A Few of My Favorite Things

• Hearing my boys say, "I love you" in either English or Korean
• Being the first to go into Bryn's room in the morning when her smile just lights up the room
• The feel of one of my children gripping my hand
• Listening to the boys sing
• Watching the boys hug Sue
• The boys asking to watch Roadrunner or Pink Panther
• Listening to the boys talk about wanting to grow up to be a daddy
• Grant's confidence that he's going on a mission to Japan
• Watching the boys play together outside in the dirt
• Anytime the boys say they are the most whatever (strongest, fastest, biggest) in the whole United States
• Seeing the boys make an effort to play with or teach something to Bryn
• Dry Lightning McQueen underpants at the end of the day
• Every new developmental step all three children make (except teething, that's just miserable)
• Watching day by day as Bryn goes from being a passive baby to an active and responsive little girl
• Seeing the light of comprehension come on in the boys' eyes as they begin to grasp real world meanings behind concepts like money, gasoline, and ambulances
• Watching the boys be boys, even when that means muddy socks coming up the stairs, rocks and logs scattered across the lawn, or one of my church shoes filled with gravel
• Hearing the boys correctly answer questions about things I've taught them

Hamburger

For the rest of the story (with x-rays) go to our family blog. Here's an unretouched photo taken minutes after the accident. So far, there has been surprisingly little pain. Maybe that'll start once it begins healing.

BBC Book List

I've seen this list going around and I was curious about what the BBC actually said about it. The claim was that the average person will have only read 6 out of 100 of these books. However, the list I found on the BBC website doesn't say anything about this and it also includes 200 books. I like the longer list even though it lowered my number read from 65% (65 out of 100) down to 44% (88 out of 200).

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' next to those you have read.
2) Add a '+' next to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.

(x+)1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
(x)2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
( )3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
(x+)4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
(x)5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
(x+)6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
(x+)7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
(x)8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
(x+)9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
(x)10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
(x+)11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
(x)12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
( )13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
( )14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
(x+)15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
(x)16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
(x)17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
(x)18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
( )19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
( )20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
( )21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
(x)22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
(x)23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
(x)24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
(x+)25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
(x)26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
( )27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
(x+)28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
(x)29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
(x+)30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
( )31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
( )32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
( )33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
( )34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
(x)35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
(x)36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
( )37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
( )38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
(x)39. Dune, Frank Herbert
( )40. Emma, Jane Austen
(x)41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
(x)42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
(x)43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
(*)44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
( )45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
(x)46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
(x)47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
(x+)48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
( )49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
( )50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
( )51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
(x)52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
(x)53. The Stand, Stephen King
(*)54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
( )55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
(*)56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
( )57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
(x)58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
( )59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
(x)60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
( )61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
( )62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
(*)63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
( )64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
(x)65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
( )66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
( )67. The Magus, John Fowles
(x)68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
(x)69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
(x)70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
( )71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
( )72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
(x)73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
(x)74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
(x)75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
( )76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
( )77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
(*)78. Ulysses, James Joyce
( )79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
( )80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
(x)81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
( )82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
(x)83. Holes, Louis Sachar
( )84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
( )85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
( )86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
(x)87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
(*)88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
(x)89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
(x)90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
( )91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
(x)92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
(x)93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
( )94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
( )95. Katherine, Anya Seton
( )96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
( )97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
( )98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
( )99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
(*)100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
( )101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
(x)102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
( )103. The Beach, Alex Garland
(x)104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
( )105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
( )106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
( )107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
( )108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
( )109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
( )110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
(x)111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
( )112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
( )113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
(x)114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
( )115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
( )116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
( )117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
(x)118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
( )119. Shogun, James Clavell
( )120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
( )121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
( )122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
( )123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
( )124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
( )125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
(x)126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
( )127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
(x)128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
( )129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
( )130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
( )131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
(*)132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
( )133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
(*)134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
(x)135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
( )136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
(x)137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
( )138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
( )139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
( )140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
(x)141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
( )142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
( )143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
(x)144. It, Stephen King
(x+)145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
(x)146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
(x)147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
(x)148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
( )149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
( )150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
(x)151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
(x)152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
(x)153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
( )154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
( )155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
( )156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
(x)157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
(x)158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
(*)159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
( )160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
( )161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
( )162. River God, Wilbur Smith
( )163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
( )164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
(x)165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
( )166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
( )167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
( )168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
(x)169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
(x)170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
(x)171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
( )172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
(x)173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
(x)174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
( )175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
( )176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
(*)177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
( )178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
(x)179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
(x)180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
( )181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
( )182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
( )183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
(x)184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
( )185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
( )186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
( )187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
( )188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
( )189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
(x)190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence
( )191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
( )192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
(x)193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
(x)194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
(x)195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
( )196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
(x)197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
(x)198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
(x+)199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
(x)200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews

25 Random Things About Me

The 25 random things insanity has finally made its way to me. I say "finally" but I've really just been ignoring it. Anyway, here goes.

1- I once spent the night on a bench in the Brussels, Belgium train station.

2- I've eaten dog. It doesn't taste like chicken... more like beef.

3- I don't like Spanish rice. This is probably due to childhood trauma resulting from exposure to my mom's "danger rice".

4- I started playing the guitar during my freshman year of college. I still play but not as often as I'd like. The first song I memorized was Hotel California.

5- I once disassembled a portable stereo down to individual components, including de-soldering all of the little resistors, capacitors, etc. from the circuit boards.

6- The only time I have ever been frisked was by airport security in Tokyo.

7- I learned about auto repair from my first car, an '83 Oldsmobile Omega.

8- I am excited for my boys to grow older so I can buy toys for them that I can play with.

9- I've only ever received two speeding tickets, one when I was in my mid-twenties and one when I was in my mid-thirties. Both times I was going 13 miles an hour over the limit.

10- When I can't sleep, I slowly count up to 100 in Korean. If that doesn't work, I do it again and form the letters that spell each number in my mind as I count.

11- My first rock concert was Def Leppard. My most recent concert was Dave Matthews. The loudest concert I've been to was Rush. My favorite concert was Barenaked Ladies.

12- My daughter, Bryn Reagan, is named after comedian Bryan Regan because Sue and I saw him perform live while she was pregnant. Okay, not really. She's actually named after a Welsh Bass-baritone and a dead U.S. president.

13- My very first game of Scrabble was with Sue, before we were married. I used all of my letters on my first turn, spelling the word, "genuine". She went on to beat me easily and continued to win every game until some time after we were married.

14- Until we had children we would play several games of Scrabble every week, sometimes more than once a day. At some point we accidentally tied (I know official Scrabble rules don't allow a tie but we don't follow the rules quite so exactly) and from then on we always tried to tie if our scores were relatively close at the end. I win about 52% of the games we don't tie.

15- I experienced being tear gassed several times while trying to get a better look at riots in Korea. The best place to watch Koren riots, in case you're wondering, is from the roofs of buildings along the streets. Supposedly, putting toothpaste under your eyes will help limit the effects of tear gas. In any case, don't rub your eyes because that just makes it worse.

16- The earliest memory I have is when I had my tonsils removed when I was three.

17- I love going into my boys' room when they're just waking up. They are so sweet and haven't found anything to fight over yet.

19- The last time I was in a hospital emergency room was about a year ago when my son Cole slipped in the bathroom and cut his head. He got two staples.

18- The last time I was in a hospital emergency room for an injury to myself was about 10 years ago when I got hit in the chin with a block of ice and needed six stitches.

20- I met my wife at a barbecue. I knew I wanted to marry her after I met her family. I proposed on the trip home after she met my family.

21- I once went backpacking alone up in the mountains in Utah and in the middle of the night a large animal (a moose, I think) walked through my camp. I preferred camping without a tent so I felt (and really was) quite exposed when the beast came crashing through the underbrush. Fortunately, it kept on going and didn't walk across where I was laying.

22- I read a lot. I usually have at least three books I'm reading at a time: one (or more) by my bed, one audio book I listen to while driving, and one other book I carry in my laptop bag for when I have spare moments during the day.

23- After I graduated from college with a degree in computer science I decided that I hadn't read enough "Literature" so I spent a couple of years reading nothing but classical authors: Plato, Dickens, Poe, Tolstoy, Hemingway, etc. Some books I checked out of the library but others I bought at thrift stores, and even occasionally at regular book stores. I won't say it made me a better person but at least I can catch the literary allusions in The Simpsons.

24- Nothing I've ever accomplished has given me the thrill I get when I watch my boys doing something I taught them to do.

25- In the six years we've been married, my wife and I have never had a real argument. We've been annoyed at each other but we both have non-confrontational natures and after a short time whatever issue was bothering us seems insignificant compared to the love we share. Plus, she was on the debate team in high school and would kick my trash in any argument.

26- I'm very easy going but I have a stubborn streak that comes out whenever I feel like someone is trying to make me do something. Even if I wanted to do it, when someone tells me to do it I feel like I have to resist. Maybe that's why I couldn't just do 25 random things.

Facebook's Weighty Appeal

It seems to me that the main point of Facebook is to see how fat everyone has gotten. I originally joined because my mom sent me a request be her Facebook Friend. I found out later that she had accidentally sent Friend requests to everyone in her e-mail address book, including her congressman and the tech support guy at Dell. In any case, I could hardly say no to my mom so I created an account. Almost immediately I got Friend requests from several members of my family, followed by requests from some of their Friends and so on. People I haven't seen in decades were asking to be my Friend. Why? Some of these were people I wasn't especially good friends with in the real world. Which brings me to my original point: Facebook, at least as far as adults are concerned, is primarily a way to see how fat the people you knew in high school and college have gotten, without revealing your own expanded waistline. That's why most people upload lots of photos of their kids and pets to their profile, but very few of themselves, and especially no full body shots revealing the extent of what twenty years with a slowing metabolism has done to them.

Someone needs to build a Facebook application where you can just let everyone know how much weight you've gained (or lost...yeah, whatever) since you knew them. You would enter what your weight was for various years, and when you get new Friends you can specify the years you knew them and it would automatically let them know that "Evan has gained 197 pounds since you knew him in fifth grade." Maybe it could soften the blow by including, "He's also a couple of feet taller so that helps make up the difference." Of course, for people you knew later on you won't have the benefit of significant height increase to account for the excess weight. "Evan has gained 84 pounds since you knew him in high school. He hasn't grown any taller so that's pretty much all fat. Click here to send him a subscription to Tub Of Goo magazine as a hint that he needs to lose some of that."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to upload a few more photos of my kids to my profile.

Reflections on My 39th Birthday

When my dad turned 39 years old I was 13. I remember it mostly because I recall thinking that he was 3 times older than me. Coincidentally, my boys turn 3 in March and I'll be 13 times older than them. I don't remember anything specific about my dad at that age but he was (and still is) almost a mythic figure to me. Tall and dark, with a glare that could freeze water, let alone a teenager's spine. At least one of my friends was genuinely afraid of my dad. But I did my best to avoid becoming the target of his glare and, what's more, I knew that underneath was a funny guy. His glare is an expression I have attempted to replicate, to lesser effect, with my boys. Maybe I don't have a dark enough complexion or maybe the boys just aren't old enough yet to appreciate it. I've still got a few years to work on it.

What strikes me most as I think back, is that my dad always seemed to know the answers. I feel like I'm just fumbling in the dark with respect to how to raise children. Occasionally the boys react in a way that makes me think I'm doing something right and in the next instant they prove me wrong. I find in my dad's implacable wisdom a source of comfort. My parents had children at a much younger age than I. I'm sure the extra years of parenting gave them some knowledge that I can only attain after similar years. On the other hand, the simple process of life itself grants wisdom that my parents lacked when they started. The point is that I don't think that my parents were any wiser than I feel. Perhaps that realization is is another step on the path to real wisdom, whatever that is. And I think my parents did a pretty good job. I hope my children will be able to say the same once they're in my position.