Sandara Park... nice glimpse of her with a chapel veil.
alt
080314
080316:
Live on MNet Countdown, 080318:
Korean RnB Diva, Gummy - I'm Sorry feat. Top (2008.)
[080316]Gummy - I'm Sorry [ft. TOP]
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Bacevich picks Obama
The Right Choice?
Barack Obama is no conservative. He’s still the best hope for getting out of Iraq.
by Andrew J. Bacevich
10 tips for judging the authenticity of ECD
via AB
Real Regency Dancers Don't Turn Single: Ten Tips for Judging Authenticity
Check out the comments, and this post--How Many Times Do We Play That Tune? (Posts with the tags Jane Austen/Regency and Country Dance.)
In defense of the contemporary practice of starting all the couples at once--this would seem more appropriate to the American egalitarian spirit and also to the rather informal nature of EC dancing in the United States. While the participants may form a community of their own, united by a common pastime, it is separate from their geographic community or any other sort of natural/"social" community. Also, how many Americans would be patient enough to wait their turn? If authentic ECD is tied to the culture and hierarchical distinctions of a certain period, should we who are looking for some form of folk dance to counter manufactured entertainment adopt something else? Or can ECD be adapted to a society with different expectations and mores?
Misc:
Elegant Arts Society English Regency Page ; (see Regency Assembly)
Country Dance*New York
Playford Ball -- Dance Instructions
Real Regency Dancers Don't Turn Single: Ten Tips for Judging Authenticity
Check out the comments, and this post--How Many Times Do We Play That Tune? (Posts with the tags Jane Austen/Regency and Country Dance.)
In defense of the contemporary practice of starting all the couples at once--this would seem more appropriate to the American egalitarian spirit and also to the rather informal nature of EC dancing in the United States. While the participants may form a community of their own, united by a common pastime, it is separate from their geographic community or any other sort of natural/"social" community. Also, how many Americans would be patient enough to wait their turn? If authentic ECD is tied to the culture and hierarchical distinctions of a certain period, should we who are looking for some form of folk dance to counter manufactured entertainment adopt something else? Or can ECD be adapted to a society with different expectations and mores?
Misc:
Elegant Arts Society English Regency Page ; (see Regency Assembly)
Country Dance*New York
Playford Ball -- Dance Instructions
Michael Scheuer, Marching Through Hell
Free Press
Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq - Michael ...
Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq - Michael ...
Power Line: Marching toward the hell of Michael Scheuer's mind
Battling bin Laden | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com
Haq's Musings: Marching Toward Hell
YouTube - PBS | Tavis Smiley with former CIA Michael Scheuer on Iraq
Marching Toward Hell: Fighting the wrong foe with the wrong ...
Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq - Michael ...
Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq - Michael ...
Power Line: Marching toward the hell of Michael Scheuer's mind
Battling bin Laden | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com
Haq's Musings: Marching Toward Hell
YouTube - PBS | Tavis Smiley with former CIA Michael Scheuer on Iraq
Marching Toward Hell: Fighting the wrong foe with the wrong ...
Peter Knowles, OP, How monastic life can reinvigorate the Church
How monastic life can reinvigorate the Church
Fr Peter Knowles OP
Eastern Monasticism – Symbolic Synthesis of Christianity (doc)
Monasticism and the Byzantine Church
Rorate Caeli: Fr. Peter Knowles OP: Eternal Memory!
Priest's formidable legacy
Who was Archpriest Peter Knowles OP & why the interest in him ...
photos from the funeral
RIP
Monasticism in the Christian East
Fr Peter Knowles OP
Eastern Monasticism – Symbolic Synthesis of Christianity (doc)
Monasticism and the Byzantine Church
Rorate Caeli: Fr. Peter Knowles OP: Eternal Memory!
Priest's formidable legacy
Towards the end of his novitiate, Knowles had problems with a superior who didn't think he should be admitted to the order. So he left, returned to Australia and, after a stint as a jackaroo, joined the Dominicans. Their Australian province has been, by and large, a lower middle class, lace curtains, Irish outfit. Some in the order found his manner and his accent off-putting because there was nothing in the least genteel or Irish about either.
Knowles said: "I soon learned to keep quiet and think my own thoughts." But in recent years, meeting novices, he'd sometimes joke that entering the Dominican order was "rather like joining the Austro-Hungarian navy, a splendid institution, which alas no longer exists".
His forebears were Virginian aristocrats. They ill-advisedly sold their American property, including a block on Wall Street in New York, at the turn of the 19th century and moved to Australia. His grandparents, although pious, took a stern view of the clergy and wouldn't have them in the house except when administering the last rites. The family once owned a fine villa in Hill Street, North Adelaide, with Virginian cast-iron black boys out by the carriageway to which visitors could tether their horses. In the late '60s students used to spray anti-racist slogans on them and they were eventually removed. It was a surrender to political correctness which, as an avid reader of The Spectator, he deplored.
Who was Archpriest Peter Knowles OP & why the interest in him ...
photos from the funeral
RIP
Monasticism in the Christian East
AT review of 36 Secret Strategies of the Martial Arts
Ancient tactics for modern battles
The 36 Secret Strategies of the Martial Arts by Hiroshi Moriya with translation and foreword by William Scott Wilson
Reviewed by Michael Jen-Siu
The 36 Secret Strategies of the Martial Arts by Hiroshi Moriya with translation and foreword by William Scott Wilson
Reviewed by Michael Jen-Siu
Mike Whitney, Barley Alive
On Bear Stearns.
Investment Giant Rushed to ICU by Panicky Fed Chief
Bearly Alive
By MIKE WHITNEY
From Patrick Deneen: Big
James Howard Kunstler
Michael Shedlock has more. Doug Noland.
Investment Giant Rushed to ICU by Panicky Fed Chief
Bearly Alive
By MIKE WHITNEY
From Patrick Deneen: Big
James Howard Kunstler
Michael Shedlock has more. Doug Noland.
Zenit: Papal Homily for Palm Sunday
Papal Homily for Palm Sunday
"To Recognize God We Must Abandon the Pride That Blinds Us"
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI gave at today's Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Year after year the Gospel passage for Palm Sunday relates to us Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Together with his disciples and a growing throng of pilgrims, he ascended from the plain of Galilee to the Holy City. Like steps in this ascent, the evangelists have transmitted three of Jesus' announcements of his passion, using this at the same time to sketch the interior ascent that was also occurring in this pilgrimage. Jesus is on his way to the temple -- toward the place where God, as Deuteronomy says, desired to "establish the dwelling" of his name (cf. 12:11; 14:23). The God who created heaven and earth has given a name, he has made himself available to be called upon, indeed, he has almost made himself touchable by men. No place can contain him and nevertheless, or precisely because of this, he himself gives himself a name, so that he, the true God, can personally be venerated there as the God in our midst.
From the story of the 12-year-old Jesus we know that he loved the temple as the house of his Father, as his paternal house. Now he comes again to this temple, but his journey goes beyond it: The ultimate goal of his ascent is the cross. It is the ascent that the letter to the Hebrews describes as an ascent to the tent that is not made of human hands, to the presence of God. The ascent to the presence of God passes through the cross. It is the ascent to that which is "love to the end" (cf. John 13:1), and is thus God's true mountain, the definitive place of contact between God and man.
During the entry into Jerusalem the people pay homage to Jesus as the Son of David with the words of Psalm 118 [117] of the pilgrims: "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest of heavens!" (Matthew 21:9). Then he arrives at the temple. But there, where there should be the space of the meeting between God and man, he finds people selling animals and money changers who use the place of prayer for their business. It is true that the animals being sold there are destined for sacrifice in the temple. And because it was forbidden to use coins in the temple on which there were representations of the emperor, which were in conflict with the true God, it was necessary to exchange them for coins that did not bear idolatrous images.
But all of that could have been done elsewhere: The place that it had now appropriated was supposed to be the atrium for the pagans. The God of Israel was in fact the God of all peoples. And even if the pagans did not enter, so to speak, into the interior of revelation, they could nevertheless, in the atrium, associate themselves with prayer to the one God. The God of Israel, the God of all men, was always also awaiting their prayer, their seeking, their invocation. But now, the atrium was dominated by business, business that had been legalized by the competent authority, an authority which, for its part, had a part of the merchants' earnings.
The merchants were acting in a correct way according to the order that was in force, but the order itself was corrupt. "Greed is idolatry," says the letter to the Colossians (cf. 3:5). It is this idolatry that Jesus encounters and in the face of which he cites Isaiah: "My house shall be called a house of prayer" (Matthew 21:13; cf. Isaiah 56:7) and Jeremiah: "But you have made it a den of thieves" (Matthew 21:13; cf. Jeremiah 7:11). Against the badly interpreted order Jesus, with his prophetic gesture, defends the true order of things that is found in the Law and the Prophets.
As Christians, all of this must make us think today: Is our faith pure and open enough that, beginning from it, the "pagans" -- the persons today who are seeking and have their questions -- can also intuit the light of the one God, can associate themselves with our prayer in the atriums of faith and by their seeking perhaps become worshippers? Does the awareness that greed is idolatry also reach our heart and our life practices? Do we not perhaps also allow idols to enter even into the world of our faith? Are we disposed to let the Lord purify us again and again, allowing him to chase out of us and the Church what is contrary to him?
In the purification of the temple, however, there is more going on than the struggle against abuses. A new moment in history has been foretold. What Jesus had announced to the Samaritan woman in regard to her question about worship is now beginning: "The hour has come, and is now here, in which the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; because the Father seeks such worshippers" (John 4:23). The time in which animals were sacrificed to God has ended. Animal sacrifice had always been a miserable substitution, a gesture of nostalgia for the true way of worshiping God. On the life and work of Jesus the letter to the Hebrews offers as a motto a phrase from Psalm 40 [39]: "You did not want sacrifices or offerings, but a body you prepared for me" (Hebrews 10:5). The body of Christ, Christ himself, enters to take the place of the bloody sacrifices and the food offerings. Only the "love to the end," only the love for men for which he gives himself totally to God, this is the true worship, the true sacrifice. Worshipping in spirit and truth means worshiping in communion with him who is truth; worshipping in the communion of his body, in which the Holy Spirit unites us.
The evangelists tell us that in the trial against Jesus false witnesses are presented and they claim that Jesus said: "I can destroy God's temple and rebuild it in three days" (Matthew 26:61). Before Christ hanging on the cross some scoffers refer to the same words, screaming out: "You who will destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!" (Matthew 27:40). John, in his account of the purification of the temple, reports the true version of the words, as they came from the mouth of Jesus himself. Responding to a request for a sign, with which the Lord was supposed to legitimize himself, Jesus says: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it back up" (John 2:18 f.). John adds that, thinking again about this event after the resurrection, the disciples understood that Jesus had spoken of the temple of his body (cf. Jon 2:21 f.) It is not Jesus who destroys the temple; it is left to destruction by the attitude of those who transformed the place of meeting of all peoples with God into a "den of thieves," a place of business.
But, as always from the fall of Adam, the failure of men becomes an occasion for a still greater commitment on the part of God's love in regard to us. The hour of the temple of stone, the hour of the animal sacrifices had been left behind: The fact that Jesus now chases out the merchants does not only impede abuse, but indicates the new action of God. The new temple is formed: Jesus Christ himself, in whom God's love comes down to men. He, in his life, is the new and living temple. He, who passed through the cross and is risen, is the living space of spirit and life in which the right worship is realized. Thus, the purification of the temple, as the culmination of Jesus' solemn entry into Jerusalem is the sign both of the incumbent destruction of the building and the promise of the new temple; the promise of the kingdom of reconciliation and love that, in the communion with Christ, is established beyond every frontier.
St. Matthew, whose Gospel we hear this year, at the end of the Palm Sunday account, after the purification of the temple, reports to little events that have a prophetic character and once more make the true will of Jesus clear to us. Immediately after Jesus' words about the house of prayer of all peoples, the evangelist continues thus: "The blind and the lame drew near to him in the temple and he healed them." Furthermore, Matthew tells us that the children repeated the acclamation that the pilgrims made during the entry into the city: "Hosanna to the son of David!" (Matthew 21:14 f.).
To the trafficking in animals and the money exchange Jesus opposes his goodness that makes well again. It is the true purification of the temple. He does not come as a destroyer; he does not come with the sword of the revolutionary. He comes with the gift of healing. He dedicates himself to those who because of their infirmities have been pushed to the end of their life and to the margins of society. Jesus reveals God as he who loves, and his power as the power of love. And thus he says to us what will always be a part of the true worship of God: healing, serving, the goodness that makes well again.
And then there are the children who pay homage to Jesus as the Son of David and acclaim "Hosanna." Jesus told his disciples that, to enter into the kingdom of God, they had to become like children again. He himself, who embraces the whole world, made himself little to come to us, to direct us toward God. To recognize God we must abandon the pride that blinds us, that wants to drive us far away from God, as if God were our competitor. To meet God it is necessary to become capable of seeing with the heart. We must learn to see with a young heart that is not hindered by prejudices and blinded by interests. Thus, in the little ones who with a similar free and open heart recognize him, the Church has seen the image of the believers of every century, her own image.
Dear friends, in this hour we associate ourselves with the procession of the young people of that time -- a procession that passes through the whole of history. Together with the young people of the whole world let us go to meet Jesus. Let us allow him to guide us to God, to learn from God himself how to be men. With him we thank God, because with Jesus, the Son of David, he has given us a place of peace and reconciliation that embraces the whole world. Let us pray to him that we too become with him and beginning from him messengers of his peace, so that in us and around us his kingdom will grow.
Amen.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
John Adams Miniseries on HBO
preview:
John Adams Trailer (HBO)
HBO website
Based on the book by David McCullough.
David McCullough Interview
Audio Interview: David McCullough
David McCullough Interview -- Academy of Achievement
BookPage Interview June 2005: David McCullough
An interview with David McCullough - Charlie Rose
NPR: David McCullough Revisits '1776'
Interview - David McCullough on Leadership - CIO.com - Business ...
'John Adams' doesn't go Hollywood" -- Q&A with David McCullough ...
Looks like most of the reviews so far have been negative:
Houston Chronicle
NPR: Reviewed: HBO's 'John Adams'
USA Today
Newsweek
Sepinwall on TV: 'John Adams' review
Review | John Adams by David McCullough
CNN.com - David McCullough brings 'John Adams' to life - June 7, 2001
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Appaloosa
One of the men's fashion magazines out on newsstands this month has a story and cover featuring Viggo Mortensen, who is a member of the cast for Appaloosa. I can't remember which magazine it was, and I haven't been able to find any of the photos accompanying the article on the Internet. Otherwise I would post them, since they are clothes for the Wild Wild West. I did find this photo at least:
The original novel by Robert B. Parker; Robert B. Parker blog.
GreenCine Daily: November 2007 Archives
Ed Harris to Construct "Appaloosa" with Viggo Mortensen and Diane Lane
My sister didn't need me to sit the niece, but I ended up getting up rather early anyway. Didn't do much except surf the net, as usual. I then put in an order for some takeout at Cafe Won Kee, and picked up two baked cha siu bao for niece #1 at Kee Wah.
Then another drive up the peninsula...
When I arrived, my brother-in-law was loading the minivan. I went to the apartment, and my sister started opening up the food containers so we had lunch. The salt & spicy fish filet and pork chops were overcooked (like last time). I don't think I will go to Cafe Won Kee again, if I have a choice. The quality seems to be stuck at this level.
When it was time for them to go, we went down to the garage to the minivan. After I put niece #1 in her carseat, she said, "Kau kau go in back."
I said, "Kau kau has to go home."
"No. Sit in big red car."
"Kau kau has to go home."
Then she started bawling.
Fortunately I had some ice so I used that to distract her, and she started laughing after I pressed it against her face. "Dong bing bing!"
I should be going down there next Sunday for Easter dinner. I hope I can take her to the part then, but she may have a date with the "Easter Bunny."
Darda was packed tonight--I had a craving for green onion pancake, so I ordered 3 to go. 3 was too many--it's ok, but not as good as nan, and there was too much of a flour taste to the pancakes, as if there was too much flour, and not enough water to mix it. Or something. Gordon Ramsay can give the explanation of what went wrong.
Then another drive up the peninsula...
When I arrived, my brother-in-law was loading the minivan. I went to the apartment, and my sister started opening up the food containers so we had lunch. The salt & spicy fish filet and pork chops were overcooked (like last time). I don't think I will go to Cafe Won Kee again, if I have a choice. The quality seems to be stuck at this level.
When it was time for them to go, we went down to the garage to the minivan. After I put niece #1 in her carseat, she said, "Kau kau go in back."
I said, "Kau kau has to go home."
"No. Sit in big red car."
"Kau kau has to go home."
Then she started bawling.
Fortunately I had some ice so I used that to distract her, and she started laughing after I pressed it against her face. "Dong bing bing!"
I should be going down there next Sunday for Easter dinner. I hope I can take her to the part then, but she may have a date with the "Easter Bunny."
Darda was packed tonight--I had a craving for green onion pancake, so I ordered 3 to go. 3 was too many--it's ok, but not as good as nan, and there was too much of a flour taste to the pancakes, as if there was too much flour, and not enough water to mix it. Or something. Gordon Ramsay can give the explanation of what went wrong.
John Dowland pieces
John Dowland - Fortune my foe
"Come again" by John Dowland
Say Love if ever thou didst find by John Dowland
Tarleton's riserrectione
Come heavy sleepe
"Come again" by John Dowland
Say Love if ever thou didst find by John Dowland
Tarleton's riserrectione
Come heavy sleepe
Easter Vigil at Our Mother of Perpetual Help
7 P.M. on Saturday
Holy Week Schedule (pdf)
I think I will be going here on Saturday, but I haven't decided yet...
hmmm... the schedule for St. Basil:
GREAT AND HOLY THURSDAY, March 20
6:00pm Vespers Divine Liturgy
7:50pm Passion Gospels Matins
GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY, March 21
9:15am Royal Hours
11:00am Royal Hours
7:00pm Burial Vespers
8:30pm Jerusalem Matins & Vigil to 12:00am
GREAT AND HOLY SATURDAY, March 22
9:30am Morning Prayers at the Sepulcher (Tomb)
12:00pm Vespers Divine Liturgy of the Paschal Vigil
Edit: schedule at St. Margaret Mary
Holy Week Schedule (pdf)
I think I will be going here on Saturday, but I haven't decided yet...
hmmm... the schedule for St. Basil:
GREAT AND HOLY THURSDAY, March 20
6:00pm Vespers Divine Liturgy
7:50pm Passion Gospels Matins
GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY, March 21
9:15am Royal Hours
11:00am Royal Hours
7:00pm Burial Vespers
8:30pm Jerusalem Matins & Vigil to 12:00am
GREAT AND HOLY SATURDAY, March 22
9:30am Morning Prayers at the Sepulcher (Tomb)
12:00pm Vespers Divine Liturgy of the Paschal Vigil
Edit: schedule at St. Margaret Mary
Interviews with Jane Jacobs
Reason Magazine: City Views--Urban studies legend Jane Jacobs on gentrification, the New Urbanism, and her legacy.
Interview by JHK; part 2
Cities and Web Economies: Interview with Jane Jacobs
Urban Forum 2002: Tools, Nuts, and Bolts
Robin Philpot: the Rich Life of Jane Jacobs
Interview with Barry Benepe | Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York
A list of links: Curbed: Jane Jacobs Speaks
And from EB: Housing & urban design - Mar 13
California Needs More Urban Density
Deyan Sudjic, The Observer
It is one of the most seismic changes the world has ever seen. Across the globe there is an unstoppable march to the cities, powered by new economic realities. But what kind of lives are we creating? And will citizens - and cities - cope with the fierce pressures of this new urban age? Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum and author of a major new report, asks if the city of the future will be a vision of hell or a force for civilised living?
(8 March 2008)
California Needs More Urban Density
Robert Cruickshank, California Progress Report
David Lazarus is showing to Southern Californians what Bay Area readers already knew: the man really understands the problems facing working Californians, and is not afraid to write about them directly and engagingly. In January he took on Prop 13 and called for it to be revamped, if not scrapped. Today he has shifted his focus to the struggles renters face in LA.
Interview by JHK; part 2
Cities and Web Economies: Interview with Jane Jacobs
Urban Forum 2002: Tools, Nuts, and Bolts
Robin Philpot: the Rich Life of Jane Jacobs
Interview with Barry Benepe | Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York
A list of links: Curbed: Jane Jacobs Speaks
And from EB: Housing & urban design - Mar 13
California Needs More Urban Density
Deyan Sudjic, The Observer
It is one of the most seismic changes the world has ever seen. Across the globe there is an unstoppable march to the cities, powered by new economic realities. But what kind of lives are we creating? And will citizens - and cities - cope with the fierce pressures of this new urban age? Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum and author of a major new report, asks if the city of the future will be a vision of hell or a force for civilised living?
(8 March 2008)
California Needs More Urban Density
Robert Cruickshank, California Progress Report
David Lazarus is showing to Southern Californians what Bay Area readers already knew: the man really understands the problems facing working Californians, and is not afraid to write about them directly and engagingly. In January he took on Prop 13 and called for it to be revamped, if not scrapped. Today he has shifted his focus to the struggles renters face in LA.
Another Saturday...
My sister the MD is in town with her family; they're staying over at _____'s temporary apartment near the SF airport. I went over there and arrived a little before noon. I spotted my brother-in-law taking niece #1 for a walk to see the pool. Niece #1 was happy to see me--that's always heart-warming, to see that someone misses you. So of course I spent a lot of time playing with her today. Alas, no chance to take her to the park to go on the slide.
My sister had expressed her wish to get dim sum for lunch--she mentioned Koi Palace, but I told her that the wait might be 2 or 3 hours and she decided it wasn't worth it. We decided to try Fook Yuen in Millbrae instead. KCC's husband also mentioned Koi Palace and Zen Peninsula after the MD's husband asked him for recommendations. We passed by Zen Peninsula on the way to Fook Yuen--the parking lot looked full. I don't know if Zen Peninsula is better than Fook Yuen; I didn't look at the reviews over at Yelp carefully, but my impression was that Fook Yuen is better than Zen Peninsula.
What did I think of Fook Yuen? It's probably better than a lot of dim sum restaurants in the South Bay, especially Milpitas, which has been disappointing as of late. My brother-in-law liked the sai gwai dou and something else... I can't remember which dish. Oh, I think it was the fish dish--not really salt & spicy, since it wasn't spicy... but still decent. The ha gow and siu mai were good, and the gau choi gow were warm. The ladies bringing the food and hot water couldn't help but look at and play with niece #2. Lot of compliments for her nice big eyes, of course. If KK and her husband move to the area (which seems unlikely, because of how high the rent is), no doubt they will be sampling all of the local dim sum restaurants.
They had planned to take niece #1 swimming at the conference center pool. Unfortunately they couldn't get into the pool area, but I don't think the niece missed swimming today. Instead, we were going to walk around at the nearby mall. But my sister had a craving for Krispy Kreme, so we went to the nearest one, which was in Daly City. Alas, they were behind schedule, so there were no original glazed donuts. My sister was thinking of waiting there for a bit, but 15 minutes had elapsed, and still no original glazed donuts--they were still making the filled ones. So she got some of those instead, and whatever else to make a dozen. My sister bought one for me and I'm eating it right now. It's not filled with anything--I'm not sure what it is, since that isn't listed on the menu. Maybe they decided to forgo the filling since so many customers were waiting for fresh donuts. I'm eating that plus drinking cherry Coke. The calories!
By the time we were done with Krispy Kreme, it was dinner time for niece #1, so we went to Red Robin in San Bruno. I ordered a monster burger with a salad instead of the steak fries. The burger was all right... but it's not really worth $10. I think I'd rather go to Taxi's Hamburgers again, instead of In and Out. Still haven't tried Kirk's...
There was a Chuck E. Cheese next door to the Red Robin, but we didn't go there--too busy. We just took a walk over at Tanforan. There's a store there selling discounted Disney items no longer being sold at the Disney stores, but my sister said there was nothing good there, just cheap cr*p. We ended up spending a lot of time at the Target, where they were shopping for toys for the nieces.
How much longer will Americans be able to buy toys made in China from places like WalMart and Target? And how many toys are really necessary? Especially "learning" toys? I don't think children really need "learning" toys, if there is someone at home to spend some time making sure they are learning enough. They won't fall behind without the toys if this is the case at home. The rudiments of learning and literacy are important, but I do think that children should learn at their own pace and according to their talents. A child who can't do much more than read, spell, write, and do basic math at the age of 9 or 10 isn't behind, in my opinion--everything else is just indoctrination through memorization. Many parents evaluate their children's intelligence according to standardized tests and their grades... without questioning what the purpose of an education is. (Asians tend to think that it is whatever allows them to be successful in the world--there's not much of a notion of a liberal education for them.)
What sort of toys do the Amish have? And is the American economy really consumer-driven? What would really happen if Americans started spending less, beyond the numbers? How many people would lose their jobs, and what sort of jobs would be impacted?
Sigh. Gas prices are really high... and I don't think they will be going below $3/gallon any time soon. Driving up to San Bruno and back has been a sacrifice. I did hear some complaints about El Jefe today, and that's understandable.
My sister had expressed her wish to get dim sum for lunch--she mentioned Koi Palace, but I told her that the wait might be 2 or 3 hours and she decided it wasn't worth it. We decided to try Fook Yuen in Millbrae instead. KCC's husband also mentioned Koi Palace and Zen Peninsula after the MD's husband asked him for recommendations. We passed by Zen Peninsula on the way to Fook Yuen--the parking lot looked full. I don't know if Zen Peninsula is better than Fook Yuen; I didn't look at the reviews over at Yelp carefully, but my impression was that Fook Yuen is better than Zen Peninsula.
What did I think of Fook Yuen? It's probably better than a lot of dim sum restaurants in the South Bay, especially Milpitas, which has been disappointing as of late. My brother-in-law liked the sai gwai dou and something else... I can't remember which dish. Oh, I think it was the fish dish--not really salt & spicy, since it wasn't spicy... but still decent. The ha gow and siu mai were good, and the gau choi gow were warm. The ladies bringing the food and hot water couldn't help but look at and play with niece #2. Lot of compliments for her nice big eyes, of course. If KK and her husband move to the area (which seems unlikely, because of how high the rent is), no doubt they will be sampling all of the local dim sum restaurants.
They had planned to take niece #1 swimming at the conference center pool. Unfortunately they couldn't get into the pool area, but I don't think the niece missed swimming today. Instead, we were going to walk around at the nearby mall. But my sister had a craving for Krispy Kreme, so we went to the nearest one, which was in Daly City. Alas, they were behind schedule, so there were no original glazed donuts. My sister was thinking of waiting there for a bit, but 15 minutes had elapsed, and still no original glazed donuts--they were still making the filled ones. So she got some of those instead, and whatever else to make a dozen. My sister bought one for me and I'm eating it right now. It's not filled with anything--I'm not sure what it is, since that isn't listed on the menu. Maybe they decided to forgo the filling since so many customers were waiting for fresh donuts. I'm eating that plus drinking cherry Coke. The calories!
By the time we were done with Krispy Kreme, it was dinner time for niece #1, so we went to Red Robin in San Bruno. I ordered a monster burger with a salad instead of the steak fries. The burger was all right... but it's not really worth $10. I think I'd rather go to Taxi's Hamburgers again, instead of In and Out. Still haven't tried Kirk's...
There was a Chuck E. Cheese next door to the Red Robin, but we didn't go there--too busy. We just took a walk over at Tanforan. There's a store there selling discounted Disney items no longer being sold at the Disney stores, but my sister said there was nothing good there, just cheap cr*p. We ended up spending a lot of time at the Target, where they were shopping for toys for the nieces.
How much longer will Americans be able to buy toys made in China from places like WalMart and Target? And how many toys are really necessary? Especially "learning" toys? I don't think children really need "learning" toys, if there is someone at home to spend some time making sure they are learning enough. They won't fall behind without the toys if this is the case at home. The rudiments of learning and literacy are important, but I do think that children should learn at their own pace and according to their talents. A child who can't do much more than read, spell, write, and do basic math at the age of 9 or 10 isn't behind, in my opinion--everything else is just indoctrination through memorization. Many parents evaluate their children's intelligence according to standardized tests and their grades... without questioning what the purpose of an education is. (Asians tend to think that it is whatever allows them to be successful in the world--there's not much of a notion of a liberal education for them.)
What sort of toys do the Amish have? And is the American economy really consumer-driven? What would really happen if Americans started spending less, beyond the numbers? How many people would lose their jobs, and what sort of jobs would be impacted?
Sigh. Gas prices are really high... and I don't think they will be going below $3/gallon any time soon. Driving up to San Bruno and back has been a sacrifice. I did hear some complaints about El Jefe today, and that's understandable.
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