Category → Life
희생
얼마전 와이프한테 희생을 해달라고 고의 아니게 주문을 하여 와이프가 이번주를 마지막으로 일을 관둔다. 이유는 아이가 2-3주만에 한번씩 계속 아프기 때문이다. 물론 문제는 보내는 daycare에 있지만 계속 열, 감기, 구토, 설사, 바이러스 감염으로 인한 염증을 반복해 가면서 아퍼하는 애를 보면서 뭔가 빨리 수를 써야겠다는 마음이 앞섰고 다른 방법이 없었기 때문에 와이프한테 힘든 주문을 했다. 고맙게도 와이프가 힘든 결정을 내렸다.
이 나라의 보육시스탬에 대해서 표현할 수 없는 분노를 느끼며 가능하면 행정기관을 다 쑤셔서라도 고치고 싶다는 마음이 지난 1년 내내 계속 든다. 어떻게 변을 치우던 고무장갑을 낀채로 다른 아이를 만지고 애들이 아파도 집에 보내지 않으며 위생에 기본도 안된 직원을 고용할 수 있을까? 음식에는 정말 정 떨어지도록 까다로운 보건기관은 이런 문제에 대해서 뭐하고 있나?
이번 주말도 아니다 다르게 nasal infection으로 시작해서 눈으로 까지 염증이 번졌다. 30분전에도 애가 눈이 불편해서 일어나서 우는 것을 씻어주고 30분 정도 달래고 다시 재웠다.
잠이 안온다.
Bogle Vineyards Pinot Noir
It is past 1am already and I should get some sleep, but this entry has been hanging in my Windows Live Writer for several days without any content so I’ve decided to finish writing about the wine before I go to sleep today.
Whenever we stop by Trader Joe’s, we always stop by wine section to pick up one or two bottles of wine. As I started writing blog about wine we try, my wife wanted to try something new this time and it happened to be Pinot Noir. It is new because we only tried two bottles of Pinot Noir for last 5 years so it is a rare choice.
Like everything else, we selected one of inexpensive ones to try out although one side of me tempted me to buy a bottle from Oregon, where Pinot Noir is famous for. However, its price tag stopped me from there. Next day, we picked up bunch of small pieces of cheese from Whole Food (they sell sort of left-over small pieces in wrapper for affordable price, so you should check it out if you are a cheese fan) and tried them out with this wine.
Pinot Noir is surprising silky smooth and it smells like Korean grape. One interesting aspect was that there was no spicy feeling at the end. I really liked my second glass– well, I wasted my first glass by accident. With cheese we picked up earlier (I should also write about cheese one day), it was very easy to drink up the half bottle right away.
Ok. Here is a lesson – write a blog right away. I can’t come up with much to write about it after 2-3 weeks drinking it because I kind of forgot how I enjoyed the wine. Looks like I will have to buy this one again later to re-enjoy it and write more about it.
Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2008
I cannot remember when I first tried a bottle of wine from Chateau Ste Michelle but I have known the winery for a long time – it is located 15 minutes away from where I live. If you live in Seattle area, the chance is that you have been there at least once, and if you haven’t, you should.
I have tried many different Chardonnay (mostly inexpensive ones), but Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Chardonnay is the one I always go back because it has the perfect taste for me. Its sweetness is just about right to enjoy alone and its taste goes along really well with any kind of seafood or poultry. While it is relatively inexpensive ($10 range), in my opinion, it brings much better tasting experience than other more expensive Chardonnay from Chateau Ste Michelle, such as Indian Wells and Canoe Ridge, which is the reason why I always choose Columbia Valley Chardonnay over other Chardonnay.
One footnote about Chateau Ste Michelle wine – Chateau Ste Michelle is more well known for its white wine than red wine and I have to agree with it. While its red wine is okay, white wine has far better characteristic IMHO. If you are a fan of sweet wine or dessert wine and get a chance to visit Chateau Ste Michelle in Woodinville, WA, make sure you pick up Columbia Valley Muscat Canelli. It is only available from Chateau Ste Michelle’s own retail shop and you will be blown away by its taste.
Chateau Auguste Bordeaux Merlot 2008
I love having nice food when I drink and that is one reason I enjoy wine. One day while I was enjoying wine with nice food that my wife cook, I started thinking that maybe I should blog about it so that I can remember how I have enjoyed each wine.
My wife and I usually look for inexpensive wine from Trader Joe’s. TJ has really good selection of inexpensive wines – it sells the same wines for cheaper price. One thing we’ve found out is that sub-$20 wines are mostly not much better than sub-$10 wines. If we want to try something really nice, we don’t hesitate spending $50+ on a bottle of wine (we did twice so far and we did not regret it) and it is worth every penny… if you finish it in reasonable time. 
We love trying something new every time and this time we decided to try organic wine from France for the first time. I cannot remember exact price but it was sub-$10 range – pretty good deal. I forgot what I had with it (I am think it was probably this, but this reminds me that I need to be more diligent and write a blog without delaying), but it initially matched with the food very well. However, the second glass felt a bit more sour than the first glass and we were suddenly a bit disappointed.
The second day, it was even more sour. Hmm.. what is wrong? There was one important thing that we forgot about enjoying wine, though – we did not let wine breathe enough. After letting it breathe for a while, all sourness went away and the glass was empty already.
My personal philosophy is that you need a nice food to fully enjoy any kind of drink and they have to go together. Get some nice food and enjoy your life.
Health Insurance
Ray has been sick for almost a week now. He is getting better but he still coughs severely enough to throw up everything. Although I have been staying home all this week to take a care of him, I feel so bad that there isn’t much I can do for him.
This week Senate passed the historic health reform bill. While many people (left and right) are criticizing the shortcoming of the bill and funding for the bill, I think this is a great step forward to fixing dysfunctional social wellness system of the United States.
I can fortunately provide Ray all the health care he needs – thanks to Microsoft’s awesome health care coverage. From his birth to today, I haven’t paid single penny for his health care. As you know Ray has gone through many non-scheduled clinic visits since day 3 (jaundice, low glucose level, cold, fever, etc) and I was able to take him to the pediatrician without the second thought whenever I felt I had to take him. However, this is not always the case for many American families – I was one of them before. I remember my father used to tell us to be careful and to be preventive on any health related issue when I was in high school because the hospital cost was just out of the range that the family was able to afford at that time – we didn’t have any insurance coverage back then. I once broke my wrist during basketball and that costed us $200+ in early 90′s. I remember my father was so relieved that it did not cost us much.
I am glad that I don’t have to go through that any more and I don’t have to worry the same for Ray as my father once did for us. However, I can’t get rid of thoughts that how it would feel like if you have to take your kid to hospital but you are also so worried about the cost. Not just I feel sorry for those people, but I feel the health care reform is very necessary for America. Talking about lack of budget? Screw you. Take out budget from military. According to wikipedia, “for the 2010 fiscal year, the president’s base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $533.8 billion. Adding spending on ‘overseas contingency operations’ brings the sum to $663.8 billion”. I think we are just spending way too much for the military. Having trouble visualize what much we are overspending? Here is a good link for you to take a look.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending
If you try it, you can find money – that cannot be an excuse for not improving social wellness. Let’s hope that this bill really becomes the first step to the next great thing.
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