Halloween 2010

According to Sara, Halloween is her 2nd favorite day of the year (after Christmas), so she was pretty excited when she woke up on Halloween morning.

Last year we had some problems with Kyle. He would run inside peoples houses as soon as they opened the door. This time, thankfully, he didn't do that.

Just like last year, we probably got enough candy to last us until next Halloween (see pic above).

IKEA and China: A Scary Mix

I've been reading some articles recently about Ikea opening some new stores in China. The pictures are coming in of massive crowds both inside and outside the store (see pic above.) This doesn't surprise me at all. I remember the crowd of 20,000 people who showed up at a Costco store opening in Taichung, Taiwan. (you can read my blog entry here: http://kenberglund.blogspot.com/2008/04/costco-opens-in-taichungand-all-hell.html

It seems the Chinese aren't actually buying anything at Ikea, but instead just going there to sleep in the beds (and put their children in cribs to have naps). I mentioned this story to my wife, who replied "What?? I would never sleep in those beds. It's so dirty. You don't know how many different people have been lying in them."

Those are my feelings exactly, and the Chinese never cease to amaze me with their bizarre behavior. Whether it's going completely homicidal apeshit over 10 free eggs at Costco, urinating in public at the Hong Kong Disneyland, or sleeping in beds at furniture stores.

"When we go to Ikea, it feels like we're abroad." said one Chinese shopper at Ikea.

I still don't really understand this total adulation that China and Taiwan have over western culture. Is it the movies and television that have done this to them? Have they watched too many episodes of "Friends" that they think this is what America really is? Is it all the Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock movies?

It's kind of sad to see so much western influence in Asia these days. There was even talk about opening a Starbucks or a McDonalds in the Forbidden City. I'm not sure whether that happened or not, but that's just wrong. Our culture isn't one the Chinese should try to emulate.

I'll probably go back to Taiwan next year, and the last thing I want to see is Taiwan turn into another America. I like all the temples and Buddha statues and duck head stands. If those are gone and replaced with more McDonalds and Costcos and Ikeas, I will be very disappointed.

A Brush With Fame....Or Not

Here's a bit of fluff to lighten things up after the last couple of sad, serious weeks:

I rented the movie "Paranormal Activity" from the library this past weekend and you can see my name in the credits at the end. I knew my name was there, but had no desire to either buy the movie or pay to rent it. Not that it's a bad movie. It's okay, and marginally scary at times, but after you've seen it once, it's not really effective anymore. Similar to "The Blair Witch Project," with each subsequent viewing, it loses its impact.

So why is my name in the credits? Because I was one of those people who clicked the "Demand It!" button when this movie first came out. I wanted to see it, and it seemed like the only way to see it is you "demanded it" on the official website. So, I demanded it, entered my name, and boom! Now I'm in the ending credits.

Apparently, thousands of other people are in the credits too, so the names go rushing by at a speed that make it impossible to read. Seriously, if you blink for a millisecond, you will miss my name. I had to pause it several times just to find it.

So anyway, here's the video:

Rush in Houston

I took the kids to see their first concert on Saturday night at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. One of my favorite bands, Rush, was currently in Texas, stopping in San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas (and skipping Austin, of course.) So we went to the show in Houston, since it was on a Saturday night, and kids are free on the lawn. I'm so glad the kids were free, because the whole experience was somewhat of a disaster.

I was expecting to have an experience similar to what we had on the 4th of July. We'd put our blanket on the lawn, sit down, and just watch the show from a distance. I had seen Rush five times previously over the past 20 years, so I didn't really care if I was close to the stage or not.

Unfortunately for us (but fortunate for Rush, I suppose), the show was completely packed. It appeared to be completely sold out, even on the lawn. Sitting down became an impossibility, unless you didn't want to see anything at all. If you wanted to see something, even the giant video screens, you had to stand for the whole 2 1/2 hour show. The kids didn't like that, and they kept begging me to hold them so they could see. So Christy and I took turns holding the two kids up so they could see. We did this all night, and by the end of the night my arms were as sore as if I had been lifting weights all day.

To make things worse, Sara began to feel tired shortly into the second set (right after Rush had finished playing "Moving Pictures" in its entirety) and she started complaining that she wanted to leave.
"I'm not leaving before I hear 'La Villa Strangiato' " I told them, and I meant it. That was one of my favorite Rush songs, and I knew they didn't play it until the encore. Soon Christy joined in with the complaints, and she and Sara left before me and Kyle. Surprisingly, Kyle was much more into it, and he wanted to stay. So, after I heard the song I wanted to hear, Kyle and I left, even though the concert still wasn't over yet (we missed the final song, "Working Man.")

The show was good, but just about everything surrounding it was not. I told the kids that there will be no more concerts for them until they are teenagers and we don't need to keep our eyes on them every second.

(Picture above: Kids going crazy at the concert. Video below: my shaky-cam recording of Rush performing "Free Will")

More Accolades for Sara

Sara has only been in Kindergarten for less than a month, and already she was won another "Student of the Week" award!

This time, thankfully, they were able to pronounce her name correctly.

Death of a Toyota

It was just 11 months ago when we bought a new 2010 Toyota Corolla. Here's the old blog entry:
http://taiwantotexas.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-car-blues.html

Well...that car is gone. Totally destroyed. Dead. Kaput.

Last Tuesday, during a major storm here in Austin, Christy decided to pull in front of a speeding car at an intersection. She claims she didn't see the other driver coming, and the other driver obviously didn't see her, because she made no effort to brake. The other car literally tore off the entire front of our car (see picture above.)

Luckily and thankfully, no-one was hurt. Had Christy driven a few feet further, the story might have been different.

We had just started with a new insurance company about 2 months ago, Progressive, and so far they've been pretty good about paying all the claims. They gave the other driver $981 dollars for medical expenses (even though by all accounts she wasn't even scratched.) They agreed to pay off the remainder of our loan with Toyota, and we still ended up having about $7,000 left over to get a new car. So yesterday, we had to again look for a new car, something I've always hated doing, and still do.

We went to three car dealerships and tried three styles of cars: The Hyundai Accent, the Toyota Yaris, and the Honda Fit.

I didn't like the Hyundai at all. It didn't feel smooth when I drove it. The air conditioner wasn't cold enough, either. The car just didn't feel like it was well made. To top things off, they didn't even offer us free drinks when we went inside! (if you wanted water, you had to pay for it.)

The Toyota dealer began things right by offering us Italian ice (for free!) the moment we arrived. Then they handed us about 4 bottles of bottled water right away. It was a hot day out, so it was definitely appreciated. I know this may seem like a petty issue, but I look at all aspects of customer service. What does it say about Hyundai if they aren't even willing to give their potential customers a free drink while they're talking business?

We came very, very close to buying a Toyota Yaris. It was a nice little car. Not as good as our old Corolla, but close. The sticking point was that they just wouldn't sell it to us at the price we wanted. In the end it just came down to $300. We wanted them to cut $300 more off the price. They offered $80. Christy wouldn't budge. They wouldn't budge. So, we ended up leaving. Had it been me, I probably would have just got the car, but this time I wanted Christy to handle the negotiations. Last year she complained that I didn't haggle for a big enough discount.

So our last stop was the Honda dealer. I thought the price for the Honda Fit was reasonable, and since we had $7,000 to put down, we knew it was within our budget as far as monthly payments. The Honda seemed like a far superior vehicle to the Yaris. It only required an oil change every 13,000 miles (instead of Toyota's 5,000), and didn't require any additional maintenance at all until the mileage hits 110,000. The engine has a lifespan of about 450,000 miles, and is (supposedly) impossible to steal (unless of course, it's loaded onto a tow truck and taken away, which is how they do it these days.)

The salesman at the Honda dealership was pretty cocky. He said the cars basically sell themselves and that Honda never gives discounts. He pointed out the reason that Hyundai and Kia give big discounts is because their cars have a very low resell value. Still, Christy wanted to haggle, and we did manage to get a small discount, but that was only by removing a few options from the car that we thought were totally unnecessary (like a plastic tray in the trunk of the car.)

I should also point out that at Honda, they had two enormous refrigerators filled with water, juice, and soda that were readily available for all their potential customers. A very nice touch!

So we bought the Honda Fit, and it seems like a nice little car. I hope it lasts us 10 to 15 years. I hoped the Corolla had lasted 10 years, but alas, it only survived for 1. Hopefully Christy has learned an important lesson on traffic safety (she has to pay a traffic citation for "failure to yield" as well as attend traffic school.) I think traffic school will be good for her. She learned how to drive in Taiwan, and their method of teaching driving is not exactly inspiring. Since she started driving, she has hit trees, posts, walls, and now...other cars. She even hit a pole while taking a driving test! So....yeah, she needs driving school.

As Yoda would say, she needs to "unlearn what you have learned!" Words of wisdom.

(Picture: Christy with our our poor, demolished Toyota Corolla)

40 is the new 20

So, today is my 40th birthday. 40 freakin' years old. It's an age that's hard to imagine when you're a young kid, but now here it is staring me at the face. I'm not young anymore, I'm middle aged.

I feel grateful to still be alive at 40. I know 40 isn't that old, but I've got a few friends and classmates that didn't make it this far. My Taiwanese sister in law recently found out that she has cancer in her neck, and she's only 33! So....(knock on wood), I feel lucky I've made it this far without any serious medical problems.

I certainly don't feel like I'm 40, and when I saw a picture recently of Courtney Cox wearing a shirt that said "4O is the new 20", I thought yeah, that makes sense. I still feel like I'm in my 20's.

I've changed a lot. I'm a lot more responsible than I was 20 years ago (kids have a way of doing that to you) but I'm still a bit of a kid at heart. I still enjoy going to rock concerts, or playing a game like "Rock Band" on the PS3. I like playing with Sara and Kyle, but sometimes my 40 year old body doesn't always agree with my 20 year old attitude. I can only let them ride on my back like a horse for a few minutes before I start complaining about my aching bones. hehehe

I don't have to work today. I've got the day off. My fun filled agenda includes picking up Sara from school, taking my wife to see the dentist, buying a new hair-dryer, picking up a "Thomas" book from the library, and then having a (hopefully) nice dinner. Yeah, it's not the same as going to Disneyland or Magic Mountain like I used to do for my birthday as a kid, but at my age, just being able to have dinner with the family is its own present.