1 Tweet = $55

Tweeting has its rewards.  It's not just a way to let all your followers know what you are having for breakfast.

Couple of weeks ago, our family of 4 went on a weekend trip to Philadelphia to see some historical sites and visit the Franklin Institute.  As the mom, I'm the vacation-planner and the reservation-maker.  And, as a mom with a full-time job outside of the house, I don't always have time to search high and low for the best deals.  I saw that the Hyatt at Penn's Landing has a pool and it's pretty close to all the attractions that we are interested in visiting, I called the reservation number listed on the website and booked 2 nights for 2 adults and 2 kids.  All went well.  The agent was nice and accommodating.

Two days before the trip, I went back onto the Hyatt at Penn's Landing website just to familiarize myself with directions and the facility.  That's when I saw the package deals.  If I pay $10 more for each night, we get free parking ($30/night), free in room movies (~$15/night), passes to the ice-skating rink near the hotel, and Gold card to Dave & Busters near the hotel.  So, I picked up the phone, call the reservation number again.  I ask them can I add the extra $10 a night so I can have the package deal.  "No, you paid for the non-refundable rate.  Sorry."  Crap.

So, I took to the twittersphere.

I'm not a twitter big shot.  I have about 170 followers at that time and I think I only know about 20 of them.   But, I tweeted

I didn't get any reply.  I figured I will have to try to convince the front desk when I check in to let me upgrade to the package.

So, Friday afternoon, we drove from NYC to Philly after I got off from work.  I walked into to the hotel lobby at about 7pm.  Went up to the front desk clerk and said "check-in under reservation for Tan".  She kindly said, "oh Ms. Tan, we WERE able to upgrade you to the Family Winter Escape package.  You will just need to okay the additional $20 charge to your credit card."

Yes!  Success!  

Lessons learned:
1 - Check for deal more closely
2 - Never hurts to call to ask for the deal - worst they can do is say no.
3 - Use social media to voice your wishes - they can ignore it which is fine since I accepted the fact that I didn't do #1.  But, for their own reputation, it doesn't cost them anything to have a happy customer and let the twittersphere know that they treat their customers right.

So for the extra $20 for the 2 nights, we saved $75 (2 nights of parking and 1 free in-room movie, Life of Pi).  Our kids are too young to go ice-skating or Dave&Busters.   That's $55 for one single tweet.  Not bad.

Dreaded Easter Egg Hunt

Daddy (blue hoodie) and the little girl (in stripe pants)
waiting for the egg hunt to start.

It's that time of the year again.  Easter Egg Hunts organized by local parents, town municipalities, schools, etc.  I am excited and dreading these event. Last year, we took our then 3 year old to one, set up by the neighboring town, on the local high schools football field. When we got there, the parking lot was completely packed. The field was separated into 2 sections, one for kindergarten and younger, another for the older kids. We lined up in the younger kids section, with 50 kids and 100 parents.  The excitement was palpable.

I wasn't worried about the 50 or so kids.  I worried about the 100 parents.  They were much bigger than the kids.  The moved much faster than kids.  And they were more vicious.  Signs with "Kids Only" were everywhere.  But, when the whistle blew, and the rope separating the wave of humanity and the colorful eggs was dropped, all hell broke loose.

Parents of pre-schoolers ran to pick up the eggs.  I'm sure the event was not meant for 35 year old moms and dads to push each other and little kids to get at plastic eggs with candies inside.  Granted, I stood back with our newborn.  My husband was with our little girl in the crowd.  But, I can say for certain, he did not pick up any eggs for her.  He pointed to the eggs and told her to pick them up.  But, the important job for him was to make sure she wasn't trampled.

My little girl picked up 10 eggs, because she can count up to 10, and that's the number she wanted.  Some eggs had candy, some had stickers.  All that goodies were more than enough for a 3 year old. I don't see the point of fully-grown adults regressing to children just for some candy.

This year, we are going to the town's Easter Egg Hunt event with my daughter again.  She is excited.  Now, at 4, she knows that she'll get candy.  I hope that, I implore, other parents to let the kids do the egg picking themselves.  It's their event, not yours.  Your job is to make sure that your child is not trampled and that your child enjoys herself.  Not to take candy from little kids.

Working - Defined to a 4 Year Old

Now that my 4 year old is mature enough to handle money and grasp the concept of it, we let her keep her loot from her Chinese New Year red envelopes.  A total of $60.  Instead of putting it in the bank account, I gave her the two $20 dollar and two $10 dollar bills.  I told her that we can go on amazon.com and pick out whatever she wants that her $60 can buy her.  She loved that idea.  She joyfully picked out Play-Doh, Crayola water color, and a crayon melting contraption.  With tax and shipping, she is now left with $5.  Not enough to buy anything else.

So, my teachable mommy-self steps in.  I said, "you can earn more money by working".  My little girl asked, "what's work?"

Hmm.... what is work?  I wake up early, take the train to the big city, sit in a cube in front of several computers, write email, look at data, talk to people on the phone, but those things mean nothing to a 4 year old.

So, here's work that will get her paid, defined to a 4 year old, "something you do for someone else that you normally would not do".
such as:
1 - help feed your baby sister
2 - clean the cats' litter boxes
3 - clean up after your baby sister
4 - help shovel the snow
5 - make sure the cats have fresh water in their water bowls

work that will not get her paid:
1 - clean up after yourself
2 - feeding yourself
3 - hugging your sister
4 - be nice to people

So far so good.  Now I just need to define how much her jobs should be paid.

Allergies

I have one those kids.  I'm one of those moms.

Yes. I use to silently mock (in my own head) the kids who have dangerous allergies and the moms who sent lists of forbidden foods to the hosts of playdates.  I felt sorry for them.  I thought that their kids are just not as sturdy as they should.

Karma sucks!

After dealing with my now 4 year old's eczema since she was 3 months old by lathering her with daily regiment of lotions and potions, we found out it's due to food sensitivities and allergies.  About 6 months ago,  I read Robyn O'Brien's book "The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food is Making Us Sick - And What We Can Do About It", a light bulb blinked on in my head.  Food.  Can my little healthy sturdy girl be really allergic to the food I feed her?  Eventually, slowly, I remove the one thing in her diet that I thought was the healthiest, dairy milk.  Miracle!!  She stopped scratching.  Her blistered, sore, red skin turned into healthy smooth kid's skin.  No more crying, no more yelling, no more potions.  It was like magic.

Now that I know food is a big factor in her overall well-being.  They next thing I noticed was the very rare times she ate a tiny bit of peanuts, she started coughing and complained that her tongue feels weird.  We are not a family of peanut butter sandwiches.  It just wasn't in our list of food in the pantry.  But every so often, peanut M&Ms or trail-mix with peanuts would make it across our house's threshold.  Another light bulb blinked on in my head.  Peanuts?  Could it be?  What else?

The pediatrician took her blood for an allergy test at her 4-year check up.  Positive.  All came back positive for peanuts, cashews, coconuts, nuts, nuts, and more nuts.  We were also given an Epi-pen for 'just in case'.  So, she is one of those kids.  I'm one of those parents.  I will be sending the list of no-no foods to the hosts of playdates.  And I apologize to all the parents that I silently mocked for so many years.  I'm sorry.

Dilemma of a Un-Princess Mom

My soon to be 4 year old girl was recently invited to a princess-themed birthday party by one of our good friend. I've been protecting her from the insidious brainwashing of the Princess marketing machine. She knows the names of other non-overly girly and pink Disney characters such as Lightning McQueen and Buzz Lightyear. Now, I have decide if I should succumb to the pink frilly world or make her the oddball among her peers.

I thought about dressing her up of some kind of non-pink princess, like Princess Leah from Star Wars or Princess Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. But, I know the princess-themed party means pink and frilly. No matter how awesome she will look as Daenerys Queen of Dragons, she will not fit in. As a mom who loves her and will want her to stand out like a sore thumb, I will have to let go. Let her be a princess for a day.

After nearly 4 years of giving her gender-neutral playthings, doing my best to instill in her that she can do anything, and teaching her that if she practice, she can do anything. I think it's time to trust that she's ready to running into the arms of pink frilly silk-taffeta clad 4 year old girls and not forget that her strength comes from her inner abilities and not how pretty her clothes are.

Where's the Stop Button

My 3 year old just doesn't stop. She wakes up before 8 and goes to bed at 9. A 90 minute nap right in the middle. Yet, she's constantly on the move. Always asking questions. Nothing seems to slow her down. The worst is the inane questions that comes out of her mouth. "how do you spell 'bad mushroom'?". "what are you going?". "what are you going to do at the gym?". "how old is the net?". These are just few of her gems today.

I keep telling myself that this is a sign of her intelligence and curiosity. But, darn it, I just want some peace and quiet.

Fifty Shades Freed

Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third book in this trilogy is a nice capping stone. The writing didn't improve much, but at least there was more of a plot. Finally, the reasons behind why Christian Grey is who is was explained in the last book. But, it was a given that everything is always explained in these type of books.
The third book was best of the three. The sex scenes got tedious starting on the 2nd book. I was looking forward to the interaction between the different characters and why they are who they are more than the sex, again.
The nice bonus in the 3rd book was the very last chapter, after the epilogue. They were the scenes where Ana and Christian first met, written from Christian's perspective. Very cute.




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Gathering Blue

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The second book in "The Givier" trilogy was a disapointment. It has no link with "The Giver". The dystopia world described in "Gathering Blue" doesn't seem to have any relationship with the dystopia world described in "The Giver". I was told by others that the third book in the trilogy will tie the first 2 books together and the characters will come-together. I guess I will have to read the third book.

"Gathering Blue" by itself lacks the engaging characters and environment. The dystopian world was more like a village in the European Dark-Ages. I was defintely hoping for more after reading "The Giver".



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Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got hooked. Fifty Shades is definitely addictive after the initial few chapters. All the adjectives and descriptors used by the media to describe this romance/erotica novel are apt. "Mommy porn" and "Twilight for adults" pretty much describe it entirely.
I enjoyed Fifty Shades as much as I can enjoy a giant bowl of ice cream. I know it's not the healthiest and enriching thing I can consume, but darn it, it just so much fun.
I also read others trying to justify the popularity of this book by comparing Anastasia Steele with Victorian lit heroines such as Elisabeth Bennett and Jane Eyre Why bother with that? By doing so, I would just be trying to balance the fact that I've read Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre with the fact that I just read a fluffiest book since Twilight.



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A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Two words, epic-ly awesome!
I was wondering what the big hoopla was when HBO made this into an original series and everyone was talking about it. So, I started reading it thinking it's going to be similar to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. After taking more than a month to finish, I completely understand all the high praises heaped on this tome.
The world created by Mr. Martin was thorough and enriching. All the characters are so well developed that I was completely invested in everyone. I love and hate the characters deeply. It has been a long time since I've found a book so well done.
Now, I must watch the HBO series and read the rest of the series.



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Only Time Will Tell

Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book had so much promise. I like the writing style, the tone, and the overlapping timeline from chapter to chapter and from person to person to paint a full picture of how events unfolded. It also gave a well-rounded perspective from all the main characters. I was beginning to care about Harry and Emma.
However, the last 50 pages or so felt rushed. Mr. Archer spent so much time and energy describing the emotion and details of the events in the preceding chapters. The last 5 chapters felt like he just wanted to end the book and start on the next one.
Also, I felt manipulated by the way the book ended. It was worst then seeing the "...to be continued" words on the TV after watching an hour long drama show. I guess Mr. Archer thinks that I've already spent time reading the 400+ words novel, I will seek out the next book. But, I have no inclination to do so. It's not that I don't want to find out what happened, I just don't want to be manipulated into doing so.



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The Lucky One

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Lucky One satisfied the romantic in me. There's the handsome ex-Marine searching for a beautiful woman. The beautiful lonely woman is fits into the damsel in distress mold pretty well. All in all, it a fun fluffy book that I can easily read and finish in couple of sittings.
And as with other Nicholas Sparks books, it's sappy and a potential tear-jerker. The Lucky One is no exception. So, if you are not expecting a literary masterpiece, but just an entertaining escape, this will be perfect.



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Bribery not working

My little girl is just couple of months away from her 3rd birthday. She has achieved many of her developmental milestones. However, we still can't check off one thing on the list. Potty Training. She knows what the potty is. She has done #1 and #2 in the potty in the past. But she just doesn't seem to be interested to use it since going there would just interrupt her exciting activities.

So, as any amateur economist would do with incentive problem, is to create a new incentive that can elicit the desired result.  Or, in another word, bribe.   I was determine to bribe my little girl to start using the potty regularly.  The bride I chose is Hershey Kisses.  Desired result is to go to the potty and stop using the diaper.

After 2 days, failure.  I gave her an entire Hershey Kiss early in the morning after she went to the potty.  She can do that one pretty good.  I told her, every time she go pee pee in the potty she gets a chocolate.  As the hours ticked by, I watched her.  She looked like she needs to go.  I told her to go to the potty and if she pees, she gets chocolate.  She just looked at me and said, "no potty, no chocolate."

She would rather give up an entire Hershey Kiss instead of going to the potty.  Well, that was a failure.

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The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Hunger Games definitely lived up to its hype. I finished the book in a couple of days and I wanted to read books #2 and #3. It's has all the right hooks, plot lines, and characters. I enjoyed it because it's just so much fun to read. I was able to turn off my mind and just enjoy the book.
I wouldn't say Ms. Collins took the trouble to really create something entirely new. The idea of end of a civilization, game to the death, love triangle, etc. have been done before in previous books and movies. Granted, these concepts were woven nicely in the Hunger Games.



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Across Many Mountains: A Tibetan Family's Epic Journey from Oppression to Freedom

Across Many Mountains: A Tibetan Family's Epic Journey from Oppression to Freedom by Yangzom Brauen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Across Many Mountains is enlightening. I was educated about part of the world that was so close to where I came from yet I had no clue about the people and their tragedies. My caricatures of a Tibetan monk, a Tibetan nun, a Tibetan family were shattered after reading this book. The strong female characters were awe-inspiring. Just the thought of taking my little girl across the world's highest mountain range makes my heart ache. And it makes me think if I'm even strong enough of a woman or mother to do it. But, Kunsang, the grandmother, the matriarch, did just that.
This is a book that people in the West should read to learn about the country on top of the world. It is definitely a book for people of the East to learn about how dictatorship and propaganda can destroy a culture and a people.



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ConEd Outage Visualization

My little neck of the woods.

After Hurricane Irene swept through the New York area, many of my neighbors and I lost power for several days. This is my attempt at graphing the number of households who lost power / regain power over time.

As ConEd stated during the power lost, pretty much everyone regained their power by September 1st.



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Stealing Mona Lisa: A Mystery

Stealing Mona Lisa: A Mystery by Carson Morton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was happily surprised that how much I enjoyed this book. This period novel built around the events surrounding the theft of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. Some of the events and personalities in the novel were directly from the true event. Other characters were made up for artistic enhancements. The author also move other events in that time period to create drama in the novel.
I'm willing to give the author's artistic liberty because the plot works. It was entertaining and still somewhat educational. I didn't know that the Mona Lisa was ever stolen or that there was a great flood in Paris in the early 1900s. "Stealing Mona Lisa" was a entertaining read.



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The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution

The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution by Keith J. Devlin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was definitely an interesting read. At 150 pages, it was just the right length to learn about the man who introduced the Hindu-Arabic number system to the western world. Without his practical instructions, the advances in the western civilization definitely would have been delayed.
This was also a very educational read. I learned many facts about Fibonacci that I didn't know or wouldn't know to ask. Such as Fibonacci is not his real name, it's Leonardo (another talented Italian Leonardo). Or that he's from Pisa (just like Galileo Galilei). Or that this Lenardo didn't invent anything per se, but made a new and difficult concept palatable for the masses. Many of these facts are trivial, but someone who loves random knowledge, it is a worthwhile read.
I wished the book delve more into his famous numbers sequence, but the book is titled The Man of Numbers. I will have to go read up on the Fibonacci sequence in another book.



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Potty Mouth in Wal-Mart

I blame it all on the Mister.  Four letter words rolls off his tongue much freely when the little girl is around him.  I know he doesn't mean it, but it happened enough times for her to pick up "oh sh*t!".  She even uses it in the right context, such as when things aren't going her way or when she bangs her knee on something.  I subscribe to the concept that if she says it, I won't comment on it and she will eventually forget and will find another way to express her feelings.

But, I still can't get over the hilarious but embarrassing "oh sh*t!" moment in our local Wal-Mart.  The Mister and I took the little girl for an errand run that included trips to Home Depot, A&P, and Wal-Mart.  By the time we got to Wal-Mart, she was pretty mellow but definitely getting tired.  The adults were also getting a bit tired too.  So, we walked in, found the nearest shopping cart, and put her in the child seat, a bit too roughly I guess.  She lets out a louder than normal "Oh Sh*t!".  She's not done.  Before we registered what was happening, she let out at least 3 more " Oh Sh*t!"s.  Each louder than the last.  Oh the looks we got!  I had no clue what to do except to push the cart as fast as I can without calling more attention to ourselves.

Now, our goal is slowly get those words out of her vocabulary.  Her new form of exclamation is "Oh Man!"  I'm hoping that will stick and replace the less acceptable word.

 
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Iron House

Iron House by John Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm glad that I won John Hart's Iron House and discovered this exciting author and book.
Iron House follows the events surrounding Michael in his search for his brother and the truth. The action and body count starts early and does not stop. John Hart was skillful in weaving different plot lines and creating memorable characters. I was able to create vivid images of all the characters just with Mr. Hart's words. I can practically feel myself walking inside the Iron House and the mansion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a rare book that I can label as a true page turner. Completely entertaining.



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