A Manger is His Throne

As keeping with tradition, here's the CIBC Children's Choir Christmas performance.

Happy New Year everyone.

Christmastime (long overdue)

Sorry for the delay, I meant to get it up sooner.

Shot from approx. 70 ft. away in 720HD with the incredible Canon Powershot SX20is.
(Thanks, Wong See Mo)

Piano shopping is like car shopping

Last month I embarked on a journey to find a piano for my hopefully-someday promising piano student son. He had been making do with an electronic keyboard inherited from a friend for the last 9 months, but now his instructor is cracking the whip demanding that he requires something better... something with a foot pedal. I suggested, "Can't he just step on an empty shoe or something? I mean we're just getting him to learn the motions, right?" No luck. The teacher is such a taskmaster...

As a savvy Craigslist conqueror, I knew there was nothing I couldn't get for cheap. But with a piano, I had several things working against me. One was time. We needed a piano "the sooner the better." Second, I needed to hire movers so I couldn't say "I'll offer you XX and pick up right now!" And third and most detrimental, I knew nothing about pianos. NOTHING.

I asked a few piano experts/friends, and their opinions varied across the board, from $500 to $6000 for an upright piano. Get this brand, avoid that brand, avoid digital, no shorter than 44" and so on... Personally I wanted a digital piano because it was lightweight, but they say with a digital, you can't have "expression"–whatever that means. The one thing they all agreed on was to bring a seasoned piano player along to test it out beforehand. None of them offered but they did wish me luck.

So off to Piano Plus I went. The 46" Cable Nelson was the cheapest one at $3000. Cable Nelson is made by Yamaha the same way the Pontiac Vibe is made by Toyota–excellence under the hood, but only satisfactory everywhere else. The 47" Yamaha T118 was $4000, the low-budget 48" T121 was $5000, and the timeless classic 48" U1 was $6000. Yes, $1000 per inch enlargement! Funny thing was while I was there, three other families came in–all Asian! That is so stereotypical isn't it?

In addition, delivery is $125, sales tax (9.75% where I live), and two tunings are included. But get this, they offer lifetime full trade up value! Now on the surface that sounds incredible as the salesman gets you to believe how the piano will never lose its value in its lifetime. If we spend $3000 today, even 30 years from now we can trade in the piano and get back $3000 toward the purchase of another piano (provided Armageddon hasn't claimed the store). The one thing he fails to mention is that we can only use that $3000 toward the purchase of a piano that's at least double the value ($6000–ouch).

I went to another store in Dublin for some haggling and by the end of the week, I hammered the price of the T118 to $3495. But the more I thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. I mean buying new, regardless of how great of a deal it is, goes against everything I believe in. I believe white-collar people with champagne wishes should pay for the initial "depreciation" years, not me. I call these people the "new-car-smell people." People like me come along later and buy the leftover "value" years.

So back to Craigslist I went, armed and determined with my newfound education. I'm like an Asian teenage girl shopping for her first car. She doesn't know much about cars, but all her Asian friends drive Hondas and Toyotas. So isn't it a coincidence Asian families only buy Yamaha and Kawai pianos, which are Japanese made? White people like Baldwin, Koehler, Wurlitzer, the same way they like GM, Ford and Chrysler. Mercedes owners buy Steinways. The experts say I can't go wrong with any Yamaha (Camry) or Kawai (Accord), and to find one under 15 years old and stay away from "gray market" Yamahas (salvage). If a piano is properly maintained, it will easily last a lifetime. Also, every piano has a serial number that works like a carfax report.

Sure enough, 90% of all Yamaha and Kawai pianos on Craigslist are from Chinese households. Chinese people tend to keep their homes real clean so probably no shoe ever touched the pedals. The only problem is that most Chinese people are cheap and expect top bluebook value from their resales. Man I hate buying from Chinese! Even in this economy, trying to get Mr. Lu or Mr. Chun to lower their price even 10% is like asking for their first born. They rebuff my offer with, "No, it worth more!"

With at least four lowball offers pending, I stumble across an ad from a generous Mr. Tzchen in Cupertino. He listed his 6-year old 48" Kawai at 60% off retail–an absolute steal! I wasted no time! I could tell money didn't matter to him by the late model yellow Carrera his wife was driving. I took a photo of the piano and said I would need to consult with my wife. He emailed me back a few hours later and dropped the price another $150 hoping that would further encourage my wife. I told him, "Yeah, that would help!" :) We need more Chinese like him!

So do you have grade school children that you want to learn piano? They say piano instills a type of discipline that will later translate to better study habits. Look at me. I never studied music–can you tell?? If you're Chinese, you need to further reinforce the stereotype and force your children to take piano, or violin, or both. Forget sports, it's not proper (see-mun) enough.

For all you non- "new-car-smell" people in search of a decent used piano, a great place to do research is to join the Piano World Forum. Lots of nice helpful folks there. And unlike any tech forum, you won't get trashed on for being a newbie and asking stupid questions. If you insist on buying new, I would recommend Dave at Piano Plus for Yamaha or DC Piano in Berkeley for Kawai.

I don't plan to buy another piano ever again. But through my experience, hopefully you'll learn something in your quest for your piano. Right now we're enjoying our new used piano! The boys are gone to San Diego this week so I get the piano all to myself. Unfortunately I can't read music and I don't know how to play :(

But that may change...

Cantonese Boy

Thanks Matt! Hilarious!

Friday Free Music

Did you see Kelly on American Idol this week? At first I couldn't recognize her. It's obvious she's grown up since the last time I saw her, but she's also grown out a bit too :o Click on the link, watch the videos of her live performances. Click on the orange bar for "Free Download" and enter the code "DOVE" for her latest single.

Also, free download of Taylor Swift's Love Song here.

Musical Monday - Mario Kart Love Song

You be my princess and I'll be your toad
I'll follow behind you on rainbow road
Protect you from red shells wherever we go
I promise.

No one will touch us if we pick up a star
If you spin out you can ride in my car
When we slide together we generate sparks
In our wheels and our hearts

Chorus:
The finish line
Is just around the bend
I'll pause this game
So our love will never end
Let's go again

The blue shell is coming so I'll go ahead
If you hang behind, it'll hit me instead
But never look back cause I'm down but not dead
I'll catch up to you

Don't worry about Bowser or DK
Eat this glowing mushroom
And they'll all fade away

Chorus (x2)

To the mushroom cup
And the flower cup
And the star cup
And the reverse cup

Friday Fun - Star Wars A cappella

Only the nerds can appreciate this. The first one is the one floating all over Facebook. The second one is the original. Both are hilarious. Turn up the volume (unless you're at work, then put on your earphones). And yes, all the music is John Williams'. Can you name them all?

The world is changing

First off, sorry for the long absence. For the last two years I've been averaging two posts per week, but I haven't posted in 20 days. Thanks to my faithful readers for inquiring about my silence. I am fine. Just been busy. I'll try to blog fast and furious in the next couple weeks to make up.

During my absence I've noticed some action in my blogosphere. If you look on the right column, I've added a listing of active blogging friends you might know (and deleted the deadbeats). First, I would like to welcome Oli and his new blog, Inconceivable. Then Patty finally got off Facebook long enough to put in a few entries. And Stu even updated twice since my last blog! Twice! Wow, I've really been gone a long time!

Captain EO
When we were at Disneyland's Tomorrow Land back in August, the first thing I noticed was, "Hey, where's Captain EO?" Upon checking with Wikipedia, I see that Captain EO closed in 1994 :( That should tell you when was the last time I've been there.

With today's inaugural speech, I can't help but think about Jacko singing "We Are Here to Change the World" to Anjelica Huston in 1986. To me, the 80's always had the best music. It brought back great memories at a time when MJ was still likeable. Still normal. And still black. A time when Whitney was still sweet and not a crack queen. And the hardest rappers were Run DMC. Music has only gone downhill after that.

I listened to the speech today. Like many of you, I felt inspired. I felt hope. I know change is coming. But change for the better remains to be seen. Honestly I can't help but feel trapped in the back of a big bus heading in the wrong direction... But that's just me. In these violent times and crappy economical conditions, lets forget about today for a moment and relive the good times with Michael strutting his stuff. Nobody moonwalks any better!

Friday Freebies

Free Christmas MP3 downloads at Amazon.com. LINK
And more music here too (690 songs). LINK
You have to install the Amazon Downloader software. Automatically transfers in iTunes.

Free Christmas MP3 downloads from Oprah Winfrey. LINK
Selections from Josh Groban, Amy Grant, Faith Hill, etc. Only available for 48 hours.

Free Annual Credit Report. LINK
According to Clever Dude, every year you can get your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Transunion) for free thanks to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act). If you're like me with a history of multiple credit cards. This credit report will let you know the status of each of your cards, past and present, as well as your mortgage and other loans. Just be sure to decline (No Thanks) all the other offers for your credit score and monitoring.

Colby's Graduation

Two of my readers recently commented to me about my blog. They said that it seems like I only posts photos of Justine and not of the boys. Or that the photos feature her more prominently or favored her over the boys. And that it seems like I'm not giving my children equal attention. Blah blah blah.

Well my dear readers, your observations are absolutely correct. Yes, it's intentional but I didn't think it was that obvious. Truth is, when Justine is in the room, the boys are just second-class citizens. When I have a camera ready, the boys are just background elements. It's like the movie, Monsters Inc., when Boo's around, no one cares about Mike and Sully.

Hey, who said life is fair? In reality, each boy had their "moment" of getting the most attention. But that time has passed. Live with it. Is it my fault that while Justine has blossomed into a little princess, the boys have evolved into monsters? I think not.

But I suppose I can widen the spotlight a little and bring balance to the blog this one time... so I'll focus this posting entirely around Colby. Perhaps next time I'll blog about the other monster Dustin if I can think of anything...

Last week Colby officially graduated from his preschool. We've already been through this ceremony 3 years ago when Dustin graduated so I knew exactly what to expect, a bunch of screaming cute and unruly adorable kids singing on stage.

LINK: More YouTube videos from the ceremony

In the audience, if you're not sitting in the front row, you'll have a hard time seeing because someone – everyone – will be standing in front of you with their cameras. With this knowledge, I instead went straight upstairs and got the perfect view. I invited a friend below to join me, but he declined. Later that evening he told me he should have taken my advice – he got some great footage of the back of people's heads.

We're keeping Colby in preschool until the end of July because we can't find any better place to send him. Come August he'll be in the same school as Dustin and our morning drop-off schedule will be a lot simpler, not to mention we'll be $800/month richer too! Then in a couple of years, Justine will be entering preschool and the cycle will start all over again. Yep, fun times ahead! Why Chrissy doesn't want a fourth...? I don't know what she's thinking.

Don't know who this girl is, but since she's harassing my boys, I better document it.

CIBC Mother's Day

Yeah I know, Mother's Day was almost two weeks ago, but with my time off with Lasik, I'm just behind on everything. I can't believe it's already been a year since last Mother's Day when the kids sang.



Thanks to Wayland (again) for the fine videography. Unfortunately from where we both sat, they plopped the huge microphone right in front of Cameron's face (although you do see him in the first four seconds). And what's up with Alec always looking down? You'd think since he's among the smartest kids up there, surely he should have the song memorized... Hmm, could it be that he was secretly playing his DS? :o


Flashback
Look what I dug up from the last time two Fong's were up on stage... The year was 1975. In this picture, Chris and I are both 8 years old, just like Vanessa and Dustin in the photo above. Scary huh?

Other kids in the photo: Goff, Greg Y., Greg M., Baldwin, Richard, Tina, and I forget the rest.

American Idol Shocker!

No, I'm not talking about the booting of Michael Johns. Was that any surprise? I told Chrissy last month that anyone who is married/engaged/bf/gf will never win. Teenyboppers with speed-dial make up the bulk of the votes, and they ain't gonna vote for someone that's not available in their fantasies. That's the reason why in seasons past, frontrunners like Daughtry and LaToya London were eliminated on week 8 when it should've been Yamin and Jasmine Trias (but she was sooooo cute!). So if I'm correct, be prepared to say goodbye to Syesha, Carly, and Brooke next.

Ok, now back to the shocker. The real shocker this week wasn't Michael Johns, but the suprise performance of Darlene Zschech's Shout to the Lord.

In the "Idols Give Back" special show, the Top-8 sang this song as the finale on the biggest stage at the Kodak Theater. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! It was an awesome and inspiring performance! And watched by 30 million viewers!! My only gripe was that they replaced "My Jesus" with "My Shepard" at the beginning of the song. But still an incredible moment for a Christian song to be featured on such a secular show. Unfortunately, the moment was ruined shortly afterwards, as they showed a clip of Ben Stiller on stage swearing... which quickly reminded me that I was watching network television.





On last night's elimination show, they sang a reprise, but this time with "My Jesus" re-inserted as it was originally written. Hmm, I wonder what happened... Maybe Darlene called and said she was gonna start crackin' skulls. Although she probably worded it nicer.





If you've never watched American Idol, I would rate it among the better family entertainment shows available. The contestants are talented, genuine and unlike Dancing with the Stars, they have all their clothes on.

Update:
For some reason, the Blogger video clip is not loading (maybe because it's blocking copyrighted videos). So I added the YouTube clip also.

Children's Church performance in the CIBC Christmas Cantata

Dustin sings in the Childrens' Church choir during this year's Christmas Cantata (he's the one with a tie). I couldn't get a seat downstairs so I shot from upstairs where the view was better, but the sound wasn't quite as good. I filmed it with the Canon Powershot S2is.

As you will see, the singing begins before all the kids are up on stage. So I bet you're wondering what happened. I'll tell you what happened. On Saturday at the rehearsal we had 12 kids up there. They timed the music so that all 12 kids would be on stage by the time the music was cued. So today as you can see, by the time the 12th kid got on stage, the singing began, just like it did at rehearsal. I have no idea where those extra 10 kids came from. They definitely weren't at rehearsal! Who are their parents?! This is an outrage!

:)

There's "Hope" for cheap family entertainment

If you've never seen the annual Christmas program at the Castro Valley Neighborhood Church, you REALLY need to see it!! Last night I took the boys to join Mr. Al's and Arthur's families to see "Hope is Born." We arrived one hour early and got some decent aisle seats.

I don't know how long the show's been running, but I remember seeing it over 20 years ago, and the feeling still hasn't changed. I was as amazed last night as I was back then (and all the years in between). Every year is a little different, but you can always count on the magnificent backdrops, the live animals, and the crying baby Jesus.

It's hard to describe how stunning it was so I posted some clips I took with my cheapy camera (sorry no zoom). Hopefully this will give you a taste of the magnitude of the entire production. Again, you REALLY need to see this in person! And it's all FREE!



For those of you wanting to go. We've already assembled a small group to go for Friday's 7:30 performance. To be safe, show up 45-60 minutes early to get good seating, otherwise your family of four may have to sit apart or upstairs. The entire program is close to 2 hours and they do offer childcare for 5 and under. Dustin survived the whole program but Colby started to fade after an hour. Prior to the show I would recommend bringing books, Gameboys or other entertainment for the kids while they wait, because they will get restless real fast.

Also, here's a tip if you want to enjoy the show: Don't sit in front of young kids. I felt bad for the folks in front of our kids last night. Even though it was unintentional, our kids would occasionally kick their chairs. Man do I hate some squirmy kid sitting behind me! So look for us on Friday and we'll understand if you don't want to sit near us :)

For more information and upcoming showtimes, please visit their website: www.3crosses.org

See you Friday!

Can't Stop the Music

I've owned an iPod for three years now and my iTunes is filled with over 3,000 songs. It's really nice to have your entire music library with you at all times. Because of my long commute (and sleepy job), I'm listening to music over 10 hours a day... Monday through Friday... Three years straight. Truth be told, I think I'm getting a little tired of the same 3,000 songs over and over again...


Recently my coworker introduced me to Pandora.com. Pandora is an internet radio where you create your own radio stations based on your personal tastes in music. The music is commercial-free and uninterrupted. You can create as many stations as you like. And it's all free!

Set up requires an account and minimal effort. You start by entering your favorite artist or song to create a new station. For me it's Michael Jackson (haha, not really, but why not?). First it will play one of his songs, then other artists that share the same "r & b influences, danceable grooves, vocal harmony." For the MJ station, the next few songs came from Hall & Oates, Prince, Whitney, Janet, DeBarge and others.

As the songs are playing, you give it a thumbs up or thumbs down to further fine tune your playlist. You don't necessarily have to vote, but voting will help weed out the lousy songs. You can also just skip the song but you cannot go back and replay a song.

From what I've experienced so far, the library is quite deep and chances are you'll discover a lot of new music you actually like. There's also an impressive amount of contemporary Christian and worship content available too. Just create a station like Avalon or Jaci and you'll start seeing lots of familiar names from your Christian bookstore. And unlike on-air radio, you'll know right away the song, artist, and album. In the song icon there's even a menu link to iTunes and Amazon for immediate purchase.

So try it today. It's a great way to discover new music when you're at a loss to what to listen next – even when you have 3,000 songs.

God Bless America

Colby's been singing a new song that he's learned from school, God Bless America. Growing up I never learned the words to this song. And thanks to Colby, I still don't know the words to this song! Oh well, I applaud him for enthusiasm and effort. Enjoying the music is Justine, who is 9 months today.

Just found this freebie:
Free Car and Driver Subscription

Vacation Bible School

Last week Dustin attended VBS (or is it DVBS?) for the first time ever. He had a great time! For the closing ceremony on Friday, the kids sang a bunch of songs that were surprisingly fresh, like something from Spy Kids. I was impressed! Especially when you consider that most of these kids never attended church before. A personal thanks to the Young family for transporting and entertaining Dustin. And thanks to Wayland for the videography.

Too Much Sugar

Last Saturday we attended the first birthday party for Mason Yim, son of Patrick and Veronica. It was held at Happy Hollow Park in San Jose.

Before I get any further, I'd like to say that Chrissy now knows about this blog. Apparently several of you mentioned it to her at the party (you know who you are). Maybe you were unaware it was my big secret, but that's ok, I knew I would have to tell her eventually. I kept it from her for 4 months. Hopefully it won't ruin our marriage. So in my response I kindly told her that she wouldn't be interested and that she's not allowed to read it. 'Nuff said.

Anyway, as we parked our car, the first thing that caught our boys' eyes wasn't the balloons, the food or the people. It was the giant train piñata. They've been to enough parties to know what's inside. And the natural assumption is that the bigger the piñata, the more candy inside—and they've never seen one this big! Well, as you can see in the video below, they were not disappointed. There were pencils, stickers and erasers in there too, but for some reason, none of those items found their way into my boys' goody bags—weird. The cake was quite incredible too, airbrushed with clouds, cars and trains. It rivaled the size of some wedding cakes I've seen. It was chocolate on top and banana on the bottom. To fully appreciate the cake, I had to have two slices ;p


After 4 hours in the park, we took a pit (poop) stop at Peggy's house in Milpitas and played with her kids for an hour. After that, off to the Great Mall where we walked the entire mall in search of Thomas trains. Then for dinner we tried Lee's Sandwiches for the first time (tasty but nowhere as meaty and cheap as Oakland Chinatown).

As we embarked on our 45-minute drive home, the boys were wide awake for most of the ride, maybe finally falling asleep during the last 10 minutes. When we got home, they woke up and couldn't wait to take inventory of all their candies and goodies. Normally with long play days and long car rides, I would have to carry all the kids in. But obviously the sugar in the candy, cake, soda, etc. is fueling their little engines. They were really wired. In fact, that was when I filmed Colby's Butterfly Song on my previous post. Yes, after 5 hours of playing, a mile of walking, two long car rides, that's how much energy they still had at 10 p.m.! I was wiped out. I should've ate more cake.

Thank you for the Music
Last night, Dustin's school, Jensen Ranch, had an open house. During the dinner portion, the kids performed a song that they learned through their "Music for Minors" program. Don't know about you, but I was expecting a little more "music" in the performance. It was more like a cheering competition at a pep rally. Maybe it just needed some piano accompaniment (I'm such a critic). Well you can take a listen yourself.


My Last Day
Today is my last weekday at home. Tuesday I'll be back at work. Hard to believe that 12 weeks have already passed. At the beginning of my vacation I had a list of the things I wanted to do around the house. I think I may have accomplished maybe 15% of that list. It's not like I didn't have the time, but more like I'd rather do something else, like play video games with the kids (or nap with baby). This morning I walked Dustin to school for the last time and this afternoon I'll pick him up for the last time. I can honestly say that I don't always enjoy the transporting, the homework, the fatherly policing, but I'm sure I'll miss it. It's times like these where I'm glad I have a blog to record my daily adventures. I'll revisit these pages in a few years from now and know that this was the best three months of my life!

The Butterfly Song

When we first were told that Colby had to learn this song, I was thinking no way a 4-year old can sing this. There are too many verses, the words go really quick, and there's not enough repetition. But all credit to Teacher Kathy and her staff, Colby memorized it in no time. I guess I need to have a little more confidence in my kids.

In my previous post, you saw the Mother's Day performance video. In case you did not understand what they were singing, here is an encore solo performance by Colby (he's been singing it every day). No guarantee you'll understand the song any better, but he definitely adds a funky twist toward the end. Hopefully you'll get a good laugh. Poor Justine, these are the goofball brothers she'll have to depend on... sigh.

Mother's Day Wiikend

Ever since Thanksgiving I've been trying to get my hands on a Nintendo Wii. I still regret not lining up with Chrissy's cousins the night before Black Friday in 30-degree weather at the mall. And I'm still upset that those cousins have not once invited us over to play! It's been 6 months now and the stores still can't get them stocked (because greedy people like Patty bought like 4 of them). So I've been combing Craigslist trying to find a good price on a used bundle. Note: Wii System is $250. Extra remote and nunchuk (required for multiplayer games) is $60. Total with tax is $335. So $300 seems like a realistic price target for something everyone wants.

Last week I finally found one in Livermore. The Wii with extra remote & nunchuk, 2 additional Wii games (with steering wheel), 7 additional Gamecube games, 2 Gamecube controllers, a memory card, and a cool Nintendo travel bag. $300. Some spoiled 13 year-old was secretly using his mom's email to post the ad and his dad's cell phone to sell it. I hooked up with his dad to make the deal. His dad was not happy at all considering he spent over $500 on it just 5 months ago. But by the looks of their toy collection, they seemed very wealthy so no bad feelings here. He honored the deal and I was thrilled.

So I'm coming home and wondering how Chrissy might react to me spending this much money on a toy. For the record, Chrissy has NEVER questioned, nagged, or frowned upon any of my purchases, great or small. She knows I'm not an impulsive shopper but instead, a shameless, low-balling bargain hunter. A true Craigslist predator. But $300 is still a lot of money. And some guilt started to creep in. But no way I was going to give this up. I've waited 6 months for this! So what was I going to do??

My solution was perfect. I decided to give the Wii to Chrissy for Mother's Day!

Before you roll your eyes (or bust up laughing), let me explain how perfect this is. First of all, Chrissy never plays video games with the boys (the quick thinking button action only frustrates her). So this will help her to be more willing to play with them and the boys will think she's cool--she already enjoys the bowling game quite a bit. Secondly, she's been saying (not me) that she needs more exercise. What better way to burn calories than to virtually punch out your sassy son? It's a great stress reliever too! And thirdly, because it's a gift, she not allowed to find out how much I spent! I tell you, I amaze myself sometimes!

On Saturday we hosted lunch for her side of the family and on Sunday we celebrated with my side. The Wii was hit on both days. Most people played it for the very first time. Regular video games can be so intimidating with all the buttons and sequences. But with the Wii, you just need to do what comes natural, like punching, swinging, driving, etc. Real easy stuff, great exercise and a real crowd pleaser. Below is a video of Dustin duking it out with his Uncle Ricky.



Mother's Day at CIBC
On Sunday's Mother's Day morning service, we were treated to a couple of performances by the children's Sunday School classes. Both Colby and Dustin participated and Colby's still singing that butterfly song to this day. If you can't see Colby, he's the one that's blocked by Pastor Jason's head. Thanks to Wayland for videotaping it for me (because I totally forgot).