Liam's Comic Books

Liam Schradie, a 2nd grader at North Oakland Community Charter School, would like to announce that he is selling a stack of comic books that he has written and illustrated.

There are eight books available. Titles include "King of Careo, Part I" and "Star Wars Book 4." The prices range from $5 to $11 each.

Please leave a comment here if you want more information.

The 50th Wedding Anniversary of Joe and Marge Schradie

We just spent an incredible weekend with Jen's family in Santa Cruz, celebrating her parent's 50th Wedding anniversary. With one sister living in South Korea, and one living in North Carolina where her parents are also, they had folks coming from long distances to be here.

As part of the celebration, Jen's nephew, Mikael, who is a student filmmaker, made this moving video from the family's old 8mm home movies and photos. There's something about the dated quality of the old film that you just won't ever get from the mass of digital video being created these days, something that evokes the time and place. It's a wonderful, short video and I don't think you even need to know the people to be touched by it.



Another one of Jen's nephews, Daniel, made this video greeting from her sister's family (with six kids!) in South Korea, who were not all able to make the trip. Kalian has been singing this non-stop, and is convinced "All You Need Is Love" was written by her cousins, and not those copycat Beatles.

Dispatch from Oakland

Clearly, my intention to blog here on a more regular basis has not happened. In part, that's because I made a personal decision to scale way back on all my extra projects and blogging outside of writing my twice weekly column for the San Jose Mercury News. And in part, it's because Facebook has made it seductively easy to post quick updates and photos that keep many friends and family in the loop on our latest news.

Still, it doesn't capture all the big moments, or the context, in a thoughtful way. I still hope to get back to doing that here. And even now, I'm just trying to recount some of the things have taken place in the past six months. This will be more of a jumble, than a complete accounting. But still...

The big news: Jen passed her qualifying exam in May, meaning she now moves on to her dissertation. A great achievement and I'm very proud of her.

Liam, after struggling with reading for a long time, suddenly began reading just a few months ago. A joy, and a relief. I had been anxious for a long time and even explored some rather pricey private reading programs. Now, it seems he's excited about it and at that stage where he wants to read every sign he sees.

And Liam played t-ball this spring and to my great delight, seemed to truly love it. I'm always wary of pushing him too much, and yet wanting to encourage him to try new things. We weren't sure how he'd do with any kind of organized sports. But even a couple of months later, he asks to go play catch, and talks about practicing for next year when he moves up to coach pitch.

Kalian had her last day at Hearts Leap North. A big transition, as there were several close friends she won't get to see on a regular basis. And several families that became our friends, ties that can be a challenge to maintain after such changes, as we found when Liam moved form pre-school to kindergarten.

And speaking of diving right in, both Liam and Kalian took private swim lessons at the Berkeley YMCA, and have now become like little fish. Easily some of the best money we've ever spent as parents.

Liam at the start of last school year (top), and the end of the year(bottom)

We are settled back into life in Oakland after an amazing month in Bolinas. All of the fruit has fallen off the trees in the backyard. More on Bolinas in a follow up post.

AT-AT DAY AFTERNOON

Chillaxin' in the hot tub, near the chicken coop.

Bolinas beach

Liam's First Lego Animation

It was only a matter of time before I relented, and made a stop-action Lego video with Liam. Aside from the shoddy quality, it was really a lot of fun. And he was so proud once I showed it to him. He also insisted we add music, which definitely does help.

So it begins....

Kalian said the other day:

"I'm beautiful and Liam's cool, right?"

Sigh.

Why we didn't get a Wii for Christmas

I wanted to share a column I wrote Monday for the Mercury News on our decision not to get the Wii this year. Enjoy:

by Chris O'Brien

Before the holidays, I knew exactly what I was going to write in this space.

My wife and I were planning to buy a Wii for Christmas. It would be my first video game system since my Atari back in the early 1980s. And I expected to wax joyfully about our family's plunge into the world of video games.

Except things didn't quite work out that way.

We did buy a Wii. But 24 hours and one panic attack later, I returned it with immense relief.
Perhaps this makes me a traitor to the economy, or an unwelcome Luddite in the gloriously high-tech Silicon Valley. But before a geek lynch mob hunts me down, let me explain why we opted — mostly — for a tech-gadget-free holiday.

I've had almost no interest in video games since I was in junior high school. I came of age in the Pac Man-Donkey Kong generation. After bowling league on Saturday mornings (yes, I was on a bowling team), I'd head for the arcade and play Galaga or Ms. Pac Man. But as games became more complex, more lifelike, I lost interest. I owned the first Atari, and I played Frogger on it.

But that's about as far as it went.

When I became a columnist almost two years ago, I felt pretty comfortable writing about most topics because I've covered just about everything in my decade in Silicon Valley. But video games were a definite blind spot for me. As the XBox, PlayStation and Wii consoles made video games one of the most popular and lucrative forms of entertainment,

I abstained.

Filling in that knowledge gap was one of the ways I rationalized getting a Wii: I needed it for work. Yeah, that's it.

But really, my interest in video games has been rekindled because of my two kids, Liam, 7, and Kalian, 4. They've become increasingly curious about computers. My wife and I, like many parents, have been trying to strike a balance between letting them explore computers, and keeping them from becoming techno-obsessed shut-ins who spend all day online and have no friends. Our current rule is that each kid gets 30 minutes of "screen time" once a week to play games online, surf the Web or print out coloring pages.

Beyond that, Liam has been playing with Wiis when he visits friends, or his cousins in Scotts Valley, or believe it or not, our local YMCA. The Wii seemed by far to be the most family-friendly gaming system. And with the price falling to $199, this seemed like the right time to dive in.

So the week before Christmas, I drove over to the nearest Best Buy. And that's when the anxiety set in.

There were plenty of Wiis in stock, so no problems there. I picked one up and was asking an employee a couple of questions when he noted that the console came with only one controller.
Hmmm. One controller + two kids = eye-gouging fights Christmas morning. I knew I needed another one, which cost $49.

Then I began looking for a couple of games to go with it. I knew we'd be paying a bit more for these. But as I looked at some games we wanted, like "Lego Rock Band," I realized that I needed other controllers, like a microphone, drums or guitar. These could run another $100 or more if I got all of them. So I passed and didn't get any games, figuring they could just play the games that came with it for now.

As I examined the box, I realized that I had forgotten that the Wii could also be connected to the Web. The problem here was that our cable modem is in the kitchen (don't ask) and the TV is in the living room. Guess that's a headache I'd have to figure out later.

As I was finally checking out, the cashier asked if I wanted any batteries. "Batteries? For what?" I wondered. She explained that the controllers ran on batteries. Gulp. I grabbed a package of rechargeable batteries, for about $30.

Having spent about $90 more than I expected, I had a few knots in my stomach on the way home and was kicking myself for not doing my research. Bad columnist. Bad.

Back on the couch, as my wife and I were discussing this, we also started trying to figure out what the new policies governing this device would be. Would we still have only 30 minutes of screen time a week? Could they play it every day for 10 minutes? One thing was sure: They'd be asking for it every second of every day.

Cue the panic attack. The next day I returned the whole thing. No questions asked, thank you very much.

Come Christmas morning, I knew I had done the right thing. First of all, had there been a Wii, it would have overshadowed every single other gift. As it was, Liam was excited by his Lego sets and Bakugan ball. Kalian was tickled by her Groovy Girls dolls. (Our attempts at gender-neutral parenting have not been 100 percent successful.) And both of them have been enjoying some basic board games we got this year: Trouble and Operation (which technically is a consumer electronic device). All of these would likely be gathering dust on a shelf somewhere if we kept the Wii.

Now, it's not like we're anti-video games. In fact, Liam's favorite activity during his screen time is to play "The Hunt for R2-D2" on the Lego.com Web site. And Kalian likes to play some Barbie games online. Both of these are free. The graphics are richer than anything I could have imagined back in my Atari days. Why shell out $10 to $30 for new games when there are so many free kids games online at places like the Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network sites?

Now, in all likelihood, we will probably — probably! — get a Wii next year. But for now, the kids seem quite content with the other consumer electronic gadget we did buy this year: a calculator.
If I can maintain that childhood innocence, that appreciation of simple things, for one more year, then passing on the Wii this year was the right move.

Contact Chris O'Brien at 415-298-0207 or cobrien@mercurynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sjcobrien and read his blog posts at http://www.siliconbeat.com/.

Liam gets a job

Yes, you read the title of that post right. Liam, age 7, now has a job at our local public library. A couple of weeks ago, I took Liam and Kalian to the library to kill a couple of hours there. And out of nowhere, Liam walked up to one of the librarians (who he knows and loves) and asked if he could have a job. And to her credit, she didn't just laugh it off. Instead, she started talking to him about what he'd like to do and when he'd like to do it.

Liam said he wanted to help put books back on shelves. She said that was something he could work up to, but instead suggested she needed help putting stickers on books (the ones where you stamp the date on). She wrote up a small contract and agreed to pay Liam 25 cents an hour.

And so, after a couple of phone calls, Liam went to the library for an hour and helped her. Jen and Kalian hung around, but everything seemed to go fine. And it was clear, when I got home that night, how proud he was.

Nothing epic, but just one of those reminders that somehow, despite our parental bungling, he's actually growing up and becoming his own, independent guy.

Liam Turns Seven

A two-week marathon of holidays and birthday parties came to end, at last, today, with Liam's birthday party at Albany Bowl. Because his birthday falls on Dec. 30, we go overboard making sure he doesn't feel like he's getting short-changed because of the proximity to Christmas. So, instead, he gets four parties: school, at Mickey's, at home with us, and then an official party party. He asked for a bowling party, perhaps remembering how much he enjoyed his fourth birthday party in Cambridge which was also a bowling party.

We had a phenomenal afternoon, bowling and playing arcade games. I'm not sure how much Liam was really interested in the bowling. But he was clearly delighted to be surrounded by friends. I was very happy for him. Happy birthday, buddy. I can't believe it's already been seven years.

Back To Blogging

I didn't set out to intentionally take a three month break from blogging. But that's what happened. I didn't fall off the face of the planet. But I did realize that I had been going full blazes for quite some time. And to be honest, I got a little burned out. I kicked into overdrive across several of the places where I blog professionally last summer, as well as here.

Then, in early October, I attended four journalism-related conferences that had me blogging and tweeting non-stop. By mid-October, I decided to step back for a couple weeks. And that turned into a few months.

I stopped contributing to IdeaLab and even to SiliconBeat. And that was actually tough. Because a number of times I had something I really want to say, and forced myself not to say it.

In part, I've been trying to think about how to re-balance things in my life. Since I returned to work in mid-2007, I've frequently been working until 2 a.m. trying to juggle work at the Mercury News and outside projects and blogging. It hasn't been great for my health, even if I did enjoy it.

I'm back to blogging now. But I'm going to try to make other things a priority. Number one being my health. That's going to start with a self-enforced bed time of 11 a.m. each night. I've always known this, but getting enough sleep is essential to having the energy to work out and eat better.

I'm also trying to get back to reading. All my adult life, I've been a voracious reader of novels. The longer, the better. But back in 2007, I had a lot of research material to read, and I delved deep in to blogs, and I made a conscious decision to put books aside for awhile. That break turned into two years. I've been trying the past few months to read again, but fitting it in has been a struggle. I'm determined to do it, though. I believe I write better when I'm reading a lot of creative writing. So this is both a personal and professional issue.

So, these are my resolutions for 2010. Please hold me to them.

Fire And Rain

Our plans for a Saturday morning yard sale were upended by a rain storm. Not just a drizzle, or mist. But a real storm, with thunder and lightning. I can probably count on my hands the number of those I've seen those in the 10 years I've lived in the Bay Area. And so, we were in full improvisation mode.

Kalian, always the curious one, wanted to go for a walk around the block just to see what it was like to walk in the rain under an umbrella. (see picture above).

When we got back, I needed to find something to amuse them. Fortunately, I came across a listing for an open house at The Crucible. I had always wanted to visit and what could be better than a free open house? The Crucible is a big, industrial art studio where artists forge big metal sculptures, blow fantastic glass objects, and in general build all sorts of inspiring, funky things. It's one of the great Bay Area-Burning Man type places that makes me appreciate living here.

So I took Liam and Kalian down for a few hours and it was as good as I'd hoped. Liam walked right in and exclaimed, "This place is awesome." There were some people blowing glass in a big furnace when we first entered.

Liam and Kalian both spent about 30 minutes making picture frames and magnets out of glass fragments:

Then it was on to making etchings in sand plates:


And then clay:

Liam made an elaborate clay sculpture involving an alien and a swimming pool with diving board:


It's great to see Liam so engaged. For so long, he was the kid who refused to do any art-related activities. I never wanted to press him to hard, but I remember being so disappointed any time I tried to nudge him to try a craft of some kind and he ran screaming in the other direction. He's always been very creative and it's great to seem him finally developing the patience to create the things in his mind. Earlier in the day, he staged a whole play behind the couch using action figures and playmobile people.

So the Crucible was a hit, and from there we drove the Berkeley Y for an hour of swimming before heading home to watch (gulp) Tinkerbelle. It was Kalian's turn to pick for movie night, and she had been dying to watch this godawful DVD that someone gave her. And yes, it was horrific.

But as days without a plan go, this was a great one. Tomorrow, we've got a regular family meditation gathering which will fill most of the day.

Kalian Rides!

Tonight, Kalian officially left behind the running bike and rode her pedal bike around the block. We may not have done much right as parents, but we've done pretty well with the whole bike riding thing. Both kids learned to ride first on a running bike, rather than using training wheels. I had a hunch that Kalian was ready about a month ago. Tonight, after a rough evening with tantrums galore, Kalian asked if I'd take her out on the pedal bike because, "It had been, a long, long, long time since we rode the pedal bike."

Sure enough, she hopped right on, scooted a few feet, and then pedaled away. Of course, she had to stop every few feet to offer up commentary on what she was doing. But that was just her way of being excited. And she was beaming.

At one point, she needed help to get started. I was holding the seat and giving her a push. When she was ready for me to let go she shouted, "Daddy, I don't need you any more!" And it made me smile and wince at the same time.

It was just the latest, obvious sign of how quickly she's growing up, and changing. I just noticed the other night, as she was falling asleep, that she's barely blonde any more. She was a redhead until she was about two, and then went sharply blonde. Now her hair has turned brown with only some blonde streaks remaining. She'll soon have Jen's brownish-blonde hair. But the curls are only getting more intense. My lone contribution to her genetic structure, I think.

Here she was at the dentist a couple weeks ago, already a pro who was proud she knew the ropes:

And because she's only going to pre-school four days this year, we hang out Friday mornings. She requested we stop by Nomad's for a bagel. And I couldn't help but notice that she looked like a teenager curled up in the big lounge chair, snacking away:

For now, though, she shows no sign of leaving behind is her princess obsession. But who knows how much longer that will last? Okay, who are we kidding. That will probably be around for a few more years. Until the Hannah Montana years start.

Old Friends And New Ones At The End Of Summer

Just returning from a wonderful afternoon spent at Dolores Park watching the fantastic SF Mime Troupe, a real Bay Area treasure. The musical this year, "Too Big To Fail." Not their best, but still spot on political satire.

Even better, though, we spent the afternoon with Doug and Karen, two new friends we've met through Liam's elementary school. It's taken awhile for us to really gel with anyone there. I think it's natural. But I was definitely overwhelmed last year with all the new faces. We had the 20 new families from his kindergarten room. And then there were the 25 new families at Kalian's new pre-school (her third school in three years, poor thing). I barely felt I had time for all the people in our lives already. And now we had another 45 families with which to mingle.

Back when we lived in Cambridge, it took almost the whole year before I felt like we were just become a part of some people's lives when we left. It's not easy, given that everyone comes to the table with their own friends, their own complicated lives.

For the past year, that's meant a lot of work arranging play-dates for Liam, who demands them constantly. As most parents know, this can feel like a full-time job, adding another layer of scheduling.

As such, we tend to be the ultimate last-minute people. This weekend, that paid off. We had old friends Lori and Ori, and daughters Hannah and Ruby, over for a BBQ on Saturday, responding to an email I sent out Friday night. We met through our midwife, initially worried that Hannah and Liam would be born too close together for us both to use her. Hannah and Liam went to pre-school together. And when we returned form Cambridge, we very nearly decided to move into their house (a duplex) and do the group house thing. Our blooming fruit trees in the back yard convinced us to stay put. (Though as a side note, had we sold our house, we would hit the very top of the housing market back in 2007. Ah, well).

Still, Lori and Ori are the kind of folks we worry about loosing touch with as the kids move to different schools. And so far, to our relief, it hasn't happened.

And on Sunday, also in a last minute invite, Karen and Doug met us at Dolores Park and then we grabbed burritos before riding Bart back together. Oddly, Liam's classmates Vera pals around with Kalian, while her younger brother Roy buddies up with Liam. I guess gender trumps age. But when our two have playmates, it makes all the difference. One hates to be mercenary, but there it is.

It was a great ending to summer. And I'm again promising myself that this Fall, I'll become a better planner.

A New School Year Begins

I posted that shortly after returning home from dropping the Liam off for his first day as a first grader. That's amazing to even write. And it brings on a flood of memories from a summer that was alternately stressful and wonderful. And there's that small pang that Liam is taking one more step toward growing up, and inevitably, away.

The morning started off with his usual grumbling about school, even as I tried to play up the fact that he would get to see all of his friends. And he missed his friends terribly over the summer. He couldn't get enough play dates to satisfy his constant hunger for companionship.

When we arrived at school, Liam gave Ms. G, the director, a High 5, and walked straight into class. His school puts two grades in each class, so he's still in a K/1 class. Having the same teacher for the second year made the start almost a non-event for him. He found his new table, and immediately began making his name tag without anyone explaining to him what he ought to be doing. That's a big deal for him.



Then he turned to the new Kindergartner next to him and began explaining everything about NOCCS and, of course, Star Wars. That taken care of, he went in search of his buddy, Kai. And lo, Kai was wearing the exact same Lego Star Wars shirt that Liam had under his jacket.



I watched as the new teaching assistant, Oscar, watched the comparison of Star Wars shirts and I thought, "Oscar, that's everything you need to know about these two. Good luck." Later, Liam came home with his first light saber drawing of the year. Probably the first of 180 we'll see this year. Sigh.

Still, I couldn't help but notice how independent he seemed. Such a contrast to last year. Grown up, but not completely. When I got home, Liam wanted to play Caillou and Rosie. And he wanted to read a Thomas The Train book for bed. Still a bit of that little boy left inside there.

Still a little bit of the boy who doesn't feel any embarrassment about putting on the Pink Power Ranger costume when his cousins came to visit:



Jen took Kalian to pre-school and true to form, Kalian was giddy and couldn't get there soon enough. Such stereotypes, these children of mine. She has a new teacher, who I have yet to meet. But there was very little drama, I'm told.

So closes another summer. I'll remember our big trip to Yosemite. Our fabulous trip to Family Camp. And how both taught me that the key to any happy vacation is to make sure my children have friends with them.

I'll remember Liam's fixation with wanting to sell everything he owns to get money to buy more stuff. And how Kalian seemed to become more precocious by the day.



We survived our first round of summer camps and the extreme juggling skills that required.

We limped through a final week where Jen threw her back out just as her sister came for a visit from Korea with two cousins. The same cousins who apparently managed to convert our two kids to God-fearing Christians during their brief visit. (Liam spent one evening crying that mommy and daddy were going to a bad place because we didn't believe in God).

But we made it. Across the finnish line. And so I'm ready for Fall, and some calm.

Back from Yosemite

Well, we actually got back more than a week ago. But what a week it's been.

Just as I was about to leave for work last Monday, Jen threw her back out while doing Yoga. I stayed home on sick leave the whole week to take care of her and the kids. And on top of that, her sister who lives in South Korea came to visit for two days. So stress levels were high and exhaustion was felt by all.

But I finally found some time to put together some of our photos and videos from the trip:

Big tooth number 2 comes out!

Back From Yosemite

We returned from Yosemite late, late Friday night. I'm going to wade through photos and gather some thoughts. But first, going with my recent fascination with maps, I wanted to play with the GPS in my BlackBerry. Along with regular pictures and some video, I took occasional photos with the BB which automatically geotagged them using the GPS. It took some doing, but here's a basic map of 21 photos:


View Yosemite in a larger map

Off To Yosemite

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld