2009 Christmas Card

January 2009 started with a baby shower for Deborah, and January ended with the arrival of Bethany Seung-Jan, who made a strong initial appearance at 8 lbs., 11 oz. in weight and 20" in length.  Helping us make the transition to two kids were the Lau grandparents, who stayed in town through the first part of March, and Grandma Liu, who took the next shift through early April.  In mid-April, we traveled to Hong Kong, where we introduced Bethany to her Hong Kong relatives, including her great-grandmother.  Deborah's sister also joined us in Hong Kong, and we were able to introduce Bethany to her Aunt Caroline, Uncle David, and cousin Noah.

 

In early May, just over a week after returning from Hong Kong, we traveled to Maui to spend a week of R&R with Caroline's family, the Lau grandparents, and the Liu grandparents -- who made their inaugural trip to Hawaii.  Despite unusually choppy waters and some seasickness on our snorkeling excursion to Molokini, we had a wonderful time enjoying the Waimea beaches, the luau at the Wailea Marriott, and lots of family time (especially between Jonathan and Noah) in our Kihei rental.  In July, Deb decided to leave eBay after seven years to join Facebook (David is still at Google).  Grandma Liu visited in late July, and in September we joined Caroline and David in celebrating the birth of their daughter Olivia.

 

Grandma Liu came again in early November, and we all traveled to Los Angeles for David's cousin's wedding.  Caroline's family joined us for the Thanksgiving holidays.  But before we could carve any turkey, Deborah and Caroline made a quick business trip to Hong Kong for Maya Road, fitting in numerous meetings in three packed days.  The two Davids were left in Santa Clara with four kids; fortunately, everyone survived.

 

We plan on ending 2009 in North Carolina and Georgia, where we look forward to spending time with family and old friends.  Thank you for your friendship in 2009.  May you have a merry Christmas and a fantastic 2010!

 

[Author's note 12/18/10: We never made it to Georgia, since the Lau parents graciously drove up to NC to join us there for Christmas.]

Cambridge Racism

All this talk of the Obama Beer Summit reminds me of my own brush with racism in the fair city of Cambridge, Mass.

I was in my first couple of weeks of law school and was hanging out with a couple of other Asian American guys (actually, one Asian American and one half-Asian, half-white Canadian) in Harvard Square. As a Southerner, I was sort of an oddity among my Asian American peers, and I was being asked all sorts of questions about what it was like growing up in the supposedly racist South. I'm actually proud of my Southern roots, and I was explaining to my new friends that the South was no more racist than any other part of the country. In fact, I argued that in so far as Southerners interact more with people of other races than do folks from other parts of the country, the South is actually less racist than other parts of the country.

My friends didn't believe this could be true, and protested my attempt to favorably compare the South with what they considered to be the much-more-enlightened Northeast. Just then, a pickup truck pulled up next to us. Inside were a bunch of guys who looked to be in the 18-24 demographic, all white. They stopped beside us to shout some racial epithets of the "ching-chong" variety and then abruptly drove away. The three of us were left standing there in shock.

I generally enjoyed my three years in Cambridge, and I don't recall experiencing any episodes of racism more blatant than that incident in Harvard Square. But the experience did reinforce my belief that all people -- regardless of color or geography -- are fairly similar. And one thing that we share is a distrust for those that are different from or unfamiliar to us. You can't get rid of that over a couple of beers. But it's a start.

Big Lots! of Garbage

The bait and switch isn't dead!

While going through the ads in Sunday's Mercury News, we noticed an ad on the front page of Big Lots's weekly circular advertising a 45-gallon, wheeled, Roughneck trash can for only $16.

Since our trash cans have seen better days (we got them with the house), and since Rubbermaid usually makes a decent product, I headed out to Big Lots on Sunday afternoon to buy one of these trash cans. Arriving at the Big Lots (which was surprisingly crowded, probably with refugees from the nearby Costco), I quickly found a stack of 45-gallon, wheeled trash cans:

Here's a closer look at the label:

While I wasn't quite sure why I should compare the $16 price to $14.44, at first it seemed that I had found my deal. Upon closer inspection of the trash cans, however, I noticed that the trash cans weren't Rubbermaid Roughneck trash cans, as advertised, but actually "Rough & Rugged" trash cans from some company called United Solutions.

In and of itself, that fact may not have been a deal killer. But the trash cans were made of pretty cheap plastic -- and didn't appear likely to stand up to a single week of TLC from our trash guys.

I walked through the store a couple more times to see if the actual Rubbermaid trash cans were stacked somewhere else (Big Lots isn't the most well-organized store I've ever shopped in), but came up empty. Flagging a passing Big Lots employee, I asked him where I could find the advertised trash cans. He told me that the trash cans were scattered throughout the store, but that I could definitely find them over there -- and he pointed back towards the original display. I told him that those trash cans weren't Rubbermaid Roughneck trash cans, but United Solutions Rough & Rugged trash cans, but the distinction seemed to escape him. He mumbled something and walked away.

Not wanting to brave the long lines at the registers to speak to a manager, I left the store sans trash can. I wonder how many folks will end up buying Rough & Rugged trash cans instead of Roughneck trash cans. And I wonder if Rubbermaid would be interested in what Big Lots has been up to.

Announcing Bethany Seung-Jan Liu

Somewhat unexpectedly, Bethany's arrival started pretty much the same way Jonathan's did -- with Jonathan waking up Deb. This time, however, Deb woke up to Jonathan crying, probably from a night terror, a little before 6:30 am. I went to fetch Jonathan and brought him back to our room to see if he would go back to sleep. As I finally calmed Jonathan down, Deb casually noted that she thought she was in labor! Her contractions were already seven minutes apart and around a minute in duration; by 7:30, her contractions were only four minutes apart. Knowing that second pregnancies tend to progress quickly, we gathered our bags and -- after a short return trip to grab our forgotten camera -- were headed to El Camino Hospital.

January 30 is apparently a popular day to be born. By the time we arrived shortly before 8:00, five babies had already been born that shift, and all the delivery rooms were full. Deb was six centimeters dilated (at 10 cm you start pushing) and just in time for an epidural. We were afraid that we would have to deliver in the C-section recovery area (where we had been parked). But providentially, a delivery room became available soon after Deb got the epidural, and we moved into a private delivery room around 9:30 -- a mere half hour before Deb went into transition.

Deb pushed for about 45 minutes with Jonathan, before circumstances culminated in an episiotomy followed by a flurry of activity. Pushing was, as much as it can be, much more calm and relaxed this time around. Blessedly, nothing unusual occurred, and -- after a herculean effort by Deb -- Bethany entered the world at 10:57 am. We had been hoping for an easier delivery this time around, and part of our hopes were anchored to our doctor's assessment that Bethany was smaller than Jonathan. Jonathan was fairly big at eight pounds, girls tend to be smaller than boys, and Deb weighed a few pounds less this time than she did last time. So the biggest surprise of the morning was the announcement that Bethany weighed in at eight pounds, 11 ounces! No wonder Deb had such a hard time pushing her out!