News and Views

We had a few minor events on the trip here, but nothing as exciting as seeing a mountain lion. Because of complications in the itinerary, we had two separate reservations on Eva Air; one from Los Angeles to Taipei, and the other from Taipei to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Our flight from Phoenix was […]

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We just heard back that the test of Apollo’s tumor came back negative for cancer. With the removal of testosterone producing glands, the existing small tumors should shrink. According to Wikipedia, intact male dogs are 3 times more likely to have this kind of tumor, and that 95% of the tumors will disappear after neutering. […]

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Gisele and I are leaving for a trip to Vietnam on Thursday. Her brother has organized the trip and we will be joined by several others in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). We arrive in HCM City, then travel northward viewing sites on the way, including the Hue region where Richard was stationed during the […]

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Apollo went to the vet today for surgery. He has a couple of suspicious tumors. They are probably benign, but they need to be removed anyway. I’ll post an update in a comment here once we hear back.

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Our bathroom shower is just about as far from the water heater as it could be. When taking a shower, we turn on the hot water and then go do something else while we wait 1-2 minutes for the hot water to make it through the pipes. But it’s hard to guess when the water […]

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After returning from Taiwan I finally signed up for new health insurance, and found the healthcare.gov website working well. I ended up buying a policy that costs about $100 more than my current policy and has a higher deductible ($5500). There’s no copay for doctors; I pay everything until I reach the deductible, then the […]

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It’s been almost three months since my foot surgery (September 16). Two months of extreme inactivity (minimal walking, no bike riding), and then a couple of weeks of some bike riding and three weeks of lots of walking in Taiwan. Our hotel room in Taipei was on the 12th floor (oops — 11th — no […]

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We are back from Taiwan, as you may have inferred from my previous “Global Entry” post. Here are a few items I found interesting on the trip. First, it was nice traveling “upper class” in what United calls “BusinessFirst”, implying that it’s between a normal Business class and a normal First class. The lie-flat beds […]

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A few months ago Gisele and I signed up for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry program. On our recent trip to Taiwan we were able to use some of the benefits. Global Entry is a program US citizens can apply for, where the CBP does a background check on the applicant, […]

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Devon, his girlfriend Xiang-Xiang, Gisele and I are taking a few days to visit a few scenic areas around the island. Here are Xiang-Xiang and Devon.

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