Artcrank Scores

I purchased Blood+Sweat+Chemo by Jason M. Miller 6/100 (above)
Claire chose Chainwhirl by Courtney Billadeau 1/30

Both Claire and Harris came with this year. They enjoyed the art and bikes, I enjoyed having such and event we could share together. Claire was excited about her purchase with her own money.

Getting Excited for Artcrank

This link will give a sneak peak at portions of the posters available. I'd like to hear impressions of the different posters. I appreciate the one above.

2012 GT-R

I parked my Honda Civic and drove another of the world's best cars this afternoon. Previously, I've experienced a BMW M6, a CLK 63 AMG Black Series, Porsche Cayenne, BMW X6M and a 2009 GT-R. But, this thing made my special spot tingle like no other car I've been in.

With two people in the car, we did 0-60 in 3.4 seconds slowed by wheel spin resulting from a cold road. This GT-R is reported to be able to do the same feat in 2.88 seconds. Crazy fast.

To put this acceleration in perspective, Ferrari asserts that its 599 GTO, its fastest ever road car, can do 0-62 in 3.35 seconds. The GT-R is faster than the fastest Ferrari off the line.

My purpose with this blog post is, however, not to do a review of cars. I've put links in that do that better than I could. My thoughts are on quality. The 0-60 numbers only quantify some of the qualities of the GT-R. Knowing someone generous enough to let me drive this list of expensive toys similarly quantifies quality. I appreciate the amazing cars, but am more impressed with someone who shares so freely.

Thanks for the drive; quality counts.

More GT-R pictures here. More data and an article here.

What do Liberia, Myanmar and the US have in Common?

We're the only three countries who don't use the Metric System.

Artcrank Minneapolis

Artcrank April 2 @5pm in Shelter Studios.

Hipster Trap

Stolen from someone on Reddit.com

Found This Poisonous Little Creature in the House Tonight

My 9-year-old son shouts, "Dad! Come quick I found a cool little bug with claws" I came quickly, as I wondered what he might have found.

This little creature is a pseudoscorpion. It's a harmless arachnid that has been roaming the Earth for the last 380 million years eating other little mites and flies. The claws have a poison gland to subdue prey in a pinch. Ours was very tiny, 2mm or so long. The photo below shows it to scale with a 12 point font.

The kids and I released our catch back in the basement to continue munching other little crawlies in the house. Too bad we didn't have a tiny radio frequency tracking collar.

Holy Grail of Cultural Knowledge

Tonight the family snuggled together on the couch to watch a Netflix movie via our Wii. This is a favorite activity for all of us. When we couldn't quickly find a mutually agreeable title, I suggested we watch Monty Python's Flying Circus. No loss if they didn't like it.

The show was a hit. I loved to hear the kids laugh at all of the right times. as we watched the first two episodes. But, the best part of the evening was telling stories about watching these same episodes as a teenager myself. Other topics of conversations started by the skits included Genghis Khan, the Gestapo, early 20th century artists, and why the British enjoy making fun of the french.

This night came to be a technologically enhanced 21st century equivalent to the ancients sitting around the campfire learning culture through oral traditions. I can't wait to share the lumberjack song and the story of the Holy Grail.

Cars-R-Coffins RIP

Link

What Do You Do When An Eleven Year Old Loses A Tooth?

You load toothpaste on a mousetrap and try to catch the Tooth Fairy. The note reads:

Dear Claire:
Your dad tried to catch me with a mousetrap. He snapped glitter off my dress, but I got away. Thanks for being such a good girl and taking care of your teeth. Tell your dad to watch his back!
The Tooth Fairy

It's like leaving milk and cookies for Santa mixed with snipe hunting.

47 Sunny Degrees and a Ski with the Kids

Single digit highs with below zero wind chills last week gave way to a memorable day of warmth and sun. The kids and I skied at The Ravine in Cottage Grove. The picture are on the trail, a break with oranges and the obligatory monkey mouths.

The videos are action shots of me trailing the kids on down hills. Harris was almost flattened after he crashed in front of me. Reckless parenting almost caught on film.

Less Busy Now

The last several weeks have been a blur; I'm ready for a less frenetic pace. In addition to my regular work and family commitments, my high school ski team, Minnesota Youth Ski League Team and basement projects have kept me occupied. Not complaining; all are rewarding and largely a blast. Here are a few pictures showing what I've been up to lately.I don't have a before, but here is a during and after picture of my basement project. I tore out a room move lots of stuff prior to tearing up the floor. I hired a plumber, carpenter and electrician, but spent lots of time coordinating their work, , insulating, getting materials, hauling stuff to the dump, tapping drywall and painting.


Here's part of my Minnesota Youth Ski League group. I started this program last year for Claire and Harris and as a feeder program for my high school team. The snowmobile the kids are sitting on was another project in itself. We purchased it new in Dec. to keep the trails groomed for both ski groups. Fund-raising and grooming our ski-course came along with getting the sled.

I started working with my high school team in Nov. We'll finish up with our awards banquet next Tuesday. Groomed trails helped the kids improve and have fun.


Ling-Hui did, however, just fly off to Taiwan for the next two weeks. I wouldn't have made it as a single parent, albeit temporary, a month ago.

新年愉快

It's all good, but this is my life for the next week or so

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My School on Good Morning America?

H2O for Life is scheduled to be featured on Good Morning America this Thursday, Jan. 27th in the morning. This picture is from an H2O For Life posting on Facebook. It's great to see students from my school shown from a walk we organized last Spring.

H2O for Life is an organization that raises money and awareness about issues of clean accessible water around the Earth. Students get pledges and walk carrying water for 6km, or the distance many families need to go to gather water each day. Please support H20 for Life if you get a chance.

view the story here at a later time.

New Addition to our Family

I've got labor pains; tapping Sheet-Rock tonight, finish tomorrow, paint Wed, plumber Thurs, electrician Fri. we're having a bathroom!

Porch Bike Haiku

Cold Long Haul Trucker
stem deep in hibernation
dreams tulip petals

Winter Commuter
Salty, gritty companion
misses my cold ass

My Kids Made Me Eat a Bug!

It's true they forced me to eat a bug, pupa more accurately.

Here's how. We are a mixed Chinese/American household that has lived in both Minnesota and Taiwan. As a way of having my children receptive to both cultures, I encouraged them to eat with an open mind. Duck brain, fish eyes and fish eggs are not uncommon at our table. Similarly, the kids are open to lutefisk, pickled herring, caviar and other cultural foods from my side. I've pridefully blogged about them eating snails, cat-tails, and Somali-goat. The kids watch Andrew Zimmern on Bizarre Foods and love to say "we've had that."

About a month ago we were at a Korean restaurant enjoying kim-chee, spicy squid and the likes. After our meal we browsed through the attached grocery store where my son excitedly ask if we could buy a can of the silkworms he found.

Let me digress to provide some background here. Rationally I support insect protein as a healthy, cheap, sustainable way of feeding the planet. I've tried meal worms, ants and grasshoppers before. But I just can't get past the texture of their exoskeletons and mushy middles. Eating bugs sends the irrational part of my brain into gagging, hissy fits.

Knowing this irrational thinking contradicts my prideful preaching about being open to new foods, I took the wise cowards way and try to put him off buying the can. Not seeing a price I say, "It might be expensive. We can get it another time." No luck, as the boy takes the can to the counter to discover that it's less than two bucks. Worse still, an older well dressed Korean man looks pridefully at my son and tells him about how much he enjoyed eating silkworms as a child. He says he is glad to see that children still like it today. This kind old ass actually made it so I had to buy them.

The kids made several requests to open this can of worms. Each time I managed to escape by reminding them that it's late, or that they already brushed their teeth and so on.

Tonight we're watching Bizarre Foods shoot an episode in Thailand, and damned if Zimmern doesn't go to a rural village to eat silkworms. The kids demanded we open our can. They even called me out on being a chicken. To save my pride and hide my hypocrisy, I quickly dipped my fingers in the nightmarish broth and popped one of the pupae in my mouth. If I would have been smart enough to just swallow it whole, I would have been ok, but I chewed. It squirted buggy, musty, nutty ooze into my mouth causing me to wretch, run and hurl in the utility sink.

Here's the cool part. After watching me eat and barf both kids still willingly tried a bug too. The boy told the girl to just imagine they're shrimp. I'm very proud of them both.

Winter Commuter Rolls Again

I haven't biked to work for almost a month. A million reasons why, some legitimate. Anyway my mind and body miss it. Bike's loaded sans excuses.

Roots

This is the Farm of my Great-Grand Parents Albert and Frieda Wilkins. It is near Goodridge Minnesota.

Great Grandma Frieda in 1974. She lived with my family until I was 4. My memories of her involve soft orange candy peanuts.