Family stories.
Discussion on general topics.
On Saturday, Jeffrey and Grace were officially initiated as parents…
Unfortunately because of H1N1, the hospital didn’t allow young kids into the delivery rooms, so Lia couldn’t meet Isaac. Karen and I had to take turns visiting…
Isaac was sleeping like a rock the whole time…
But otherwise was happy (I think) and healthy.
Congratulations Jeffrey and Grace on their cute baby boy!
Here are more impressing chalk drawings on the floor…
Whew! That’s all!
Chase Freedom credit card seems to be getting worse. For a while you get 3% on your top 3 categories, 1% on remaining, and every $200 you accumulate, you get to request a $250 check. Not long ago, they took away the extra $50 check benefit, and the way the top 3 categories are calculated. Now, they can’t even do their math correctly! I looked at last month’s statement and I earned a measly $1.30 for rewards even though I charged over $900 on this credit card! Even at a flat one percent I would expect at least $9 in rewards. Needless to say, I called in and they would get back to me in 5-7 business days. Had I not called, it would have just gone unnoticed…
The morale of the story is, don’t trust banks to “do the right thing”. Always verify all your bank and credit card statements!
This past Saturday Carolyn had her birthday party…
There were endless New Orlean crawfish being served, which Karen and I finally learned the proper technique for eating them, thanks to April… All you need to do is break their neck, detach the head, and sip the body!
The party was Hawaiian themed, so there were a plethora of leis for everyone, including Lia!
Some of Carolyn’s other friends were also here, such as Jujube…
Then there was the candle blowing…
And the bubble blowing…
Then we went inside to answer 20 questions about Carolyn, where the winner gets Hawaiian T-shirts! The winners were Karen and Phoebe, but they ended up with Chocolate Truffles instead… since when did Jun join marketing?
After a couple more games, Lia’s drowsy eyes turned into teary eyes, so we had to leave the party, but not before we wished Carolyn a first birthday!
From James, Karen, and Lia!
Summers in Seattle are fun. When the sun is out, it’s nice to walk outside, go to the park, and soak in the rays that is scarce most of the year when the city is veiled by the curtain of rain. After the nice day of jogging around Greenlake, you return home to find yourself in a blazing furnace, aka your home.
Sound familiar? Ever since we had to euthanize the White Pine in our backyard, we’ve had find tricks to deal with the heat of the day. Here are of those tricks:
If you have some tips on what works and what does not work on cooling down your home, leave a comment as I’d like to know about them!
If you’re a fan of Korean food and live in Seattle, most likely you know the restaurant Hosoonyi. It was the baseline of all Korean restaurants. To line up for a seat around dinner time, one would literally be standing outside in the parking lot waiting to be seated for up to an hour or more. Once inside, there was no waving down the unresponsive waitresses who only show up to deliver the food, which was another long wait, and purposely ignore any hand gestures or cries for service. The poor service, however, didn’t stop customers from coming because the food was unparalleled in Seattle.
Unfortunately, that was before Lia was born. Karen and I haven’t been to the restaurant until recently, when we arrived around dinner time surprised to see the parking lot devoid of hungry customers. At first we feared that the restaurant suffered a dreadful demise, but the dim illumination of the neon sign that outlined “open” seemed to indicate otherwise. As we entered, there was no mistaking the renovation that had taken place to the room. Even the hot tea which used to come in a plastic, slow-release toxic cup, is now contained in a high-quality ceramic cup. The waiter was courteous and attentive, which gave a chilling sensation as it seemed like we have entered the Bizarro world of Hosoonyi. The menu used to be presented in a bland, korean/english format, so when we saw the new menu opens up in full color with four different languages, we knew we were headed for disaster.
Typically we order three items as our benchmark for Korean food–the Seafood Pancake, the Tofu soup (soon doo boo), and the BBQ Beef (Bugolgi). Unfortunately we were disappointed on all three fronts. The Seafood Pancake was served in a smaller plate and now has a much thicker breading, reducing the seafood taste. The BBQ Beef is no longer thinly sliced like Chinese Hot Pot, but is now as thick as chopped liver. Lastly, the Tofu Soup was the most disappointing of all with some additional sour vegetable ingredient which completely defiled the delicate balance of the soup. The soup went from Excellent to Below Average, which is quite a drop.
Finally the waiter confirmed that the ownership did change slightly over a year ago. From my quick survey of the racial profile of the customers, the number of Koreans dining at that moment had been drastically reduced. In fact, there were more empty seats than people during prime dinner hour, which is quite telling for this restaurant. This is very unfortunate, as the number one Korean restaurant in Seattle has fallen. The benchmark of all Korean restaurants had fallen.
If anyone has suggestions for a new Korean Restaurant benchmark in Seattle, please let us know!
A while ago, I reviewed various wipes and declared the Pampers Unscented wipes the winner. Well, after a while we switched over to the sensitive version, as it was the same price, and have been using it for quite a while:
Then a month ago, we decided to re-evaluate all our choices, as the baby has grown and the texture of the bowel movement has dramatically changed since the newborn days.
First we switched over from Pampers Swaddlers to Huggies Snug N’ Dry diapers Because Costco sells the Super Jumbo packs, the diapers work out to be quite a bit cheaper. When we used it, it was immediately apparent that the odor reduction technology of Huggies was inferior. Any number 1 produces an aroma that’s unpleasing to bystanders. However, when evaluated based on whether the dipers were usable, we decided that it was barely acceptable, so we will continue our frugal cost-saving strategy.
Then we did the math on the wipes and decided the Costco wipes were cheaper, so we switched over. Big Mistake. Even though the Costco wipes was cheaper, the number of strokes required to extract the fecal matter has dramatically increased. Moreover, the amount of force required per stroke need to be intensified to remove the same amount of feces off, irritating the baby’s sensitive skin in the process. In the end, it took many more Costco wipes to do the same job as Pampers, making Pampers not only cheaper, but less irritating to the skin.
The bottom line is: stay away from Kirkland’s Baby Wipes. Just remember, cost per wipe and cost per wiping session are two different things!
Check out how long Lia can stand in place now!
We bought a Fagor Duo 10-quart Pressure Cooker, which has immensely reduced the time it takes to prepare some meals, and it has been godsend when trying to juggle the pot and a baby. However, after using it for a measly three months, the handle broke off already!
This is the part on the pot that broke off:
This is what the part that broke off looks like:
Unfortunately the Fagor customer support sent a reply saying that handles are not covered under the warranty and we need to pay for a replacement. I guess Fagor expects customers to weld these parts onto the pot! What a crock!
I’ve always been fascinated with Illusions of David Copperfield, Stunts of David Blaine, and Camera Tricks of Criss Angel. Here’s one of my own illusions, “The Cotton Ball Delicacy”…
