kindle fire

with two e-readers in the house, we are now very with-it and flexible. we can even share e-books. the only drawback is what they all say about the kindle fire: it's unbelievably slow when it comes to surfing the wider world. 

we want cool looks effective gadgets and unquestionable speed. especially those of us who are looking for a cheap equivalent to the ipad2, skinflints that we are. please.

signs of times

harbingers of the season:

• down jackets
• the smell of cinnamon
• turkeys in the stores
• canned food donation drives
• the salvation army guy at the street corner

i shall always be grateful for the opportunity to live in the here and now and for the memories that it gives me.

comfort food

i purchase our annual frozen turkey two boxes of gravy and a can of cranberry sauce for our fifth american thanksgiving. HOM reminds me to get the herbs cinnamon and salt and maybe a new pail to brine the bird in. he's all excited.

our friends want to invite us over for a chilli crab dinner. oriental south east asian hearts beat in glad glorious anticipation. ain't no thanksgivin' turkey could give a chilli crab a run for its money, honey.

activities

J2's off on an overnight college visit, on one of those spread-the-news charm-your-socks-off goodwill tours that colleges court the public dollar with.

HOM and i are off to the outlet malls.

11.11.11

nice !!.!!.!!

yumm-o 2

kitchen toys to seduce the non-cooking technophobe:

• cuisinart food processor
• tiger thermal magic pot

as HOM quite evidently knows. ♥ ♥ ♥ 

daylight savings 2

getting an additional hour to the twenty four turns out to be a total non-event. largely because i go to sleep with a delicious feeling fully intending to wake up at the appointed hour, which will turn out to be an hour earlier, but having the ipod clock auto-update itself and wake me up at the new correct hour.

what this means is that all those people who wish for an additional hour or two to their days would be sorely disappointed if their wish was granted. just look at daylight savings. millions of people affected twice a year, and only the cable programmers scramble.

daylight savings

time was when we went around the house changing the clocks. remember the alarm clocks!

these days with the computer clock and the phone clocks and the alarms set up in the smartphones and ipods everything is pretty much on auto-pilot. anything that requires manual adjustment is clearly ornamental.

in any case, this marks the beginning of the end of the year!

in gratitude

and can it be that i should gain/ an interest in the Savior's blood/ died he for me who caused his pain/ for me, who him to death pursued?

no condemnation now i dread/ Jesus, and all in him, is mine/ alive in him, my living head/ and clothed in righteousness divine.

amazing love! how can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me?

- charles wesley

poorly made in china - paul midler (2009)

the author is an american representing american companies working with chinese factories in south china. how much can an outsider write that is to the mark, i wonder?

pretty much, it turns out. even after allowing for cultural obtuseness (!) he makes unpleasant points that are painfully consistent with our observation of and experience with china, chinese, and china made goods.

there are two china's today. the exotic inscrutable middle kingdom built upon centuries of proud refinement sits in our fond imaginations and wars with the brash brazen reality in aggressive survival mode.

all i say is, disagreeable but not unexpected. also, as i've said for years, better not buy made-in-china, if you have a choice, which is not often. and finally, i say, it's sad, and i don't see how it will improve in the short to medium term, and i'm chinese.