Articles

I haven’t actually read this book, but I found the title intriguing. The title suggests that if you aren’t paying attention to your customers needs, then you may find yourself putting whipped cream and a cherry on a meatball. When I read the title, I had two strong and immediate impressions. First, “yuck.” I said it out loud. Ruby, of course, asked what I was talking about. I told her the title, and asked if she would like a meatball sundae. “No way,” she replied " I would want a meatball plain and cherries and whipped cream plain too." ...

Hey there cherished reader, I bet you’re wondering where the photos went. How do I know, because you’ve both called me and asked, that’s how. Well here’s the scoop. I’ve migrated my blog over to wordpress. This is going to have lots of benefits for all of us, not the least of which is that my blog and photos will be much more tightly coupled now. What this means for you is that you’ll have to create a new login. Go on up to the navigation bar and click on login. Then register. You can even sign up to get e-mail notifications when new blog posts go up, how cool is that? ...

I was talking with one of my fellow Akidoists last week about how much trouble he has had raising money for the Aids Ride. We speculated that, with the downturn in economy people are giving less. I started to wonder about this (aloud of course), and kept thinking about it afterward. As Chris Guillebeau points out many times on his website, if you are reading this, you are likely very rich. You are in fact, likely to find yourself in the top 1-10% of the worlds richest people. Regardless of how you feel about economic equity it is more likely than not that you’ll agree that we at the peak of the wealth pyramid are standing atop a wide base. That base supports us in ways that I can scarcely comprehend, but in many ways it needs our support as well. ...

Once upon a time a bunny was hiding in a bush. It was sunny then started to rain. Butterflies came. A pig came. The pig was pink. She needed something to eat, but she couldn’t find anything so she kept looking. She smelled something good. It was a carrot. The bunny tried to find a carrot too but she found the pig’s carrot. The pig wanted the carrot and they couldn’t work it out so the bunny kept walking and found another carrot. It wasn’t anyone’s so she ate it all up.

Last night after the kids went to bed Vick whipped up a batch of Oreo analogs that are so good that they may simultaneously cure cancer and bring peace to the world. Since words can not describe their splendor, I’m attaching a photo. If you’re in the US, I recommend stopping by.

“If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble.” E. B. White, The Sea and the Wind that Blows 1077

Basically, what I’ve learned so far boils down to this. Parenting is not so much about managing your children, as it is about managing yourself. For example, in our family the kids wake up every morning (in the winter) at 6:30. 6:30 wake up calls make me a bit grumpy, so I could either: a) yell at the kids to leave me alone or; b) go to sleep earlier so that I’m not so tired at 6:30. ...

A few weeks ago at our Coffee Social, a friend needed to write something down. Paper is everywhere in our house, so that was easy to come by. He naturally reached over and grabbed my fountain pen, which was sitting on the table beside him. I (too) quickly snatched my pen back and then gently explained that the nib of a fountain pen is a very personal thing, blah blah blah. We then confonded our guests and caused a bit of a stir when we had trouble locating another writing device. Eventually we resolved the problem by borrowing a marker or crayon from Ruby. ...

After days of contemplation and discussion, I believe that Ruby has finally solved the pirate problem, for everyone. Ruby: I know, lets make a flag with a cake on it. I’ll make my favorite cake (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles and flowers on top) and we’ll put the flag up. Then the pirates will know that we have cake and they can come over and eat it. Then they will like us and won’t eat us or take our boat. ...

While we were eating dinner tonight (hamburgers… yes its relevant) the subject of pirates came up. Ruby is very concerned about pirates, and how they might steal her or eat her. She asked what we were going to do about pirates, so we (of course) took the opportunity to turn the question around… Parent: Do you have any ideas Ruby? Ruby (immediately) : I know, we could make a note that says “Pirates don’t steal our boat”, and we could put it in a bottle and send it to them, and then they wouldn’t steal our boat. ...

On Sunday Ruby and I headed out for a test hike in Monte Bello Openspace Preserve. The hike starts a few thousand feet up, close to skyline, and heads deep into the mountains above Silicon Valley. I was impressed with Ruby’s ability to hike for several miles (4 to be precise) without a complaint. The hike was a consistently steep upward slog on the way in, and a nice downhill run on the way out. We stopped about every quarter mile for a snack. I’m not sure that Ruby was tired, or hungry. I got the feeling that she just liked making camp for a minute. Some of our snack stops were barely enough time to catch our breath, but it seemed to be enough for the boo. Here’s a picture of us at the “Last Muffin Stop” which was actually the third from last break of the hike. ...

When we were over at our friends house a few weeks ago ruby fell in love with a nightgown. Last week Ruby and Vick went fabric shopping and by Friday, Ruby had her first nightgown. I think its quite the item.

Victoria and I built a secret garden in our back “yard” yesterday. Vick has been talking about this for a few weeks/months now and the weather and my new found productivity finally converged in a favorable way. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in bloom.

Tonight I said goodbye to Kristy our hair stylist of 10 years. It was – oddly – the hardest thing I’ve done in quite a while. Carma Hair Company is in San Bruno, a one hour drive during rush hour. We have been commuting between thirty minutes and one hour for about seven years, and it just got to be too much to justify. What we’re saying goodbye to is a salon that treats its customers like extended family, and the easy comfort of a big thanksgiving dinner. I’m going to miss the playful banter, what-ifs and did-you-hears that every trip promised. Goodbye Carma, I hope to be back someday!

I was as surprised as anyone when Ruby was called up to test tonight. She was asked to perform four forms and do some rolls. I was completely floored when she executed two forms that I didn’t even realize she could do. Her Uke (Jonathan) was fantastic, as usual, and really helped her to be her best, but in the end, it was all Ruby. She is now 10th Kyu. Congratulations sweetheart!