Man, my love affair with the Internet continues...

Yesterday morning, I was listening to NPR as I was getting ready for work and I heard the announcers interviewing someone from either the IRS or a representative of the company that makes TurboTax telling us NPR listeners that Turbotax allows filers to prepare their taxes for free and then only charged when a return is filed electronically.

Well, being the person who embraces technology with open arms, I went online last night and checked out the site. I'm going along and there are SO MANY COOL features. For instance, I was able to tell Turbotax my Fidelity Investments account numbers and it electronically retreived the information and took it into my tax calculations. An hour and a half later, I was sitting there all done and with a larger refund than I expected, I think due to the fact that I actually deducted all the charitable giving this year as well as educational credits for being a teacher as well as taking classes. In addition, my California returns were prepared as well. So, for $35 I filed my taxes.

Today, I got email confirmation that both my federal and state tax forms were accepted and I should be getting my refunds deposited directly into my checking account within a couple weeks! Man, I love the Internet.

Lame Ernie Move: So, as the Turbotax program is checking for errors, one of the things that I need to fix is a State ID code for a dividend I received. I punch in all the numbers I can find on my statements, none of them work. I call Fidelity and the representative tries to have me punch in another number. No go. I then try CA for the State ID code. It worked. Why didn't I just think of that in the first place?

The Cultural and Age Gap

Italics indicates conversation in Chinese

I was pulling up to my friend Carrie's house for bookclub and my phone rings. It shows up as a restricted number, which I usually ignore but I've recently learned that my grandfather has some number restrictor on his phone so I've had to take these calls of late. I answer an sure enough, it's him.

Ernie, what is I-P-O-D? I was reading the newspaper..............

At this point, I am trying to figure out how to explain it to him, let alone it being in Chinese, but also laughing to myself about how far out of the main loop people, such as my grandfather, can be.

For the hip and not-so-hip

Seriously People...this is why Google ROCKS

Google Maps

One part rant, one part observation

One of my greatest pet peeves with students is their EXCESSIVE use of streamers. Why is it that every single celebratory event must include streamers? I could go on with examples, but I ask the reader to simply think about activities that have had the combination of both young persons and streamers. Thank god they have yet to invent the sparkly streamers.

Today is Chinese New Years. One of my colleagues noted that there was an increase in the number of students having to duck understreamers celebrating Chinese New Years.

Lemonade

We came home from the dim sum bash to Izzy and Mimi selling Lemonade in front of their house. Ahh to be six again!

The S. Girls with Chen

Birthdays Under the Sign of Aquarius

Jennifer K. -- January 25th
Paul B. -- January 29th
Carlos P. -- January 29th
Ernie C. -- January 29th

The four of us have made it a tradition to celebrate our birthdays together as one big bash. In the past there have been some legendary moments. But as we move on with our lives, Saturday night parties that last into the wee hours simply are not feasible for those people with children. Therefore, we had the 2005 version of the bash at the Imperial Seafood Garden. In two words, DIM SUM. This place, which is off the beaten track in San Francisco is on San Bruno Avenue in the Portola District of San Francisco. I classify dim sum as JV, Varsity and Pro levels of eating. There have been times where what is brought out I haven't recognized and subsequently brought my parents in to eat and thereby identify things. Here are some pictures from the brunch.

Carlos P. and CHB3

Colin B. and Carlos P.

Teresa M. and Hans W. (yes, his brother is named Franz)

Justin D. and Lynn K.

Jennifer K. and Michael M.

Michael M. and Mary H.

Renee T.

Pedraza and Brewer modelling the new shoes they purchased the night before.

Present but not pictured: Kristin and David D., Paul and Amzie B.

Ahh 35! On the downhill slide to 40.

Bookends

The past two Saturday's (1/29/05) and (2/5/05), I have spent the day at school interviewing current 8th grade students, from all over the East Bay, who are applying to become 9th graders at Head-Royce. Starting at 9AM, you have exactly one-half hour to conduct the interview and then write a short evalution/description of the meeting and make a quick judgement, based solely on the interview, to accept, deny or put the student on the waiting list.

Between these two Saturdays, I met up with three 2001 graduates of HRS. Jamie G. and Nick J. were both advisees and Simon R. was a (pain in the ass) student. I found it to be such an interesting way to look at the admissions process to see what the product of our foundational education looks like.

Jamie G. is now taking his senior year off from Dartmouth where he is studying Electrical Engineering and Political Science. This past fall, he travelled to Kuwait to aide in launching of a private liberal arts college in the country. In a couple of weeks, Jamie will be travelling to Iran to spend the spring and summer doing (I forget exactly).

Nick J. took his freshman year off to travel to Central America. He now is an Economics and Environmental Science major at Kenyon College in Ohio. One bit of interesting information. Nick stood in line for 10.5 hours to cast his vote in the 2004 election. This spring, Nick will be doing a study abroad in Chile, in which there is a large Economics component.

Simon R. is one of the most far-sighted minds I know. He is able to discern what is truly important versus those things that are extraneous. When I had him in my Algebra II class, he NEVER paid attention and turned in the shoddiest of work. What I attributed to laziness, is Simon's realization that he could do minimal work, enjoy life, and still get to the places he wanted to. He is following a passion in the gaming world and has told me about a dream product he would like to make. I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you.

High school plays a very crucial part of our development. It's been interesting to see the before and after.

Another Poem

A poem for Mr. Chen (#2)

Mr. Chen, you are my favorite teacher,
I'm gonna buy you a new t-shirt
Or maybe a seat in the bleacher,,
You have inspired me to be a preacher.

Matt P. '05

Look what I found!

A poem for Mr. Chen

There once was a man
Who, of The O.C. he was a fan.
He taught us all Math
and showed us the path
to learning all that we can!

Lauren R. '05

One-Eighth of College --- DONE!

What is now becoming tradition, Sarah K. and Emma B. have made a dinner date with me on the San Francisco side of the Bay on one of the days just before they are to leave for college. Well, the first rendezvous for dinner (Blue) was during the middle of their senior year. This past August (Fuzio) and this past Friday (Firewood Cafe), Knox and Bundy took me out to dinner.

Emma B. to my right, Sarah K. to my left and Sarah H.

The threesome again

The two claim that the real reason they come visit is to see me. In reality, seeing me is a vehicle to mining the information I have. Apparently, I often have random pieces of information that I see as a random useless fact. It has become apparent that many times these data are missing from some story or picture Emma and Sarah are involved in. For instance, there was once an incident with a classmate of theirs named Tom. Tom was supposed to go out with one of Emma and Sarah's friends on a Friday night but he called and said he was sick. Controversy arose as to whether he truly was sick or was lying to get out of going with the friend. I had a piece of information that absolved Tom of guilt in that I saw him and his parents the following day out at Trader Joe's buying Tom his favorite foods to help him feel better.

As usual, it was great to see Sarah and Emma. I'll see them again, if schedule holds to form sometime in mid-August.

Every Six Months

What are the things that we have to do every six months? Well, the one I always think of is the event that happens twice every year, the events I live in mortal fear of. What are these events? It's the bi-annual visit to the dentist. What is the source of this irrational fear, this sense of dread that drives me to nearly cancel the appointment in the days before? What I despise is the new high powered water pik/drill that is used to clean your teeth. My hatred of this device stems from the fact that it has a high pitched squeal and that when the sharp jet of water hits a sensitive area of my gums, it causes immense sharp pain. I can conjur up this pain at anytime, even right now, it is that pressed into my memory.

My dental hygenist, Shelly, respected my wishes (which I have since found out is not as common as I believed it to be) and cleaned my teeth with the old-fashioned metal pick. However, during my cleaning, she said that there was no way she could get at/out the plaque buildup on the rear side of the front-center-lower teeth without using the new water pik. (Hello, does this mean that in the days before this new fangled water pik, the dentists and their hygenists simply let the plaque remain in place?) Shelly was very very very very cautious and judicious in her use of the pik. But there were times when the sharp jet would hit a nerve and I would start to cringe and eventually shut my mouth. Shelly was probably laughing at the sight of this 34 year old man acting like such a baby, but she didn't laugh, encouraged me to finish and eventually we did.

At the end of the appointment, my actual dentist, Dr. Saddler, came in to speak with me. He said that he advised to schedule a deep cleaning of my teeth and gums. I would have it done over two days, one day the left side and the other the right side. I would be facing the water pik of pain for the entire two days. Luckily, I found out that I will have the side of my to be worked on numbed so I won't feel it. I plan on bringing headphones to block out the squeal. I am already dreading these two days, February 2nd and 10th. AAAGGGHHH!!!

Three Events of the Past Week

The first I can't remember what it was at this very moment. I remember distinctly saying as the week went on that this event, whatever it was was something that I wanted to blog about. I've looked back in my calender and tried to figure it out, but nothing is jogging my memory. Thererfore, since I'm a calender/list freak and the fact that nothing is written down, this event must have been something that occurred in some spontaneous moment. What IS it? It's driving me crazy.

This past Saturday, I went and saw a financial planner. My long-time friend Kathy L. from my summer on the "Love Boat", pointed me in the direction of her former co-worker and friend Ray T., who is currently a high-level person within the Wealth-Tax Division of HSBC, which I subsequently found out stands for Hong-Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation. In our introductory emails, Ray figured out pretty quickly that I would probably need just a one time consultation to check on what I am doing is meeting my goals, both short-term and long-term. In our one and a half hour conversation on Saturday, he confirmed that how I have distributed my assets is correct. The two things that I should highly consider are A) Setting Up a Living Trust and B) Converting the TIC situation I am in into a Condo. I am glad and thankful that Ray was generous with his time to met me. It certainly is nice to know that I'm on the right path.

This morning, MLK Birthday observation day, my neighbor and friend Brian S. took my up on my offer to help him with some of his contracting work. Today's job was a "demolition" of the basement of a house he has been contracted to remodel. Demoltion in this case meant removing the everything that was currently in the downstairs basement of this house in St. Mary's Park because a new foundation needs to be poured. I like doing construction type work because it is the antithesis of the work I do. Working with one's hands versus one's mind is so different. So, the first thing I observed was the delivery of the dumpster? Has anyone actually seen how a dumpster is brought to a site? It's not exactly the most graceful looking method that Golden Gate Sanitation uses, but it does get the thing there. The first job of every demolition, I guess, is trash removal. There wasn't an exceedly amount of trash, but it needed to hauled out to the dumpster. Then the "demolition" began. Demolition is an act of removal therefore the process and it's results are not meant to be viewed as having inherent beauty. Get the stuff down and out as quickly as you can. I found that I viewed demoltion more as "disassemble" in that I would want to remove each board intact as one piece and then throwing it away. Follow this SAT analogy...DEMOLITION:DISASSEMBLE is the same as TEARING OFF THE CHRISMAS PRESENT WRAPPING PAPER:REMOVING THE CHRISTMAS WRAPPING PAPER CAREFULLY SO IT IS IN ONE PIECE. By the end of the three hours I was very nearly at demolition mode but I'm not sure I am fully cut out for ripping this apart.

I still can't remember what the third event of the past week was. I thought that by writing about the other two I would remember that third one. Didn't happen. Perhaps the third event didn't really happen.

Far Above Cayuga's Waters

This evening, my college friend, grad-school friend, colleague friend and just plain friend, Shahana S. and I went to a Cornell University Glee Club concert. The Glee Club is doing a tour of California and tonight was their kickoff concert in Berkeley. But I think all of us were there to hear the Cornell songs. The Football Song was great and The Evening Song brought back to me a flood of memories. But as everyone in the audience stood to sing the Alma Mater, I couldn't help but realize that I was welling up.

I can now understand why old men cry at the thought of their college years. It's because THEY ARE GONE. I will never live those years of my life ever again, and that truly is sad. I think back about all the stupid things I worried about, like tests and looking good in front of my professors. Those weren't the important things, well in some ways they were, but it was the amazing experiences I had, the people I met and those friends who I still maintain friendships with today. I look at the email address book I have and there are names of Cornellians sprinkled all through there.

I sat there during the concert with all these nuggets of wisdom and clarity fly through my mind. But most importantly, how valuable the experience was. Cornell, although with its faults, was the place where I grew up. I became an independent person and some of the decisions I made there are consistent with who I am now. For example, majoring in Geology, was NOT in the cards as played by Mom and Dad, but I went down that path and loved it. Following what was true for me was an experiment I first dabbled in at Cornell and has now become an integral part of me.

I won't bore you all with the other things, but I now understand why so many parents find it so important that their sons or daughters go to their alma maters. I used to think it was all about the prestige of a child going to that school. But instead it is that the parent wants their child to live that same wonderful experience. If and when I have kids, I would want them to experience Cornell and have for it the fondness for that institution far above Cayuga's waters.

Look at how good my bed looks!!!

Look at the great work that Mom did. And I even got the cover on the duvet with little incident. Thanks Mom, I love you

It's Olde Reunion Week

This past weekend I reunited with two friends from different parts of my life. It is sad that sometimes wonderful people drift out of our lives under circumstances we can control and those we can't. Whatever the reason, they are gone forever. Luckily, fate brought me back with two friends that I hadn't seen in a a couple years (Jeffrey B.) and fourteen years (Mason K.).

Jeffrey and I had a nice lunch at Max's right of Union Square. He's had a couple rough years as have I, so it was nice for us to be able to see each other when we both had pulled it all together.

Mason K. sent me an email early in my days of recovery in the Great Trauma of 2002. As I was cleaning out my inbox over the holidays, there was Mason's email. I did a search on his name and LO AND BEHOLD, Mason and his wife Amanda live in Bernal Heights. Both are Columbia graduates with Mason being an architect with a small firm in town and Amanda taking six months off before starting her postdoc in Neuroscience at UCSF. I wish I could say that the Kirby's and I live spitting distance, but alas, I live in the SW quadrant and they in the NE quadrant. If we were to walk in a straight line between the two, our beloved Bernal Hill is smack dab in the way. Amanda recently gave birth to the Kirby's daughter, Julia Rae K..

Mason, Amanda and Julia K. (January 2nd, 2004)

Glad to have them all back in my life.

The Honorable George V.

When I was making one of my first check-up visits with Dr. B at Harborview back in December 2002, I stopped by the rehab ward to see the nurses. As I was wheeling myself around I met this man in a wheelchair also wearing a TLSO. I had mine off at that point, but we TLSO wearers have an immediate bond. This man, George V. (a retired DC-10 pilot for Northwest Airlines), had a fall and had a compression of the T12. He had the T11, T12 and L1 vertebrae fused, in the same manner as my L1-L2-L3. George, however, had none of the issues with feet as I did.

When I left the hospital, I think I was rated ASIA C. George left the hospital at ASIA D (where A is best and E is worst). So he was a bit behind me in that regard. Also, George suffered (and still suffers) from spasticity, something I never experienced. We both were wheelchair bound upon leaving Harborview.

I try and visit George when I am in Seattle and he has made significant improvements. Look at this!

George standing on his own two legs! Go George!

Look at these two guys both with fused vertebrae! Medical miracles!

It turns out George is battling many of the same hurdles that I did and it was helpful for him to hear that I managed to conquer them. Perhaps he will too. I am also going to try to hook him up with my beloved physical therapist, Nancy H., and perhaps she can give him some tips and suggestions to help him along in his recovery. I’m predicting George will be walking with a cane within a year and a half. Perhaps, he should hire my father, my hard driving, “take no excuses” exercise coach during my recovery, to push him to do more in this work to gain strength and range of motion in his legs.

Ok, I had to sneak in this cute picture of me and my grandfather taken at our family dinner The Old Spaghetti Factory




Ernie and his grandfather mugging for the camera. My grandfather has always been the most photogenic one in the family. Who would have guessed?

Football and Golf

Went to the Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals game. Seahawks won 24-21 and secured a spot in the playoffs with at best a 9-7 record and perhaps getting in for sure with an 8-8. Comments anyone on the NFC? Mom and I had a nice afternoon together although, I admit I was a bit mute.

I admit I am totally a fairweather Seattle Seahawks fan. Current bandwagon status, "HANGING ON".

Dad and I played golf at Bellevue Municipal, which was a decent course. The first six holes lulled me into thinking it was going to be a short, really easy course, with all four of the par 4's under 300 yards. Then BOOM, the long holes came and didn't end until around the 16th hole. I shot 92. The most important part of the day was that it was the first time I walked an entire 18 holes. Boy was I still the next day.

Looking good Dad!

Dork

Father and son golf. Note the beautiful weather! December in Seattle, can't beat it.

Book recommendations

These are books that I have read during this holiday. This is in between all the family obligations and letters of recommendation I've written.

First off, Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen who here writes a comedy/mystery revolving around the natural wonders of his beloved state of Florida. And yes, a puppy plays a significant role in this book even though it's about revenge and sending a message to those who need it.

Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen

Second is a humorous, touching and educational look into the process and pains of alcoholism, rehab and the work after rehab. The fact that Burroughs is gay is a minor issue, but does add some spice. He writes well about what are possilbly painful and sad situations.

Dry by Augusten Burroughs

Last comes a fun novel about a magician in the 1920's who somehow offs President Warren G. Harding during a magic trick. The book also is set in 1920's San Francisco which is a bonus for us who live there.

Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold

For those of you lived in Seattle during your Middle School years…

Dad and I ate at a place where this establishment stood (and still stands) across the parking lot.

Snowball anyone?

My, my, my………the dramas that unfolded in this building oh those many years ago!

Christmas and its Booty!!

Christmas morning came and here’s a picture of me opening the many presents that were under the tree FOR ME!!!

Here I am eagerly opening a package just like when I was five years old! That's Mom to my left.

So what did I get? I got some nice clothing from Eddie Bauer. During my Thanksgiving visit, I picked up a catalog and picked out some things that I liked and here they were under the tree.

Two waffle crew shirts and a houndstooth sweater vest.

There actually was another nice sweater top but when I put it on, the cut of the shoulders was strange and it literally looked that I had shoulders that pointed up. Very strange looking, so it was promptly returned the next day.

In addition, I got a bunch of small items, a Barnes & Noble Gift certificate, a razor and replacement blades, boxers, a surprise gift from my friend Heidi and the annual stocking stuffer…replacement heads for my sonicare toothbrush.

Booty, booty, booty……..

Lastly, I asked for new bed linens this year so Mom went out and got them for me. She knows that I don’t ever use the top sheets, so clever Mom that she is, she sewed the two top sheets together to make a comforter cover. Look!!!

My new comforter cover that I match my two new sets of sheets. Isn’t Mom resourceful and creative? Yeah she is…..

It was a good Christmas in the material sense. But more important is that the family was present. As is tradition (and torture) every year, a family photo must be shot. Dad, the photo fanatic, still had not mastered the self-timer on his new digital camera. But this is the family shot of 2004.

Chen Family 2004

Here are some photos from the morning present opening gala.

Dad showing off a new "Bill Cosby Sweater."{

Marlene and her new IPOD.

Mom showing trying on her new watch (care of Dad).

My grandmother showing off her new pajamas.

Nothing more need be said!