Just a few pictures from our busy week: the kids learn to use new modes of transportation (sometimes looking ridiculous in the process), the malls put new sculptures on display, a pizza-themed birthday party, and Disney on Ice.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Jakarta Neighborhoods
One of the more interesting aspects of life in Jakarta is how closely poverty lives among wealth. They coexist, not just on the same city, or the same neighborhood, but on the same plots of land.
A few weeks ago, wanting to better explore our new neighborhood, I went for a jog. Instead of turning right out of my driveway and taking the streets with which I was familiar, I turned left, and took a trail used by pedestrians and bikes. Probably not the wisest decision from a security standpoint, but I did it nonetheless. A few days later, while my wife slept in on her one day per week to do so, I took the kids with me and we walked the same route. I tasked our daughter with taking pictures along the way.
Here is a taste of how many Jakartans live.
A few weeks ago, wanting to better explore our new neighborhood, I went for a jog. Instead of turning right out of my driveway and taking the streets with which I was familiar, I turned left, and took a trail used by pedestrians and bikes. Probably not the wisest decision from a security standpoint, but I did it nonetheless. A few days later, while my wife slept in on her one day per week to do so, I took the kids with me and we walked the same route. I tasked our daughter with taking pictures along the way.
Here is a taste of how many Jakartans live.
Tragedy Once Again
Jungle nights are mostly silent; eerily so. Nighttime predators use stealth to surprise their prey. Sound is their enemy. Nocturnal prey noisily foraging for food become fast food. Sound is also their enemy. Save for the few insects attracting a mate with what will be their final song, and the pitter-patter of falling rain, jungles are always silent.
On Thursday last week, several shots from an automatic rifle disrupted the nighttime silence. The force of their impact shattered both the windows they struck and the already fragile sense of security that had finally settled in the hearts and minds of the miners who traveled the jungle road each day on their way to work.
The men in the damaged vehicle had escaped injury. Even so, they were not about to attempt fate and remain where they were. The foot depressed the gas pedal with the urgency of survival. The fight or flight mechanism had made its decision and the body's autonomic response was already in motion. The shot-riddled vehicle lurched forward and accelerated to well over 100 kph on a road designed for a mere forty five.
Whether it be from structural damage, an uncontrolled burst of adrenaline in the driver, or simply from traveling too fast on a road not built for speed, control of the vehicle is lost. The vehicle plunges into a ditch, the gas tank begins to leak, and before the two men can escape, the car is engulfed in flames. The passengers are burned beyond recognition. A family, a community, and a company mourn.
Thus was the fate of two senior managers who died in the line of duty. Twenty year employees leaving behind family, friends, and a tenuous situation once thought under control. They will be missed.
I did not know them well, so I can only assume they would be honored by what followed. Three days of demonstrations, one thousand people strong, protested the security situation and demanded justice. Police captains and military colonels gave speeches condemning the acts and vowing to prevent further incidents. Several memorial ceremonies were held in their honor. There were renewed calls for vigilance with personal security.
Most importantly, life continued. Work continued. The company to which they devoted twenty years of service and, ultimately, their lives, continued. The perpetrators of fear had not won. Miners are a stronger breed than they had accounted for. Miners stare death in the face every day and then go home to their families and laugh.
These men gave their lives so that others could have one. They dedicated their careers to securing opportunity for the tens of thousands of men and women who earn a living extracting metal from the mountains. So we will continue to do what they worked hard every day to protect our opportunity to do.
We will mine.
On Thursday last week, several shots from an automatic rifle disrupted the nighttime silence. The force of their impact shattered both the windows they struck and the already fragile sense of security that had finally settled in the hearts and minds of the miners who traveled the jungle road each day on their way to work.
The men in the damaged vehicle had escaped injury. Even so, they were not about to attempt fate and remain where they were. The foot depressed the gas pedal with the urgency of survival. The fight or flight mechanism had made its decision and the body's autonomic response was already in motion. The shot-riddled vehicle lurched forward and accelerated to well over 100 kph on a road designed for a mere forty five.
Whether it be from structural damage, an uncontrolled burst of adrenaline in the driver, or simply from traveling too fast on a road not built for speed, control of the vehicle is lost. The vehicle plunges into a ditch, the gas tank begins to leak, and before the two men can escape, the car is engulfed in flames. The passengers are burned beyond recognition. A family, a community, and a company mourn.
Thus was the fate of two senior managers who died in the line of duty. Twenty year employees leaving behind family, friends, and a tenuous situation once thought under control. They will be missed.
I did not know them well, so I can only assume they would be honored by what followed. Three days of demonstrations, one thousand people strong, protested the security situation and demanded justice. Police captains and military colonels gave speeches condemning the acts and vowing to prevent further incidents. Several memorial ceremonies were held in their honor. There were renewed calls for vigilance with personal security.
Most importantly, life continued. Work continued. The company to which they devoted twenty years of service and, ultimately, their lives, continued. The perpetrators of fear had not won. Miners are a stronger breed than they had accounted for. Miners stare death in the face every day and then go home to their families and laugh.
These men gave their lives so that others could have one. They dedicated their careers to securing opportunity for the tens of thousands of men and women who earn a living extracting metal from the mountains. So we will continue to do what they worked hard every day to protect our opportunity to do.
We will mine.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
No looting in Japan
Like most of the world, I watched the humanity unfold after the third major earthquake and tsunami disaster in the last ten years. The before and after photos of the area are sobering, to say the least. This event was truly a reminder of the fragility of humanity on our planet.
During disaster events, I am more interested in the stories of survival, courage, and overcoming odds than I am in the stories of despair and loss. My favorite stories included the dog that would not leave the side of its injured companion; the fisherman who captained his small boat out to sea and climbed six different ninety-foot waves, determined to beat the tsunami or die trying; the biologist who saved the finless dolphin stranded in a rice patty; the grocer who gave away everything on his shelves so people would have food and clean water; the high school students who formed a bucket line from the school’s pool to the local shelter so people had water with which to clean themselves; and the nuclear plant workers risking their lives so they can save their community. To me, these will be my memories of the Japanese Tsunami: strength and compassion amidst diversity.
As I continued to watch the events unfold, as people grew increasingly concerned over the stability of the nuclear power plant, there was an odd nagging in the back of my mind that something was missing. I recalled the images of the time Katrina caused devastation in New Orleans. I remembered people standing in the streets, asking “where is our government”, complaining about the inadequacy of the levees and how it must be criminal or a conspiracy.
Then it hit me. I realized what was missing from the Japanese crises. Where was the looting? Where were the people demanding restitution from a government who had failed to protect them from Mother Nature? Where were the calls for politicians to resign because they did not have a sea wall capable of fending off six, ninety-foot walls of water traveling at five-hundred miles per hour? Where were the stories of Japanese people focusing on their needs, and only their needs – something psychologist and anthropologist and sociologists always tell us is the natural behavior when survival instincts kick in? Why was no one blaming Global Warming?
It wasn’t there. It isn’t happening.
Instead, we have a fishing boat captain who braved the waves only to return to his island and provide free passage on his ship for anyone needing to get to the mainland. We have nuclear plant workers who intentionally expose themselves to deadly levels of radiation to save their community. We have expats from Tokyo funding and leading caravans of basic supplies in a show of solidarity for their adopted country. We have an region of people putting community before self at a time when personal needs are not satisfied.
Simply remarkable. More than that, it is a lesson for Americans who value individualism, award TV shows that stroke the egos of divas, and continue to award entitlements (corporate and individual) at a time when our national debt is spiraling out of control. We care more about what we feel is “owed” to “me”, than we do about is needed by “us”.
More than anything else, that is the lesson I take away from this disaster. What about you?
During disaster events, I am more interested in the stories of survival, courage, and overcoming odds than I am in the stories of despair and loss. My favorite stories included the dog that would not leave the side of its injured companion; the fisherman who captained his small boat out to sea and climbed six different ninety-foot waves, determined to beat the tsunami or die trying; the biologist who saved the finless dolphin stranded in a rice patty; the grocer who gave away everything on his shelves so people would have food and clean water; the high school students who formed a bucket line from the school’s pool to the local shelter so people had water with which to clean themselves; and the nuclear plant workers risking their lives so they can save their community. To me, these will be my memories of the Japanese Tsunami: strength and compassion amidst diversity.
As I continued to watch the events unfold, as people grew increasingly concerned over the stability of the nuclear power plant, there was an odd nagging in the back of my mind that something was missing. I recalled the images of the time Katrina caused devastation in New Orleans. I remembered people standing in the streets, asking “where is our government”, complaining about the inadequacy of the levees and how it must be criminal or a conspiracy.
Then it hit me. I realized what was missing from the Japanese crises. Where was the looting? Where were the people demanding restitution from a government who had failed to protect them from Mother Nature? Where were the calls for politicians to resign because they did not have a sea wall capable of fending off six, ninety-foot walls of water traveling at five-hundred miles per hour? Where were the stories of Japanese people focusing on their needs, and only their needs – something psychologist and anthropologist and sociologists always tell us is the natural behavior when survival instincts kick in? Why was no one blaming Global Warming?
It wasn’t there. It isn’t happening.
Instead, we have a fishing boat captain who braved the waves only to return to his island and provide free passage on his ship for anyone needing to get to the mainland. We have nuclear plant workers who intentionally expose themselves to deadly levels of radiation to save their community. We have expats from Tokyo funding and leading caravans of basic supplies in a show of solidarity for their adopted country. We have an region of people putting community before self at a time when personal needs are not satisfied.
Simply remarkable. More than that, it is a lesson for Americans who value individualism, award TV shows that stroke the egos of divas, and continue to award entitlements (corporate and individual) at a time when our national debt is spiraling out of control. We care more about what we feel is “owed” to “me”, than we do about is needed by “us”.
More than anything else, that is the lesson I take away from this disaster. What about you?
Saturday, April 9, 2011
The Myth of Retirement - my new rant
This is a topic I've been bouncing around in my head for several months and is a nice follow-on to my last post about buying my own business. My new business is my 401k....and will hopefully have a much higher return.
Begin the rant....
Retirement is a myth. The "Greatest Generation" and possibly the "Baby Boomer" generation will be the last to 'retire', by the conventional definition. Further, all the advice financial professionals offer regarding retirement does more to line their own pockets than it does to contribute to your life. Strong assertions, to be sure, and here is why I believe it:
First, people were never meant to retire. When FDR rolled out Social Security, the age at which you could obtain benefits was older than the average lifespan of Americans. Social Security was just a tricky way to add a new tax. It was never intended to provide retirement benefits for the majority of Americans. The mistake politicians have made over the years is not that they borrowed against this fund, it's that they didn't continue to increase the benefit age at the same rate average life span increased.
Second, I question the whole premise of working hard from 22 to 62, saving 10%, or more, of your income, and then stop working at 62. I'm a huge fan of savings - my wife will tell you I'm too big a fan - but not at the expense of living. When you reach 62, one of two things will be true: 1) You'll be very healthy, full of energy, and, after a few weeks of not having something to do everyday you'll be bored and wish you were working; 2) You'll be too sick to work, which means you'll be too sick to enjoy "retirement".
Many people will counter that they plan to travel more when they retire and spend more time with family. Fine, but will you travel fifty-two weeks a year? How much will that cost? And will your family be retiring with you so they can spend as much time with you as you'll have available? Both are unlikely. If you want to see if you are truly ready for retirement, take two weeks off of work but don't plan anything. Don't use those two weeks to take a vacation, or do a house project. Just take two, random weeks off and see how you spend your days. My bet is you'll be bored or end up spending way too much money (just see the studies of people who work 4, 10 hour days and how those three day weekends affected their finances).
I prefer to take mini-retirements every year. I'll take a big vacation - one probably a little more expensive than I can afford - because I'm buying memories now that I cannot get in retirement when my kids have their own kids. Plus, I have time arbitrage on my side. If the vacation I want to take is a little too expensive now, it just means I have to work an extra 3, 6, or 12 months towards the end - or find new ways to make money today (which is my preferred approach). Why should corporate America get all my best years? I want some of my best years for myself and my family.
Finally, the financial experts want us to save too much money. Why? Because they are paid based on the size of our portfolios. The larger the portfolio, the more they earn. Their pitch is always the same: "You want to maintain your standard of living in retirement, so you need the same income." They take your current income and determine the "nest egg number" that your income is 5% of, and then formulate a plan for how to get there.
Think about that for a moment. What is your single largest expense today? For most people, it's a mortgage payment. Most mortgages are 30 years. Will you still be paying a mortgage when you retire? Likely not. You may even downsize your house, so the rest of your expenses will be lower, too. Even after adjusting for inflation, you are not likely to need anywhere near your current income to maintain your current standard of living. Unless.....
Medical bills are the big X factor, and this is where the biggest "matter of opinion" comes into play. Having lived overseas and seen the cost of medical care in Indonesia and Singapore, I can tell you the American medical system is broken and too expensive. Medical insurance is a waste of money. A perfect example is Dental insurance. If you are like me, and you brush and floss regularly, you are actually losing money by paying for dental insurance instead of just paying out of pocket for your two annual visits - the premiums exceed the cost of two visits. Medical care is the same - if you are healthy, take good care of yourself, and avoid the "lifestyle" illnesses (diabetes, smoking related illnesses), you are better off paying out of pocket as you go.
The one caveat to all of that is catastrophic care. If you are in a major car accident or are diagnosed with cancer, the bills will be outrageous. I choose to cover this with a catastrophic medical insurance that kicks in once my medical bills exceed a certain amount. Prior to that number, it is all out of pocket. Bucks conventional wisdom, yes. Puts most people out of their comfort zone, yes. It is also the more rational and better economic decision.
One final thought. What happens to all the retirement money you've saved when you die? You can't take it with you. You also can't will it to your heirs. The government wants half of it, at least. Why give it to them? Spend it on yourself and your family while you both are around to enjoy it together....just make sure you have 6 months of expenses in your savings account at all times. Never know when the income will stop.
My controversial rant is now done. I will return to the regular programming in my next blog.....
Begin the rant....
Retirement is a myth. The "Greatest Generation" and possibly the "Baby Boomer" generation will be the last to 'retire', by the conventional definition. Further, all the advice financial professionals offer regarding retirement does more to line their own pockets than it does to contribute to your life. Strong assertions, to be sure, and here is why I believe it:
First, people were never meant to retire. When FDR rolled out Social Security, the age at which you could obtain benefits was older than the average lifespan of Americans. Social Security was just a tricky way to add a new tax. It was never intended to provide retirement benefits for the majority of Americans. The mistake politicians have made over the years is not that they borrowed against this fund, it's that they didn't continue to increase the benefit age at the same rate average life span increased.
Second, I question the whole premise of working hard from 22 to 62, saving 10%, or more, of your income, and then stop working at 62. I'm a huge fan of savings - my wife will tell you I'm too big a fan - but not at the expense of living. When you reach 62, one of two things will be true: 1) You'll be very healthy, full of energy, and, after a few weeks of not having something to do everyday you'll be bored and wish you were working; 2) You'll be too sick to work, which means you'll be too sick to enjoy "retirement".
Many people will counter that they plan to travel more when they retire and spend more time with family. Fine, but will you travel fifty-two weeks a year? How much will that cost? And will your family be retiring with you so they can spend as much time with you as you'll have available? Both are unlikely. If you want to see if you are truly ready for retirement, take two weeks off of work but don't plan anything. Don't use those two weeks to take a vacation, or do a house project. Just take two, random weeks off and see how you spend your days. My bet is you'll be bored or end up spending way too much money (just see the studies of people who work 4, 10 hour days and how those three day weekends affected their finances).
I prefer to take mini-retirements every year. I'll take a big vacation - one probably a little more expensive than I can afford - because I'm buying memories now that I cannot get in retirement when my kids have their own kids. Plus, I have time arbitrage on my side. If the vacation I want to take is a little too expensive now, it just means I have to work an extra 3, 6, or 12 months towards the end - or find new ways to make money today (which is my preferred approach). Why should corporate America get all my best years? I want some of my best years for myself and my family.
Finally, the financial experts want us to save too much money. Why? Because they are paid based on the size of our portfolios. The larger the portfolio, the more they earn. Their pitch is always the same: "You want to maintain your standard of living in retirement, so you need the same income." They take your current income and determine the "nest egg number" that your income is 5% of, and then formulate a plan for how to get there.
Think about that for a moment. What is your single largest expense today? For most people, it's a mortgage payment. Most mortgages are 30 years. Will you still be paying a mortgage when you retire? Likely not. You may even downsize your house, so the rest of your expenses will be lower, too. Even after adjusting for inflation, you are not likely to need anywhere near your current income to maintain your current standard of living. Unless.....
Medical bills are the big X factor, and this is where the biggest "matter of opinion" comes into play. Having lived overseas and seen the cost of medical care in Indonesia and Singapore, I can tell you the American medical system is broken and too expensive. Medical insurance is a waste of money. A perfect example is Dental insurance. If you are like me, and you brush and floss regularly, you are actually losing money by paying for dental insurance instead of just paying out of pocket for your two annual visits - the premiums exceed the cost of two visits. Medical care is the same - if you are healthy, take good care of yourself, and avoid the "lifestyle" illnesses (diabetes, smoking related illnesses), you are better off paying out of pocket as you go.
The one caveat to all of that is catastrophic care. If you are in a major car accident or are diagnosed with cancer, the bills will be outrageous. I choose to cover this with a catastrophic medical insurance that kicks in once my medical bills exceed a certain amount. Prior to that number, it is all out of pocket. Bucks conventional wisdom, yes. Puts most people out of their comfort zone, yes. It is also the more rational and better economic decision.
One final thought. What happens to all the retirement money you've saved when you die? You can't take it with you. You also can't will it to your heirs. The government wants half of it, at least. Why give it to them? Spend it on yourself and your family while you both are around to enjoy it together....just make sure you have 6 months of expenses in your savings account at all times. Never know when the income will stop.
My controversial rant is now done. I will return to the regular programming in my next blog.....
And now, the BIG announcement....
I have had two professional goals in life. The first was to be involved in international business. Check. The second was to own my own business. As of a few weeks ago, I can now officially say: Check!
Prior to moving to Jakarta, my wife and I were considering buying a business. I spent nearly two years researching different businesses, franchises, and start up opportunities. I researched the success rate of business (low) and what caused them to fail (too small a market). My research indicated that new businesses were more likely to fail than to succeed. For franchises, the opposite was true - success was the greater likelihood.
We seriously explored opportunities of owning party stores, laundromats, a Bounce University franchise and restaurants. We finally settled on an opportunity we believed would be successful in good times, and MORE successful during a recession: a Kid to Kid franchise.
Ultimately, we decided moving to Jakarta was our best option at the time. In January of last year, my company outsourced the majority of its IT operations. My division - software development - remained in house, but the outsource was a further reminder to me of just how fragile any job is, regardless of industry or skill set. Every company I've worked for in my fifteen year career has had layoffs, downsizing or outsourcing. I was no longer comfortable having all my income eggs in one basket.
I had a long conversation with my sister, someone I knew had an entrepreneurial spirit, about opening a business. I had the cash to fund it, and her phase in life permitted her to take a larger professional risk. We decided to go for it, and in June I bought the franchise.
Fast forward 9 months and gloss over the inability to obtain financing, lost time negotiating with a potential landlord struggling through bankruptcy reorganization, and a setback when our new landlord had to renege on a promise to pay for the build-out (an $85,000 expense), and we are where we are today. Lease is finalized, funding is in our account (after cashing in my life savings) and we have the keys to the store.
Our store will be opening in August. We are targeting a 4 August Grand Opening. I hope everyone of you in Arizona will be able to make it and help make our opening day a great success!
Prior to moving to Jakarta, my wife and I were considering buying a business. I spent nearly two years researching different businesses, franchises, and start up opportunities. I researched the success rate of business (low) and what caused them to fail (too small a market). My research indicated that new businesses were more likely to fail than to succeed. For franchises, the opposite was true - success was the greater likelihood.
We seriously explored opportunities of owning party stores, laundromats, a Bounce University franchise and restaurants. We finally settled on an opportunity we believed would be successful in good times, and MORE successful during a recession: a Kid to Kid franchise.
Ultimately, we decided moving to Jakarta was our best option at the time. In January of last year, my company outsourced the majority of its IT operations. My division - software development - remained in house, but the outsource was a further reminder to me of just how fragile any job is, regardless of industry or skill set. Every company I've worked for in my fifteen year career has had layoffs, downsizing or outsourcing. I was no longer comfortable having all my income eggs in one basket.
I had a long conversation with my sister, someone I knew had an entrepreneurial spirit, about opening a business. I had the cash to fund it, and her phase in life permitted her to take a larger professional risk. We decided to go for it, and in June I bought the franchise.
Fast forward 9 months and gloss over the inability to obtain financing, lost time negotiating with a potential landlord struggling through bankruptcy reorganization, and a setback when our new landlord had to renege on a promise to pay for the build-out (an $85,000 expense), and we are where we are today. Lease is finalized, funding is in our account (after cashing in my life savings) and we have the keys to the store.
Our store will be opening in August. We are targeting a 4 August Grand Opening. I hope everyone of you in Arizona will be able to make it and help make our opening day a great success!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Milestone Week
The past eight days have been so full of milestones you would think it had been a year.
This week marks the end of our original two year assignment. We've officially been in Indonesia for two years now. It's amazing how quickly it has truly flown by. It's almost starting to feel like home. I mean, I even did yard work last week...though my staff laughed at my unique method for removing coconuts from our palm trees. (I used the pole for the pool vacuum....our gardener, once he heard what I did, decided to climb the tree and remove them the more traditional way). Today I even added weather stripping to some of the doors in an attempt to keep the mosquitoes outside without calling the handyman provided to us. We also have decided that Sundays will be "a day without staff". No drivers, nannies or maids came today.
As big as those events are, they pale in comparison to our kids' milestones.
I'll start with our son. Last week, my son decided to scare us all by falling in the pool and spending a few petrifying seconds floating face down before I could grab him and lift him out. This week, he has made up for it by jumping from the pool wall and kicking his little legs to swim to us. Not quite buoyant yet but he sure is trying.
The bigger event happened today. He no longer sleeps in a crib. We have converted his crib to the toddler bed so he can crawl in and out when he is ready. Climbing in, once we gave him a step stool, was easy. Climbing out proved a little more challenging, until I showed him how. Then, in a flashback to my youth, he insisted on practicing the technique dozens of times, wanting praise from us each time he did it, until he had it mastered. He is less than eighteen months old.
The honor for the biggest milestone of all, however, goes to our four year-old daughter. Yesterday, for the first time, after having a bike for just since Christmas, she tried to ride her bike without the training wheels. She was very apprehensive initially, so after five unsuccessful tries - all without falling, but all without really trying - I stopped it and we went swimming. While we were swimming, I reminded her of all the things she does today that she couldn't before - swimming, ice skating, cutting with scissors, walking. I told her the only thing preventing her from riding the bike was she didn't believe it possible. As long as she believed she could do it, she would.
After swimming, she wanted to try again. First try, she pulls it off. Today (Sunday), she progressed from riding unassisted, to stopping unassisted, to starting unassisted and even made turns. I think by the end of the week she'll be riding in loops and will have the biggest opportunity for freedom a person has until they get their first car. Bikes open a whole new world for kids.
I have video I'll be posting later in the week. For now, the pictures will have to suffice.
My wife and I recounted the major development milestones our daughter achieved during her 5th year (age 4). They are pretty remarkable:
1) Bike with training wheels.
2) Bike without training wheels
3) Stopped sucking her thumb
4) Sleeps without her security blanket
5) Started doing math (simple addition, she's not Rain Man)
6) Wrote her first words
7) Read her first words (she can almost read "Green Eggs and Ham")
8) Uses a toilet without assistance
This week marks the end of our original two year assignment. We've officially been in Indonesia for two years now. It's amazing how quickly it has truly flown by. It's almost starting to feel like home. I mean, I even did yard work last week...though my staff laughed at my unique method for removing coconuts from our palm trees. (I used the pole for the pool vacuum....our gardener, once he heard what I did, decided to climb the tree and remove them the more traditional way). Today I even added weather stripping to some of the doors in an attempt to keep the mosquitoes outside without calling the handyman provided to us. We also have decided that Sundays will be "a day without staff". No drivers, nannies or maids came today.
As big as those events are, they pale in comparison to our kids' milestones.
I'll start with our son. Last week, my son decided to scare us all by falling in the pool and spending a few petrifying seconds floating face down before I could grab him and lift him out. This week, he has made up for it by jumping from the pool wall and kicking his little legs to swim to us. Not quite buoyant yet but he sure is trying.
The bigger event happened today. He no longer sleeps in a crib. We have converted his crib to the toddler bed so he can crawl in and out when he is ready. Climbing in, once we gave him a step stool, was easy. Climbing out proved a little more challenging, until I showed him how. Then, in a flashback to my youth, he insisted on practicing the technique dozens of times, wanting praise from us each time he did it, until he had it mastered. He is less than eighteen months old.
The honor for the biggest milestone of all, however, goes to our four year-old daughter. Yesterday, for the first time, after having a bike for just since Christmas, she tried to ride her bike without the training wheels. She was very apprehensive initially, so after five unsuccessful tries - all without falling, but all without really trying - I stopped it and we went swimming. While we were swimming, I reminded her of all the things she does today that she couldn't before - swimming, ice skating, cutting with scissors, walking. I told her the only thing preventing her from riding the bike was she didn't believe it possible. As long as she believed she could do it, she would.
After swimming, she wanted to try again. First try, she pulls it off. Today (Sunday), she progressed from riding unassisted, to stopping unassisted, to starting unassisted and even made turns. I think by the end of the week she'll be riding in loops and will have the biggest opportunity for freedom a person has until they get their first car. Bikes open a whole new world for kids.
I have video I'll be posting later in the week. For now, the pictures will have to suffice.
My wife and I recounted the major development milestones our daughter achieved during her 5th year (age 4). They are pretty remarkable:
1) Bike with training wheels.
2) Bike without training wheels
3) Stopped sucking her thumb
4) Sleeps without her security blanket
5) Started doing math (simple addition, she's not Rain Man)
6) Wrote her first words
7) Read her first words (she can almost read "Green Eggs and Ham")
8) Uses a toilet without assistance
Just the way you like it
One of the benefits of living in Jakarta is the ability to custom order just about anything because, as long as the materials are local, both the labor and materials are extremely inexpensive. Though we have yet to purchase the two pieces of furniture we planned on buying before we even moved here - a dining room table and an armoire - we have taken advantage of our ability to have items custom made.
For Christmas last year, I brought a tailor a pair of dress slacks I really like, selected three fabrics, and, a week later, I had three more pairs of pants in the exact style. Lately, we've become more creative.
First was a custom crib. We didn't plan on having a third child (initially) after our son was born, so we sold or gave away most of the infant needs - including the temporary crib we purchased. With a new child on the way, we needed a new one. This time, we decided we wanted something that could be a family heirloom. Below is the result. The writing on the side reads "Sweet Dreams", in Indonesian.
The second happened when our maid damaged one of my dress shirts. Just one tiny spot of over-bleaching, right over the heart, and I could no longer consider it a shirt for work. It was still in great condition, and I didn't want to part with it. Instead, we hired a tailor to turn it into a conductor's outfit for our son.
For Christmas last year, I brought a tailor a pair of dress slacks I really like, selected three fabrics, and, a week later, I had three more pairs of pants in the exact style. Lately, we've become more creative.
First was a custom crib. We didn't plan on having a third child (initially) after our son was born, so we sold or gave away most of the infant needs - including the temporary crib we purchased. With a new child on the way, we needed a new one. This time, we decided we wanted something that could be a family heirloom. Below is the result. The writing on the side reads "Sweet Dreams", in Indonesian.
The second happened when our maid damaged one of my dress shirts. Just one tiny spot of over-bleaching, right over the heart, and I could no longer consider it a shirt for work. It was still in great condition, and I didn't want to part with it. Instead, we hired a tailor to turn it into a conductor's outfit for our son.
Finally, with my lack of flexibility and twenty extra pounds, I find it hard to sit down on the marble floors to play with the kids. I much prefer the more active activities we do outside. Alas, my daughter always wants to play with the doll house. I had two choices - wait until my flexibility and joints could accommodate being on the floor, or find a way to bring the floor to me. I opted for the latter. I had an idea about a table that would grow with the kids. With help from my Austrian visitor in January (an engineer by trade), I designed a table that expands both horizontally and vertically. It's meant to be a standing table both today and when they are in high school. The top itself has an additional leaf to add to the center and the legs are telescopic. Pretty cool! Now that we have it, there are a few design changes I would make (like, not allowing the legs to come completely out - makes standing it up a challenge, and wheels that lock). Overall, I like it.
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