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January 25, 2026January 25, 2026

Snowmageddon 2026 and ADD: fixing the stove top

Stuck at home and refusing to shovel the driveway yet, my self diagnosed ADD is on overdrive. I decided to clean the house and finally decided on fixing my stove top. A burner has been off line for about 20 years. I think it worked at first after we moved in (new build) but it shortly went out. Probably could have had it fixed under warranty but didn’t want to deal with it then.

This little guy’s hasn’t been functional for years

we’ve gone this long need using it do we really need it? Is it worth having someone come fix it? I had multiple attempts at starting but was always deterred by analysis paralysis. Wasn’t sure how to get started. Yes, I could search online but that’s also takes time.

Well 20 (maybe 19) years later here we are. sometimes you just got to jump right in. With the momentum of avoiding other cleaning and shoveling we have progress. I wasn’t sure how to get the cook top up and then get to the element. There are actually no tutorials for this specific model.

Looks like mybwork here is done… Now I’m just waiting for the new ceramic element. I hope I dont leave it like this for another 10 years. YS will kill me.

Now off to my next project. I guess I really should shovel…

June 24, 2024

Morning out in Tamsui for breakfast

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July 23, 2017July 23, 2017

From Buddha to Adonis (body type) – the 60 Day Challenge

It’s scary to look at some pictures from just a few years ago. It’s so easy to just let life happen and all of a sudden you have sleep apnea. I’ve been telling myself, I need to get back down to 170lbs for the past… since 7 years maybe? Well this post is more of a motivation for myself than anything.

Life Time Fitness has this 60-day-challenge where you get some access to other classes, and “virtual coaches” and diet recipes that help you get to either a goal weight or overall “whole body transformation”. You can actually win some loot. Now there is an associated cost, but it helps drive incentive to perpetual physical activity.

I feel like I want to join and be on my way to a healthy BMI, but then I start to make excuses… I already don’t have the time to dedicate 100% to working out, going to the fitness classes (which is true, the times are not compatible with current life), I will not have any use for the recipe’s that they offer, and why should I use a virtual coach, how would that help?

Well… as I tell my patients, you have to make the time. There is always time to do something. You may not want to do it, but there is always a way to find it or make it. For instance, instead of working out now, I am sitting here writing this blog (which by the way, I commend anyone who does this regularly because it is hard to do well). As I made the excuses in my head, I realized, how can I expect my patients to take anything I say seriously if I can’t do it myself.

My current BMI is 26.4 (near my all time high). I do have a family history of vascular dementia, stroke, heart attack and diabetes. So why the heck would I not take my health seriously, and take my own advice. Now As I write this, I have already started to implement some Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC). On my professional Facebook Page, I have been trying to track my physical activity via PolarBeat. I like tracking my heart rate during exercise as it give me a better idea of the calorie use. I also sport a FitBit (mainly due to the benefit we get from our health insurance). You do NOT need these tech gadgets to be healthy, but I like gadgets.

I frequently ask my patient to use myFitnessPal to track calories and activity to help them stay focused on their goal weight loss. They have Apps you can use for both Android and iOS. I think you can actually watch my MyFitnessPal Diary here. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/alphapenguin

So back to this 60-day challenge. I’ve tried sticking with P90x in the past but can’t get beyond day 30. Working out about 90 minutes a day takes a helluva time away from the day. Personal trainers are expensive. You know what though, not good excuses. Even if it’s just 40, or even 30, or even 20 minutes a day, it’s better than nothing. Finding ways to multitask works best. Unless you are superhuman and get up at 4 am to workout like some people I know, great ways to get physical activity in is to be active when you choose to be sedentary. Sounds obvious, but I mean instead of sitting down for 1-2 hrs watching NetFlix or a basketball game, get on a stationary bike or a treadmill (if you have one) and watch the Netflix. If you don’t have one, there are ways to get creative to do something. Now YouTube has a lot of great workout channels/videos with exercises. If you want to spend the money, there is the BeachBody On Demand, which gives you access to most of the BeachBody Material via the Android/iOS apps or via the website.

To keep myself motivated and accountable, and maybe to help motivate others that know me (or even the ones that don’t), I decided to publicly journal my strive for fitness. I’d love to have that six pack, but I think I would love even more is to not die of a heart attack prematurely or succumb to diabetes. As far as I know, I have been lucky so far with my biometric screens. Also, it would be nice not to have sleep apnea.

My current Plan to stay accountable:

GOAL: Weight loss down to 170lbs

Commitment:

must work out at least 20-40 min in a day, 5-6 days a week, and will provide proof. Will likely update blog weekly. maybe daily? To be seen.
must log food/calorie intake daily (will be using myFitnessPal), as above, may update only weekly.
will post weekly weigh-in weight.
no Fast foods.

how long am I going to last…

[dare i post a before picture here?]

Feel free to comment with any thoughts.

July 23, 2017July 23, 2017

The Morning Struggle (with sleepy children)

For some reason, every morning seems to be a struggle in this household (specifically “school days”). Without fail, I find myself in a perpetual battle with my little clones. It’s like a video game. Level 1 is the Wake Up battle. When I enter their room and start the wake-up ritual, I am usually rebuffed with:

I’m too tired… I hate baba… baba hates me… I don’t want to go to school… bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

It’s almost scripted.

I know I am not the only one who faces this opposition. The Holderness Family on youtube made a very exact/funny music video that depicts the struggle well:

You would think that a 6-year-old should be able to get up, go to the bathroom, and brush their teeth without assistance (since I’ve seen her do it before), or am I expecting too much? Then the ever monotonous “put on your pants… put ON your pants… PUT ON YOUR PANTS… ok when I come back you better have your pants on!” The response usually is “you have to heeeelp meeeee. I cant do it myseeeeelf… WAAAAH!” I know I know, they are just throwing a fit and trying to make the sap-of-dad succumb to their will, but when you are in a time crunch, there is no time to putz around.

Some days they like to do the exact opposite. VBear was actually out of bed. Teeth brushed, and bladder emptied. All she had to do was put on her pants. I give them to her, and tell her I will be back after I take the dog out. I come back and of course, she’s ready… to make me late for work. For some reason instead of putting her pants on, she was sitting with just the undies on. It was comical and infuriating at the same time. She was just sitting there still staring at her pants. She wasn’t laughing or giggling. Maybe she thought it would be funny. Maybe she needed to take her shirt off and socks off before putting the pants on. Till this day I never did get an explanation.

Now if this was a video game, Level 2 is getting out the door. You have to get not just one but 2 unruly hooligans to get their shoes on. This may seem to be an easy task, but for some reason they can make it very arduous and exasperating. De-Ja-Vu. I hear the words “I can’t do it by myself, You have to help meeee!” mixed in with the occasional cry. Now Jette and Viv both can put their own shoes on. I’ve seen them do it. To expedite departure, I end up helping.

The odd thing is ViviEtte always give me the wrong foot no matter what shoe I grab. It’s almost like they really think the curved insole belongs on the outside (but I don’t think they are even looking when I am helping.) Maybe they are just f’ing with me.

With one child, I still encountered these shenanigans, but with two the variable of the sibling c0nlfict must be factored in:

My beautiful girls in all their glory.

Now once I get them in the car, get to the daycare, we reach the final level. The drop-off. It’s a hit or miss if Jette will happily sit down to eat breakfast, or if she will be like an alien

face hugger, and cling on for dear life. Now if she chooses the latter, it’s another 5 minutes of prying her off. Don’t get me wrong I love my penguins. If I didn’t have to get to work, this would be less of an issue. It would still be an issue because these antics would drive anyone insane. That’s a whole other topic. I commend anyone to everyone that is a primary stay at home parent. It’s a thankless job that requires patience and mental fortitude. Every time I go through this I think to myself, I need to give my mom a hug for not only raising me and my brother but also watching my Penguins.

After beating the final level, you think you’ve won, but now its time to play another game… the one called work. It’s like an MMORPG. Then it restarts all over at 645am the next day.

I commend anyone to everyone that is a primary stay at home parent. It’s a thankless job that requires patience and mental fortitude. Every time I go through this I think to myself, I need to give my mom a hug for not only raising me and my brother but also watching my Penguins.

November 25, 2016November 25, 2016

Introducing Penguin Friends: Vivi’s New Youtube channel

Vivi and Juliette love watching youtube, specifically this channel where this lady plays with toys or reveals what toy is hidden in random cups of goo.

I asked Vivi if she wanted to make videos of this as well. Well she said yes. She has always been a ham for the lime light:-) I also figure it’s a way to catalog her antics.

Here’s the intro:

October 9, 2013October 9, 2013

ViviBear Milestone: Potty in the toilet (by herself), and Juliette is a poo machine (fun fact)

First off, what is potty? I never liked that term. I remember in preschool people used the term “potty”. I was like, wtf is that? I always knew it as going to the bathroom (in english at least). Then in 2nd grade, this one blonde chic Paige Patacky (sp) kept saying “I need to go potty”. I just let it go, and never used the term, well until ViviBear came along.

Maybe kids associate better with the term “Potty” rater than “Urinate/defecate” or “go to the bathroom”. Maybe it’s just me. Of course I figure the term derives from the good ol’chamber pot. Well according to Wikipedia, that is where it is from. It took me all these years to actually google that.

On that note, I am happy to say that today 10/9/2013 ViviBear stated “I NEED TO PEE PEE”, ran to the bathroom. As I followed her as per routine, she stuck her hand out and commanded “STOP! I do.” She proceeded to take pants and diaper off, then climbed onto the toilet. Drained that bladder. took a piece of TP and wiped. Flushed. Then proceeded to climb on the sink to wash her hands. Obviously she will need some more help in the meantime, but not bad I’d say. I wouldn’t really say she is potty trained, but this is a first for me to see her do all those steps independently.

Many people have differing opinions regarding potty training, i.e. when the appropriate age to start is, and how to go about doing the training. As in an earlier post: Initially we are not really potty training, more just saving diapers

Grandma really started things with having ViviBear piddle in the sink or while holding her over a toilet when she was an infant around 5-6 months old. We also would use this penguin toilet cover that would sing. We got it as a baby shower gift, but of course I added it to our registry since it is a penguin.

Bombs in the Baby Bjorn — Censored-Deuce

We also have this great Baby Bjorn mini potty, that she really got into using. It was always easier to figure when she would need to poo vs pee. Over the past year, I thnk she may have had only one or two poop diapers. You go Vivi. You will love this post when you are in highschool:-)

Once around 1.5-2 years old and we were more serious about trying to potty train, and MommyMD purchased these toilet steps (Little Looster’s Looster Booster from Amazon.com) to make it easier for ViviBear to use the toilet

Little Looster's Looster Booster, — Little Looster’s Looster Booster,

We also use a different topper now (a baby bjorn. for some reason MommyMD didnt like the penguins one). ViviBear actually can climb up and situate her on a regular toilet seat without falling in, and proceed with dropping #1 or #2.

Now climbing up the sink to wash her hands is cool and all, but this scares me. She has become more resourceful and daring. She is dragging her kiddie chairs and placing them next to a counter to climb up to the kitchen sink or dining table. Obviously this reinforces the fact that she needs to be in eyes view at all times. Who know what she is going to get into. Hmmm… now this is getting me to get more paranoid and think of the potential dangers. ack.

So back to “pottying.” I was fully expecting the “regression” to occur with the introduction of Juliette, but Vivienne has been doing an amazing job as the “Big Sis.” She is very gentle with Juliette, and is always concerned when she is crying. It’s rather cute. Speaking of Juliette, holy crap. rather, just CRAP. she poops a lot. I forgot how much a little baby can poop. She eats, she poops. Maybe falls asleep, but when you change her, she has a FIT. Then the only way to calm her down is shoving a boobie in her mouth (or a bottle). Then you repeat the process, because she will inevitably poop again. Props to MommyMD for taking this like a champ. I am trying to help out, but I know I could be changing a few more diapers. At least I am changing ViviBear’s diapers.

Enough of this ADD-style blogging. My Paternity leave ends tonight. Off to bed I go. ViviBear and Julietter, please sleep well tonight.

October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

Juliette Day One: journey home

Just after 24hrs, health status excellent. We are on our way home.

Fits in the Graco carseat. Snug as a bug.

Made it back to the house

My pal Stella told me that when they had a second child, they offset the jealousy factor when they came home by saying new baby sister brought a present. So this big box has a gift from Juliette Meimei to ViviBear.

Meeting combo for the first time

Vivienne already is taking on the big sis roll well. She is protective and caring:-) Combo is trying to get a glimpse, but ViviBear puts down the law.

800p: Alas, our family is whole, at home, safe and sound. I am surrounded estrogen. Well Combo was spayed, but you get the point. Thank you everyone for all the well wishes!

October 3, 2013October 4, 2013

Welcome Juliette!

on 10/3/13

Weighing in @ 7 lbs 12.3oz
Noggin size 13.5″ head circ
measuring Length 20 3/4″ (corrected)
@ 431pm

May I present to you for the very first time:

Juliette Shinhui Tsai

aka

蔡欣慧

See the whole play-by-play unfold here

March 6, 2013March 6, 2013

Gummi Bears to Peanuts: The next step

What does a gummi bear and Peanut have in common?

What came first. The peanut or the baby?

They both appear to have been in the womb of my BabyMama MommyMD. With much hesitancy (not from my standpoint), I am proud to announce that MommyMD finally ate one peanut too many! It seems one has lodged inside her womb.

It’s scary to think that it was about over 2 years ago when this process first started with the ViviBear.

I first found out about the Peanut when I came back from my brother’s bachelor party in Las Vegas in early Feb. For those that know me, tt has been difficult to keep it on the DL. Of course it did let slip to one or two people.

I remember when I first found out the ViviBear journey was underway, which was an exciting and frightening. I… was going to be a dad! Again, I get to repeat those those feelings of excitement and apprehension, but I am already a dad. now… I will be a dad with a 2.5 year old and a newborn, going through the crying and poop diapers again. I must say I miss the neonate/baby days where they are so tiny that they cant crawl yet. All they do is lay there. Then start to roll around. Then start to crawl… It’s exciting to see each developmental milestone met. Then I think about how ViviBear can be such a bear at times… I will have two of them crawling on me, yelling, crying at me and wanting to play… as exhausting as I know it will be, it is putting a smile on my face as I type this.

Now the next question is whether ViviBear will have a baby brother or baby sister.

Hear we go… updates to come:)

January 13, 2013March 6, 2013

Farewell Pierre: A fallen goldfish, friend, and family member

In my dreams of having an indoor pond, I started out with goldfish in a large bowl. Not just a fish bowl, but one of this water garden bowls. I started out with two that got rather large in a course of a year, but they met their untimely death by an ill fated water change. You really should not change more than 25% of the water at a time. It was either that, or the fact that was spraying Seven (insecticide) outside prior to doing a water change. After giving up on the indoor pond, I tried yet again with the mini-pond/gold fish. My replacement fish, Pebble and Pierre lived and thrived.

At this time I did have an outdoor Koi pond as well, but with the colder weather, I needed to over winter them indoors, so I built that large indoor pond in the basement. I figured it was time to consolidate ponds, so I plunked the fancy Ryukin gold fish (Pebble and Pierre) into the large koi pond. Little did I know that this was not advised. Prior to starting my new career, I had a bit more time on my hand and tended to the fish more often (fed them). Actually I think it was because my mother was here that the fish were fed more often. I started to notice Pierre was floating weird (still alive). His posterior would be constantly floating up. I figured his air bladder had to be damaged some how (no signs of trauma though). This went on a few weeks, then one day I noticed he had most of his fins bitten off: tail, dorsal, lateral what have you. Not sure what to do, euthanize or try to heal/save (hanks to ChunJaegirl for the link to Kevorkian-ing fish). I went on Dr. Google and found that #1. do not put koi with fancy gold fish. #2. feed the fish.

I think one problem was my first koi (Fat Boy) may be getting a bit large for the pond. Supposedly they get more aggressive if they are much larger than the others. I decided to try to save the poor fish, as I could not bare ending his existence (I assume my fish are males). I separated him and used my pond salt tonic to try to help heal him. He seemed to do well the first 3 days, but he did not seem like he was eating. I did notice the pond water overall was evaporating/getting low, so I started to add more (of course airing it out overnight). Unfortunately I may have added too much at a time to the isolation tank, as Pierre (instead of floating) was non-mobile at the bottom… he had passed.

Now Pierre (named because he looked like he had a mustache, so of course I correlate that with a french name) was laid to rest in the flower bed near the outdoor pond. He will probably be dug up next time MommyMD gardens, or if the coyotes or even combo decide to dig him up.

Alas, farewell my fancy fish friend.

Background image was adapted from the creation found on this site:

http://nick-f.deviantart.com/art/River-Styx-Version-3-89170068

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Juliette Shinhui Tsai

aka

蔡欣慧

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