JASON and Hawaii Trip

9-11-2001 reminded us not to take freedom for granted and to focus on today. There are so many victims in New York, Virginia and Afghanistan, it is questionable god wants all this to happen. San Diego housing prices keep going up, but the volume (units) fell for 2 years. The US car makers sold lots of cars, but there is no profit. When the market is working properly, both volume and profit should be stable and in balance. San Diego real estate has too little supply and the automobile market has an over production.

We are busy with life, with the baby and the garden. I keep my needs and enjoyments simple. The reason we sometimes find food, shopping or indulgences irresistible is a lack of vision and passion. So we should observe and understand these weaknesses consciously. Strengthen ourselves by finding a passion that is non-materialistic. This can be a pursuit of knowledge, push the boundary in a science or craft. Once we can see a good life that is free of the money problem, invoking that vision gives us strength. I know deep down, growing a lot of trees, decorating the house, or doing a lot of cool Internet stuff are just passing interests and distractions. The family and the kids will be our real purpose in life. The best way to save money is to be content with what we have and know what we want in life.

Jason is one year old. He likes to play with the computer keyboard, the TV remote control and the phone. I see him playing with the phone. So I took the phone and hanged up. About a minute later, the emergency monitor called us and asked if everything is okay. It seems Jason's first phone called was 9-1-1.

I look at parenthood like tending a garden. I am doing the best with what I know. I have the best intend and I get better with age. I heard many years later you couldn't raise a child without damaging him. That helps me to overlook my parent's foolishness and my own hang-ups. When David was 3 years old, I told him beer is made from "tinkle". Because he has never tasted "tinkle" and that beer smells yucky, it is a reasonable theory. I said this to increase his resistance to peer pressure and to the frog advertisements. The color and bubbles look similar, my statement went well for a while. When he was 6, he saw his mother drinking beer. That created a conflict of ideas because he cannot understand why normal logical people will drink this silly stuff. He mother said she drinks beer to relax from the stress at work and to help her sleep. In other words, intoxication can be used productively as a therapy. The "tinkle" theory is falling apart and I had never thought deep enough to try to support it. Well, beer is a by-product of fermentation of grain. The yeast processes the starch and sugar and turns that into alcohol. The alcohol is a waste product from the metabolic process of a micro. We typically call the rejected waste product "tinkle" or "feces". In the closed system, the pollution from the waste eventual become toxic for the yeast and the alcohol can achieve a shelf life of hundreds of years. The theory of "tinkle" may not be so far fetched after all.

I seem to have more turns and struggles with work and family than my brothers and sister. This led me to be interested in Robert Bly's poems. His talks about ashes and finding the soul make a lot of sense to me. This is not the soul that enjoys eternal glory in the after life. This is the energy that we feel when we get up in the morning. Our passion and despair in dark nights. This is about making peace with people we cannot stand. There is a struggle between making a living and finding the unique genius that I can give to this world. In 5 years, I want to have less things in the garage and more time: time to travel, time to read and write. Jeff Becker always seem to have time to relax on Sunday mornings and time to do his craft. Although I admire that, my destiny and my karma take a different path. I dream about writing a book on tiling and tessellations. Galen and I talk about starting a tree nursery business. I get such a lift when I see Don Moxley saving the bursage and nursing cacti and jojoba on remote corners of his backyard. This is passionate life !!!

David came to San Diego in June. He is doing well with Java graphics and summer camp.

Father's Day we set sail from Honolulu on a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. David quickly learn about all the resources on the ship. I sign up for Internet access so I can check my email. This part of the webpages is written on Norwageian Star. It is great to keep in touch using the Internet. Wednesday June 19, the ship dropped anchor at Kona. David and I went on a submarine ride in the coral reef.

The motto is "Make today your masterpiece", "Live today like this is the last day of your life". July 6th, we went to see the "Spy Exhibit" at the Reagan Museum. It is my first visit to Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. We see the Berlin Wall, the Atomic Bomb and the Jelly Beans from a direct contact. There is a model of USS Arizona at the Reagan museum. We were at the Arizona Memorial in Hawaii just 2 weeks ago. The irony is that the soldiers who fell victim to the attack have been remembered better than the soldiers who won the war against Japan. After we get back from LA, we went to Bonsall to visit with Gary and Mandy. Gary showed David the TiVo system and Microsoft Access. We are impressed with Gary's toys and his knowledge of database. It was a great day. At 10 pm, after Jason went to bed, I picked up Jing from the airport. She felt very good about visiting her mother and sisters in Houston. I don't think we can top this masterpiece day !

My garden is a mess these days because I am too busy with Sanyo work and Jason is dominating our free time. I pay my dues to the CRFG and the PBCG. I keep in touch because other people help us to see ourselves better. August 3 we have our potluck picnic. I found out that everyone who tried to grow chayote gave up by July. This is an unusual vegetable and it is confusing if you think of this like a summer squash. Kathy Hargrove urged me to enter a vegetable to the contest. I was not prepared and all my prize plants are not ready. So I picked the "scarlet runner bean" that Gloria Olsen passed on to me. Thanks to Gloria, this vegetable is judged to be very unusual and eye catching. I won the First Prize in the vegetable category. So things happen to us when we barely even tried. The PBCG picnic was a good party. We met interesting people in our neighborhood.

This is a routine soul searching: Can I simplify my life ? How may I serve ? What is asked of me ? What is good in my life ? How can I add value to my work ? How can I help the earth ? Where do I want to be 5 years from now ? What makes my family happy ? Do I know my desires and put that in words ? Have I made peace with the past ? What would Hector do to improve this ? Would Robert Bly be proud ? Can I try something new and different ? What new technology can I learn and teach to David ? Who do I enjoy spending time with ? What is unique and valuable on my website and how do I want to be remembered ?

My latest product at Sanyo is getting into production in time for Christmas sale. I think it came out rather nice.

Labor Day, we went to Houston. It is first time Jason gets on an airplane. He has a nice visit with grandma. We had wonderful dinners with Jessica and cousins. Steven went on a major tour in South America. He was hoping to learn Spanish in a short time. I think the language is a bigger challenge than he expected. He has some exceptional images from the trip.

Time just flies after Labor Day. Before we catch a breath, it is already Thanksgiving. Thanks to Gary's help, I am learning Mathematica. This is my technical vitality project for 2002. I continue to make small improvements so life can work better. I don't have a chayote harvest this year. The nagaimo (yamaimo) I grow in the backyard is a big hit. We enjoyed the tuber and my parents really liked it. I also learn from Mr. Ken Ozaki how they use that in Tororo noodle soup. I seem to have the luck to find unusual plants every year. It will be a good challenge to increase production of nagaimo next year.

December 16, I won a compact refrigerator with the United Way raffle offered by Sanyo. I feel pretty good about the products we make at Sanyo. The ADS (Solar lighting) and new wine cooler projects are going well. I learn 3D parametric plots with Mathematica. This gets me connected once again with co-ordinate geometry and function plots. I have forgotten a lot of the college mathematics since I was out of school. David gets to see the power of Mathematica graphics. Yet I wonder "What is the role of this graphics in my design work?" There has to be a connection between my design work and the graphic tool. This will be the quest for 2003. Steven and David are excited about going to do snowboarding at Big Bear. California and San Diego were visited by several storms the week before Christmas. The snow on the ski slope is great. All my brothers, nephews and nieces are coming to visit and take pictures at Christmas. This is a very important gathering for my parents. David forgot to bring black shoes and black socks. So we visited Salvation Army on December 24th to buy clothing for him. I see a lot of digital photo in this last year. All my brothers and sister are using digtial cameras now. Walmart has a good way to make prints from JPEG files. I appreciate this method of making hardcopy. It is rare to see a camera with hand cranks to wind and rewind film. David is amazed at the 35 mm film and the complete mechanical camera. This is a technology with 100 years of innovation and marketing. The image business will challenge our learning and adaptation. There are new niches and specialized applications. We are becoming an image rich information society. I am amazed at how much I learn every year.

December 30, 2002

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