Thou and Thou Only

Books Read in 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:53:00 +0000

This is a fitting post for the end of the year. My sister also published her list of books read, half of which I've never read before. She's read more books in the last six months than is typical for her, so I'm very proud of her.

As for me, I had a friend who told me in May that I'd better get all my reading in then because it would be a long time before I'd be able to pick up another book. I must admit, much of my reading in the first two months of Pearl's life was simply to prove him wrong. ;-) I can't remember many books that I read before she was born, so this list almost all books I have read since June. I'm certain this list is not complete, even since June, but I wasn't really keeping track and my brain cells are otherwise engaged at the moment.

*Agatha Christie novels (I discovered them sometime in June or July, and have been devouring them ever since):

Murder on the Orient Express
Death on the Nile
Murder is Easy
The Man in the Brown Suit
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Murder on the Links
Poirot Investigates
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder at the Vicarage
The Body in the Library
And Then There Were None (as much as I'm ever going to read it - I was so scared a few chapters in that I skipped to the end to read the conclusion)

*Sense and Sensibility
*The Three Musketeers
*The Plain Princess
*The Wonderful Wizard of OZ (the last book I read before Pearl was born)
*Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (okay, here's another I read before Pearl was born... apparently I remember more than I thought)
*Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (re-read)
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (re-read)
*A Study in Scarlet

And I'm currently reading:

*Five Children and It
*The Incredible Journey
*Heidi
*Stuart Little
(And more Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries, in order, each time I go to the library. It's my goal to read through all of them.)

2009 In Review

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:55:00 +0000

I have a major (for me) series of blog posts in the works, which need time for research and writing. Since I am seriously lacking in time, you'll just have to make do with this Q&A about the year that I stole from the Common Room.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?

Become a mother. That covers a whole slew of firsts, I think. :-)

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I haven't made New Year's resolutions in a long time.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth or get pregnant?

Let's see... ME, my whole childbirth class, and three friends from church (one born the same day as Pearl).

4. Did anyone close to you get married?

No

5. Did anyone close to you die?

Yes, a friend from high school. Actually, he was my first "date" (a group date at a church friend's house). He died of lung cancer (non-smoker) at 27.

6. Travel?

We went to the mountains twice. And over Thanksgiving we visited both of my grandmothers.

7. Did you move anywhere?

No.

8. What was the best month?

June, of course. But I was too tired and busy to really enjoy it, I think. :-)

9. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Is this a typo? In 2010 I'd like to have more discipline with keeping a reasonably clean house.

10. What date(s) from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

June 3, of course. Also September 11 (Pearl's 100 day celebration).

11. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and (the hardest IMO) learning to live pleasantly on next-to-no sleep.

12. What was your biggest failure?

My messy house. Also being so forgetful. Several bills were overdue this year that we had money to pay, but that I had completely forgotten existed.

13. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had a couple of colds, super mild gestational diabetes, and some asthma issues late in pregnancy.

14. What was the best thing you bought?

Most of our new-to-us items this year were given to us.

15. Whose behavior merited celebration?

JunkMale, for being a wonderful father and patient husband.

16. Whose behavior made you appalled and/or depressed?

I can't think of anyone right now

17. Where did most of your money go?

House, food, utilities.

18. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My baby :-)

19. What song will always remind you of 2009?

The Korean lullaby about the spotted calf that my Father-in-Law (and now JunkMale) sang to Pearl to put her to sleep (송아지).

20. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
ii. richer or poorer?

i. Happier, by far.

ii. Richer, I think.

21. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Reading, sleeping, cleaning, cooking

22. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Wasting time on the internet.

23. How will you be spending New Year's Eve/Day?

I'm going to bed early on New Year's Eve. On New Year's Day, my sister-in-law is flying in town for the weekend. It's also her birthday! We're going to eat seaweed soup for her birthday (Korean tradition similar to birthday cake, except much healthier), and also eat rice cake soup (Korean traditional New Year's food). Then we're going to dress up in traditional Korean clothing and take family pictures. The younger generation will bow to the elders.

24. What was an unexpected surprise?

SIL coming to visit - in June and again this weekend. :-)

25. Did you fall in love in 2009?

Does Pearl count?

26. What was the best concert you've been to this year?

I didn't go to any

27. What was your favorite TV program?

I don't watch much TV. Does GT football count?

28. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?

No.

29. What was the best book you read?

That's a tough question. I'm going to say Murder on the Orient Express, because it was the first Christie mystery I read. I am now reading through all the Poirot and Miss Marple novels as fast as I can. :-)

30. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Er, I don't know.

31. What did you want and get?

A baby. I have seriously wanted to be a mom for at least the last five years. The last two years it had become more of an obsession, really. And now I have my precious Pearl. :-)

32. What did you want and not get?

A lot of silly, pointless things. And a dress I can nurse in. I did really want that.

33. What was your favorite film of this year?

Harry Potter 6... being one of, what? Two movies I saw this year?

34. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I can't remember what we did. I assume we went out to eat with my parents, because that's what we always do. I think we went to Sweet Tomato and had a delicious meal and lots of good family time. I was 27.

35. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I can't think of anything. Maybe if I'd been the perfect mom/wife. But that will never happen. My life is very good.

36. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Pajamas. :-)

37. What kept you sane?

Hot showers while someone else watched the baby.

38. What political issue stirred you the most?

Spending, spending, spending. Grrr. I did not approve of this debt I owe.

39. Who did you miss?

My SIL, who gets to come see us whenever she can but still not often enough. And especially my sister, who needs to move next door or at least close enough for weekend trips every now and then. 11 hours is too far away for a sister. :-(

40. Random Memories from 2009?

Seemingly living in doctor's offices, seeing family much more often than in previous years (except of course for my sister and SIL), lots of eating out, and going on walks with JunkMale.

Conversation at the dog park today

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:58:00 +0000

JunkMale, Pearl, Luna, and I met a woman, her husband, and their dog (no baby) at the dog park today. The following is a rough transcription of the encounter.

Woman: What a beautiful baby! How old is she?

JunkMale: Almost 7 months.

Woman: Oh, they're so sweet at that age! I used to be nervous bringing our baby here when she was that young, but my husband didn't seem to mind as much.

Me: Yes, it's that way in our family, too. I'm always the nervous one.

Woman's husband: It's safe when you're holding them. The dogs can't jump up and get them.

Me: Yes, she's high enough now that she won't get scratched. [to the woman] How old is your baby?

Woman: Eighteen months. We're taking advantage of our day off of work when the baby is still in day care!

...

I know I said something back to her, but don't remember what it was because I was too busy wondering what kind of people think a day off from work is for spending with your dog and not your baby.

Is it just because my baby is six months old and still (nearly) exclusively breastfed and won't take a bottle that I was so horrified by this? Sure, let the baby stay with family - or even a close friend - for a day while you spend it with your spouse. Every now and then that's fine. And there's certainly nothing wrong with leaving your child with a babysitter for a couple of hours. But to leave your child in day care on a day you're not at work just to get away from them?? Because, you know, you're already getting so much family time that you couldn't possibly take any more.

I hope there's more to the story that we didn't hear, and there likely is. But, dear readers, I want to hear from you. Will JunkMale and I think differently when Pearl is older? Are days away from children good for the soul, or are they selfish? How does your family handle this?

Bride Does Not Equal Center of Universe

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:52:00 +0000

(Tomorrow is our 3 year anniversary, so coincidentally, here is a wedding-related post)

This past weekend, a co-worker's son became engaged to be married. Naturally there was some talk about weddings.

He mentioned how he knew of a bride who'd bought a $10000 dress. But wait, it was marked down to $4000, so it's okay. Yeah...sure. I said, "That's still ridiculous!" A young female co-worker rebutted how $4000 is not that expensive for a wedding dress these days. I held my position, claiming that it's still ridiculous. That part of the conversation was closed out by her saying that "it's all about keeping the bride happy."

Um. Perhaps I'm just being "insensitive" or buffoon-ish, but becoming a prospective bride does not make a girl into the center of the universe. I will concede that it brings her a little closer to the center of the universe (a little). I think it is entirely selfish for women to magically revert to the maturity level of a 3 year old and rampage on about how this is her wedding and she deserves to have her way. (Or maybe this situation just exposes what she's really like inside) Let's also not forget that there is another person involved in the marriage. What if he would rather spend the money on something else? In this age of the feeble man and dominant she-man, you know what would happen.

Actually, what annoys me is if a bride expects her parents to pay for ridiculous things like a $4000 wedding dress. I mentioned this to Harmony and she agreed that we were not going to destroy our own financial security by paying satanic amounts for one-use items. If Pearl wants a $4000 wedding dress, she will pay for it herself or take out a loan. Hopefully she won't ever want a $4000 wedding dress.

Institutional Schooling

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:58:00 +0000

I often read about homeschoolers' viewpoints on education and this-and-that, and I often read about the comparison of homeschooling versus public schooling.

But there is another faction that they often leave out, namely private schools.

Or perhaps they are actually lumping private schools together with public schools. Some might object to that, and rightly so; private schools (on average) probably achieve better academic results.

I attended a private school from the middle of 6th grade through 9th grade, after which I attended an IB program at a public high school. I really can't speak much on how I "would've" turned out if I'd continued at the local public schools, because I can't observe my parallel universe self who attended those schools, nor can I rewind time and convince my parents to keep me in the then-status quo. But what I can tell you is that in terms of character building (or shaping of self or whatever), it's my opinion that a private school is not much better than a public school.

Sure we attended chapel every morning (you had no choice). Sure the teachers were a bit more free to make the occasional mention of God. Sure we had a religion class every Friday (you had no choice). (memories of my religion classes go something like this: watching an old Lion/Witch/Wardrobe production and laughing at the stupid looking costumes, watching Ben-Hur, and the Episcopal priest telling us that sarcasm is a form of anger, to which I thought "I might be a very angry person.") But the fact is that aside from those things, uniforms, and school size, private schools still do strongly resemble their public counterparts. You still get grades and your scholastic development is completely tied to that fateful range of letters. It's also age-segregated, and there is no requirement of any sort of piety from students or their parents.

This is why when I discuss education with Harmony, I will often discuss in terms of two groups: homeschooling, and institutional schooling, because I have grouped private and public schools together. I do that because, while private schools get better results than public schools, my observation is that private schooled children are still largely being educated by someone else and are spending the majority of time around someone other than family members.

Perhaps I've ruffled someone's fur in this matter. My point wasn't that privately schooled children can't turn out to be wonderful people (just like publicly schooled children can turn out to be wonderful people, for instance my wife); goodness no, if Pearl were to be struck motherless or otherwise unable to be homeschooled some day, I'd do everything I could to get her into a private school. Rather, the point was that it's not really valid for people to trash public schooling while thinking of private schools as proverbial cities on a hill.

What do you think? Are any of you former private schoolers? Do you agree or disagree with what I've said? Am I completely missing some secret point about private schooling? Do you notice a difference between public or private schooled children?

Just Sing the Chorus, Please!

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:54:00 +0000

You know what annoys me? When someone who's leading a hymn decides that the congregation is going to sing all the verses of a song first, then sing the chorus once.

Perhaps you are someone who likes singing songs like this. You are quite puzzling indeed. I don't know what it is, it's just annoying to me.

Songs that I've heard sung in this manner are "How Great Thou Art" and "Alas And Did My Savior" / "At The Cross" / whatever your congregation calls that song.

The Magical Non-Existent Formula For Perfect Children

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:38:00 +0000

There was much driving over the Thanksgiving break, and thus much discussion that ensued. A good portion of the conversation eventually shifted towards how to raise children in a way that maximizes their chances at turning out "right."

We examined anyone and everyone that we knew who had children who either went crazy or turned out to be responsible people and faithful Christians. The majority of our analysis focused on the parents rather than the children. We were a bit limited because we knew mostly came from observation. Most of the time we had no direct contact with the parents on these sorts of matters.

We spent a lot of time talking about how we were raised. Harmony's family was heavily involved in church activities, which is a plus, but as we discovered, was only a slight plus. Harmony's parents talked God and Bible very frequently, and Harmony's parents' children turned out to be fine young ladies. JunkMale's parents largely left spiritual teaching up to the church. In my opinion, bad idea. When I entered college, my Bible knowledge was woefully inept. It is much better now, but still not on par with Harmony, who lived and breathed it in her environment while growing up.

We also examined strictness to see if it was a factor. Harmony's parents were stricter than most of her friends. A good degree of strictness does seem to correlate with a higher probability of kids-not-going-crazy. Several families of Harmony's friends were much less strict than Harmony's, and a good number of children from those families went a bit wild (or in some cases, still are wild).

Let us speak of a family we are more familiar with. This family has two daughters separated by 9 years (the second daughter was perhaps a surprise, but I am not sure), and some pets. The older daughter went through the church life but apparently the family did not really talk spiritual at all outside of church. I'm uncertain whether or not the father attended with them; he might not have attended, or might have attended elsewhere. (no doubt that is a factor in itself) The older daughter had somewhat of an existential crisis once when she realized "Why am I even here? Do I really believe in God?" "Luckily," she got involved with a good church group in college and improved her life henceforth. Her sister apparently had no such luck and is probably some sort of atheist. She almost never attends church and probably has no sense of Biblical morals or ethics. Harmony is the one who's more familiar with this family, so I asked her if she thought the two daughters were raised any differently, since one turned out fine and the other turned out less fine than her sister. The conclusion was that sometimes it's a matter of circumstance, or "luck."

There is no magical formula though, as you all know. But if there were, it would probably consist of good family relationships, spiritual teaching by the parents, a not-too-strict-not-too-lenient-but-just-right level of strictness (which might even vary depending on the child, who knows), and circumstances. I put the "circumstances" in there because there are some people we know who seem to have done things right but their children have put them through lots of stress.

What is the composition of your magical mythical formula? Did you ever go through a crazy period? What led you to enter and exit that crazy period (assuming you have exited it)? Do you think anything would have prevented you from going crazy? I would appreciate your inputs.

Whole Wheat Apple Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:42:00 +0000

As far as healthy cakes go, this is our current favorite. Compared to my grandmother's oh-so-delicious chocolate pound cake with buttercream frosting, this is practically a diet food. And while the chocolate pound cake edges apple cake out in decadence, the apple cake is pretty yummy and there's not nearly the guilt involved in the eating. :-)

Whole Wheat Apple Cake

2 eggs
1 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups honey crystals
2 cups whole wheat cake flour (you can use half white flour and half regular wheat if you can't find the cake flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
4 cups apples, diced

Beat together eggs and oil, then add in honey and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients, then add to the egg mixture. Fold in the apples, then pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. You can top with powdered sugar, streusal topping, or a cream cheese frosting, but really it's delicious as is.

Another Bad Idea Masquerading as a Good One

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:22:00 +0000

I wrote a post in December 2007 about how while it might seem like a great idea to have both your relatives and your in-law extended family in town for Christmas, in actuality it's a bit more trouble than it's worth, due to the fact that there's limited time and everyone wants a piece of you. I think I can safely say that we have discovered another one of these bad ideas masquerading as a good one.

And BTW, we have been away for the past week, which is why this blog has been sadly neglected. If I were a good blogger, I would've queued up some scheduled posts so you would have no idea we were not here. Being away (I will not really call it "vacation.") for the past week leads right into this bad idea:

I took the entire Thanksgiving week off and we visited both of Pearl's great-grandmothers. One of them is getting much more feeble than she used to be (who can blame a near 90 year old woman for that?) and the other had not yet met Pearl. The initial thought was that in taking the whole week off, the 1000 mile round trip would be a bit more relaxing than the driving-every-other-day-marathon-vacation-which-is-actually-not-much-of-a-vacation Thanksgiving trips that Harmony's parents usually take.

One of the things we learned on this trip was that grandmothers will not listen when you say "you really don't need to do much work for us, we'll handle things while we're there." Maybe it's best not to ever visit them, so they won't tire themselves out preparing food for us ;)

Right, so now I explain why it's a bad idea to take an extended Thanksgiving break. Grandmothers, stuck in the ways of being woefully good hostesses, will stock up on all sorts of bad snacks and dessert foods. They will insist that you get a good dessert after each lunch and dinner. The longer you are there, the more desserts you will consume. This is why I am 4 pounds heavier than I ought to be :p

Another thing that made the trip a bit difficult for us was because one of the grandmothers almost constantly second guessing and/or worrying about our parenting style and decisions. (This particular grandmother's favorite hobby must be worrying.) Don't tell her that we co-sleep EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, and no, aside from the first day or two at the hospital, she has NEVER SLEPT IN A CRIB/BASSINET before. Statistics and facts do not matter to this grandmother when she makes up her mind about something. Other things that she expressed worry about: speaking Korean to Pearl, not enough solids, not sleeping in a crib, sleeping in a crib (we do have drop-side that my parents got from a neighbor, but we have never used it aside from a place-to-put-stuff), a midwife birth, home birth, holding the baby too much, etc. etc. etc ad infinitum/nauseum. Although there were a couple of instances where I could've stated that we are going to homeschool, I chose to bite my tongue for the moment. There is a 99.9% probability that she will be against that. There will not be much debate there, if it ever comes up. Out of all the "alternative" paths we are taking, homeschooling is one for which we feel most strongly.

So you can imagine that constantly having to keep my guard up on what we say (in order to keep grandmother blissfully unaware) or constantly feeling like we need to defend our parenting leads to one VERY mentally tiring visit. For the most part, we enjoyed the time we spent there, but going from worrying-as-a-favorite-activity grandmother to the more it's-your-parental-decision grandmother was like a gigantic breath of fresh air after spending too much time in an enclosed small room full of sweaty people who have just had a big meal of spicy chili with lots of beans.

So to grandparents and other family members who might read this: we know you probably would not parent exactly the way you do and even might not really like some of the things we are doing, but we are so so so so so so so so so so so so soooo grateful that you let us be the parents and do not constantly second guess us by expressing worry and whatnot.

"Muslim First, Then American"

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:36:00 +0000

I have read that Major Nidal Hasan (the Fort Hood guy, for anyone who lives in a cave, in which case that means your cave has internet access, which is really cool..) considered himself a Muslim first, American second.

Would I be classified as a dangerous individual then, since I am a Christian first, American second? After all, I am an alien and stranger to this world, and my first allegiance is to God. (then again, I do not seek to do violence against anybody, so maybe the government would not consider me a threat) Indeed, I believe this should be the view of any devout Christian. I don't believe that being a Christian (or Muslim, or Mormon, etc...) above all else automatically makes someone a dangerous person.

In searching for the phrase "muslim first then american," I came across this interesting blog post from September 2006. It's from a blog called Muslims For a Safe America, and the particular post shows the results of a survey of 307 American citizen Muslims who were attending an Islamic Society of North American conference. Here's one of the interesting questions:

Do you consider yourself to be a Muslim first, an American first, or both equally?
MUSLIM FIRST 214 (70%)
AMERICAN FIRST 4 (1%)
BOTH EQUALLY 86 (28%)
DID NOT ANSWER 3 (1%)

Well, I got news for people who are outraged over this Muslim-first-American-second bit. If this surveyed group is at all representative of the general Muslim population, then an overwhelming majority of Muslims consider themselves Muslims first, Americans second.

Then again, Major Hasan was in the military, otherwise known as the blow-stuff-up arm of the United States government. It seems to me that anyone who voluntarily joins the U.S. military ought to do so partly out of a desire to keep Americans safe, and at least not harbor terroristic ideologies.

Here are some more interesting results from the survey:
Did Muslims hijack planes and fly them into buildings on 9/11?
YES 117 (38%)
NO 139 (45%)
DID NOT ANSWER 51 (17%)

This one is puzzling, and would've been nice if the people answering "NO" had a chance to explain their answers. Is it that they do not believe that the hijackers were not true Muslims, or is it that they believe that blonde haired blue eyed John Smiths were the real hijackers and the media is in on a big conspiracy to cover up that fact?

If you learned about a plot by Muslims to attack targets inside America, would you tell law enforcement authorities?
YES 234 (76%)
NO 39 (13%)
DID NOT ANSWER 34 (11%)

While I'm glad that 76% would notify authorities, it's a bit unsettling that 13% would not. Then there are the 11% of the surveyed who did not answer this question. What would they do? Why did they not answer? Fear of retribution from other Muslims, due to being a snitch? Or fear of answering the question because their answer was "no"?

Picture Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few months.

I liked the 4th picture so much that I printed out a big 8x10 of it. I consider it one of the best pictures I've ever taken (I still consider myself to be a rather poor photographer, you don't see all the under/overexposed blurry pictures that don't make it onto the Picasa album, for those who have the invitation). The wooden teething ring in the 3rd picture has since been gotten a hold of by a certain Luna, who apparently still considers herself to be teething.

I still don't think she really looks much like me, but all of my non-Asian friends and acquaintances say so. These people probably have not seen too many Asian babies before. I don't think she really looks half-Asian at all, but her mother is comforted to know that she has passed on her sensitive gag reflex and big mouthed toothless grin that she apparently possessed when she was Pearl's age. Oh, and one X chromosome.

MAM: More Elgar

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:43:00 +0000

Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 is probably Elgar's best known work - especially to those of us who have played in the band for a graduation. ;-) The title of the work comes from Shakespeare's Othello:

"Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, th'ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!"

I admit to liking this version from Fantasia 2000, depicting Noah's Ark and starring Donald Duck. It incorporates the first four marches of Pomp and Circumstance:

And we cannot forget this delightful recording of Elgar himself conducting the first march. His words to the orchestra beforehand: "Morning, gentlemen. Glad to see you all. Very light programme this morning. Please play this tune as though you've never heard it before."

Pro-Life Law and Order Episode

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:42:00 +0000

It doesn't go so far as to say Roe v Wade should be overturned, but one of the characters does say it should be revisited. About half the major characters in the show were pro-life, and they weren'tall crazy fanatics. I was shocked to see such a fair portrayal from Hollywood! Watch the episode for yourself and let me know what you think of it.

NIH hearings on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:21:00 +0000

The NIH hearings were prompted by a 2009 study published in Science that linked Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with a retrovirus (XMRV), which is a virus that encorporates itself into the host's genome. Probably the most famous retrovirus is HIV, which is a similar virus, but certainly not the same as XMRV. About 2/3 of CFS patients were infected with the virus, compared to about 3% of the control population.

It is important, I think, to note that CFS has been linked with viruses in the past that were later found to be by-products of the disease (CFS causes immune dysfunction) rather than being the cause, so there needs to be more research done before we jump to any conclusions. However, one of the characteristics of CFS is a sudden onset with flu-like symptoms, and that indicates a viral cause. And the fatigue associated with CFS has been described as similar to late stage AIDS, which makes a retrovirus seem somewhat likely. I do hope this virus is the cause, because until the cause is known it will be difficult to find a cure.

This is an important topic for my family, as my mom and aunt both have the disease. My mom's case is mild, for which we are all grateful, but my Aunt's case is much more severe. My aunt is a leader of her local support group and was possibly one of the subjects of the study (she thinks she might have been).

The most interesting video to the layman is this one, but if you're interested in the details of the virus and transmission, watch all of the videos here. The second day hearings aren't up yet. They deal with the blood supply, whether CFS can be transmitted via blood transfusion, etc.

I also thought it was fascinating the link he made in this video between retroviruses and MS, Autism, and Fibromyalgia. Clearly there is much more work to be done in this field!

Music Appreciation Monday: Serenade for Strings

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:26:00 +0000

Composed by Edward Elgar, conducted by Ramon Tebar, performed by the Spanish Radio Television Orchestra. This is a beautiful piece, quiet and slightly mournful. It's excellent baby-sleeping music, too. :-)

First movement, Allegro piacevole*:

Second movement, Larghetto:

Third movement, Allegretto

*piacevole means "agreeable"

Japanese Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:22:00 +0000

I love curry rice, but I don't like how much MSG is in the pre-packaged curry roux blocks. Unfortunately, I had not been able to duplicate the flavor in homemade versions. The flavor always fell short - mostly because all the recipes call for bullion,which I never add. But this recipe? Excellent! It's the Worcestershire sauce* and ketchup that does it, I think. Seriously good eats.

I added sweet potatoes and mushrooms and left out the peas (because I didn't have any). I also didn't use the apple puree. Served over japgok, it was an excellent meal, and really very healthy.

I do need to find a cheaper source for curry powder. I'm getting tired of paying $4 for a tiny jar at the grocery store that only lasts through 3 meals of curry or so. Any good ideas?

*To the best of my knowledge, my Worcestershire sauce does not have any MSG. It does, however, have ingredients (like anchovies) that have naturally-occurring glutamate. You might remember from my discussion of fermented soybean paste that glutamate is the key to getting tasty and savory food

Music Appreciation Monday: Ong Dal Saem

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:07:00 +0000

I freely admit this wasn't my own idea. My sister, as far as I know, was the inventor of the term and I haven't asked to use it. But I don't think she'll mind, especially since her last MAM was in January. I'm planning on posting classical music, folksongs, and hymns that we're listening to at our own house. (If I can keep up with my bloggy habits while I have a baby crawling all over the house, I might even consider turning this into a Mr Linky deal, too, complete with a banner.)

But enough of that. Ong Dal Saem (옹달샘) is a Korean song about a mountain spring and a rabbit who comes to drink from it early in the morning. The tune is the same as the German song Drunten Im Unterland, but the meaning is completely different. Here is a rough translation of the Korean lyrics (Junkmale or Iris can correct me if I've made any gross mistranslations):

Deep in the mountains is a spring.
Who will come to take a drink?
Clear and pure is spring,
Who will come to take a drink?
In the dawn a rabbit
Rubs his eyes and wakes up
He came to wash his face
He drinks water, then he goes.

This is my favorite version, with all the parts sung by the same person. It is based on a single from a popular Korean boy band, TVXQ. They titled the song "Mountain Spring":

And here we have two adorable boys singing the song, complete with hand motions:

And lastly, the tune used as a background for a yogurt commercial:

For Christians - Halloween or Not?

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:42:00 +0000

(otherwise known as "let's have some controversy on the old blog.")

As the title states, the question is for the Christian readers of this blog. I am particularly interested in the opinions of the church of Christ readers, especially since it seems like we are the only family in our church who does not celebrate Halloween. But I will gladly accept opinion of those in other denominations ;)

Do you or don't you? Why? Have you ever considered doing the opposite? At any point, did you do differently than what you do now? What convinced you to do differently?

It is a conscience issue for me, per Romans 14. It bothers my conscience to take part in such activities, so I do not do it. I will leave it at that, unless you want to take it to the comments. As I mentioned before, it seems like it's us and a smattering of Baptists who do not take part. This means we miss out on a big Halloween party every year. In a few years we will no doubt have to explain to Pearl why everyone else gets to do it, but she (we) does not. Believe me, sometimes I wish my conscience were fine with it; life would be a bit easier.

I also feel similarly about Christians' propensity for the traditional Easter things like egg hunts and Easter bunnies and whatnot.

Let's hear your opinions.

Sick Mama

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:22:00 +0000

I have to marvel at how well God protects little babies from illness. Here I am, sick as a dog (no offense intended to Luna ;-), having certainly spent the last week sharing every germ I have with Pearl, and she only has a little cough!

On a side note, it isn't helping me recover faster when a certain baby wants to eat every two hours overnight. I wonder if this was because my supply has dropped due to being sick, or if it was due to all my loud coughing and blowing of my nose? Or perhaps it's just how mildly sick babies eat? Whatever the reason, she actually did eat all 7 of those times last night.

Also, I'd just like to say that ginger tea is amazing. That is all.

Luna's Raw Diet Starts Anew

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:57:00 +0000

That Luna, she's got a lot of heart.

...dehydrating in the garage at 125 degrees F, since 6 PM yesterday.

A few weeks before Pearl was born, we switched Luna over to high quality canned food, then eventually to high quality dry food. We did this because we wanted to eliminate possibilities for Pearl to catch food-borne illness from Luna's licks, which were and sometimes still are quite plenty. After we stopped the raw diet, we did deep cleanings of the house.

Mostly we were concerned with Luna's fondness for licking faces, but now that she has been with Pearl for 4 months, she knows that licking Pearl's face means getting swatted. Sometimes I'll put her right to her face to see what she'll do, and Luna will sniff and turn her face away. "I must flee temptation!"

I also started to cut the contents of a bag labeled "Organs" but when I offered some to Luna, she sniffed and turned away. I'm not quite sure what organ it is, nor am I sure what animal it came from, but it did have a bit of an "off" odor to it. I just figured it was the normal smell of an animal product which we never buy for ourselves, but I guess Luna decided that she didn't want it.

I've decided that from now on, I will dehydrate all organ meats for Luna. It's a bit of work every time I have to dehydrate, but I think it's much more convenient after that. Undehydrated organs can only stay unthawed for so long before they start getting gross. Dehydrated organ pieces stay in the freezer - I can take a piece out and give it to Luna and don't have to go through the hand washing process that I do with undehydrated (I still do rinse though). Also, if the power were to go out for an extended period of time, dehydrated organs will be much less likely to go bad. Related to this is that dehydrated organs are MUCH more convenient for travel.

(I don't believe there's as much nutrient loss from dehydration. This is also why I dehydrated at such a low temperature, for meats.)

Of course, I do realize that heart is closer to a muscle meat than an organ, so I will have to dig through our chest freezer and attempt to find some liver, the best multivitamin a dog can get. We will be in the vicinity of one of the big Asian grocery stores this weekend, so we'll be able to stock up there, if I can't find liver already in our possession.

Luna's in for some treats the next couple of months. We have the usual chicken leg quarters, but we also have duck feet, goat pieces, whole sardines, and one gutted/skinned rabbit.

Can Christians Ever Disobey Ridiculous Laws?

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:22:00 +0000

(ah finally, it's been too long since a Christianity + politics and junk and stuff blog post...)

The subject of this post has come into my mind a few times recently, brought on because Harmony is pumping breast milk for a friend of our's who is staunchly committed to breastfeeding, is due with her fourth child, but has been troubled by low milk supply (I'm sure she's tried all the remedies) with all previous children (I think).

Christians are supposed to subject themselves to the laws of the land. So says Romans 13:

1Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
2Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

3For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;

4for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

5Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.

6For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.

7Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

Obviously we are supposed to obey God rather than man, so unless man's law contradict's God's, we are to follow it. If the government were to pass some sort of ridiculous law saying that any/all breast milk must be tested in an expensive procedure before being allowed the possibility of being shared, what to do in that situation? (Think that's too ridiculous to be plausible? Go to the Common Room blog and search for the term "CPSIA," for extensive blog entries about the subject) I have a bad feeling that a law such as that one would not directly violate any of God's laws...

BUT...

Perhaps there would be loopholes in the law that Christians could find and heavily exploit, as long as exploiting the loophole did not involve any sort of deceit or illegal activity (notice the phrasing where I do not include deceit as an illegal activity, for if it were so, all politicians would be in jail, where probably most of them belong anyways). Then again, would that sort of interpretation/exploitation of loopholes be Pharasaical? Would we cease to be following the spirit/intention of the law? (then AGAIN, we are not dealing with exploitation of perceived loopholes in God's law, but man's.)

Of course, some would say "but think of the CHILDREN...what if someone were to try to hurt your children by passing them bad milk...??? So we must outlaw unregulated breast milk in all forms." My question does not pertain to getting milk from a milk bank or whatever; it concerns getting milk from someone you know, from a friend who would never think to give spoiled milk to anyone, much less a friend with a new baby.

I know that this blog has several readers (maybe even the vast majority) who are firmly supportive of breastfeeding, who also happen to have similar Christian worldviews as we do. You know who you are, and I would like to hear from you. I'll also take comments from people who do not share similar views as we do (and you know who you are) ;) What do you think?

Just Checking

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:16:00 +0000

Are we quite sure Obama didn't win the Ig Nobel Prize?

If Only...

noreply@blogger.com (JunkMale) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:47:00 +0000

Don't look too closely, you'll see a messy house, bad photography, and bad editing. But if there were really three of me, the house wouldn't be as messy, and I would have more time for photography and editing.

4-month Book List

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:44:00 +0000

For posterity's sake....

I posted about 2 months ago about the books Pearl was enjoying. Here's a list of the books she enjoys now that she's nearly 4 months old:

*Peek-a Who?
*But Not the Hippopotamus
*Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
*Goodnight Moon
*Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
*Rosie's Walk
*A Child's Garden of Verses (the shorter poems*)
*some Eric Carle books (these are hit and miss - she loves the illustrations but the books are long)
*Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
*some Mother Goose nursery rhymes

Occasionally I'll get her to sit through something much more advanced. She seemed to like The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses and she sat all the way through Lentil. And she will usually sit through Corduroy. And of course, I'm still reading aloud to her from whatever book I happen to be reading - but that's usually in a soft, soothing voice right when she's almost asleep.

In general, she likes most stories that have 1) funny sounds; 2) a rhythm; 3) brilliant illustrations. That's not surprising, but I am surprised at how long her attention span is when she enjoys the book. It's obvious which books she likes because she'll stare at them and sit still for ages. When she doesn't like what we're reading, she fusses and cries after a page or two.

What did your babies like to read at this age?

*By "shorter" I mean ones with short lines, not poems with few words. As long as the rhythm and rhyme pattern repeats quickly enough, she is enthralled. Example: A Good Boy bores her (although it's short enough we can get through it), but Picture-books in Winter is fine.

Tips for getting housework done

noreply@blogger.com (Harmony) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:48:00 +0000

I need help. Pearl never was very good at sleeping by herself, but now she refuses to even sleep in the swing. Naps must be done while in someone's arms, and woe betide anyone who dares move her while she is sleeping. The nap will then end within 5 minutes, regardless of how long you wait before setting her as-gently-as-possible down. She has also decided that there are only two options for what to do when she is awake: nurse her or give her 100% of my attention by talking to her, playing games with her, or singing to her. Anything where I'm not looking her directly in the eyes is cause for crying. And my Moby wrap is hit or miss - although usually miss these days. The laundry and cooking are accomplished with a screaming baby in the background, only because I know these have to be done.

I didn't mind so much for the first 3 months bacause I figured the first 3 months are crazy anyway. And for a while it seemed that things were going to get better - she did take one nap in her bassinet. But she has regressed, and I'm not willing to let this state of affairs become the new normal. So does anyone have any strokes of brilliance for how I'm going to get the house back in order?

(I have had two wonderful people offer to come hold Pearl while I clean house, and that's definitely an option... but it's not a long-term solution, is it?)