feasting our eyes on cardinals, a mockingbird, and a red headed woodpecker I have identified as... get this.. a red-headed woodpecker.

It was neat to see them in our yard and trees all at once.
(The bug mystery is still a mystery, for those of you still wondering.  I saw some more of the same bug, and I tried to take clearer pistures, so I will send them in again for identification and we'll see if we can get to the bottom of this.)
Isaac is exercising more neck muscles, and growing splendidly.  Kind of like a mushroom, but more gradual in speed, more complex in shape.
Orry is repeating words, and still misrepeating consonant blends.  We are enjoying Frank Asch books (like Mooncake).
So, have you had a coconut experience lately?  I had my first coconut experience in Hawaii, and as I recall I was surprised with the sweet delectable goodness of the coconut meat inside.  Yesterday I bought a coconut for 99c.  And I guess this makes my second coconut experience.  It wasn't as dlightful as I remembered, so I wanted additional input to the usual experience of eating coconut.  I drank the juice, which was enough of a treat.  Then I axed open the nut, which was fun as well, especially with the anticipation.  Then it came to the meat.  It just wasn't as delectable as I remembered.  I hadn't remembered it being so hard to get off of the husk.  And it didn't seem to have the sweetness I recollect.  In summary, I decided that the coconut experience depends perhaps on the origin of the coconut (Evan, thank you for this suggestion), and also perhaps the destination where you are trying the coconut (Is not the exotic beach a finer place for a coconut feast, than in your kitchen with a knife you just broke trying to cut out some of the meat?).  The biggest factor in the experience is probably this: your appetite.
With that, dear readers, live on.  And stay tuned for more exciting news from this Becker household.
12:38 PM
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Jun 25, 2008
can you hair me now?
First the cicadas whirr, then the crickets cricket, and finally the frogsong puts the night to sleep.
I am assembling a double stroller.  It is one more new thing to add to the collection of things we've amassed.
Isn't language lovely?  With it, we are so able to transmit ideas to each other, even as we are, separated by space, and time.
I have a nice trim haircut.  Some of you would be surprised.  Some of you would think I look just like myself.  I will post my passport photo, and something from today, so you can have fun comparing the faces of Troy.
You can call my hair blond if you want.  It is fine, and light colored if you inspect each hair.  But put a lot of them together, and it is pretty dark.  I wonder if there is really any blond about it.  Speaking of language, what is the distinction between tow-headed blondness and my kind of dark blondness?  Dirty blond and dishwater blond are unfriendly descriptors.  Tawny may do. do you know what I just did?  I found an excellent list of color words, and I want to share them with you.
aeneous - shining bronze colour 
albicant - whitish; becoming white 
albugineous - like the white of an eye or an egg; white-coloured 
amaranthine - immortal; undying; deep purple-red colour 
argent - the heraldic colour silver or white 
atrous - jet black 
aubergine - eggplant; a dark purple colour 
aurulent - gold-coloured 
azuline - blue 
azure - light or sky blue; the heraldic colour blue 
badious - chestnut-coloured 
beige - light creamy white-brown 
brunneous - dark brown 
burnet - dark brown; dark woollen cloth 
caesious - bluish or greyish green 
cardinal - deep scarlet red colour 
castaneous - chestnut-coloured 
castory - brown colour; brown dye derived from beaver pelts 
celadon - pale green; pale green glazed pottery 
celeste - sky blue 
cerulean - sky-blue; dark blue; sea-green 
cesious - bluish-grey 
chartreuse - yellow-green colour 
chlorochrous - green-coloured 
chrysochlorous - greenish-gold 
cinerious - ashen; ash-grey 
cinnabar - red 
crystalline - mercuric sulfide pigment; deep red or scarlet colour 
citreous - lemon-coloured; lemony 
citrine - dark greenish-yellow 
claret - dark red-purple colour; a dark-red wine 
coccineous - bright red 
columbine - of or like a dove; dove-coloured 
coquelicot - brilliant red; poppy red 
corbeau blackish green 
cramoisy - crimson 
cretaceous - of or resembling chalk; of a whitish colour 
croceate - saffron-coloured 
cyaneous - sky blue 
eau-de-nil - pale green colour 
eburnean - of or like ivory; ivory-coloured 
erythraean - reddish colour 
ferruginous - of the colour of rust; impregnated with iron 
filemot - dead-leaf colour; dull brown 
flammeous - flame-coloured 
flavescent - yellowish or turning yellow 
fuliginous - sooty; dusky; soot-coloured; of or pertaining to soot 
fulvous - dull yellow; tawny 
fuscous - brown; tawny; dingy 
gamboge - reddish-yellow colour 
glaucous - sea-green; greyish-blue 
goldenrod - dark golden yellow 
greige - of a grey-beige colour 
gridelin - violet-grey 
griseous - pearl-grey or blue-grey; grizzled 
haematic - blood-coloured 
heliotrope - purplish hue; purplish-flowered plant; ancient sundial; signalling mirror 
hoary - pale silver-grey colour; grey with age 
hyacinthine - of a blue or purple colour 
ianthine - violet-coloured 
ibis - large stork-like bird; a pale apricot colour 
icterine - yellowish or marked with yellow 
icteritious - jaundiced; yellow 
incarnadine - carnation-coloured; blood-red 
indigo - deep blue-violet colour; a blue-violet dye 
infuscate - clouded or tinged with brown; obscured; cloudy brown colour 
isabelline - greyish yellow 
jacinthe - orange colour 
jessamy - yellow like a jasmine 
kermes - brilliant red colour; a red dye derived from insects 
khaki - light brown or tan 
lateritious - brick-red 
leucochroic - white or pale-coloured 
liard - grey; dapple-grey 
lovat - grey-green; blue-green 
lurid - red-yellow; yellow-brown 
luteolous - yellowish 
luteous - golden-yellow 
lutescent - yellowish 
madder - red dye made from brazil wood; a reddish or red-orange colour 
magenta - reddish purple 
maroon - brownish crimson 
mauve - light bluish purple 
mazarine - rich blue or reddish-blue colour 
melanic - black; very dark 
melichrous - having a honey-like colour 
meline - canary-yellow 
miniaceous - colour of reddish lead 
minium - vermilion; red lead 
modena - crimson 
morel - dark-coloured horse; blackish colour 
nacarat - bright orange-red 
nankeen - buff-coloured; durable buff-coloured cotton 
nigricant - of a blackish colour 
nigrine - black 
niveous - snowy; white 
ochre - yellowish or yellow-brown colour 
ochroleucous - yellowish white 
olivaceous - olive-coloured or heraldic colour gold or yellow 
pavonated - peacock-blue 
periwinkle - a bluish or azure colour; a plant with bluish flowers 
perse - dark blue or bluish-grey; cloth of such a colour 
phoeniceous - bright scarlet-red colour 
piceous - like pitch; inflammable; reddish black 
plumbeous - leaden; lead-coloured 
ponceau - poppy red 
porphyrous - purple 
porraceous - leek-green 
prasinous - leek-green colour 
primrose - pale yellow 
puccoon - blood-root; dark red colour 
puce - brownish-purple; purplish-pink 
puniceous - bright or purplish red 
purpure - heraldic colour 
purple - purpureal purple 
pyrrhous - reddish; ruddy 
rhodopsin - visual purple 
rubiginous - rusty-coloured 
rubious - ruby red; rusty 
rufous - reddish or brownish-red 
russet - reddish brown 
sable - black; dark; of a black colour in heraldry 
saffron - orange-yellow 
sage - grey-green colour 
sanguineous - bloody; of, like or pertaining to blood; blood-red 
sapphire - deep pure blue 
sarcoline - flesh-coloured 
sepia - fine brown 
sinopia - preparatory drawing for a fresco; reddish-brown colour 
slate - dull dark blue-grey 
smalt - deep blue 
smaragdine - emerald green 
solferino - purplish red 
sorrel - reddish-brown; light chestnut 
spadiceous - chestnut-coloured 
stammel - coarse woollen fabric, usually dyed red; bright red colour 
stramineous - strawy; light; worthless; straw-coloured 
suede - light beige 
sulphureous - bright yellow 
tan - tawny brown 
taupe - brownish-grey 
tawny - brownish-yellow 
teal - greenish-blue 
terracotta - reddish-brown 
testaceous - of or having a hard shell; brick-red 
tilleul - pale yellowish-green 
titian - red-gold or reddish-brown 
topaz - dark yellow 
turquoise - blue-green 
ultramarine - deep blue 
umber - brownish red 
vermeil - bright red or vermilion colour; gilded silver 
vermilion - bright red 
vinaceous - wine-coloured 
vinous - deep red; burgundy 
violaceous - violet-coloured 
violet - bluish purple 
virescent - becoming green or greenish; of a greenish colour 
virid - green 
viridian - chrome green 
vitellary - bright yellow 
wallflower - yellowish-red 
watchet - pale blue 
wheaten - the golden colour of ripe wheat 
whey - off-white 
willowish - of the colour of willow leaves 
xanthic - yellow; yellowish 
zinnober - chrome green
 
So now, you know that my hair is not xanthic or cretaceous, but tawny, fuscuous.  Of course, the somewhat obscure words may not mean much until more people use them, so let me tell you that my hair is the color of a wet sandy beach.  Or maybe it's honey. Melichrous. My hair without reflective highlights could be a sepia photograph.  It's a mess of wheaten flax one-by-one, raw umber all together.
See wikipedia for shades of brown.
The stroller is assembled.
Goodnight, dear reader, goodnight.
10:10 PM
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Jun 22, 2008
the baritone ukelele and the roundabout
I wanted to mention happy birthday to my one little nephew Theo.  It's a great year to be two.
Also, as mentioned, I haven't really reported on our time with all the Idaho Beckers.  We had a really great time with my parents and siblings.  In a way There was too much to sum up for you in a weblog that you yourselves will read.  If you mention highlights I will say some words about them, but there were lots of highlights for me. And another thing, it's difficult to record the highlights of comraderie and family sometimes, let alone the bittersweet sensation of having you here for a time, and then feeling the vaccuum of your departure when you leave. 
However, where to start?  We had some laughs, got some work done, played some games, listened to screams, played with the tot, played with the tiger, fished, ate, hugged.  It was good.
Isaac gets circumsized in a couple of days.  Snip, snip.  Or, hopefully, just snip.
I played my highest scoring game of Scrabble in recorded memory, and got 458 points.  No 50 point bonuses for me, although Bonnie got one.  It made up for my previous four games which were all below my average.
EYC was great today.  We had 14 in attendance, and it was uplifting to have a good group.
Orry started putting words together.
Did you see a baritone ukulele before?  We did at our hosue this weekend, because a couchsurfer named Emily brought one over and played it for us.  It was another good couchsurfing experience, as we talked and talked about life changes, and moving.  We couldn't take Emily around too much, but we drew her lots of little maps about getting from here to there, and Baton Rouge's roundabout on the LSU campus.
A baritone ukelele:

A roundabout:

Roundabouts are so awesome.  Notice there are no stop signs, but instead, yield signs.
Peace, out.
2:32 PM
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Jun 17, 2008
weather, birthdays
We had a terrific weather day today in Baton Rouge.  While we were at the produce grocer's, we experienced it raining on one side of the building and not on the other.  By the time we got to our car, the system had moved over the parking lot, but it was still sunny.  nonetheless, it was hail that was coming down, albeit very soft hail.  Laster I saw on the news report that golfball sized hail was reported and that some systems converged here around Baton rouge, which made for some unusual weather.
Meanwhile, our house, about a mile away, stayed dry for the next couple hours, in which time I mowed the front lawn and shampooed the dog.  Then, just a while ago, the skies opened up, as they say, and the rain came down.  Also, the lightning and thunder struck up and is still rolling on.  Beautiful.
From said grocer's, we gathered some bing cherries, of which Bonnie and I have just scarfed down 16, which are easy to record for the little wormless pits.  I say wormless, because I remember in my youth eating scarfing down cherries only to realize after I had a whole stomachful, that each of the cherries had little worms around the pits.  It's something that makes you tend to inspect cherries from then on.
It doesn't hurt to eat grubs, you know.  But it's best done with, what do they call it?, full consent.
Did I write yet about Orry's and Isaac's ears?  Orry has mine and did from the beginning.  Isaac's are flat against his head, of appropriate size, which is to say not so big, and they are slightlly lobeless.  In a word, Bonnie's. 
Isaac is looking more and more like Orry each day.  I am getting used to his name.
Bonnie, for those of you who wonder, is one of the world's greatest moms, and little Isaac is thriving splendidly.  Another greatest mom turns 53 tomorrow.  Happy birthday, Ma.  Except for the tension in your neck and shoulders, you don't look a day over 50.  Right now you are probably in the wilderness, getting ready for some more floating tomorrow down an exciting river ride.  How wonderful.  And you make me proud. 
Another greatest mom also has a birthday in a few days--my mother-in-law Donna.  I guess she won't read this, but happy birthday to her as well.  We have a good family support system and we're happy to feel so fortunate.
And to the other 77 million individuals who have birthdays over the next few days, happy birthday.  Isn't life swell.
One of these days I am 11111 days old.  Let's see, which day would it be....
Were you missing the photo blogs?  I haven't needed an illustration lately, except for little Isaac, and you can check him out in the new photos I posted.
Thank you for reading, as always.
Gosh, I just realized that I am going to be 1 billion seconds old sometime realtively soon as well.  Lets see, I think that will be in the next year.
8:24 PM
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Jun 16, 2008
tidbits asmattering
What?  I haven't blogged in a long while, and I'm sure you are suffering withdrawals, dear reader:
Orry is adjusting well.*
Isaac is fattening up like a lamb.
We do not know what's happening over the next month, but moving to Russia looks out of the question.
I finally got my mitts on a working phone charger, so my mobile phone is back in service.
We had a great time with family visits over the past month.
I went fishing and hooked something giant that broke off the line at the hook.
The skies have been beautiful over Baton Rouge.
*We got some books on how not to raise brats.
 
9:57 PM
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Jun 6, 2008
a.m. nature, puns or no puns, etc
Current mood:happy
Our little tot Isaac is swaddled, full, and content.  As is our household, you might say.  Our little four person home has turned into an eight person home for the meantime.  My parents and Trent and Nicole have arrived safely and we've had a fine time so far.
Yesterday morning started off in an exciting Animal Planet sort of way, when I looked outside the front door window and saw, of all things, a junebug (or June Beetle) in the glass jar that once housed the live mystery bug of last week (which died after I caught and then "freed",  The jar was opened and sideways but the little bug must have been too traumatized by its capture, or they just die quickly, maybe.).  Not recalling junebugs in Idaho, I wanted to share the sight, so I got my dad and we opened the door to inspect.
(not my photo)
Well, lo and behold, we saw that we were not the only ones spying this juicy little morsel.

(again, not my photo--none of them are)
And when we knocked the junebug off of the place where it was,the little anole scutrried down and snatched it, then began to ate it.  The lizard then jumped on another surface, and to our delight, changed from a brown color to a green color.
It was a nice lizard morning.
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All puns are not created equal.  It came to my attention that the "puns" of Grist are not all puns.  The best illustrative example is this latest laugh headline for Grist fundraising: "Is That a Rebate in Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Happy to See Us?".  Here, "rebate" cannot properly be called a pun, because it is no way hononymous or synonomous with "gun". 
So what is this literary device where a familiar phrase is used and words substituted in for humorous effect?  I don't know, and it's not without searching.  So if you know it, please tell me.
There are many types of puns.
There are also many types of wordplay and fun word trivia, like palindromes and antimetabolism and so on.  I enjoy learning about these devices, especially the obscure sort.
Grist does use many puns.  Good examples are "Hey Poachers, Leave Those Squids Alone".  Or, from yesterdays news headlines:
Senate All Before
GOP leaders resort to high jinks to stall climate bill in Senate
Me Tar Sands, You Insane
U.S. emphasis on Canada's tar sands a bad idea, says report
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Wow, I just made those asterisk lines the same lengths without trying.
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Well, to finish up this morning's blog, let's forecast the next few days.  Hopefully a fishing trip is in store.  We'll go to Houma.  Orry turns two years old!  And, whaddyaknow, I think we might sort out our storage shed of junk, and our spare room of junk, who knows?
I will also finish soon God: A Biography.  It's good.
For now, grocery shopping with the parents.
I think you gotta love Google.  What, you don't?  Tell me why.
5:27 AM
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Jun 2, 2008
Baton Rouge awakens
Current mood:hopeful
Well, I have to say, when we go to the new city park, it is like seeing Baton Rouge come alive.  Dear readers, you will remember me mentioning this place with its new-fangled playground equipment and its nice shady play areas, not to mention the fenced in dog park.  It had its grand re-opening on Saturday, which Orry and I and Telcia and Jonathan attended, and it was bustling with people and dogs.  Now we have gone also the last two evenings, and I have to say, it is awesome.  Families of all sorts congregate there for play and relaxation, while dog owners watch their canines frolick in the park.  Meanwhile, you have young adults playing frisbee and throwing a nerf football. 
Look, Baton Rouge is a tale of two cities, and the park doesn't change the devisive racist infrastructure overnight, but it helps with perception and really, it is as good a working solution to bring people together, as I have seen since I have been here.  It is better than the festivals, and "live after five", and the parades.  For all of these things, people of all sorts converge around an activity, but at the park, where children are engaged, it's just better, more honest, more promising maybe.  I don't know exactly, but it makes me delightfully pleased.
And then, of course, there is my wee almost-two-year-old fearlessly climbing like a champ all over the equipment.  And minding his manners, and all around having a great time.  That is chest-puffing material in itself.
Isaac is sleeping a lot and crying out every now and again for this and that.  He's suckling Bonnie like a champ, but none of it's as exciting as little Orry, for now.  He is a perfect little bundle of love. 
Oh, and I'll have to upload some baby pictures of me, so you can compare Beckers.  Coming soon!
7:56 PM
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Jun 1, 2008
billowing clouds, antpiles
Holding our new tot and relaxing in the hospital, I contemplated the relaxing things of life.  How it is to, as the reptiles do, bask in the slower moments of life, or as the youth at the mall, how it is to chill.
I have the nicest memories of watching clouds billow in the sky, or at least watching them roll by.  It was something I used to do while I worked as well--this was when I changed sprinkler lines, oftentimes watching the clouds roll by or sweep across the horizon.
But there is something lovely about the not-quite-chaos in the billowing of clouds.  Mathematically, it's beautiful.  But even (and for some, especially)without the projection of functions or topology, it is beautiful to watch a cloud grow.
How a large cloud mushrooms is one thing, and how a baby develops is another.  In their own right, each is a fast process.  I say that watching clouds and watching babies are lovely ways to spend time.
For a contrast though, allow me to share that Freud defined happiness as "to love and to work," perhaps more smoothly translated (but with more of a chance of being misinterpreted) as "love and work".  Of course, it isn't important that Freud defined happiness as such.  Most of us have an understanding of the wholesome good feeling of good hard work and of loving and being loved.
So, reader,  I give you these five verses from Proverbs (6:6-11).  It composes a delightful reproach for any of us who feel like they ought to be doing a little more:
Lazybones, go to the ant!
Study its ways and learn.
Without leaders, officers, or rulers,
It lays up its stores during the summer,
Gathers in its food at the harvest.
How long will you lie there, lazybones?!
When will you wake from your sleep?!
A bit more sleep, a bit more slumber,
A bit more hugging yourself in bed,
And poverty will come calling upon you,
And want, like a man with a shield.
(Yes, I took liberty with some punctuation changes.)
Bonnie and I are laughing right now because we are watching a news story from Chicago of, yes, that's right, community woodworking shops.  Another great idea, put into action.
Happy June.
4:24 PM
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May 29, 2008
from the hospital room:
Current mood:happy
The tot has arrived, and he is named Isaac Manuel.  He was born at 8:01 on Thursday, May 29th, 2008, and weighed 6 pounds and 11 ounces.  He was 18 inches long, and he and Bonnie are happy and healthy.
Orry is home with Mamita Donna right now, but he experienced almost all of the labor with us and he was just fine.  He also was delighted with the arrival of his baby brother, but his bedtime came and went and he got grumpy.
Many of you will note that while Orry looked Asian at his birth, with my ears, Issac looks like a little version of me, but with Bonnie's ears.  He is much pinker and has lighter hair and features.  He started opening his eyes a little, and he cried a lot after his birth, which is how he got his name.
Luckily I was able to suit up and usher the baby into his extrauteral life.  I got pretty woozy when it was time to deliver the placenta--I didn't know I was signing up for the whole shebang.  The attending doctor was understanding and accommodating.
Infants are so little and perfectly new.  Please join me in welcoming our newest tot.
8:50 PM
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May 28, 2008
headline puns, updates, another nursery rhyme
Here are some examples of the puns I'm talking about.  Not only do you get the headlines of Earth news reports, but ha! ?:
Pb & Jail
Childhood lead exposure linked to criminal behavior, violence
or
Harm, Harm on the Range
Climate change doing a number on U.S. West, says USDA report
or
Oh No You DDT
Melting Antarctic glaciers may be releasing DDT, says study
or
Coffee, Mate
McDonald's Australia will sell certified-sustainable coffee
and then there's the article about biking in a skirt.
You can somehow get signed up for the enewsletter which will arrive in your inbox on weekdays, I think by clicking on the Grist widget on my profile, or by googling Grist.
So what's going on in the LA Beckers household today?  We await the arrival of Telcia and Jonathon tomorrow.  It's been a while since we've had Telcia over, and we'll have to jampack our time together, since it will be all too short. 
Then, there's the little bundle of joy that's also on the way.  You know, whatshisname.  Bonnie seems to be having lots of contractions, so maybe he'll be a May child, afterall.  Maybe, maybe not.
Meanwhile, Orry is studying geography, and can identify the following:  Greenland, United States, Russia, Australia, Antarctica, Brazil, and Madagascar, sometimes Iceland, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Alaska.  Next we'll learn the Azores, and Japan.
We watch Jeopardy sometimes, like we are doing right now.  When Orry hears the double daily sound, he likes to say, "Bet it all!" in typical Becker fashion.
No word yet from the bug people.
Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Kitty Fisher found it;
Not a penny was there in it,
Only ribbon round it.
Well, we're off to get a chick-fil-a chicken sandwich for Bonnie.

3:22 PM
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May 27, 2008
family lore, and more
Today is my Granny's 78th birthday.  Happy Virthday, and may you have plenty more healthy years.  Granny is a Scrabble player, and she lives in Buhl, Idaho.  Her parents were born in the Azore Islands (Pico).

They migrated to Shoshone, Idaho. 

How did this happen? 
Marian Soares Teixeira from a nobler family married Antonio Ineas, and they escaped to America, exiled you might say, for their love for each other in spite of family misgivings.  They learned of the homesteading opportunities in the West, and West they went, searching for land that Antonio could farm.  When they found Shoshone, they were attracted to the familiar volcanic landscape (see nearby Craters of the Moon Nat'l Park), and they staked their claim.
Marian and Antonio had two of my great aunts before Antonio's untimely death, the details of which I know not.  What I do know is that Antonio's brother Manuel then married my great-grandmother, and they had seven more girls, one of which was my Granny, Dorothy Isabelle, born this 78 years ago.
 
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Last night I caught in our living room an insect I haven't seen before.  It looks kind of like a firefly.  Anyway, I spent some time trying to identify it, and finally wrote in to that "what's that bug" website you'll remember from my arrow-headed planarium blog.  I am sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for a response.
 
Orry is getting more and more ready for his new baby brother, as you can see yourself from our childbirth educational tool, the drawing.  We also stopped and looked at a rainbow yesterday, which I tried to reproduce in a drawing.  Orry didn't "get" the rainbow, but I think he sort of gets the childbirth.  Sort of.  I'll report more when the new tot arrives.  Well, you know me, I'll probably report more before that, too.
So when will the magical day be?  Some time in the next few weeks I bet.
We will end with a Mother Goose rhyme, this time.
Chook, chook, chook, chook, chook,
Good morning, Mrs. Hen.
How many chickens have you got?
Madam, I've got ten.
Four of them are yellow,
And four of them are brown,
And four of them are speckled red,
The nicest in the town.
8:13 AM
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May 23, 2008
compassion and happiness
Current mood:inquisitive
The numbers I saw today were around 78000 human beings dead in Myanmar, over 55000 dead in China from these recent calamaties. These numbers will increase before it's all said and done (in fact, I saw higher numbers to the estimated dead but these are the official current figures as far as I could tell).

To keep it in perspective:
About 90000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the Iraq invasion (2003-current) (source).
At least 1800 died in or from hurricane Katrina.
Only three recorded storms have killed more than Cyclone Nargis.
Only eight earthquakes recorded have killed more than these combined disasters (only three of which have happened in the last couple hundred years).
Around 58000 were the US deaths in the Vietnam war.
On average, there are less than 160000 human deaths per day.

What do you do personally about human suffering, near and far?

I called up our church to make sure the disaster victims made it into our prayer list on our weekly bulletin, where it doesn't take up even a line to itself, but is part of the prayer list for loved ones. Except for that blurb, I haven't heard mention of it at church, and I am astounded at this apparent lack of regard. I "send" compassion in prayers and, you know, thoughts. I want to do more, but I probably won't. You know what I want to do most is to adopt some amputees or other orphans.
On the other hand, there is happiness.  Now there is something to make a dessert out of and eat at every meal.
Probably these days, nothing makes me happier than the glee of little Orry.
But I also get a happy feelings when I see the little lizards skitter around our place.  Especially when they stop and I correctly foretell that they will do a few little pushups and extend their neck flaps like intimidating little reptilian apes.  This type of lizard is an anole.

What is happiness to you?
9:08 PM
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May 22, 2008
news from hospitability to watermelon (and the donging bell)
Our house is getting more hospitable as we sort through and put away or throw away our things.  I haven't been digitizing life lately, but I did make it through a bunch of stuff.  Some of you may be wondering what is going to heppen with us--what are we doing in the next few months.  Well, we don't know exactly, which perturbs me because it suggests we'll stay where we are.  Let us see.  Additional options while we wait to hear from some career options in NYC include things you have heard of and things you have not.  A local job opportunity for me may help us continue our occupation of Baton rouge while Bonnie goes through a graduate program at LSU.  Other options still involve moving to Idaho, possibly New Mexico, or elsewhere.
Bonnie and I got a kick out of Teacher's Pet with Clark Gable and Doris Day.  I think we will look to watch some more of these old faves.
We excitedly await the arrival of family next week, and more family the next.  We also eagerly and patiently await the next tot, still unnamed.
We've been playing Scrabble quite a bit, and you can keep up on uor scores on my profile page.  Also, I added a link there to Grist, which is a nice envirominded news feed that has the greatest puns.  You should get it emailed to your inbox just for the puns, seriously.
There's been more exciting rain and lightening in these parts.
I've been investigating fabric store space possibilities, and come to the following conclusion: Anything we start would probably revolve around design for clientele until some adequate business is established.  So we wouldn't need extra space.
I'm still making it through the God book.  I was tickled to find out the author Jack Miles is an Episcopalian.
Whatever Orry was suffering has passed, and he's himself again.  Bonnie and I both got a little sick, but we're all fine now.
The Winter night sky is gone now.  But more stars await.  If you can see them, enjoy them.
Our backyard has become a sort of wildlife refuge.  Bonnie says it's because a cat moved in next door, so now the little critters take refuge in our yard.  Anyway, Chevy doesn't seem to mind.  I counted five grackles the other day, and four squirrels at one time (another time).  Orry likes to go spend time outside, but of course they don't hang around in the yard while we're out there.  Orry calls most rodents rabbits, at least at first.
Bonnie has a green striped shirt that makes her look like a watermelon with limbs.  I need to get a photo.  And speaking of watermelons, have you sampled some good ones lately?  Yum!
This brings us to the end, reader.  You deserve a treat.

P.S.  Something newsworthy happened since I finished this blog 100 minutes ago.  In that time I went to bed, only to be wakened when a limb split uotside and crashed down.  It didn't wake me, though, Bonnie did.  After that, while I was in the bathroom the electricity went off, then flashed on again a few moments later.  When this happened, the bell tower of our nearby church spontaneously started donging.  We listened to it dong fo a good while.  then I realized that I have a key to the church, so I went and turned it off.  The neighbors probably subconsciously thanked me.  And good thing, because I really got soaked the few outside steps I had to take.  But now we can sleep in something more like silence.  Even though now I am very awake.
8:30 PM
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May 18, 2008
news from wood to gorse
Wood.  What a word.  When you IDBs get down here, we'll cut down a tree and do some tree work, unless we're at the hospital the whole time.  Bonnie is hoping to bear this child sooner rather than later.
We feasted on crawfish last night.  They were beautiful, choice crawfish.  The preparation reminded me of a time during my senior year of high school when some of us boys went up into the Malad Gorge area and spent the day catching these little monsters.  The amount of crawfish we caught was maybe about the same amount we boiled up last night--40 lbs.  It was a fun day.  And now that I know about preparing these arthropods, it is like closing the gap of the last dozen years, from start to finish.  Let's see--who all went down there.  I can't remember if Nico came, but I want to say John did, and Chris Hall and Tom Burnham, and Paul?  Some of them ended up in the sinks at the school.My grandmother and I prepared one for the feasting, but I only ate its claw meat--I didn't know about eating the tail, or the delectable fatty deposits.  And we just boiled it without seasoning.
Let's see.  I know most of you have had the opportunity to eat a meal with a Troy, but not counting myself, it's something I think I did for the first time in a long time last night.  The Houma neighbors include a Troy, who joined us last night for our feast.  It was a good time, eating a meal outside like we did, parents, when you came to Louisiana three years ago.
Did I tell you yet about Dr Bronner's castille soaps?  You should try them, especially the soap infused with tea tree oil, especially those of you who already appreciate melaleuca.  And the packaging is great.
As for gorse, it is a type of shrubbery, if you didn't know.  I didn't know about it until I went to England years ago, and there is where I learned about privet and gorse and heather.

1:55 PM
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May 16, 2008
news from good to worse
Current mood:sympathetic
My nine game Scrabble average is 343.  In order to get it higher I need to print out and study a bunch of lists, and I'm not sure that's going to happen anytime soon.  Don't lose sleep though--I'll keep you posted.
One of Orry's new toys is a rolled up sleeping bag.  He rides it like a horse.
I keep hearing about rising food costs, but ours haven't budged upwards since milk took a price hike last year.  I was thinking it's maybe because we don't buy a lot of prepared foods, but maybe the markets here are just more competitive and the prices have yet to be bumped up.  Are you who are not in Baton Rouge experiencing this yet in your grocery shopping?  Actually, our prices overall have gone down a little with springtime because the fruits and veggies get cheaper while they're in season.
I planted some grass plugs that I took where the grass tries to grow over the sidewalk, planting them in the leaner areas of our lawn where our dog trails and where our stucco sandpile sat for so long.  I did it just in time, since the last few days Baton Rouge has been awash with heavy rains.  We've had some slectric storms roll through too, which are something I like about this place.  We were under a tornado watch the other night, and we happened to drive in it, and it was exhilarating, driving just in front of the storm and feeling the weather change all around.  When we started seeing dirt devils and the like we sort of drove the other way though.  It turned out there was a lot of wind damage, but apparently no twisters, although some of the damage reported on the news sure looked like twister damage to me.
And speaking of storms, my lands, these duo asian disasters are heartbreaking.  Googling the deadliest earthquakes will get you this.  China's earthquake probably won't eclipse Pakistan's of a few years ago, but I guess I'm more tuned in now to China than I was to Pakistan, maybe because of the upcoming olympics and China's ubiquitous spotlight in the news.  I remember being heartbroken about Pakistan too, but I listened to less coverage of it.  As for Myanmar, it is like Hurricanes Katrina & Rita mixed with the Sumatra Tsunami, all over again. But do not despair. Changes come and will come again.  And life cannot be without sadness.  (Look for Moonstick at your local library.).
Having reported these items on my mind, let me report that we are leaving today for Houma, where we will celebrate Bonnie's graduation, woot woot.  We will also make more lemongrass soup, yum yum.  And I will write more about it afterwards, bye bye.
6:37 AM
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May 14, 2008
farm your lawn!
So, of course one of the best things we can do to go green, not to mention help out on expenses, is to grow your own food.  That's why I want to advocate the idea of Farm Your Lawn.  My heavens, you can have the best of vegetable freshness spending only a little more time than getting in your car and driving to the supermarket time and time again.
For those of you who have an apartment, adopt a garden spot from one of your friends who has a house.  Or there are those ubiquituous urban garden co-ops.  You know what though, you don't need much space.  You can start a small herb or fungus garden right in your kitchen, and plant lots of goodies right in a windowsill.  I mean, I wouldn't plant corn inside, but you could have some salad things--grow a couple tomato plants in pots right outside your door--that sort of thing.
I love farming dirt, to start with.  I was working the compost pile today, watching worms wriggle and skinks slink, and yes, cockroaches scuttle.  But wow, on top of hard clay that packs too tight, I have helped make the nicest dark loamy soil that seeds take one look at and germinate in their husks.  We make quite a lot of dirt at our place, because we have lots of leaves and a fairly large lawn.  In addition, we compost with passion, which is a nice way to cut down on trash transportation.
Please let me say, there are a zillion things to learn and know about gardening, and you can find book after book telling you what to do.  But aside from a few basics, gardening doesn't have to be a full-time hobby, or anything but a minimum time investment.  There are great resources--many for free online and some of which are bound to be available at your public library.  Actually, I know at least a few of you who read this already practice something like this at your place, and I'm glad to have friends and family that are helping to make the world a better place.  But, as I was saying, a few basics, and your garden--this is the good part--grows on its own.
 I was happy to notice I have four volunteer tomato plants growing from last year's planting, and some dill too.  Of course, as I've already reported, the mint has come back and spread like mad, and we have plaenty of other flowers and plants from last year.  In our compost pile we have a few onions growing (we will cut the greens) and a potato plant.  Generally, as your plants mature and some of their fruit falls to the ground, the plants will come back.  Or, down here, winter sometimes doesn't kill the hardier plants.  The basics are these: seeds go in the dirt, and for the most part your plants need water and warmth and sun and nutrition from good composted soil. I realize that where the growing season is shorter and the winter is colder, more work is going to go into your garden each spring, and maintaining plants year round, if that's what you are doing.  But nature taking its course is a nice way to keep it simple.
Square Foot Gardening, Sunflower Garden, these are a few delightful resources I have enjoyed.
Using agriculture land for energy fuel production is bound to happen more and more, and anyway, it sure beats drilling for oil.  Instead of usurping more wilderness for farms, I hope more and more people make gardens out of the most local land available.  You can help--Farm Your Lawn!  Another solution is using more green space in communities and towns and cities for farm and compost projects.
 
5:07 PM
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May 13, 2008
items of note
Current mood:sleepy
I am 30 years, three months, nine days, and 13 hours old now.
Orry has a healing ear infection.
We went to the stockyard and saw our share of livestock.
We had some delicious stuffed crabs this weekend.  I will attempt to procure some for your upcoming visit, Idaho Beckers.
I suffered a small paper cut today between my right pinky and ring finger.  To keep the wound from separating I taped those fingers together.  I didn't need my pinky much, except when it came to typing.
Bonnie looks like a b from the belly up, a p from the belly down.
We got a lot of kid books at the library today, including some books on Jewish holidays.
I look forward to mowing the lawn tomorrow.
Goodnight, moon.
9:44 PM
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May 8, 2008
a night-time prayer
Current mood:inspired
Tonight I find myself inspired by none other than the author of Onward Chrstian Soldiers.  The song, a sort of war march, is on one hand one of my least favorites.  On the other hand, it's a favorite old time hymn of my youth, and I like it in spite of myself.  Anyway, tonight I was surprised by another hymn some of you may know.  For me, hearing it tonight was like the first time, if not the first time I've heard it.  But it is a delightful little bedtime prayer.  The hymn is Now the Day is Over, also written by the dazzling Sabine Baring-Gould.
This englishman (1834-1924) became an Anglican priest when he was my age.  But he wrote a good deal, studied a great deal, penned songs, had 15 children, and so on.  Tonight our church had what is called Evensong, which is an evening service that is mostly music.  It was beautiful.  And this is when I was charmed by Now the Day is Over.
Each night that I put Orry to bed, we usually say our prayers, as a sort of final ritual to the day.  With Orry, I find myself for the first time in ages praying for a safe night and safe day, thanksgiving for the same.  It is simple.  Praying most of my life, I guess you could say my prayers were mostly grander.  The vulnerability of Orry's little toddler body brings out the mother hen in me.  Anyway, this is a perfectly appropriate simple prayer that says most of what I say with Orry.  Of course I have changed it a little:
Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Soar across the sky.
Dear God, give the weary
Calm and sweet repose;
With thy tenderest blessing
May our eyelids close...:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />
Grant to little children
Visions bright of thee;
Guard the travelers traveling
Wherever they may be.
Comfort every sufferer,
Watching late in pain;
Those who plan some evil,
From their sin restrain.
Through the long night watches
May thine angels spread
Their white wings above me,
Watching round my bed.
When the morning wakens,
Then may I arise
Pure, and fresh, and sinless
In thy holy eyes.
Although it sings well, it's out of order, don't you think?  But these are nice images and simple little pleas.
You can hear the chintzy organ music here.
What else did you want to know about?  If you're like me, you want to know why this reverend's name was hyphenated, but I did not find that piece of information.
Thanks for reading!
8:04 PM
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May 6, 2008
hunting meat, playing scrabble, filling the attic
Current mood:melancholy
I just wanted to give a heads up on the no-meat-from-stores scenario.  Yesterday, among other things, I played the modern day hunter, hunting on the internet and in the phonebook for local beefstock farms.  I found a few on the internet, but when I called them, I felt like they thought I was an oddball, or worse,a reporter trying to get the skinny on meat farm horrors.  Anyway, my question was basic enough--I wanted to know if they sold their beef animals to individuals.  But none did.
The yellow pages were getting me nowhere fast.  There was one butcher, and he couldn't give me any leads.  Then I found a meat section, and these these were all restaurant places, but one shop gave me the lead I needed.  It is Roucher's Meats, in Plaquemine, a short drive, and I called up, and sure enough, they're what I'm looking for.  In fact, I don't think we'll need to go select an animal and go through that whole process, because they only cut up local animals, and they have plenty there for us to choose from.  So we're going to go stock up on some meat from there.
While on the phone with the guy at Roucher's I found out what I was looking for.  Under "stock yards" in the yellow pages, you can see there are two in baton rouge that have sales on Mondays, and we can go and get a goat there, Garrett, or we can select a beef animal to take to Roucher's, or elsewhere.
One thing I like about Roucher's is that they have a commercial on youtube, so I can share it with you.
or click here if the video doesn't work.
So as it turns out, it doesn't look like we'll name our meat, although I would like to take Orry and Bonnie to the stock sale next week.
On to other topics, my 399 Scrabble score notwithstanding, Bonnie has bested me in our last three game total, 930 to 925.  I am proud to report that, because I play a competitive game of Scrabble, and it's good to know the wifey can keep up.
Lastly, we're making headway on the spare room that we don't really use because it's so full of miscellaneous items.  In order to make headway, I reorganized our attic space and hauled a lot of our garage sale clothes up there.  When we are going to have that garage sale, only God knows, maybe.

5:55 PM
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May 4, 2008
and then there are the mirlitons
My morning meanderings have quickly become my next blog. 
First, I report that we have stopped buying meat at stores.  This doesn't include poultry, and shame on us if we buy fish at the store, but it is not that we want to stop eating meat.  So what I lay in bed thinking about this morning was how i needed to procure a beef animal, how we could kill it, and then how we could get its tongue and liver, not to mention its hide if we want to learn all about tanning a hide.  Also I think it would be good to meet the beast first, and give it a name, and take a picture with Orry, in order to teach him early on that meat  comes from animals.  Anyway, that was my first motivation for Google this morning.  I have some leads, so I'll get on that.
In searching for this, I ran into a great forum read, if you have the time, called how to slaughter a cow?.  The site for this forum, GardenWeb, had a bunch of great threads, one of which is ducklings chirping before hatching.  Now, some of you may note that this headline has a high occurence of ing-words, but the prehatch chirp is just the thing a relatively new dad like me wants his sons to experience at some point in their youth.
And then there are the mirlitons.  I saw this curious fruit at the produce stand yesterday, and like so often in the South, I wondered "what?"  To see a brief article about mirlitons, and to see them in scale, click here.  Or, you can wikipedia the fruit, and you will learn they are also called chayotes.

That is all. Except:
Today is somewhat of a big day.  Bonnie is playing the handbells in church this morning.  Our youth group is having a pool party this afternoon, so we're excited about that.  It is to give the fifth graders a taste of what to expect, as we invite them and everybody's family for the get-together.  Later in the evening it's an eagle scout celebration we'll attend.
Oh, and last night I formed the word "shebang" in scrabble on the triple word score for a total of 101 points.  Nevertheless, I couldn't quite break into the 400s as I finished up with 399.
Have a great week!
5:32 AM
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May 3, 2008
lightning flashes
Silent flashes of lightning woke me up this morning.  They hint that night is for darkness.  I want my neighbors to not have outside lights at night.  They probably want the opposite of me.  I look out the dark window, and pretend it's all like this, that the world is asleep, except for this electric storm.
Now I have risen and channeled into this highly organized system of electrical currents.  And the storm is closer and thunder rolls unapologetically through the sky, through the dreams of early birds and late birds alike.  Rain brushes the ground, washes the night into the storm gutters.
For the families, towns, and individuals riven by the tornadoes and trees, may catastrophe make way for peace.
What does Baton Rouge need downtown?  How apropos to find the question in my BR business report daily report yesterday.  It is a hot topic with recent couchsurfers.  The guests who came during the animated film festival--they would not know it, but downtown Baton Rouge fails to buzz with vitality most days.  Unfortunately the answer I wanted to report was not on their multiple choice answer list for voting.  What downtown needs is a sort of bazaar near the waterfront, where people in booths can sell their wares.  Of course, a Shakespeare Shakes kiosk is a must if you want to see optimized growth.  But there also should be boudin vendors and jambalaya carts for anybody to get some cheap home cooking while shopping for things like, um, fabric.  Is is possible that every one of our business ideas could by themselves turn around one "hope unfulfilled"?  You'd have your Earth Baby tent where you could get cloth diapers and eco-friendly baby things (also you could enroll for diaper service).  And the Farmer's Market would exist every day.  No, this sampling of our store ideas is just a start at what Baton Rouge needs, and it would be the dynamics of more and similar ideas accumulating together that would bring Baton Rouge more to life.
4:48 AM
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Apr 30, 2008
troy’s bridges
I wanted to jot a bit about bridges. First of all, there is the perrine bridge, my home bridge.  Please view the base jumper in the middle of this photo:

The Perrine Bridge at 994ft is ranked 31st in length among arch bridges in the world.  but you can look at other pictures here to see how the pictures compare.  I've blogged about it before, didn't I, because I remember speculating how many times I have driven across it.  Anyway, the Perrine Bridge ranks seventh in the US for its spanned height of 486ft.
The Malad Gorge Bridge is nothing spectacular, spanwise, but it's spectacular enough to check out the Malad Gorge State Park, where you can walk across the little red bridge:

I guess it's 250 ft down, but try finding reliable information about it on the web.  If I remember right, the Malad river is the shortest named river, but um, I wouldn't bet your life on it.  Anyway, beautiful.
In Louisiana, bridges are different.  The very unimpressive Pontchartrain Causeway still is the longest bridge in the world it looks like.  I thought that Canada built a bridge to beat it, but I don't even see anything about any long bridge in Canada.  Anyway, the thing is, the Causeway is on piers, so at most it spans something like 47 feet.  However, of course, at close to 24 miles, it takes a long time to get from one side to the other.  No holding your breath, unless you are David Blaine, speeding at 84.7 mph.

Something we drive over when we go to the Bourgs is the Sunshine Bridge.  Did you know a Louisiana Governor (Jimmy Davis) wrote the song You Are My Sunshine.  It is the Louisiana State Song, of course.  But he didn't only write that song.  He also had a bridge built.  How or why it is the governor that gets credited for a bridge erection is beyond me.  But anyway, that's the Sunshine Bridge.

And by the way, the sunshine bridge spans at most 251ft and is at highest about 170 ft, and Jimmy Davis lived to be 100.
Then, there is the Mississippi River Bridge (the Sunshine Bridge also spans the Mississippi) here in Baton Rouge.

And, I have to say that one of my faves down here is called the Luling Bridge (Also spanning the Mississippi River) and it looks like this:

I like the looks of those straight cable suspension bridges.
Readers, how do you do it?  You read and read, even if it's just about bridges.  Let me report about my latest couchsurfing experience, which was just great.  Alisa came and stayed for a couple nights and we all talked and talked about bridges and other things.  She's touring the country looking for a place to call home, and the transcontinental trek reflected myself before my very eyes.
Some of you have read the book I highly recommend called An Intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin.  In this book the author tells of a main human vocation that is easily overlooked--the vocation of intermediary.  Out of billions of people, how many can we expect to be the doers of great things?  Many more live some sort of uniquely special existence of little significance.  But what significance all of us have in one way or another is the extent we are intermediaries between people, between people and their dreams, between people's dreams and our dreams, or even between the dreams and ambitions entirely of others.
This is the last bridge I want to talk about--the bridge of human relationship that eclipses our individuality, and helps us build our culture, our customs, realize our dreams and the dreams of others.  We do well to put some engineering into these bridges and support others as you would have them support you.  I'm not talking about, you know, giving to the poor.  What I mean more than that is to call attention to the bridges we build between each other--all of us--stranger and loved one alike.
And now my spiel will give way to sleep.
9:47 PM
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Apr 26, 2008
dear docent, & eating nemo, or "two blogs for the click of one"
Dear Rural Life Museum Docent, 
       Your guided walking tour of the museum was informative, and we appreciated your time sharing with us the rich Louisiana history of slave owning, slave management, and slave life.
       The "mystery plant" in the kitchen garden that looked like dill?  We think it was fennel.  My wife would have told you, but she was tending to our boy.  Actually, he stepped on some glass, but he's okay.  In fact, although he exclaimed pain at first, it passed when we took off his sandals and he saw the blood leaking out.  After that it was a "mess", which we cleaned up in the bathroom.  It was nice to see him not making a big sad deal out of it, and with some pressure, the blood stopped promptly--maybe you noticed he was on my shoulders while I held some paper towels to his wounded heel.  Anyway, he's as good as new now.
       We stopped by and smelled the roses on the way out.  The rose gardens were beautiful, and that's reason enough to take any visitors to the fields and farms located within just a few miles of the middle of Baton Rouge.  I'm so cheap though, I might not take visitors back to the museum buildings where it costs $7 per person.  It is better than any plantation deal I've seen, with a lot more goodies for the marvelling, but $7 for each member of a party gets expensive, you know.  At least I'll present it as a great option for travelers to the South.
       All in all, we were inspired to live a quiet industrious life, with lots of family members, living on a piece of land, working a livelihood from it.  We also really liked the small baby cribs, especially the idea of turning them upside down for a small table.
       Again, thank you for your time.
Well, as you may have gathered, we went to the Rural Life Museum, which was wonderful.  Bonnie and I talked a lot about slavery versus contemporary employment, as well as the simple life, as suggested above.  It was a good lock-in.  The turnout from our youth group was not so good, but another youth group that joined us brought a bunch of kids, and we all had a good time.
We are about to feast on a delicious beef brisket.  The debate of whether or not to eat meat is best argued to me by the valuation of something like sentience in our animal friends.  I know this is ridiculous to, like, all of you who are reading this except maybe one or two of you, but it is something I stomach when I eat meat.  For me, the conclusion leads me not to refuse to eat meat, but to accept that I should also be able to consume the flesh of a choice human, or even a questionable human, if the need was great.  Of course, this makes me a little queasy, but so does the thought of carelessly eating meat without appreciating the life it comes from.
When we were picnicking at the park, after the museum, a muddy and adorable puppy scrambled on the blanket to nose me while I rested.  For those of you who know how much I love stray dogs running around, it won't surprise you that I pushed the puppy away, pulled it off the blanket, and expressed no, when asked if I don't like dogs.  Of course I like dogs, but I like trained unannoying dogs.  And then in discussion it came up whether I was one who doesn't view dogs as people, which I don't.  Which is not to say that I don't appreciate the "personality" of dogs.  However, I got to thinking, it's more like I think of people as animals, and at that level, I have some basic expectations of both humans and dogs.  Mix people and dogs together, and the expectations grow in complexity, right?  But, in any case, who would like a muddy person to nose them while they were resting on a blanket?  It is right to correct the behavior and get the person, or dog, off the blanket.  Anyway, do you see where this led into the beef brisket, and cannibalism?  I see humans as animals, like the bovine I'm about to eat.
 
5:23 PM
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Apr 23, 2008
the kid in the back with the lemongrass
Orry has a new game, known to some of you, perhaps, as "go-go-gadget arm", known to others as "let's use a long stick to poke somebody to surprise them".  We discovered that he discovered this new game when we were driving back from the grocer's.  Bonnie started, until she realized that what was brushing her head was a long stalk of lemongrass, and not some rodent.  Voila, our laughter made it a game, which we played all the way home, jiggity jig.
Other than that, we have some more photos I'm going to load up now.  So enjoy.  After couchsurfing last week, another friend came in from out of town and we met up last night.  Orry really took to him, and he to Orry, which I generally feel reflects something about a person.  Anyway, I have to say, we got an awesome shot of Orry's serious face, so look for that.
There's a big EYC thing this weekend, so I'm gearing up for that.  It's an overnighter, with a visit in the morning to LSU's Rural Life Museum--I'll write about it after the fact.
Jazz Fest is also this weekend, but I don't feel like I'm missing out too terribly much, this year.
What I am tickled about is this Interfaith Dialogue group I started, which seems to be picking up.  The idea is, no conversion or persuasion, it's about exchanging varying perspectives in smart dialogue about current topics.  Um, it's no blog subsitute, faithful readers, don't you worry.  I was inspired by the recent openness between the last two popes and Islam.  This is the response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that I felt was most appropriate, in contrast to war especially.  And anyway, supporting this sort of interfaith dialogue is the ticket for more compassion and peace in the world, less polarization and antagonism.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the inside of your elbow has an adjective.  It is your antecubital region.  (Yes, it was something useful I learned from my mother.)  I wonder though: is there a noun for that inside-of-your-elbow?  Would it be an antecubit?  My dictionaries treat these words as obscure, I can't find anything about antecubit.  But this is an important part of your body, especially if you are a drug addict.
I happened upon a secret world within my city today, speaking of drug addicts.  I was at a newer parking lot, thinking about how the drainage canal next to this particular location provides a little nature within urban living.  And then I noticed that a bridge running over this drainage way was set up like a derelict hotel.  That is, lots of things under there for the panhandlers we often see nearby that location.  And then it dawned on me that I was seeing something that probably few people see, although tens of thousands vehicles drive right over that bridge every day.  So, I saw a guy sleeping there, huddled kind of lazily, like he could have been dead except that he looked like he was sleeping, with these thousands of cars whizzing by unaware, not five feet above his head.  I imagine it must be deafening.  But also peaceful, especially if you are deaf.
When I hitch-hiked, I sought out peaceful places to sleep, which were similarly in the middle of the bustle, though I likely went unnoticed.  In the USA interstate systems, there is always plenty of extra space around junctions.  In Canada, my favorite sleeping place on the road was a little fearfully close to an on-ramp in Toronto.
8:16 PM
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Apr 21, 2008
the last great excuse
Current mood:rushed
So, Baton Rouge needs a decent fabric store, and if we stay around that's what we will do--open such a store.  Bonnie has been talked to about the masters program at LSU, and she also is interested in letting the fabric store function as s design studio for classes and to showcase her work for clients who might want her designs.  Anyway, it's plan B.  Plan A is to look for places for Bonnie to kick off a career.
As for careerless me, I need to do something too, and I'm not sure what.  Ask me again tomorrow, or next month, or next year.
What I'm tickled about is the line of stuffed toy birds at Whole Foods, where each one has a bird call inside it that sings the bird song when you squeeze the bird.  There is a western meadowlark, though they didn't have one at our Whole Foods.
More memorabilia digitization awaits.
4:04 PM
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Apr 19, 2008
ligustrums, couchsurfing, dialogue
Current mood:busy
This week when the couchsurfers arrived, the ligustrums blossomed with their fragrant reminder that even the best seasons come and go.
Harry Potter was raised on Privet Drive, and privet is another name for ligustrum.  I've also heard it referred to as the latex balloon bush because the fragrance is not unlike the smell of latex rubber.  In the north, lilacs will bloom in the spring and their sweet fragrance is enjoyed in parks or in towns where lilacs thrive up to great altitude.  But down here in the south and in more moderate climes it's the ligustrum that's noticable right now.  The flower isn't much, just a little extra white peppering some shrubery.  But the scent goes a long way.  Lilacs smell better, in my opinion, but the fragrance of the ligustrum is not unwelcome.
The couchsurfers are referred to as such because it is our first time hosting travelers as couchsurfing hosts.  Couchsurfing.com is a great networking site for travelers who like to connect with peopl when they travel, and we have a profile and a couch profile that you can check out if you check out the site.  The idea is, you meet people online when and where you want to travel.  Then you have somebody to meet when you travel.  Sometimes you can stay at their places, sometimes it's just nice to have a local tour guide.  That sort of thing.  We've met a few people now, and our first guests, Lorena and Brian couldn't have been better guests, and we are going to be sad to say goodbye. 
Lorena and Brian have been here most of the week, and aside from witnessing the ligustrum blossom (we have a few in our front yard), we've also talked a lot about film and some about stars.  They are from different countries and study film at a college in Georgia.  The reason they're in town is because Baton Rouge hosts an animation festival every year and they came to pitch an idea they have for an animated series.  It was great to meet them and learn a little about Uruguay and the Bahamas.
Did you see that I have been adding lots of groups lately?  I have been recruiting for an interfaith dialogue group that I was inspired to start because of an increased push for open dialogue between Roman Catholicism and Islam.  this is the sort of inter-religious interaction I like to support, and I was unable to find a myspace group set up to something similar, so feel free to check that out if yuo desire:  groups.myspace.com/dialogueforall
Anyway, another weblog other than this has been incubating, so look forward to that one soon as well.  And thank you for reading!
9:27 AM
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Apr 11, 2008
dallas, tuk tuk
Today was another day of scouting around Dallas for Orry and me.  We saw some art and architecture--Orry's new catchphrase is "That's nice." which sounds like "ahs nahhs."  He says it when he sees neat things.  When he sees messes "ah mess." or "zah mess." which means "There's a mess."  Sometimes this is used for things that aren't a mess, per se, but are not uniform with their surroundings, don't look right, like asphalt patches in the parking lot.  We visited some skyscrapers until we found one with an observation level, and then we spent some time oohing and aahing at the city.
So, I like Dallas.  It definitely gives a boost to my impression of Texas.  I was surprised by how friendly it is, although it probably has something to do with toting around a 26.5 lb waving smiling pointing happy juvenile human being.  I like its size.  And it was extremely beautiful, airwise, although today was a good day for air, being cool in the morning with cottony clouds burning off by 11am or so to make for a fine rest of the day in the 70s.  There was no smoke or factories in sight, which is the opposite of practically any skyline of and around Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  I understand the need of factories and plants.  I don't know in detail the circumstances of Dallas, but the impression to me is that I would like not living by this less seemly side of Industry.
I weigh 176.5 lbs, 150 lbs more than my son.  I hope that our weight difference shrinks while he grows.  This isn't right, and I am beginning a personal campaign to trim off some excess weight.  Although I don't think I'll be running, like my kin.  I feel like I have run enough.  Maybe that means I need to do it.  No, probably not.  Dinner tonight did not help my personal campaign.  We found an "asian cuisine" restaurant Tuk Tuk in the middle of downtown where we got an awesome bowl of soup, a peanut chicken dish, edamame, and some dessert rice which was more than enough for all of us.  It was great and cost a lot more than our last night out to Top's, but $30 every now and again can still fit our budget restrictions.
I head an awesome report on racial segregation on NPR today and I can't help but link it to Obama's candidacy and speech last month.  Well, okay, of course it is because of King's assassination 40 years ago that this story was produced, but maybe Obama's emphasis pulled an otherwise unheard voice to the news, even if it isn't the front page!
The Dallas Career Day wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  Bonnie reported that the only employers there for recruiting were looking for retail positions.  However her dress was showcased even if it didn't win awards, so the fashion show will look fine on the resume at least.  In the morning we are going to go check out some fabric shops and probably head back to the Pelican State in the early afternoon.

10:04 PM
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Apr 10, 2008
first night in dallas
Today we woke up dark and early, loaded up the Jeep and sojourned to beautiful Dallas, Texas.  We drove about 60mph most of the way and saved some moolah on fuel, getting oohlala mileage cruising at that relatively slow speed.  Speaking of thriftiness, we found a cheap eatery where we dined, spending $11 for dinner at a place where they make terrific diner burgers and fries, and thai food, and fried seafood.
We checked out downtown Dallas, but on the way in we spent too much time  getting to a fabric store that happend to be full of quilting fabric, not fashion fabrics.  Ahem, I am responsible for that, because I searched a bunch of fabric places and was sure that I filtered out the inappropriate ones, but no, I guess not.  We do have an exciting line-up for Saturday though.  Tomorrow, Friday, is the actual Dallas Career Day that is the reason we are here.  Bonnie will attend this event, while Orry and I will scout the area some more, looking at grackles and architecture.


Orry had a pretty good day, in spite of being couped up in a car for too long. We had great fun playing "rock and roll" with these cylindrical pillows on our hotel beds. Apparently he learned "rock and roll" from Roley the streamroller on Bob the Builder, who says it. And these cylindrical pillows remind him of it.
Cylindrical pillow, you ask? That's what I say. It's new to me, but this "tubular pillow is maybe called a bolster, or a neckroll, or a lumbar pillow maybe. Anyway, another pillow for the bed. We have two beds, so we have two tubular pillows, and we had fun with them, you bet. Check out pillow talk here for more on this cylindrical pillow.
More about Orry.  Just yesterday he started to say w.  Today he has started singing with us the abcs.  It's as adorable as it is mumbly.  He also counts with us to ten.  He is good at identifying his letters, school buses, regular buses, yellow vehicles of any type, motorcycles/bicycles, trucks, cars, airplanes, helicopters, babies, birds, messes, and triangles.  Also, he has been "holding his own" in the toilet department.  Way to go, son!
Did you hear about free range kids?
I am happy to be alive.  This feeling of having a family, from the dad perspective, has to be the most pleasant feeling I can claim to have had.  And I'd like to say that I've had a good share of terrific and lovely feelings.  A big thank you goes out to the family I have, from the son perspective.  And a big big thank you goes to you, big Bonnie!
9:12 PM
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Apr 8, 2008
green is the color of
Inspired by the latest of Bonnie’s designs, I learned more about absinthe this morningfrom this article.  In it, one reads about just how special absinthe is.  Now, I had some absinthe a number of years ago, and found the experience, while not unpleasant, not exactly transcendental.  As I read the details though, I have reason to suspect that the absinthe sampled was not your premium bottle.  Learning that New Orleans was at one time a sort of absinthe mecca, I am encouraged to seek out a real experience before we leave this place.
New Orleans is host to a group called The Green Project, which is doing what I’d like to live for: promoting environmental sustainability.  It’s inpsiring to read about such groups, especially locally.
Here is a good article about a second take on environmental awareness.  It raises a number of good points, and is worth reading.  It says, summarily,  you should rethink locavorism and various "green" ideas, and that the necessary changes to preserve afamiliar functioning earth comprise a paradigm shift.  I’m reminded of a woman teaching a Christian Education class at our church about enivronmental awareness.  She shocked me by exclaiming how adamant she was that they get a bigger recycling cart (In Baton Rouge, our recycling carts are roughly half the capacity of our larger garbage carts).  She went on to say how in their family of four, they produce enough recyclable trash each week to fill their recycling cart twice.  Woah!  That’s way too much trash.  In our two households of four almost five individuals, we fill our recycling cart maybe every two weeks (that’s when i’m digitizing my life and throwing away a lot of recyclable paper) and our larger garbage bin we could probably spend a month filling.  Of course, we compost most of our organic matter.  Anyway, I have this image of the green champion generating mountains of recycable trash.
Our local NPR station is having a semiannual fund drive.  They don’t explain clearly, but I am sure our tax dollars go to NPR programming.  I am happy about this, but not so happy about hearing things like "pay if you listen."  I mean, I don’t want to discourage charity, but I would like to discourage these panhandling fund-raising tactics.  Well, I read from wikipedia that local stations in general get less than a third of their funding from grants that are funded by our dollars.  I think I heard from our local station that 48% of their budget was taken care of by listener contributions.  That’s great, but anyway, I can do without the guilt trip.
8:10 AM
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Apr 5, 2008
strawberry everything
We went through a flat of strawberries in just a few days, although part of the consumption is ude to a dinner party we had.  We got a second flat of strawberries yesterday, and they’re just not as delicious and perfect as the first flat.  But they go great in cereals and yogurt, and still make a good snack on their own. 
That first flat, wow.  They deserve a paragraph of their own.  They were ideal strawberries--almost the whole flat.  The ones that weren’t perfect were still better than the average store strawberry.  We’re talking ripe red, the texture to inspire strawberry text, and the taste that makes you want to be a better human.  These matched the strawberries you would pick out of your own garden, if you had all the time in the world to nurture the strawberries you desire.  Finding a flat of them, and for a nice cheap in-season rate--it’s like winning the produce lottery.

On a less red note, I’ve been scanning page after page of memorabilia.  We have also been spring cleaning the house.  Orry is learning more words and phrases, and how to use an inside voice, and other good manners, of course.
2:04 PM
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Apr 3, 2008
digitizing life
This is a blog about digitizing my memories.  It is a good exercise.  First, you get to minimize all your material possessions.  But also, you get to process all the memories and write down as many as you can, which is why you kept all the stuff in the first place, really.
Today I got into another dilemma--what to do with negative prints of photos.  I’ve already realized that some things I will keep, like my baby book and some stuff to go in it, some 8x10 photos, some stuff that still smells like gramma’s and grampa’s place.  Maybe photo negatives will make it into that group, or else perhaps some of them.  Another option is to consider giving them away, or finding another home for them temporarily.  It’s also really difficult to trash letters.  But the scanner is helping.
Most of the digitization is in preparation for moving to New York City, if that should come to pass.  Perhaps, if we move somewhere else, it isn’t so necessary to get rid of so much.  But still, the memory collecting is good.
Oh!  So there are more photos to check out, of our fishing, and so on.
 
8:33 PM
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Mar 30, 2008
downers, and ups
Current mood:pleased
So what got me down last week had to do primarily with the crash probably.  It was just a sucky timing in relation with other financial issues going on right now, and it just had a bad effect on my morale, you might say.  Nevermind that it was a delicate predicament to find oneself in with one’s friend. 
Then, there is the war debacle, which has grated on me more this week than normal.  Maybe because of the relative indistinguishability among the three presidential frontrunners.  I will say that some of the campaigns sound a little different from others, but it still looks like in effect, we will see moreorless the same from Obama, Clinton, or McCain.  Maybe regarding our efforts in Iraq, we will see a difference.  But maybe not as much of a difference as they tout--it’s hard for me to say.
Obama’s speech about racism was nice, but it reopened the racism wound that can’t help but fester down here in the south, where I would consider it a step forward to hear about preachers speaking honestly about racially discriminatory feelings and presumptions.  I especially delighted in Obama’s "throwing his grandmother under the bus", which was no more than me or any of you accepting and admitting to what extent you are racially discriminating.  There are communities that don’t see so much in race, but they’re scant and sparse down here, to be sure, and they’re not a dime a dozen in Idaho either.  It is, I believe, the first step in resolving racial discrimination, but it is a step that many are unable to recognize, and many are unwilling to take.  Once, when I was telling a big black guy about how I was racist, I nearly got pulverized.  It is good to be able to understand what another person hears when you say something.  I think Obama did a good job of that, pressing whites’ buttons a little by "defaming" (?!) his grandmother.  Pressing blacks’ buttons with the same story.  Racism is such a huge persistent problem in our country, and it hurts to see it down here.  Of course, discrimination is a problem in most places, but it’s not always white and black.  Getting the race dialogue going throughout the states is admirable.  I understand that Obama’s main objective was a sort of defensive response, but I’m glad he took lemons and made some lemonade.
I am pretty overwhelmed about a possible big move some time this year.
The symptoms of a broken economy depress me a little.  I’ve been of the mind after taking economy classes, that recessions are a good healthy part of economy.  However, when I see our nation’s economy system dragged to its possible death (Do you hear "Ameuro" or "Eurollar" in our near future?) by irresponsible economic policy, I can’t help but feel more dismal about America’s future.  Any of our presidential front-running candidates are going to make it worse.
Then, there’s the environment.  Since Antarctica made its way into the news last week in a couple different headlines, I had a resurgence of concern for our planet.
So those are the things that got me down.  I’m feeling pretty good now though.  There’s friends and family to raise one’s spirits.  At one point I was wondering how I can have the gall to bring children into a world like this, but in some twisted way, playing with a child is enough to make it worth it.  What we need to do somehow, is to capture this essence of life in our own lives, and use it to live, not just as a resource to turn to in melancholy.  When I can laugh in glee and joy like my one year old son, there I find what Jesus described as the kingdom of heaven.
There is a peace that we adults need to exercise, and my family and friends help me remember it from time to time.  Probably by own personal peace champion is the natural world.  ...although having a kid now, and sharing parenthood with Bonnie, are also circumstances that leave me feeling centered, which is a good thing to feel.
That’s all for now, folks!
2:32 PM
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Mar 29, 2008
current goings-on, colorcoded
Current mood:busy
Well, I’ve been looking for a way to make blogs the way they should be.  A blog should be relatively short, and catchy, but when you mouseover the ehadlines, or click on them, the details should appear for the reader who wants to read them.  That way, when I have a blog full of ideas like tonight, I could make it for you, reader, like an outline style, and you could pick and choose to read what you want.
As it is, myspace doesn’t support javascript which makes these things possible.  Maybe there’s another way to do it, but I didn’t find it.  Maybe someday I’ll have a weblog elsewhere and my myspace blogs will point to it.  But until then:

Earth Hour
Tonight the family huddled around four decorative tea lights for our dinner.  Earth hour, between 8 and 9 was observed in our household, shutting off the lights for this time in a ridiculous attempt to cut down on energy consumption.  While we ate like an eskimo family, people in our global longitudinal slice of time zone shared our hour of darkness.
I liked the light-fast.  It was fun cleaning the chicken of of the bones, and hearing the pop of the corn kernels separating from the cob, without the usual inundation of visual sensory images to block out the other senses.
Orry liked it too, even though we only read one book by the candlelight.  In fact, we sang a good deal more songs when it was bedtime.

Wooden Animals and What I’ve Been Up To
I have begun the digitization of my memorabilia.  I have been going through boxes of stuff and recording the memories and then throwing the stuff away.  Like what I should have done with those 4-H trophies.  Anyway, you will find a new photo in my profile pics--some wooden animals.  You may notice some animals are missing some parts, like the elephant’s trunk, the tiger’s tail, and most of the monkey.  It is because I took some of the little wooden pieces I found in one of the boxes, and I created some zoo animals for Orry.  Except he found out that some of the joints were weak, and the animals when we photographed them were after his stress test.
Afterwards, he found that the wooden pieces themselves are pretty brittle, and that the larger ones will easily break in pieces if you try.  So in fornt of me now the tiger has only half a face, the giraffe’s neck is shorn from the body, and there’s even less of the monkey.  It was good fun with the glue gun though, and there are a lot more wooden pieces so maybe we’ll have some more fun with that before tossing the playthings (or selling them at a garage sale).
The documentation of my memories has turned out to be wuite the feat.  I realized on box two that there are more than material things in the boxes.  Some of my stuff had a particular smell that I treasured.  And how do you record a smell enough with words?  If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words does it take for a scent?  I may upload these life documentations, just so that there will be one more "copy" in case other copies are destroyed or lost.  But we’ll see.

updates regarding Orry
Orry had his first waking accident of the week today.  We’re not complaining, since it’s Saturday.  It was at Albertson’s again, but instead of peeing my pants too, he only peed his own.
Orry has added many words and some phrases to his vocabulary, and we haven’t taken the time to record them all.  His latest which impress me are motorcycle/bicyle (which he also uses for tricycle and cart sometimes), which he prounounces in three syllables that sound sort of like ko-kol-kol.  He also says triangle (again, three syllables), but he’s most fond of looking for and finding "school bus" which he says discernably, although it’s more like "dool bus".  He counts though, although he isn’t precise with his numbers, and he has finally continued on from the color yellow and understands the distinction of other colors and picks them out. 
Orry knows some of his abc’s well and most of them somewhat well.  He often plays the game of picking out letters.  In addition to letters and colors and school buses, and motorcycles, he also likes to pick out the trucks.  he has continued to love our reading time and he likes the songs too.
You know what event really did it for him as far as potty-control?  We were heading home from Houma and stopped at the side of the road so he could take a pee.  Well, this was new for him, and I think it was a big step, somehow, because he finally was able to pee standing up, in the breeze, so to speak, and I think something clicked.  After that we had no accident until today, and he really seemed to get "potty control" in all its various facets.  Even in the middle of the night one night he got Bonnie to get him to the toilet so he could pee. 
Orry’s coloring and drawing has got more controlled, and he understands now that an M is an M one way and a W the other way, and vice verse.  Our next project we started today was an emphasis of the order of things.  We realized that he doesn’t really know things we take for granted, like reading things systematically, even in words, from left to right.  So that’s the next thing here at the Beckers’.

fixing the sewage and drain lines
So one of our properties was finally suffering from too much neglect.  I needed to give it some attention, and fast, so I had a fun couple of days recently, digging, hacking, renting a trencher, laying out some more line, and detaching and reattaching a toilet.  Thank goodness though, now it’s sewer and drainage system is A-OK and I just increased the worth of the property at least a few thousand dollars, not that I feel it padding my wallet.
I’ve been asked lately about our plans for this summer, and peeps, we just don’t know yet.  Stay tuned!
8:49 PM
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Mar 22, 2008
living by the sea, orry’s entreaties
Last night we had a feast.  We went to Houma and were treated to Jeffery’s crab boil.  He also boiled a bunch of shrimp.  Also, his brother "Uncle George" was meanwhile having a crawfish boil with lots of extra crawfish, so we went over and got some of those.  It was a Louisiana seafood night.  I have to say, the crawfish were my favorite.  They are just delectable when boiled right and I have developed quite an affinity for them.  It was more than all-you-can-eat, but I could only stuff in about four crabs or so, maybe because I had a few pounds of crawfish and shrimp first.
This morning we got up bright and early and watched the full moon set and the spring sun rise.  This time Jeffery had it in him to teach me how to operate the boat, which I have to say is something I had never done before.  It was fun, but what really gets me is how nice it is to get out in the middle of it all and have some peace. 
Today on the water we caught a handful of little trout right off, only two keepers.  we moved on right away to catch more and bigger fish, and we did catch some doozies.  Bonnie caught two stingrays--I hadn’t witnessed that before today, but it was a lot like catching a regular fish, or a shark, where it is a matter of getting the ray up to the side of the boat so you can remove the hook usually by detaching it.  The other big ones were a couple of large drums, which we tossed back after photos.  We ended up bring home only our two trout, and some more shrimp that we were using for bait.  But we were catching plenty of catfish throughout, and changing locations quite a bit, and it was a fun day.  Also worth mentioning are the dolphins, the calm water, the gnats.
Putting Orry to bed tonight was another story.  Lately he has really been into reading some books before bed, and he gives the sign for "more" after each one.  Tonight, after the wailing when it was already way past bedtime, I sung him two songs, the ABC’s, and Row Your Boat.  Well, tonight, he wasn’t ready to sleep after a couple songs either, so, for the first time, he asked for more songs.  Except he asked like this.  "row, row, row" and after that a few more times, because I surely couldn’t resist such a sweet entreaty, he said "ABC’s" too, although it sounded more like "a-d-deez".  Anyway, he finally was tuckered out enough to only wail for a little while before nodding off.  I need to also say that he wanted to play "Ring Around the Rosies" about a hundred times before bedtime, and I played it about two dozen or more times because he asks to play that by stating, "Ashes, ashes..." And he pulls and tugs and really tries to get you to go round and round.
It’s Spring!
8:33 PM
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Mar 21, 2008
contribution to society, tidal effects
Current mood:excited
I feel like I have made a contribution to modern society, dear readers, now that I have made some Wikipedia entries.  You can view them yourselves if you look up Knute Heldner or Collette Pope Heldner.  The entry for Knute has been improvised further already.  There are no images, but my current profile picture is a self-portrait of the couple by Knute Heldner, who happens to look something like me from that angle.  His face is different from mine in the front view because his chin gets more pointy like a heart with inflection points, where mine is concave upwards from ear to ear.
Here is a face chart.

I would say I have an oblong lower face and rectangular head.  Heldner’s face is diamond on the bottom, maybe rectangular on top.

Maybe he is a stretched v-shape, according to the face chart above.
Anyway, we are on the way to Houma today.  We had a fine lock-in last night with the youth group.  The full moon was nice last night.  Happy spring.  It’s not huge news but I think it’s great to realize that today and tomorrow you will see the greatest high tide and the lowest low tide.  Normally equinoxes are the time to see tides emphasized, and that the full moon is right on or near the equinox optimizes this emphasis, since full and new moon are the phases of the moon when the sun and the moon work together to maximize the tidal effects.  Maybe we’ll go to the gulf and bring back photos.
Tides Q&A.
 
9:15 AM
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Mar 15, 2008
the mushroom hunt
Morels are a delectable fungus, and one of the most "unmistakable".

This is what I was hoping for:

But as it is, I still have yet to see a morel in real life.

You can get connected to morels in Idaho or wherever you are, by checking out this site.  Or you can just read up here or here.  I was under the impression that if I found a morel, I would be the first to find a north american morel in 2008.  However, I would only be the first in the Mississippi drainage basin.  We’re about as far south as morels grow in these parts, though they’ve been found already in different areas of the states.  The first reported 2008 morel was in February.
How about our particular foray?  I went with some EYC youth and first we got Louisiana hunting and gathering permits, then went to our hunt site, which unfortunately was closed for some youth turkey hunt.  So we headed to a nearby similar spot, which is known as Tunica Falls.  It was beautiful, although it is in Mississippi, so we didn’t need those $2 hunting and gathering permits.  We did need lots of fluids, and sunblock we didn’t bring, as it was a hot sunny day.  Luckily, we were mostly in wooded area and I didn’t get burnt, but Jackie and Brian and James did.
The group was a friendly group of sort of hippy-type nature nuts.  Like me, you might say.  Our leader had a long silver ponytail and he looked in your eyes in a nice friendly way when he talks.  He was about 55 and he and the others knew a lot about the local fauna, flora, and fungi.
I learned about trillium

and flox

and about the sycamore and beech trees, which the morels tend to favor in this particular area.
In the end, the hunting gave way to hiking on the great trails, along a nice creek.  I think I may have been the only one to come away with some mushrooms, some nice oyster mushrooms that we sauteed when I got home.  They were delicious.
Some other wildlife we saw were snakes, skinks (southern coal skink or little brown skink), some toads, and some insects and, hmm, turkey cultures and possums playing dead and an armadillo playing dead and some turkey vultures in on that particular show.
On the way back, we stopped in St Francisville and found a pogo stick and another James at the Kane residence.
It was fun, if not "fruitful"!
10:06 PM
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Mar 14, 2008
the wreck: an S10 eulogy?
A few of my first impressions were the stings of not pain, but that sensation of being in something that happens faster than you can process it, and you can experience its effects without having sure sensations about what happened and where.  The chemical smoke of the airbags quickly filled the cab and I was needing some air.  Meanwhile, the struck vehicle in front of me was not moving.  I backed up and then pulled off the road, for even though the front of the truck was all collapsed, it still was running just fine.  As I went to open the door I found it did not open, and this was the only threat of panic, although it was quashed before it rose, as I found the window opened, and besides, I somehow knew that I would be able to force the door open.
Some of my load--I was heading back from Lowe’s with some mirrors and lights and fixtures and other miscellany--was broken, but I am hopeful that I can exchange them without loss, and in any case, not great loss.  I realized after some time that my left thumb is quite jammed and bruised, but it is functioning fine and will heal fine.  I have only slight abrasions otherwise.
The worst thing about this wreck is that it was a friend’s vehicle.  I take full responsibility for my misfortune of driving the vehicle when the brakes failed.  If I would have been James Bond, I could have avoided or reduced the impact by driving off the road or stepping on the emergency brake.  Why I didn’t respond like we would expect of James Bond I can only put down to a lack of training.  But the failure of the vehicle’s brake system also absolves me from a sense of culpability.  In a sense, I feel glad that the accident has happened, and that nobody was hurt, as opposed to it happening next week on the interstate and somebody getting killed.  It will be a good exercise of friendship to see that fairness happens in the resolution of loss.  Although, I must say, any dollar value on this particular friendship is above what he could feasibly ask.
[ I just deleted a discourse on the subject of relationships and value, and how it can or cannot be measured in money.  It is something I’d like to blog about someday, but now is not the time.]
Now is the time to imagine my friend’s poor truck.  Bashed in like a mad troop of vikings came upon it one misty morning and thought it was a monster.  It served its purpose well and has gone before its time.  But it is not dead yet.  There are parts to be salvaged.  Maybe even a drivable vehicle to be resurrected.  Stay tuned.
10:12 PM
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Mar 13, 2008
home-making
Current mood:surprised
I realized recently that I have lived in our current house for over 20 months, which is the longest I’ve lived any one place since 1994 when I was 16.  (I think the longest I was living any one place since then has been 12 months, until now!)
I uploaded a photo of us moving into this place in My Photos.
1:50 PM
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Mar 12, 2008
ode to grapefruit
Grapefruits grow in clusters like grapes?  Maybe in the trees of the Indies where they originated.  I have seen grapefruit trees, and the fruits didn’t look like giant grape clusters.  Apparently, that’s what gives this fruit its name.  I prefer the latin: Citrus Paradisi.  The citrus of paradise, and I like it capitalized like that.
Once known as the "forbidden fruit," it’s no wonder.  Citrus Paradisi gives the human a luscious tart glimpse of heaven.  There’s more to it then taste.  sure, there’s the various sweet and tart citric tastes of different kinds of choice grapefruits.  But then you also have the tender flesh, every vesicle ready-to-burst then bursting by the will of your mouth.  The smell and sometime spray of citric juice, the oil of the rind--it’s enough cause a clergyman to squirm.  It barely needs mentioning that the ample round size of a choice grapefruit is what every man wants his infant sons to suckle.
While we’re employing visual imagery, think back to the radial symmetry of a grapefruit cut through its equator.  With a spoon, how perfect of a serving dish, what perfect spoonfuls of the earth’s goodness.  Now, I am of the opinion that there is more than one perfect way to eat a grapefruit.  But it’s hard to beat the treat of advanced culture--eating with a spoon such a grapefruit half that has been sliced from the tougher memrane which separates each grapefruit section.  A little sugar may be used for the sourer varieties of fruit, but most need nothing but a watering tongue to transcend the eating experience, even the human experience.
In my hard working days for some time, I ate a grapefruit for every lunchtime.  I found it inadvisable to eat all the grapefruit’s membranes.  It is a small lesson in greed and industry.  I learned that it takes a small but important bit of work to make sure the actual fruit consumed is the tender fruit inside the membranes, but not the membranes themselves.  This is because I was eating it without the luxury of knife or spoon and would peel the fruit to consume it like an orange.  The membranes (of an entire fruit) will upset one’s stomach, and I even tried for many days in a row to see if I could grow accustomed to it, but I think it’s just too much of the wrong kind of fiber.  Having said that, it’s unfair to discount the grapefruit as an ideal fruit, because surely we’re not required to eat the peel of citrus, bananas, nor do we curse nuts for their casings, and how many of us have enjoied pomegranates, which start to push the boundaires of work vs reward.  No, the grapefruit is a perfect balance.  You work for your supper, and the reward makes even the work seem sweeter.  Anyway, I became quite proficient in peeling a grapefruit and eating each section, kind of like an orange, but with the necessary adjustments to avoid the grapefruit membrane.
The grapefruit is the choice fruit for a relationship.  One get’s one half and one gets the other.  I just enjoyed my share of two grapefruits recently, which has led to this weblog.  These grapefruits were excellent.  They were big, first of all, and yes, size matters.  If one of them was a tad less juicy than optimum, it made up for it in the sumptuousness of each grand bite.  Smaller grapefruits can make up for it with juice, with taste...  but get yourself a giant ruby red grapefruit in season and tell me it isn’t a feast fit for he or she that matters most.
So, I’ve touched on what was intended to be a main message of this blog.  Grapefruit doesn’t grow everywhere in the wild.  And I am a locavore advocate.  How can I eat Grapefruit if I move to Canada?  Well, the short answer is that I should not.  Or, I can eat it less and appreciate it more.  But the long answer includes energy efficient greenhouse use, and predicates the availability of grapefruits and many other subtropical or tropical treats for the industrious and horticulturally ambitious, or for those with funds to pay for it.  Of course funds can pay for shipping grapefruits around the world, but it’s there where I want to start drawing lines.  In fact, some shipping may be better than setting up a tropical subecosystem in the tundra, but one must consider long term effects.  When you start to get above 45 degrees North, grapefruits shouldn’t be eaten every day, I guess.
Now, I was writing earlier about how paying more for local food may cheat the locavore and the local consumer.  That blog is still coming, but my preliminary research is looking like it’s not as big a problem as was concerning me.
Grapefruit eaters, eat on. I will be interested to hear from those of you who like grapefruit, that Citrus Paradisi, as well as from those of you who don’t favor that delicious fruit.

9:11 PM
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Mar 10, 2008
belly, names, tenants, mushrooms, teeth
Bonnie's belly, for those of you who want to know, is the size of a basketball.  It is cute, of course--no surprise for those of you who have seen cute pregnant Bonnie.  But, I have to say, it isn't as cute when she borrows a pair of my underwear to parade around the house in.

Bonnie's in the back bedroom now, shouting out names periodically, like Lorenz, and Haynes.  Oh, Lawrence.  As in Lawrence Jameson.  My latest craze was to permute the letter in Orry's name and name all our boys:

Orin, Rion, Iron, Onri, or Noir.  Roni is out of the question, and the rest just wouldn't cut it.  of course, we might just have one more boy.  So My vote was for Iron, and we can call him Effy.  Which would probably go to Fe or FE in a few years, and then when he turns into a man we can have a talk and he can go by Iron then, a nice strong name.  Oh! It would be fine if we had five boys, and the names listed above form a fine acrostic.  I'm not sure we could handle five boys though.

Adrian, Pollux, Evan (!), Oliver, Ogden...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Today I spent some time at the Kingcrest house, changing out some plumbing, hooking up the washer and dryer, cleaning the fridge and kitchen.  I was pleased to find some yardwork already done by a seemingly fine couple of new tenants--they helped by totally cleaning out a storage shed that sits in the corner of the property too!  I am glad to have found them--so maybe everything works out in the end, afterall.

Up and coming is a mushroom hunt in the wilderness of Mississippi/Louisiana in an area called Tunica Hills.  I'm stoked, because we're going to be hunting for morels (Candide, Chad, Cephus), and there surely will be some mycologists who will have a lot to say about this fungus and that.  What's equally as exciting as fungus fruitbodies is that a handful of high-schoolers from the youth group are coming, it looks like. So it will be also be a fun foray for fellowship.  That's Saturday, rain or shine.

It was cold for a while, now it's warm again here.  Actually, right now it's raining, and it's been drizzling all evening.  Our spring plants have come out of the soil so stay tuned for a report of tulips and daffodils. 

"I guess if worse comes to worse, we can just call him 'Troy Daniel Becker'"

I have promised to tell the story of the teeth from the workers at the cemetery.  Let me say first that I am working there no longer.  Now, as for the story, the guys who work there tell of a tree that fell recently from a lightning strike, and in the roots that were uprooted, they saw some teeth embedded.  Now there's a mood setter for your next short story!

What, no images?  How about this clip.  Trent and I laughed and laughed when we first saw this, and I laughed and laughed again when I saw it again recently.  Of course, you can play it from my profile, if you desire.
Le Pussy Ferocious

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10:29 PM
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Mar 8, 2008
ice-skating, the human hockey stick
I hope I hear more about ice-skating soon.
I first went ice-skating when I was 15.  We went to Sun Valley to a popular rink for the birthday of my girlfriend at the time.  It was a gay time, falling and laughing, and sliding to and fro on the blades.  Afterwards we had a feast at that pizza and pasta place.  Afterwards it seems like we got pulled over for going too slow on that stretch of road between there and Jerome.  It was snowy.  The odometer turned 66666.6 at some point.  Sam's little sister who was 3 or 4 at the time must be 18 or 19 by now!
After that, I ice-skated in Spokane, where they have a rink in the park that stays good and frozen for some months.  There I scooted and slid on the blades, enjoying the company of more friends.  There I also skated with peers who could really skate.  One was an ice-skating expert from Japan, who had, already won this-and-that competition for her ice-skating grace.  I had as much grace as Slyvester with mousetraps on all his paws. 
In Japan, excellence is nurtured by offering a myriad of culture, sports, and music activities to individual students right away in elementary school.  Then, by the time they're in sixth grade, they're already pretty good in these activities, and Junior High and High School is a time for becoming even better.  I guess that's the idea over here, but the music and PE I remember from elementary school was more like dumb hour or game hour than learn hour.  Thank goodness it was only weekly or so?
I ice-skated some more in the land of the rising sun.  With the elementary students.  In the mountains where I lived, ice-skating was a common and popular winter activity, and there was a little paddy next to my place that turned into a popular skating rink.  I skated there quite a bit.
Finally, yes, I have ice-skated here in Louisiana, of all wonders.  Here you could watch ice-hockey, like the Pensacola Ice Pilots, and the Baton Rouge Kingfish (The Baton Rouge Kingfish don't play here anymore--the team was moved to the more appropriate locale of British Columbia.).  The Pensacola Ice Pilots still exist, as do the Mississippi Sea Wolves.  All the Louisiana teams have fallen out or moved.  But anyway, in what used to be called the Centroplex, now called the Baton Rouge River Center, a few of us grad students would go watch the hockey players bully each other.  I remember in one half-time a few of us were selected to go goof off on the ice.  The objective was to push a puck to the goal using each other (wheelbarrow style) as hockey sticks.  Anyway, while the place was iced over, they also offered ice-skating to the public, and I skated there once, it seems.  Actually, now I can't remember for sure.
These are my ice skating memories.  Fewer images, more memoirs.
It's appropriate, for our current weather.  Brrrr!  It's cold!  My feet, if they weren't in these slippers, would be as cold as ice-skate blades.
9:29 AM
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Mar 6, 2008
worms and knowledge
Current mood:curious
While showing Orry some more bugs, I found something I had never seen before.  It is a type of worm, but what sturck me is that it wasn't wiggly, like the earthworms we know, and its body was more like a slug's, except very long and skinny.  Well, what I didn't notice was that the head was a peculiar shape, but these photos I found look exactly like the body I saw, so I am identifying it as the land planarian, or hammerhead worm.  See more pics here.
Readers, when I saw this worm, I was fascinated with seeing something new.  For curiosity's sake, I googled to find out what it is.  And what delights me is seeing so many other notes from curious people who have had similar experiences.  (You can read plenty at either of the above linked sites).  Well, I doubt these little earthworm predators live in Idaho, but maybe when you come visit, Idahoans, you can dig around in the compost with me and you too can experience something new.

Learning.  I am now a Super Tutor at a website called supertutorsusa.com.  I haven't had any students from them yet (I just became registerd finally today), but maybe someday I will.  What I like about them is that they encourage outrageous memorization techniques and when I was "training myself" to be one of their Super Tutors, I read a bit of information that resounded true with my own learning.  They encourage students to learn under stress, using time limits, and so on, because we learn and perform well under stress.  They explained about how that is why cramming works, and why so many people write papers the night before.  Now, all of that was true during my matriculation years.  What I didn't think about was that we can study anytime and all the time, with the same tactics, using time limits, trying to speed-memorize and so on.  Another thing they recommend is to use offensive mnenonyms, associate memorizations with smells, sounds, and so on, including physical actions, in order to maximize the use of your neuron pathways.  I have to admit, I was pretty sold on their site, jazzed up about it, even reading it as a prospective tutor.
Anyway, of course, I have signed up to work with as many tutor services as possible.  I guess if I'm not going to be outright teaching for the rest of the schoolyear, I might as well get busy getting some students to tutor, which is better than teaching anyway.

The other thing that I've been wanting to blog about is the "local tax" we pay when we buy local goods and services at a higher price.  This is not the case all the time, but, well, anyway....  I am still ruminating that one.  Stay tuned!

 
 
2:17 PM
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Mar 4, 2008
headlines on sex, lies, and videotape
Current mood:happy
I had even more fun with some of the news stories today! 
One regards Vistoria's Secret as realizing they've become a little too sexy.  Looking at--I mean reading--the full story reveals that it was Pink's 2002 campaign to bring the lingerie to college age girls that has "declassified' the company's image.  Well, no complaints here, but we know what they mean.  Marilyn Monroe remains more sexy than a teenager in a little pink lacy thing.  (Yes, Marilyn Monroe was 19 for some of her earliest photo shoots, but wasn't really the sexy Marilyn Monroe until 1953, when she was 26-27, and even then, didn't she get sexier and sexier?  And not because she looked more and more like a college girl gone wild).

or, for the Victoria's Secret photo... Please let me make a note that Heidi Klum gets special mention from me as a contemporary definition of sexy, and classy.  However, be it noted that she hails from a previous class of VS models.
Another story in the news today was the downturn of success of Walmart--and this is music to my ears.  Many of you know that Bonnie and I don't shop there anymore, and I have been a much happier grocery shopper because of it.  What's more is that I have discovered that Whole Foods is not all that expensive.  We have started using their bulk aisle, where even flour costs less than prices at Walmart, and you can always choose organic and get a good reliable assurance of quality.  Eggs we buy at an extra dollar per dozen, but they are cage free and the quality difference is easible discernable even from cracking the egg open.  And, I started paying more for local milk--but the more I think about it, the more I think about it (Probably another blog is impending regarding the "local tax" we pay for local foods when we buy them at higher prices.  I want to look into this one.).  Anyway, all of these benefits are one thing, but what really caused me to turn away from Walmart was the social irresponsibility of giant corporation, how it hires cheap poor help and doesn't pay them enough so that their health benefits are taken care of by taxpayers.  Walmart is, simply, taking advantage of a broken system, which they are morally obligated to do in a capitalistic society.  But I don't like their lack of integrity, and it looks like it's catching up with them.  Costco, on the other hand, the story reports, takes good care of its employees, is touted as the "Anti-Walmart", and is looking at big gains while Walmart loses.
The belief that consumers and citizens can not be "at the mercy" of corporations, is why on one hand, I have socialist tendencies.  Delta, Walmart, learn.
I am eating a school lunch today.  Milk in a bag.

The last news story to write about regards Michel Gondry.  I had no idea he did Be Kind, Rewind.  I expected that movie to be just a lame film of laughs.  But Gondry has done The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine for a Spotless Mind, and now, I expect a lot more from the Jack Black comedy.
Anyway, the article is about magnetization.  Can a Man Become a Magnet?
Anyway, back to the bag of milk.
9:17 AM
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Mar 3, 2008
louisiana shrimp
I started a blog already that was lost.  I explained that it was a gray rainy day in Louisiana, that NPR featured a story about local shrimp and local shrimpers, that Dulac, where I used to work with the father-in-law at his shipyard, was a place to find many such local shrimpers.
They would go out on shrimping boats, or trawlers.
The following image came from a great website about Louisiana coastal issues.





You will notice the booms, which are lowered on the open water to catch the littleshrimp.  Shrimp are arthropods, like insects and spiders.  More specifically they are crustaceans, like crabs and krill (swim away!).
Anyway, they seem a motley crew, judging in generaltizations, of course.  It reminds me of Chris Cooper's character in Adaptation:

Anyway, I don't have anything to add to the story.  I like how somebody noted that sugarbeets, textiles, pretty much everything goes through a general cyckle of initiatives to boost local sales, but nothing really works in the end.  In the end, the cheap shrimp gets bought. 
I am a champion of buying local.  So I also appreciate how the news story featured a local company that sells what it buys and eliminates the middle guys, making twice as much per pound of shrimp as other shrimpers.
For example.
Okay, enough.  Attention to the kid, commence!
 
5:24 PM
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Mar 1, 2008
Jeremiah Higley on the mind
Current mood:relaxed
So, each day something or other keeps crossing through my mind all day long.  The other day, after the Academy Awards, it was Cormac McCarthy.  Today, it's been Jeremiah Higley.  Some of you reading this may remember this red haired boy from my youth.  Probably most of you need the intro: Jeremiah was a classmate of mine from Jerome from the 6th grade on.  At a birthday party at his place one Summer, we threw water balloons at cars and a really big one shattered one of our friend's windshield.  If I remember right, I was responsible for the mess, but Jeremiah, I think, mowed lawns all summer to help pay for the incident.
Jeremiah ran in High School, and I think the last I saw him was in Jerome when he worked for his dad.  I may have gone to his wedding reception, come to think of it.  Or maybe it was his cute sister, Claire's.  Or maybe I just saw him at somebody else's reception.  Anyway, all of this is a lifetime ago, but thanks to the connecting power of Myspace, we reconnected the other day, and now I've been thinking about good old Jeremiah.
The other night I had a dream that featured Levi Brown.  Well, and his wife, who, in my dream, did not look like she had just given birth to a baby recently.  It was a snowy dream.
Today sister-in-law Elizabeth is over, and we are going to have some fun!  So far today it's been a mow the lawn and take care of the outside day.  Did you want to see a nice image?  Here:

3:10 PM
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Feb 28, 2008
cartoon violence
So I borrowed from the library the collection of old favorites, Looney Toons, the golden collection.  And wow, I am astounded by the violence. Of course I remember this debate about violent cartoons, and I always chalked it up to a lot of fuss and not a big deal.  But I admit that I am waffling, now that I have parents' eyes.
I am disturbed most by the presentation of slapstick and violence.  It is desensitizing, certainly, and guns aside, I just can't help but feel a twinge of guilt to hear Orry laugh when Daffy hits Porky Pig hard with a large hammer.
So far there has been a certain cushion or shield in our household, keeping Orry from the violence of shows, including the gore and harsh reality of life and death in nature programs.  And here I am now, with a product made for shildren which flaunts violent antagonism, in a comic manner, no less. 
It would be different if I hadn't enjoyed these cartoons so much, deciding in my first teenage years that these cartoons were the "good old cartoons" that were worth watching, while the newer ones lacked substance and character.  What was I thinking?  Was it merely a nostalgia, even in my young years, for a throwback from previous years?  Was I already desensitized to the violence, and could really just enjoy the humor in the shorts?  Objectively, they represent a part of reality that is more real than a shielded and guarded life--Goals are often whims, attempts are often futile, and how many of us has identified with Wile E Coyote, and the roadrunner, at one time or another?  Maybe a part of me, in my youth, felt a pull to these characters as a reflection of the human experience, but that is a little far-reaching.
Currently, I'm thinking that censorship is best.  Introduce the Looney Tunes at a more appropriate age--at least 10--when we can talk about the ridiculous portrayal of violence.  But doesn't 13 sound better, and 16 better yet?  Maybe by then, little Orry will have grown up and in his tender discretion be able to access the cartoons as period pieces and fit them into American history, where they belong.
To finish up here, let me write for a moment about Caillou, the name of a contemporary cartoon, and the name of its central character, a four year old boy who explores his feelings whilst enjoying, and not enjoying, realistic adventures with his family.  This seems like good wholesome entertainment, but I am peeved every time I watch it at how whiney the kid is.  And the parents whine a little too, which bothers me.  But for the most part, it's enjoyable.  It teaches about using one's imagination, listening to one's parents and so on. 
Here's another rub:  I think most fathers want their sons to grow up and know about violence and aggression.  So raising our kids in Mr Roger's neighborhood, or with the likes of whiney Caillou, threatens, at least in this father, his sense of masculinity and the masculinity of his descendents.  I do feel like there's something deep and real and important about man as warrior, although the core of the warrior is his heart.  I want to instill the sense of warrior in my boys, but maybe in due time, and not with Bugs Bunny and Sylvester humor, maybe.  And, if the heart of the warrior is what's crucial to him, maybe these are the young tender years that little tots build a foundation for it.
That's enough!  Thanks for your attention, dear readers!
10:43 AM
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Feb 27, 2008
political views?
A delightful observation is that I like both Ralph Nader and Ron Paul.  These are political opposites.  What they share, I think, is that they are visionaries, candidates for change, and vigilant decriers of injustice.  They also understand their positions, which are very consistent, and rational.
Personally, I am, at a local level, conservative hearted.  Individuals should hold the most power, local government should have some, and it should trickle down as the government gets broader.  Where this idealogy fails is in regards to the entity of corporations.  I like small business, but as business gets bigger, if it has the same rights and power as a person, it can weild its use of people to exploit them and take away rights.  In a sense, this is a danger without corporations, even, since people can become extra powerful through various ways, and one person's power can mean another's exploitation.  Also, I have the hare-brained idea that human society can improve by banding together and overcoming social problems as a society.  So, I have a liberal mind for government structure especially concerning th regulation of bigger business.
A case in point is gun control.  At some level, I like the individual right and power to carry firearms.  Enough that I can back Ron Paul.  But how are we to move beyond a gun-toting society, but by envisioning and moving towards a disarmament?  I may very well just live in the wrong country, but I think it can be done and people will like it.  Note: hunters, don't dismay.  Maybe it's about having a gun at your house and in transit to the wilderness and using it there to shoot your game, versus toting it around the city or township.  I'm all about one being able to defend onself, but I favor martial arts.
Walmart.  No company should be able to provide its employees' benefits by keeping them provided for by government programs.  I feel like it's the government's role to keep this from happening.  Maybe by not offering such social programs, but again, what kind of a society do we envision?
Anyway, we solve a lot of problems by going local.
That's enough for one night!
10:45 PM
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Feb 26, 2008
a list of jobs i’ve had
farmhand
self-employed businessman
cinema boy
lawnmower
nurse’s aide
telemetry technician
farmhand (Martin)
telemarketer (1 day)
lifeguard
art museum security
farmhand (Clark)
maintenance assistant
beet pollen collector (a couple days)
warehouse work (1 day)
entertainment superstore customer servant
entertainment superstore stocking
daycare assistant
math tutor
paraprofessional in junior high (WA)
assistant English teacher in Japan
English tutor
instructor of ESL in Oregon
math instructor (Heald)
telemarketer (many days, nights)
library assistant
graduate student teacher
carpenter
delivery boy
real estate agent
mall kiosk sales associate
youth director
teacher of math (Glen Oaks HS)
shipyardhand
landlord
math instructor (BRCC)
gravestone releveler
husband and father
Did I forget any?
9:15 AM
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Feb 23, 2008
movie review, blueberries
Current mood:selective
We've been enjoying some movies lately.  You can always see on my movie list what I've been watching, but what you don't get there is what I think of the movies.
Iris was a good representation of Alzheimer's.  It is sad for me to see the deterioration of Bonnie's grandmother Takeko, which is reminiscent for me of Grampa's last years.  Still, I must say, it is still at a point where communication is meaningful, feelings are shared, and that's precious time, like spending time with Orry, but the opposite.
I like watching the Peter Lorre Mr Moto movies.

The other movies I watched were good, except for Night at the Museum.
A surprise notable was Spanglish, which I really appreciated.  It seemed well put together, and a perfectly American piece.

I have to say wow about Ingmar Bergman.  If you want to catch a feel of film genius, watch Smiles of a Summer Night.  When you watch this, please notice how many of the lines are excellent quotes by themselves.
Okay, that's all, for movies.
Blueberries!  You know I want to stimulate locla provision, local market, but there are some Chile blueberries at the Albertson's down here, and they are just 99 cents for the little cartons (4.4oz), and they are delicious!   You should get some if your Albertson's offers them, and gobble them up.  Blueberries are good for you.

11:38 PM
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Feb 21, 2008
the fun is only beginning!
Current mood:excited
You who have known what has been going on for years will probably laugh, but I have discovered how to include images on my blogs, and that changes everything.  For a taste, see the responses to my previous blog!
and:
Orry has a version of this radio flyer "ride-along".  Note that it is not a tricycle!

Orry rides it around the house, but he's still more excited about running back and forth, with an occasional "jump".
Here is a picture of the Perrine bridge outside of Twin Falls in Idaho.  I have traversed it about 4000 times, maybe. 

 
Thanks for tuning in, dear readers.
5:53 PM
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Feb 21, 2008
the new occupation
So I've been meaning on writing about my new occupation, but the longer I wait, the more it turns from a blog into a book of thoughts and stories.  And now, my new occupation is likely ending, though I'll take memories from it to my death if my memory will hold out that long.
Teaching?  No.  Nothing worked out, in that arena.
The job is leveling the tombstones at a national cemetery.  It is a general labor job that pays well and would offer lots of hours if it weren't for the rain.  Getting the contract and being in charge of the project would be another thing, but I am hired labor, muscle, work.  It is like your regular work camp, I suppose.  It satisfies a couple of objectives.  First, it produces some regular income.  Second, it allows me the relaxing position of not being the boss.
However, after just a week, I have reached the conclusion that this is no job for me.  This particular job, I mean.  I can imagine the same sort of work, managed and run differently, and I can imagine fitting in quite well, with my muscles and work ethic and joy-of-doing.  But as it is, this spirit of management is perhaps the root of what is very nearly an incapacity to function as I am hired.  How much effort is required to transform the jobsite into my imagined ideal?  I am not sure.  I keep telling myself to contact the boss's boss, to put forth my ideas, and I keep failing to do so.  Mostly because of this, probably: everything from my thought processes down to my contacting the boss's boss, and so on, obliterates my second objective above.
The problem is central to the project's success.  In order for the work camp program to work, each worker must really believe in what they're doing.  Not idealogically, but that their good work is to some greater purpose.  And with the poor and unsystematic way the tombstones are realigned, when a worker levels and realigns the tombstone, he feels the opposite--an expectation, even, that the work will be redone a week later.  It is not a small job.  Each tombstone is pulled out, the hole is widened or redug, packing concrete is poured in, the tombstone is realigned and releved (releveler is one of the longerpalindromes), then the tombstone is packed by tamping more packing concrete and dirt (which down here is sticky and heavy).  When we current workers came on the job (after the last crew quit), the first 200 some tombstones had already been done and redone for a total of four times.  All the stones we have been doing have been done before, though we are almost ready to start some that have yet to be done.  Part of me teels me to just try and be a worker and not worry about it, that the hourly wage is an acceptable compensation for my work, and it's not my burden.  Another part of me says that I am incapable of carrying on, and as it is I wouldn't do the job for $20/hour, unless some changes take place to give the workers that feeling of doing something worthwhile.
Oh, all this times 12000 or so.  Expected to do about 15 a day per person, there is plenty of work for a good many months, as long as we can get past the first ten rows.
Anyway, this is really rambling on.
The perks of the job, beside the aforementioned objectives, are that this is a totally new environment I have never before witnessed, or really, given much thought.  So there are lots of imaginative goodies and tidbits for creative thought.  This goes for the work setting as much as the coworkers.  Maybe you will read more about that in the future.  Also, it is a good use of the body and its functions to move and work.
7:25 AM
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Feb 17, 2008
landlord log 2-17-2008
Whoever first looked at one of my weblogs today made the 1000th blog view.  Thank you readers!  As of now, at 4:19pm, there were two views for today, and the count total is 1001.  So that narrows it down for you!
If you missed the resolution of the apple juice, you'll want to check out the last blog and responses for the juicy details.
Today I want to write about an infestation that's about as bad as mice, maybe worse, and that infestation is of the human sort.  Now, this is not going to be a (typical?) rant about my cynicism of humanity--do I not have hope for people?  It is not going to degenerate into a commentary about fishing more than our fill of the ocean's fish and replacing it with plastic trash.  Or urban sprawl.  Let alone war.  But on a much, much, much smaller window of perspective, it is just difficult for me to accept how regularly and how bad a landlord can get burnt, time and again.
Now, granted, we have had it relatively good.  Most of the properties I have overseen have been relatively nice places in good neightborhoods.  And, most of the tenants I have found have been good.  But the average tenant is looking worse, I must say, after our most recent surprise episode.
I got a surprise call on my birthday from a property manager asking for a reference regarding one of my tenants.  The thing was, this is a current tenant, someone in a lease through June.  Well, I was to later investigate and discover that yeah, they are moving out by the 15th, and yes, they realize they are breaking the lease, and no, they're not going to pay any more rent due, and so on.  First of all, how somebody can just easily break an agreement is beyond me.  Second, it's a legal agreement with tough consequences, so it's even more mystifying to me that they can walk away from the arrangement.
But most incomprehensible to me is this.  Today I went to the place to see if they are moved out.  And, it's sort of difficult to tell, but I think they've moved out.  The thing is, with all the trash left in and around the house, I want to believe that they are still in the process of moving.  But I have the sneaky suspicion that this is what I am left with.  A rat's nest impression to remember them by.  The electricity is still on, an outside light was still on, the gross, disgusting, sticky, almost new refrigerator is still clear full of foodstuffs.  There are clothes strewn here and there, but it looks like their possessions are for the most part gone.  The back yard is a mess.  The front yard is a mess.  I am astonished at how bad a place can look after ... let's see, since November 1st.
Phew.
That's enough for now!  Except, let's end on an upnote. 
Well, it took a while, but I found a good story, sort of.  It has a twist, elucidated in this coverage, but you can judge for yourself whether this is good news.
4:19 PM
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Feb 16, 2008
lacka wanna apple juica
Current mood:mischievous
I have to report that no guesses so far represent the actual events that took place on February 13th, when one mysterious gallon of apple juice seemed to disappear.

Also not representative of reality:

Aliens beamed up the gallon, and then beamed it back.

It disappeared into thin air and we simply don't know what happened to it.

We saw a homeless man later, riding a bike, dangling the gallon of apple juice from one arm.

Bonnie and Orry and I are in Houma now, where we will get ready for a Saturday evening wedding.  What has been going on lately?  Well, I have been enduring my latest occupation, which you will read about, I hope, at a later time.  Also, we have been having Valentine's Day and Bonnie's birthday, watching a few movies (see my movie list if you're interested), moving in our new tenant and next door neighbor, and teaching Orry his colors, letters, dance moves.

On Wednesday at the soup supper, we heard an interesting bit about Peter the apostle, and Fr Ken presented it in a manner of blogs that Peter might have written if he was writing blogs in his day.  It was insightful and I'll have to see if I can get a link to it to share with those of you who may be interested.  One bit of trivia that I never thought about was that Peter was married.

Dear readers, I was meaning to disclose the resolution to the missing apple juice, but I'll let you guess some more, and I promise that next time I'll satisfy you with the final report of events regarding that weird incident.

OKAY, OKAY, SEE THE FOLLOWUP IN A BLOG COMMENT BELOW:
9:07 AM
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Feb 13, 2008
pee pants, apple juicelessness, happy birthday!
After a long day of work, we hustled our bustles to the lenten soup supper.  Then I begrudgingly went with Bonnie to do some grocery shopping.  Begrudgingly is a poor way to do things, especially when your wife's birthday is Valentine's Day, and Valentine's Day is tomorrow.
The weirdness of the night may have been foreshadowed by the mushrooms that smell like pee at Whole Foods.  They were a new type I haven't seen there before, and they were unlabeled.  However, I can tell you that under their caps they had no gills, so that they were of the Bolete family.
After Whole Foods, in the parking lot of Albertson's, I was attempting to arrange child care for Orry tomorrow when he peed his pants, and since he was sitting on my lap, he peed my pants too.  Then Bonnie came out and lost the apple juice. 
What happened was, while she put one bag in the Jeep, her cart rolled off the curb and tipped out, inbetween our vehicle and the car parked next to us.  Well, she couldn't seem to find her big gallon jug of apple juice, and I, in disbelief and my pee pants, got out to get on my knees to look under the car and the neighboring car.  We would have looked under other cars but they were the only two in that entire side of the parking lot.  It was a gradual grade up to where any other cars were parked, and we could see the whole way across the other empty lot, so it was very much like the jug of apple juice disappeared.  I'm serious.  We looked and looked again, but the apple juice was nowhere to be found.  We even drove around the parking lot, thinking that the jug might have rolled down to the low spot, which itself seemed unlikely, but things just don't disappear, do they?
This disappearing apple juice made Bonnie cry, so I went in and got us another jug.  It was sort of a token of my love for Bonnie, since I was in my pee pants and all.  I thought maybe the vagabond juice got swiped by a passerby we didn't notice while we were busy looking for it?
It turns out that the mystery was solved.  Before I reveal the resoulation, though, I'll let you dear readers guess what happened.
Anyway, all of this night's weird episode is the last day of Bonnie's youth.  That is, before she starts getting closer to thirty than to twenty.  You gotta love her!  Personally, I'm not surprised she was born on the day opf romance, a little valentine's gift to the world.  She certainly means the world to me, and I love you, Bonnie!  Happy Birthday!  Happy Valentine's Day!
9:39 PM
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Feb 12, 2008
another blog! and the six word life
By popular and spousal demand, the blog is back.
Some of you may have been following the story of six-word autobiographies.  I hope to see some of your creative auto-bios to follow.  I will start with a few to get you going.  And know, like all memoirs and auto-biographies, they can be written and rewritten, so there's no need to hold back.
The last blog I didn't write would have been called something like "The ups and downs of toilet-training, and life".  And then today I was pre-composing another you all will see later, to be sure.  Also, since last I wrote, I read a good part of Emerson's essay on Self-Reliance.  His thoughts remind me of myself in a way, and I sort of do not like it, in the same way I do not like (or have not liked) myself.  However, it's worth a read, and sure, another day I would give some main points and reflections.  Not today though.
Today I will compare my heart to a clam.  I will type letter after letter the way a slow lasting rain can chisel away at one's joy.  I love the rain, you know--today I caught the fresh scent and sense of rain that resets my olfactory nerves, makes me think of the desert.  But there is something dismal in today's rain.  Maybe it's a resurgence of winter after the onset of Spring (I saw a flock of robins this morning getting ready for some rougher weather).  Maybe it's that these teaching jobs I hoped for are sifting out of reach.  Maybe it's because I'm thirty.
The joy and glee of a tot, the fine wifery of a woman, these are good medicine for any amount of gloom in the soul.  But no, they are my soul, as are the brother, sister, the parents, the friends old and new, the moon, the rain.  In-laws count too.
The moon is eclipsed by the Earth one week from tomorrow.  That's Wednesday night, the 20th.  A lunar eclipse.  Mark your calendars!
And now for the distilled autobiographies, exactly six words:
"Overwhelming potential, underwhelming application, I think."
"Explorer, thinker, advocate of the relationship."
"Green knight lost head, reattached it."
"I found and seek my fortune."
"From desert, to imagination's nooks, crannies."
"Ventured on love, love adventure: wisdom?"
"Mudbound shells with ventricles, my heart."
Okay, your turn to do you.
6:32 PM
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Feb 6, 2008
inspiration, research, learning
Current mood:hopeful
Well I met again with the professor, and we chatted and chatted.  Over the past week I have got into the heart of the problem that separates my ideas from the current standard understanding.  I might be onto something, but it is going to take a lot more time and research, and before that the motivation will probably fizzle.  Already in my research I've found some other papers and ideas out there that yield echoes of some of my thoughts.  It is both encouraging and discouraging--I am sure in the end I will leave the physics to the physicists.
The whole venture has already deepened in me an understanding of some of the implications of general relativity that were vaguer before.  I find that it is a fine model of the learning process.  You come up with an idea from God knows where, then you learn a bunch of stuff, rediscovering a bunch of bright ideas discovered by great minds.  You see how your idea fits and how it doesn't fit.  Overall, your understanding greatly increases, and even if your contribution isn't a real contribution to the body of knowledge, it somehow benefits human knoledge, dispersing knowledge among the populace.
Today I had a couple interviews to teach high school.  I would like to get a position as soon as possible, but we'll see.
5:04 PM
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Feb 6, 2008
4 seasons in 7 days
January 31st was a blustery cold day, where I wore my scarf and stocking cap along with my big coat.  Okay, it might not have been freezing, but it was a humid cold, which is colder than an arid cold.  It was winter.
By the afternoon of February 1st, it was more sunny and slightly warmer, though still crisp.  By nightfall, you wanted a coat, but up until then, and if you were brave, you could get by with less.  It was fall.
February 4th, a great day, was warm and humid.  It was easily t-shirt and short weather.  It was summer.
Today, February 6th, it has cooled into the 60s.  A breeze started in yesterday and has a slight chill to it.  It actually reminded me of the autumn of Louisiana, which is warm but chilly.  However, the wind was the decisive factor.  It was spring.
4:56 PM
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Feb 3, 2008
EYC thanks
I'm thankful that we have kids showing up, taking a part in EYC.  This overnighter that we had on Friday was great.  We met several new people, and overall there it was a good time.  I was so impressed the way everybody rallied together in the morning, in spite of staying up so late, and we cleaned the church grounds like anti-trash machines.  Many hands made light work, and I had a good time while doing it, getting to meet the new friends, and getting to know the old friends better.  Also, we really helped the church in the setup and selling of drinks as well as the additional attraction outside, setting the hook, and getting people from around our community inside Trinity's gates to get some food, use the bathroom.  For those who helped with setup, takedown, and the making and selling of drinks, an extra thank you, and good job!
So this morning, I was in a sort of fit of dismay to hear negative things about me or the EYC.  You guys are great, thanks for coming, and we'll continue to see if we can't improve our program.  Meanwhile, do not be deterred from anything you hear about not helping enough, or not cleaning enough, or even sometimes I get on your case about being involved--well, thank you for being involved at all, and for helping to make EYC what it is.
 
2:07 PM
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Feb 2, 2008
myspace cleanup
This is some early spring cleaning, putting toward the archives part of my myspace profile, that I can refresh it and add some new items to come.  Also, I'll keep the book list and movie list, but truncate them, as you can now see.
********************************************
I was excited to see a new Idaho quarter, but I am not a big fan of the design.  That one can see the characteristic shape of the state boundary, I am glad.  But no essence of the state is captured.  Except, perhaps, that raptors matter in Idaho, and they do.  I remember traveling the roadside and picking out the hawks and eagles against the blue sky.  The sky where I am from, or my mind's recollection of it, was a lasting remnant of the old west, open and spacious.  It cultivated in the onlooker two desires, which especially a hundred or more years ago, must have reconciled nicely in the setting then.  One desire is to settle and make a living from the land, raise and work with your family.  The other desire is to explore, explore, explore.



See a blog about the Idaho Quarter in my Blog section.
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movies from ~September 2007 to Jan 25, 2008:
Astronaut Farmer, 

Thank You For Smoking (Reitman), 

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hoffman), 

The Bourne Ultimatum, 

The Man who Wasn't There (Coen), 

Shopgirl (Martin), 

Smoke Signals (Eyre), 

My Neighbors, the Yamadas (Takahata), 

Evan Almighty, 

Fast Runner (Kanuk),

Borat,

Love's Labour's Lost, 

The Prestige, 

The Illusionist, 

Por la Libre (Carlos de Llaca), 

Apocalypto (Gibson), 

King Kong (Jackson), 

Tadpole (Winick), 

Lovely and Amazing (Holofcener), 

The Science of Sleep (Gondry), 

Through the Glass Darkly (Bergman),

Lonesome Jim (Buscemi),

Madagascar, 

The Boy Who Could Fly, 

Interiors (Allen), 

Bourne Identity & Bourne Supremacy, 

The Seventh Seal (Bergman), 

Manhattan (Allen)
************************************************
Books recently read, from Summer 2007 to December 2007:
Mathematicians in Love, R Rucker;

The Elephant Vanishes, H Murakami;

Night has a Thousand Eyes, A Upgren;

A Treasury of Turkish Folktales;

Love's Labor's Lost, WS;

Elsewhere in the Land of Parrots, J Paul;

Candide, Voltaire;

Rabbit at Rest, J Updike;

Antichrist, F Nietzche;

Elizabeth Costello, JM Coetzee;

Rabbit is Rich, J Updike;

The Gospel According to the Son, N Mailer; 

H Potter and Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling;

Empire Falls, R Russo; 

Blood Meridian, C McCarthy 
 
 
3:29 PM
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Jan 29, 2008
teaching, guitar, yellow
So it looks like a job opening or two have my names written on them.  I am hoping for a job teaching Geometry at a high school that's nearby where we live.  Today I was able to get in touch with the three states we may move to this summer.  In each of them, a similar program is available like the one I am currently enrolled in, in Louisiana, which allows you to become a certified teacher while you teach.  I am guessing that the momentum of getting this job will carry on and get us set for our lives in transition next year.  This fits my current state of mind.
I think I got back the last of the rejection letters from the publishers and agents that got my children's book manuscript "The Star that was Sad".  I am not quite ready to stop trying on that one, but I am currently spending that gumption on this physics idea.  I am determined to write a formal "idea paper" and see if this professor thinks it's worth it to respond, and to possibly pursue the idea further.
I have to report that I got a Christmas guitar from the wifey.  With it I make sound vibrations that fill my head and some of the extra time I might otherwise be lounging on autopilot in front of the boob tube.  Oh, and I did get her a guitar pick and a guitar strap for all her efforts in potty-training Orry, and let's just say those gifts are very much appreciated.  And by the way, the guitar is a great gift, too!
Ah, my current state of mind...  Ask me again next week.  I think if I were to write about something interesting today, it would be about, hmm, I don't know.  Orry has started to notice color a little bit now.  He says "yellow" a lot, but he doesn't really understand the different colors, just that they are a newfound apparent property of things.  We discovered this mainly in the stained glass in the church narthex bathroom.  We reinforce the color yellow when he pees.  I hope we are not doing too much damage with some of our parenting techniques--or, should I say, I hope the damage we do as parents is the least amount we could expect to do.  Anyway, as you can see, it is not that interesting of a blog day, but who knows what you'll read about next time.
8:32 PM
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Jan 28, 2008
real life paper chrysanthemums
Add to my list of favorite friend quotes: "If I don't do something about it, I am going to become a professor!"  I recently was reminded about this time in my life where I slid off the track of academics.  Apart from missing it somewhat, I doubt that I am doing better now than I otherwise would be if I were still on track.  But there is a trade-up in the feeling of experiencing what I hear time and again by people coined as "real life".  And being "self-made" as well.  But what isn't real about academics?  And how are people not "self-made" there?  I leave these answers for you to answer yourself.
The more I look into my cosmology solution, the more I like it, still.  I think it's just funny that "quantum physics" in our youth group's bag-o-nouns has somehow become "my" subject, when describing it.  I think no EYCers read my blogs, and anyway, it seemed like it became "my" subject because of nonmyspacers, to begin with.  But Carolyn, she is the physicist, if there is one.  Although, as I have stated recently, it isn't too far-fetched, and I am learning more and more, the more I look into this dark matter resolution of mine.
For those of you who are waiting to be inspired by this weblog, let me tell you that we have been cleaning house lately, and by that I mean sorting the things we want from the things we don't.  Also going out with the satellite TV are bags and bags of clothes.  It is a refreshing feeling, disposing of so much stuff.  But in the style of a makeover, when you throw out the trophies, you want to keep the stories, and when you refashion yourself and your identity, you want to give credit to your old self and realize that it led in a cause-and-effect way to who you are today.  In the same way, you should always thank your parents for everything, even though they did way more than you can imagine.
What? You want more inspiration?  Bonnie is folding hundreds of paper chrysanthemums for a dress she is making for a wearable art competition this year.  I think her design and her inspiration are remarkable, and I'm excited to see how it all comes together.  Meanwhile, I got the privilege of helping her cut dozens of strips of paper, and folding some of the pleats, accordian-like, which is part of the process of this origami fold.  If you want to see a good marriage, close your (but wait until you read the rest of the instructions) eyes and envision Bonnie and me side by side on the sofa, with dozens of papers in front of us, and I am folding accordian pleats, and Bonnie is taking the pleats and making beautiful little paper flowers, and we are doing this and like an origami machine, except we are chatting like a gathering of old Japanese women who are helping to decorate for the town festival, except we are chatting in English and not so much gossip, and there is just the two of us folding, and chatting late in the evening while one of the children sleeps in the bed and the other child is still nestled inside the mother.
4:28 AM
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Jan 26, 2008
online, at home
Current mood:excited
Well, we are writing to you from the comfort of our living room.  We are now among those who have internet access in the house! 
Furthermore, we are no longer among those who have satellite or cable television.  We still should get our local channels, and we have the DVD player hooked up, but our DishTV contract ends tomorrow and we have already disconnected the equipment.
If you are in Baton Rouge and get BRAVO and want to invite us over for Project Runway on Wednesday evenings, it is likely we will accept.  Otherwise, I think we will miss the extra boob tube time very little.
12:18 PM
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Jan 23, 2008
relativity results and heath ledger
What my professor did not do was jump up and down pulling out his hair saying, "You've got it!  You've done it!  Eureka!"  He did not propose that we begin working on this right away.  And, of course, he did not offer me research funds to pad my pockets while I work on my idea. 
What he did do was explain that my idea fit with the current standard model of the physical understanding of gravity and space density.  When I explained the further result regarding our own galaxy or galaxy cluster and explained how it fit with observations, he subtley squirmed in his seat, and suggested I look into the quantitative details.  He closed with a bit of inspiration that it takes a good deal of energy to get a good idea from the "idea" stage to a scientific paper, and he lent me a book of his to help get me going.  Overall, it wasn't a brainbusting meeting, but his squirming led me ultimately to a modicum of motivation to see this out one more step.  I've resolved to taking my notes and seeing if I can't squeeze from them just enough science to convince this professor.  In order to do that, I have quite a bit of research and fine-tuning to do, and the catch is that it is just another way to use my extra time.  But it's worth it, I guess, in the big picture.  When I consider that somebody else will do it later if I don't do it now, it convinces me that it's worth it.
The idea, by the way, has to do with the compaction of space at the level of our galaxy and galaxy cluster.  It is standard to think that gravity curves space and/or space becomes denser wherever matter clumps.  The difference in my suggestion is how far-reaching is this effect.  I want to say that all the atoms in us, and light too, is shrinking, if we could see it objectively, from outside of our galaxy cluster, and without the usual restraints of seeing things through a medium that modifies what we see.  My claim is that this shrinking is what causes the discrepancy in the matter we can account for and the matter we expect (which gives rise to what we have been calling "dark matter").  It also accounts for the unexpected rotational speed curves of galaxies.  It might be significant in the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets.  It adjusts our idea of an acceleratingly expanding universe and would make neccessary a few adjustments in our model of its first moments.  Finally, it might bring together relativity and quantum physics, adding to our understanding of what is called the strong force, which has to do with the binding together of neutrons and protons.  most of these possibilities I didn't even talk about with the professor, but we did talk longer than either of us planned.
On quite another note, it was sad to see that Heath Ledger died.  Not only did he participate in his special way in Trent's bachelor's party just this month, but he was too young and with too much promise and potential, to up and die.  Let it be a lesson to us regarding the fragile miracle of life.
10:18 AM
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Jan 21, 2008
trophies for toilet training
Today, January 21st, 2008, was the day I threw away the trophies of my youth.  There were the music trophies, the one wrestling trophy from my elementary school days, and the 4-H trophies.  And two Mathcounts trophies.  Goodbye, trophies.
Orry hasn't pooped in a diaper or underpants for days now.  What, four or five days?  We await Bonnie's potty-training blog, don't we?  Maybe she never gets away, always home making sure Orry can make a beeline for the pot.  I guess we will be getting home internet access soon.  It is on the agenda for the next week or two.  Anyway, if Orry can make it a few more days with no accidents, he should get a trophy.  Say, maybe I should salvage a couple before the garbage collector comes in the morning.  I could give them to Orry one by one for toilet training accomplishments.
Although, we have so much other junk in our house, I am sure I could find something else equally enjoyable for him, and representative of his determination and persistence.  Wait, maybe I should give Bonnie and myself some trophies, for our determination and persistence.  Yeah, I think I'll get myself a guitar pick as a toilet-training trophy.  And I'll give Bonnie a... guitar strap!  Hello, trophies!
Tomorrow is Tuesday.  Idea day.  Stay tuned...
10:07 PM
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Jan 21, 2008
craigslist, space density, Ski & Grippo’s
Current mood:productive
Craigslist.com is amazing.  I put one of our couches for sale on there yesterday morning, and before we went to bed, the couch was out of our house and money was in our pockets.  Also, we have a tenant at last, for our next door neighbor.  The new year surprise of switching tenancy is seemingly fairly seamless, thanks again to craigslist.com, as we have another seemingly perfect tenant to occupy our mother-in-law suite.
This idea that I have regarding the relative elasticity of space just keeps getting better the more and more I look into the details.  I can barely wait for my meeting with the prof tomorrow.  It is a good thing a few days have gone by since spawning the idea though, because I have been able to crystalize the theory quite a bit, as well as look into more implications, questions, answers, analogies.  Last night I typed up 4 pages and a nice diagram.  It is chock full of ideas questions and support for further investigation of this idea.  My favorite part was rereading the texts with the insight of the new idea.  Every time I read about how something is unclear or yet to be fully understood, it was another aha moment with regard to the idea.  Of course, mind you, it all is still quite undetailed, until we get some numbers and rigorous theory behind it.  I am really chomping at the bit on this.
Meanwhile, happy to have taken care of all the rentals now, I am still hoping for a math teaching position to pan out.  Fantastically, I am wondering if we will be doing some hard research for this physics idea, but in all likelihood, come on, perhaps I will hear a pat explanation about why this conjecture never made it into modern science, and that will be that.  Anyway, fantastically, as I started to say, maybe some research funds will be available for me to be paid to work with thie prof for some time.  That sounds fantastic, doesn't it?
Speaking of jobs, the youth directorship is going great all of the sudden.  I'll tell you more tomorrow after meeting with the rector, but this Sunday we had 18 at our youth group, a sizable group, and a lot of the familiar faces I love to see.  We played bag-o-nouns and had a blast.  Also, we drank Ski and ate Grippo's potato chips, sent to our youth group from southern Indiana.
9:46 AM
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Jan 17, 2008
juicing fruit and sick ideas
The first item of discussion revolves like a citrus fruit on a plastic juicer made in China.  From the Bourgs' fruit trees, we LABs (Louisiana Beckers) have amassed a collection the size of a bushel or more consisting of mandarin or satsuma oranges.  This is an abundance of the little oranges, for we spent the autumn months consuming the fruit, sometimes eating at least a dozen a day.  All the oranges that we didn't eat while we were in Idaho have ripened to the point where the pulp is a little chewier than one would like.  They are prime for juicing though, the citric vesicles wanting more than the months previous to burst and yield their tangy nectar.  Not wanting to miss out, I found a plastic juicer from Albertson's and proceeded to juice a few dozen of the fruits, and one lemon, making about 2/5 of a gallon.
Juicing citric fruit is a tedious job.  The first excitement was soon played out when I started juicing and the juice from the first couple oranges barely covered the bottom of the pitcher.  Oh, and I had to wash all the oranges first, because I didn't want the juice to get dirty from the rinds, and the rinds were especially dirty--not like the clean oranges you see in the store.  Anyway, the process is as clear-cut as you imagine it.  You cut an orange in half.  Take half, twist it on the juicer, throw the rind in the sink, take the other half, twist it on the juicer, throw the rind in the sink.  Every few oranges you need to thwack the juicer upside down in the sink to get rid of more pulp that won't quite strain.  What got me is that, short of having an automated machine to cut and juice the oranges, this job gets no less laborious with an electric juicer that spins for you, or any such other small home appliance.  And I thought back to the old days, when plantation owners got their orange juice this hard way.  Wow.
When I drink non-concentrate orange juice, I drink it as much or more than any typical American.  I swig it, downing glasses at once, going through cartons as if trying to hydrate myself on the flavonoids.  We don't buy it that much because it dissappears so quickly.  We prefer to stock up on the canned orange juice from concentrate, unsweetened, which reminds me of my Grandmother, and also dissappears as quickly, but is cheaper.  And, being canned, it stays longer, allowing us to stock up the pantry like anyone out of the Great Depression, or, for that matter, any good Mormon family.  Well, having tried my hand at juicing, I have a brand new appreciation for this luxury of society, the freshly squeezed orange juice.  Orange juice not from concentrate.  Do you see how lucky we are in this day and age?  It is like the availability of ice cream.  Or ice, for that matter.  Wow.  But orange juice.  And, you know, it is neat enough having orange juice available to me down here in the south, where orange trees grow.  How amazing is it to have freshly squeezed orange juice in the supermarkets up north?  I would not juice you a half-gallon of orange juice for $2.50, mind you.  Let alone $2.00.  I would, though, serve you some freshly squeezed juice if you came to my house.  I would watch you chug it and swill it, downing your glass with only a brief thought or two about how tasty it is, how fresh, how chilled, how good.  I would think to myself about the work that went into your gulps.
Right in tune with the orange juice revolution of the last couple centuries, we have a more modern day application of inexpensive provision with the juicers that are available for you and me to buy.  In Albertson's, there was the cheap $2.29 plastic strainer I used, and a more expensive, but perhaps more poorly designed juicer that has an attached container, going for just over $5.  I learned that the simplest of these juicers is called alemon reamer.  In JCPenney, I saw an electric juicer, which spins for you the auger.  There was no price on this, but I did find that all of these models are made in China.  Now, I see that you can buy a Philips juicer (Philips is a Netherlands company), or probably any of various brands, but I wonder how many of these are assembled in the USA.  It makes me wonder why we do not manufacture plastic things in the USA, since it is automated, and must be equally cheap wherever it's done.  Is it insurance? inspections? environmental reasons? that makes us get our products made halfway across the world?  Whatever it is, it must offset the billions and billions of travel miles accumulated in shipping costs.
All this discussion from juicing citric fruit is one thing, and probably so much poured forth because I haven't blogged for several eventful days.  But I cannot close out this weblog without introducing the second part of its title.
So, on January 16th, 2008, at 2:14 in the morning, I awoke with the uncomfortability of a influenza virus, churning away at my insides.  Not wanting to prolong the suffering, and least of all wanting to keep the sickness inside of me, I vomited before too long, recalling how blasted uncomfortable it is to wretch out the details of your innards.  well, Episode one didn't quite do the trick, but three hourse later, after much fitful restlessness and some pacing the house, Episode two came about, during which it felt like a fever also broke (the sweating).  Thankfully I had downed a good amount of water, so I had something to wretch up the second time, but still, I was surprised at how uncomfortable it was, and how my body worked hard to empty every intimate crevise of my gastro-intestinal tract.  Down to a certain point.  I was glad to be able to report that I did not suffer one bit of diarrhea, so I guess I was successful at expeling the bad stuff before it got too far along.
The reason I tell this story, in all its intimate detail, is because it sandwiched an important idea that came to my mind in my horrible state of being ill.  It has to do with relativity, dark matter, and cosmology, and I am meeting with a professor on Tuesday to discuss further investigation.  Let me report more on Tuesday, but I am really excited about the idea and its implications, for now.  It is my sick idea, and I will reveal more at a later date.  In addition to the brilliant idea itself, I was almost just as floored at how such an idea could come to me at such a time.  It makes me wonder more, about sick ideas.
I felt sort of puny the following day, much better, the day after that, and I am feeling 100% of my usual healthfulness today.
That's not all!
As a bonus addition for reading this far, I am pleased to say that, after a difficult four days, Orry is almost completely potty-trained, but I'll leave that update more for Bonnie to write about.
11:48 PM
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Jan 14, 2008
a day in the life of...
After the morning preliminaries, I was Mr Dad for a while while Bonnie got ready and went in for a doctor's appointment.  She is doing well and we'll have an ultrasound in a couple of weeks.  Today is a big day because it is Orry's first official day of toilet training, meaning we have trainers for the tot now.  It was a big day, and I'm glad Bonnie and I got to take it in shifts.
When she got back from all that, I got busy with job opportunities.  First the custom cabinetry businesses, second the schools in need of math teachers.  In the middle of it all, I got a call from a woman who is looking to move to the area and needs a real estate agent.  These calls come every now and again because of my listing on the HUD website as a registered HUD broker.  They haven't proved to be fruitful in the past, but you never can know, and anyway, it would be a good opportunity if it pans out.
I discovered talking to the schools that I needed some information I couldn't dig out of my records regarding qualification tests I have already taken.  So I took a walk to my office at the church to use the computer for some contact information.  While there, I was able to sweep together some of the youth group duties, and confirm an appointment to talk with the rector about the youth ministry next week.  Also, on the way, I took some photos of our next door apartment in order to post them online on our craigslist ad offering housing.  It was a surprise that our tenants decided to move out, so we are urgently seeking another tenant that's the right match for the living quarters.
I got all the information I needed, and got the ball rolling with the schools.  One position in particular sounds promising--teaching High School math while getting my certification--as long as everything works out smoothly.  I also got a clal back from one of the cabinetry companies who are looking for workers, so I drove over there for an interview.  On the way, I had a nice phone conversation with Telcia where we spun our minds around the neccessity of lists and loans, of frugality and family.
The cabinetry position will work out as long as they will pay me just enough.  I am prepared for long hours at a low hourly wage as long as there is a chance for quick advancement.  They have a position they are desperate to fill regarding AutoCAD, so I told them if they gave me a book and a week I could learn whatever they needed me to learn.  It is likely though that I will start more entry-level, but I am going to seriously push for the design job.  Anyway, the boss Richard, a 400 lb man, and I hit it off just fine, I'd say.
By this time of the day, midafternoon, I also was getting in touch with a loan officer who is working on refinancing one of our houses.  It turns out I need to get complete bank statements for a couple of our accounts, for the past year, so the rest of the afternoon I attempted to put that together, play Mr Dad some more while Bonnie finished a garment she was working on, deliver the garment to Bonnie's client, talk for a while with Evan, about life's plans and our plans for life.  (We had dinner at Evan's last night and it was a good fun time).  Whatever else I did blended in with everything else.
By about 5:30 I realized that Monday is Bible Study night, so I played Mr Dad for a while longer while Bonnie cooked some fish and put together a salad with some radishes from our garden.  Then, at 6:30, I headed to the church again for my favorite--Veggietales.  Okay, those of you who know will not be surprised that actually, I don't like the Veggietales much at all.  Nevertheless, I like our Bible study, and the rest of it was fine.  I beelined back to the house afterwards, though, because Bonnie had some clothing to buy before school tomorrow and the shops close at 9pm.  So I was just able to put the toilet-training tot to bed and clean up some before the wife came home from the maternity store. 
At last, long last, we sat down and talked about the hustle bustle of the day, and played a couple hands of Pinochle.  For the first hand, I dealt myself five 9s and no meld.  On the readeal, Bonnie got a family from the widow and easily made her bid.  At 9:44, that's 8:44 MT, Bonnie dealt herself a double pinochle and a double marriage and had a 740 hand, and I thought that was just about enough to record in this weblog.
10:21 PM
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Jan 13, 2008
January 13, 2008
"Life, it turns out, reacts much less to my imagination than I had expected."
I am in the doldrums of modern society, which is, if you ask me, the time it takes to get a job while you are looking.  When you need to have a job, of course.  For a few years now, I have managed myself quite nicely so that i don't need jobs.  Lately, though, I found that my gumption tank is just about on empty, and while it recharges, I want to do something that I'd like to do, for fair compensation.
What would I like to do?  I like to work with ideas.  And I like to make things when the making or the thing is a product of ideas I have worked with.  I like working with people when it fits into this scheme.  A better question is what sort of job is out there that I can find and get, soon, and what's more is that I enjoy it.  In the spirit of that question, I have sought with local custom wood workers, and perhaps will find something good.  Also, I have put in for any open math teaching positions, and there are a few around, so perhaps that will pan out.  Whatever I do, I will plan on keeping the youth director position--probably our rector will work with me if I get a position that doesn't allow me to go to staff meetings or something.  And, we need to think about child care for a few hours a week if I'll be gone all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  But first things first, let me find some work and go from there.
Let me change the tenor of my weblog and mention how great it was to hear from so many dear loved ones around Christmas time.  We have enjoyed holiday notes and other notes of good tidings and cheer, and I thank all of you for your correspondence, and attention.  In particular, we got a nice letter from an old priest friend of ours, Fr Tom.  Written correspondence is to me what Christmas gifts must be like for most people.  In forming a reply to his letter, I came up with the quote that starts off the weblog.
In addition to letters, it was so great to see so many new and old faces lately, and even to catch up over the phone... 
The blog itself catches my mood these days.  On one hand, I'm a little whelmed with the limbo of transitions, the melancholy of self-employment.  On the other hand, I'm a happy husband and daddy, indulged in the support of dear loved ones, tickled with the joy of relationship.
10:25 PM
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Jan 7, 2008
The Wedding
Current mood:happy
The wedding was terrific.  Trent is now Mr Trent and Nicole Coate is now Nicole Becker, or Mrs Trent Becker, or Mrs Becker, or Mrs Nicole, or still good old Miss Nicole (especially if you visit us down in the South)--the ring on her finger and our first person accounts of the wedding will attest to their union as husband and wife.  I am charmed by Nicole and proud of little Trent, glad to have another family stemming from our common roots.
The wedding was beautiful.  Nicole was breathtaking.  The colors, purple, crimson, and blue were highlighted in the pastor's message about marriage, explaining some symbolism in the Bible.  The group of us in the wedding were joined for the few days of hectic planning and preparing, as we shared in excitment, busyness, ceremony, jubilee.  I have some great footage of Trent playing "nut ball" that you'll have to check out in my videos.  We played some nut ball at the bachelor party--a good conditioning exercise for the honeymoon.  Also at the bachelor's party we stood around Trent and rooted him on as he put together a grill so we could grill some burgers.  During the wedding, Nicole and Trent washed each other's feet, which was a good addition, and had extra meaning to them, since they washed each other's feet at the beginning of their relationship, before they knew it was to blossom into a marriage.  The reception was a ton of fun.  The dancing was great.  As they left, an Idaho snow dusted from the night sky to top off the experience.
 
2:24 PM
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Jan 2, 2008
family discussion topics
Current mood:inquisitive
memories.  always a goto subject
future.  where does everybody see themselves in 5, 10 years.  where does everybody see everybody else?
adventures.  your greatest so far, your greatest to imagine.
my list stops here, I guess, mostly because it seems like some of the most intimate discussion doesn't happen in the family setting because family bonds are more so delicate.  family relationships are probably the most intimate, but each relationship charges each discussion, and the general discussions are more social and more superficial I guess.
The real things to talk about are priorities and values.  politics and religion.  life lessons.  wounds and forgiveness.  hmmm.
10:34 PM
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Dec 30, 2007
snow, origami, games
It's a beautiful snowy day here in Twin Falls, Idaho.  Did you see our snow angels we made the other day?
(I guess you have to go check out the photos, until I figure out how to insert the images here.)
My niece and I worked on origami today.  We made some horses, first following adifficult fold scheme, and then an easier one we found online.  The results:
(Same as above.)
It is a busy house now, with grandkids, siblings and spouses, and Grandma Tammy and Grandpa Dan.  We've been enjoying delicious food, and the visiting of family and friends.
I'm reminded of the Serendipity books by Stephen Cosgrove that we read and reread as children.  I read some, and some other books of our childhood, to Orry.
I'm excited to teach Jade how to play Pinochle.  We played a game with Telcia last night and it was a blast.  Other games we've played?
Fact or Crap (sounds like it could be a math game...)
Out of Context
Sequence
Canasta
Pinochle
Bag of Nouns
Scrabble
Cities and Knights (of Catan)
 
5:05 PM
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Dec 26, 2007
christmas, cicadas
Current mood:pleased
Merry Christmas to everybody. 
We have enjoyed more bags of nouns, pinochle, and a delicious turkey dinner.  It is great to relax and enjoy the family time.  We have stayed inside mostly, and seen some beautifully winter scapes in the backyard.
My parent's house is great, and all their hard work is evident in the feel of the place.
I really like Cicadas.
The cicada teaches about the duality of our lives, that we are children, then adults.  Their cacophony is a seasonal element of tropical to moderate climes.  And they are beautiful, I think one has to realize, from their beautiful veined wings to the juxtaposition of delicate and monstrous.
..> ..>

troy 


..> ..>
I realize I have written before about cicadas. And it's wintry--not a time when you can easily see or hear a live cicada. But this site I found--the hyperlink, is so informative. Also, The writing I am finishing up now is about children, parents, and the life cycle, and thinking about cicadas fits right in. 

When I was a boy and would go irrigate with my dad, we searched time and again for the insect that throws its voice, which is the cicada.

So what is next on the writing agenda? It has to do with cicadas too. And mushrooms, and stars. Stay tuned.
9:59 AM
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Dec 23, 2007
bag of nouns and impossible puzzles
Today I learned from soon-to-be Nicole Becker a great new game called "Bag of Nouns".  Not only was this game a real hoot, but I found nothing at all from googling the game, or trying to find its match, except for an obscure mention by an academic decatholon team from Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, Alaska.  These bright students play in such places as North Pole, Alaska (Yes, this northern town deserves a mention this time of year, even if one of you dear readers didn't live there, or didn't just move from there this last week.), and Bag of Nouns is known to at least one of them.
So what about this great game from the North?  Listen.  First, you pick nouns.  These are nouns that match your personality, or whatever.  Then you play a round of "Catchphrase" with the nouns, except that people pick from the same bag of nouns over and over, so all the players get to know the nouns pretty well, and what words describe them.  It's about speed, folks, and you know we all like such games.  Next, you use the same bag of nouns, go around the circle again, this time playing Catchphrase, but using only one word to prompt your teammates to guess the already well-known nouns.  Finally, the last round is Charades with the nouns.  Everything is timed.  It's hilarious.
Our first nouns:
gargoyle
Paris, France
booger
placebo
placenta
horse
saddle
rollercoaster
fungus
chimney
cactus
green
blood pressure
uvula
scrotum
tree
mail-lady
electrician
Narnia
Little Drummer Boy
Mr Potato Head
Nicole
Washington
pencil
principal
school
cigar
church
milkshake
knitted socks

What a fun game.  Definitely EYC material.
Another notable incident of my evening regards one of the mistakes of my life, the approach to the puzzle where two bricks are stacked up on three in a pencil diagram, and one tries (in vain) to cross every line segment exactly once with a continuous path.  Most of us encounter this problem towards the end of grade school and we try and try to find a solution.  I had wished that I had put half as much effort in showing that the solution is impossible.  I remembered this encounter when faced with a similar impossible puzzle, covering with dominos a chessboard that has two missing diagonal corners.  This puzzle has a rather simple proof to explain how it is impossible, and I feel that the puzzle should not be presented without the follow-through of getting to that simple proof.   Also, with hints, I think it is a good puzzle for children of all ages 10+ or so.  Anyway, I was able at least to hook my sister and dad with the puzzle, and we had a nice discussion to follow.  In the end, when we discussed the brick diagram puzzle, I decided it was time to write out a proof to its not having a solution, and was able to make it nice and neat enough to pass on, I think, to children of all ages 10+ or so.
11:44 PM
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Dec 22, 2007
late for the plane...
Current mood:happy
So, our flight and travel plans were altered a bit, owing to the fact that we showed up two days late for our flight.  Yes, you read that correctly: we showed up to the airport two days after we were scheduled to fly.  I don't know exactly how this happened, but I put it down to booking flights for one day but it giving me alternative flight suggestions, and me taking one, not digesting that it was a date change?  What a mess.  And to make matters worse, the ticket was through Delta, which, if you haven't had a chance to experience for yourself, is probably the worst about ticket changes.  Well, anyway, the customer service rep we had was about as caring and as forgiving as one of those big blue mailboxes.  We boiled it down to two solutions under $2000 to get to Idaho in the next day or so, and ended up flying on Southwest to SLC, where we arrived yesterday. 
We got a distressed flyer voucher (from Southwest) for a nice hotel in New Orleans for the night for cheap, and they treated us to a nice dinner there, so that was a way of making a fairly rotten experience into something nicer.  Yesterday was our two year anniversery, so the nice dinner and hotel room was almost like it was a really good plan, except that the whole fiasco cost a good deal more than a really good plan.  Our travels yesterday were fairly smooth and Orry traveled pretty well.  Only a couple times did he cry and throw a fit, and he was mostly patient and curious most of the time.  My dad collected us in SLC and treated us to the Utah version of our anniversery dinner.  Thanks Pop! 
And the mountains were beautiful.  And now that we're here, all the siblings have arrived, and here we are in Southern Idaho.  And even though it's Twin Falls and not Jerome, we're one big happy family together again.  We played Eat Poop You Cat and laughed and laughed.
7:59 AM
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Dec 19, 2007
tenants, and counting with bread and pushups
Phwew.  So, by the skin of our teeth, one of our rental properties was rented today, the day before our departure for the greater state of Idaho.  Everything worked out so perfectly.  Except, of course, I can imagine a better perfect, which would have entailed the house being rented last month, or earlier this montheven.  But, I will be pleasantly satisfied with the turn of events today.  And who knows?  Perhaps in one month's time I will curse today's perfection.  Isn't that the way the so called cookie crumbles?
Orry is grasping more and more the idea of number.  His mind is in a preliminary stage of pattern sorting, where his matching of a triangle block to a triangle hole is starting to give rise of the construct of "shape".  Observe the way he treated six pieces of bread today.  Three of them where crustless, and three were flat pieces of french bread, each with crust side up.  They were arranged for him in these two different groups, and he was eager to demonstrate his counting 1-2-3, with his index finger.  He does this pretty automatically, whenever he percieves sopies of things together, things to be counted, and he doesn't really differentiate between two or four, he counts 1-2-3, even at one thing, once the others are taken away.  But today, he pointed specifically at the pieces of bread, and after arranging the pieces in different order and in different arrangments (a straight row, a triangular clump) he still pointed at each piece of bread while counting its number.  That's telling me he's getting it.  When he counts, by the way, he mathces intonation, but otherwise, the words one, two, and three are pretty unintelligible. 
He does this counting for pushups too, which is a cognitive step of development, because the thing he is counting is an action and comes and goes, not like similar pieces of bread for him to perceive and count.  Although that stems from the same source of all his counting, which is imitation of what he sees us do.
10:08 PM
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Dec 14, 2007
books, math, meteors

The other day I found a couple books at the library.  The search started for some NPR books Bonnie requested, one of which is called Crazy For God.  I don't know why, but the first entry which came up at the local library was a book called Letters to a Young Mathematician, which caught my interest, so I borrowed it.  Another book I found going to a list which came up when I searched some more had the interesting title The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  That book was available at my local library, so I got it too.  I got some other books, but these are the first books I have started to read, and wow.

The curious incident book has math in it, and, of course, so does the young mathematician book.  Both of them are similar to what I want to write, which is a math book in words, accessible and likable by ordinary people.  Each of them, though, are just enough different from what I want to write as to inspire me to pick up that project again.  The letters book is more for aspiring math people.  The novel, which is narrated by a mathematically inclined boy with the syndrome documented and described by Hans Asperger, is not quite enough math, and not enough structure. Anyway, the project is something I've thought about over the last ten years, and I'll rejuvenate that project among my other goings-on.

The synchronicity of the randomly selected books, which together worked to inspire me back to this old project is one thing.  But Luke, there is another....

A week ago or so, catching the end of Deal or No Deal, A contestant was left with two suitcases, one she already selected, and the other that was left after choosing and discarding 24 others.  One suitcase represented $200000, and the other $1000, and she had the option to stick with her suitcase or to witch and take the other.  It reminded me of the 3-door probability problem, which I promptly explained to Bonnie and we talked about that for a couple nights, talked about the difference of the 3-door problem and the Deal or No Deal situation.  The 3-door problem is also called the Monty Hall Problem, and is worth checking out, if you haven't read about it.  Anyway, this very problem and a discussion appeared in the curious dog book, so that Bonnie and I read about it just days after talking about it.  And, if you want to know, in Deal or No Deal, if you switch your suitcase or not, it doesn't change the probability of getting whatever suitcase you want.

Now, I am trying to convince Bonnie of two things.  One thing is that Zimmerman would be a fine name for a little boy.  And the other is that even though we're tired, it might be worth it to go check out the night sky for some Gemenid meteors in an hour or so.  We are in Houma, so we'll drive a little out of town and see super skies, if the clouds thin out.  And, if we're lucky, we'll see some real doozies.  Actually, I'm not so completely gung-ho about either of these ideas that my life will be shattered if one of them isn't realized.  But both ideas seem good to me.

If you are curious about what I'm reading, be sure to check my book list on my profile page, which I try to keep updated.  I have a great quote on there now from Ian Stewart, the mathematician who wrote the book of Letters to a Young Mathematician.
9:59 PM
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Dec 9, 2007
10:26 pm
I look at the digital time, and see birthdays.  At 44 minutes after the hour I see tallies of hours I've been alive, at 8:44, or 9:44, I add another day or half-day to my life, in my mind.  I also look for times that are the same upside down as right side up, like my social security number.
As for good ideas, chalk up the example of leadership I'd like to see from the next president: Why not a White House Market which specializes in producing and gathering local goods for the local person (and tourist, why not).  I'm talking milk, garden vegetables, maybe not chickens, but why not eggs?  I'm talking some inspiration for change.
Today we went rock climbing, the church youth group and me.  Except there were no rocks--it was a giant warehouse with plywood walls and plastic fake rock holds.  But there was a lot of climbing, and we had a grand time.  A fun time was had by meeting there my cousins and their kids.  How two of us Idaho boys ended up as nearly neighbors in southern Louisiana, well, it's almost incredible.  But it was good to see Rhett and his kiddos, a barrel of fun.  Actually, maybe they were Christmas elves bringing memories of playing with Rhett and Reece when we were all their age.
What's that scent?  Oh, it's my mood.
9:26 PM
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Dec 7, 2007
Letter to Evelyn
Okay, what I have finally sent to my dear cousin!
**********************************************************************
 
Dear Evelyn,
Dec 6, 2007
Two things I want to say right off:  Thank you for sending me birthday greetings in February, and Happy Belated Birthday to you in November.  Now let me tell you the story of these two things.
Bonnie and I were both delighted with your picture and I especially was pleased with your birthday letter in that wonderful cold month of mine.  It is always a treat to relate to Bonnie my familial memories of old.  My memories of you, I realize, stretch geographically more than those of other cousins.  I think it is all but incredible that Rhett is a next-town neighbor to me now, but you take the cake.  When I saw you during my brief hitchhiking spree, the contemplative nature of my journey charged the impact of our reunion, stretched my connection with you through more of the Midwest, and Canada.
Thank goodness we're not like galaxies.  The more galaxies go their separate ways, the galaxies at greatest distance accelerate away from each other at the fastest rate.  I say this because of the next part of the story.  While your birthday approached, I came to realize that 1967 from the current years is the biggest number a couple of humans can count with all their fingers and toes counted individually.  Barring irregularities, of course.  And, you being the oldest cousin, if we were like galaxies, while Sherilyn, Lisa, all the Becker and Theobald kiddos were accelerating away from each other at fast enough speeds, you and I would be hurtling away from each other even more.  I must remember, that little Dawson, now a schoolboy, and learning about stars and galaxies, would be growing away from me even more yet.  But nevermind.  I brought up the analogy to express my appreciation that families can grow apart, maybe a lot like galaxies, but that the laws of physics don't dictate our behavior so much that it must be so.  I appreciate a sense of closeness with you in spite of gravitational drift, which includes and exceeds the difference in our age and geographical locales.
When your birthday was still your upcoming birthday, I resolved to send you my sincere birthday wishes.  You must feel more venerable, perhaps less than ever like the twentysomethingness familiar to me.  I figured also to write and thank you for writing to me.  I am sorry to not have responded sooner in gratitude and glee.  And, although I resolved to write to you, I meant for it to not be a month overdue.  And that's the end of the story about how I got your letter, liked it, and should have written sooner, especially when your birthday came and I wanted to write more then, but didn't, until now.
 
With Love,
 
Troy
8:23 AM
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Dec 5, 2007
Orry learns a new life skill
The day before yesterday Orry acquired a life-changing skill.  Was it when we lined up the 2x4 blocks and introduced him to the idea of walking on the balance beam?  No.  Was it when we pull his shirt up just high enough to trap his arms up by his ears in the hopes of him figuring out how to take off his own shirt?  No.  And I'm not sure that's the wisest of games to teach too early.  We're going to have a little naked boy running around in the cold Idaho winter, all because he can take off his own clothes.  How about getting him the little wooden puzzle with pieces to manipulate?  Is it catching or kicking a ball?  Dancing to bluegrass music?  Counting things that in a group of three?  No, none of these wonderful skills are the subject of this report.
The life-changing skill is the ability to turn our doorknobs, and open the doors in our house.  Wow--it changes the lives of us parents as well.  Now all our boundaries are getting more fluid, and locking the exterior doors becomes a top priority.  By latching the door it is no more so easy to keep Orry out of the dining room slash Bonnie's work-room.  Now we must latch the door and make certain his attention is drawn elsewhere.
********************
Working the latch and opening the door serves as a metaphor for creating life changes in our adult lives.  How pleasant, to persist naively in an exercise we see repeated successfully time and again each day by loved ones we admire.  For us grown-ups, though, our doorknob jiggling is likely to be isolated and arduous, dampened with setbacks.  We may be as ignorant as a toddler, yet with the discernment that our obstacles and shortcomings make a task all but insurmountable.  It is a time like that when extra heart and effort has its payoff, when indulgence in one's incapacitation or otherwise inaction in any form will keep the door closed.
Orry's due for a nap, and my uplifting message has come to an end for the day.
12:06 PM
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Dec 2, 2007
hit! by a bicycle...
I interrupt the nonplussed college football excitement in this town, to tell the story of my hit-and-run incident with a bicyclist.
In this story, it was me who hit and ran, legally.  To wit: I dropped off Bonnie at the edge of campus (our campus has an "Easy Streets" policy to keep the cars on campus to a (still gross) minimum).  This particular intersection where I drop her off is protected by a stoplight, and after I drop her off, I turn right.  On this day, after pulling forward into the crosswalk, ready to make the right turn, I wait for a vehicle coming from the left, and proceed to go.  Woah, I stop short, as a bicyclist, coming from the sidewalk on the wrong side of the road, is just buzzing into the crosswalk to cross in front of me!  He stops but not before bumping into our Jeep right at the passenger side front tire area.
The impact seems minimal, but I wanted to make sure he is fine, the bike is fine, and so on, before we go our ways.  Also, I was hoping there was no scratch on our Jeep, but you know, I have an affinity for bicycles and bicyclists, so I wouldn't press the matter if there were.  Well, my stopping was meant to be abbreviated from the get-go.  As I rolled down the window, he opened the passenger door, and started in about how my light was red, blah blah blah.  I was surprised at his belligerence, but ascertained that he was fine and his bike was just fine.  When he shut the door with a disgusted manner, I proceeded to go on my way.
Later that day I got a message from the LSU police about an accident that day.  Wow.  Well, as it turns out, to make a longer story shorter, I went in and talked with the sergeant, who was sorry to have to cite me for hitting-and-running.  There was an out, though.  From the bicycler's or his witnesses' statements, and from my statement, the officer explained that he would also have to cite the bicyclist for riding on the sidewalk, or across the crosswalk, or something.  So, I suggested, why not call him up and tell him that if he doesn't press forward with the hit-and-run citation he could avoid the citation for himself.  And, sure enough, no citations ended up coming from the incident.
The sergeant explained that with an incident like this (there was no damage to my Jeep by the way), the campus police would have been there within five minutes and there would have been no citation issued then either, probably.  The hit-and-run legally happens when either party is there for a report and the other party is not.  In this case, where the offending party calls for a hit-and-run citation, in court the case will likely be dropped anyway.  But remember, it's generally unpaid and unproductive time sitting all day at the courthouse.
According to the sergeant, the bicyclist was wondering if I would help pay for a re-alignment of his front tire.  And sure, I would have been turned over his bike while i'm working on Bonnie's, one of these days.  But not after the rigamarole of going into the LSUPD and the pacing around the house regarding a traffic violation citation.  You're on your own, Mr Bicycler.
I have a respect for law, but mostly the spirit of the law.  I am not at all a strict champion of obeying the rules for bicycles.  Go ahead and ride on the sidewalks, ride double file, ride on or off the roads, ride across the crosswalks.  But, you've got to respect why the rules are there.  You should feel responsible if you run into a vehicle riding across a crosswalk, or even if a vehicle runs into you.  You should feel responsible also for the welfare of pedestrians, and keep in mind their sense of space and security as you ride on the sidewalk.  As for me, I'm guilt free on this one.  I was stopped at a red, I proceeded to turn right legally on the red, and indeed, I even caught myself from zooming ahead by the last check of the crosswalk.
As for a champion for the spirit of the law versus an all-out scofflaw approach at social contract theory, we shall visit that some other time in some other weblog, perhaps.  Thanks for reading "hit! by a bicyle...".
9:50 AM
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Dec 1, 2007
Orry’s word count and update
Well, we recorded all the words Orry use0s h0imsel0f00 (now he is helping me type).  It's around 60 words total.  35 spoken, 35 signed, and 10 or so are words he signs and says0 (This list includes Mama3, .D..ada, Orry, doggy, hot, water, eyes, touchdown, stay!, hi/bye).  Mind you, his perception of these words is not very developed, so the meanings are a lot fuzzier than they are to you and me.  But for the list, we used words or signals that he has demonstrated some understanding of what or when to use them.
In spite of this vocabulary, if you were around Orry in a social setting, you would hear a lot of his squacking if he would make sounds at all.  He does get into wordy moods, but for us at home we also hear a lot of squacking--a squack for this or for that, for attention to this or that, even for words like "up" which he can say, or "help" which he can sign.  He almost has an automatic verbal usage for "hi" or "bye", but this is still oftentimes delayed.
What I really like nowadays is how helpful Orry is with little tasks.  I mean, actually, he is not all that helpful, right?  But he knows enough of what we say to know when to throw something away, how to bring something to us, or deliver something to somebody.  He likes to help with chores by doing whatever we do, raking leaves, pushing the broom.
And, of course, he loves games, and just about everything is a game.  We started sliding months ago, and he still loves to slide again and again on our hoisted coffee table (see the video if you haven't already).  He loves kissing games and tickling games, and we're using those to wean him of the hitting and biting games, as well as the I-get-a-kick-out-of-doing-something-when-you tell-me-no game.  He likes going to bed when he is sleepy, so we use that to our advantage when his bedtime is near and he starts up with those rascal games of his.
Perhaps later I'll append the word list to this particular weblog, so you might check back at a later date.
9:21 AM
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Nov 24, 2007
fishing imagery, murakami
Our fishing trip was fun.  Another cold snap has come to these southern parts, and the weather seems seasonal.  It was windy and nippy going out in the morning, and I did get pretty chilled spending some hours on the boat, but we caught a lot of fish, including a monster drum ( It seemed as big as the one in this photo, but actually weighed in at 20 lb--maybe 32 in? ).
One of the highlights of the fishing trip was, as usual, the boat ride out.  I just love the open scenery and the way it blends with the anticipation of the day.  Also, it is a relatively long boat ride, and my mind wanders and I enjoy the wandering thoughts.  On this colder windy morning we saw quite a various birds--pelicans, herons, terns, ..., and a couple dolphins, rolling lazily on the choppy water.  I also watched the rainbow in the mist thrown up by the boat and wind as we chopped into the sun.
We had a great thanksgiving, a great fishing day, but what a downer to watch LSU and BSU both lose their football games.  "Watching LSU lose," I use loosely.  We recorded the game, knowing it would not be finished before we got back.  Then, while watching it, I thoughtfully recorded the next hour of programming to make sure I didn't watch it up until the end only to get the exciting last minutes cut off.  But, yes, it went into triple overtime, and the extra hour was not enough.  So I saw them play up into the first drive of the third overtime.  For footage after that I had to resort to ESPN replays.  I did watch BSU lose in real time, though.  It's times like these that I remind myself I am not really much of a fan anyway, so...
I finished the Murakami short stories.  How I like them!  They are mostly sort of like current day fairy tales, or fairy tales for grown-ups.  Nice, for a dreamer like me.
Now I am about to participate voluntarily in an experiment, solicited by a fellow library patron.  The experiment has to do with free trade and is some part of a survey for some graduate student project.  It is a fine activity for a cold rainy Saturday evening, having raked some leaves earlier when it wasn't raining, and minded some business with the rest of the day.  Maybe tonight, if I play the cards right, we'll have some delicious bread and or cookies, to go with leftovers.
4:35 PM
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Nov 20, 2007
A Ghost of the Lost Blog
Orry's progress?  He is in the beginning phase of counting, and he started saying words on his own, like "Moon!" excitedly, pointing it out for us in the sky, and "Stay!" ineffectively, to the dog.
We went to the zoo on Sunday.  It was a good crowd, but not enough time or availability to spend enough time with my buds.  Bonnie, Orry and I tramped through our share of exhibits though.  Orry was intrigued with a rattlesnake.  Bonnie was "enthralled" with the anteaters.  I liked the bobcats this time, and we were impressed with all the birds.  Birds, birds, birds.
The worst part of the zoo happened after we left, when a vehicle slammed into our caravan.  A van hit Bonnie's sister Elizabeth's new SUV, which was carrying Elizabeth and her friend that is a boy Perry.  It was a mess, and thankfully nobody was really hurt.  Actually, inside I was secretly relieved it wasn't our vehicle with the youth group youth.  But gosh, it sucked for Elizabeth and her new car.
Making that emergency call to report the accident to the cops was the second emergency call in as many days!  The day before I was working on a roof in Houma, when a domestic dispute erupted at the house across the street.  It was mainly a man and woman but some kids were there, and I decided quite promptly that I could not very well stand by and permit the spectacel to continue without my involvement.  The cops came, talked some to the people, after which everybody left, and I could work in peace.
This talk about writing over the past few months (the children's book, the records of family episodes) has spurred me to resurrect a project that was born a decade ago--writing a math book in prose.  A math novel.  It's something I've started and stopped over the years--now it's time to make it work.
I mentioned politics, mainly because I watched some debate and thought this and that about the democrat candidates.  But really, I have been mentioning to my friends that they should check out these weblogs and I probably ought to leave politics out of it for now, lest the blogs get too dry, or too enthusiastic, for that matter.
I am looking forward to thanksgiving and possibly a fishing outing or two this week.  And how about the reason for the loss of this blog the first time I wrote it???  I was wanting to check the spelling of Ecuador.  At a library computer, I was unaware that opening another internet window would take my current window to its homepage, thereby losing the finished blog.  So, what I was writing about Ecuador was a reminder and reading suggestion for those of you who have been or are going to Ecuador.  You should check out this interesting book Elsewhere in the Land of Parrots.
Speaking of reading suggestions , I read the most intriguing short story (Murakami) calledBarn Burning. 
And finally, I did catch a rat the other week, which brings my rat death toll to four.  Maybe I should start skinning them and see if Bonnie will make us all some nose mittens for our trip to Idaho.
Oh, I wanted to share also this wonderful idea of becoming locavores--that is, eating only local food.  I am impressed with the idea.  As I am with efforts to self-restrict production and distribution in commerce to local communities, which help communities become self-sufficient.
Thanks for reading, faithful reader.
9:08 AM
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Nov 19, 2007
rats!
I am reminded of a sorry consequence of short-minded cyberwork.  That is, when one types up a long item, and loses it before sending or saving it.  So it has come to pass with what was surely my best, longest, most transparent and also most moving weblog thus far.  Alas!  When I write again, I shall recapture some of the main points--Orry's progress report, a report of the zoo and car wreck, writing and math thoughts, a brief political digression, fishing and thanksgiving anticipation.
And to think, some of you may have started to read this weblog thinking you would hear about the rats I trapped in the back of our yard!
8:21 PM
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Nov 13, 2007
Magic Eye Day
It was a happy day at our Becker household the other day.  Bonnie could see the Magic Eye 3-D objects at long last!  And on the same day, I saw them "the correct way" for the first time too.  Since I was able to see them, I've always seen the scenes inverted because of crossing my eyes instead of diverging them.  Finally I was able to diverge them and see the objects in 3-D instead of 3-D relief.
8:42 AM
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Nov 12, 2007
zoos, flora, LSU, mythology
Bonnie and Orry and I went to the zoo the other day.  I have a natural disdain for zoos as a general idea, but in this day and age really appreciate the efforts and effects of many zoos and aquariums.  The Audubon Zoo in New Orleans is one large enough for me to appreciate and enjoy without the feeling that I am creating demand for imprisonment and export of wild exotic animals.  Interestingly, I have not yet been to the Baton Rouge Zoo, but suspect (perhaps or probably unfairly) that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it.
I planted another part of garden last week.  I know it sounds crazy, but again, I planted the cool weather salad plants, beets, chard, and so on, and yes, this morning we saw the first buds.  The first buds of late fall.  It is weird to be raking leaves and planting a garden, but I'm trying it out.  The last part of garden I planted is flourishing so well.  The main plant apparent is the mustard greens (India Mustard).  Some lettuce, beets, chard, and parsley has also grown okay.  I think I inadverdently killed some of the first shoots of radishes and beets one day when I went a little overboard with some herbicide around the lawn edges.
Our roses are still blooming beautifully, and our other garden from a couple months ago is doing well.  The annuals are still colorful.  The mints took off like crazy, although one stand now is infested with little tiny green caterpillars which are decimating the leaves.  Some of the other plants took just fine.  We did get some tomatoes, and have many Romas now which are still green.  We took some clippings of basil and oregano and we'll be well stocked for the winter and next spring.
We fairweather fans are enjoying LSU's season this year, although, I am convinced that I don't have the constitution for the team or the coaching calls.  If I don't watch it, my nerves are going to be shot by the end of the year.  Of course, this week it wasn't sweaty palms because of a close game; the team is proficient however at increasing the stress for Arkansas and the conference title game, because if they play so poorly as they did the first half against La Tech, they are going to win no human votes in the polls, and they won't beat good teams either.
Anyway, I am interested in reading more Norse mythology, and this great book of short stories by Haruki Murakami, and more ambitiously and least realistically, creating my own (or recreating the traditional) great mythology stories out of my (and my contemporaries') experience and observations.
10:53 AM
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Nov 11, 2007
My 11-11 To Do List, and Thoughts
Current mood:rushed
I need to write my oldest cousin and wish her a happy birthday.  The big four oh.  It is more of a task than superficially apparent, since this side of my family is somewhat estranged, but more significantly, to me internally, sending this congratulatory greetings even seems like a big deal.
I need to write my Great Uncle Elwood and send condolences for the death of my Great Aunt Nita.  I have fond memories, and need to send a message saying as much.  Estrangement isn't an issue here--I just need to take some moments to send a heartfelt letter.
My 11-11 To Do list has only two items, it seems.  Not bad.  Of course, A score of other tasks and duties belong on less precise lists.  To do lists for the week, maybe.  Or month.
I am excited to go to Idaho for three weeks next month.  It will be a good chance to catch up with old friends.  Old friends newly reacquainted, yet unreacquainted, good old old friends, and old friends of various other sorts.  And family!  Since we'll be attending Trent and Nicole's wedding in January, I expect it will be quite a time of reunions.  Also, I hope it will be a time of snowboarding.  I guess I won't expect to go a dozen times, but I would like to spend some time on the slopes!
I liked this last movie I watched, Atanarjuat: Fast Runner.  For those of you who haven't noticed, I keep a list of movies I watch on my home page.  Also I keep a list of books I am reading and books I have recently read.  Let's see, both of those lists go back into August or so.  Fast Runner is a film of Inuit life, but it is more a revealing snapshot of our human nature in general.  Thumbs up, i'm looking for more of the production company's work.
Instead of listing more thoughts now, I'll go and leave a weblog some time in the future, if all goes as planned.
 
6:18 PM
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Oct 23, 2007
Fishing, Misc, Orry
We went fishing on Saturday, which was a beautiful day in these parts, and turned out to be a fantastic fishing outing.  We ended up going out towards the gulf where we saw many dolphins, and I caught a shark, which was my highlight.  We didn't bring it into the boat, but I reeled it in right to the boatside.  We each caught a couple dozen fish and kept probably less than half, which still amounted to a ice chest full of fish.  And there were some doozies!  My largest keeper was a big drum, and then lots of white and some speckled trout.  Other fishes of note were some nice sized redfish and some sheepheads.  Elizabeth caught a drum a little bigger than mine, reportedly.  And she certainly gets most fishing awards of the day.  It was a grand time.  The only drawback was that my face and hands got quite sunburnt.
I've watched a couple magic movies lately, and have magic a bit on the mind.  Last night I dreamed about snowboarding.  On my mind lately is the big question, where are we going to move next summer, and what are we going to do?  That's exciting.  Also on my mind of late is this inspirational mushroom guy I saw him on television a couple months ago--Paul Stamets.
Orry is making some language leaps, as he is now starting to say words that he has so far only signed.  He's still learning signs like crazy too.  Also he finally understands the shape matching when it comes to sticking shapes through their matching holes, so we're having fun with that these days.
11:18 AM
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Oct 14, 2007
Idaho Quarter and The Numismatist
I was pleased to find an article about the Idaho quarter in the June edition of The Numismatist.  I spied this magazine while waiting at the dealership for some service.  Inside, a report about the Idaho quarter, falcons, and some Idaho trivia.  No peregrine falcon photos were from Idaho, but they did have a tractor pulling a planter, a potato field, a photo of the Sawtooths, the Bruneau sand dunes, the Craters of the Moon (in Springtime, it looks like), and dear me, a fair shot of Shoshone Falls, from my neck of the woods in the magic valley.  Also, there's a blurb about a US Assay Office in Boise, but really, I think you might have to be a numismatist to appreciate that.
I hope to scan the article and post it here, some time tomorrow.
4:17 PM
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Oct 11, 2007
Big New News
Current mood:pleased
I am happy to report that our Becker family is growing a new person.  Bonnie and I have official confirmation that we're expecting.  Look for a due date in mid June, again. 
Orry is tickled, too.
We went for a picnic today, and to feed the ducks at the lakes.  Orry eats well and is very mobile, curious, and expressive.  He still behaves like an angel most of the time, though he is known for fits from time to time.  Bonnie and I work at not completely spoiling him. 
We have introduced the idea of potty training, and sometimes Orry gets it--mostly not.
Today is a big day for us too, because Bonnie finds out how well she is doing in a "wearable art" contest she was selected for.  She made a daruma doll cape--if you'll remember from Japan, the Daruma Doll is that red weeble wobble with the blank eyes--one you fill in when you make a wish, and one you fill in when the wish comes true.
2:07 PM
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Oct 11, 2007
Apocalypto, dogs, writing
Current mood:busy
Apocalypto, Sensationalism, and Sensitivity.
First of all, I have to say this was a difficult movie for me to get through.  Some of those who know me well, well understand what I mean when I say I have a curious sensitivity to movies sometimes.  With the sensationalism of todays cinematography, I sometimes feel so wounded by a portrayal that I wish i wouldn't have watched it.  It happens with books too, but only H S Thompson's Rum Diaries comes to mind, and it is definitely not so heartbreaking for me as in a movie.  The initial raid in Apocalypto was hard enough for me that we turned off the movie and set about watching the rest of it another time.  Maybe it was the connection I had made in such a brief time with the characters, maybe it was that Jaguar Paw was the father of one and expecting one on the way... Maybe it was that Mel Gibson was taking sensationalism over the top?
My mom wrote an editorial in 1995 about desensitization and R-rated movies, how it might be good to avoid them.  I was kind of proud to see my mom's mind and expressed opinion in print.  But I was also kind of embarrassed, watching Natural Born Killers every chance I got, and any other R-rated movies, with little discretion.  Well, I would like to attest to not being desensitized entirely, over the years.  And perhaps I am more sympathetic to my mother's opinions than I would ever have guessed.  Movies that have hurt my soul (I also want to mention that each of these movies I deem good, but I will likely not watch them again without censoring the difficult parts): Traffic, Dogville, Apocalypto.  Maybe Crash.  Some of me thinks that it also has much to do with my personal circumstances at the time of viewing--setting me up for a difficult time with this or that.
How my night went to the dogs.
This anecdote comes after finding a friendly, young but full grown chocolate lab at our house for the second time.  It being after 5pm (Animal Control hours), I tied him up to our storage shed.  But he and Chevy barked half the night until his owner finally tracked him down around midnight.  After that, Chevy himself barked a good part of the night, and I didn't sleep well, while i slept.  Wow, how circadian I have become, or at least, how regular I have become in my nightly sleep. 
On this note, I recently woke early enough to see Orion and as many stars as we can see from the city on a clear night.  Beautiful.  And then I thought, "but we can live like thisall the time."  It is the call of the frontier.
Writing about my family.
So I have begun a writing time where I write about the Becker family, uncles, aunts, my grandparents, my siblings, and parents.  We'll see if it sticks.  It has been good, so far, to process some of the story, while telling it.
Now I have included the juicy tidbits I intended in the making of this blog.
2:04 PM
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Oct 1, 2007
thoughts of the day
Imagine you are a t-shirt.  Where would your life journey begin?  End?  I have stolen this opening from a book report by Bonnie.  She is designing and creating up a storm of costumes these days at the Becker household.  I am proud to announce that she has a cape in a Baton Rouge competition of "Wearable Art."  While she's in school I get to watch Orry.
Last week, not to be outproductivitized, while I watched Orry I wrote a children's book called The Star that was Sad.  Today it was A Jealous Heart.  I am looking down the road at a sort of series that ties together humanity and the natural world in a fun simple way.  Maybe we'll see the 'grief of the cicada' or 'the happy farmer' or 'the angry sun' or 'the curious river' or 'the lost season' before it's all done.
Wow, I guess I've planned too much formation and not enough fun for our youth group.  After 6 weeks of solid good attendance, we had only one of our youth join the deanery service day on Saturday, and only four people showed up on Sunday.  It's good to see whoever's there though!  Look forward to adjustments and updates.
A recent plus was a dinner at Evan's last night.  It was a good sociable time, with delicious eats and comfortable "conversating".  Also we got to see Elizabeth this weekend, which is a bonus.  Elizabeth, thanks for the help around the house too!
What is going on in Burma?  At first this made me want to not move to China, but I've read now of Chinese criticism of the government's bloody crackdown against pro-democracy protests.  Look, I'm no big fan of democracy as it exists.  But I am a fan of the freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly.  And I'm really really against the killing of peaceful protesters.  This makes me want to explore again our US foreign policy.  It seems to me (and I'm mostly ignorant, I admit) we are making enemies in the middle east and Islamic nations around the world, yet at the same time we seem to have no regard for genocide in Africa or political oppression wherever it occurs.  No, it's too much of a headache for personal investigation.
I planted what is called down here a "Winter garden," and I'm curious to see what will come of it.  From the garden I planted earlier, we use a few herbs that have thrived, including some mint we used in some cholocate chip cookies last night.  Mmm!  The key in cookies for our relatively small family, is to roll up the remaining dough after making a dozen cookies, and freeze it.  then any night you feel like cookies, you get out the cookie dough, slice off a few and bake them.  It makes it much more difficult to go overboard and eat several dozen cookies in just a few days.
You know who inspired me today?  Jack Lalanne.  I hope you feel comfortable enough to Wikipedia or Google anything I write for more info.
Thanks for reading, faithful reader.
 
9:20 AM
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Sep 18, 2007
philosophy?
Current mood:contemplative
I just read a great essay by Montaigne about education.  Then I watched Lonesome Jim, in which an unhappy man of dispair realizes that part of living life is about looking on the bright side, having hope, faith, love.  When I watched this, I though of Montaigne's claim that we should learn philosophy as we grow up, that we should firstly be "learning how to live", as we learn.
To me, I first thought "philosophy" meant talking "deeply" about anything.  Then in college I found it to be an exploration to discover truth.  Later I have in my mind that the philosopher is a thinker, that truth is an idea, that thinking and unveiling our thoughts and their origins is at best a psychoanalytical approach to understanding the reality we make for our self, that the study of humankind is not complete without the study of our thoughts, that wisdom follows from it. 
Somewhere along the line I lost the sense of philosophy as "how to live."  That thinking about things, that pursuing wisdom, involves as much doing as thinking.
What does philosophy mean to you?  Do you feel like you know how to live?  Do you feel like philosophy has anything to do with how to live?
11:45 AM
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Sep 13, 2007
climbing state highpoints
A section of my life stories would come back to particular adventures I've had travelling to the point of highest altitude in each of the United States.  The best hikes have included Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Virginia, South Dakota, and Colorado.
The funniest have been Kansas, Iowa, and Florida.
I have only been to about 20, and the higher states I have left are AK, HI, CA, WA, OR, WY.  And Montana.  Granite Peak remains to be climbed, though I've sojourned twice to climb it.  For a couple years now, I've looked ahead to the next season thinking it would be the chance to get to Denali.  Now though, I think it will be a few years before those plans even begin to be made.  In fact, if (and I emphasize the if) we end up moving out of the country, we're going to have to make a highpoint roadtrip before we go, or else put off US highpoints for some time (and maybe climb on some other continent?!).
I did climb Mt Fuji while in Japan.  It was a great climb and there was a lunar eclipse that night.  It's all on video, somewhere, or was (that's some of the footage that got stolen in Hawaii in another story altogether).
For you blog readers, read on.  Perhaps at a later date I'll relate more of the stories of the individual climbs/trips.
 
5:49 PM
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Sep 8, 2007
Nietzsche’s Passion
Nietzsche's intensity, his martyrdom, you might say, and in any case his anti-Christian fervor in The Antichrist are a tad too Christian, he may be loath to hear.  But that said, he is right in almost everything he wrote, as far as I can say.  I was shocked to find myself in agreement with his words.  It is a shock, but he bares the social glue of familial and broader tradition and culture to undercut some of the vices of Christianity and make bold raw statements about a reality that is, I think, easily observable by anybody who desires to see.  
No, not easily, because to feel Nietzsche's condemnation is difficult in spite of knowledge.  His pronouncements against the priests and his calling out of well intending believers cuts relationships, divides social structures and breaks up the comfortability of tradition, family, culture.  It makes a paper snowflake out of my spirit, even while my mind agrees with him and my heart meets Nietzsche's on many levels.  This book brought out a chief struggle I have felt for over half my life now--a struggle against my parents and their beliefs, or if not their beliefs, their convictions and the practice of their life.  I must ask myself, is it holding me back--my devotion to them?  And Christianity--am I acheiving nothing, being a Christian?
I answer no, of course (If I answer yes, I could not be doing what I am doing.).  My familial relationships have strengthened me in my weaknesses.  Not crutchlike exactly, I have turned to God in hardship, I have relied on family in times or trial, and their support and a faith in God has been like a cast or a medicine more than a crutch.  Faith in God--the key to my belief is a God meaning something along the "way of the universe".  Reading Nietzsche, I am ready to strike "faith" from my notions about my relationship with God--surprised at how intertwined it is in my spirituality, and how encoded is the word.
Reading Nietzsche, I am also more against Paul than before, when I was more on my own.  How the Church grew out of Christ, as Nietzsche describes Christianity, is largely Paul's doing and I almost abhor him with Nietzsche's intensity.  How strange is it though, that the Church as tradition is not Nietzsche's gripe--at one point (ch 27) I remember a distinction making Christianity the sore spot, but the Church, condoned.  It is the acidity of the typical founder and leader of the church, and the twisters of spirituality that have made Christianity into its godforsaken (and hopeless) shape, declares Nietzsche.  Yet, if the Church were reformed somehow it could very well herald another (or renew the same) renaissance and of course that would be fine. 
And he suggested that "the lawbook of Manu" could very well stand for some moral rule.  I'm interested, never really giving Hinduism much of a chance.  I also delighted in his comparisons of Buddhism and Christianity.  And a little surprised about his disdain for Islam, although, as he declared, Christianity "destoyed our harvest of the culture of Islam," which in its essence, he admits, is more closely related to us (the hyperboreans) and so on.
How Nietzsche divorces the idea of relationship out of his book, out of his life (perhaps), or out of himself altogether, is beyond me.  Not beyond me--he declares very forthright that he detests weakness and it may or may not be that his development never found the fortification in vulnerability (how dare I say it after he laid out his soul in his writing!), the strength in weakness.  Does he find the power of relationship that transcends the power of one?  I guess he must, for he loves the wonderful acheivements of the ancients, also of the rebirth, ... I cannot go on.  Perhaps he could not find in his fellow men or women anyone to relate to--anybody worth it.  I feel like he must have thought about all this, and of what he concluded I cannot say--it was not within the scope of the book.
I was surprised at how appropriate the book is today, A good five or six generations after he wrote it (And to think we are only 90 generations away from Jesus' time!).  How much Christianity has continued to slide into its despicable state.  He caught all my gripes about contemporary Christianity that I feel have been relatively new in the states!  He writes of the catchphrases of Christianity as if he were attending the megachurch/businesses of today!  Yet, we have much more to offer the Antichrist, because we have an extra hundred plus years of Church growth and world mission work.  We have an extra hundred plus years of German and world history, including antisemitism and warcrimes the likes of which might have held the antichristian tongue of Nietzsche were he to write today.  We also have an extra hundred plus years of science and the spirit of the university.  Nietzsche today would not make it to 55, even if he were to make it to 25.  Or, maybe he would make more of a program to approach the world as it is, instead of his statement of condemnation against it.
That is my life, current-day Nietzche protege.  I will not claim to have his faculties of reason, foresight, or oversight.  Nor anything of this kind of superman, although I do feel a sense of it, and have made bold claims in my younger years, to be sure.  Unless, I might claim to have a niche in the relationship department--a one-up on this great thinker, although it is meager--for I confess he knows more than I about the hows and whys of relationship--this science of the charismatic is not my thing.  What is my thing is the knowledge of the importance of "relationship".  Perhaps, Nietzsche might say, it is my weakness.  It is one thing preserved that the Christ taught--and it's nothing new to anyone who has had a mother.  It's just an important thing to remember and to livesomehow, in our lives. 
This is, actually, one of the main reasons I call myself a Christian, and one little reason for my embracing a religion that is "the greatest of all conceivable corruptions".  It allows me to call myself Christian, since I feel that in embracing this idea I am "following Christ".  The other rationale behind my Christianity is in two parts: one, of being myself, that is, the person I am expected to be, or born into, having a Christian family.  and two, stepping up to Nietzsche's implicit challenge (or did he even consider?!) of improving the lot of humanity by making Christianity into something different than the awful reality we observe. 
To do this there are two paths, not exclusively separate.  We can critique, or we can change, and I have been mainly following the "change" path, with my forays into critique.
11:55 AM
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Sep 6, 2007
places I’ve lived for at least two weeks
the "old house" first home, outside Eden, Idaho.
the "farmhouse" second home, North and West of Jerome, Idaho.
"Gramma's and Grampa's", Northeast of Jerome, Idaho.
Spokane, Washington:  dorm with N Cantone, Campion Hall with B Neace, campus apt with Matt (?), downtown apartment by self, house with Sarah, Zack, Jaime, oh, and before that, an upper loft for one or two months by self.
a real farm house on the Clark's property East of Jerome, Idaho, summer 1996, for some time with Jaime, and then for another spell with P Dickinson.
Olympia, Washington for some weeks with Teresa, John.
apartment in Tsumagoi in Gunma, Japan, with Teresa.
house in Itzehoe, S-H, Germany, with Teresa and the Rudolphs, for some weeks.
Portland, Oregon: in a house with Teresa and Estrada family.  in an apartment in Milwaukie with Teresa.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Plantation Trace with J Kanno.
Stourbridge, W Midlands, England, with C Farmer, Richard, for three months.
a house southeast of Jerome, Idaho, by self.
Houma, Louisiana, with the Bourgs.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: an apartment in Tigerland with S Namli and Damir, Edward Gay apartments with M Kovacs, house with L Forrister, J Cacciapaglia, B Nochta, Evan's Highland Apt by self, Harco Drive by self, Southland Court with Bonnie, Stanford Avenue with Bonnie and Orry.
3:42 PM
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Aug 30, 2007
balloon, goings-on, monsters, memories, eyc
A smorgasboard of thought-tidbits: 
First, I still desire--although older, more responsible than I was when I first wanted to go--to check out Burning Man.  My idea was to sew and put together together a great hot air balloon to fly East German style, although I'd just as soon go and see art for the week.  And remain STD free.
Second, Bonnie and I have been studying chess, reading, and child-rearing.  Yesterday she created a chicken and pasta dish which included some basil from our little garden--delicious!  I mowed the lawn.  Our current house transaction is still in the present and not in the past--not good for my nerves.  What is good for my nerves is that little person we've borne--that crying, laughing, ticklish little human we call Orry.  My favorite Orryism now is when he says "cheers" and holds his cup out to tip against ours.
Cicadas are like little monsters, little gentle monsters, that ring in our ears for only so long, after their vegetable growth in the ground.  We need some cicada kid books--note to self.  Nietzsche, too, is a monster of sorts.  While I finish up this current book, I ask myself, do we need some Nietzsche kid books?
Myspace, I am surprised to discover, is a sort of Pensieve.  And not just because we can put in memories for later extraction, journal-like.  For me, getting on here and finding old friends triggers memories I put away long ago.
Lastly, EYC, the youth group I help lead: I am striving to make sure honesty and leadership helps our church provide ideal personal development in these kiddos.  It's heartwarming to see so many youth at our activities!
8:32 AM
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Aug 15, 2007
dirtwork, sandwork
One thing I like about Louisiana is that I can plant plants now, in the middle of August (Happy Birthday Elizabeth), and still have enough growing season left to enjoy them.  I have filled a side garden alongside our apartment house with flowers and herbs and tomatoes and some peppers and beans.  I am doubtful about the tomatoes, but most everything is thriving, so we'll see.  Yesterday it was some begonias and other little colorful annuals.  We've had only a couple handfuls of green beans, but they sure are good.
Getting my hands in the dirt is a re-centering activity for me.  I have a cubic yard of sand or two in my front yard that I have finally started to disperse around our place.  That makes for plenty of re-centering, if sand counts.  And it does, I think.  When I go to the beach, I like making sandcastles.  I haven't had the patience to make the really beautiful kind, but I have enjoyed many a sandcastle over the years.  I'll post some sandcastle photos for your viewing pleasure.
8:12 AM
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Aug 9, 2007
birds
It became apparent to me that the birds of a place wind into one's impressions, sometimes subtley, sometimes strongly.  Doesn't the bird in the air evoke a desired freedom from us earthbound?  Yet in my own random walk and nesting in various corners of our world, I find birds in the identity of the places I've been.
Louisiana is the Pelican State, yet thanks to a squadron of them which roost on an island near Kanaka Rapids on the Snake River, I see more Pelicans in Idaho, when I'm there, than I see in Louisiana.  It was in Louisiana, though, when I first saw pelicans breakfasting in their military manner.  It is a feeding frenzy in front, as the water birds group together and follow schools of their breakfast about the lake.  This is at the campus lakes near our home in Baton Rouge. 
It is the egret that is at the identity of my experience here.  No nobler than the pelican, its grace somehow completes the swamp.
Happy is my soul to hear the familiar coo of the mourning dove which occasionally sounds down here.  I realize it was a sound of the desert where I grew up--in my first home, this sound became imprinted on me somehow, and especially after not hearing it for some time, it will bring to my mind some fleeting impression of my years before school.  It is a pleasant peace I automatically recall, and fondly relish the nostalgia.
In Japan the doves were different.  And although their noises were the same (same tones, same pitches), the call was in reverse, and reminded me (again fondly) of the cuckoo in an old cuckoo clock we had (the same years before school), and of the familiar dove calls, but always with the mild surprise, "oh, yeah, that's what it sounds like here."  This slight difference gently exposed the difference in my surroundings--even the familiar was unfamiliar.
Robins to me aren't the same as robins the world round.  This was another gentle surprise as I was in Europe and realized that "robin redbreast," and wasn't there another robin rhyme of childhood? weren't actually sung to the birds I believed to inspire the rhymes.  My robin is the size of a red-winged blackbird (another paragraph should be devoted to this bird and its whistle); the robin across the pond is closer to a sparrow in size, and rounder and fluffier than mine.  They both tweet.
How regal was the first turkey vulture I saw soaring out of the Snake River Canyon in Idaho, still I believe, the only vulture I saw in those parts.  How... clinical, no....  morbid, no.... How unagreeable the same bird is in Louisiana, roosting in wakes along the road, waiting for that eventual carcass.
Wild turkeys and caution signs on the roadway in South Dakota.  White pigeons outside the window.  A bald eagle soaring low over the lake, or watching the world from a tree top in Alaska, or on the nest in Yellowstone.  Raptors getting swooped and nicked at by starlings and mad blackbird mothers.  Hummingbirds.
My parents inherited a hummingbird nest their most recent move.  What tiny affection, what tiny beating hearts.
And, back to Idaho, I must say that my grandmother was a whistler, and I loved her love of the western meadowlark.  She would whistle its tune, sometimes in answer, sometimes in inquiry, and also for no reason at all, except perhaps to hear the warbling melody.  It was our experience that these birds would localize their calls--that even distinct birds would have their own version--and sometimes we'd remark on the birds learning the call.
http://www.naturesongs.com/weme1.wav
8:32 PM
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Aug 9, 2007
new eyc schoolyear
So, I'm excited about the new schoolyear.  It looks like we'll have a few new faces, and I think the Junior EYC is just the thing to keep everybody comfortable at their peer level.  So up and coming this Sunday, JEYC will be learning about "Authority", while the older students will have a mini-lesson regarding "Art".
Hopefully we'll have a good cast of EYC leaders this year.  Thank you to Carolyn and Nicole who have been helping so much.  Hopefully we'll get Rick Cockrell and Heather Royer helping out, and I have my eyes on Christine Griffith too.  Miss Landry said she'll help out with some events.  And as always, a big THANK YOU to Bonnie, who helps make my involvement possible.
Next month we'll start this worship alternative in the Activites Bldg, and I hope that appeals to some of you who otherwise may be moreorless apathetic regarding our regular 10:30 service.  I also want to thank Mother Karen for her gee-tar and music.  Be sure to keep me posted on how/if you like or don't like the music, EYCers.
8-8-7
 
1:22 AM
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Aug 6, 2007
history of troy
For those of you new to my life, or in need of an update, I thought it appropriate to include a brief and incomplete history of my nearly thirty years:
Feb 4, 1978: born five weeks late in Idaho
until 1984: lived in small farmhouse near Eden
until 1994: lived on parent's farm north of Jerome, Idaho
Fall 1994: moved in with grandparents in Jerome
until August 1995: moved to Spokane, Washington for college
until May 1999: Gonzaga University, BS Mathematics
until July 2000: teaching English in Japan
until June 2001: teaching in Portland, Oregon
Summer 2001: begin state highpoints,
Summer 2001: Hitchhiking adventures
August 2001: move to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for grad school
May 2004: Louisiana State University, MS Mathematics
December 2005: the marriage of Bonnie and Troy
June 2006: little Orry arrives
 
10:06 AM
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Aug 2, 2007
harry potter (SPOILER ALERT)
 
Okay, I read it.
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT
I'm pretty pleased with the way book seven turned out.  Nothing jumped out to me as unresolved, and it was a creative enough way to wrap up the series.  I cannot determine at this time if the books turn most on the character of Harry, Snape, or Dumbledore.  I suppose the most action happens with Harry, as we see him mature in several ways.  It seems that Dumbledore is the grand puppeteer, though, and in all the books leading up to seven the enigma of his character suggests the series may be more about him.  In book seven his story is finally revealed fully, but without much surprise to the reader.  Snape, on the other hand, oscillates in the reader's view, from bad, to good, to bad, to worse, and so on.  Hints of his past are brought up, but not until book seven does his character ripen to where the reader knows his full story, understands his character.  Although we have learned about Riddle's life, he begins and remains despicable.  I guess it is Snape and Harry both who play the puppets in their own individualistic ways between the will of the Good in Dumbledore versus the will of Evil in Voldemort.  Moreorless only in this way do we the readers enrichen our experience of the human condition insofar as we are like puppets with our limited volition, to choose and act as we may--as did Harry and Snape.
One development that I think dropped off a little abruptly was Hermione's SPEW movement.  Maybe not.
 
9:04 PM
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Jul 31, 2007
hurricane relief mission trip
so last week i took the youth group i work with to Bay St Louis, Mississippi.  it was a hurricane relief mission work camp for youth that was going on there, and we spent the week working with kids from all over the country, working at homesites in the area.  we worked with a crew of what started out as strangers, and each night also checked in with the youth group we came with.  we were a group of nine, which was just right.  it was a great week.  to end it right, we went to the beach in pensacola for the last couple days.
i learned a game called zoo, where each player has a sign (corresponding, usually, to an animal, such as sticking your fingers up by your temples for a goat, or cupping your hands behind your ears for a bat, etc.).  players pass the signs in a rhythmic fashion by receiving their sign, then passing on by choosing another player's sign.  if everybody is doing just fine, the rythym speeds up to make it harder.  when somebody messes up a new round starts.  it was a nice way to meet people, since various people hear the rythym of the clapping or table pounding and become curious to play it, then join in, then make embarrassing mistakes until everybody learns the new player's name.  besides, in between rounds and when everybody is done, everybody can talk with each other and get to know each other.
at the beach, we played a marine life style of zoo, which i guess we could call aquarium.  we also built a sand castle.  maybe the best part was laying out under the stars and moon at night and chatting both lightly and intimately about various life things.
4:21 PM
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