News and Views

That’s how much my electric bill was this billing month (which ends on the 17th). Last year it was $174.09. I guess my solar panels are starting to pay back! And $15 of that is a fixed fee, so we really only bought about $15.71 worth of electricity from SRP. Of course, it’s not really […]

[Read more →]

I posted a few days ago about mixed marriages. Interestingly, the Pew Research Group just published a survey on mixed marriages in the US. A few results: — About 15% of all new marriages in the US in 2010 were interracial, compared with less than 7% in 1980. — About 9% of white, 17% of […]

[Read more →]

Here’s a picture I took out the window of the plane on our way to Taiwan. It is Alaska, near where the Kenai Peninsula joins the mainland. It may seem surprising that we flew over Alaska going from San Francisco to Tokyo, but if you stretch a string between those cities on a globe, you […]

[Read more →]

It only took 22 hours from Hotel to Home. That involved changing planes in Tokyo and San Francisco. Interestingly, we got to celebrate Valentine’s Day twice. We left Taiwan and Tokyo in the morning of February 14, and as we flew east the sun set and then rose again — and we arrived in San […]

[Read more →]

It was interesting in Thailand to note the prevalence of mixed relationships, almost always male Caucasians with female Asians. Walking down the street in Chiang Mai, especially, it seemed that white men were more likely to be with an Asian woman than with a white woman. There seem to be mixed feelings about these mixed […]

[Read more →]

Yesterday we went on another tour. First to the “Floating Market”, where we went out in a little boat to other little boats selling things. Mostly fruit and tourist trinkets. Certain members of our party had to buy things, of course, but everything was cheap so the $10 or so won’t break us. Then to […]

[Read more →]

Yesterday we rode an elephant. It was a long, 45 minute ride through the jungle, up and down a hill and across a river. It was fun. Here’s a picture of a picture I took with my camera phone. It’s not very clear, but it’s the only way I have to upload pictures right now. […]

[Read more →]

I didn’t get a chance to post a blog while we were in Taiwan last week, but having been there several times it doesn’t seem too “postable”. Devon had the week off for Chinese new year, so we got to spend lots of time with him. We went to the Taipei Costco, which is very […]

[Read more →]