Seven days leading up to my 41st Birthday

Posted on October 11, 2011 by admin

Last Tuesday’s announcement that the iPhone 4S will be available later this month was only trumped by the news that Apple’s co-founder/leader passed away at age 56 after a long battle with cancer. It was a momentous week for the world, and it set in motion a series of my personal thoughts and actions.

The loss of Steve Jobs on Wednesday October 5th left so much of this world in grief and reflection on the impact one person had on the world. It was not the technology and gadgets that leave their legacy. It will be the story that he told and lived – for the life he lived was a parable for his philosophy of doing what one you love not what you have to – that will live on in the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators of the world.

But even before Mr. Jobs’ passing, these mortal thoughts were in my mind over the past weekend already. I had taken a bad spill on my ride to the Y and had gotten stitches for a nasty laceration on my forearm. But since my wife was gone for the weekend, I would be damned to sit home on Sunday nursing my wound. We rode out in the Peninsula on what turned out to be a gorgeous day.

While driving my friend home, he was musing about how his neighborhood has changed, some people moving out, others passing away. He thought how one day people will talk about how they would used to see he and his wife walking the block with their dogs.

That thought kept returning all week. I thought about this when I heard Steve Jobs’ speech from Stanford 2005 about how death is the greatest invention, the equalizer, the agent for guaranteeing the new generation will take the place of the old.

And I thought of this when I saw the movie Hanna, about the girl who has been trained her whole childhood to assassinate the woman who murdered her mother. The movie was all cool soundtrack and action scenes if nothing else, but it did comment on the same idea – that aging is part of a natural order, and the young will inherit the good and evil that we leave behind.

And we saw the Lion King in 3D today. I hadn’t seen this movie in years, but the 3D re-mastering and watching it in a well-designed theater made the experience nearly out-of-body. I was mesmerized by the message Mufasa teaches Simba early in the film, how the rulers of today will pass on their power to the next, and we are never alone if we look to the stars where the great kings of the past look down upon us. Somewhat hokey, and probably mostly borrowed from Osamu Tezuka’s Kimba, the message resonated nevertheless.

Lastly, as the first hour of my 41st year is almost past, I would like to say that I am ready to accept the change the 40s of my life will bring. I am at a point in my life when I can look at life half-way completed or half-way started. Whatever it is, I know that what we work for is never ended with the passing of our own lives, but it continues in the generations to come.

On that note, I had a wonderful day before my 41st. I got some work done, grocery shopping, watched the Lion King in 3D, and had a quaint dinner at Chez Panisse. Now,  I put my work aside and leave it for tomorrow.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Remembering September 11

Posted on September 10, 2011 by admin

There are events in every lifetime that are shared by all that lived through them. One of these events is being revisited this week as we approach the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and US Capitol.
As I sit here in the lobby of the Acura dealership waiting for my car, FOX News is broadcasting a program featuring interviews with survivors of the World Trade Center peppered with news footage from those chaotic moments.
I am still amazed at how news services were able to capture the pandemonium as it happened, and offered a sense of calm despite the unscripted chaos of the moment. More calming than speeches by then-President Bush or any religious leader, the anchors and field reporters constantly spoke to us and put the events that were unfolding in context.
It is hard to watch the footage of leapers from the buildings, the heart-breaking dispatches from cell phone calls and radio on-plane. The screaming and then sudden silence. But it is just as hard to pull away from it all.
There is a mother and her young son waiting here as well. Although the boy is not watching the television, healthily unaware of the show, I am reminded of the weight of responsibility we have as parents and adults to these young children who live in this world after 9/11. How will these images on TV affect their growing up? Where is innocence in this world where airplanes crash into buildings and thousands of lives are taken in an explosive instant? I am afraid and weary of how unprepared we are to prepare our children for the world that we have created.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Searching for formosa

Posted on July 23, 2011 by admin

Day two. I had been looking forward to this for a long time. The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial was hosting the Tezuka Osamu Exhibit that I had read about online. Despite no English web-page and no other information save the Chinese-only site and a mention on forumosa.com, I heard about the exhibit that is timed with the recent release of a feature-length movie of Osamu’s Buddha epic.

We took the red line to the Memorial, which took riffs from our Lincoln Memorial. But the memorial itself towers over even Lincoln and stands out large as a pyramid. But we were looking for the manga exhibit, which was inside, below the steps, entrance on the side of the building.

The exhibit was comprehensive and offered a lot more than the one we attended at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. There were much more original page layouts with the printed version to compare with, many original watercolor covers and posters, and a lot of context to the major areas of his work. Near the end of the exhibit, there was a gallery of toys- behind glass of course – and of course a ton of souvenirs and books in the store.

We moved on to search for the Taipei 101, which is hard to miss as you approach the long throughway leading to what was once the tallest building in the world. With a striking azure sheen, Taipei 101 looks like stacks of towers on top of each other. When you are up-close, it has the effect of toppling over on its own weight. We didn’t go up to the observatory because we thought it would be better to go up after sundown.

Inside the building are mostly financial institutions, but on the lower levels is a large luxury mall and food court.

We found so many choices sweet and savory, and we found the red bean cake with salted duck egg. We bought just about all they had left. It is worth it!

There was a Jasons Market, which is like a Whole Foods, Costco, and a tourist shop. Along the aisles, we were greeted with samples of all types: jerkeys, tea, desserts, you name it. There were delis of all types of food western and Asian, a large fresh meat and vegetables section. I wonder who actually shops here considering it is rare to find a fresh produce shop on the streets anywhere.

We were so tired from walking around in our flops and carrying so much stuff that we didn’t make it to the night markets. We showered and rested, and it got dark. I think we were still jetlagged from the day before. Or maybe it was the horrible news coming from Norway about a bombing at the government offices and a coinciding massacre that came to surface at an island where there was a youth camp for teens.

 

 

Posted in Food, Travel | Leave a comment

Taipei: Day One

Posted on July 23, 2011 by admin

We arrived in Taipei in a fast cab from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport before 7 in the morning as people were just heading out to work in this huge metropolis.

First impressions from the ride was that there is a persistence green quality to the industrial and sprawling residential communities. Along the highway are green hills and several impressive mountain ranges in the distance.

We are staying near the Zhongsan district of Taipei where there are plenty of places to find food, drinks, and access to public transportation. Our hotel faces the hospital and there is a police station at the corner of our block.

Our first day involved learning to take the metro and bus systems, getting Taiwanese currency for our US Dollar, and navigating the many maps that we used to get around.

We went to the National Palace Museum, which houses over 600,000 of the most impressive pieces of art from China’s dynastic history. We took the metro line to ShiLin Station and then the local bus to the Palace. Although there were large crowds heading in the same direction, there were plenty of other bus lines that were just as crowded.

The Palace itself was impressive inside and outside. Outside has a grandeur that speaks of China’s imperial legacy and the history of the Nationalist government that formed modern-day Taiwan. Inside, the Palace Museum was spacious, giving room for broad exhibits on such media as jade, bronze, ceramics and calligraphy. But it also went deep in showing some of the work – such as the Yuan painter Huang Gongwang. We waited in line for over an hour just to get a close-up view of his painting “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” in its complete six pieces. This painting has such a long and interesting history that involves so many poets who have written inspired by it and many painters who painted their own versions of this one piece.

On the way back, we stopped for a charcoal hand-roasted ice coffee, which was prepared as a single drip process, onion pancake with corn and ham, and we brought home some fruits for the rest of the day.

By evening, we were too tired to make it to Taipei 101 and the night market. So we walked around the neighborhood and chose whatever was out there. Braised snack stands with endless variety of items you choose for them to braise for you, fried noodle dishes that make TuLan look bland, watermelon juice, and of course, red bean dessert!

Getting around in Taipei is fairly easy for visitors. The light rails system is similar to Hong Kong’s or our own BART system and there are plenty of local buses that you can take to continue to your destination.

People are mostly friendly and polite and prefer a casual attitude. There are a lot of young people, teens and college students, but you see a lot of elderly on the buses and streets as well.

A funny thing happened as we waited for our braised food on the street near our hotel. I felt something swat at my back ear and I turned expecting it to be one of those giant cockroaches we’d seen scuttling about. It turned out to be an old grandma who had thought it was someone she knew. She just kept laughing and kept saying, “Pei-se, pei-se,” which I guess means excuse me. At least I somewhat blended in with the locals, at least from the back-side.

Posted in Food, Travel, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Height of Summer

Posted on July 14, 2011 by admin

I don’t know if it’s halfway into my summer or beyond, but it sure feels like I’ve ridden to the top of the climb and now it’s just a matter of enjoying the rest of the ride.
It seems like only yesterday that I packed up things in my classroom and put the keys away. Through the CCSF Science/Math Conference, BuildSF Externship, Google AppInventor Session, BAVC Music Production class, it’s already been an exciting summer.
I’ve spent so many hours on the bike, exploring the City, checking out new places to eat, catching up with my personal library, going to the gym, and just taking in the sun – or cooling off in the fog.
I’ve watched Wimbledon, USA women’s team defeating Brazil one player down, Giants’ baseball dramatics, crashes galore at the Tour de France, and a lot of depressing morning news on TV.
The key to summer is to wake up believing every day is going to be better than the one before, or as if it is your last. When I wake up, I will savor the first cup of coffee. I will look forward to taking a short local ride, or running along Crissy Field, or browsing my favorite bookstore or comic shop.
And of course, twice a week, I can spend the entire day with my wife on her days off, or look forward to her coming home, and catching a movie in bed.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Artist Lucy Knisley Puts Comics Twist on Harry Potter | Underwire | Wired.com

Posted on July 5, 2011 by admin

Artist Lucy Knisley Puts Comics Twist on Harry Potter | Underwire | Wired.com.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Lesson of the Little Mouse

Posted on June 22, 2011 by admin

Today, I learned a valuable lesson about living, dying and respecting everything in-between. I returned to my classroom after more than a week of attempting to wrap things up for the school year. Last time I was there I spotted a tiny little mouse that tried to make a (slow) dash to get across the room. He wasn’t trying to speed away, but I grazed it with my foot to get it to go another direction, and I must have knocked it dead because it wasn’t moving. Feeling remorseful, I went to get something to pick up the body and take it outside. By the time I returned, he was gone. He sat in a corner below my desk, not moving even when I reached under to get something. He just sat there on his hind legs, head lowered, body upright.

Today I returned to find the same mouse dead, his body hardened and hollowed out. He wasn’t much to begin with. He must have suffered a mortal blow and sat in that spot awaiting his death. I felt even worse, and made a prayer for his spirit to quickly move forward to its next stage of existence.

I will always remember this lesson of the little mouse. When I will eventually meet this life’s end, I hope I will recall what the mouse taught me through his own example. Calm and at peace, we all come to this life, long or short, and leave our impressions on those whose time has yet come.

Posted in Philosophy | Leave a comment

Krazy Karma

Posted on June 1, 2011 by admin

In an amazing three days that was also incredibly agonizing and stressful, I got my beloved xxxx xxxx bike is home again. It all began at the end of the year, the very last Friday of the 2010-2011 school year. What else is there to do Friday night but search ebay for whatever sellers are selling. It has become habit that I search for my bike, not really hoping to find my bike being hawked out there. So I typed/searched and there was my bike – with another fork and perhaps a new seat – I couldn’t make it out. But it was the same bike, same size, same component set, same wheels if not tires, even the grips on the handlebar and a few other extras.

But what I could see was my bike, almost as it was the day it was stolen from in front of the lazy security guards at the deYoung Museum. I showed it to my wife and she screamed, oh my god, that’s your bike!

The next three days were hell on a half-shell. My wife ran through all the possible scenarios to approach the seller. We saw his postings, his pictures of the bike, even information about the guy’s company and his blog. I tried to retrace my bike’s history – photos, receipts, testimonials. I only managed to get sympathy, and a bit of empathy. I learned – again – that just about all of us has had a bike stolen from us. Sucks, but there’s only so much you can do.

But that’s not the case if it’s me and my xxxx xxxx. Actually, my wife had much to do with getting the bike back. She doggedly investigated the issue, searched for the frame-builder, and she was the first to contact the seller on craigslist and arrange a meeting.

I drove down to pick her up from work to meet the seller. She was a bundle of nerves. I was ok, having talked to my friends and finding the bike mechanic who built up the bike over 5 years ago. He offered his support and would have testified if it ever came to it. None of my friends were able to join us, so we were on our own.

From first encounter, he looked humble and honest. I felt like he was taking me to identify a body in a morgue as we walked over to his car. He opened the trunk, and I gasped as I saw my bike. It was the same, but cleaner and stripped of its – I don’t know what else to call it – masculinity.

When I test-rode it, I felt something was not right. It was too short, too small. It couldn’t have been it. We raised the seatpost a couple times, but it didn’t seem right. I was convinced it was not my bike. So I told him the truth about why we wanted to see the bike. I went with our story that our friends told us about our stolen bike posted on ebay and craigslist. And about how we purchased the frame years ago, and found a good mechanic who helped us custom order the components and even built the wheels. Showing him the pictures really convinced him that it was our bike. He was convincing me that it was mine while I was not so sure.

After the awkwardness and apologies, my wife kneeling down perhaps from exhaustion or relief, he asked what we would give for it. He wanted to give it back to us, but he said he didn’t want to lose out. He said he bought the bike from a guy in Oakland a year ago, and his wife hadn’t been riding it much. It all came down to whether I still wanted the bike. I began to think there is too much coincidence that this is not my bike, and it would be wrong to say I didn’t want it back after all that had happened. The bike and I have a destiny that we have yet to meet. Perhaps it will be an amazing climb or an unforgettable descent. Whatever. We ended up paying a bit for recovering a bike that was stolen from us. But money can always be gained back. One’s destiny is non-negotiable.

Posted in Cycling, Philosophy | Leave a comment

Spring Break 2011

Posted on April 4, 2011 by admin

Started off Friday 3/24 very slowly. Went to gym and got my pants from Benetton. Raining like cats and dogs let loose!

Saturday I made a visit to the cemetery to say hi to Mom and Pop. Went to Millbrae and chat with Marvin and hang out with Blue Cat. We got a couple pizzas and were off to Tahoe for the weekend!

Sunday and Monday – knee-high in snow most of the time. Windy and cold Sunday, but it was gorgeous Monday before we started back. Perfect traffic on the drive back and were home by 8:30 in the evening.

Tuesday – caught up with past Burtonians with tea at Hong Kong Lounge. Good food and better to catch up with some great people. I went to get a much-needed haircut at Ming’s. Then I caught up on some planning at Readers Cafe and then hit the gym.

Wednesday – After a short bike ride through the park and Presidio, I visited Berkeley since the weather was heating up. Vik’s Chaat Shop and Market, new and much more colorful and bright. Dwight’s Nursery where I found the elusive Akebono cherry blossom tree. Let’s hope it blooms soon! The weather was so nice and warm there. Then I stopped by REI and Vine Street home of the original Peets. The Anniversary Blend just came out. It is a good crop this year. Bright and well-balanced.

Thursday – We planned our BBQ for when Wendy gets off work. I marinated yogurt chicken the night before and picked up some extra strips of beef in case we didn’t have enough. The day started off at the California Academy of Science. I got on my bike and cruised down to the Park and had lunch and did some work in the Moss Place cafeteria. Food was ok, but not worth the price. The BBQ was chill and people stayed late.

Friday – Biked to the gym. Stayed home mostly waiting for the UPS. Worked out but mostly took it easy to get ready for WonderCon!!!

Saturday – bussed into Downtown and had a great time at Moscone Center. The scene was alive and geeky. So many storm-troopers, I had no reaction when one walked by. But besides that there were plenty of costumed heroes and villains and strange things. It’s San Francisco. Everyone’s looking for a reason to get into an alter-ego.

Sunday – sick. got some sun at the Farmer Market and had lunch by myself at Turtle Tower. Not the place to eat if I’m alone. After some grocery shopping, I went home and rested. School tomorrow!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

No-biking Blues

Posted on January 29, 2011 by admin

I got the no-biking blues, no wind in my face, no hill to climb, just trying to keep up, running to put on the miles.
It threatened to rain and tomorrow we’ll see showers. Another weekend without the little Tommi. But that’s ok. I’m spending time with my wife and enjoying our day off. Life is like that. It’s not about what you do but who you share it with.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment