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Published On: Aug 05, 2007 08:38 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Aug 05, 2007 08:38 AM
Party, bikes, iBlog...
Recovering from a
vacation...
Disney World vacations are always exhausting for
me and Hsuan. Because of my early backaches, I was popping Extra Strength
Tylenol for much of the early days of the vacation. Plus, I switched from my
old, beat up Asics to my new, barely used Nikes for the trip. Overall, the
result was a lot less leg muscle soreness at the end of the vacation than
usual.
With William going to kindergarten, his vacation times will likely be during Disney World peak periods, meaning we'll not likely go back for a while because we'd rather not deal with, say, Spring Break crowds.
Our next traveling vacation will likely be a restful one for me and Hsuan. Say, Hawaii or some such place?
-----
James was invited to a birthday party for one of his classmates, so we attended around lunchtime today. A handful of people we knew, and a huge number of people we didn't. Still, it was fun for the kids.
Afterward, later this afternoon, William wanted to go bike riding, so we spent a while this afternoon doing that.
William on his bike, James on his tricycle.
William and Bessie.
James and Bessie.
Bessie joined us outdoors. Since we were in the front yard, we kept her on leash. The boys wanted to take turns holding her leash, with William insisting he could control her. I think I made the point that she's very, very strong by having her drag him along, up and down the driveway.
William helps kill whiteflies.
We've also been having a whitefly infestation in one of the bushes near the house for the past two or three years. It's been very hard to control. Whiteflies kill bushes, and they're resistant to most or all readily available pesticides at, say, Home Depot. With the kids around, I've been reluctant to try harsher insecticides or call in an exterminator, but on the other hand, I'm also reluctant to completely remove the infested bush and replant. Instead, I try to control the infestation by spraying the leaves (particular the undersides, where the colonies get established) with a mixture of water and ivory dish soap. The intention is to drown out the colonies. It usually stems the infestation for a few days, and repeated applications are usually required. However, there are a hell of a lot of leaves to spray, even with William's help.
Another alternative I've tried is to put a lawn sprinkler in the bush and let it run for a while, also to drown out the colonies. That works pretty well and is less labor intensive, but it misses a lot of colonies.
Meanwhile, James scares the hell out of Hsuan by going way too close to the pool.
-----
On our first full day back at home on Thursday, William attended Tae Kwon Do class, and he shocked Master P. by being able to do all of his first green belt form to completion, despite having been away on vacation since being awarded his green belt and despite not having been taught the form directly. How did he learn it? Simple: He paid attention when more senior green belts were doing their forms. That is, with a range of belts in class, Master P. often has more junior belts sit after running through their forms, while he then drills the more senior belts on theirs. Often, the kids who are sitting spend their time idly doing nothing or, worse, chatting among themselves. William, on the other hand, watches the senior students intently. So, he's able to absorb things simply because he pays attention. (I think it also helps that there are certain symmetries in the forms that William takes advantage of.)
Master P. had William demonstrate his first green belt form (Palgwe ee jang) again on Saturday, and Master P. explained to everyone how William learned it without being taught directly. Then, he had the rest of the class sit while the brown belts and higher did the first brown belt form (another Palgwe form, I think), and he asked the sitting students if they could do it from one viewing. Of course, that form is incredibly complicated, but a couple of the sitting students were able to replicate the first couple of steps, so it wasn't too bad.
-----
I've had a bit of a hiccup with iBlog today, having to do with a mismatch in the number of entries in the main data and the backup data. I'm using version 1.4.6, which is very old. Version 2.0-RC2 is the current version. I'm wondering if I may have lost some entries in this blog. When I downloaded version 2 for a tryout, it struck me as not quite ready for prime time. I'll have to see if I can find a workaround for the version 1.4.6 bug.
With William going to kindergarten, his vacation times will likely be during Disney World peak periods, meaning we'll not likely go back for a while because we'd rather not deal with, say, Spring Break crowds.
Our next traveling vacation will likely be a restful one for me and Hsuan. Say, Hawaii or some such place?
-----
James was invited to a birthday party for one of his classmates, so we attended around lunchtime today. A handful of people we knew, and a huge number of people we didn't. Still, it was fun for the kids.
Afterward, later this afternoon, William wanted to go bike riding, so we spent a while this afternoon doing that.
William on his bike, James on his tricycle.
William and Bessie.
James and Bessie.
Bessie joined us outdoors. Since we were in the front yard, we kept her on leash. The boys wanted to take turns holding her leash, with William insisting he could control her. I think I made the point that she's very, very strong by having her drag him along, up and down the driveway.
William helps kill whiteflies.
We've also been having a whitefly infestation in one of the bushes near the house for the past two or three years. It's been very hard to control. Whiteflies kill bushes, and they're resistant to most or all readily available pesticides at, say, Home Depot. With the kids around, I've been reluctant to try harsher insecticides or call in an exterminator, but on the other hand, I'm also reluctant to completely remove the infested bush and replant. Instead, I try to control the infestation by spraying the leaves (particular the undersides, where the colonies get established) with a mixture of water and ivory dish soap. The intention is to drown out the colonies. It usually stems the infestation for a few days, and repeated applications are usually required. However, there are a hell of a lot of leaves to spray, even with William's help.
Another alternative I've tried is to put a lawn sprinkler in the bush and let it run for a while, also to drown out the colonies. That works pretty well and is less labor intensive, but it misses a lot of colonies.
Meanwhile, James scares the hell out of Hsuan by going way too close to the pool.
-----
On our first full day back at home on Thursday, William attended Tae Kwon Do class, and he shocked Master P. by being able to do all of his first green belt form to completion, despite having been away on vacation since being awarded his green belt and despite not having been taught the form directly. How did he learn it? Simple: He paid attention when more senior green belts were doing their forms. That is, with a range of belts in class, Master P. often has more junior belts sit after running through their forms, while he then drills the more senior belts on theirs. Often, the kids who are sitting spend their time idly doing nothing or, worse, chatting among themselves. William, on the other hand, watches the senior students intently. So, he's able to absorb things simply because he pays attention. (I think it also helps that there are certain symmetries in the forms that William takes advantage of.)
Master P. had William demonstrate his first green belt form (Palgwe ee jang) again on Saturday, and Master P. explained to everyone how William learned it without being taught directly. Then, he had the rest of the class sit while the brown belts and higher did the first brown belt form (another Palgwe form, I think), and he asked the sitting students if they could do it from one viewing. Of course, that form is incredibly complicated, but a couple of the sitting students were able to replicate the first couple of steps, so it wasn't too bad.
-----
I've had a bit of a hiccup with iBlog today, having to do with a mismatch in the number of entries in the main data and the backup data. I'm using version 1.4.6, which is very old. Version 2.0-RC2 is the current version. I'm wondering if I may have lost some entries in this blog. When I downloaded version 2 for a tryout, it struck me as not quite ready for prime time. I'll have to see if I can find a workaround for the version 1.4.6 bug.
Posted: Sun - June 3, 2007 at 11:59 PM