Blessed-Family Blog

Dear Dad,

$chool i$ really great. I am making lot$ of friend$ and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply can`t think of anything I need. $o if you would like, you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you.

Love,

Your $on

The Reply:

Dear Son,

I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmics, and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task, and you can never study eNOugh.

Love,

Dad

Sharing some funny one-liners, some of them are old, but still funny.  Have a cheerful day!

EVER WONDER

- Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

- If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

- Why is it that doctors call what they do “practice”?

- If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

- Why women can’t put on mascara with their mouth closed?

- Why don’t you ever see the headline “Psychic Wins Lottery”?

- Why is “abbreviated” such a long word?

- Why is it that to stop Windows, you have to click on “Start”?

- Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

- Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

- Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?

- When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?

- Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

- Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

- You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don’t they make the whole plane out of that stuff?

- Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

- Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

- Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?

Article about a DUI suspect who farted at police officer charged with battery.

It’s not very nice, but it was a funny article Josie posted on Facebook.  Everybody good a good laugh.  It reminds me of Bob Deaton’s book, Never Say Excuse Me Louder Than You Burp.

We went to Brentwood on Saturday 6/14 for some family fun picking fruits. We visited 3 farms: Baccini’s for peaches, Chan’s for strawberries, Nunn Better for cherries. Overall, it was a good experience, however, we think Brentwood farms can take a few lessons from Casa de Fruita and Napa wineries to make a “richer” experience for themselves and the visitors.

We had brunch at Perkos Cafe and Grill (7 of 10). The place was ranked as the local top favorite cafe every year. The food was ok, price was higher than what I’d expect to pay at a ‘farming town’ (about $50 for 4 people).

Baccini’s peach picking was fun & delicious (7 of 10)

• This was the first farm we visited, it was on our top list based on the U-pick map. We were hoping to pick cherries, but they ran out already, and only had peaches left. We went in anyway, it was fun. The peaces were juicy and delicious. We picked a bunch and it only cost about $10. There was no minimum.
• The people were nice. We asked about cherries, they were kind enough to direct us to “Nunn Better” at the other side of the town.

Chan’s Fruitstand did not stand a chance (2 of 10)

• On the way to “Nun Better”, we stopped by Chan’s Fruitstand since they had nice big strawberry signs which sounded fun.
• As we got closer, it did not look very friendly… minimum 2 lb per person, “no stealing”, blah blah blah. We were turned off from the negative ‘rules’.
• If we don’t even know how the strawberry looks like and tast like, how can we promise to pick 2 lb per person? Strawberries rots quickly, how can we consume 8 lbs in a couple of days? We left without trying.

Nunn Better is better (8 of 10)

• We finally got to Nunn Better. There were lots of cherry trees, with lots of ripen & sweat cherries within reach. There are also many ladders to reach to the higher branches. It was great.
• We ate a bunch, had a spitting contest. We also picked a lot so we can took some back to share with church friends and coworkers. Everyone had a great time.

Brentwood - Overall, Brentwood farms can take a couple of lessons from Casa de Fruita and the Napa wineries. Why stay at the bottom of the “fruit-chain?” Here are some ideas/suggestions:

• target families with kids
• make it educational for different age groups with some informational stuff like: different types of cherries, growing process, etc.
• make it (more) fun
• make more money with some value added services: how about some water; some place to wash the fruits; nice restrooms; a cup of coffee with fresh fruit pie; cherry, peach or strawberry icy drink on a hot day; fruit jams, fruit cakes, fruit … (think Casa de Fruita)
• link multiple farms together (like what we did) and make it a whole day “experience”

Overall, it was a fun day picking cherries and peaches at Brentwood for the family.  The area can take a lesson from Napa or Casa de Fruita and make it a richer experience for the visitors.

American Indian Powwow at Stanford, Palo Alto, May 2008

The 37th Annual Stanford Powwow of American Indians was a very wonderful event with great drumming, colorful and exotic fancy costumes, exciting fast paced dancing (by men, women and children) and lots of variety of booths featuring arts & crafts, herbs, and clothing. It was a great community event for the American Indians, and it was an exciting experience for others like us.

We were so lucky to find a spot next to the Boyz band, they were great. The drumming was “unbeatable” and their chants were amazing. We had a great time.

URL to the official site for The 37th Annual Standford Powwow.

Check out the videos!

Dear friends,
As many of you know, our family loves Taiko (太鼓 Japanese Drum). Every year, we try to catch the spring/fall performances at the Japan Town or Cupertino Cherry Blossom festival. Whenever we go to these Ni-Sei/San Sei events, we are always amazed that Japanese are able to retain their culture over many generations, and we know that it’s important to keep our kids interested, educated and informed about our history.

As a related opportunity… for the next 2 weeks (5/8-5/18), there will be a “Life in China & Taiwan” Photo Exhibit at the Cupertino Square (ex-Vallco with Todai, Dynasty, new Strike/AMC, etc., 10123 N. Wolfe Rd, Cupertino) featuring photos of life in Taiwan and China from the 1950s-90s. The photos were taken by two American Catholic priests who were visiting and teaching there during that time. It should be a fun and interesting time, exposing ourselves and our kids to some of our heritage. Be sure to stop by and say hello to volunteers from our community supporting the Friends of Ricci.

I have uploaded the flyer from Isabel, check it out: and please pass them to your friends/coworkers:
http://blessed-family.org/download/08-05-Ricci-Exhibit-Poster.pdf

08-04-Cherry-Blossom-Festival

The Taiko fans (us) enjoyed another wonderful performance from the San Jose Taiko at the annual Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival in April, 2008.

No, this is not about the Freeway congestion in LA on the 405. This is the price per gallon that I paid this morning for REGULAR. Just a seemingly quick squeeze at the pump and a blink, the total went up to $20, and it was not even a 1/3 of a tank! Wow. I know we’d be better get used to it before it go up even more, but it’s really hard .

I was at Web 2.0 in SF yesterday (blog to come), Marc Andreessen said he was glad to get some funding before the ‘upcoming nuclear winter’. Wow. My hope is that even though the things are bad right now, and it may take a little while to get over this period, I am hoping by Q3/Q4 2009, things will be on fire again. Cheers.

A friend sent an early “Valentine” to see if it will make it around the world by Feb. 14th.

Send it around the World!!

Here is a viral pps with interesting pictures from the Space Shuttle. Enjoy!

http://www.blessed-family.org/download/BLUEBEAUTY1.pps