Madness In The Middle Kingdom

Well for anyone living in China this might go down as the funniest headline ever!

Beijing aims to cut down smoking for Olympics

Beijing will ban or restrict smoking in most public venues in May as part of its pledge to hold a smoke-free Olympics, local media reported on Monday, citing the city’s legal office.

New legislation to take effect on May 1 will forbid smoking at government offices and on public transport, the Beijing Morning Post said, but falls short of setting outright bans at restaurants, bars and clubs.

When Alice was delivering Carter I was not allowed to go into the delivery room but instead had to wait in the common waiting area with all the other expectant fathers. I remember clear as a bell there were 4 of us but the other 3 (who were Chinese) were sitting under the no smoking sign happily puffing away on their cigs. They were polite enough to offer me one but seeing as we were in the hospital maternity ward I declined the offer.

There are 2 things I can say about the Chinese - they spit and they smoke. They always have and I dare say they always will.

There are many things in Carter and Nathan’s life that have made me feel like a dad but this milestone has been a big one for me. Last night Alice and I went out and bought Carter his first bike. This is a huge event both in parents and children’s lives in my estimation. Every kid remembers his/her bikes from their youth. The bike was the thing that gave you some independence and I think that is why they remain fixtures in our memory. Me? Well the two I remember are my red CCM fixed gear bike and then a 10 speed with butterfly brakes.

I digress. Carter is the proud owner of a SPX MS-S6016 complete with front and rear suspension, v-brakes front and back, lug-welded Chromoly frame, training wheels and a picture of a tiger on the seat. How cool is that? Before you think that I spent many hours searching for such an extensive array of features let’s just say that we own this bike cause Carter’s best buddy Magnus got the same bike a week ago. Kudos to Craig.

For now he has not had the opportunity to go outside and dodge Chinese traffic with his bike yet so the vids and pics are shots in the apartment from last night when we brought the bike home.

Who could have dreamed that the Northwest Division race would be so tight with only several weeks to go? The Canucks are in 7th place in the conference with a game in hand but Nashville and Edmonton are biting at their heels. Edmonton is looking especially strong going 8-2-0 in their last 10.

The only thing the NHL did right in drawing up the current schedule was to ensure that the last 9 games are divisional games. Each team really has its own destiny in its hands … or in the Canucks case we hope in Luongo’s glove.
For Vancouver their remaining games are
Wed, Mar 26 at Colorado
Fri, Mar 28 at Minnesota
Sun, Mar 30 Calgary
Tue, Apr 1 Colorado
Thu, Apr 3 Edmonton
Sat, Apr 5 Calgary

As I said before …. Go ‘Nucks!

The kids of Song Hai Li (and other Kai Fa Qu locations) once again had the local Chinese turning their heads at the odd behaviour exhibited by these “foreigners”. This time it was our local Easter Egg Hunt throughout the grounds of Song Hai Li. I think they figured out the basic concept of the hunt but probably never figured out why we were doing it. Also seeing kids whack the pinata with a hockey stick (which they most always think is a golf club) must have boggled their minds.

Usually the Conradi-Wolfe clan organize the annual event but this year it was a Brown-Engleson cooperative production. The Easter Bunny was more than kind to the kids this year and it seemed like the crew had a great time.

Nathan was a bit slow on the idea of what to do but this year Carter was right in there with all the other kids grabbing all that his little hands could hold.

Last night Alice cut her evening tutoring short and we had a nice meal together (the kids were already fed) and then we had a cake that I baked. Carter chose the candles (had to have 2 pink ones) and then we both sang Happy Birthday to Alice although Carter said he didn’t want to sing it again in Chinese. Nathan stared gluttonously at the cake during the whole proceeding.

A Happy Birthday message to the most beautiful girl in the world and one that never gets enough credit for all the things she does … my wife .. Alice Ma. Raising two boys, looking after an unorganized husband, running a household and still tutoring many hours on top of that .. how do you do it all babe?

The boys and I are lucky to have you in our lives.

Happy Birthday .. here’s to many more together

I was in elementary school in the 70’s. I was a Kiss fan.

There were many great Kiss songs and Kiss albums but for me ‘Destroyer’ evokes the most memories.

My brother had the 8 track. His player sat on a varnished board hung from the roof by a macrame hanger in the manner that some potted plants were hung. All 70’s baby!

The Destroyer album was the follow up to the hugely successful “Alive!” album and was considered their make or break album as artists. It featured the much played ballad “Beth” but the song that sticks out most in my memory is “Detroit Rock City”. The car crash theme chilled me to the bone.

A little known fact about the Easter Bunny is that the weekend prior to Easter he actually visits all the spots where he will hide his eggs in order to “case the joint”. This is done so that he can strategically place eggs in the most desirable of locations (not impossible to find but challenging enough to make you work for the chocolatey goodness). Of course being the generous bunny that he is he often leaves little pre-Easter snacks hidden about as a reward for anyone motivated enough to check it out.

I have told this secret to the boys and they were really pumped to go out and see if they could cash in. Of course they were rewarded for their efforts and collected 2 chocolate eggs each and 1 chocolate bunny to share between them.

Growing up I think everyone was exposed to different music because of their parents and older siblings. For example one of my friends became a Neil Diamond fan because his father used to sing “Song Sung Blue” in the shower. With my parents growing up in the Cariboo there was a lot of country music exposure with a heavy helping of Elvis dished in. My Dad also exposed me to classic music at an early age which I really enjoyed and still do.

Today’s entry is the “other” band from the British Invasion - the Dave Clark Five. Now I am not sure if this was my parent’s record (it would have been about their time) or my brother getting nostalgic nevertheless I loved the Dave Clark Five.

This video shows them performing two of their biggest hits - ‘Glad All Over’ and ‘Bits and Pieces’

Yesterday Alice went to a parents’ meeting at Carter’s school (I had to work - I am not a deadbeat Dad) and all the kids got an award of some kind. I was as proud as could be to learn that Carter got the “Most Improved Award”. As a teacher I really value the kids that improve both academically and in maturity. The student that comes in with all the talents in the world and achieve a high mark are easy to teach but they would do that in spite of what teacher they had. I admire the ones that achieve beyond the expectations I had of them … in short those that improve.

Congratulations Carter Mommy and Daddy are very very proud of you.

So proud of you we might even buy you pyjamas that fit. Maybe you should get the “Most Grown Award”

Ok .. he wasn’t really trampled and it was only a toy pony. Carter often puts the pony on himself and lies down in the position from the picture above but this particular time Nathan and I were napping on the bed beside him. The peace and solitude must have gotten the better of him cause he was also soon fast asleep.

It is with a heavy heart that I mourn the passing of Jim Totten, Professor of Mathematics at Thompson Rivers University (formerly UCC). Jim was much more than a professor to me - he was my mentor and first and foremost he was my friend. He was incredibly intelligent and had a passion for mathematics that few have even at the top level. Jim was the first to believe in my abilities as a mathematician and as an educator. He encouraged me to take a position in the Math Help Center while at UCC even though I could have worked elsewhere for twice as much. He told me that I could make a decision for my future or a decision based on money. He was bang on in his assessment. I really enjoyed the job and it helped me solidify my decision to become a math teacher. He believed in me and that made all the difference in the world.

I took several courses with Jim (Number Theory, Euclidean Geometry and Abstract Algebra) and I came to loathe his exams. They were always too difficult and too long - much like his lectures. I learned then that I would rather work my tail off to earn a C+ or B in one of his courses (cursing him all the way) rather than get an easy A somewhere else. His passion for the material was infectious and it was under his tutelage that I learned to appreciate the true beauty of mathematics.

My two favourite Jim stories
Jim was notorious for lectures that ran over time. Once while trying to finish a proof Jim realized that time for the class had run out and as it was 5 PM in the afternoon it was a tough sell to get us to stick around. He said very apologetically “Just give me 5 more minutes to finish this up”. A student by the name of Mark sarcastically replied “Five real minute or five ‘Totten’ minutes?” We laughed for what seemed like at least two ‘Totten’ minutes

Jim was also notorious for never leading review at the end of the term. If he had extra classes he would simply fill them up with more material rather than give us a solid review of the previously learned concepts. We begged him one class for a guided review and he agreed. He didn’t know how to do it so he asked us what other teachers did. A student replied that they usually wrote on the board what we should study for the exam. Jim said OK and then turned and wrote “Everything from the text, the assignments, and your notes.” He turned back and said, “Any other questions?” We never asked him for review again.

Jim always told me the story of the mathematician Paul Erdos who claimed that if there was a God then He would have “The Book” which was a collection of all the proofs to all the theorems in mathematics that humans hadn’t discovered yet. Erdos said that when he died he was going to enjoy looking at “The Book”. Jim I hope you are sitting beside Erdos right now and studying “The Book”.

Jim and I August 2003

Jim meeting Alice in August 2003. He was very happy for me to have met such a nice girl.

My nephew Marshall just finished his last year of Novice hockey and I am continually bragging about his hockey prowess to all those that will listen. Well now I have the stats to back up the claim.

League Games
Games Played - 19
Goals - 56
Assists - 44
Points - 101
Points per game - 5.3
Team Record 24 wins, 3 losses, 1 tie

Tournament Stats
Games Played - 9
Goals - 23
Assists - 12
Points - 35
Points per game - 3.8
Team Record 8 wins, 1 loss

While it is far short of Gretzky’s 378 goals as a Bantam it is still a pretty amazing feat and I am really proud of him.

Just for reference the next highest point total on his team was 46 points (in league games) and before you call Marshall a puck hog keep in mind that boy had 40 goals and only 6 assists.

Hope you had fun Marshall and good luck next year!

Hey MeatBall I hope you have a Happy Birthday … wish I was there to spend it with you .. one of these years that will happen. We sent a gift and I hope it arrives in time. Keep smiling!