From July 24 to the 31st, my family and the entire North America-based Iringan clan had the privilege to take a week-long cruise to sunny Alaska aboard the MV Amsterdam, one of the older ships belonging to the Holland America Line. It was fun! But there were things I wish I’d known before I boarded. Here are 10 tips to better prepare for your cruise.… Read More 10 Tips for Surviving a Week-Long Cruise
An elderly Asian man exiting the door of the grocery came up to me after seeing our entourage and said: “Very handsome boy. Do you know his lucky number? I said: “No, I don’t. Do you?” Well, he did. … Read More A Stranger Tells Me My Kids’ Lucky Numbers
Just last month, my parents were finally able to come visit their first grandchild, and we took them on several trips to see nearby scenery and to bond with Zion.… Read More My Parents Meet Their 1st Grandson
And they said they were simply out on what they liked to call a “treasure hunt” and that we were the treasure — that they were simply going where they felt there was a need for healing or prayer. And that they’d seen some miraculous things happen on that same bridge in the past. Wheelchair-ridden people walking again, sick people healed.… Read More Meeting Kooky Christians on the Sundial Bridge
My family was challenging me to get onboard the coaster so I picked the safest one around, the old, rickety wooden coaster named ROAR. I stood in line alone, rode alone, and was pleasantly surprised about how that one ride encapsulated how I feel about life right now. These 4 points sum up why I think life is pretty much a roller coaster ride:… Read More 4 Reasons Why Life is a Roller Coaster Ride
The day my mother-in-law and I traipsed around the Cal Academy of Sciences, was the same day something unusual happened at our local BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train station. Sometime in the afternoon, the train could not stop at Hayward due to “police activity.” The loudspeakers were announcing this with an apology and an… Read More Death at the Hayward BART
I took the opportunity to do some exploring of my own using the free day, (too bad my wife had to work) and along with my mother-in-law, we went to see what the fuss was about at the newly-opened California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.… Read More Nanay and Lionel’s Big Day Out at Cal Academy of Sciences
What started out as a leisurely walk around the marina area where people were joyfully paddling their kayaks and pedalboats quickly turned into a crazy 3-hour-long strenuous hike.… Read More July 4: The Ad Hoc Lake Chabot Hike!
Sometimes the best vacations are those that have just enough structure to keep you busy and just enough room for flexibility and spontaneous thrills. This memorial day weekend was just such a vacation for Agnes and myself. Mt.Shasta along the I-5 freeway. We took the long 10-hour drive north to explore the wild green frontier… Read More Our Portland Vacation: Rainy Verdant Fun
They don’t call it Sin City for nothing. Agnes and I took a 9 hour drive down to Las Vegas just this last weekend in order to attend her high school class reunion, an informal one to be sure, though one that did take quite a bit of preparation on the part of the organizers.… Read More Somnambulists in Sin City
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