Family

Getting tanked

Five minutes.  Just five short minutes.  That’s all the time I needed to finish preparing our new fish tank.  We inherited a fish tank from a neighbor, and I set it up tonight so we could fill it with goldfish for our son.  Five minutes.  I did all the assembly myself, quickly realizing just how much work it is to have a 10-gallon fish tank.  Read instruction manual.  Washed gravel.  Treated water.  Tested filtration system.  Positioned plants.  Situated fish tank on a desk in our living room.  Put treated water in tank and started filtering.  I was five minutes away from finishing the job.  The tank looked a little crooked and I gently tried to straighten it–yes, gently.  I tried to lift it slightly from the bottom of the tank.  All of a sudden, the fish tank glass cracked. 
 
Great, just great.  Now I need a new fish tank, something I never would have bought in the first place if I hadn’t inherited a free fish tank.   So I put temporary duct tape on the tank to slow the leaking.  I emptied the water and gravel and put the gravel in a bucket.  I mopped up floor.  Now I have to go to the store tomorrow and buy a new tank.  All this because my wife thought it was a great deal getting a free fish tank.  As they say, nothing in life is free.  Nothing.  Everything has a cost or a hidden future cost.  Still, it’s worth the money to buy a new tank for my son so he can enjoy goldfish.  Despite that, it’s a lot more work than I ever expected.  It was my wife’s idea to bring this thing into our home.  I told her up front that after I put it together she would have to do the maintenance, and she agreed.  The jury is still out on whether she’ll hold up her end of the bargain or whether I’ll have to step in or whether some goldfish will suffer untimely deaths.  Perhaps I’m too pessimistic, but I’m positive that once this fish tank is working, some future crisis is going to happen in our living room with those fish.  It’s bound to happen.  I’m going to name one of those goldfish Murphy.
 
This is the second broken glass incident this week.  On Tuesday I discovered that the rear driver’s side window of our car was broken by a sharp object.  The impact shattered the window and left a gaping hole.  We don’t know when or how it happened, but we think it happened while we were away on vacation, perhaps a reckless kid or a rock kicked up by a car tire while driving through the neighborhood.  We’ll have to pay a $250 insurance deductible out of pocket, and the insurance company will cover the rest.  Initially we heard that it would take about three months to get a replacement window from the states, but I found a place that could ship it within two weeks.  I bought the part today and taped the window up with strong tape.  It’s such a shame.
 
Let’s hope these are the last glass breakages we’ll have for awhile.

Mommy’s Words: A love affair with puzzles

Tonight I have the privilege of publishing my wife’s first blog entry.  I don’t even have to pay her any royalties fees, although I bought her dinner tonight!  She’s talked for some time about blogging too and released her first entry yesterday.  I hope it’s the first of many.  Here is her inaugural entry focusing on our son’s sporadic love of puzzles.  Enjoy! 

Our son has been a big fan of puzzles since before he turned two years old.  He started with two simple puzzles that I picked up at Namdaemum Market last March.  One was full of patterns of trucks, cranes, and boats.  The other was number 1 to 10.  He impressed everyone when we were on vacation in China last April with how fast he can put those puzzles together. 

 

Now, after a slew of puzzles ranging from Thomas the Tank Engine, Winnie the Pooh, inding Nemo, Madagascar, three dinosaurs, all the way to a difficult level of “70 pieces” (pretty good for a two-year-old), he finally seems to be growing out of the “puzzle” phase.  This is exemplified by multiple incidents of dumping all the puzzle pieces out of their cases and then declaring, “Mommy do it!”  All efforts to coax him into putting the puzzles back together again end in vain, and I usually end up being the one to pick up the mess.  This went on for a little while until yesterday, when he accidentally discovered a new puzzle that I hid away in the closet.  He enthusiastically pulled it out and cried happily, “New toy!” 

 

And this is not just a typical puzzle.  It’s a “100-piece-glow-in-the-dark-Thomas-and-Percy-Moonlight-Ride” puzzle.  Wow!  He rushed to the TV room with it and sat down at the same spot where he always does his puzzles and started working at it, despite the fact that it was almost time for his bath.  He did need quite a bit of help from daddy as he has never done a puzzle this big.  When he was done, he ran to me to show off his puzzle work.  Then we turned off all the lights in the house and together admired this puzzle glowing in the dark.  It brought to life a scene when Thomas and Percy rest in their engine shed at the end of the day under the moonlight. “Goodnight, Thomas.  Goodnight, Percy,” said our son gently before he headed to the bath tub.

 

Our plan is to frame and hang this puzzle up as a poster in our son’s room when he is done playing with it, so he can see it glowing in the dark when he sleeps.  And this grand 100-piece puzzle may very well be the conclusion of his love affair with puzzles.

 

Until he is ready to tackle a 500-piece puzzle, that is…

End of entry.

 

Blog Note:  Editfish, thank you for your detailed insights into the Korean "gae."  Thanks for writing me offline too–I’ll respond soon.  My wife, who was born in China, is not aware of this concept in Chinese society.  It may very well be that "hui" is a traditional Chinese concept that is rarely practiced in China today.  It may also be that she left China at a young age and is unaware of changing trends in Chinese society.  Some say that contemporary Korea embodies traditional Chinese ideals even more than modern China, particularly with regard to Confucian ideals.  It would not surprise if "gae" were imported from China.  In my Western mind, "gae" sounds a bit like a Ponzi scheme, although "gae" investors know full well what they’re getting into, invest with friends and/or family they trust, and invest the money up front rather than sequentially.  Why not just save up money and buy something that can benefit the whole group such as a rental property?  I’ve met dozens of Koreans who travel to the United States using "gae" funds.  The only benefit other members get from the trip is a travel slideshow.

Association update

Tonight our community association held its semiannual all members’ meeting and elected a new governing Board.  The association hosted a dinner for its members and combined it with the semiannual talent show and a St. Paddy’s Day celebration.  Tonight was quite the shindig, and it seemed that half the community showed up for it (free meals tend to bring out the crowds.  I sang a song at the last talent show; this time around I hosted the members’ meeting.  I’m glad–many of the talent show acts were absolutely amazing.  The teenagers who performed acts ranging from guitar solos to martial arts demonstrations were absolutely fabulous.  Our nanny brought my son to the event.  When I saw him, I told him wistfully, "Bao (his nickname), daddy needs to speak."  He answered, "Daddy, no speak!"  Fortunately, he listened intently from the audience while I spoke.  A bit later, my wife arrived from work.  I wish I could say that we were together for the event, but unfortunately, I needed to focus my energies on making sure the event was a success.  Still, we had fun, and after we came home, we headed quickly for bed (I crashed, woke up late, and decided to write this blog entry).
 
I will remain the chair of our association until the end of this month.  Although I was re-elected for another term and will stay on the Board for another six months, I’m really burned out and need a break.  In September, I will step down from the Board for good.  I think we accomplished a tremendous amount of work over the last six months.  One of the more visible changes is that the association now has a really cool web site.  We brought in some new services and replaced some old ones.  Perhaps most significant–we now have an employee cafeteria.  We made some less obvious changes too such as adding credit card capabilities.  Before, customers needed to pay with cash or check.  Now, they can pay with plastic.  Big and small changes such as these helped improve the association and make it more appealing as a venue for potential customers.  Recently, we also began a marketing campaign to remind the community we are a non-profit organization committed to community service, a charm offensive to let the community know that we’re there for them.  So far, the message seems to be well received.  At least it was tonight when everyone feasted on free food and entertainment.