one from the vault

As part of my initiative to blog more often (call it a "spring offensive"?), and reward my loyal readers, here is a shot of a warmer time and place than where i live now.



this was taken by Larry Pearmine last spring break, in Boracay, the Philippines. as for this spring break (T-minus 26 hours) we will be kickin' it in Shanghai. posh hotel brunch (with acrobats!), 6-month dental cleanings, massages, grocery shopping, finish season 5 of The Wire, reading the Twilight books (I am on #4, Sarah is on #2).

pics to come, you know it

Happy Day

It is hard to believe but this guy is 4, as he indicated this morning, with his hands. His bodyguard will mess you up, so don't even think about steppin' to him.


Here he was, back in the day. Before he got so cool.

And the winner is....

....not you.

Unless your name is Jean Ramos. Congratulations to her, and a big blog thanks to all 6 of you who entered. Jean won by virtue of emailing me just hours after I posted the contest. I have not yet received her 500-word rant (hint, hint, Jean) but will post it ASAIGI.

I learned a lot from this contest. One--old people suck. No one remotely old emailed me an entry. (You hear that, mom and dad? Yes, I'm talkin' bout your generation. Things they DO look awful cold, indeed).

I also learned that many of you are checking the blog at work. Good for you. When I spoke at graduation a couple years ago, that was one of the bit of advice I gave the seniors. (View the whole speech here and boost my youtube stats). I also learned that Stephen Hawking does not read my blog. (Note: I just checked WIkipedia, and turns out he's been paralyzed since last year. OK, so I'm a jerk.)

Another contest will be forthcoming soon. Expect it when you LEAST EXPECT IT.

For now, a photo:

people actually read this?

So I found out that there are people actually reading this blog. Or so they claim. PROVE IT, I say. The first one to email garypearlz@gmail.com this special code: "StephenHawkingSucksAtAirHockey" wins a guest blog post! You get 500 words to rant about whatever you want our massive readership to have to look at.

CNY pics, aged like fine wine

Single parenting is going OK. (By that I mean all 3 of us are still alive). We skype with Sarah daily, and she seems to be enjoying Chicago. She'll be adjusted to the time difference just in time to get on the plane home. I will ask her to guest blog after she returns.

Before I head home from work, I'll show you what our vacation looked like. These will be the last vacation pics for a while--we are sticking around Shanghai for spring break.


1. Here we are in Hangzhou, looking at Buddhas carved directly into a mountainside.




2. Here is Aunt Erica, at about the 40 minute mark during our 72-minute wait in line for the best dumplings I've had in Shanghai. This place is famous--it's in the Yu Garden. When you visit, you should eat some. They're about $1.50 for a dozen--a bargain when you ignore the waiting time. And if you weren't hungry when you first got in line, you will be by the time you get your food.




3. Here we are at that age-old favorite place to celebrate Chinese New Year...



...Coldstone Creamery

4. Here's King Emmett and his court jester



gotta run. Desi just called, looking for me. He wants to play!

Chinese New Year with Ayi Erica

ayi means "aunt" in Mandarin. It's also what you call a nanny or a maid. Thus concludes our word-of-the-day.

Before I go run the scoreboard for the softball game (Shanghai vs. Hong Kong), I thought I'd post a brief rundown of CNY. Erica's visit inspired all sorts of tourism on our part. Isn't that funny how you don't really explore the city you live in until a) someone visits or b) you are about to move. So she and I (and the family, at times) saw the inside of the Jing An temple, we waited in line for 72 minutes to get famous dumplings at Yu Garden, of course we watched fireworks from our hotel room on the 31st floor, we spent a day and night in Hangzhou, and we rode the Maglev train to the airport. Erica flew out of Bangkok today, after 5 days on her own. So I will relay her reports from there soon, and of course photos and video from CNY will appear here soon also. Very busy week at work has made blogging take a back seat.

Sarah leaves tomorrow for Chicago, so I will single-parent for 8 days. Fun!

Desi's class blog has some new posts, including a funny video in which Desi makes a funny appearance. Check it out if you haven't.

more soon! peace and love and spring training!

the Eagle has landed

So Auntie Erica is here. It's a work day for Sarah and I, but the kids are already out of school for New Year's. So Erica is at home with the boys and the neighbor's kids.

Welcome to Shanghai--watch my kids!

We'll show her downtown and Hangzhou soon. Expect pics soon.

I'm about outta here. Just wanted to post a Happy New Year wish for all of you. May the Year of the Tiger bring you good health and new adventures. If you were born in 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, or 1986, then it's your year.

I'm out!