Yes, I am back in Hong Kong…
So sorry for the lack of updates… have been nutty crazy the last few days. I actually made it back from Hong Kong the end of last weekend after a last minute red-eye came available. Since then, I have been pretty much "nose to the grindstone" at work and completing Tess‘ famous list… the list that seems to inflate each day.
Meanwhile, about a month ago it occured to me that pretty soon we would not have enough playground toys for the kids. As they learn to walk, they will each have their moments where the limited number of toys we have just wont cut it, and they are not always going to be happy riding the Kettler Trike as one big family! Therefore, I have been on the look-out for dirt cheap playground toys. Yesterday I found a perfect tractor and picked it up for next to nothing. I have wanted one of these for Sebastian for a long time, but brand new they are very expensive. After picking it up, much to my surprise I discovered it even comes with a trailor! That means, Seb can tow one of the trips (or friends) around the playground anytime he likes. What’s better… the Terrific Trio will grow into it, too. The hunt continues. I figure we need one more item. I have added it to Tess‘ list so, it automatically becomes her idea!
Oh yes, and did I say walking? I think Tess has been keeping it a surprise that Sela is walking but yesterday one of our amahs let is slip out. "Sir, Sela is walking now!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, but only a few steps at a time," I replied. "No, SHE IS WALKING and Carys is almost walking, too!"
The surprise is not ruined… I will be very excited to seem them all.
Grounded in Bangalore
Well, I am in India this week doing a whirlwind tour that came to an abrupt halt today. I was supposed to fly from Bangalore to Mumbai (otherwise known as Bombay). Mumbai, however, is under seige from a major monsoon that dumped a metre of rain on the city in 24 hours. Massive flooding resulted, that killed 136+ people, paralysed the city, caused mudslides, a multitude of chaos and closed the airport. Conflicting reports claim the airport has re-opened, or will re-open, sometime tomorrow.
To leave India I need to fly through Mumbai. All the other carriers out of India are full. (Very typical for a business environment on fire with growth and activity but exascerbated by others who can’t leave via Mumbai.) It’s possible I may end up here for the weekend.
Miraculously, the hotel I stayed in last night took me back, which is very unusual. To get a hotel room in Bangalore one needs to book at least three to four weeks in advance. Another symptom of the burgeoning India economy, especially in the tech sector.
Once again I am bunking down in Bangalore waiting to see what tomorrow brings.
The Kids Are Having a Ball
Tess, her family, Yellowknife friends & Lita are doing a terrific job looking after Sebastian and The Terrific Trio while on their summer holidays in Canada. As you can see by some of the pictures below, the kids are having a ball. Observations from the hundreds of pics I’ve been sent daily:
- All of The Terrific Trio are gaining weight
- Carys is losing the "preemie" look that Jasper and Sela lost long ago
- Carys and Sela are becoming quite bold, willingly climbing onto things they previosuly may not have dared to (such as climbing up and sliding down the slide on their own)
- Jasper just wants to eat… what else is new?
- I’ve also heard that The Terrific Trio will now eat fish sticks and on their own, too! Self-feeding… we like that!
- Rumour has it there has been no vomitting since they arrived in Yellowknife.
- Since arriving in Yellowknife Sebastian has regularly seen float planes on the lake, been in the cab of a real truck ("twuck" as he would say), driven a motor boat, dragged in an inflatable behind a motor boat… and get this… ridden a Jet Ski!
- Sebastian’s speech – as assessed from phone conversations with him – has dramatically improved. Also increased is the degree to which he speaks with an English accent!
Admin: Links & Rankings
Unavoidable but we have some administrative items to handle.
First, would appreciate that if readers have blogs that I link to, please link back. Not mandatory, just a request. I did an "incoming to outgoing link ratio analysis" the other day and was surprised to see how few incoming links are pointed at yours truly. So I am trying to change that. If you are not linked but would like to set-up reciprocal links please send me an e-mail or post a comment.
Second, if you are a member of Blogshares, please find my site and help to Industry Rate my site. You can do this by clicking on THIS LINK, login, and place your industry rating.
That’s all for now. Many thanks and now back to our regular program.
I Beg to Defer
The credit for this post goes to Paul’s sister-in-law who lives in London, England. (I have to emphasize England so the Canadians reading don’t get confused with London, Ontario.) She sent Paul <long time friend, now colleague, occasional loose cannon on deck> an article about the following proposal being put forward with the education body in the UK.
Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has dismissed suggestions that the concept of "failure" should be removed from school in favour of "deferred success". Think about it, this would actually raise the bar because eventually teachers professors would stop saying "F for Failure" in favour of "D for Deferred!" In no time students would be studying harder to avoid deferring.
On the business side, Paul’s sister-in-law claims that at her office they coined a similar phrase “deferred employment” which translates into “You’re fired.” This aroused our interest within our own HR department and opens up a whole new world assuming that failure = deferring.
There are many places in society where we use the word failure:
Would this approach help us to avoid conflict? "I defer to understand what you are talking about?" Response: "Okay then, we’ll talk about it later." Or even create procrastinators?
Create cliches: "Embrace deferring, we all must learn from our deferments."
Save lives: "He is suffering from heart deferment."
Alter nasty expressions: "Yup, his life is a mess, he is a deferrer."
Warranty Periods: The Company is only responsible for product deferments when the purchaser has submitted a warranty coupon without deferring.
Computers: "Warning: there has been a critical deferment in your operating system. If this deferment happens again, please re-boot."
Or create confusion? "Hello, this is Product Deferment, how may I help you?" Response: "Have I called Shipping or Quality?"
Create new self-help books: "Overcoming the Fear of Deferred Success" or "The Art of Deferment"
Insightful comments: "Deferment reminds us of our faulty definition of success."
And then at intersections:
Officer: Excuse me sir, you failed to stop at the stop sign back there.
Driver: Oh officer, I merely deferred to stop at the stop sign. I’ll do it later. Honestly I have a coupon right here: ‘good for one deferment provided deferrer embraces deferment.’
Officer: Yeah, okay, this is when I show you my "Deferred to get out of jail free" card.
Anything to add?
Finding other like-minded people living and working in Asia is always an interesting experience. I recently discovered Sylvain Bouchard’s blog, "My Blog – Mon Blog." Sylvain is a French-Canadian English teacher married to a Vietnamese, living in Japan and studying online at an Australian university. Despite the fact it appears to be raining on Sylvain’s blog all the time, his regular entries are actually very interesting. Anyone wishing to learn more about Japanese culture, especially lots of anecdotal stories, then Sylvain’s blog is a good source as he adds his daily insights about teaching, eating and living in Japan. (Warning: pictures of the Japanese food dishes will make you hungry.) Sylvain seems to have a pretty good grasp of Japanese culture (not that I am the authority to assess such a thing) and that helps him catch Japanese cultural innuendoes in his prose.
Sylvain’s blog is linked to a main web site (NOTE: different link) that also links to an earlier blog Sylvain wrote. (Confused? So am I, but it’s still fun to read.) Be sure to have a look at Sylvain’s photo albums that provide another glimpse into life in Japan. Some terrific pictures of Japan many often don’t see. And if you’ve ever wondered what a fire truck looks like in Japan, you’ll find the answer deep in Sylvain’s photo albums.
