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I remember when I was growing up and we got our first microwave, first color TV, first push-button phone, first answering machine, the list goes on.

My son is turning 10 next month and I was just wondering what it is like to not be able to fathom a world without any of these things.

We just got him setup with his first email address yesterday. And he was so excited. I have received about 15 emails from him already. One that caught my eye was a one-liner about how technology is cool. I think he gets it but I still wonder. And I know he is going to read this and email me something about it too.

I am amazed how much of my life is dependent on the Internet now. I wonder what I would do without it. I barely remember how to write a paper check. I don’t what I would do if I needed the know the annual rainfall of Sri Lanka, I suppose I would try the library but I can’t remember the Dewey Decimal system and I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I could spend a whole afternoon just to find out that it’s 2540 mm to over 5080 depending on what part of the island you are on. And shopping… I don’t suppose I would have any clue how to find a good price on anything. I wouldn’t know what most of my relatives are doing and I would still have to attend high school reunions to know what old high school friends are up to. I would have had to buy a ton of books to understand marketing but then, 90% of what I know would be irrelevant.

I remember my second quarter in college, there was this rich Japanese kid in my Chem 106 class that had a cell phone. One time it rang during class. The whole class stopped. “Hello. Yeah I’m in a class right now. blah blah blah… Ok, I’ll call you later” Even the professor politely waited for him to answer the call, chat for a minute and hang up. We all didn’t want to be rude so we all just patiently waited. And then we went on, honored that we had been able to witness such an amazing thing. I had seen it happen in movies but I didn’t know what to do when it happened in real life.

So my wife is back in school. She has a math class that just started this week. And it’s a lot of work. I remember when I went back to school, I wanted math out of the way so I took it first and it kicked my butt. I’m glad I took it as early as I could and got them out of the way. I wouldn’t have had the strength to stick with it if I had waited til the end.

Jonathan has been learning about order of operations and being thankful that he’s not doing algebra. But he still thinks exponents are fascinating. I have always enjoyed explaining a new math concept to him and just seeing how he soaks it up like a sponge. And then you can watch as he wraps his head around it and figures out applications for it. I wish I had been more like that when I was his age.

Jonathan likes math. And he’s pretty good at it. He has been doing multiplication since 1st grade. Last year his teacher was so impressed with him and supported him in wanting to learn faster. In second grade his teacher let him take some time and introduce multiplication to the class. She didn’t let it go too far though because there were only 3 kids in the class that could even grasp the concept.

This year his teacher is one of those public school indoctrinator types. He’s been starving for learning. He told me a few months ago that he feels like he’s being forced to do little kids work. So I mentioned that to her when I was there for parent-teacher conferences. Her response caught me a little off guard.

“I’m a professional teacher, that’s what they pay me for. So please don’t teach him at home. It’s my job to teach him here at school.” I didn’t know what to say I was so shocked.

So he has continued being bored in class, “learning” what the slowest kid in class is ready for.

Way to maintain the status quo. I wonder if this has anything to do with the current situation that our country finds itself in. Actually, I don’t wonder. I know it does.

My wife loves “My Best Friends Wedding”, I don’t know how many times we have watched it. When I first watched it, I had never tried Crème Brulee. But I had tried Jell-o. And honestly I don’t really like Jell-o. And sorry Kimmy, you could never be Jell-o. Crème Brulee could NEVER be Jell-o.

It made me want to try crème brulee. And then I noticed a boxed crème brulee at the local Harman’s. I couldn’t pass that up. And Julia was right, Jell-o could never be crème brulee. So now when we eat out at a new place, we score them on two main things; their calamari, and their crème brulee.

When we got into the cooking phase of our marriage, we started looking for the right crème brulee recipe. Failure after failure we couldn’t get it right. Either it would come out like flan or quesillo or it would come out like a bad pudding gone more bad.

Then the other day I stumbled onto the most simple recipe for crème brulee that I had seen. It seemed too simple. But so simple that I couldn’t write it off without trying it first. And it had good ratings and comments so I had to try it right?

So I tried it. And HOLY CRAP! It worked. This was the best crème brulee that I had tried. Ever. Even better than the 4 star hotel in Amsterdam.

So you want me to share it with you? Hmmm, I think this recipe might be too good to share. Sure, you could stumble upon it like I did, but if you don’t read the right comments on that website, and try the same mistakes I made when preparing it, it won’t turn out the same.

Maybe if you ask nicely, I’ll make some and invite you over to try it. Maybe after a nice Italian sausage lasagna dinner.

Hmmm, I think this means I have to learn how to do the perfect calamari now…

So ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to have a big sailboat. I designed some catamarans, and trimarans back when I was in my “design big machines and weapons phase” of jr. high school. And they always seemed like one of those types of dreams that’s just unreachable. So I never really thought about it as a possibility, just a dream.

Then about 2 months ago Dave shipped off to Monterey to learn to speak towel head. Monterey is full of real estate. All of it with insane prices. So he looked at the possibility of living on a boat. He even found a 54 footer for sale in LA for $12,000.

Wait, that’s big enough for a family to live on. $12,000? That can’t be right. Granted, it wasn’t a sailboat, but still. So then he found out that the mooring fee for anywhere in the bay area is like $1000/month or more. So he didn’t do it.

But it got me thinking, if I had a reliable internet connection, I wouldn’t have to live in a big bay in CA, I could go find a little hurricane safe harbor in say, the DR. What would be the cost of living there? $500/month? I could deal with that. I work remotely or COULD have worked remotely for 4 of the last 5 places where I have worked. And my kids could get to know both sets of grandparents. I could go spear fishing any time I wanted. Rome, the Riviera, exotic islands, New England, they are all suddenly reachable in a lazy, fashionable, but not quite on vacation kind of way.

Hmmm, so now I’ve really been looking into this. It’s not as unreachable as I always thought it was. In fact, sailboats are largely more affordable than motor-only boats. So now I just need to learn to sail. I figure a summer or two spending every Saturday on Utah Lake and then a year or two on a coast or an island with something that’s a little less ocean going would prepare me for it. That and I probably need a friend like Captain Ron.

I’m not really one for following the current blogging trends but my wife has inspired me. And I found this tag on the Barkermeister’s site and thought it looked fun. So here goes.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags
Wrapping paper. Gift bags are for sissies

2. Real tree or artificial?
Is this really a question? Real. Duh. Just like everything else where real vs. fake is an issue.

3. When do you put up the tree?
We cut it down usually the day after Thanksgiving and it goes up right away.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Usually right around new years.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Hold the eggnog, Wassail please.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Criss Cross Crash Hotwheels track.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
My parents

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Me, Then my wife

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
We did, I don’t know where it has gotten off to. I’ll have to make a new one I think.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
e-mail Christmas cards are the scourge of the Earth.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A stinky cigarette scarred stuffed animal that had been rescued from a dumpster. No really. It was from my aunt who didn’t even play cards. Bless her heart.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
It’s a Wonderful Life. I have a ban on Santa Clause movies in my house. I don’t hate Santa, just all the movies I have ever seen of him.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
No regular time. But I always leave some things for the last minute.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No. Not that I can remember.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Pumpkin Cheesecake. Hands down.

16. Favorite Christmas tradition?
Getting our Christmas Tree

17. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home?
Home

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s?
Not if I don’t have to.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
One Christmas Eve, The rest in the morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Commercialization of something sacred.

23. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
My wifes turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, spiral cut honey ham, funeral potatoes, fresh rolls, deviled eggs, crackers and crab cheese balls, mixed nuts, stuffed mushrooms, Dominican cabbage salad, spit roasted pig (when I can get it), interesting salads I have never tried before, pumpkin Cheesecake, black forest cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake, pumpkin pie, my mom’s wassail, Martinelli’s

24. What do you want for Christmas this year?
a shotgun, dress shoes, bullets, a night stand (already got it), a cooking torch, a golf hat

25. How many days left until Christmas?
3

So Grant, Jon, Yanilza, and Joel. You are hereby tagged.

I like to cook. When we moved almost a year ago, we got a gas stove/oven. And I have loved it.

Cooking with gas is so much better than an electric range. If you don’t believe me, go watch the Food Network for a day and see how many cooks use an electric stove.

I don’t think I ever want to cook on electric again. But gas stoves aren’t perfect. They have this thing in them called gas. and when you get a bunch of gas together, it can be kinda dangerous. That’s what I’ve heard anyway.

So I woke up at 6:30 this morning and walked out into the hall and smelled gas. Lots of gas. So I immediately ran and checked the stove. Sure enough, one of the dials was turned to low and didn’t have a flame. It had been that way since we finished cooking late last night at about 10:00. Now the low setting is pretty low, but that’s over 8 hours of gas seeping into the house. So I ran and opened all the windows and aired things out. They are still airing out.

So we got the kids off to school and banned sparks, flames, electrical switches, etc. for the whole day while the house finishes airing out.

It’s kinda scary. I was nervous when I lit the pilot light when we moved in but this was way worse. Talk about nerve racking. So as of a couple hours ago, the house was still there. Hopefully, it’ll finish airing out nicely and by tonight we’ll have just a regular old house rather than a 24,000 cubic foot bomb.