A Day in the Life of the Lee's

Ry Ry's Vancougar Olympic Recap

2010-02-21T10:49:00.000-08:00

Like everyone else on the planet, we've been watching the Olympics for the last week. Ry was excited to hear that the Olympics were in "Vancougar", because he played for the Cougars hockey team last spring.

We noticed that after every event, he would mimic that event. So I decided to grab my camera and ask him to demonstrate each event that he's seen so far.

We added our own touch in the middle, re-enacting an interview that Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer gave to NBC. You can see the original interview here.

Don't you want to win?

2010-01-31T21:52:00.000-08:00

Even though my schedule is already overbooked, I decided to take on coaching Ryan's Kindergarten basketball team (I'm also coaching Karsyn's girls team) this season. We played our third game on Saturday, earning an exciting tie with a last second basket. We're now 2-0-1 after three games.

One thing that's become very clear, is Ryan is physcho about basketball. He's been hanging around the gym since he first learned to walk because his older sister has played for 5 years now. So he's been around a basketball before.

He loves it. He's actually a bit obsessed by the whole thing.

What's more amusing is that he HATES losing. I can't imagine where he gets it from, but I digress.

So last Saturday, he's not showing his best behavior after the game. We're driving home, when I tell him, "if you can't behave yourself, then I may have to bench you for the next game."

He immediately shrieks, "What?!?!?!?"

Then he reaffirms my fears that his early season success is starting to go to his head.

"Don't you want to win?" he crys.

I can't respond, and looking at Sonya laughing doesn't help matters much.

I wish it was Christmas today

2009-12-22T15:30:00.001-08:00

Uh, No It's Not!

2009-09-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

So Ryan comes home from school the other day and tells Sonya that his teacher made the following statement.

"Coming to school is much more fun than staying home and playing with your toys."

Ryan then shakes his head, holds his hands out to the the side and retorts, "Uh, no it's not!"

Back to School

2009-08-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Summer unofficially came to an end at our house on Thursday, with the new school year starting. This was a big deal for us, because Ry finally started Kindergarten. We’ve been trying to get him excited about the whole thing, especially when it comes to familiarizing him with letters and numbers.

His take on the whole thing has been let’s say, less than enthusiastic. He’s a little kid, and this is a big change for him, because a) it takes him out of his comfort zone and b) he doesn’t have the free reign that he did when he was in pre-school. I get all of that, so I have to be a little more patient with his transition.

Meeting Mrs Uchiyama

The sad thing is this is the only year both Ry and Karsyn will be attendingthe same school.

From what I remember about Karsyn, she was a little more in to the whole school thing when she started Kindergarten, but there was a little transition for her as well. I think Ry will do fine with the whole thing, but he’s been able to charm his way through life up to know. School is about getting out wheat you put in, so charm alone won’t get you very far.

Karsyn on the other hand is an old hand at school. For her, she’s the big fish on campus, because her school only goes up to 5th grade. She seems excited about her teacher, and her classmates. We don’t know much about her new teacher, other than she was born in Korea.

As soon as I heard that, I was instructing Karsyn how to say hello in Korean. It never hurts to grease the situation! What better way to establish a rapport with someone than to call out your similarities. Most people have no clue that she has Korean in her, so it always comes as a surprise. Spring “hello” on another Korean in their native tongue, and you’ve just created an ice breaker.

5th Graders!

This is the launching pad to junior high school, which is the spring board to high school, which is the predecessor to college. That means that this is the year that her future really begins to establish itself. She did a great job in 4th grade, by taking more initiative in her studies. For that I was really proud.

She mentioned to me the other day that she was disappointed that she didn’t score in the highest ranking for math on the state proficiency testing (she was one group below), so I told her that rather than fret about what she didn’t accomplish, she now has a target set on an area she can improve on.

Her attitude is what I’m most proud of. I just hope her brother picks up the same trait. She’s becoming more competitive about her grades, which is a good thing, because the competition is stacked.

In any case, it’s the start of another school year, which is always fun. Some old faces, some new faces, and plenty of opportunity. Almost makes me wish I was back in school.

Thank Ya Very Much

2009-08-14T21:25:00.001-07:00

The King stopped by for a visit to the Lee house tonight...

Camping at Lake Huntington

2009-06-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

We spent this past weekend up at Lake Huntington, for three days of camping, fishing and boating. Our friend Dafna and her boys Nate and Ben were all sailing in a regatta on the lake, so we joined them for a few days of wilderness action.

Nestled between Yosemite and Kings Canyon, the lake is about a 4-hour drive from the South Bay. From Gilroy, it’s almost a straight shot through Los Banos and Madera, before cruising though the mountains up Highway 168, past Millerton and Shaver Lakes.

The lake is one of the prettiest in California, reminding me of Pine Crest Lake and Lake Alpine to the north. We had a nice big camp site that easily hosted our family, Dafna & her kids, as well as two of the boy’s friends Chris and Rylie.

I got to spend some time hanging off the side of a 20-foot catamaran with Dafna at the helm. It was great except for me almost falling off the boat as I tried positioning myself on the cable that dangles you over the side of the boat. After a couple of attempts I got it down, and really got to enjoy the real speed of a racing catamaran.

The highlight of the weekend for me though was seeing Ry catch his first fish. I’ve taken him fishing a couple of times, but he never had any luck angling. That all changed when he landed a nice 12-inch rainbow off the shore.

Karsyn brought home her own 14-inch brown a few minutes later. I loved to fish when I was a kid, so it was cool to see them experience the thrill of feeling a fish on the end of your line. Trout are fun because they’re active, but easy to land. Ry certainly got a kick out of bringing home his first catch.

After the first day of boat racing, we all trekked to a restaurant that overlooked the lake and enjoyed beer and pizza. The weather was perfect (warm, but not baking like the Bay Area), and the kids all seemed to have a great time.

We had the option of renting a cabin, but I opted for the tent thing, because the kids really wanted to sleep outdoors. I think that was the right decision because all the other kids were at the camp ground and it made for a real camping experience.

Sunday was highlighted by Nate & Ben taking 4th place in the final race of the weekend. These are teenagers that beat quite a few adults in their 16-foot catamarans. Watching the start of the races was pretty exciting, but watching them cruise to their best finish of the weekend was just plain cool.

After lots of smores, camp fire songs, fishing, lounging by the lake, and just plain relaxing, I have to call it one of my favorite camping trips.

All in all, it was a great weekend.

Here are more [Photos and Video]

Spring Soccer is Here

2009-04-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

Not that our lives aren't already overloaded with work and play, but spring soccer is finally here. Karsyn continues to play on her Under 10 Girls competetive team. That would be the same team that Sonya coaches.

Karsyn's game schedule can be found here:

http://devils98.blogspot.com/2009/03/spring-2009-schedule.html

We moved Ryan up to the Under 7 boys recreational team this spring, because we wanted to get him on a team that would be comprised of kids that he'd be going to school with. He's playing for teh Green Goblins. All his games are at West Valley.

Ready, set, Go!

An Olympic

2009-03-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

We're sitting at dinner the other night and Ryan declares that he's going to, "be an Olympic!"

"A what?" I ask.

"An Olympic," he says.

I had to think about what he was trying to say, but before I could put two and two together he fills in the missing pieces.

"I want to be an Olympic, like in China on TV last summer!" he declares.

"Oh, you want to be in the Olympics," I say. "You know, you have to compete in a sport in order to be in the Olympics. What sport do you want to compete in?" I ask, waiting for swimming or water polo (the sports I competed in in high school and college).

He thinks about it for a second, then let's me have it.

"Ping Pong!" he confirms.

Ugh.

Bear Valley 2009

2009-02-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

The family trekked to Bear Valley for our annual cabin trip. We rented the "Rest A While" cabin in Dorrington with our friends Steve & Tracy. Ry has outgrown the training harness and it skiing ON HIS OWN!

We timed our trip perfectly (all by chance), arriving after the biggest storm of the winter, and leaving right before the next storm blew into town. The weather was perfect. I skied in a wet/dry shirt and my jacket. That's spring skiing.

We also linked up some other friends that were also at the resort. Brad & Lindi (and their kids), and Scott & Robyn (and their kids) who we know from Ry's pre-school. The kids are quickly getting to the level where they're about to pass us in skiing ability. Getting old sucks.

Here is a video I compiled of the trip:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here is a [Slideshow] and the individual [Photos]

Great trip!

Happy New Year

2009-01-04T23:24:00.000-08:00

Oh man, I can’t believe the holidays are OVER. December seemed to fly by this year for some reason. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I worked up until Christmas Eve this year, then spent Christmas with Sonya hosting friends and family for dinner. We wrapped up the year like we have the past 4 or 5, up in Lake Tahoe with our friends the Sherrards and the Tsuchiyamas.

Tahoe was great. Our friends Roger and Joanne have a place right on the lake in Tahoe City, which comfortably sleeps all 6 adults and 7 kids that make the annual trip. There’s lots of food, drink, more drink, snow, card games and just plain relaxation.

That last part is the key. Just decompressing after another crazy year is the key to why that trip is just so great. The kids get to go sledding at a really nice sled hill 200 yards from the cabin. There was also plenty of snow, contrary to what you may have seen on the weather reports.

The adults play poker, drink lots of wine and just chill.

Roger has also made it a custom to make a great prime rib every New Year’s Eve, so we also eat like kings while we’re there.

As the kids get older, their bed times get later and later while we’re up there. I went to bed at around 2am on Friday night, and Karsyn was chatting it up with the girls in their room when I turned in.

The only bummer we had to deal with was the 4Runner’s starter died on us, so we were forced to pop-start the truck in order to get home on Saturday night. Once we got the engine fired, it was a straight shot home…no stops! We made it, but now I get to sink some more money into the truck.

In any case, it still beats work any way you put it.

Happy New Year everyone. This is going to be a GREAT year.

Here are [Photos of the Trip]

2008 Xmas Card is Done

2008-12-18T14:37:00.000-08:00

I dropped 100+ Christmas cards in the mail on Wednesday afternoon. The tradition lives! This one leans more heavily on Photoshop than in years past.

You may recall last year's card:

And here is the story of how it all got started: A Christmas Tradition

If you don't receive your card in teh next week, it's because:

1) I don't have your new address
2) I don't like you
3) I have no idea who you are

If it's #1, send me an email with your mailing address. :)

Yahoo's Last Great Holiday Party?

2008-12-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

Sonya and I attended what may have been Yahoo’s last great Year End Party, at least for the time being. In my 7 years with the company they’ve always had great parties to end the year and celebrate our accomplishments.

With the economy as sour as it is, and with all the acquisition talk that’s been going on, everyone is wondering if there will ever be another YEP, at least on the scale that we’ve grown accustomed.

Many asked why Yahoo sank so much money into a party, especially given the rumors that a layoff is about to happen. Why not use that money to save a few jobs? The response was that the company booked (and paid) for the facilities months ago, long before there were any inklings of a layoff. Sounds reasonable to me.

This year’s themes was “Las Vegas”. Two large halls at the San Mateo Expo Center were decorated with Las Vegas hotel themes. There was Treasure Island, Ceasar’s Palace, Luxor and one other I can’t remember.

There was also a wedding chapel, where Elvis was there to marry and willing souls.

The Spasmatics played a great set that included lots of 80’s tunes. It was good to have a chance to celebrate all the hard work that’s been put into making Yahoo a leader in the industry. Times are tough, but it’s still one of the greatest places in the world to work.

I just hope there will be another YEP to celebrate in the future.

Strike up the band

2008-12-09T08:07:00.001-08:00

Karsyn’s musical endeavor as a classical flutist kicked off on Wednesday evening with her school’s Winter Concert. The 30 to 40 kids that make up Beginning Band played a brief set of music before a packed auditorium. The band belted out classic standards like “Hot Cross Buns” and holiday favorites like “Jingle Bells”.

Early reviews came back favorably.

“A cacophonous treat for the ears,” said one music critic in attendance.

Two songs into the performance, another critic shared his positive feedback.

“Can we go now?” said Ryan. Loosely translated, he meant to say, “Man this band is really good!”

Karsyn sat with her fellow flutists in the front row. In addition to the flutes, the band is comprised of clarinets, trumpets, saxophones and trombones.

Put that all together and you get music. Or at least the early stages of it.

It just goes to show that if you give a kid an instrument, they’ll make something come out of it. BRAVO!

We Been There Dad!

2008-11-24T19:54:00.000-08:00

From the “kids say the damndest things” file…

We’re driving down University Avenue in Palo Alto on Saturday afternoon, and hang a left onto El Camino Real, right in front of the front gate to Stanford University.

“The one dream I have in life is to have my children go to Stanford someday,” I say as I drive past the twin columns that guard the front of the school.

“We been there dad!” bellows Ryan innocently.

Sonya starts laughing, turns to me and says, “dream fulfilled!”

Nothing. Absolutely Nothing

2008-11-20T20:04:00.000-08:00

It’s pretty customary for me to ask the kids how they’re day went while we’re all eating dinner. On school days, I’ll also ask how school was. Last week, I run the question by Ryan.

“How was school?” I ask.

“Fine,” Ryan responds.

“What did you do today?”

“Well, we made…”, he begins to respond before throwing his hand over his mouth in a clear demonstration that he almost spilled the beans on something important. His eyes are as big as saucers, thinking he's already said too much. From the sound of it, perhaps a Christmas present for mom & dad?

“Why are you covering your mouth?” I ask.

“Cough, cough, cough,” is his reply. “I have a cough.”

Sonya and I look at each other in amusement. I’m more amazed that he was able to conjure up the coughing excuse as quickly as he did.

“What was that you said you did at school today?” I probe.

“Nothing,” he says with unconvincing conviction. “Absolutely nothing. We did nothing at school today.”

“Oh,” I respond. “OK.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Haven't had much time to post lately. Work is nuts, kids activities are nuttier. I'm working a lot and trying to balance family life. Halloween was great...my unofficial kickoff to the holidays starts on October 31st!

Here are some [pictures]

Soccer!

2008-09-07T23:55:00.000-07:00

Soccer season hasn't really ended with Sonya coaching Karsyn's competetive U10 Girls team, but things officially kicked off this weekend. Karsyn's Fall league season started as did Ry Ry's foray into the game.

He started U6 soccer, which is played by both boys & girls. Sonya loves coaching Karsyn so much that she's taken on Ry Ry's team as well.

We started Saturday by running over to the newly re-opened Sunnyvale Soccer Complex to catch the U9 Girls Comp Team play. A couple of Karsyn's school mates play on that team, and is actually the age group that she should be playing in, but we have her playing up. The game started at 9 am, and it was already a toasty 80+ degress at the opening whistle.

After that, we trekked over to Serra Park for Ryan's first official soccer game. This is "swarm of bees" soccer at its finest. They play 3-on-3 with no goalie, so most of the time the ball is simply moving from one end of the field to another. Ryan scored two goals in the game. After his first goal, he ran over to mom (er coach), and lept into her arms to celebrate. It was so him.

He likes to, let's say, celebrate after he or his team scores. With both fists pumping over his head, he lets out a "YEAH!" every time the goal hits the back of the net. On one play, a little girl from the opposing team accidentally knocked teh ball into her own goal. Ryan pointed this out to her (innocently I'm sure), but she didn't take kindly to his stating of the obvious. She grabbed him by the arm and started to dig her nails into him, before the referee intervened.

His look was like, "hey, thanks for scoring that goal for us!", even though she was digging her talons into him. There is no score keeping at this level, so nobody wins or loses, but it was fun to be there to see Ry play competetive sports for the first time.

The most amusing part of the game, was teh post game handshake. The coaches had all teh kids lined up facing each other in two lines. Typically, the kids start walking toward each other, so that they can high-5 each other as they pass in opposing directions. The kids however had no idea they were supposed to do this, so they ended up having the worlds largest group handshake as they all crashed into each other. Good stuff.

Photos | Slideshow available here

Three hours later, we were back at the Sunnyvale Soccer Complex for Karsyn's first game of the season. K's team, the SASC Devils 98, would win 5-2 starting the season on a high note. This is a set team that keeps their roster consistent over the life of the club. They were formed last February, and are starting their 2nd season together. The roster is assembled by the coaching staff after a series of tryouts were held last Winter.

I maintain the Devils Team blog, so you can read a recap of that game here.

Aloha from Hawaii

2008-08-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

We decided to spend part of our summer vacation with a trip to Hawaii this summer. It was Ryan's first time visiting the islands, and Karsyn's third trip. We spent 10 days in O'ahu, basking in the sun and surf.

You can view a full screen version of the video above here

I've also posted photos of or trip, which can be viewed individually or as a slideshow

Squeeze the Buttocks!

2008-07-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

Ryan has taken up pilates. He's apparently focusing on one part of his anatomy...

My Cough

2008-05-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

So I come down with this cough that lasts a few days. We're sitting at the dinner table the other night and RyRy starts coughing.

"Oh, I see you've caught my cough," I ask him.

"No," he replies. "It's my cough!"

Kids.

Bear Valley 2008

2008-03-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Microshaft? No

2008-02-19T21:04:00.001-08:00

Yes, I am still employed. Thanks to all of you who have expressed concern over my situation. Yahoo is still an independent company as of this post. That could change any second, but for the time being, I’m still a Yahoo.

This whole Microsoft acquisition thing is a bummer. While Yahoo has had a few rough quarters, the company was fundamentally headed in the right direction after Jerry Yang took the reigns as CEO.

Have we made mistakes? Certainly. Is it all doom & gloom at the company? No, it’s not, but there is lots of concern with the potential of having a company like Microsoft acquire us. I’d be more disappointed then scared. The thing is, there are some incredibly talented people that work at Yahoo. So talented, that I’d say that a majority would have no problem finding work elsewhere.

I’d be disappointed, because many of those talented people would voluntarily leave to work elsewhere. I suspect that a large majority of Yahoos have no interest in working for Microsoft. The place would be decimated by self inflicted departures. That means, Microsoft would be buying a technology, but losing the talent that devised developed and deployed it.

So they’re going to pay $41 billion for some software and a few customers who want nothing to do with Microsoft either? What were they thinking when they decided to tender their public offer?

MS has a history of trying to solve problems by throwing cash at it, yet, many of those problems go unresolved. Can they risk $41 billion on the chance that they might become competitive in the search space? I doubt it.

We’re working on some really cool things. I just hope we have the opportunity to deliver on some of those things. Yahoo is a great place to work. I’ve had plenty of offers to leave, but there never was a reason. I love the culture, the people and the location. A Microsoft acquisition would likely change all of that.

He's Back!

2008-02-15T00:43:00.000-08:00

Watch the Trailer on Yahoo! Movies

May the Force Be With You

2008-02-04T22:54:00.000-08:00

One of the things that the family has been doing more of lately is having family movie night. We pick a flick that we think everyone will enjoy, which is no easy task when you’re talking about serving the taste of two kids under 10. The odd thing is, it’s been pretty fun trying to come up with movies the kids will enjoy (and find something that’s suitable for kids).

Some of the early winners have been Sand Lot, The Goonies, and Gremlins. These are all favorites of mine because they remind me so much of my youth. Sand Lot may as well have been the story of my youth. Boy spends the summer playing baseball with his buddies, turning simple events into childhood adventures.

Gremlins, or “Grmeb-a-lins” as Ry Ry says, is still a riot. If you haven’t seen it in a while, I highly recommend it. How can you go wrong with mischievous mini-monsters who take over a small town and reek havoc on Phoebe Cates (yes, the Phoebe Cates of the high school classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High).

Last weekend, I decided it was time to unveil the greatest movie series of all time…In a galaxy far far away….

Yes, Star Wars.

“Which one are we watching first?” Karsyn asks.

“The 4th episode, A New Beginning,” I said

“Why don’t we watch the first episode?”

“Because, the 4th episode was the first movie.”

“Huh? Why isn’t the first episode, the first movie?”

“Well, that’s how they released them…and that’s how we’re going to watch them. Because that’s how we watched them.”

She looked at me like I was an idiot. Reminds me of that look I often get from her mother. But I digress.

We decided to start it after 8pm on Saturday night, which was a mistake. Ry fell asleep 5 minutes into the movie. Karsyn found it so-so. I question her loyalty to the family. How could she openly criticize one of my favorite movies. She’s been on a Harry Potter kick and found it less interesting than the Potter movies. What does she know.

Ry wanted a second crack at it, so he watched it on Sunday. It was a huge success with him.

It was a film tailor made for a 3 year-old boy however. Lasers, sword (light saber) fights, space creatures, space ships, heroes and villains. What else could you ask for? Oh, I know. Explosions!

Ry was talking about JaJas (Jawas) and Luke Skywalker for hours after watching the movie. I let him on the fact that there are 5 more movies in the series, and his eyes lit up.

“Can we watch them now?” he says.

“Uh, no. We’ll watch the next movie during the next family movie night,” I replied.

“But, can we watch it now?”

“No buddy, sorry. You can’t ruin it by watching them all at once,” I weakly countered. I knew how he felt though. It’s one of those things that you just can’t get enough of.