Pillar of the Community

Looks like my brother is doing his part in his new home town. Take a look at this article. (link)
Pretty cool if you ask me.

I've been reading a great book about the state of the food industry in America. It's called "The Omnivore's Dilemma". I'm not going to get all preachy or stop eating beef, but it is pretty interesting (and scary). Joe being able to locally grow food without harming the environment puts him on a very short list.

The Mind of a First Grader - Volume 7

Jack has recently been studying animals and nature at school. Of course, the stuff he's learning is making it's way into the conversation at the dinner table.

Jack: And then, on this TV show, the hunter was awesome and he shot the lion.
Matt: Why is that awesome?
Jack: Uh, dad? The food chain? Duh.
Matt: The food chain? Did he eat the lion?
Jack: No, but he's a hunter. Lions kill zebras, hunters kill lions.
Matt: But the lion eats the zebra. Does the hunter eat the lion?
Jack: Dad! It's the food chain. Don't you get it.
Matt: I think your missing something there buddy.

Wow

95% of the time that I'm listening to music, I'm either driving in my car, or in my office on crappy speakers with the volume turned down low. The only other time I get a chance to listen is on an airplane, and that's not exactly a pure acoustic environment.

Until now.

For Christmas, Melissa got me a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones.

I must say...I'm impressed. Especially when you are in a relatively quiet spot (like, not an airplane), these things let you hear subtleties in music that you didn't even know were there. I've been listening to the latest Coldplay album for months. In my office. On crappy speakers. While I thought this was good music, I'd really never heard the album the way it was intended to be experienced. This made me wonder what else I've been missing. I then listened to some Foo Fighters and Guster that I must have heard 200 times each. Same thing. There was so much going on the the background of these songs that I'd never noticed.

If you're into music or you fly a lot, you really should give these things a try. While expensive, they're really worth the money.

The Mind of a First Grader - Volume 6

A conversation at the dinner table:
(remember, Jack is a kid who can barely make his bowl of cereal.)

Jack: The potatoes are all full of lumps.
Melissa: Sorry honey. That's just the way mommy made them tonight.
Jack: What's this?
Melissa: Pork chops.
Jack: (takes a bite) These a great! I'll have to learn your recipe.
Melissa: OK sweetheart.

Two Buck Chuck

In December I posted about how my friend Jeff is pretty much a jerk. He'd sent an email to a few of his friends praising "Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe Joe's" cookies. Of course, Jeff knows that Trader Joe's stores aren't easy to find in Singapore and Jeff did his best to rub it in.

Last night Jeff redeemed himself in a big way. When I opened my mailbox after work, there was a package with my name on it. (I never get packages. They're always addressed to Melissa or Jack.) You should have seen the smile on my face when I opened it to find a red box of cookies! (A box that cost $5 to buy and $13 dollars to mail.) If only he could mail me the $2 wine Trader Joe's sells. A $6 bottle in the US costs $25 in Singapore.

Jack thought they were very funny cookies.

I have to say that Jeff was right. They were pretty darn good.

Mmmm. Dessert.

Thanks Kobsie. The ox-tail crumpets are in the mail.