Archive for October, 2009
Oct 09
Books – Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
I have been plowing through a lot of books lately. I like to have a mixture of audio books which I get from audible.com and the real live thing. When I get a book I usually order them from a place like amazon.com and it is much more preferable if they in a hardcover format. So I usually have two books in circulation at one time. I am currently listening to “The Help” on audio book. Now, this is a very interesting book and I am sure I will review it when I am finished. I am about half way through and it is excellent. Take a look at the ratings from Amazon. Now, this isn’t always your bellwether but it has over 1000 ratings and it is a solid “5″. Now that is pretty good.
I just finished a book (hardcover variety), called Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and next up is “Day After Night“. So here I wanted to tell you my thoughts on Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet[singlepic id=28 w=320 h=240 float=right]
First off, I really enjoyed this book. It was as a story of Henry, a Chinese American who was twelve in 1942 growing up in Seattle and his love for Keiko a Japanese American. It was also a parallel story of Henry in 1986 reflecting back to that time and the choices that would affect his life forever. It had all the elements that are needed to make a great story. Such as:
Short Chapters – The chapter lengths were 3-5 pages. This really helped keep the pace of the book moving along without chopping the story up. The story took place in two time periods 1942 and 1986 and switched between them regularly. This method along with the shorter chapters made it much easier to get into the flow of the story.
Historical Fiction – It went over a piece of American history that is rarely mentioned, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. I loved hearing about Seattle in 1940′s as well as the blossoming Jazz scene that was happening at that time there. The father of Henry was from China so there was an element of his culture that was briefly explored also.
Conflict – The story line between Henry and his father was full of cultural conflict. Henry, being a first generation Chinese American, had different values than his father who was born in and raised in China. It eventually affected Henry’s relationship with his own son.
Tension – The story between him and Keiko threaded the whole story together. Henry fell in love with her and she with him. She, being Japanese, was an issue for Henry’s father for she was the enemy. Even though Keiko was born in America, she was considered a threat even to the United States.
And finally, redemption – With the search for Keiko and the gap that was finally bridged between Henry and his son, it was truly a great read.
If you like positive stories that have a point, you will enjoy reading this book. If you would like to hear more form the author about this book, here is a little snippet from him.
Oct 09
Feeling Like a Dope
White streaks of painted frost were sprawled across the yard as I ventured into the garage to start the process of replacing my lawn mower engine. I opened the garage door and the blast of the cool morning air set me back again. I proceeded to dust off the “Mr. Heater” from the top shelve and attach it to the propane tank. In a few minutes, my Dad would be here and I at least wanted to work in a little comfort.
It had been a couple of weeks since I was able to mow my lawn using my less than two year old mower. After hearing a disturbing noise coming from the engine area, I quickly brought it back to the garage, checked the oil and knew this was not good. I packed the mower up, brought it to the shop and waited for the report. As I expected, the engine was blown and by the way, it is was covered by the warranty. They were happy to put a replacement one in for me. Price: $1100 – $1500. I was stunned. I need time to think about this one.
I had the weekend to explore my options. After looking around for a replacement engine, I was able to buy one locally for $560 before taxes. It was a 24hp engine compared with the 22hp I had on it. It was cheaper than anything else I could find on the Internet. I ordered it but it would take another week before it arrived.
In the meantime, the grass kept growing and I pulled out my nice 22″ push mower and fired it up. I hadn’t used it in years – and yes I checked the oil. 1 acre + 1 afternoon = time to mow. 3 hours later I was finished.
A few days later, the engine finally arrived and it was time to dig in.
Dad arrived, we assessed what we had to do and dug in. We needed to move some of the engine parts from the bad engine onto the new good engine. We dropped it into place and cranked it down. The morning air warmed and we shut off the heater. The sun was doing it’s job. A break for lunch and then back at it. We got all the wiring back in place, hooked up all the pulley’s and belts and double checked our work. Last thing was making sure the oil was filled to capacity. A novel idea! I fired it up and all systems were a go. No adjustments needed!
So yes, I blew the engine. It is not an easy thing to fess up to. For cripes sake you should know better that that! A fairly new mower and this happens? But here’s the deal, even in those times of trouble, God is always working on your behalf. It was not looking so good and then the sky brightened and hope started to shine. I ultimately saved about half the amount of money by doing myself and I was able to spend time with my dad doing something we both love.
I am thankful for that . . .
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Oct 09
An ounce of effort, a pound of results
I am constantly thinking about ways to improve the things I do. It bugs me when there is wasted effort. So much of what I do is because of expediency. “I don’t have time to fix it” is a common mantra. “That’s just the way we do it”, or “I have always done it that way” are also generally used. Do we ever slow down long enough to ask why we do the things we do, and why we do them the way we do them? What are we trying to accomplish? What is the ultimate goal? Maybe this is over-thinking the issues we face, but it sure beats the under-thinking that seems way more prevalent.
I want the things I do to matter. Is it more important to temporarily fix an issue, or back up and look at the root of the problem? Initially, there is more work and effort go back to the beginning and address the “big picture” problem, so ultimately there is much less effort in the long run.
In my garage, there are four bikes that need to “put away” in order for the cars to be parked. I initially put large rubber hooks from the rafter to hang them. I have to hoist them up to hang them… Nice! They are out of the way and issue resolved, right? Well, not really. While it was easy and it resolved one problem, another one still existed. The kids cannot get them down or hang them without my help.
Well, what I needed to do was to actually install a bike pulley system. But that means I have to go look for one, see how much it costs, and then install it. It sounds like a lot of work. Maybe it’s just easier to for me to always hang them and get them down.
Well, what really happens is that the girls stop riding their bikes because it’s too much hassle. I always have to be involved, so it is a double hassle. If I would have taken a little more time to look at the big picture, I could have resolved the issue right the first time. The end result would have been doing it once. Empowering the girls to take care of their bikes themselves. And finally, no wasted effort!
I am still on the journey, but I want to be purposeful in all that I do. Time is short and wasting precious time and resources is not acceptable. I don’t want to put in a pound of effort for an ounce of results. I want an ounce of effort to multiply into a pound of results.
What I am Reading
