Richard's Reveries and Rantings: Family

Welcome Emilia (Emi) Kyuri Sim

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:37:19 GMT

Emilia (Emi) Kyuri Sim arrived on Thursday April, 17 at 3:53PM at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and 18 ¾ inches. The delivery was fairly smooth, with active labor lasting for about 4 hours. Emi seemed eager to join her new family; it took only 10 minutes of pushing before she dove headfirst into the light. :-)

Mom and Dad are doing well and big sister Keira is fascinated by her new baby sister (and the peace offering gifts that Emi "gave" her).

Like Keira, we wanted to pick a name that would work in both English and Japanese. The characters for Emi in Japanese translate to "wisdom" and "beauty."

Check out additional pics here. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bz2r1bb.6tu8f4t7&x=0&y=kvphsq&localeid=en_US

The Sim's prepare to be a family of 4

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:27:18 GMT

Preparations have begun for the unnamed sequel to to the smash hit, Keira. E's mom has arrived from Asia to provide much needed relief. Thank God grandma will be staying with us for a few months to help out any way she can. E has officially started her maternity leave and has been thoroughly enjoying her time with K. And just yesterday, I fished out all of our old baby gear from the attic and piled them up in our garage to be sanitized and washed. I was amazed at how much stuff we have for a tiny 6-7 pound baby: car seat and 2 pods, bassinet, bouncy chair, jumperoo, electric swing, baby bjorn, stroller #1, our nused double stroller, our nused crib (thanks lisa!), high chair, etc. I'm sure I'm missing several other items that are sitting in that pile but you get the point.

Keira is also preparing for her new role as big sister. We got her a new toy a few weeks ago and she looks like a natural. She's good but still needs some practice. Check out how she manhandles "Baby" in the second video.

Another Kid, Already?

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:48:14 GMT

That’s the usual response I get from friends when I tell them E and I are expecting another bundle of joy, in fact another daughter, at the Sim family. Surprisingly pregnancy the second time around flew by and before we knew it, we were about 1 month away from the due date. (My apologies for the folks who may be finding out the news via blog instead of a more personal form of communication). We’re bracing ourselves for the craziness and hectic nature of life with, not just one, but two kids under the age of two.

K has no idea what’s coming. And to be honest, there is a tinge of guilt I feel that her days as the first and only child are limited. She is already possessive over her dad; in fact, I often find her wedging herself between me and any other baby in whom I show interest. The same applies to dogs. But I know that once she gets over the initial adjustment period, she will make a great big sister. And it really warms my heart to know that the two of them will likely grow up to be great friends.

Here are some reason photos of Keira. She's 18 months now and continues to amaze us.

On a funny note, the following video is a warning to my friends out there who are not yet ready for life as a parent.

Keira never ceases to amaze us!

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:03:31 GMT

Keira is about 17 months old now. E and I have noticed over the past few months that she has developed a very strong sense of independence and a will of her own, as opposed to being the little baby who just did what we told her to do. These days, her big thing is spoon feeding herself, athough only about 10% of her attempts result in food actually entering her mouth.

Just a few days ago, Keira surprised both of us when she started reaching for the chopsticks that E was using to mix up some noodles. To our amazement, she was a natural within just a few minutes.

My how fast time flies

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:14:36 GMT

Last week, Keira turned 1 year old. I can't believe how fast this past year flew by. It feels like just 6 months ago, we brought her home from the hospital, with absolutely no clue about how we were going to survive the next month, let alone a full year. But somehow, we figured it out, and this amazing little girl has proven to be quite resilient.

We followed the Korean tradition and threw a big 1 year birthday party (dol) for our little one. My mother came out from the east coast for the festivities, and E organized quite an event. As part of the tradition, we laid out several items in front of Keira such as a pencil, a book, money, a bowl of rice, and a spool of thread to see which she would choose; her selection is supposed to indicate her fortune. I must admit, I kept trying to steer her to the hundred dollar bill (with thoughts of early retirement for me!), but she ended up choosing the bowl of rice (which I think indicates good health).

Here is a slide show I put together to recap the past year with Keira, as well as a few pics of her in her hanbok. Enjoy.

Makes me laugh every time

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:52:40 GMT

Wow... its been a while since I've updated my blog. Been pretty busy with work and going to lots of weddings these days.

In any case, here is one of my favorite videos of Keira... its about a month old but it makes me laugh every time I see it. Regardless of how rough my day has been, it only takes a giggle out of Keira to wash away any stress I have.

Keira is learning how to talk... well kinda

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 05:00:41 GMT

Just a few weeks ago, Keira learned how to "army crawl." That's the stage just before crawling in which she uses primarily her elbows and feet to get around. Now she's scrambling all over the house, opening up cabinets, bumping her head into glass doors, and playing mop on our kitchen floor.

She's also recently started becoming more vocal (as seen below). Her vocabulary is limited to sounds made up of no more than 2 letters (e.g. "ne," "ba," "la," "eh," and "ma.") Anyone have a clue what she's saying?

Register as a Bone Marrow Donor... its simple

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:35:38 GMT

Elyse is the daughter of a friend of a friend. She is the oldest of triplets born just about 4 months ago and has been diagnosed with a very rare blood disorder (1 out of a million) which is life threatening. Please watch the following video and read about Elyse and her family's wish to find a donor.

If you are moved as E and I were, please register as a potential marrow donor here. You'll find instructions on how to register by email to receive a kit which allows you to submit a simple cheek swab to see if you are a match. Alternatively, you can donate to Elyse's fund here.

New Home Sweet Home

Thu, 03 May 2007 16:51:40 GMT

Its been about a month since we moved into our new home and we absolutely love it. We originally planned to move about a year ago but once we discovered how little space we could afford in the Bay Area, we nixed that idea pretty quickly. In fact, there was a time when we were seriously considering buying a place in East Palo Alto, but luckily friends like Tom convinced me otherwise by doctoring my photos of the place with potential scary situations like the one below. Thank God we didn't move there. It would have been a great "investment" but not very livable for another 5 years.

Then in late February, we decided to get back into the real estate rat race for a home of our own. By this time, we figured the market in the Bay Area had settled enough; and we even heard rumors that it was a "buyer's market." We found a place that we fell in love with and decided to go after it, only after about 2.5 weeks of looking. To our dismay, we heard it was a competitive bidding situation so we put together a very compelling offer: placed a bid a few percentage points ABOVE the asking price, had no contingencies, a 14 day close, and a personal letter to the owners!

I remember the night that we submitted our bid, I couldn't sleep at night. I had frightening visions of washing dishes on the side to make some extra cash, and feared my first mortgage payments. The next day we got a call from our agent and found out we actually got the house! I have to admit, I had a bigger "Oh S*&T!!!" moment when I heard this news, than when I found out E and I were pregnant." Needless to say, we'll be living conservatively for the next few years but we're both aboslutely thrilled with the place.

Its a humble 3 bedroom townhouse and its a stone's throw to the water. My favorite parts of the house are:

1. my very own garage with a work table and vice... I keep looking for random things to lock down in the vice and saw apart.

2. the hottub and deck in the back yard.

3. the fact that we don't have to worry about our neighbors on adjoining walls

We're still settling in but hopefully we'll be able to begin entertaining soon. Shoot me an email and I'll send our new contact details to you. If you're an MSN/Windows Live user, you can subscribe to my contact updates by clicking on my Profile.

K on her new jumperoo

Tue, 01 May 2007 00:42:14 GMT

A few weeks ago, we visited our friends' place for brunch and found that K abosolutely loved their jumperoo. E and I typically refrain from going overboard with toys for K, since we don't want to get lazy and rely on them to keep her occupied. However, we watched her jump for about 15 minutes straight, squeeling the whole time, so we decided to get her one of her own.

Here she is in her first week with the jumperoo at age 7.5 months. Actually, I think E and I might be doing more of the squeeling in this video.

Simple joys of fatherhood

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 00:18:51 GMT

Here is Keira at around 7 months old. I can't believe how big she is getting.

I love moments like this....

Baby sitting... almost

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:05:44 GMT

Its incredible how fast Keira's grown up. She just passed her 6 month birthday on Friday, and E and I are floored at how quickly she's growing up. One day, she was just laying around, waving her arms aimlessly in the air. Now she picks things up, tastes them (claiming ownership), and then looks for the next thing to investigate.

She's recently learned how to sit up... well sorta. I love this video. Luckily, our sofa is pretty soft.

Home sweet home

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 05:20:09 GMT

Its been a while since I've posted to my blog so its time to play catch up. Over the holidays, Erika, Keira and I took our first plane ride together to visit family and friends in Washington D.C. We spent about two weeks total there and had an incredible time. The weather was a balmy 70 degrees most of the trip! This visit was especially great since it was the first opportunity for almost everyone from back home (except my mother of course) to meet Keira.

E and I were both wary of the 5+ hour plane ride since we were travelling on Christmas eve and knew the plan would be packed. Luckily for us, Keira was an angel on both the outbound and the return flights (except for her "explosion up the backside" but that's not really under her control).

My family of course adored Keira and basically lobbied to take turns holding her the entire time we were there. Since Katie, my oldest sister, also had a seven month old son, Jason, the house seemed like a baby factory with group feedings, diaper changes, play time, nap times, etc. There was never a dull moment. For most of our trip, we had my mother, oldest sister, brother in law, three kids, Erika, Keira and myself in one house (my middle sister Judy headed back early to NYC for new years but got a crash course in child-care before she left!).

We also spent a ton of time catching up with old friends from my high school days. I can't count how many times I heard the comment, "I cannot believe YOU are a father!" and "Wow, its a good thing Keira looks like her mama!" Since several of my friends also recently had kids, it was great introducing them to one another and sharing stories. However, it was strange how all of a sudden this year, the crazy house-parties from back in the day had transformed into kid-friendly events. Nonetheless, my buddies and I still managed to make asses out of ourselves one way or another, just for old times sake.

There really is no place like home.

Keira in Cambria

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 05:47:48 GMT

Last week, E and I decided to take a quick getaway trip to celebrate our 1 year anniversary and drove down to Cambria, CA, a small, relaxing beach-town midway between SF and LA. Since it was the first trip we've taken with Keira, we literally packed her entire nursery into the SUV. The drive down the coast was amazing with scenic views of the Pacific the entire way; and Keira was a trooper as she endured the hairpin turns on Highway 1. During our first night in Cambria, we realized how travelling with a baby has changed our definition of fun. Rather than head out for a nice dinner, we decided last minute to order some take-out italian instead, and enjoyed eating our pasta with plastic forks and tin plates so that Keira could nap. Overall, the trip was extremely relaxing... walks along the beach, relaxing on our balcony overlooking the ocean, a trip to Hearst Castle, and a nice dinner out to Robins. We also spent our last night at a great B&B and enjoyed one of the most relaxing afternoons we've had a in long time. After a bit more practice, maybe next time, we'll be able to travel without the bouncy chair, changing pad, and jumbo pack of diapers.

On another topic, check out our costumes for Halloween. E and I sorta forgot to match our costumes with Keira so we went as Asian Hippies... with a baby pumpkin in tow.

Also, since lots of friends have asked about how extinction was going, here is an update... E and I decided to put it on hold, at least until Keira is a bit older. The first night seemed to go very smoothly but the second and third were unbearably difficult with Keira crying for 2-3 hours straight. Ultimately, we feel its a bit too early to try and teach her good sleeping habits at this stage and will probably revisit the issue in a few months.

Keira is becoming gangsta

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:37:02 GMT

Here are some more photos of the little one. Keira has recently discovered her fingers and enjoys throwing out gang signs to passerbys.

Also, a few photos from my mother's visit and our day trip to Half Moon Bay for tea at the Ritz.

Extinction

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:24:59 GMT

Tonight marks E and my first attempt at teaching Keira how to fall asleep on her own. Up until now, Keira has not been been able to sleep without being attached to either of us. At night, she sleeps for a few hours in between feedings but during the day, her naps have become shorter and very infrequent; often when we put her in her crib, she wakes up after 15 minutes and cries until either of have her in our arms. By the end of the day, she's exhausted and sleep deprived.

Since tomorrow is day #1 of my paternity leave, we figured it was the right time to try what the books call 'extinction' which is basically letting Keira cry it out. Its important that babies learn self soothing techniques and don't become entirely dependent on their parents to fall asleep.

We read stories of how some babies cry for as long as 2-3 hours before finally falling asleep so we've been dreading this all day. Luckily for us, it hasn't been as bad as we expected. Its been 1 hour and 4 mins since we put Keira to bed and it appears that she's run out of steam and has turned in for the night.

This is what I imagine Keira looks like right now. :-(

What a difference 3 weeks makes

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 06:36:33 GMT

Last night, we watched some video footage from the day Keira was born and it shocked us how much things have changed. First of all, it was embarassing watching ourselves flailing as we tried desperately to care for this new baby of ours. It was only 2 weeks ago when we needed three people to participate in the feeding event (one to position Keira, a second to hold her arms so she doesn't tug or scratch the "milk dispensers", and a third to actually provide the milk). Now E is comfortable doing it solo. Secondly, its amazing how much Keira has changed physically since then. The swelling in her face has gone down and she's already grown a few inches. Also, her legs and arms have become so strong that she pulls a houdini and escapes from her swaddle within 15 minutes. Finally, we've established a fairly regular feeding schedule so now we're able to get about 2-3 hours of sleep in between feeds at night, as opposed to the 30-60 minutes from week 1.

Here are a few more photos of Keira in her second week. Notice, her sense of style has improved quite dramatically, thanks especially to her grandmother (E's mom).

Baby Keira is 5 days old!

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:50:24 GMT

I am proud to announce that E and I became happy parents to our new daughter, Keira Kyuhee Sim on Saturday, September 9, 2006 at 5:30AM. Keira weighed a tiny 6 lbs 1 ounce and was 19 inches in length. The delivery was fairly smooth and labor lasted about 6 hours, although the entire night seemed like a blur. Even today when I think back on it, I feel like I'm recalling scenes from a movie. The labor was so intense and the actual delivery happened so quickly that it all seems surreal in retrospect.

Everyone has asked me what if feels like to be a dad... I can only say that I'm slowly getting used to it and I've stopped waiting for some other parents to come pick up their kid. I've also come to a quick realization that when Keira cries hysterically, there is no one else for E and I to give her to... the buck stops with us! I watch her in amazement as she fidgets in her sleep, and I love holding my ear up to her face to hear her faint breathing. I am humbled that this beautiful child came from the two of us, and that she was made so perfectly, down to her tiny toenails and full head of hair.

Here are photos from her first 3 days of life… enjoy! http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bz2r1bb.623flecz&x=0&y=woctof

In case you’re wondering about the name, we picked the name Keira primarily because it can be directly translated into Japanese; the characters mean “approaching hope.” We also realized that the spelling Keira is an anagram of Erika. Her middle name, Kyuhee, is a Korean name. The first character is what all the children of my generation of Sim’s will take on, and the second character borrows directly from my mother’s name.

Korean men... the Italians of Asia?

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 06:12:06 GMT

I've had several friends forward me the following article from the Washington Post titled, 'Japanese Women Catch the 'Korean Wave.' According to the article:

In recent years, the wild success of male celebrities from South Korea -- sensitive men but totally ripped -- has redefined what Asian women want, from Bangkok to Beijing, from Taipei to Tokyo.... Entertainment industry leaders in Seoul credit the phenomenon to good marketing coupled with an uncanny response throughout Asia to the expressive nature of the South Koreans -- long dubbed the Italians of Asia.

Who knew E was a trend-setter? hahaha! I asked her the same question but she didn't seem very impressed.

Another great japanese invention

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:45:03 GMT

E's mom came into town this past weekend from Tokyo. She'll be helping us out for about a month while E and I learn the ropes of raising a newborn. I can't imagine trying to do it on our own; and luckily, both our mom's have agreed to fly in and play coach for the next few months.

E's mom brought with her some nice gifts from Japan. The most impressive one is diapers that actually change color when the baby has done her deed. What a genius idea! There is a small strip that runs along the outside of the diaper and it changes color when the diaper needs to be changed. I'm assuming its like one of those mood rings that changes color with temperature changes. But in this case, red, instead of meaning "I'm flirtatious," will mean "I just crapped my pants." I can't wait to try them out.

I am a New Man

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 04:34:01 GMT

In the past few months, I got a ton of new stuff.

We moved into a new apartment in Foster City. A lot more room and still close enough to work, the city, and the airport. If you don't have our new address, send me an email.
We bought a new car. A 1996 Honda Pilot 4WD in Sage. It was the ultimate compromise car... an SUV on a minivan chasis. So far, we LOVE it and have already loaded it to the rim with new baby stuff.
We bought new phones; Sprint service sucked in Foster City so we went with Cingular. I finally got rid of my overweight Samsung Smartphone and replaced it with a Cingular 2125 Smartphone. Email me for our new numbers. And if you have any cool apps to load onto the phone, let me know.
And of course, we have a new baby coming... 4 weeks and counting down... QUICKLY!

E's Baby Shower (Photo Montage)

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 06:23:24 GMT

The baby's just two months away and E and I can't believe how fast its all approaching. Just this past weekend, E's highschool friends threw her a baby shower and totally pampered her with gifts, kind wishes, and her favorite... lots of desserts. Thank you Tina and Ching Yee for coordinating such a wonderful day.

Tina hired a photographer to capture all the great moments of the shower and she put together the following photo montage. The pictures are incredible and make me envious for not attending... okay, not really... I still preferred watching the world cup over drinking tea and eating crumpets with a bunch of women.

BTW, that guy in the photos... thats not me. Thats E's buddy Larry, the token male High School friend. What a trooper!

For those of you in LA who are looking for a photographer, I highly recommend Lillian. Shes just starting to make a name for herself and as you can tell from her photos, she is very gifted. You can reach her at: lillipadd@yahoo.com.

The Perfect Storm

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 02:08:35 GMT

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy at my family's home in Washington D.C. The Perfect Storm hit home a while back but things are finally looking better.

On Mother's day, my sister Katie gave birth to her third child, Jason, who was born at a whopping 8+ lbs! Mother and son are both very healthy, although Katie's recovery was slow. Unfortunately, on the very same day, my mother (who lives with my sister) came down with Shingles, a very painful virus infection which attacks one's nervous system. Shingles, its a dormant cousin strain of Chickenpox and typically hits people once they pass the age of 50 as their immune systems become weaker with age, stress, lack of sleep etc. Ironically, just last week, Merck announced that they got FDA approval for a Shingles vaccine. NOTE: get your parents/grandparents vaccinated! Shingles hits 50% of all adults by the time they are 85 and it is PAINFUL! Luckily, like the chickenpox, Shingles is a temporary virus infection and patients recover fully after 4-8 weeks.

As you can imagine, the household was quite chaotic with a newborn who risked catching chickenpox, a recovering mother with two other kids to take care of, and a grandmother with shingles... oh yeah, and my brother-in-law is taking the Virginia bar in July! Luckily, I was able to fly in to provide whatever relief I could. I got a quick lesson in changing diapers and burping Jason (which will come in very handy in about 3 months) and flew back to the Bay Area two weeks ago. Luckily, everyone seems to be recovering well.

Empty Nest Syndrome

Sat, 13 May 2006 18:15:12 GMT

Erika and I had a crash course in parenthood over the past month. To our amazement two weeks ago, we peered over at the dove's nest which had magically appeared in our balcony closet a about a month ago, and found two tiny little chicks sitting motionless with their mother (or father). The chicks were newly hatched and their feathers appeared coarse and wet when we first discovered them. Over the next few days, we'd look out a few times each day and notice that at least one of the parent birds would tend to the nest, while the other was out looking for food (or sometimes sat on the banister watching the family from afar).

Several days later, the chicks grew to literally twice their size. Their coarse feathers developed into a full, plush coat and their bodies were quickly becoming fuller. Each time we opened the balcony door and approached the nest to take photos, the chicks and parent sat there motionless, hoping that we would not disturb them.

This past weekend, Erika and I went away to DC for a few days and when we returned, we noticed that the chicks had grown to about 3/4 the size of the parents in that short period. The chicks no longer looked like babies, but more like smaller versions of the parents. They were so large that the trio could no longer fit inside the nest, and as you might expect, the mother was kicked to the curb.

Yesterday, I noticed that the parents were no where to be found and so I pulled out my camera to take a photos as I have many times before when all of a sudden, the chicks turned into a flurry of flapping on top of my head. I had inadvertently given them their first flying lesson. I guess without their mother/father by their side, their survival instincts took over.

The smaller of the two chicks (#2) landed on the floor of the balcony but, to our dismay, chick #1 was gone... no where to be found. We feared that maybe the chick tried to fly and crash landed three floors below but there was no trace. When we checked the nest again about 5 hours later, we noticed that chick #1 found its way back to the nest and #2 was sitting several feet away. Relieved that I had not caused the early demise of one of our chicks, E and I went to bed.

This morning, I woke up and checked the nest. Chick #2 (the smaller, less agile of the two) was still there but #1 was gone. No where to be found. When I opened the balcony door, the chick took off in flight like a pro, and disappeared over the roof of the next building.

Wow, just like that. They're gone. No grade school, no awkward puberty years, no high school graduation, no last family photo... just *poof* straight to college to leave us with an empty nest. We didn't even have a chance to name them.

At least now, I can get my golf shirts... although I'll probably put them through an extra cycle in the wash. You'll notice in the photos that the chicks left us lots to remember them by.

Letter from my 8 yr old nephew

Fri, 12 May 2006 00:35:40 GMT

Last month, my nephew sent me a letter he wrote in school. I thought it was hilarious!

--------------------------------------

March 9, 2006

Dear Uncle Richard,

How are you doing? I can't believe you guys are going to have a baby already. You guys just got married! My dad said Sumo (auntie in Korean) is trowing up. That's nasty.

Love,

Christian

--------------------------------------

BTW, she's feeling much better these days. No more trowing up.

Mini Sim on the Way

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 18:14:46 GMT

So I’ve waited until now to post this to my space, simply because I wanted to make sure I had the chance to tell as many of my friends as possible in person. Also I don't think I believed it was really true until I saw it with my own eyes.

In case you haven’t heard, E is pregnant. She’s actually 20+ weeks and if you’re doing the math, yes, it happened after our wedding… although only 2 months after.

We had our sonogram yesterday and I’m proud to say that we’re having a daughter. The radiologist said she was very healthy… 10 fingers, 10 toes, strong heartbeat, good size, etc. She’ll make her grand entrance into this world in the beginning of September.

Here she is… Mini Sim (that’s what I’m calling her for now).

New neighbor is awfully quiet

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:43:56 GMT

A new neighbor moved into our building this weekend, unbeknownst to us. You see, we have a storage closet on our balcony and among many other things, I've stored my summer golf shirts in a plastic bag in there. Yesterday, I went out to grab something from the closet and low and behold, I found a grey dove perched in a nest on top of my bag. (unfortunately, I apparently left the door open from before). I called E over and we both peered at it from afar. The dove was absolutely motionless. Since it didn't move, I told E that it was plastic and that I planted it there as a joke. She totally believed me until it blinked. Beyond that, there has been absolutely no movement from the dove in the past 2 days. No flapping, no breathing, no cooing.

Well, we did a bit of research online and it looks like its a Mourning Dove, which often nests in convenient places such as flower beds, balconies, and apparently tacky golf shirts. There is a pretty high chance that she's laying or hatching eggs so we'll try to leave her alone. Luckily for her, E recently watched March of the Penguins and is a huge fan of monogomous birds (which applies to Mourning Doves).

We'll post updates if we see her move... or hear babies chirping outside our window.

SIM... its spelled how it sounds!

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:47:41 GMT

Samara's blog about her name reminded me of a problem that has plagued me my entire life. [By the way, for you princesses out there, you would love her blog. You know who you are.]

My last name is dead simple. Sim, as in S-I-M. However, 9 times out of 10, people spell it incorrectly. I usually get Sims, although I clearly pronounce my name without the additional "S" at the end. I attribute this to westerns to whom "Sims" seems to be more familiar and rolls better off their tongue. This has noticeably gotten worse as the popularity of the Sims game, Sim-city grows.

But I also get more bizzare spellings like, SIMMS, SYMN, SIMM, SYM, SYMN and SYMNS (which I attribute to the discount retail store popular in the East Coast). Even when I spell it for customer service agents, they usually respond with "I can't seem to find your account Mr. Sims." ARGH!

So you may be thinking, "I've never heard of the Korean last name Sim... I know Lee, Park and of course Kim." Thats because it should actually be spelled SHIM which is how its pronounced in Korean. The problem is when my parents first immigrated to the US 32 years ago, the ignorant administrator who did the paperwork translated the characters directly into letters of the alphabet without asking my family how to actually pronounce their last name. In isloation, the characters translate into S-I-M but when put together, you pronounce it SHIM. That also explains why Lee is the same last name as Yee, Yi, and Rhee which are all pronounced incorrectly. (Its actually pronouned as "ee" as in the long E sound).

Imagine how complicated it would be if I had to explain, "My name is RICHARD SHIM, spelled S-I-M." Thanks for cursing me, Mr. INS administrator!

My house smells like Kimchee... mmmm good.

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 09:09:43 GMT

Well, its been a few weeks but I've been so busy these days that I haven't had a chance to blog about Mama-sim coming to visit her son and new daughter-in-law. While the weather didn't cooperate much, we had a blast. On saturday, Mama-sim, E and I got dimsum in Burlingame (it was mom's first time eating dimsum). Then we headed out to Santa Cruz to check out the Mystery Spot (you may have seen the bumper stickers). The Spot is essentially a strange place where the laws of gravity don't apply as they should (e.g. balls roll uphill, shorter people look taller than taller people, etc.) I've seen several explanations for the Spot but none of them appear to be scientifically proven. Check out this video I shot of of a ball rolling uphill. Very interesting stop if you're in the area. Then we went to the boardwalk for a quick stroll, and headed home for what would be our first of many fantastic, home cooked Korean dinners.

On Sunday, we drove down to San Jose to watch Corteo, the latest Cirque du Soliel show. I highly recommend it. Its the third I've seen and my second favorite after Quidam... likely because Quidam was my first experience.

My mom's primary goal of her visit was to teach E how to cook some Korean dishes. For 4 straight days, she spent about 6-8 hours per day cooking up unbelievable Korean meals, ranging from her special galbi recipe to her famous spice beef soup. E had a great time learning my mom's secret recipes and I had a blast day dreaming about how much good food I'll be eating over the next few weeks.

Mom has since left but she's left behind her mark... a freezer filled with enough home cooked meals to last us through a nuclear winter. Thanks mom!