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Main Page
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Fresh styling, more power fire up Ford's popular compact pickup.
Editor: Bob Plunkett
$11,840 Base Price MSRP
$26,150 As Tested MSRP
Model Lineup: XL ($11,800); XLT ($13,950); Edge ($14,435)
Standard Engine: 4.0-liter sohc V6
Engine Options: 119 hp 2.5-liter inline 4; 150 hp 3.0-liter ohv V6; 207 hp 4.0-liter sohc V6
Standard Transmission: 5-speed automatic
Transmission Options: 5-speed manual; 5-speed automatic
Basic Warranty: 3 years/50,000 miles
Assembled In: Twin Cities, Minnesota; Edison, New Jersey
Model Tested MSRP: Edge SuperCab 4x4
Standard Equipment: (Edge) power dome hood design, monochromatic color scheme, power disc/drum brakes with EBD and ABS, power steering, dual front airbags, 3.0-liter V6 engine, 5-speed manual transmission, air conditioning, cloth and vinyl 60/40 split bench seat with fold-down armrest/console, textured rubber floor, analog instruments with tachometer, two 12-volt power points, Styleside 6-ft. box, cargo bed rails, four cargo tie-down hooks, mud flaps, rear step bumper, front tow hooks, fog lamps, 15-inch chrome steel wheels, 235/75/R15 OLW sidewall tires
Options As Tested: 4.0-liter V6, 5-speed automatic, 4-wheel-drive system, limited-slip rear axle, SuperCab with vinyl rear jump seats, two rear access doors, AM/FM/6-disc in-dash CD, power controls for windows, locks, mirrors, remote keyless entry, step bar, sliding rear window, 16-inch 5-spoke aluminum wheels, 245/75/R16 all-terrain OWL tires
Standard Safety Equipment: dual front airbags, three-point seatbelts with force-limiting pretensioners, child restraint seat anchor brackets, anti-lock brakes (ABS), Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) standardLayout: front engine, rear-wheel drive
This year, fresh styling, new engines and redesigned components make the 2001 Ranger stronger, more practical, more convenient and more comfortable than last year.
Ford Ranger comes in two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive models spread through three trim designations, two cab configurations, three wheelbase lengths, six- and seven-foot beds, and flat Styleside or notched Flareside fender shape.
The Ranger XL Regular Cab Styleside with four-cylinder power, manual transmission and two-wheel-drive traction totals to $11,800 as the price-leading base edition. Add in a SuperCab, four-wheel drive and an optional 3.0-liter V6 engine and the XL's tab rises to $20,435.
Pricing for the deluxe Ranger XLT trim extends from $13,950 (Regular Cab Styleside with six-foot box, four-cylinder engine and two-wheel-drive) to $24,070 for the SuperCab Flareside 4x4 stoked by a powerful new 4.0-liter V6.
A sporty new trim called Edge goes further by dressing the Ranger in a monochromatic color scheme that includes the choice of a vivid Chrome Yellow. Ranger's new Edge edition cast in monochrome begins at $14,435 with the 3.0-liter V6 in a Regular Cab Styleside design with two-wheel-drive. It reaches to $23,940 for the SuperCab model motivated by the new 4.0-liter V6 with four-wheel-drive and Flareside six-foot box.
Options include a new five-speed automatic transmission, a limited-slip rear differential, power windows and two extra doors for the SuperCab, which can load the bottom line by as much as $3,000.
Walk Around
The 2001 Ranger is distinguished from last year by its revamped front styling, a bulging hood and aggressive fender flares.
Stylists at Ford borrowed design elements from the larger F-150 trucks and applied them to 2001 Ranger models to strengthen all visual cues and streamline the package. As a result, the Ranger wears smooth new sheetmetal forms with a definitive new face in front and wheel blisters on flanks.
Ranger's strong face sparkles from new multi-beam reflector lamps flanking a large honeycomb grille underlined by a thick bumper with round fog lamps and central air intake port.
Sides show rolled shoulders and flat panels interrupted by etched horizontal character lines and the ripples of flares articulating front and rear wheelwells. The Styleside design remains flat in continuous line stretching from tip to tail, but the Flareside version carves a recessed step into each side panel immediately behind the cab and the notch accentuates a rounded rear fender. With the SuperCab extension, a tall and narrow side window mounts in the panel behind each door's window. Indentations in the bed support partitions to segment cargo.
The new Edge trim designation focuses on a monochromatic treatment with body-colored bumpers and hood raised in the power dome bump that hints at a powerhouse beneath the lid. Two-wheel-drive Edge editions reflect the elevated stance of a four-wheel-drive truck because the jacked-up suspension of the 4x4 Ranger is aboard. Ranger Edge adds protective bed rails and four tie-down hooks, and an optional U-shaped extension device in three-bar tubular stainless steel flips out from side pivot points to rest on the tailgate folded flat as a bed-expanding brace for longer loads of cargo. Also, an optional new hard tonneau lid unfolds from front/rear sections divided by a central vertical partition, with a lock added on the forward bin for security.
The Ranger's cab has been revised for 2001 and more features have been added. The most noteworthy improvement -- a new quality of quietness -- cannot be seen because the additional baffles and insulation that surround the passenger compartment are concealed in the structure. Previous versions of Ranger consistently set the standard among compact trucks for spacious, comfortable accommodations and convenient features. 2001 models build on that foundation with new seat designs clad in new fabrics, a revised instrument panel with tachometer supplied to all trims, and a revamped center pod for climate and audio systems with large easy-to-use rotary dials.
The Regular Cab carries a bench seat that can squeeze three aboard. The SuperCab offers an interior storage bay behind the front seat, with a 6-foot (71.8 inches) bed. Two small side-facing jump seats may be added to the bay; each folds down from the back wall. Optional left and right rear-hinged doors for the SuperCab create easy access to rear quarters.
Ranger's new Edge treatment, designed for active lifestyles, adds a textured rubber floor cover for wash-and-wear convenience. The bench splits 60/40, with side bolsters for outboard positions and a center armrest that folds down and contains a pop-top storage bin. Seats in our SuperCab Edge had cloth center sections surrounded by satin vinyl on the bolsters, and they felt luxurious. Deluxe interior components also come with the Edge, including air conditioning and an audio kit with in-dash CD deck, but the SuperCab Edge used for our drive stocked optional power controls for windows, locks and mirrors, plus a six-disc CD switcher.
Driving Impressions
A 4.0-liter single-cam V6 engine built by Ford in Germany caps the power chart for the Ranger lineup. This new option quickens acceleration performance and strengthens the Ranger's trailer-towing ability. An increase of 47 horsepower over last year's most powerful Ranger. It leaps off the line and runs quickly to speed, while also producing strong torque for off-road work in four-wheel-drive.
The new V6 teams with either a heavy-duty five-speed manual gearbox or a five-speed automatic transmission with adaptive shift logic through electronic controls. In effect, the automatic adds another gear between first and second gears in a four-speed automatic. This produces closer gear ratios for better throttle response when accelerating, towing a trailer or driving off road. A high-gear lockout switch on the tip of the shift lever enables a driver to kick up or down a gear with the tap of a finger.
We drove a Ranger SuperCab 4x4 with the 4.0-liter V6 and optional five-speed automatic through Nevada deserts on pavement and dirt. Offering the best power in its class, the Ranger delivered no-fear passing, even in Nevada's thin-air altitude. It could scamper up mountain grades or effortlessly pass a line of freight haulers.
The Ranger handled road bumps and curve sets with confident dexterity. Its rigid ladder-like chassis, with full box bracing of the front section to stiffen it further, combines with an independent front wishbone suspension system to produce smooth ride sensations.
At the same time, it offers aggressive performance off the pavement, as we proved on a primitive track laced with lumps and rocks and tire-sucking mud pits. A high ground clearance enables the Ranger to clear ruts and bumps easily. And when it doesn't, skid plates shield the transfer case and fuel tank from damage. A pulse vacuum hub-lock device sets front hubs quickly for push-button shifting into four-wheel-drive mode, and it engages while moving at speeds as high as 80 mph. Ford's part-time four-wheel-drive system also adds a rotary dial on the dashboard for seamless switching from rear two-wheel to four-wheel high gear or further down to four-wheel low for serious off-road maneuvers.
With fresh exterior styling and innovative add-on equipment like a cargo bed extender and the two-flap lockable tonneau lid, Ford's Ranger pickup for 2001 makes America's best-selling compact truck even more attractive and practical.
The option of a new 207-horsepower V6 engine upgrade propels Ranger to the head of its class.
The Edge brings a sporty trim variation with monochromatic exterior treatment and an easy-to-clean interior.
Top Cars

subset: commoncrawl


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Clay Hall Kennels. Puppies, with love and care
Puppies …. with Love and Care
Skip to content
Our Licence, and what you should be aware of.
Clay Hall Kennels – an overview.
Puppies for sale.
Beppo, a Border Terrier boy.
Sylvie, a Bagle puppy.
Puppies on the horizon.
Border Terrier puppies for late March.
Borderlier puppies, ready late March.
Beaffy puppies, ready in April.
Yorkiepoo puppies for late April.
Mini Dachshund puppies for late April.
Bagle puppies, ready in May.
Cavapoo puppies.
Litter ready at the start of June.
Cockapoo boys, ready early July.
Beagle puppies for July.
Candy, a Westiepoo puppy. Ready in July.
Cockapoo puppies for early August.
For those on a list.
Mini Dachshunds for mid-June.
Cavapoo pups for mid June.
Westiepoos for July.
Beaglier puppies, ready in August.
Video page.
Reviews/Feedback pictures
Contact us.
Treats, anyone?
Search for:
June 5, 2018
1024 × 873


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Learn more about how light passes through the lens and sends signals through the optical nerve, to your brain.
- Light reflects off objects and travels in a straight line to your eye.
- Light passes through the cornea, into the pupil and through the lens.
- The cornea and lens bend (refract) the light to focus on the retina.
- Photoreceptors on the retina convert the light into electrical impulses.
- The electrical impulses pass along the optic nerve to the brain.
- The brain processes the signals to create an image.
Your eyes play a crucial role in almost everything you do. Here are some of the main functions of the eye.
Seeing- Eyes take in light and convert it into electrical impulses that are sent to the brain, which processes these signals to form the images we see.
Moving- The six 'extraocular' muscles control the movement of the eye. Four move the eyeball up, down, left and right; two adjust the eyes to counterbalance head movement.
Blinking- Every time you blink, a salty secretion (basal tears) from your tear gland is swept over the surface of the eye, keeping your eyeballs moist and clean. This action is very vivid when we travel in dusty / windy weathers.
Crying- Tears – salty fluid containing protein, water, mucus and oil – are released from the lacrimal gland in the upper, outer region of the eye. Reflex tears protect the eye from irritants like smoke, dust and wind. Emotional tears are a response to sadness or joy – there's a theory that 'a good cry' can help the body get rid of toxins and waste products.
Protecting- The eyes are set in sockets in the skull to protect them from injury. Eyelashes and eyelids keep out dust and dirt. Eyebrows are arched in shape to divert sweat away from your eyes.


text:
Girl finds stolen cremation ashes in Pa. park
CLAIRTON, Pa. (AP) -- A girl has found cremation ashes that had been stolen from a van belonging to the dead man's son.
Robert Smith says he thinks someone in the crime-ridden Pittsburgh suburb of Clairton mistook his father's ashes for a powdery drug like heroin or cocaine. He says, "You know this is a high drug area. ... It's sad."
Smith says his father died in June at age 75. Since then, Smith has kept his ashes in a memorial box in the center console of his van.
He discovered the ashes missing shortly before 3 p.m. Monday. They were recovered in a park about seven hours later after a girl found them.
Police are investigating the theft.


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got a cold, decided to take a break for the weekend, and is only beginning to start looking at the Haddock code (in ghc/utils/haddock which is from darcs.haskell.org/haddock2. Apparently it's managed by "darcs-all" in the ghc tree…). If there's any higher-level documentation (online? in the doc directories?) maybe I should find and look at it too. Spend a few hours there, and once I do that, maybe it'll be time to pick a small bug/feature ticket to fix..
also see http://trac.haskell.org/haddock/wiki/CrossPackageDocumentation … Does anyone mind picking the second option (reconstruct info from .hi files, at the expense of its formatting details)? — you can comment on this post (is that right? If that doesn't work, email me at my address listed on http://www.idupree.com/ )


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Send an Instant Message to bbnoise Using...
New Member
I'm looking for an fragrance for intimacy.
You are going on a trip and you need to rush and pick up your 5 best men fragrances to go with you. However the fragrances should be from 1990 to date. What would you choose?
I have thought about it and I guess I would pick up:
L'air du desert Marocain by Tauer
Ormonde man by Ormonde Jayne
Arsene Lupin Dandy by Guerlain
Neroli Portofino by Tom Ford
I'm thinking of buying a Tom Ford Private Blend perfume but I'm not sure which one. I was wandering if you could tell me which of the Tom Ford's has better review so I can make up my own mind.
I am tore between Tuscan Leather, Tobacco Vanille, Noir de Noir and Italian Cypress
I sampled the latest Neroli Portofino last week and I enjoyed it. There is a very distinctive hight orangey note on it.
I'm not often seduced by bottles but this Neroli is a piece
|iTrader Profile
|Recent Ratings


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MWC 15 Special
Just because we have not recently heard anything from Samsung in terms of Windows Phone doesn't mean that Microsoft's mobile OS is dead for Samsung. And while Samsung's official sources haven't mentioned the Samsung Omnia M yet, Samsung's own blog spilled the beans about the company's next Windows Phone. The Samsung Omnia M/GT-I8350 runs o Windows Phone 7.5 and is powered by a 1 GHz ARM CPU. It's said to support HSDPA, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 and aGPS. It comes with a 4" Super AMOLED display and features a 5 megapixel autofocus main camera and a front facing VGA camera for video telephony. The device has 4 GB of flash memory and 384 MB of RAM, which makes it pretty much an entry level Windows Phone only.
At a size of 121.6 x 64.1 x 10.5 mm, the Omnia M weights 119 g, including the 1,500 mAh Li-ion battery.
Samsung describes the Omnia M to have a minimalist, compact design which features an ergonomic contoured casing that ensures the device sits comfortably in your hand.
For sure and as the screenshot above indicates, the Omnia M comes with Samsung's ChatON communication service which allows group chatting and messaging - whether with text, animations or images. Furthermore it features Samsung AllShare which allows to play films, games or any other media direct from the Omnia M to a TV and it comes with a Samsung Music Hub which offers a Smart DJ feature which automatically generates playlists to suit the users mood.
While no release date was give, Samsung Official Global Blog unveiled that the Omnia M will be available starting in Europe and rolled out to other regions later. Like the release date, the price is also completely unknown.
Cheers ~ Arne
Article Source
Related Articles Samsung Omnia
No items available


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Hard Drive Productions, Inc. v. Doe, 2012 WL 90412 (E.D. Cal. July 11, 2012)
In a mass copyright infringement suit, plaintiff served a subpoena on an internet service provider and got the identifying information for the account holder suspected of trading a copy of a movie via BitTorrent. The account holder was uncooperative with plaintiff's offers to settle, and denied downloading the file.
Instead of simply naming the identified account holder as a defendant in the case and proceeding with ordinary discovery, plaintiff asked the court for leave to take "expedited discovery," namely, to depose the account holder to learn about:
- the account holder's involvement with the alleged distribution
- his computers and network setup
- his technical savvy
- other users who may have had access to the computers or network
The court denied plaintiff's request for leave to engage in the expedited discovery. It found that unlike other copyright cases in which anonymous infringers were identified, the efforts in this case "went far beyond seeking to identify a Doe defendant." Instead, the court observed, it would be "a full-on deposition during which [the account holder] who plaintiff admits is likely not represented by counsel, may unwarily incriminate himself on the record before he has even been named as a defendant and served with process."


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I was talking to my Pop a little while ago and we were lamenting something like Sacramento's gas prices, desert landscape, and surprising lack of decent sushi venues, and my Dad just sighed and conceded, "T.I.C."
"What is T.I.C?," you may be wondering. I wasn't quite sure myself, but no sooner did Dad reveal the acronym as "This is California" than I instantly understood his meaning. See, I've been saying "T.I.C." at least once daily, in my heart, for the past year. Of course, my T.I.C. means "This is China." Often, my dissatisfaction is not nearly as good-natured as my Dad's with California, though. As my departure date steadily draws nearer (21 days to go!), I seem to find more and more cause for frustration as I maneuver through town, though of course I've been giving myself much more permission to be displeased, disgusted, and disgruntled.
It's amazing that only a few short weeks ago we were still heavily considering staying in China for another year! WHAT WERE WE THINKING?! Of course, here's where attitude plays a role. If we'd decided to stay, I very likely would survive another year in China, as formidable as that may sound to me now. Here are a few things I will NOT miss about living in Tianjin:
-using a small bucket for bathing the kids
-daily stopping Didi from eating the paint chips that fall off the walls, pulling up pieces of the kitchen floor, floorboards, etc.
-perfect strangers railing me about my kids being too hot, too cold, eating the wrong things, not being held properly, crying, wearing uncomfortable clothing, etc, etc, etc
-even though our apartment is very nice by local standards, numerous parts of it are falling apart, even though it's only five years old-- won't miss that, and I won't miss the landlord telling us to just fix it ourselves when something minor breaks, as if I have a clue as to who to ask to fix it and what to say
-squatters. I'll spare you the details.
-leaving restaurants smelling like I'm a chain smoker
-the reality that, when in public, I am constantly being stared at from several directions at any given moment
-having precious few options for buying attractive clothing and safe toys
-the hock-a-loogey sound, which is particularly offensive when it comes from a nice, attractive, well-groomed woman
-no stains come out in the washing machine, and having no dryer
-hauling strollers, bags, and kids on public transportation
-our bathroom that reeks of mildew, but we can't find the source
-Didi getting into the ash trays in taxis
-the near one-hour ride to church and having to go an hour early and stay at least an hour after every week for Kyle's meetings (simply attending church consumes a good eight hours of my Sundays)
-lack of recreational activities available, especially public parks and libraries
-getting into conversations that I can never finish because the fluency just isn't there
-never actually seeing the sun through the haze, stare as I might
-real ice cream (Dreyers or Haagen Daas) costing $10 a scoop
-carpet-less floors, and all the bruises Didi gets from his falls on them
-traffic jams at every hour of the day
-needing help from a translator to do things I've been doing for myself for years, such as pay my cell phone bill
-our shower that is only technically enclosed-- in reality puddles cover the entire bathroom floor after every use
-the loneliness, the missing family and friends, the having no one to share things with
-being cut off in lines (avoidable only if I'm pressed up against the person in front of me)
-having to cook every day without cheese or processed foods
-the kids and grown men peeing all along the sides of roads
-having great acquaintances, but only a couple actual friends, and even then there's the language barrier
-the lack of manners and social graces (by western standards)
-dirt, dirt, dirt coming out of the woodworks and infesting every conceivable space (I honestly think dirt roads in Uganda felt cleaner than walking through this city)
-unnecessarily greasy meals
-one errand taking up an entire day
-the oxy moronic reality that in a city of 10 million, I feel isolated and sometimes completely alone
-having no idea where I'm going or how to ask someone how to get there
-trying to keep kids from touching anything that might give them diseases, which is a lot of things
-absence of customer service
-no sense of privacy
-mafan, mafan, mafan, everywhere I go
-getting defensive because the Chinese are highly excitable and brutally honest (aka tactless), and often fighting back and harboring negative feelings about the whole experience
-having to control two unrestrained toddlers on a bike, car, or bus, and also knowing how safe their freedom of movement is not
-lack of restaurant cleanliness and ambiance
-problems with having a housekeeper (it's not as glamorous as it sounds)
-Chinese hospitals
-carrying the stroller up and down flights of stairs, squeezing it between teeny aisles, and cramming it onto crowded buses
-comments that indicate I should love my son more than my daughter
-being cheated because of my nationality
Wow, that was a surprisingly easy list to make, and I could truly go on. I have indeed become more cynical than ever in recent times. I'm not blaming my bad attitude on China, although indignation and expressing blatant dissatisfaction (even to strangers) here is completely permissible and not often offensive or inappropriate. That makes it easy to justify the habits of fault-finding and criticizing (I mean, I just do it to fit in!).
Still, I know that succumbing to such a mindset takes a toll on the soul. It does take more work for me to be positive than it ever has before, but that doesn't mean I can't do it. Sure, China can suck the health and effervescent optimism right out of my system at times, but all in all, I know it still claims its charms. I don't always feel so resentful and disgusted with my circumstances. A lot of the time, I like certain things about China, and will even miss some things about living here:
-15 cent ice cream bars sold on nearly every block that I use to bribe Ellie with on outings
-being able to afford eating out every day (not that we do, but we could, as could most people here)
-never having to wash dishes. or clean the toilet. our ayi is worth her wage right there.
-there's no vegetable I can't afford
-lamb shishkebabs, Uigher style
-spontaneous sleepover parties in the living room, watching $1 dvds
-getting lots of compliments on my kids' good looks, playfulness, obedience, big eyes, etc.
-perfect strangers always being willing to hold Didi for extended periods of time, which particularly comes in handy while I'm trying to shop
-bartering in Beijing
-being the church pianist, because my mediocre skills will likely never qualify me to play in church in a big congregation
-being in a branch (church congregation) so small that I know every individual quite well and it feels more like a family than any church group I've ever known
-shopping for fabric
-no t.v. (I've honestly gone the entire year without it and haven't missed it much at all)
-really appreciating it when that rare patch of blue sky briefly appears
-knowing people who truly and honestly want to babysit my kids for free (though I've only very recently taken advantage of this and regret that deeply)
-making great money tutoring English and teaching piano lessons
-helping friends with less Chinese experience on shopping excursions and errands
-strangers being genuinely interested in my life, particularly concerning the kids
-Kyle being able to come home for lunch every day, and working only eight hours a day in a relatively non-stressful job (compared to his future, at least)
-finding great deals at local markets and presenting all of my treasures to Kyle at the end of the day
-a pretty simple life, and lots of time for just the four of us to be together
-the challenges that make me a more interesting and well-rounded person, hopefully
No doubt I've learned a lot about myself this past year. Even though my list of bads is much longer than the goods list, it still has been a great year and I don't regret our decision to move and stay here. I know it was part of our lives' plan. I suspect in times to come that we will look back on this year with gratitude and even fondness.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
I was talking to my Pop a little while ago and we were lamenting something like Sacramento's gas prices, desert landscape, and surprising lack of decent sushi venues, and my Dad just sighed and conceded, "T.I.C."
Posted by Kyle at 8:27 AM 3 comments
Friday, June 27, 2008
Memorized lines
Recently, I booked flights and hotels for my little sister and her friend who are coming to China next week. Though the travel service employee was technically speaking English, in reality I felt I was speaking with an automated phone service. A sample excerpt of our conversation...
"The check out time is 12:00. Would you like to make any other changes to your hotel reservation?"
"Yeah, actually I have a question. We need three beds so can we pay to have an extra bed pulled in or do we need to book another room?"
"I'm sorry. I don't understand."
"See, we have three adults so we need three beds. Can three people sleep in one room, and if so, will it cost more?"
"I'm sorry. I don't understand. Would you like to book another hotel reservation?"
"No, but we have three people, not two. Do we need another room or can we pay for an extra bed?"
"...[pause]...The check out time is 12:00. Would you like to make any other changes to your hotel reservation?"
It rather reminds me of how a couple weeks ago a stranger showed up at our door (claiming she "knows" me because I'd passed her in the neighborhood once before), practically inviting herself in while soliciting seemingly urgent assistance. After Kyle showed her in, plugged her zip drive into our computer and started translating and editing an enormous document for her, I started getting suspicious and inquired as to the nature of this document and what we had to do with it all. It turns out she needed to memorize numerous phrases in English in order to interview for a position with an Italian cruise liner. These English lines were supposedly responses to questions that she would be quizzed on, demonstrating her English fluency.
Suddenly there was an ethical dilemma-- not only was it dishonest for us to rewrite sentences that she would be claiming as her own into perfect English, but we would also be promoting the falsehood that she can speak English at all. Still, she kept insisting that her employer couldn't care less how fluent she is on the job as long as she can "pass off" the memorized dialogue. After all, my travel agent had clearly memorized the script, and that's all that was required of her.
Thus is much of the Asian world, so consumed by the perpetuation of favorable appearances that they sometimes don't even know who they really are underneath the layers of desperately maintained images. (But that's a topic for another post.)
And I guess in a country that is seeking with all social and economic and ethnocentric desperation to elevate its status in the world, English speakers are unconditionally in demand. And so I don't condemn either the cruise craving girl, the inept travel agent, or either employer that would endorse them. I can't assign the blame, but I feel I'm among the many who witness and experience the consequences.
Posted by Kyle at 10:17 AM 1 comments
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Gray skies in Tianjin
This morning my feelings have been more or less congruent with the rainstorms we've had here the past few days. Ellie picked up on this, asking "Mom, why are you sad?" "Ummmm, because I don't feel happy." (Dumb answer, I know.) "Why don't you feel happy, Mom? You miss Daddy?" "Yeah, Ellie, I miss Daddy. And I miss Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Christie and Uncle Joe, and Aunt Mish (and I recited all the family members and friends) and I miss being able to handle stress and being able to keep the house clean and seeing sunshine and being able to buy groceries without Daddy's help and not stressing when we have people over and I miss looking forward to every day and I miss caring about people and things and enjoying playing with you and Didi and I miss --" "Mom, what are you talking about?"
"Good question, Ellie." I'm worried that going back to the US isn't going to make me feel happy and able to handle stress. I'm even worried that a good old anti-depressant won't do the trick. My life is different now than it was before Didi--perhaps I'll never be that old perky me again. I can't thank my family enough, though, for their encouragement and reassuring insights. (Indeed few families understand as much about depression as mine.) Despite the heaviness hanging over my heart, I know deep down inside that there's hope for recovery. I don't always believe in it, but the fact that those who love me do gives me the strength to persevere.
Posted by Kyle at 8:46 PM 4 comments
No shame to my game
Today I pursued one of the most daunting cultural experiences any of us westerners could imagine: the Korean bath house (don't worry--this will be a photo-less blog post). Yes, I realize many of you (my sisters, in particular) are gasping in horror or hiding your faces in embarrassment (by association), but there really was no such shame to be had amongst us community bathers.
A Korean lady in our church group has been politely encouraging me to join her at the bath house since basically the week we moved into Tianjin. I've avoided it these many months, fabricating excuses at every invitation... but to be perfectly honest, I didn't 100% loathe the idea of experiencing it. And though I lumbered with somewhat dread toward the locker room this morning, another part of me was actually looking forward to it.
And indeed, once I got Didi calmed down and into a baby bath and Ellie was gleefully splashing around in the warm tub with "Olsen," her favorite grandma figure in Tianjin, I was able to relax and enjoy it, realizing that absolutely not a single soul in the room (and thanks to the season there weren't terribly many) cared about a single other woman's physical imperfections.
It was even a little Garden of Eden-esque; "And they were [all] naked,... and were not ashamed." Any germophobes out there can rest assured that the hygienic standard was admirable. Everyone showers thoroughly before entering any of the baths and the water is changed regularly. I'm quite certain walking through the Tianjin air facilitates more germ transfer than any Korean bathhouse. After an invigorating exfoliation session, sweating in the sauna, and polar bear plunge in the cold tub (to close the cleansed pores), indeed I feel fresher and cleaner than I have in ages.
Kyle will probably be a little embarrassed when he finds out I posted about this, but what I'm realizing is that our standard of appropriateness is not always mandated by indisputable, universal morals, but rather, simply by culture. (Trust me, by and large, the Koreans are a much more modest people than Americans.) And I can guarantee you that American women at the pool, the gym, and virtually anywhere are out to flaunt their bodies more than anyone would dream of at the bathhouse today (and yes, I think even if it was only women at the pool, we'd still feel the need to flaunt). The experience I'm relaying is probably much more appropriate than the amount of flesh any one of you sees during regular public outings.
In fact, the bathhouse experience even felt a little like a celebration of womanhood. Those of us with stretch marks and a little extra here and there didn't need to feel any less respectable than those with "ideal" shapes. I was impressed with the reality that every single one of us was created with the incredible ability to carry and care for children. Whether or not all of us yet have is irrelevant, but the reality that our bodies were created in light of these nurturing abilities is empowering.
So, at the bath house and in the delivery room, I have nothing to be fearful of; nothing to be ashamed of. It's those who are scantily clad in the pursuit of non-celebratory functions of the female body that have cause for shame. It's those who shun or disrespect the incredible female ordinances of pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation that are the ones who will never be pleased or grateful for the way they look.
I'm not saying I'll never again groan when I step on the scale or can't fit into my jeans, but I believe my perspective is broadening. And I surely believe that the world over-- men, women, and children alike-- could use a great deal of the kind of enlightenment I received today.
Posted by Kyle at 12:40 AM 3 comments
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Tag--I'm it!!!
I never understood the blogging concept of "tag." The rules were never explained to me as they seem to have been to blogging residents of the Free World. One day I just found three friends had posted autobiographical trivia in an identical format under the title "I've been tagged!"
I never felt compelled to participate in the tagging game, partially because I missed the introduction and rules, but also because who could honestly care about my Narcissistic ramblings on personal preferences and the like?
And then I realized that this is exactly what blogs are about! They provide a socially acceptable outlet for an individualistic, one-sided conversation that is totally and completely all about me, no apology needed!
Sure, I like to think that my posts are selflessly centered around my kids. Yet that's only because their lives are my life. I enjoy babbling about myself and my ideals just as much as the next person, and the blogging world tells me that's okay.
In the spirit of this discovery, I will now "tag" myself (and don't tell me that's against the rules that you never bothered to explain to me).
8 things I like:
-bright (but not tacky) color schemes, usually involving green
-big yards, gardens, fountains
-"all-out" themed parties
-the way milk crystalizes when poured over ice cream
-natural birthing philosophy
-a picnic at the park
-sleeping in
-friendly debating
8 things I would like to be if I were not momming:
-event planner (eg weddings, reunions)
-middle or high school social science teacher
-interior designer
-children's dance instructor
-public health/nutrition/women's health worker in the developing world, probably Africa
8 interests/hobbies:
-watching BBC's Pride & Prejudice (and Kyle's tastes are so improving that he requests it himself from time to time these days), but NOT the Keira Knightley wanna-be version
-do-it-yourself home decor, especially if I can sew-it-myself
-precious stone jewelry sales for Mothers Without Borders
-"Hairspray" and other musicals
-playing piano, especially my newly-mastered LDS hymns
-international adoption
-novel hunting, with novel reading to come...
-herbal/natural dietary supplements
8 places I would still like to live:
-New Zealand
-Seattle, WA
-western Africa
-Beijing or Shanghai
-South Carolina
-New England
8 foods I could eat forever:
-soft, warm, whole-wheat bread doused in honey butter
-fresh strawberry slices over Breyers vanilla bean
-grilled cheese sandwiches
-bacon and spinach quiche
-lemonade stand pie (way yummier even than it looks, get it on kraftfoods.com)
-barbecued lamb shishkebabs (a specialty of the Muslims in western China)
-Red Robin chicken fingers dipped in honey mustard (by far the best h.m. in existence)
-and yes, a good shredded pork salad at Cafe Rio
8 things I wish I was good at:
-giving people the benefit of the doubt
-getting up early
-remembering/keeping track of birthdays, bills, etc.
-non-begrudgingly cooking two meals a day
-homeschooling my kids
8 things I should be doing instead of blogging:
-preventing those messes Didi's making
-chopping veggies for dinner
-practicing hymns for Sunday
-reminder calls for the youth activity
-reading scriptures
-taking a nap (Didi just fell asleep, and when they're both down, napping is my first impulse!)
-sorting our pre-move piles of junk around the apartment
-replying to emails
Better get on to all that... Thanks to anyone who made it through that somewhat bland summary of my life. Ooo, now I get to tag someone else, right? I think everyone has already done tags like this and moved on to more elaborate and creative topics, but I'll tag my sister Christie, because anything she writes is entertaining.
Posted by Kyle at 11:55 PM 1 comments
Monday, June 23, 2008
Ellie's epidermal disaster
We're really not quite sure what to think. It seems that most of them itch, and Didi and I are getting bitten by bugs, too, but then a random blister showed up on her thumb today. The bumps are covering her arms and parts of her legs and face. All 42 have surfaced within a matter of days, less than a week after Didi's "grass allergy" hand and foot rashes, which have mostly healed but a new rash has developed on his face. According to all we can read about it online, it doesn't fit the description of hand foot mouth disease at all, but I guess anything's possible. We bought some mosquito treatment for the kids' room tonight and if her flesh is still looking highly devoured come tomorrow, perhaps I'll make another landmark visit to the hospital.
Posted by Kyle at 4:16 AM 4 comments
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Joestie comes to China
I'm not very responsible or artistic with a camera, so I delegate photography tasks to anyone else who is with me witnessing anything worth remembering. Such were the funny, frustrating, and fantastic experiences we shared with Joestie, my sister Christie and her husband Joe, when they visited us last month. We were so thrilled to have them come, especially since Christie has already been to this part of China and Joe is a polite, tidy, non-chaotic sort of person (the antithesis of China living)-- we knew they were actually wanting to see US! Actually it was probably the kids, but we were pleased anyhow and had a great time showing them around Tianjin and Beijing. Their six-day visit flew by, as we'd anticipated it would. Here's a sampling of our activities:
Christie is a licensed massage therapist, so was eager for the opportunity to be in the receiving end of one, at least until the foot reflexology came out and the masseuse had her squirming and giggling (a Goodwin trademark) in pain all over the bed. Alas, the masseuses (husband and wife team worked on Joe and Christie together) insisted the suffering would benefit all sorts of Christie's organs, as would forsaking cold water and ice cream, but somehow I think such would be even less bearable than the foot massage...
All of Wednesday was consumed by preparation and execution of Didi's birthday party. I waited so we could throw it while Joestie was here, and I was grateful to have their help indeed. Under normal mental-health conditions, there are few things I love more than throwing a good party. However, the past year there have been few things more stressful and strenuous on my nerves and emotions than hosting a social event. When I've attempted it, I've suffered from anxiety-induced insomnia for days before the event and sometimes even inexplicably burst into tears after the party because of how awful I perceive it went. Anyway, thanks to Joestie's help with this one (beach themed, in their honor!), no such tears were shed. The weather wasn't quite cooperative (it was ultra windy and with Tianjin's air quality, wind is somewhat less than refreshing), so I didn't attempt any of the games I'd been exceedingly stressed over, but the food was good and I was very happy that our friends took the time and trouble to come and celebrate Didi's first year of life. Now if only we had that birthday video montage... (are you all still hounding Kyle for that with me? I can't be the only one who is interested in the finished product.)
Didi was in lovely spirits for most of the evening, right until the point where we put the cake in front of him and prepared to sing the song. Then he grabbed a handful of the frosting, which is what babies do, but several of us made some sort of concerned or surprised exclamation that wasn't intended to be scolding, but the sensitive little kid just howled...
...and honestly wouldn't stop crying until long after the cake was devoured and the photo opps expired. This is why we call Didi bi-polar. When he's happy, he could charm the marshmallows out of any leprechaun, but if you do anything at all to upset him (usually something as subtle as removing a dangerous object from his hand or giving a bite of food to someone else first), he's truly inconsolable for a little while. I don't mind him being an emotional, sensitive little guy in general (if he turns out to be the thoughtful, compassionate kind), but it will be nice when he learns to channel his emotions into expressions a little less disruptive.
Here's the fan club as we know it. Our mix of American, Korean, Indonesian, and Chinese friends in Tianjin.
The next day we headed up to Beijing for some obligatory sight-seeing, which doesn't mean it's not enjoyable, but you just can't really come to this part of China and miss seeing the Great Wall or Tiananmen Square. We were lucky (or not lucky, depending on who you ask, when it comes to hygiene standards and odors) to secure a hotel almost overlapping with Tiananmen Square. Here's a night view of the famous Mao portrait and gate that leads to the Forbidden City.
This is how many more seconds remain until the Olympic opening ceremony (as of May 30, 9:20pm), in case you were wondering. Do you think they're excited? Actually, I think it's great. I'm happy for the Chinese to get this opportunity and I wish the international community was a little more respectful and considerate about China's progress, efforts, and what hosting this enormous event successfully means to them. But that's a discussion for another post.
The Forbidden City, open to the masses.
We met up with members of our church group for lunch and a show. Ellie is shown here possessively protecting her new bff, as Christie dubbed it, aka PJ aka Peach Juice. At first I think she just liked it because it's pink (I'm starting to think that some irrepressible affinity for pink resides in little girls' genes, because I've sure promoted other colors, but to no avail), but after one sip she was quite committed to PJ and spent the rest of the trip cuddling and clinging to it with great affection and loyalty.
The Kung Fu show was vibrant and impressive and a little scary at times; good entertainment, though a sad story. We've always liked the idea of putting our kids into martial arts, for the athleticism and discipline it teaches, and most importantly, so they can kick the rears of any kids who persecute their nerdiness (and with us as parents, that's inevitable).
Our hotel was also a hop and skip away from Beijing's Planning museum, which was amazingly uncrowded and sterile, and even displayed some interesting aspects of the city environment. This huge screen (consuming half of a museum floor) flashes psychedelic images completely unrelated to the city or its plans, but it makes a cute picture of Ellie and her Auntie C.
One floor displayed a model of the important parts of the city, so of course Joe the architect, Tiff the geographer, Christie the historian, and Kyle the map-head enjoyed gawking at it.
Here's a classic Goodwin scenario. I insisted that Kyle try to capture the essence of our hotel experience with this attempted reenactment of our sleepovers. The beds were so slim that we pushed all three together and slept facing a variety of directions (particularly Didi, who was kicking a new person's face every few hours) on the remarkably stiff mattresses. Our accommodation left a bit to be desired, especially for Joestie, who remember how nice American living is, particularly the part where the walls reeked of fresh paint and the only ventilation was a crayon box-sized window. Yes, we are cheap, but Joestie also claimed they didn't mind having an adventure, so I booked the cheapest hotel available and figured we'd make some memories (and with sleepovers, we always do), and we rested assured that with the Goodwin's history of motels, we know we've endured much worse.
I think because of wacky sleep schedule, Ellie was throwing a disproportionate amount of tantrums during Joestie's visit, and yet they say their willingness to have children is unaffected. Here's Ellie in the aftermath of one, in which she insisted on stripping off the top half of her dress because a white ice cream bar dripped a few drops on it. How is it possible that I'm raising a neat-freak?
After we sent Joestie off to the airport on a shuttle bus, we headed back to Tianjin via train, but were only able to secure standing tickets. I was sure someone would offer us seats somewhere, as they almost always do for people with kids on public buses. No such luck. We were filthy already, though, so weren't so opposed to chilling on the ground for the ride.
I wish I'd taken some pictures of Joestie and all of us together, or some more representative of the goodness of our time together (like custard pies and roadside ice cream stands), but this is all I've got. Nevertheless, we really did love having them here and appreciate their tolerance of China's lack of charms (I didn't even get into our customer service nightmares at the antique market, train station, and Great Wall, all magnified by language barrier) and the kids' bouts of screaming and whining. Navigating China (especially during the weekdays when Kyle was at work) without speaking Chinese is no cup of green tea, but Joe and Christie are easygoing, gracious, and a lot of fun, and that made it all worthwhile. Kyle and I decided that we need to be next-door neighbors with them for life. They are just too cool, funny, and lovable to live far from.
Posted by Kyle at 6:59 AM 1 comments
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Congratulation to Me, the almost-native
Yes, I will toot my horn on this one, partially because nobody else (who speaks English) was there to witness my spectacular achievement and boast on my behalf. I had to do it without waiting or thinking, otherwise I would have recognized I was setting myself up for failure and frustration, and thus never would have accomplished such a feat.
Few environments are scarier to me than Chinese hospitals, and I maneuvered through one and the whole slew of associated processes last Friday SANS translator. Be impressed. Be very impressed. If you're not, you may need to revisit our post on hospital experiences in January to glean the severity of my task, but even then it can truly only be captured by experience, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
What looked like mosquito bites on Didi's back and hands multiplied over a period of a few days, and by Friday morning they were covering his hands and feet and (gasp!) even a few near his mouth, causing me to momentarily fear the worst (aka Foot/mouth/hand disease which have had some deadly outbreaks among kids in China recently). Also, I've allowed myself to get about eight months behind on Didi's immunizations because obviously I try to avoid Chinese hospitals, and words like diptheria and hepatitis somehow haven't worked their way into my humble vocabulary yet. I had it on my "to-do" list weekly for several months, but previous troubles at the imm. office contributed to my deep desire to procrastinate. So, my ayi (household helper) was convinced that Didi had contracted one of those diseases that he should have been vaccinated for already if I hadn't been such a slacker mom. Without having access to my nurse consultant friend in Tianjin anymore, nor her husband who served as my trusty translator (miss you, Em and Chris!), I was forced to tackle the hospital alone. My ayi thankfully consented to watching Ellie at home. That was our first step toward success.
The second was arranging for a friends' driver to escort me to the hospital. As you may conjecture, Tianjin public transportation leaves much to be desired as far as efficiency and cleanliness are concerned. Under normal circumstances, I cease to be fazed, but when I fear my child has contracted a terminal illness, I am a bit too panicked to deal with long waits and bumpy rides. Besides, I didn't know a bus route to the hospital where Didi gets immunized.
My only bilingual friend who doesn't work during days was helping another friend at a different hospital that day, so I was on my own. Oh, the other reason I loved taking the driver was that I got to say his name/title a lot, which is Lee Shir Foo, meaning "Master Lee." I feel like I should be bowing or at least round-kicking every time I address him, but no. He is a master of the Tianjin roads, which is probably at least as challenging and far more life-threatening than martial arts, if you ask me or a stray dog.
Anyway, the immunization office was inexplicably closed (but the nurse behind the desk was bandaged and hooked up to an iv, so maybe needed a day off???), so we went to the Children's Hospital. Thankfully, I remembered which of the countless counters was for checking-in. I used some sign language to explain our problem and was given a ticket with which I walked around aimlessly for a while until I was directed toward a register counter. It's not that hospital employees are unkind, but truly they're not helpful unless you explicitly ask for direction. They just see too many people all day long to take a vested interest in any one of them, and this includes the doctors. Fortunately, I'm not afraid of talking to strangers, even in my broken second-language, so I minimized wandering time by frequently asking employees and bystanders "wo choo nar?" meaning "Where am I going?" Of course I wanted to ask, "Where should I be going?," but they got the point, and usually pointed me in the right direction.
So, up and down corridors and escalators I went, and seven mandatory locations later, I'd registered, paid for the doctor visit (about 60 cents), seen the doctor, paid for medicine, verified my purchase with the doctor, and finally retrieved the medicine. It was a Christmas miracle, six months early. And not only did Didi NOT have foot/hand/mouth disease (but rather, an allergy to grass that is seasonal and hopefully will not persist throughout his life), but he also cooperated with me by not insisting on walking on the filthy floors and decided to be particularly charming and flirtatious with the nurses.
So, that's my latest and greatest accomplishment. You may be thinking, "You've lived there almost a year so your Chinese must be sufficient, especially if you were able to successfully navigate the hospital alone." You may think that, but you'd be wrong. Oh yeah, I did utilize cell phone technology with that bilingual friend to understand the doctor's diagnosis, since I basically understood about 0% of what she was talking about. So yes, basically I understand hardly any Chinese, but I can still express myself in very layman's terms almost all of the time, when we're referring to necessary conversations, nothing deep or philosophical, of course. This is another way in which Kyle and I complement each other, because he understands 50-90% of the Chinese he hears, but struggles to construct sentences verbally.
How my beginner-level verbal Chinese suffices, and indeed in many cases I end up being the translator of choice among foreign friends, is truly a wonder. Perhaps my Chinese ancestors are involved? I haven't learned as much Chinese here as I originally hoped to, but as one who spends most days indoors with little kids or outdoors with English-speakers, I shouldn't be expecting too much. I have, however, developed the communication skill that served me so well on this hospital trip. I will call it the "clever manipulation of 12-word vocabulary plus Olympic-worthy charades" fluency factor. And no, I am no less verbose in Chinese than in English.
Posted by Kyle at 10:05 AM 5 comments
Friday, June 13, 2008
Happy Father's Day
It is already Father's Day in my hemisphere, so I'd like to pay a small pictorial tribute, interspersed with reflections on fatherhood, honoring the fathers and fathers-to-be that we are fortunate to have among our family and friends. We are remarkably blessed to be connected with so many admirable, selfless, talented, and loving men.
"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters." --English proverb
"Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!" --
"The longer we live the more we think and the higher the value we put on friendship and tenderness toward parents and friends." --Samuel Johnson
"It is a wise father who knows his own child." -- William Shakespeare
"My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."" --Harmon Killebrew
"Better to be driven out from among men than to be disliked of children." --Richard Henry Dana
"If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right." -- Bill Cosby"All the feeling which my father could not put into words was in his hand--any dog, child or horse would recognize the kindness of it." -- Freya Stark
"One night a father overheard his son pray: Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is. Later that night, the Father prayed, Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants me to be." --Unknown
"The family--that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to." -- Dodie Smith
"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope." --Bill Cosby
"A father carries pictures where his money used to be." --Unknown
"When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry. " -- Jewish proverb
"It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping." -- John Sinor
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." --Mark Twain
"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty." --Unknown
"There are three stages of a man's life: He believes in Santa Claus, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus." --Unknown
"You know, fathers just have a way of putting everything together. " -- Erika Cosby
Of course I want to pay special tribute to my husband for being such a kind and devoted husband and father. He is truly more patient than I can ever dream of being. He is considerate, humble, generous, loyal, disciplined, sensitive, and loves me and the kids the way every wife and children dream of. I love you, Kyle.
And to my own father, who belongs to the highest class of men on the earth. I think one of the best essays I've ever written was in the fifth grade for state testing—a creative essay on a topic of our choice. I wrote of everything I loved about my dad, and I received the highest scores of anyone in my school. Somehow I don't think I can take the credit, though— it wasn't difficult to rave over you, Dad, and it wasn't hard to persuade the test graders that you were worth A+s all across the board; I wrote from the heart, and my love and admiration has only increased with time. If only all men could be like you, the world would be very near perfection. It has been through your example that I have learned what true manhood is, including how a husband and father should treat his wife and children. Those are lessons that, I believe, can only be learned through example, and are among the most significant of my life. Thank you for all you are to Mom, me, and the rest of us. I love you, Fa.
Happy Father's Day to all.
Posted by Kyle at 11:01 PM 3 comments
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Isn't "leisure reading" an oxymoron?
There are lots of things I feel guilty about: eating the whole batch of cookies (especially if they're gone before Kyle even comes home from work), letting Ellie "babysit" herself and her brother every morning so I can sleep in a little longer, occasionally staying up late scribbling down do-it-yourself home decor ideas from HGTV.com, etc. This entry isn't a confessional, though. It's a plea for help. See, I also really feel guilty about never making time to read. I like to use the alibi that ever since I've been old enough to have good taste in literature, I've made myself too busy to pursue it. This, unfortunately, must be untrue, because in reality I'm no busier than your average adult who still makes time to read for leisure. I was perusing a friend's blog the other day and he wrote a lengthy post about how much more attractive his wife is, how intelligent and informed and conscientious and confident-- yadda yadda you get the point-- she is because she reads. I'm thinking, "but I read... my emails... and other people's blog posts... and Green Eggs & Ham..." No no, this girl doesn't read-- she just inhales mass amounts of written work. She's read over 70 books this year already. How that's possible except through osmosis, I'm not sure. Then again, she's doing her masters degree in library science, so it may not all be elective reading.
In any case, I know many within the audience of this blog find the time to snuggle up with a paperback on a regular basis. How do you manage to do this without ignoring your familial (and other) responsibilities? During the few periods in which I've picked up a novel the past year, I was basically non-functional outside of the realm of that book. Until I'd reached the last page, my husband and kids didn't get any meals or attention, messes didn't get cleaned, I doubt I showered, I definitely didn't sleep much, didn't answer the phone, yeah. So... I have this great desire to read real, good stuff, and not just out of guilt! I really, sincerely do enjoy it, and recognize the value for myself and anyone else within my social sphere. So here comes my inaugural blog post survey:
Note: I don't think you should vote for that last one, though. Every mother knows that once the kids suspect something is more interesting to you at that moment than they are, the previously appealing distraction becomes sharply disinteresting.
Okay, while we're all in cyber audience participation-mode, let me also request recommendations for children's books and authors. I've grown quite weary of kids' Chinglish literature and the few books we brought from home, and the others I borrowed from an art teacher, so they're all Caldecott winners but the writing surprisingly lacks substance and creativity. Since I'm coerced into reading the same book of Ellie's choice several times daily for a stretch of days, I'd just appreciate being able to somewhat enjoy the material myself. Dr. Seuss is wonderful, but if all you read was Dr. Seuss three times a day, you'd be seeking some variety, too.
While you're at it, feel free to throw in a couple recommendations for my brand new "up next on the shelf" book list. I've been away from the library for so long that I've never heard of any of the books you all are reading, so please enlighten me, but only if you responded affirmatively to the first survey question. Otherwise you're just taunting me and perpetuating my poor mind's cycle of guilt and ignorance.
Posted by Kyle at 7:24 AM 3 comments
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Coming soon...
...A complete post enumerating the adventures of we four plus my sister Christie and her husband Joe during their visit with us last week. Good times were had. Greasy food was had. But surprisingly few pictures were had. I'll favor you with a couple from Didi's birthday party, though. Speaking of which, Kyle still has Didi's first-year-of-life video montage in the works. Feel free to join me in nagging him daily to complete and post that project.
Before the compliments start pouring it, let it be known that Joe was the one to craft this beautiful cake, perfectly beach themed, and sans the Wilton tools I always require. So please direct compliments to Joe.
Posted by Kyle at 6:17 AM 2 comments
Ready or not...
... here comes the next wave of baby modeling shots. Oh, there's one of me and Kyle thrown in there, too, for contrast. =)
These are in reverse order. This was Ellie at the very end of the day. You can surely imagine the accompanying dialogue.
This one was taken while I was helping Ellie at the squatter. How they managed to successfully evoke an inebriated expression out of a baby holding a beer bottle, I don't know. That's what makes them trained professionals.
I'd like to Photoshop my arm out of this one so Ellie looks all independent and koala-like.
Yes, your observation is correct: Didi is wearing Ellie's shoe. Chastisement from the general public (the Chinese fliiiip out about babies and their cold feet, and cold heads, and don't get me started on cold bellies...) about my child's poor, cold feet finally made me cave. For heaven's sake, we were INDOORS!
I find kids (and of course beagles, Christie) wearing glasses one of life's more amusing spectacles. Good thing, too, because with our set of genes, our kids will be sporting prescription lens' in the very near coming years.
I'd be nervous with Didi behind the wheel, too, Elle, especially if he takes after his maxophobic Mom.
The kids will never be this refreshing combo of ages in China again, so was it too much to ask for a single photo of them smiling together, adorned in Chinese faux-silk, perfectly content and frame-able? Yes, it was. This was the best of the lot.
This is why I love candids so much. You can't command a toddler to inhale the deep aroma of plastic roses with this degree of determination.
Forget Origins and Oil of Olay-- the best remedy for complexions is black & white photography! I mean, is there a way to carry around a color-muting screen over my face all day? Too bad in Chinese culture black and white photos are strongly associated with funerals. Boy, will I look good in my obituary!
Props to Kyle's sister Tana for the homemade panda hat that has gone over exceptionally well in this country. I hear rumor of a new Kung Fu panda show soon-to-be gracing American screens... perhaps this will boost your headgear revenues, Tana???
I don't mind the pink backdrop-- this one's actually my fave. It reminds me of my baby sis Mish (sorry, even though you're an adult now, you know well that you will ALWAYS be my baaaby sister, at least as long as you're so snuggly and stinkin' adorable) making her newborn debut from the hospital in a Christmas stocking.
I love this shirt you sent, Grandma L, even though in Tianjin it never stays white more than five minutes. So here I must also give a shout out to Mish (haha, that pun was purely accidental) for sending that superbly useful Shout detergent pen.
Do you ever wonder what they're thinking about and who they're gazing at over your shoulder? I believe babies know a lot more than they are able to disclose.
Again, my vain ambitions... this is the closest we could get to "playful, natural sibling love." At least one of them is crying in all the other twosome shots.
This concept would have been captured better in the nude, but still there's such an endearing vulnerability to a baby donning angel wings and smiling through his tears. I'm still working on growing mine, Dad. =)
The photographer made a cute little storybook from the photoshoot, starring Princess Ellie as Sleeping Beauty, of course (unfortunately, this creation was not included in our free package, though we're still attempting to secure it in digital form). It was all nonsensical, misspelled English, of course, but that added to its charm. Despite our attempts to stifle her "I'm a princess who's obsessed with pink and poofy dresses so I can have whatever I want and there's nothing you can do about it" attitude, the girl remains quite convinced of her royal status and claims affinity for all things pink and poofy. ("But Ellie," I encourage her, "Blue is a great color, too! Did you know green is MY favorite color? I think I'm going to wear pants today-- would you like to wear pants, too? They're just as pretty as poofy dresses!")
Just like her mama... coupons are surely worth rejoicing over.
Okay, you'll love this: while browsing the proofs, I immediately recognized that something is abnormal with Ellie's face in this and several other outdoor shots. I'm going to let you all guess, though, and disclose the secret at the end of the post...
"More french fries, please!"
No words escape Ellie's mouth more frequently than the fiercely independent assertion, "No, I'LL help YOU!" And actually, her helping herself does free up a small portion of my responsibilities, so I can't very well complain. Unless we're late and she still won't let me help her dress or eat.
Well, did you guess it?
Does Ellie look suprisingly well-rested and China doll-esque to any of you? They completely Photoshopped out (haha, that is an official verb by now, right?) her undereye circles. I always thought it a shame that Ellie should inherit all of Kyle's good features and yet be burdened with my nose and undereye baggage, particularly with such a fair complexion. Still, though this face could grace Parenting magazine covers, I remain partial to my shadier-eyed girl.
It's not that I'm offended that they would presume to alter the complexion of my two-year-old, but well, I guess I don't exactly know why I dislike her shadow-less eyes. Because the other her is the real one? Because she's too young to be addicted to concealer like her mom? Because every mother believes her children to be perfectly good-looking? Don't know, don't care. I'm happy the pictures are cute, and happier that the models are mine for keeps.
Posted by Kyle at 6:15 AM 4 comments


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Nicolas Hunziker already had a name for making striking pieces of art from great moments in automotive racing and history. But if you're the kind of person who thinks fine art looks better on a shirt than on a wall, here's your chance.
Hunziker is a fourth-generation professional painter and has racing in his lineage, too. He's done some great paintings of F1 and LeMans moments, just to scratch the surface.
Now he's selling a whole line of wearable stuff with his art on it, via HunzikerApparel.com. Look no further if you're shopping for a Jalop in your life or have extra money to blow and want to get something all your friends won't get from J.Crew. Hunziker's stuff is pretty awesome.
You can even get shoes, which is about as close to walkable art as you can get. Hell, even the shoe box is a fantastic work of art. No one should mistake these for Ferrari shoes you got at the Puma outlet.


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|Attention: DocWiki has reached EOL and will be decommissioned late January 2019.
DocWiki:Getting Started
From DocWiki
Thanks for your interest in contributing to Cisco documentation. You can use the Cisco DocWiki to update or add information about Cisco products. Here are a few steps you can follow to get started:
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- For creating new content, enter the name of your proposed article into the search box on the left side of the page. If your title has not been used before, you will get a message that says "There is no page titled "<page_title>". You can create this page. " Click on the red text, and you will get to an editor screen. See the MediaWiki Formatting Help page for information about formatting content using the MediaWiki editor.
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DocWiki is moderated by Cisco employees. Upon review, they have the ability to make changes or even remove articles if needed. If they have any questions on your content, they might post questions or comments on the Discussion tab on your content page.


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After a year and a half of, the iPhone 5 turned out to be the iPhone 4S, which left a lot of us wondering what that meant for Apple's release schedule. (Up until then, the company was reliably releasing iPhones every year.) Well, we could be getting back to it: a Foxconn recruiting officer is hinting at a June release for the iPhone 5.
So, quick caveat right up top: who knows if this new release in June will be the iPhone 5. In the wake of "the new iPad" and what's now two years worth of pressure for the fabled iPhone 5 to be damn near revolutionary, I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple swing in a different direction.
The iPhone is also a mature platform, and one that hasn't seen that much movement hardware-wise. We'll just have to see.
Back to the matter at hand: a Foxconn recruiter, talking to a TV Tokyo program called "World Business Satellite," mentioned that the company is "looking for 18,000 employees" for a "fifth-generation phone."
From Mashable's Emily Price:
The reporter went on to clarify that the recruiter was talking about the iPhone 5, and the recruiter added that the next generation of the handset will come out in June.
The iPhone 5 — or, if Apple maintains the naming scheme it started with the iPad, the "new iPhone" — will actually be the 6th iPhone released by the company.
And there's this sentiment from Price, which we'd like to echo:
The June rumor, of course, should be taken with a grain of salt. Rumors of the iPhone 5 started almost immediately after the announcement of the iPhone 4S last year.
Why is this rumor interesting? Well, beyond reassuring the Apple faithful that yes, indeed Apple will continue to make iPhones, the iPhone 5 is something of a missing puzzle piece, whereas the iPhone 4S was an oddly shaped one. The 4S was the hardware upgrade over the 4 that its name implies, and held up Siri, which predated the 4S, and has look-a-like apps on other platforms, as the headlining iPhone 4S difference and something only it can do.
The point: that's a trick the iPhone 5 doesn't have in its playbook, and we really don't know where Apple will take it from ehre. The iPhone line has set the pace since it came out in 2007, and rightly so — it's got the hardware chops with a peerless ecosystem backing it. The iPhone 4S, while wildly successful, doesn't come off as indomitable as its predecessors.
There's really no scenario that sees the iPhone 5 release as a flop, but it's very possible that, when it comes out, it doesn't seem as far out of reach for its competitors, which are already moving into areas where Apple hasn't yet, such as true 4G and 3D displays.


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Earlier this week, Dennis Ritchie (dmr) passed away. The inventor of the C language and key contributor to several operating systems died after a long illness. Even though he'd been sick a while, his death came as a surprise. Just a few months ago, I called his house hoping to set up an interview. I knew he'd been ill, but his administrator kindly suggested that he was feeling better and that with a little persistence, I should be able to work past his shyness and get him on the phone. There was no hint then that he was so gravely ill.
That shyness, or more correctly, Ritchie's desire to avert attention despite his contributions to computing, are among the first things most people who knew him point out. Perhaps for that reason, he was often the first to poke fun at his creations even while recognizing their special place in computing: "C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success." And, of UNIX, "It is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity."
Behind the modesty, however, hummed a motor of remarkable technical creativity. C's clean syntax has been the default syntax for most languages since it emerged in the '70s(!). Eight of the top 10 programming languages today (per Tiobe) draw directly from C for their syntax, including the #2 language, which is C itself. No language ever has enjoyed continuous popularity at so high a level for so long. This is due no doubt to Ritchie's intuitive way of expressing all that a system language need do. In the design, he was greatly aided by his longtime collaborator, Ken Thompson.
During my recent interview with Thompson, he discussed how Ritchie's work evolved as Thompson used it to rewrite UNIX: "The language grew up with one of the rewritings of the system and, as such, it became perfect for writing systems. We would change it daily as we ran into trouble building UNIX...and we'd modify it for our needs. It became the perfect language for what it was designed to do."
What is not widely appreciated is how much of the C syntax was invented from whole cloth by Ritchie and Thompson. C is generally seen as a derivative work from BCPL, but in fact, a quick look at the documentation of BCPL shows a very different language, missing many of today's common syntactical constructs and all of Ritchie and Thompson's minimalist elegance.
That elegance was then transported by Ritchie to the K&R book, which remains the defining language tutorial against which all others are measured and from which all others have been given their canonical first example,""hello, world".
In UNIX, Ritchie was in charge of writing the I/O portions and some of the utilities. He reprised his systems work in the ill-fated but innovative Plan9 OS in the 1980s and '90s.
Between the two stints, he and Thompson shared the Turing prize. In his acceptance speech, Ritchie foresaw issues that have become serious concerns during the last few years: "More than anything else, the greatest danger to good computer science research today may be excessive relevance...As the intensity of research in a particular area increases, so does the impulse to keep its results secret."
He then entered into a more subtle concern that remains a powerful but comparatively under-discussed agent today: "Another danger is that commercial pressures of one sort or another will divert the attention of the best thinkers from real innovation to exploitation of the current fad from prospecting to mining a known lode. These pressures manifest themselves not only in the disappearance of faculty into industry, but also in the conservatism that overtakes those with well-paying investments intellectual or financial in a given idea." Amen.
Ritchie saw in language what others could not see, in operating system what others had not built, and in the world around him what others did not realize. His insight and the elegance of his work will be missed by all programmers, even in future generations who, as he would want it, might know nothing of him.


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61 Stunning Backyard Vegetable Garden Design Ideas
homixover.com are really concern to Provide All About Home Design and Decoration Ideas. We are Gathering and Collecting photos from lot of source on internet. If some of them are yours, please don't be shy to contact us immediately, we are so pleased to add some credit to them.


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All whites? Not for this dame. The Queen is at Wimbledon today and she is rocking the aqua dress, complete with black handbag and matching shoes. The white gloves and SW19-inspired flower bouquet. Great shots of her visit on the Daily Mail's web site. (photo by getty images via the daily mail)
Tags: The Queen


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2010 was a big year for The Eloquent Woman, a year in which the blog was:
- Liked by more Facebook fans than any other public-speaking Facebook page;
- Publishing more frequent blog posts, and more unique content on The Eloquent Woman on Facebook;
- Tripling readership over this time last year; and
- Doubling our email subscribers, who receive a free monthly newsletter focused on a single public-speaking issue in depth.
- "How do I establish credibility as a speaker when my age and looks work against me?" is our top blog post for the year, and answers the questions of a young (and young-looking) speaker who's an expert in her field, but often viewed as the intern. Solid suggestions, links and ideas follow to help the young and the expert claim and hold their ground.
- "What's the difference when scientists present to other scientists, and to the public?" is a reader question that came from a fellow speaker coach--but it's useful to anyone who has to speak about technical topics to different audiences, so share it with a scientist or engineer you know who gives presentations and public speeches.
- If I were speaking at TEDWomen, here's what I'd say about the future of women and girls shares the four persistent myths about women and public speaking that have lasted for centuries and are still silencing women and girls today--along with a plea that we all stop spreading these myths, and the facts you need to counter them.
- Taking charge of your conversations and speaking: The language of power looks at a new book that covers speaking as part of ways women can be powerful. It touches on not just formal speeches, but everyday conversation, which makes it especially useful.
- "How do we balance technical v. non-technical for a mixed audience? could be a useful companion to post number 2 on this list. It looks at a similar issue: Presenting technical topics when you have scientific colleagues who want to hear your details, and non-technical types who really don't. The balancing act is dissected, and I share a video of a woman chemist who walks the technical tightrope with ease, so you have a great example.
- Why speakers should take a second look at the new Kindle took a midyear look at the device that became 2010's most popular holiday gift (so much so it's on back-order). I'm convinced that speakers should use the Kindle for their notes, preparation, rehearsal and research, and this post lays out all those functions to give you a new look. (It's not too late to put those holiday gift cards to use, either.)
- Integrating Twitter into your public speaking: 14 ways might have been popular because more speakers are encountering audiences using Twitter while the talk's going on. But this post shows you have to take the advantage by using Twitter in savvy ways before, during and after your public speaking gig.
- Finding your voice as a speaker started out as a guest post by me for another blog, but in posting it here, I found it was popular with you, too. I appreciated the chance to write this for Kate's Voice, Kate Peters's very good blog on vocal issues for speakers--it's a topic I've struggled with and one I think is essential to tackle if you're going to truly become the eloquent woman you know yourself to be.
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg gives a labor-of-love speech shares a video and insights from Ginsburg after she delivered one of the most difficult kinds of speeches: A speech written by her husband which she had to deliver after his death. A moving and funny talk, plus insights from Ginsburg on her marriage and work-life balance.
- Check (out) your audience at the door: 8 reasons speakers should. Knowing your audience is critical for speakers, and the best--and most immediate--way to find out more is to greet everyone as they come in the door. As a bonus, this one-on-one tactic works especially well for introverts, or for any speaker who fears the audience and needs time to warm up. No wonder it was popular...
Use the Evernote clip button, above, to save this post in an Evernote notebook. Go here to subscribe to Step Up Your Speaking, my free email newsletter that looks at a different speaking topic in depth each month...then become a fan of The Eloquent Woman on Facebook and join the conversation with thousands of other women (and men) about public speaking skills and confidence.


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I wanted to make a quick post to ask for your prayers.
As most of you know Hurricane Sandy is coming up the east coast and is going to hit Pennsylvania (where I live). I am hearing horrific stories about what this storm is going to bring.
I am asking for your prayers for my family, friends and I, and of course the other bloggers on the East coast.
New Jersey is already being hit with damaging winds and high waters.
Hurricane Sandy is 900 miles wide and doesn't seem to be slowing down.
They're calling it the Frankenstorm because it's coming right around Halloween time.
They're also calling it the Perfect Storm.
I'm scared to be honest, I just hope it's not as bad as they're making it out to be.
Will keep you updated.


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Endurance athletes may have a new place to call home for their training if Jarod Cogswell has anything to say about it.
The general manager of ClubSport Oregon is overseeing an $800,000 remodel of about 12,000 square feet of the 145,000-square-foot athletic resort. The remodel is expected to be completed in mid-November.
The club's 16,000 members include a lot of families, he says, but it also includes a strong population of athletes, mainly on the endurance side.
"We have a good relationship with them," Cogswell says. "So, as we have continued to forge forward on fitness, we developed some programs that were more functional and geared toward the athletes."
The facility already offers the Edge Performance Training Center, a sports performance training area, but the remodel will include a 500-square-foot high-altitude training center that will allow users to exercise in simulated altitudes of up to 21,000 feet. It will be one of the first high-altitude facilities in a health club, Cogswell says. The remodel also will add a 500-square-foot Computrainer studio where cyclists can ride their own bikes on more than 200 simulated routes in an indoor, consistent environment. The remodel will convert part of a basketball court into a cardio area with 22 new pieces of cardio. The other part of the court will be a performance strength training area. The remodel also will include a stretch and core area and more group fitness studios.
Cogswell and Ralph Rajs, vice president of operations at Leisure Sports Inc., Pleasanton, CA, which owns and manages ClubSport, visited several college and sports facilities—including facilities at Oregon State University, the University of Oregon and the Portland Trail Blazers—before determining which elements to include in the remodel.
The main goal of the remodel is to attract more of the triathletes, runners, cyclists and other endurance athletes in the Portland, OR, area and beyond.
"There's going to be more emphasis on the endurance athlete," Cogswell says. "We see this as an opportunity to bring in athletes from all over."
He says that moving more into endurance athlete training is a new concept for the industry.
"We are looking at this as us being ahead of the curve rather than just a follower," Cogswell says. "I've shared this with industry people, and they share in our excitement ... There are a lot of niche-type facilities out there, but we are able to have this all under one roof."
In order to attract these athletes, ClubSport is implementing a vigorous training program for its trainers so they understand how altitude affects the human body and so they have Computrainer certified coaches.
The high-performance training area will feel more like a gym field house than a club, Cogswell says. Members who want to work out in a higher-end club environment can still do that on the club side, but those who want to train for their competitive sports can come to the field house side.
Cogswell expects a return on the investment within two years.
"For us, we want to stay at the forefront, so in two years, we want to not only make that money back and stay profitable, but also build the next latest and greatest thing," he says. He is still researching how much to charge for use of the high performance training area, but he says he wants to ensure it is affordable so the club can get high volume use out of it.
The Portland ClubSport is the first of the five ClubSport facilities to venture so deeply into endurance athlete training, although some of them have smaller versions of the Edge studios, Cogswell says. However, if this facility proves successful, he anticipates other ClubSports could add to their offerings—and the company might even invest in some satellite facilities.
Leisure Sports was ranked No. 19 on Club Industry's Top 100 list this year with $72.9 million in 2010 revenue. In 2008, ClubSport Oregon made $12 million in revenue, which was the second-highest revenue generated by a ClubSport facility that year, according to the Leisure Sports website.


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currently I'm working on a Plugin which allows you to import an OpenStreetMap map to generate a 3D V-Rep Scene. My 3D street objects, like houses and trees, are saved in an *.obj file and imported by the simImportMesh() function of the Regular API. If I do the import manually then colors are correctly defined. Using the Regular API all colors are set randomly and have to be changed manually like:
Is there a way to import the the color information from the *.obj.mtl file like the frontend function does? I think results would look quiet better.
Code: Select all
Thank you and kind regards,