An American Sojourner's Travelogue

Vitamix v. Blendtec

2015-09-22T02:09:00.003-07:00

After almost two decades, we finally decided it was time to retire our good ol' Osterizer blender. We talked with friends and did our online research before deciding to upgrade to a higher-end Vitamix 5300 or Blendtec Total Blender. Thanks to our Costco membership, we decided to test both.

We ran three side-by-side tests to make hummus, banana yogurt smoothies, and shaved ice. At the end of the day, the Vitamix edged out the Blendtec, primarily due to its more intuitive controls and slightly quieter operation. But we were impressed by the design of the Blendtec container, which produced a superior vortex, didn't have as much of a problem with food getting stuck underneath the blades, and was easier to clean. We were also attracted -- and almost swayed -- by the substantially lower price of the Blendtec.

Details and pictures from the tests follow.

1. The Hummus Test

Our family loves Middle Eastern food, and a huge part of our decision to retire our Osterizer arose from its inability to make hummus without needing extra liquid. Appropriately, our first experiment with the power blenders was the production of hummus with just the amount of liquid indicated by the recipe. Both blenders easily pureed the chickpeas, lemon juice, salt, and tahini into a yummy paste, no extra liquid required.

The Blendtec was easy to use with a pre-programmed setting for sauces and dips, among other common blender creations. After loading in the ingredients, one simple push of the button made quick work of the chickpeas. Of course, it was a good thing that only a single push of the button was required, since you immediately needed both hands to cover your ears! The hummus itself was a little too smooth for my tastes -- I like my hummus a little thicker -- but the rest of the family preferred the smoother version. The Blendtec does allow you to blend ingredients without using the presets, but blending speed is adjusted by pressing up and down buttons, which is somewhat unwieldy. In contrast to the blender controls, the Blendtec "WildSide" jar was well designed. No chickpeas escaped the vortex, and it was easy to get at the hummus underneath the blades, both for getting to that last spoonful of hummus and for cleaning the pitcher afterwards. And the fact that the blades were dull made washing safer as well. Like most blenders, you can also clean the jar by running soapy water in the blender, but hummus is particularly sticky, and we waited until after lunch to empty the pitchers, by which point some of the hummus specks had gotten pretty dry.

The Vitamix required slightly more work, since it lacked pre-programmed settings. However, the greater control allowed me to blend the hummus to my desired thickness -- and everyone preferred the lower decibel level. I did notice a couple of large chickpea chunks that escaped the vortex, but those could probably have been remedied by a slightly longer blending time. I was less fond of the pitcher, since we lost a few spoonfuls of hummus to the space underneath the blades. But since both the Vitamix and the Blendtec can be cleaned by running soapy water in the blender promptly after you're done, cleaning the Vitamix pitcher shouldn't be substantially harder.

2. The Smoothie Test

Most people buy blenders to make smoothies, and replacing our Jamba Juice runs with cheaper, healthier, homemade smoothies was part of the appeal for us as well.

As in the hummus test, neither blender had any problems with transforming the ice, bananas, yogurt, and honey into frozen deliciousness. Also as before, the Blendtec's smoothie setting was an easy -- albeit loud -- one-touch solution.

Blendtec, slightly overblended

Vitamix, tamper recommended

For the Vitamix, however, we had to break out the included tamper, since the vortex created by the Vitamix seemed to need a little help. While using the tamper was an additional step, it wasn't a huge burden, and I could see how the tamper would be useful in certain situations. The Blendtec has a superior vortex, but to my knowledge there is no tamper for the WildSide jar, so the option of using a tamper to push food down isn't even on the table.

In final analysis, both machines sailed through the smoothie test. We generally preferred the consistency of the Vitamix smoothie, although we did find some chunks of unblended ice. These could have been eliminated by additional blending -- or better tamping. The Blendtec did a better job of producing a smoother puree without unblended chunks of ice, but the default smoothie setting generated a slushier smoothie than we liked. The result may have been different had we used different ingredients or made a larger volume of smoothie, but this underscores the limitations of the Blendtec's pre-programmed blending cycles.

3. The Shaved Ice Test

The shaved ice test was the mother of all tests that separated the men blenders from the boy blenders. For this test we put ice cubes from our freezer straight into each blender with no liquid to mediate the blending process. The results highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of each blender that we saw in the prior tests.

The ice crush mode on the Blendtec really did a phenomenal job of quickly pulverizing the ice cubes into a uniform consistency. Unfortunately, the final product reminded me of the snow in West Virginia the first time I went skiing -- it was thoroughly crushed, but the snow had a gritty texture.

The Vitamix produced a less consistent final product -- we found a few chunks of partially crushed ice in our shaved ice. In addition, the tamper was absolutely necessary; when we tried this test without the tamper the partially-crushed ice got stuck on the sides and nothing fell into the blending vortex. But the majority of the snow that was generated reminded me of the powder you'd find in Lake Tahoe. It had the same tendency to clump that you'd expect from fresh-fallen snow you're smashing into a snowball. And when paired with condensed milk and sweetened red bean (because what else do you put on shaved ice?), it rivaled what you'd find at a fancy Asian dessert place.

Conclusion

Both machines impressed and demonstrated why consumers are willing to pay a premium over your typical Osterizer. The ideal machine would somehow match the Vitamix's controls, finer ice crushing ability, tamper option, and lower noise level with the Blendtec's jar design and much lower price tag. Short of that, however, we opted for the Vitamix. But if you enjoy hummus, smoothies, and shaved ice, I doubt you could go wrong with either machine -- unless you don't like having a jet engine go off in your kitchen, in which case you should go with the Vitamix.

Why I like Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon (guest blogger)

2015-04-30T23:53:00.001-07:00

[We recently returned from a family trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. In lieu of writing about the trip myself, I thought I'd post some pics and ask a guest blogger to do the honors. Enjoy!]

1. The Palms Hotel has a great view of Las Vegas.

2. I love the water show at the Bellagio.

3. The Eiffel Tower is very cool.

4. Grand Canyon’s view is awesome.

5. I got a junior ranger badge.

6. I was lucky enough to have a very close hotel from The Grand Canyon.

7. The Astronomy was awesome but cold.

8. Climbing on the rocks was very fun.

9. Food from Palms was very good. [Parent comment -- NOT TRUE!!!]

10. The show of Atlantis was scary.

11. The english muffin taste was very good.

12. The Wicked Spoon has very good food. [Parent comment -- ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!!]

13. We got coupons on the airplane to Las Vegas.

14. There are lots of wildlife at the Grand Canyon. [Parent comment -- lots of mule dung]

15. Playing the Company game was very fun.

16. All the activities were fun. [Parent comment -- like that trip to the Hoover Dam!]

17. The car picture was very cool.

18. The Paris and Rome theme looked real.

19. The Status Sphere very tall and fun.

20. Luxors light shoots into the sky and it looks very cool. [But creates lots of light pollution!]

A Eulogy for Stuart

2014-05-05T02:22:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends, Stuart Teng, passed away Friday, April 25, after a yearlong fight with brain cancer.

I've spent much of the last week thinking about Stuart, about his life, and about how much I valued his friendship. In remembering the man he was, a few characteristics came up again and again -- his insightfulness, generosity, contentedness, independence, and reliability.

Insightfulness

Over the years, one thing I really grew to appreciate about Stuart was his insightfulness. While I've had the privilege of getting to know a lot of smart people over the years, I can still say that Stuart was one of the smartest.

I was fortunate to attend law school with Stuart and then work with him at both Google and at Fenwick & West. At Fenwick and Google, Stuart was usually the first person I would approach to talk over an issue, and I could rely on him to identify the important points in any situation and suggest ways to resolve them.

Stuart had an uncanny ability to make complex issues simple. One of his many talents was taking long legal documents and making them much shorter -- a skill greatly underappreciated by the general population. Many of us lawyers often said that Stuart would be the person they'd call if they needed a business lawyer. In fact, no less than Andy Rubin, the mastermind behind the Android operating system and a man not known to be the easiest client at Google, for years trusted only Stuart for legal advice. Rumor has it that when Stuart moved on to the greener pastures of the Chrome team, the legal rep was suspiciously left off the calendar invite for meetings of Andy's inner circle.

I'll miss Stuart's business savvy. But he was also insightful when it came to personal matters. I remember many late night conversations with Stuart about life and love when he surprised me with his wit and his keen insight into human behavior. I asked him once why he didn't speak up more in social situations, since he had so much to add. His response still makes me smile. He said that, in his mind, he did speak up and participate fully in the conversation. It was only after the conversation ended that he realized that he hadn't actually opened his mouth.

An old saying tells us that still waters run deep; that was definitely true when it came to Stuart.

Generosity
Beyond his insightfulness, I remember how Stuart was always extremely generous with his time and attention. This was true whether I was getting his advice on legal matters, tax matters -- no offense to the tax lawyers in the room, but I found Stuart's tax advice to be the most relevant -- or personal matters, or if I was calling him at 10 o'clock at night to get a fourth person to play mahjong or Halo.

They say that you know who your real friends are when you need a ride to the airport. For years, Stuart was on our short list of friends who could be counted on for an airport ride. This continued to be the case even when our family got to be the size when a "simple" ride to the airport meant he had to first drive to our house, sit in a cramped seat of our minivan holding luggage surrounded by surly kids all the way to the airport, and then drive our minivan back to our house -- all before repeating the process upon our return.

Not surprisingly, Stuart always attended our kids' full month and birthday parties, even though there were more fun things for an eligible bachelor to be doing with his time. (We finally got the hint, after years of subjecting Stuart to kid party craziness.)

Many of you remember Stuart's trip to New Zealand a few years ago. He had never been to that part of the world, and he was hitting a good number of sites in a short period of time. As a result, he was traveling light; he wasn't technically backpacking it, but the mentality wasn't that dissimilar. Those of you who know Stuart well also know that he had a soft spot for stuffed animals. Many of you have seen his stuffed Alf critter; I only found out recently that he actually stole that animal from Cheryl. Anyhow, when he journeyed throughout New Zealand, Stuart made room in his limited luggage to bring back stuffed animals for our kids -- a sheep for Bethany and a kiwi bird for Jonathan. Bethany still refers to "Sheepie" as one of her favorite stuffed animals.

Contentedness
Hand in hand with Stuart's generous spirit was a sense of contentedness that he possessed. No matter the circumstances, Stuart always seemed satisfied with what he had.

At work, he never complained about his pay or position and stayed out of office politics. Thinking back to the stressful months following the dot-com bust in 2001, more than a little negativity pervaded the office. Seemingly entire classes of associates were being laid off, and it would be an understatement that morale was low. My wife Deborah has often remarked that she has never hung out with a group of more depressed people than when we got together for dinner with other associates from the law firm.

Stuart, however, never succumbed to this negativity. I asked him how he could remain so unaffected, and he told me about the summer he spent as a civil engineering intern with the Arizona Department of Transportation. His primary job was loading rocks onto some kind of sorting machine that would then vibrate, causing rocks to segregate into different groups. He noted that, compared to the summer he spent sifting rocks, he had nothing to complain about.

In his personal life, Stuart lived simply and said there was little he would change, even if he won the lottery. Even after he was diagnosed with cancer, Stuart continued to be positive and focused on making the most of the time he had left. He took a long-awaited trip to finally see Europe. He drank coke and ate a lot of fast food just because he could. In his last weeks he took pleasure in simply having Cheryl, his extended family, and his friends around. I remember one lunch when a bunch of us came by for a visit. Stuart was awake and following us with his eyes, but he didn't have the strength to really participate in the conversation, which became increasingly loud and raucous. We realized how loud it was getting and asked Erlinda, Stuart's favorite caretaker in his final months, if we were disturbing Stuart. She walked to Stuart's side and explained that Stuart was happy that we were there and enjoyed just having us present. I looked over at Stuart, and I'm pretty sure he was smiling.

Independence
Stuart always marched to the beat of his own drummer, and I appreciated his willingness and courageousness to do things his way.

I remember months in law school when Stuart decided to stop using an alarm clock and instead sleep when his body told him to. He was soon on a 25-hour-day schedule, which was fine at first, but became more out of sync with the rest of the world with each passing day. Before long, Stuart was getting up in the evening and going to bed around sunrise. But Stuart stuck with his schedule, and waited until he had gone the full cycle to rejoin the rest of us. Deb, on her visits to HLS, said Stuart always looked like he just woke up.

He showed his courage again when he left a lucrative law firm gig to open an online pet supplies company, Post Modern Pets. Having tried the entrepreneurship thing myself, I can attest to the fact that it's not easy. But Stuart showed no fear, and with the help of his sister and his head of PR, Phil Kerosene (a pseudonym Stuart used when speaking with customers and media), Stuart created a successful business.

Many people dream of reinventing themselves, but find that it's difficult to break out of their habits and assert a new identity. But Stuart did just that a handful of years ago when he underwent the transformation that created what his friends jokingly called Stuart 2.0. Stuart changed his wardrobe -- adopting the set of cool graphic tees that he became known for -- changed his accessories -- including the shocking but stylish addition of $800, orange-accented classes, and even changed his personality -- becoming more outspoken and a little edgier (albeit in a still very nice way). The fact that Stuart was able to do this in his mid-30s and pretty much on his own is a testament to his force of will and courageousness. And, to be clear, the makeover worked -- Stuart became more social and his personal life blossomed.

Reliability
But there was one characteristic of both the original Stuart and Stuart 2.0 that I found myself coming back to. More than anything else, Stuart was reliable.

Thinking back on the last two decades, Stuart was a ubiquitous presence, someone I could always count on for advice, for assistance, for friendship -- someone I could always count on to be there when it mattered.

Stuart often told the story of how he missed his original flight from LA to Atlanta to attend our wedding, so he rushed to get to Atlanta on a later flight. If you know Stuart, you probably know how he felt about public bathrooms -- that they're not the cleanest places in the world. So you can imagine his horror at having to change into his suit at the airport bathroom in order to make it to the wedding on time. He was carefully balancing on top of his shoes to avoid touching the bathroom floor, when he slipped and fell, causing him to rip his pants. He desperately drove around looking for a safety pin, and arrived just in time for post-wedding pictures. But arrive he did -- as always, Stuart made the extra effort to be there for his friends.

Conclusion
I always thought the next wedding I would attend would be Stuart's. Perhaps that fact, more than any other, makes me particularly sad today, a day after many of his family and friends gathered together to celebrate his life and mourn the reality that he's left us way too soon. But I'm glad and honored to have had him as one of my best friends. For nearly 20 years, my life was better because of Stuart's friendship.

So when I think of the legacy that Stuart leaves behind, I can't help but think about the people -- including all those who attended Stuart's funeral Saturday -- whose lives are better because of Stuart's presence. I think of the constant stream of visitors he had during his last year, and the reservoir of warmth and concern that welled up around him. And I think of a man who was smart and generous, humble and reliable; who would never say this on his own, but who made the world a better place for his being here.

There's a verse from the book of Micah that says, "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you? But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." Stuart wasn't a particularly religious person. But if this is the mark of a good person -- to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly -- I can think of few individuals who better fit that bill than Stuart.

Stuart, you will be missed.

Happy 2d Birthday, Danielle!

2013-10-21T15:11:00.001-07:00

[I can't believe my last blog post was before Danielle was born! Oops.]

Happy birthday to Danielle, who may only have two years under her belt, but has already shown herself to be:

Daddy's girl, who
Adores her older brother and sister (and often comforts them with a hug when they're sad)
Never gives up going after what she wants (and is pretty fearless)
Imagines that she's seven (her brother is seven and her four-year-old sister thinks she's seven too)
Enunciates in toddler Cantonese interspersed with some Mandarin and English (but understands all three)
Likes to do everything herself
Lollygags
Engages regularly in acts of daring, particularly involving climbing (whether in the playground -- or the kitchen!)

We love you lots and couldn't imagine life without you! Happy Birthday!

Opening Gifts

2011-01-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

We left for Texas on Christmas day, so we opened gifts with the kids on Christmas Eve. Here's the video.

2010 Christmas Card

2010-12-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

2010 has been a year of changes for our family, despite a fairly normal beginning. We celebrated New Year's in North Carolina, and we made our annual trip to Hong Kong in early May -- this time with my mom, who proved herself an intrepid traveler on her first visit to the "Fragrant Harbor". Upon our return, and after long soul-searching, we decided to leave our church of eight years. While we're not completely settled, we currently attend Open Door Church in Mountain View. In September, we moved from our home of eight years to our new house in Palo Alto. We plan some major remodeling, so we're still living out of boxes, but we love the location; Deb is even looking forward to biking to work once rainy season is over!

Around the time of our move, we were shocked when Deb's dad was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. In early October, we traveled to Dallas to help Deb's parents move to her sister Caroline's house. So far, we are blessed that he has been responding well to the treatment. We spent Thanksgiving in Raleigh with my parents, and despite being sick with the flu for much of our visit, had a great time and even caught up with a few old friends. We're looking forward to spending Christmas in Dallas with Deb's family -- and reuniting the dynamic duo of Jonathan and his cousin Noah.

We're amazed by how much Jonathan and Bethany have grown over 2010; it's hard to believe that Jonathan will be starting kindergarten in the fall! We love how their personalities are developing and how they watch out for each other (sometimes). We're also wrestling with the reality that life is too short. We would appreciate your prayers for Deb's dad -- and for my dad, who may have to start dialysis next year. Thanks for your friendship in 2010. We hope you have a merry Christmas and a blessed 2011!

Happy New Year!

2010-02-15T21:47:00.000-08:00

A few Christmases ago, we stopped by the new house of some good friends of ours to find the halls decked to the nines. Our hosts explained that they wanted to create family traditions for the kids -- so, among other things, the kids would want to spend the holidays with their parents when they grew up.

We really liked the idea of creating our own family holiday traditions, but we weren't sure how to implement the idea, since we rarely spend the holidays at home. Christmas and Thanksgiving are usually celebrated either on the East Coast, with our parents, or in Hong Kong, with Deb's extended family. In fact, in the 10 years since we moved to California, we've only spent one Christmas in the state!

That's why we really wanted to do something for this year's Lunar New Year, which fortuitously fell on a long weekend for both of us. However, with various work, church, and social obligations, we found ourselves struggling to get our new year dinner together for Sunday night. Fortunately, with the help of some phone calls to our parents and the gracious labor of our dinner guests, we were able to throw a decent lunar new year meal together in about two hours.

Dumplings are the cornerstone of the lunar new year meal in northern China, since dumplings are associated with prosperity; they resemble a Chinese tael and stuffing dumplings has been likened to imparting good fortune. For many families, part of the tradition is sitting together to wrap the dumplings. While we didn't have time to do that for our dinner, we did enjoy some delicious potstickers -- courtesy of the frozen Ling Ling chicken and vegetable dumplings from Costco.

Nian gao, or sliced rice cake, is the new year food choice in most of southern China. "Nian nian gao" is a homophone for "each year more prosperous than the last". Deb cooked (on her first try!) a delicious savory nian gao stir fry that included sliced nian gao, diced chicken, napa cabbage, and mustard greens.

Fish is another traditional new year food, since the word for fish, "yu", is a homophone for "surpluses". 99 Ranch supplied two fried fish -- tilapia and ocean perch -- to which we added our own sauce. 99 Ranch also supplied two freshly-steamed Dungeness crab -- currently on sale at $3.69/lb. -- adding a touch of extravagance to the meal. Rounding out the meal was roasted asparagus -- not a very Asian preparation, but we did buy the asparagus at 99 Ranch, and no new year meal is complete without something fresh and green.

Something else necessary to complete the Chinese American new year meal is dessert, and nian gao came into play once more. We bought two cakes of sweet nian gao from 99 Ranch -- one regular, one with red bean -- sliced them, dipped them in egg, pan fried them, and dusted them with powdered sugar.

Beyond the food, the kids got red envelopes of money. While our kids have certainly gotten these before -- and these aren't only given during the new year celebrations -- we're starting to teach J more about money, and we introduced him to his first piggy bank (which had been sitting in its box in J's room for a year).

So that was our lunar new year. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a great family tradition; after all, it's the single biggest holiday in east Asia. Happy new year, everyone!

2009 Christmas Card

2009-12-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

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

2009-07-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-01-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

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!

Urban Grit in the SV

2008-07-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

Deb and I both grew up in the Southeast, where most folks we knew lived in brand-new subdivisions recently carved from the forest. Sure, there were the old neighborhoods inside the Beltline -- both genteel neighborhoods with huge houses and iron fences, and less savory developments "downtown" -- but our families, and those of most of our friends, were part of the thriving middle class seeking to grab their piece of the American dream in suburbs springing up like kudzu further and further away from the city center.

Silicon Valley, however, is a very different place. With natural barriers to sprawl, most neighborhoods hail from the post-WWII housing boom. Our house, which was built in 1956, is fairly typical. However, for a Southern boy used to bigger, newer houses built on half-acre lots (if not considerably larger), an area with smaller, older houses and postage-stamp-sized yards was not very desirable. In fact, when we first drove through the area where we currently live -- shortly after we moved to the Bay Area and years before we relocated to the South Bay -- I think I may have even asked Deb to lock the car doors!

Having now lived in our house for six years, I've come to love our location. We can walk to a variety of restaurants (soon after we moved here, we learned that we're in the midst of what passes for Silicon Valley's Koreatown), the supermarket, the city park, and the city library. Despite these conveniences, we still live a fairly typical suburban lifestyle that -- aside from the smaller house and lawn -- isn't that different from what had on the East Coast.

But something happened the other day that guarantees us at least a little street cred with our friends back in the Southeast. While walking back home from a neighbor's Fourth of July cookout, we noticed this on our fence:

We'd been tagged! (Admittedly, the artist might benefit from some spray painting lessons, but that's not the point.) We've now experienced something our friends back east in their large houses and estates can't claim. So the next time our East Coast friends ask us why houses here in Silicon Valley cost several times as much as comparable houses in their neck of the woods, we can explain that it's not only that land is expensive, we also pay a premium to keep it real.

Peace out.

Five Reasons I'm Not Voting for Obama

2008-06-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's an artifact of living in the Bay Area, but almost all of my friends at work will be voting for Obama in the fall. Even among my evangelical friends, a surprisingly high number are still undecided or leaning Obama. (Of course, a surprisingly high number are frighteningly uninformed, but that's another blog entry altogether.) Living here in California, our electoral college votes will ultimately go to the Democrats. But, when asked (as is often the case), here are the five reasons I'm not voting for Obama.

1. It's the economy, stupid!

Comprehensive healthcare reform is at the heart of Obama's domestic policy. I'm not sure when Social Security and Medicare righted themselves (what happened to the lockbox?), but to hear Barack talk about healthcare reform, you would think that the Treasury is flush with cash and we're struggling to find ways to spend it all. I'm all for comprehensive healthcare reform. I think it's horrible that many Americans are uninsured or underinsured, that healthcare insurance is tied to employment, that inefficiencies abound in the system, and that many general practioners are overworked and underpaid. But in a time of economic instability, the last thing we need is the inauguration of a major new entitlement program.

This program will not only bind our hands today (and prevent us from spending tax revenue in ways tailored to stimulating economic growth), but will be a continuing obligation of the US government -- the proverbial albatross around the nation's neck. We'll end up paying for it by either increasing the national debt, and mortgaging our children's futures, or raising taxes today, when the economy can least afford it.

2. Iraq

In hindsight, it's pretty clear that we should not have invaded Iraq. It's equally evident that once we decided to invade, we should have adhered to the Powell Doctrine instead of the Rumsfeld gambit. However, while clear, hindsight tends to focus attention on the assessment of blame rather than the development of solutions. And in Iraq, blame is in much greater supply than solutions.

Obama's simplistic solution would be for us to withdraw from Iraq as quickly as possible. This course of action would result, at best, in an Iraq that is a puppet state of Iran, and, at worst, in full-blown civil war. In either case, this outcome breaches our responsibility to the people of Iraq, whose lives we disrupted by invading Iraq and to whom we owe a moral obligation to restore a measure of normality. While a quick withdrawal might result in short-term gains in the US's international prestige, in the long term it would reinforce our enemies' belief that the US is fundamentally a paper tiger and hamper our ability to negotiate on the world stage. Finally, withdrawal would ultimately decrease the security of the US mainland, by providing terrorists with fertile recruiting and training ground and by moving the lines of combat from Iraq to the continental US.

Under General Patraeus' leadership, we are finally improving the security situation in Iraq, winning some hearts and minds, and starting to rebuild the country's infrastructure. This would be the worst time to pull out. We may never have another opportunity to begin to cure our previous errors and truly effect positive change in the Middle East. If we don't follow through on our current efforts, I have little doubt that the future actions of today's insurgents will be far worse than what we've faced up to this point.

3. Abortion

I'm a huge proponent of equal rights for women. It's a travestry that, even in these enlightened times, many women are still paid less than men for doing the same job and are responsible for most of the housework (sorry, Dr. Dobson). I know pregnancy is difficult and dangerous, and I understand and empathize with the pro-choice argument that women should be allowed to control their bodies.

My position on the abortion question, however, comes down to one issue: when does life begin. I am not absolutely certain that life begins as conception. But I am absolutely certain that a person's mere physical location -- inside or outside of the womb -- should not dictate whether that person is deemed alive. Babies in the womb are deemed viable at 25 weeks -- just over halfway through a typical pregnancy. It's ridiculous to me that a baby born at 25 weeks should be entitled to rights and protection that a baby inside the womb would not be equally entitled to. And the 25-week marker is an arbitrary one. Babies born earlier than 25 weeks have been known to survive, and technology pushes the barrier earlier every year.

We require criminal juries to determine guilt beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt. Yet pro-choice advocates seem perfectly happy to sentence what may be an innocent child to death with much less certainty. Pregnancy, however challenging, is temporary; death is permanent. Obama claims to be the champion of the underdog. But as an advocate of abortion, he suggests that his patronage may only extend to that limited portion of humanity that actually has a vote.

4. Experience

As Hillary famously asked in her phone ad, who do you want picking up the red phone at 3 am in the morning? My preference is the candidate who'd already served almost a decade in Congress by the time Obama graduated from law school. Obama heralds the fact that he's a Washington novice, not yet tainted by life inside the Beltway. But success in the White House -- especially in times of crisis -- often depends on a comprehensive knowledge of the relevant issues and strong personal relationships with the members of Congress, military officers, and career bureaucrats you're going to be working with. It's this knowledge and these relationships -- on both sides of the aisle -- that McCain's developed in his quarter century in the nation's capitol. It's easy for Obama to tout his experience working in the Illinois Senate as suggestive of his ability to effectively motivate and coordinate folks in DC. I for one, however, remember the last candidate whose success in state politics prompted him to declare, "I'm a uniter, not a divider."

Taking a longer view of things, the recent trend of selecting candidates with light resumes does not bode well for the future of American politics. Americans today would prefer to elect a charismatic, untested candidate on whom they can project their hopes and desires than a more seasoned candidate with known warts and wrinkles. The flip-side of American optimism is the expectation that our leaders will be perfect. And the increased information available in the modern media-rich world has made that perfection only attainable by those who have done very little. Already many of the most qualified individuals are eschewing higher office, leaving the field with a strange combination of the least-experienced and the most ambitious (a combination not uncommonly found in the same individual). If we want the best political leaders for America, it's time for us to reward those who have served Amercia. Obama may eventually turn out to be an effective president, but I am willing to accept a few warts and less charisma for increased certainty about the future.

5. Where's the straight talk?

Obama weaves a great vision of hope and change, albeit in inoffensive, ambiguous terms. But he's less consistent about his choice of political supporters, about his positions, and about his beliefs. While he promises to clean up Washington and to bring an end to politics as usual, he neglects to mention his own background in the rough and tumble world of Chicago politics -- a city not known for clean politics -- and his personal association with the likes of Tony Rezko, an inner-city slum lord now indicted for influence-peddling in the administration of Illinois Governor Blagojevich. He told voters in Ohio that he'd renegotiate NAFTA, while he sent an aide to the Canadian government to let them know not to worry, and he reassured supporters at a swanky fund-raiser in San Francisco that he's actually in favor of free trade through and through. At that same fund-raiser, Obama expressed his true feelings about small-town Americans:

"And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Notwithstanding whether or not small town voters are actually bitter, it's peculiar that man who frequently proclaims his own faith so casually associates the faith of others with guns, prejudice, and anti-immigrant sentiment.

I don't think Obama is a bad person; in fact, I genuinely believe that his intentions -- and those of Senator McCain -- are good. As good-intentioned as Obama may be, and as charismatic and eloquent he is, however, he's not always going to be right. When he's wrong, I don't want visions of hope and change, I want the facts. Democracy isn't an election that happens every four years, it's a continuous process of give and take involving the media, advocacy groups, and individual citizens participating in an ongoing dialogue with our elected leaders. Perhaps no elected official is always fond of these exchanges, but McCain at least understands the importance of the conversation and often seems to enjoy engaging in free-ranging discussion with the press and voters. He's also not afraid to say exactly what he thinks -- even when his audience doesn't agree with him. In fact, I find that I don't always agree with McCain, but at least I know where he stands. In contrast, Obama prefers carefully-staged, stadium-style events where he controls the message and everyone is expected to stay on-script. He may sound prettier, but when it comes to straight talk, the self-proclaimed harbinger of change seems fundamentally aligned with the current occupant of the White House.

Those Darn Canadians

2008-02-29T13:19:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, Obama and Clinton have recently been battling it out to see who can more completely disavow any prior support for NAFTA. Despite the fact most economists (and a prior incarnation of Hillary Clinton) agree that NAFTA has had a positive impact on America (per FactCheck.org), the Democratic candidates are scrambling over each other to proclaim their willingness to withdraw from the treaty.

On that topic, I just had to share this hilarious quote from former Texas senator Phil Gramm: "If we can’t compete with Canada, who can we compete with?" He continued, "Are these people proposing that we go build a wall around America and hide under a rock somewhere?"

Gramm was out stumping for McCain, who had this to say on the subject:

"I want to tell our Canadian friends, I want to tell our friends in Mexico and other trading partners around the world that I will negotiate and conclude free trade agreements and I will not, I will not, after entering into solemn agreements, go and say that I will abrogate those agreements."

I may not have Obama or Clinton's legal skills, but standing by your commitments makes sense to me.

Unionizing Obama

2008-02-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

It's pretty clear whom I'll be voting for in the general election, but I have to admit I haven't been immune to the Obama-mania sweeping the land. After all, he's obviously a smart guy and a great speaker, and we even attended, in different years, the same law school -- although while he edited the Harvard Law Review, I edited the Harvard Law Record, the law school newspaper. (For the non-lawyers out there, the law review is a respected academic journal; the law school newspaper is akin to the free publication you'd pick up at your local Starbucks.)

Obama talks a good bipartisan game, but his voting record indicates that his actual positions are far to the left of most Americans. That fact, along with the closeness of the Democratic primary, raises the alarming specter of unions calling a lot of the shots in any Obama administration. The influence of unions in the Obama campaign, as well as his long-standing connections to unions, have been documented by many news sources. No less than the New York Times (which prints well-researched articles in addition to unsubstantiated innuendo) has noted that he "has long maintained ties to [the Service Employees International Union]. He sought its endorsement, and its main Web page is filled with photos of him and videos of his speeches." To quote an official from the union, "S.E.I.U. members are waging an unprecedented effort to mobilize their co-workers and communities to elect Barack Obama. We are committed to bringing all of our resources to bear to ensure he is our next president."

Unions have done a lot of good historically to improve working conditions in this country. These days, however, most unions tend to support policies that are protectionist at best and patently racist at worst. This is evident in unions' opposition to treaties like NAFTA -- which most economists have said has been good for America. Factcheck.org notes that Clinton made that same point herself, back in 2004, before the tight Democratic primary forced both Democratic candidates to start pandering to the unions on issues like NAFTA.

We were at the Anaheim convention center a few weeks ago to staff a trade show booth for the small business we run on the side. We've attended this particular trade show for years, so we're used to being gouged by the local union, which, among other things, requires the use of union labor to bring materials into the convention center and then charges outrageous rates for their services. As we were setting up our booth this time, however, we were unexpectedly accosted by a union member who told us to immediately stop our set-up, since this too apparently requires the use of union labor. Let me mention that the display structure in our booth is composed of panels that you snap together; no tools are required, and it typically takes only a couple of hours to set up (and a lot of that time is spent rearranging pieces and figuring out how you want the display to look). We pointed out that we've never been required to use union labor for setup before and that many of the booths around us had been set up without union labor. We took this issue up to the floor manager, who explained that she had been "forcing union labor" on exhibitors all day and that the exhibitors who avoided the requirement had just been lucky. The union member also sheepishly noted that times are tough and guys are losing their jobs, so we should do our part to help out.

After some back and forth, we finally agreed to take one union laborer for one hour to help put up the display structure. For one hour of unskilled labor, we were charged $135. Hour for hour, this is considerably more than I make as an in-house lawyer here in Silicon Valley, and this is not that much less than what certain legal staffing services charge high-tech companies for experienced attorneys. The guy tasked with helping us out was almost a caricature of a union laborer; he arrived at our booth at around 4 pm, and the first thing he said was, "Just to let you know, I have a scheduled break at 4:15." We were able to convince him to delay his break (after we went to go talk with the floor manager), but he spent most of the time trying to chat up our team members and had no experience setting up booths like ours -- he kept on talking about how easy it was to set up our display (which is exactly why we bought this system, so we could set it up ourselves). Because we were focused on erecting the booth as quickly as possible and not looking at the clock, we ended up using him for more than an hour. For that, we were charged for an extra 30 minutes at time and a half. (Afterwards, another exhibitor told us that the trick to avoiding the union labor requirement was to wait until 5 pm to start setting up, since that's when most of the union guys ended their day.)

I think back to what the first union guy said -- times are tough, so we should do our part. I completely agree with his comment. But as a small business, our part is to develop and sell useful, quality products. Money that we earn goes back into the economy through our company's expenditures, our purchases, and our team members' purchases. Our part is not to subsidize unions engaged in anti-competitive, unproductive activities. These activities are bad for small business, bad for the economy as a whole, and ultimately bad for the union laborer, who has no incentive to retool for a more productive career.

The union members we met at the trade show all seemed reasonably smart, and no one struck me as a bad person. These are folks who want what most of us want -- honest work and a living wage -- and these are folks who, for the most part, should be able to make the transition to the new economy. But they're focused on the short term, and they seem to have a sense of entitlement about what they're owed. Obama talks about change, but if there's really going to be change, we have to open our arms wide to innovation and a global economy. At a time when we need change, the unions are trying to strap us into a straitjacket. And Obama seems more than happy to climb right in.

Restoring Possibility

2008-02-03T17:19:00.000-08:00

Obama has a great line that he trotted out at Thursday's Democratic presidential debate: "Part of what I would like to do is restore a sense of what is possible in government."

While that's a great sound bite -- and sums up nicely what is most attractive about Obama's candidacy -- it underscores one major difference between Democrats and Republicans. While the Democrats want to restore a sense of what is possible in government, we Republicans want to restore a sense of what is possible in America.

Obama's comment focuses on what government can do. But the secret of the American experiment is that America's never been about what government can do, but what kind of environment government can foster to allow the American people to do amazing things.

McCain-Huckabee

2008-02-03T01:01:00.000-08:00

Democrats may be longing for a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket, but I'm hoping for a McCain-Huckabee ticket. If McCain has any hope of mobilizing Republicans in November, he'll need the excitement that Huckabee generates among the (evangelical) conservative base. I also rather like Huckabee. While Huckabee's positions are sometimes alarmingly naive (I'm particularly troubled by the Fair Tax), his heart seems to be in the right place, and he's a very effective communicator. A colleague of mine who attended all of the CNN-YouTube debates commented that, while she's Democrat, if she were a Republican, she would probably vote for Huckabee. Four to eight years under McCain's tutelage might be just what Huckabee needs to make a successful bid for the White House.

McCain and the Changing Religious Right

2008-01-30T00:12:00.000-08:00

It's the middle of rainy season here in Silicon Valley; we've had rain almost every day this past week with only periodic glimpses of blue sky. Fortunately, we've gotten some sun from the Sunshine State, where John McCain just won the Republican primary!

Despite finally reclaiming the title of front-runner, it'll still be a slog for McCain to win the Republican nomination, given his lack of support among many hard-line conservatives. McCain has a 83% rating from the American Conservative Union, but he does hold some moderate positions, particularly when it comes to issues like climate change, immigration, and campaign finance reform. However, I happen to agree with a moderate approach to these particular issues, and I don't think I'm alone.

I'm an evangelical. I've listened to Focus on the Family for most of my life (love James Dobson, but don't agree with many of his views), and I attend church activities more than once a week. I was born and raised in the South -- I'm still proud to have grown up a Southern Baptist -- and I'm pro-life and pro-family. I came of voting age around the time of the rise of the Christian Coalition, and I credit the Christian Coalition for contributing to my interest in politics.

I also believe that humanity is in danger of irrevocably upsetting nature's delicate equilibrium (or at least that equilibrium in which we've grown accustomed to living), and that our government should do more to protect the environment. Most Christians agree that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the environment, as Christianity Today notes. Major evangelical leaders, most notably (and controversially) Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, have argued in favor of actions to slow down global warming. While there is still considerable debate on this issue within the evangelical community, evangelicals can no longer be relied upon to echo business interests in rejecting the threat of climate change.

Applying Christian principles to immigration, evangelicals should be more sympathetic to giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship than most other conservatives. Christianity has always been about loving your neighbor, and if the parable of the Good Samaritan doesn't speak to the current debate about immigration, I'm not sure what it speaks to. In addition, the foreign missions focus of many evangelical churches has led these Christians to become more familiar and comfortable with foreign cultures than other native-born Americans from the same regions. For example, the Southern Baptist church in which I grew up had a very active ministry to the local Chinese immigrant community -- which is how I ended up attending that church. While evangelicals are also generally in favor of law and order -- and have little patience for lawbreakers -- I suspect that an increasingly significant segment of this population will begin to support giving those illegal immigrants who haven't otherwise broken the law a chance to stay in the country legally.

What seems to be at the heart of at least some evangelical leaders' disdain for McCain is campaign finance reform -- or, more specifically, McCain-Feingold, which prevents organizations (including evangelical organizations) from participating in certain electioneering activities. Campaign finance reform is a very complex issue, but ultimately it's not a values issue. It is an important issue, and I personally think that our current system forces candidates and elected officials alike to spend too much time raising money instead of governing and dissuades some of the most qualified individuals from getting involved in politics at all. But evangelical leaders should move past their own self-interest to focus on the social issues they claim to be most interested in.

Many commentators have suggested that the 2008 Republican primary is a referendum on the coalition of neo-conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and evangelicals that Reagan built. I'm not sure that's entirely the case, since, if my own views are any indication, many evangelicals are proponents of small government, individual responsibility, strong defense, and fiscal accountability. However, those positions don't justify giving carte blanche to business interests on issues like the environment and campaign finance reform or succumbing to parochialism or thinly-veiled racism on issues like immigration. I agree with many anti-McCain pundits that it's time for the Republican party to return to its core principles, but I think it's also time for evangelicals in the party to redefine how those principles are applied.

Slippery Mitt

2008-01-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

I heard part of Mitt Romney's remarks following the Florida primaries, and one particular line caught my attention. Here's the line from the transcript in the Washington Post:

"We look to Washington for leadership, but Washington has failed us. . . . We asked them to end our dependence on foreign oil. They haven't."

Statements like this typify what annoys me about Romney. Here he is speaking to Super Tuesday voters, making the argument that you can't expect a Washington insider to fix Washington. While it may sound good, there are quite a few problems with Romney's logic, such as the fact that it is McCain's maverick status in DC that has made it difficult for the Republican establishment to line up behind him and the fact that it often takes someone who knows the game to beat the game. To a casual Silicon Valley voter who may not be following the Romney campaign very closely (and who is likely to be in favor of increasing fuel efficiency), Mitt's statement has the added benefit of implying that Mitt is actually in full agreement.

Just a scant two weeks ago, however, Romney said something very different to the Detroit Economic Club:

"In fact, in face of all of the existing burdens that weigh down our domestic auto industry, instead of throwing over a life preserver, Washington has dropped yet another anvil on Michigan with higher CAFE standards. And now, it's passively sitting back to see if the car companies can swim."

What's Mitt's problem? He identifies our dependence on foreign oil as a problem, but he rails against a rational solution to that problem. Why does a guy as smart as Mitt take such an odd position? Because he was trying to court Michigan voters. If that's not politics as usual in Washington, I don't know what is. It's exactly politics like this that prevent Washington from taking real action to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

To underscore the point, here's a Romney quote on the same subject from back in 2005, when he was governor of Massachusetts:

"Dad was a man ahead of his time. . . . He also coined the term 'gas-guzzling dinosaurs.' That's what we're driving today and that's got to change."

When it comes to oil, Mitt's one slippery guy.

Dire Straits

2008-01-21T01:35:00.000-08:00

One of the better shows on the radio these days is NPR's On the Media, which analyzes and critiques the media. This week's show included a report on the two contradictory tapes released regarding the January 6 confrontation between U.S. Navy and Iranian Republican Guard ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The interviewee was Bill Arkin of the Washington Post, who indicated that each of the U.S. and Iran had doctored the tape it released of the incident by melding video of the event with unrelated audio.

Now I don't know if Arkin is correct (and a cursory online search didn't turn up any dispositive corroborating evidence), but if he is, this is just another example of the current administration's enormous disrespect for the American people. This disrespect is particularly irritating to me because I voted for Bush in the 2000 and 2004 general elections (though I voted for McCain in the 2000 primary). While I was never overly impressed by Dubya's rhetorical skills or business acumen, his record of reaching across the aisle in Texas suggested an end to the partisan bickering that marked the end of the Clinton era. I was impressed by the Republican luminaries that lined up behind the man. And I was enticed by the promise of "compassionate conservatism" -- promise that remains largely unrealized, except perhaps in certain aspects of the Bush immigration proposal.

Eight years later, the once-bright potential of the second Bush administration lies overshadowed by the decision to go to war in Iraq. Amid the paranoid secrecy, clumsy lies, and rabid partisanship of the current administrations, it's clearly time for a change. Government should be honest, transparent, and collegial. And more than any other candidate on either side of the aisle, McCain embodies those qualities. South Carolina voters seem to have agreed last Saturday. Hopefully, Florida voters will feel the same way on Tuesday.

Why I Can't Vote for Romney

2008-01-10T23:12:00.000-08:00

Romney's a successful businessman, a capable organizer, and a guy who gets things done. These are great characteristics. Unfortunately, he's also extraordinarily expedient. He's more interested in the ends than the means. And the ends are often personal ends rather than policy ends -- as his flip-flopping on the abortion issue suggests. While Romney's approach often wins over the shareholders of a company, it does much less for citizens interested in preserving constitutional rights, maintaining transparent government, and getting the straight facts. Time and time again he's shown himself more than happy to put a healthy spin on the truth.

That's exactly how he landed in the mess over his father's supposed march with MLK. And while his attacks on McCain at last night's South Carolina debate weren't outright lies, he once again revealed his willingness to take the easy route, rather than the honest one. According to Reuters, Romney attacked McCain (who had been speaking in favor of educational programs to retrain workers) for admitting that some jobs are leaving Michigan and not coming back. Romney declared, "I disagree. I'm going to fight for every single job, Michigan, South Carolina, every state in this country, we're going to fight for jobs and make sure our future is bright."

Romney's many things, but he's neither stupid or naive. The man knows that times are a-changing, and that the best hope for the autoworkers of Michigan and the textile workers of South Carolina is retraining for the new economy -- what McCain is proposing. Once again Romney is more interested in giving voters what he thinks they want to hear than in promoting policies that actually address the real issues at hand. And that's why I can't vote for Romney.

Backing Mac

2008-01-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

Despite always being interested in politics -- and majoring in Political Science in college -- I've never made a donation to a political campaign. I usually back a particular candidate, and I'm more than glad to share my views with others. But we've always taken the position that, to the extent we have money to donate, that money is better spent going to our church or another Christian organization like InterVarsity, World Vision, or Focus on the Family.

This year, for the first time, we made a donation to a political campaign -- the John McCain campaign. Our donation wasn't large -- just $25 (so far, at least). But a colleague of mine who previously worked for the McCain campaign said that every bit helps -- and may generate more support by demonstrating that the candidate has support. We supported McCain in 2000 too, and one has to wonder how the world might be different if more of his supporters had stepped up to the plate then.

Christmas Card 2007

2008-01-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

We actually sent out Christmas postcards this year! They went out a bit late -- and a few still need to go out. However, for those who we may have accidentally left off the list, here it is:

The three of us started 2007 navigating the crowded streets of Hong Kong, straining to catch a glimpse of the ball drop in Hong Kong's Times Square. While we didn't get close enough to see the ball -- or Times Square, for that matter -- we continued to stay on the move throughout 2007.

Just a few weeks after returning from Hong Kong, we drove south to Anaheim for the Craft and Hobby Association's winter trade show. CHA Winter is the most important sales event of the year for Maya Road, the craft supplies company we own with Deborah's sister and brother-in-law. With the Lau grandparents watching Jonathan back at the hotel, we were able to do some effective hawking of Maya Road products. In May we finally took a long-overdue trip to Raleigh, Augusta, and Atlanta with Jonathan. We enjoyed seeing some friends we hadn't seen for years, and Jonathan spent some quality time with both sets of grandparents. We were on the road again to Southern California for a wedding in June, and in July we flew to Chicago for the CHA summer trade show. We spent a weekend up at Lake Tahoe in September, and in November we returned to Hong Kong for Thanksgiving. Jonathan enjoyed spending time with his great grandmother and fighting over toys with his cousin Noah. We're looking forward to spending Christmas this year in Raleigh, before we fly back home to the Bay Area to ring in the new year.

On an individual level, Jonathan started 2007 fairly stationary, but was crawling by April, walking by June, and running by his first birthday in July. He's gone from cooing and babbling to mastering his first handful of words. Parenting has definitely had its stressful moments, but it's also been enormously fun, and we're thankful every day to have Jonathan in our lives.

Professionally, Deborah is still at PayPal working on building new online payments products, and I'm still at Google providing end users with all the content that's fit to copy, distribute, create derivative works of, display, or perform. When she's not hanging out with Jonathan and me, Deborah spends most of her free time designing exciting new crafts products for Maya Road; we're already gearing up to launch more than 100 new products at CHA Winter in February 2008.

As we look back over the year, we are amazed by God's many blessings, and the kindness and support of all our family and friends. Thank you for being in our life. We hope to see you in 2008.

Amazing Grace

2007-10-18T00:31:00.001-07:00

We're leading this week's study, which covers Ephesians 2:1-10. Here's the text:

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[g] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This is the stuff that Martin Luther split the church over back in 1517. Salvation by grace, not by works.

A "Glorious Inheritance"

2007-10-17T23:57:00.001-07:00

We attend a couples Bible study group, and for the last few quarters we've been going through various topical studies that apply Biblical principles to relationships. While these studies do contain a lot of great material, there's also a lot of fluff. So we were glad that the group decided to spend this quarter going through an inductive study of Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

We missed the first session because of family commitments, but we attended the second session, which covered Ephesians 1:15-23. Here's the NIV version of the text:

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

It's been a long time since I last read this passage, but two things in particular struck me this time around.

First, in verse 18, Paul desires the Ephesians to know "the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints". Greg, who was leading the discussion, pointed out that Paul isn't merely saying that the saints possess a glorious inheritance. Rather, Paul wants the Ephesians to know that, from God's perspective, they themselves are a glorious inheritance. The "his" in this verse refers to God. It goes without saying that this idea underlies all of Christianity; why else would God have sacrificed his son? But the challenge, for me at least, is to view others with God's eyes -- to see each person as having the same inherent value as Paul suggests here.

Second, in verse 23, Paul states that the church is the "fullness of [Christ] who fills everything in every way." We ran out of time and didn't get to discuss these last verses. I would have enjoyed getting others' views on 22-23, particularly the meaning of "for the church" in 22. But in 23 it seems to me that Paul is placing a clear obligation on those who call ourselves Christians to execute on God's desires throughout the world. And a large part of that execution must be seeing and treating each person as a child of God.