I was on a flight back from New York today and decided to take a look at the in-flight magazine.  I read an intriguing article about Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA).  CSA’s are an arrangement with a local farm in which several people pay for a “share” of the crop (distributed every week).  The farm gets the cash to support the farm and grow food organically (although I suppose that’s not technically a requirement) and the customers get a bunch of ultra fresh veggies, herbs, and maybe some fruit and fresh flowers.  By the time I heard about this, I was way too late… all shares were reserved.  Count me in for 2009!

VA Dept of Agriculture - CSAs

Some CSA farms near us…

Potomac Vegetable Farms

Bull Run Mountain Farm

Personal responsibility for one’s actions is simply going away.  So I totally agree with Glenn Beck’s comments here…

But, I can’t help but look around at people my age, friends, family, etc… and maybe it’s just the people I hang around with - but none of us seem to have that problem.  Is it because I’m just lucky in who I hang around with, or is it because in my generation, Gen X , there’s an understanding that entitlement is not a foregone conclusion?

I hope it’s the latter.  The only proof point I can think of is that most people I know who are my age, have no illusions that a pension or retirement fund or even social security will exist when we’re ready to retire.

It could also be because the Baby Boomers are simply the loudest voice right now, and they’re the one’s behaving so badly…  Or are they?

How cool is this!  If it’s pretty light, I may have to buy one.  Review on ZDnet Blogs

My mom recently brought back some Cornflake Butter Crunch cookies made by School Kine Cookies company in Hawaii. They are simply awesome! Buttery goodness + a great texture and crunch thanks to the cornflakes.

Maybe I should order more…?

Pretty cool organization (it looks like) that helps out people in developing countries by helping collect money and then thru “partners” in those countries manages the loans for repayment.  The dollar amounts are not necessarily large - these are microloans.  However, what may seem like a small amount of money to you and me, might make all the difference to someone in another country.

So in switching cars from my TL to a slightly older MDX, one of the things I’m losing is my built-in Bluetooth speakerphone.  I used it constantly.  The 2004 TL was one of the first cars to have it built in.  At the time, I didn’t even own a Bluetooth anything.

Anyways, now that the MDX doesn’t have one, I began looking for a Bluetooth headset to go with my Treo 650 (yeah, it’s getting a bit old).  I’ve tried a Bluetooth headset in the past and wasn’t happy with it at all.  I was never sure if the problem was the Treo BT radio or if it was the headset, so I have never owned one since - preferring corded ones instead.  After trying out a more modern headset, I’m happy to say it looks like it may have mostly been a bad headset choice.

I bought my Motorola H375 in a combo set at Costco ($50-$60, I can’t recall).  It came with a wall charger, the H375 headset, and a car charger.  Bottomline, it works pretty well - from a Bluetooth perspective.  Dial a call on my Treo, and the headset automatically connects once dialing begins.  Incoming call and a quick press of the H375 button answers the phone; a second button press hangs up.  The volume buttons are easy and intuitive to press, and you can press both to mute the headset (or press mute on the Treo 650 itself).   Unfortunately, the headset does not seem to be loud enough in some “noisy room” situations.  Normal room situations (okay, fairly quiet situations) seem to be no problem at all.  I was even okay in an airport - at least until the PA system came on.

Battery life is advertised as 6 hrs talk, 8 days standby.  That’s somewhat misleading.  I have not talked enough to push the 6 hr talk limit, but I’d say you can easily get at least 4 in my experience.  8 days of standby is probably true, but the headset has some interesting power-saving “features”.  It seems to turn itself off after about 30-60 minutes of inactivity. When a new call comes in, I’ve got to press the POWER button to turn it back on.  Seems a little weak if you ask me.  Maybe it’s user error, but I don’t think so.

Overall, I’m keeping it - but it’s not perfect.

Alice recently got a new role at work and has had to move offices.  Her commute has increased by 10-15 min each way, which puts even more strain on getting back in time to pick up the kids.  We tend to be one of the last parents to pick up at the daycare/pre-school on a semi-regular basis.  We need more flexibility.

One of the big issues has been we only have the mini-van which can haul 3 kids around with.  Yesterday that changed.  We are getting rid of my lovely Acura TL  (have loved this car) and took a trip to Car Max.  We had a very good experience at Car Max, although they didn’t offer us as much as we’d like for our TL  so we kept it.  We ended up leaving with a 2003 Acura MDX.  It has all the bells and whistles we’re used to and then some…  It also has about the same mileage as my TL and is in good condition.  It’s also relatively inexpensive, so we won’t be suffering financially.  Plus it has 3rd row seating, so we’ve got another car that can handle 3 car seats - without having a 2nd mini-van.

On the way home I picked up 3 more car seats - (make sure you remember to ask for that Twin’s discount at Babies R Us) - and installed them that night.  I bought 3 Graco Cargo car seats.   Since these are our 4th or 5th ones, we know what features to look for now (ones that are important to us, I mean)…  These were relatively easy to adjust and are a good value as far as we’re concerned.  BUT, their true value showed up later in the evening.

We figured out we didn’t need to use the 3rd row seats afterall… All 3 car seats fit in the back seat (middle row) of the Acura MDX, side-by-side, easily!  SWEET!!!

We have not been able to find a vehicle that can do it, except for the largest SUVs or a mini-van.  MDX is neither and works for us!

I consider myself to be fairly well educated.  I’m a minority myself (asian).  I am not a racist.  I am very open minded.  I am also pragmatic. I am for diversity, but not at the expense of success. I believe racism is not a myth, but is overblown and perpetuated by many of the organizations who would do away with it.  I would like to think I am sensitive enough to know when something is offensive and when it is not.  I believe - “to each, his own.”  I also believe that political correctness has gone WAY TOO FAR in most cases.

So, educate me please… since when is the word “monkey” offensive?

I first heard about it in a local news report — some high school kids got in trouble for using the word in a chant at a sports game.  I’ve NEVER heard that the word “monkey” is somehow offensive, but apparently it’s long been considered an offensive word.  I checked with some friends and my wife, but none of them heard of it either.  Just because someone at some point in history called an african american a “monkey” does not automatically make the word an offensive one.  I was once called “skinny” (long ago)… yet that word has not become offensive.

While I’m on the subject… Since when is “plantation” an offensive word??

Sully Plantation - a historical site near my home - has recently changed it’s name to Sully Historical Site.  Sorry, that’s just lame.  Eventually, we’ll be calling it something like… “Historical location #43234″  just so we don’t offend anyone who’s great, great, great grandparents were slaves or may have lived on a plantation — and we’ll strike the word “site” because it might offend the blind.  Sheesh!

I guess if it makes people happy, we’ll go along with it all - but you know what… I’m still going to teach my kids what a monkey says —that’s  “oooh, oooh, ahhh, ahhh” for those who were wondering.  I don’t care what the news reporters say!

Had gout in my foot in Feb.  It decided to make a reappearance about 2 weeks ago.  I even ended up in the hospital ER in the early morning on the 8th, and was unable to put any weight on it.  They gave me X-rays and some pain relief, but essentially took my word at the fact that it was probably gout.  I’ve been a tender-foot ever since.  I’m no longer taking any pain killers - they didn’t seem to help too much anyways, they make you so sleepy… but I am still not in any shape to run or walk 100%.  But hey, no pain when I put weight on my foot — that’s a very good thing!

I went to see my family doctor a couple days after getting out of the ER… I was unable to see my preferred doctor, so I saw another doctor in the practice.  She was not helpful.  She did give me a prescription for more pain-killers (again, not so effective, but sleepy)… but the worst was when I was asking her questions, trying to get advice - and her advice could be summed up by this simple sentence:  “Just do some reading on www.webmd.com“.  Heck, why not just tell me to Google for some info about gout?!?  That’ll be $150 please…  Sheesh…  Next time, I’m going to insist on my normal doctor.

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Originally uploaded by kungfu_kc

Did I take away her favorite toy? Did I verbally abuse her? Did I do mean things to her? — No, no, no

We went to dinner the other night for grandma’s birthday — we went to Sakura, our favorite Japanese teppan-yaki steakhouse. As part of the chef’s cooking routine, they spray alcohol onto the oiled surface and then light it up. This results in a big wall of fire just inches from your face, much to the delight of the audience — unless you’re a 3 year old, scared of fire…

She (and her brother Thomas too) did not want any part of the fire. They would not go anywhere near the cooking table, without kicking and screaming. They were scared of it from a previous experience, and although we seldom go to Sakura - they remembered. They kept saying they had to go “poo-poo” so that they could leave the table area and go to the safety of a bathroom stall (where this photo was taken). They didn’t use the potty once as I recall.

We ended up ordering at our table, but then got sat in the back of the restaurant (which was mostly empty on this Wed night) at a table without a chef. We sat there and ate our meal, secluded from the other customers, and abandoning the others at our table.