Temples and Flea Marts

This past weekend we explored Austin a little deeper. This time we visited a local "Flea Mart" and a Buddhist temple, both within about a 10 minute drive from where we live, and both discovered by complete accident.

I think Christy thought the "Flea Mart" would be something like a Taiwan "Night Market", but it was actually just a big outdoor swap meet. There were around 500 little shops in the Flea Mart, but most of them were selling the same stuff, and most of it was crap. We bought the kids a couple of yo-yo's, but one of yo-yo's broke almost immediately. It was probably made in China.

The Buddhist temple was a bit more interesting. I couldn't believe such a place existed in the heart of Texas. Walking into the temple, I really felt like I was back in Taiwan. We were immediately approached by an Asian woman who began talking to Christy like they were old friends. She was from Tainan and they both told their stories of how they ended up in Austin. I'm sure Christy will end up going back there.

(Pictures: 1. The front of the temple, which reads "International Buddhist Progress Society-Austin" 2. Another shot of the temple. 3. Sara posing in front of the temple. 4. People dancing at the Flea Mart. 5. Pinatas for sale at the Flea Mart.)

Happy Birthday Sara!

Sara celebrates her 4th birthday today. Since neither Christy or I have family or friends out here in Austin, we didn't really plan any big party for her, but we still tried to make her day seem special. She had a special birthday cake. She got a new dress, a "Little Einsteins" book with a rocket toy, and a new teddy bear that we got from a store called "Build a Bear."


The "Build a Bear" store is pretty fun for kids. It allows them to build and create their own teddy bear. After they pick the skin of the bear, they can stuff it and clothe it themselves. Sara picked out the bear you see here in the pictures.


(Pictures: Sara celebrates her birthday)

Kyle and Bart Simpson

Lately when I think of my son Kyle, I am seeing images of Bart Simpson in my mind.

Are all boys as totally destructive as Kyle is?

A few months ago I made the mistake of buying a box of crayons for the two kids to draw with. Kyle decided to use the crayons to draw on everything except paper. He cost us $200 in damage on our last apartment because he drew on all the walls.

He recently drew all over some library books that we checked out. It cost us $19.

Then (and what probably angered me the most), he drew on our LCD, Hi-Def, flat-screen TV. I cannot get those crayon marks off the TV without possibly damaging it further. So now whenever I'm watching something and the screen is white, you can clearly see all the crayon marks.

Every day it's a new adventure in destruction with Kyle. He'll grab my dvd's, draw all over the box, take out the disc inside, then use them as frisbees. Then he'll draw (or tear) all the inserts inside.

What other destructive things does Kyle like to do?

He likes to open bags of tampons and throw them all over the floor.
He likes to throw food and drinks all over the floor.
He'll grab a bag of baby wipes, take out every single wipe, and put them on the floor. Baby wipes, for those who are familiar with them, are only effective when they are wet. Once you take them out of the bag, they dry up and are useless.
He likes to pull down the blinds on all the curtains.

And these are just the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. There's more, believe me.

If he's doing this now and he isn't even 2 years old yet, what can I expect when he gets older? Do I have fires on the living room floor to look forward to? Furniture that is cut up with knives and scissors? Numerous trips to the principals office to discuss Kyle's behavior problems?

Perhaps I'm overreacting, and maybe his behavior is natural for a 2 year old. Maybe he'll "grow out of it" and be a really good kid. Let's hope. Please, please, please.

(Picture: this could soon be me and Kyle)

On the Death Penalty

"If the State is going to undertake this awesome responsibility, the system to impose this ultimate penalty must be perfect and can never be wrong."

-New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

Although I have some serious issues with the death penalty, and don't think it's always administered fairly, I do support it in some cases.

Josef Fritzl is one such case.

This is the Austrian guy who kept his daughter imprisoned in his basement for 24 years, raped her repeatedly, and fathered 7 children by her (one of which died.) If there is ever a guy who should be shot, gassed, electrocuted, lethally injected, it should be him.

When I first heard about this case, I was shocked. I'm pretty hardened, so for me to be shocked is pretty rare. The only other case that shocked me in recent memory was the Chinese guy who beheaded a passenger on a greyhound bus in Canada. It was just the sheer randomness of that crime that made it shocking. Here's a guy, trying to get some sleep on a bus, and suddenly he's being stabbed to death for no apparent reason.

Josef Fritzl is a different story, though. He knew what he was doing, and he continued doing it for decades. Only now is he showing remorse. So it seems he's going to get life in prison, but that's not good enough. The guy is already in his 70's. He doesn't have much of a life left. He needs the harshest punishment possible.

Yeah, I'm a democrat, and a liberal, so it's strange to see myself saying such things. But this is one topic where I differ from the rest of my peers. I think the death penalty has flaws, absolutely. Especially here in Texas, where there is almost a revolving door execution chamber going on. In Texas, inmates have been put to death even when new evidence is available that could prove their innocence. When G.W. Bush was the governor here, it was pretty well known that the guy only spent 15 minutes reviewing the cases of the condemned. I would be just as content with most of these death row inmates being given life in prison rather than put to death. If there's a possibility that innocent people are being killed, then it just isn't worth it.

However, there will always be exceptions to the rule. Those particular people who are just so depraved that their very existence in this world is wrong. People like Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker" who scared the hell out of me when I was a kid living in Downey. This was the guy who just walked into peoples houses at random and killed them, then cut their eyes out or some other random act of depravity. Ramirez was convicted in 1989, and now 20 years later the guy is still on death row. Come on, 20 years? Put the guy out of his misery, please! It's these types of people that make me still support the death penalty. And then there's Fritzl, who I personally can't wait to see his comeuppance.

Going Back to Cali

"Should I fly to Los Angeles
Find my asshole brother?"
-Bush, "Everything Zen"

For Mother's Day, the whole family is going to be flying back to Los Angeles for about 5 days. We'll be visiting my mom in the nursing home (naturally), and I'm hoping to talk to her doctor to see if my mom really has to stay in the nursing home. Both my brother and sister seem to think that there is absolutely no other option, but I just find it a little hard to accept. There's always other options, and since my mom has Medi-cal (which in Texas is called Medicaid), I'm pretty sure they do offer some home-health assistance. The biggest hurdle will be getting my mom to actually want to move. She seems pretty settled in to her nursing-home life.

I imagine we'll also be seeing old friends while we're there, and probably going to Disneyland again (this would be Kyle's first time there, and Sara's 3rd time.)

Will I see my brother? Very, very unlikely. Unless he happens to be at the nursing home at the same time as me. But we're trying very hard to avoid this situation. I sent an email to my sister (who's also flying out around the same time as me) to tell her the days that I would be visiting my mom, so that way there wouldn't be any chance encounters.

I do like to go back and visit L.A. every now and then. There is a lot to see and do there, if you don't mind putting up with the vomit-inducing traffic. Since we'll probably be staying in Long Beach this time, to visit my mom will require us to take the 91 eastbound freeway out to Riverside county. Those of you who know nothing about L.A. freeways, let me just tell you that this freeway is the worst of the worst. A drive that should only take about 45 minutes normally takes 2 hours. It's hell, I tell you. Absolute hell.

But, on the plus side, since we're not staying with my brother this time, we're not stuck out in the boondocks away from civilization. Long Beach is nicely located close to many beaches and not far from downtown L.A. and Hollywood. So when we're not visiting my mom, we'll actually be able to see some cool stuff instead of just outlet malls in the middle of the desert. Why people would want to live out in Murrieta (and the surrounding area) is beyond me. People would say it's because you can get a bigger house for less money. But so what? Those same people are also the ones who have to drive 2 hours to work every day (one way.) When I worked in Long Beach, I knew a guy who drove from Victorville to Long Beach every day. That is a long freaking drive. Why do it? Personally, I'd rather just buy a condo in the city than buy a house out in the middle of nowhere.

Returning to Taiwan?

Now that we've received our income tax refund, my wife has started tossing around the idea of going back to Taiwan for a week or two. We have enough money for the four of us to go, but it will definitely use up most, if not all of our refund.

Personally, I don't have a strong desire to go back to Taiwan right now. I haven't been gone long enough to miss it. I told my wife that maybe she could go with just the kids, and I would stay back here in Austin. She doesn't like that idea. She thinks it's too hard to handle the kids alone on the airplane. I can understand where she's coming from. A few years ago, Sara and I traveled together to America, and it was pretty tough for me, and that was just ONE kid.

My next idea, which my wife seemed to like better, was paying for her parents to come see us in Texas. She would still get to see her parents. Her parents would see the kids. And we'd only have to pay for 2 airline tickets instead of 4. Sara and Kyle can't sleep in a bassinet anymore, so now we have to pay for a full, adult ticket.

To me, this is a great idea. It would spare me a horrendous, 16+ hour flight. (3 hours from Austin to Los Angeles, followed by 13 hours from L.A. to Taipei. Followed by a 3 hour drive from Taipei to Nantou.) Not to mention the fact that I don't even particularly like my in-laws. They usually ignore me the entire time I'm there. I'd have to go through this torturous travel experience just to end up somewhere I don't really want to be.

Am I being selfish? Maybe, but just a little. My wife didn't always go with me to America whenever I went back. And when she did go back, I took her to all the hot spots of Southern California. We went to the beaches. We went to Hollywood. We went to Disneyland. We went to San Deigo, Sea World, etc. To her, it was a vacation. Going to Nantou, believe me, is NO vacation. Nantou is a small town in the center of Taiwan, surrounded by jungle. You'll get bitten by mosquitoes a hundred times over. The only thing to do there is sing at a KTV and visit the local "Bamboo Museum."

If Christy's parents were to come to Austin, we could show them around Texas. They've never been to America before, and where better to experience American culture then right here in good 'ol Texas? They'll be eatin' bar-b-que, wearin' ten-gallon hats, and sayin' "Yeehaw" before they head back to Taiwan.

How can they resist that?

(Picture: a view of Taipei)

The Scary Economy

It was about a month ago when my friend Jerry got laid off. A few months before that, it was my ex-wife. Before that, it was her father. I'm also hearing (second-hand) that even my brother is struggling. He works in construction, and it seems they have cut back on his hours. His wife, who usually stays at home to take care of their daughter, is having to go out to find work just to make ends meet. I have no doubt they're also unhappy about the housing market crash out there in Riverside, CA. The house my mom bought for them for $450,000 is now probably only worth about half that.

So what happens next? How much worse will things get? I remember telling Jerry that he should move here to Austin. Now I'm not even sure that's such a good idea. There were about four to six job openings here at the hospital in my department where I work. According to my supervisor, 700 people applied for those positions. Seven Hundred. Many of the applicants were extremely overqualified. It was a real smorgasbord of people to choose from.

My wife said to me recently, upon seeing a homeless person at a freeway offramp:

"There must be some job they could find. Even cleaning toilets is better than nothing."

"But..." I responded, "maybe those people can't even find a job doing that."

Indeed, recently in Ohio, 400 people applied for a job as a janitor. How desperate has it become when people are fighting over a job as a janitor?

It's discouraging to know how easily I can be replaced. With 700 people clamoring for my job, I've come to the conclusion that I need this job more than it needs me. Back in Taiwan, I felt exactly the opposite. The demand for teachers outside of Taipei was always much higher than the supply. If there was something about a school you didn't like, you simply moved on to another one. There were always a lot more to choose from. I remember the manager of Berlitz in Hsinchu was practically begging me to work there (I didn't).

It's different here in America, though. Here, it's survival of the fittest. It's pretty scary out there right now.

JFK and Dallas

Before our trip to Dallas this past weekend, I had only spent one day here before. It was many years ago, and I went there with my ex-wife. We were only passing though, on our way to Kansas to visit her parents. The only thing I remember doing in Dallas at that time was visiting the John F. Kennedy assassination site and going to the "Sixth Floor Museum." We couldn't find the site right away, and I remember being in a restaurant and my ex-wife asked the waitress,
"Where's the place that they killed Kennedy?"

Not very subtle, but kind of funny and sad. Dallas, unfortunately, will always be linked to November 22, 1963. Dallas will always be "the place that they killed Kennedy." (To add even more negative publicity to Dallas, it's also the city where George W. Bush is settling down in.)

I guess that Dallas sees the assassination as both a blessing and a curse. Tourists will continue to flock to Dallas to see the site of the murder. The "Sixth Floor Museum" still seems to be doing very well. We were there early Saturday morning and the place was packed with visitors. The gift shop was also bustling. People were buying up all kinds of stuff with the image of JFK. The exploitation of his death will never end.

When we visited the Alamo, it didn't really bother me that people sold souvenirs. The Alamo was a very historic battle, and those who fought there are now considered heroes. It's something that Americans can look back on and feel proud. Something you could tell your children about. Remember the Alamo!

The JFK site, though, is a shameful embarrassment to this country. It's certainly not a good legacy for Dallas. Dallas, in 1963, was a hostile city towards John F. Kennedy. Certainly, he had his supporters there, but the city was also full of nutjobs who hated Kennedy because of his policies towards civil rights, and they thought he was soft on communism. Kennedy just shouldn't have gone to Texas.

As far as my beliefs regarding the assassination, I believe in the "conspiracy" theory. I believe there were numerous assassins, all firing from different locations in Dealey Plaza, with the fatal head shot being fired from behind the picket fence next to the "grassy knoll." If you've never seen the Oliver Stone film "JFK", you should rent it. I find the information in this film to be far more believable than what the Warren Commission has presented. There's a great scene in that movie where Donald Sutherland, portraying a character named "General X" explains the most likely reasons that Kennedy was killed, who benefited the most from it, and who has the power to cover it up. It's a very gripping scene.

Hopefully in my lifetime we'll know the truth of what really happened. I'm sure by now most of the people involved are dead, and it's not as though the reputation of the US government can be damaged any more than it already is. I think it's time...open the files on JFK.

(Pictures: 1. The Texas Book Depository building. 2. The view from the window of the Book Depository building, where a rife was found that supposedly belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald. 3. The location at the corner of Houston and Elm where the assassination occurred. 4. Behind the picket fence where the fatal head shot was probably fired. 5. Christy and Sara walking along the "grassy knoll.")

Dallas

This past weekend we took a trip to Dallas. I had been very warm for the whole week up until the day we left (Friday), but for some reason it got extremely cold. It was about 52 degrees on Friday, and about 48 degrees on Sunday. And with the wind, it felt even colder. To make things even worse, in just a few days the temperature will be back up to 80 again.

Our trip began a little oddly and somewhat creepy. Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the nearest subway station, so we decided to take the subway. As we were walking, a car drove by us at about 50 miles an hour, and I could hear a man shout "DAUGHTER!" I have no idea what he said before or after the word "daughter" but I still found it a bit creepy. I felt like I had to be on the defensive for weirdos the first night we arrived there.

On Saturday we saw the JFK assassination site and museum (I'll write more about that in my next blog), and then we visited the Dallas World Aquarium. The Aquarium was quite nice, even better than the one in Long Beach, CA. It was almost like a zoo and aquarium mixed together, and it was indoors, so we weren't freezing.

We were supposed to see my sister (who lives in Arlington, about 20 minutes from downtown Dallas) on Sunday for lunch, but she canceled on us. She told us she was seeing a "Led Zeppelin tribute band" on Saturday night, so I assume she was probably too hung-over on Sunday to see us. I felt a little bad for Sara, since she kept saying "I want to see Wendy!" all weekend. Oh well, she'll have more chances in the future.

So overall, it was a fun trip, though it would have been a bit nicer if it weren't so freakin' cold.

(Pictures: 1, 2 & 3. Different views of downtown Dallas. 4. The Dallas World Aquarium. 5. Christy and the kids at the aquarium. 6. A happy fish at the aqarium.)