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“I’m trying to take a moment and see things from his perspective,” I comment to another parent as a teacher takes my son aside for a walk because he was running around instead of “dancing” to Soda Pop like the other children in morning circle. I then explain to her why. … The day before, I’m taking Benjamin to taekwondo class. As usual, I’m cutting it close and rushing as class was starting in…

Reading something the other day triggered a core memory of something that happened when I was a year younger than Benjamin is now. Two mothers brought their babies (both around two-years-old at the time) to our house and I took it upon myself to “babysit” them while the three mothers caught up in Korean in our living room. I went to my toy box and dug out all my old toys that could be safe for…

My son learned to bicycle today. I didn’t learn until I was six, and he’s just shy of 5 1/4, so I have no reason to have been as disappointed/exasperated as I was. He’s been able to move around on a cycle since before he could even walk. At a year old, he’d on his balance bicycle in the streets of San Francisco weaving between people at the farmer’s market. I became too much the asian parent, and…

M— is away for the first time since her cousin’s funeral, leaving me to take care of Benjamin. It’s bedtime and I’m laying down with him in bed. Benjamin: I told a teacher today that my daddy is a marshmallow daddy. Me: How did they react? Benjamin: She didn’t know what that was. So I told her that my mommy says, “Daddy is a marshmallow parent.” Me: Did they think that was funny? Benjamin…

M— sent me this parody over text, but I was more interested in the book cover of the cookbook. I instantly recognized the cover as being the microwave my parents bought in 1978-1979: the Amana Radarange Touchmatic, placing this book in the early 1980’s at the latest (it was published in 1978). Great nostalgia! (We quickly found the limits of the microwaves of the era as soon as we tried to cook…

Someone at work mentioned this. I can totally see what’s going on here.

This morning Benjamin told us there was no eye in “chiji.” It took a while — ”no, i with a dot in it!” — before we realized he meant the letter ”I” and not an “eye.” After a bit of forensic analysis, it became obvious he has confused the letter “L” with the letter “I” and had heard me calling ”Chili’s’ ”Chiji’s.” A couple months ago while exploring the various malls of Oakland, we stopped by…

I ran across this article reinterpreting strategist Peter Berezin’s comments regarding the market. Instead of the predictions, or him being right, or the definitely-going-to-be-misinterpreted suggestions on how to mitigate it, I was struck by how level-headed and egoless Peter Berezin seems to be. Here are some claims A couple months before the peak he predicted US stocks would fall because of a…

At work, I mentioned my first dice I ever had were the “wrong color” because the Basic D&D set I had, had a chit card, instead of dice. I cut up the card and put them in Silo cups labeled with the die roll. This got me down a rabbit hole on why they were they were called Holmes dice, why they were the wrong color, and the deal with chits. I found out that it was called Holmes because J Eric…

From another parent: But now he just launches into diatribes about how we’re so mean and we don’t let him do anything and we’re hateful people because we didn’t let him keep watching Bluey after the agreed upon number was watched #4yearolds Yesterday, Benjamin, in tears, was yelling at me that mommy definitely MEANT to hit him with her purse. it was no accident, and she’s totally a meany for…

I was sent this article yesterday. This reminded me of this gem from a few years ago : He talked about electric cars. I don’t know anything about cars, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius. Then he talked about rockets. I don’t know anything about rockets, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius. Now he talks about software. I happen to know…

My four year old loves to drop the knowledge bombs. (“Don’t you mean knowledge BATH BOMBS, daddy? Haa ha!”) Most of it is about Minecraft (facts about Enderman and TNT) or Super Mario which I don’t know anything about because I am culturally backward when it comes to video games (“Bath Bob-ombs, Daddy. Haa ha!”). But very once in a while you just get to see the deep logic that a child has…

The skill of writing… I never explained the unofficial motto of this blog. When I started this blog 20 years ago, I wanted to have a north star guiding me as to why I was doing this at all. I searched the internet for quotes on writing and came across this gem from Edwin Schlossberg: The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think. Continue reading The skill…

How my transit card makes me think about Regressive Taxation.

I finally got around to moving my Clipper Card onto my iPhone Wallet. I used to have a problem losing my keys, wallet and/or iPhone until I read in a biography that Richard Feynman used to keep his wallet in the same pocket to prevent the same thing. That, and because they say that you should wear through your denim jeans the same way to give it “character,” meant ten years ago I adopted this…

I was doing so well since just before the election of avoiding any direct knowledge of what was going on with politics. Deleted Twitter, didn’t open Apple News, moved any political blogs into a folder I don’t read, and unrecommend anything about US politics. This morning I noticed that someone at work noted that there was a perfect tie for city council in District 1 in San Francisco (11,001 to…

On winning the lottery

If you received $10,000,000 tomorrow, would you continue to work? “Good one since someone got the powerball top price.” Yes, I would continue to work. In grad school, A classmate who would precede a lot of things with, “If I won the lottery…“. Finally I got sick of it and said, “Why the hell do you want someone to give you money you didn’t earn?” I still feel that way. Also in grad school, the…

A baby’s sense of order

This morning, Benjamin and I had to get a blood test. I guess this makes us blood brothers. It’s been about 8 years since my last test. Now that Benjamin is one year old, his pediatrician wants him tested for lead as a precaution since housing in San Francisco can date back to when paint and pipes had lead. When getting him ready for the visit, I got him dressed. He started repeating “sosh” when…