Tag Archives: John

July 10, 2012 · 9:54 pm

Non-Travel Diary

When I travel, I usually keep a diary, sometimes in a bound blank book and sometimes on my blog (depending on web availability and performance). My husband John left yesterday afternoon for a two-week business trip to China, so this is my non-travel diary. John texted me when his San Francisco – Hong Kong flight landed about 3 am this morning, then he called me at 7 am to say he had reached his hotel in ShenZhen. As usual, John is staying at the Hasee Paradise Hotel near the Huawei campus. I have stayed at the Hasee myself and it is a pleasant place – although the limited breakfast buffet every morning gets boring quickly.

Last night, a friend and I had dinner at the Great Khan’s Mongolian stir fry and then went to see the movie “Brave” which we both enjoyed. The Pixar animation, music, and story are all good. Paul (my usual movie-going partner) did not want to see “Brave” so Stephenie Cooper and I went.
This morning, the construction guys were outside the house early working on the new concrete base. The pour is scheduled for later this week. We are fixing some dry rot and a floor that shifted out of level in John’s model train room and workshop. Also, we are pouring a pad for Paul’s potter’s wheel – see picture below. This is part of Paul’s new clay studio in the side yard. See Paul’s ceramics at: Paul’s Element. I am in charge of construction oversight while John is traveling.
I noticed that one the Cereus cactus has a bloom bud (which now looks like a small black ball of fuzz) – see picture below. I will enjoy watching it develop during the next week – the spectacular flowers are often ten inches across.
Tuesday noon at work, Yingying Lu holds a class for us English speakers in conversational Chinese. In addition to working on basic vocabulary and pronunciation, we are collecting suggestions for helpful software. My suggestions so far include the following iPhone applications:
- Eng-Chi Pro (English to Mandarin Pro – talking translator phrasebook) by Medianet
- KTdict+ C-E, Chinese-English dictionary by Klaus Thul
- QingWen Chinese Dictionary by Karan Misra
John called by Skype during my late afternoon when he woke up – before he went to work in ShenZhen. He said it is raining and hot in China.
I noticed going to dinner that Tavistock Freebirds – a beer and wine bar – is replacing the (now being demolished) Baskin Robbins – Togo’s, formerly near the Pasta Pomodoro Restaurant on The Alameda in San Jose, CA. Business must have been very bad for someone to tear out an ice cream shop during the 95 degree San Jose summer.
I took one of the dogs for a walk in the neighborhood after dinner. Redda enjoyed her walk but I could hear Gilroy whining a block away – he did not want to be left behind. I can’t manage to walk two energetic dogs at the same time. Maybe I will walk with Gilroy tomorrow.
I am almost done reading The Night Circus, a fantastical novel by Erin Morgenstern. I have enjoyed it but the book could have been a third shorter to better effect.

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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as China, Dogs, House Work, Huawei, John, Paul, San Francisco, San Jose

July 7, 2012 · 10:52 pm

Paul’s Elements (New Blog)

As of today, my son Paul has his own blog: http://paulselement.wordpress.com/. “Paul’s Element” will mostly be used to develop his college art portfolio. I created the blog on WordPress, with technical advice from John and Jessica and design decisions by Paul.

Paul just finished his second year at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. He plans to earn his Associate degree at Foothill and then go to a full-time art college for the rest of his Bachelor studies. Mostly Paul has been working in ceramics (wheel and hand building) and drawing (charcoal, watercolor, and electronic). I have been taking pictures of Paul’s art work all along – now we have a place to show it off!

July 4th Wedding Anniversary

John and I were married on 4 July 2000. The 4th of July is a great day to get married. Caterers are available (since most people are home making their own BBQ) and there are always American Independence Day fireworks to celebrate.

When we got married, John and I each had a home with too much stuff already. What we needed was time to enjoy our family and friends and our big event. So, we outsourced. We asked close friends each to take on a big task (the dress, the cake, flowers, music, wine, catering, whatever) instead of giving a gift. We paid for everything and promised not to micromanage. We are blessed in having organized friends, so everything went perfectly. For guests who needed to give us something, we collected money for shares in a very comfortable Morris chair – that they can come and sit in when they visit. We got married in our own San Jose backyard and we had a wonderful time!

John and I donated the altar flowers today at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Saratoga, CA to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary.

Today at church:

Our family in 2000:

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Tagged as John, marriage, San Jose, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

June 29, 2012 · 10:49 pm

Chinese Hot Pot

Growing up in San Francisco, I started using chopsticks soon after learning to use a fork. Sunday family dinners were usually in Chinatown at Yet Wah, a restaurant near the children’s playground at Portsmouth Square.

Since starting to work for Huawei two years ago, I have been introduced to different kinds Chinese cooking, particularly hot pot. My husband John is very adventurous about food so he tried it first with coworkers before convincing the whole family to experiment. Knowing what ingredients to order can be a challenge but it is fun to cook together in a big pot in the middle of the dinner table. We have eaten at several places, including Hot Pot City in Milpitas, and Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot in Santa Clara, CA. I like Little Sheep best because of the quality of their broth – especially after everything else has been eaten and noodles are added for the last course.

Willow Glen – Historic Trains

We live in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California. Willow Glen has a very strong Neighhorhood Association which works on “matters such as land use, planning, traffic, safety, open space, parks, and recreation.” Last week, the WGNA put on an event called “Historic Trains: How They Transformed San Jose”. As the proud owners of WP668, the 1916 railroad caboose in our backyard, of course John and I went to Willow Glen High School Library to learn about local history, economics, and railroads. The best part for me was when the speakers from the California Trolley and Railroad Corporation showed historic photos, followed by pictures of what those locations looked like today.

Driver’s License and Independence

The myth is: California teens want to get their driver’s license as soon as they turn 16. It’s not that simple. I got my license when I was 22 (living in San Francisco and Berkeley, public transport is good and it is impossible to park, so why bother?). My son-in-law has a license but neither my 23-year-old daughter nor 19-year-old son have progressed past the permit stage. Like me, my daughter graduated from college without a driver’s license. In contrast, my husband got his license at age 14-1/2, growing up in Kansas farm country.

Driver’s licenses have been more a passionate subject for discussion with my parents than with my kids. Before he passed away last year at age 85, my father lost his license after medical tests indicated that he could no longer driver safely. He was bitterly resentful of this, and we in his family were grateful that the consulting doctor took some of the heat of my father’s anger and frustration. My father saw the license suspension as an assault on his independence.

It is surprisingly difficult to revoke a driver’s license. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has many web pages about senior driving safety and complex formal rules about how to evaluate driving competence. Clearly, there are many (unlike my kids) for whom a driver’s license is an essential indication of maturity and freedom.

If you are concerned about someone’s driving and want to request a formal evaluation, what Not To Do:

Phoning the DMV gets you into a phone-tree-hell from which nothing results.
Informal notes from doctors (even on doctor’s office stationary) get ignored – the DMV only responds to official forms and evaluations.
Going in person to the DMV just gets you into long lines – where you eventually are told that the DMV does not perform driver’s tests at the request of concerned family members.

What finally worked: a doctor submitting a signed “Request for Driver Reexamination” form to the DMV.

In considering this blog entry, I found a listing of over 100 songs about cars and driving. For fun, listen to Joan Joffe Hall reading her poem Driver’s License, one of many creative tributes to this complex public document.

Nowadays, I am the happy driver of a tiny Smart Car with a wrap that looks like party streamers. Recently, the kids at SMUM decorated around my car with sidewalk chalk, as if my car design was dripping onto the asphalt – the best kind of graffiti!

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Tagged as Eleanor, Jessica, John, Matthew, Paul, Santa Maria Urban Ministry, SMUM, Wade

May 26, 2012 · 5:45 pm

Beach Chalet – Family Lunch

We went to the Beach Chalet today for a family lunch. My brother Pete and his daughter Lynda, and our cousin Rip and his wife Joanna were visiting. They joined Eleanor, Paul, John and me for a leisurely meal watching the Pacific waves break on sunny, windy Ocean Beach near the Cliff House. The Beach Chalet is not only a particularly interesting and beautiful San Francisco landmark, its preservation (along with the Lucien Labaudt murals on its walls) was the passionate work of many years by our family friend Jo Hanson. Inside the oceanfront building are many delightful mosaics and murals from 1925 but my favorite work is the stair rail with mermaids and mermen, an octopus newel post, and other undersea scenes going up to the brewery and restaurant.