Jelly Roll Morton

Free classic jazz for download here. Gotta love the sound of static in the recording.

http://www.redhotjazz.com/jellyroll.html

Bannock

I like to make a little cake for breakfast inspired by the bread that the Indians in Manitoba make. It's called bannock. 

cup or so of flour

a pinch of baking soda or powder

a little salt

raisins

a banana or two

some milk or water

some cinnamon (I use some cinnamon schnapps that I made since it's hard to buy cinnamon powder here.)

brown sugar

Mix up the flour, baking soda and salt along with some raisins. Squish up the banana and mix it in. Pour in a little cinnamon powder or schnapps. Mix in milk or water until the mixture is as thick as biscuit batter or as spackling paste. Then, I like to put the brown sugar in last, and I try not to mix it in very much because I like there to be little chunks of brown sugar. Then pour it onto a cookie sheet so it forms a small round cake less than an inch thick and maybe less than nine inches in diameter. Finally bake it in the oven for 30 minutes or so at about 375 Fahrenheit (or 190 Celsius). Or you can fry it in a frying pan on the stove (or over a fire in the mountains), but you will have to fry it with a really low heat so that the outside won't burn before the inside is done. 

Eat it with cream cheese and jam or honey. It's good.

FedEx Reply to YouTube Video

A video on YouTube shows an employee of FedEx breaking a package. Here is the official response from FedEx. Very nice crisis communication.

Along with many of you, we've seen the video showing one of our couriers carelessly and improperly delivering a package the other day. As the leader of our pickup and delivery operations across America, I want you to know that I was upset, embarrassed, and very sorry for our customer's poor experience. This goes directly against everything we have always taught our people and expect of them. It was just very disappointing. 

However, from the customer's perspective, I am pleased to let you know that the matter has been resolved in a very positive way.  We have met with the customer face to face and they already have a  replacement monitor at no cost to them.  They have accepted our apology and say they are fully satisfied with what we've done in response to this unacceptable delivery.  They've made it clear, though, that they prefer not to be identified in any way, and in this case as always with customers, we fully respect their privacy.

I know you recognize that this absolutely does NOT represent the professionalism and dedication of the 290,000 FedEx team members worldwide. It is one person and one package. While many people are publicly speculating about what will happen to the employee, FedEx takes care to protect team members' privacy as well as our customers' privacy.  We do take this matter extremely seriously, and have initiated action in accord with our disciplinary policy, while respecting privacy concerns. Without going into detail, I can assure you that this courier is not delivering customer packages while we are going through this process.

This matter is an unfortunate exception to the outstanding service FedEx team members deliver every single day.  Our customers know and value that service. We have been doing this almost 40 years, and if we weren't doing it right, we wouldn't have gained the widespread respect we have enjoyed.  As a matter of fact, we have a very simple motto we try to live by – the Purple Promise: "I will make every FedEx experience outstanding."  

While this delivery fell way short of those high standards, we are already using it as a learning opportunity. We've shared this video internally to remind everyone that every single package is important to you, our customers, and that actions like this are totally unacceptable. We are also going to build this into our training programs as a constant reminder of the importance of earning -- and keeping -- your trust with every single delivery.  We hope that you, like the customer involved in this incident, will see it as an unfortunate exception that proves the rule that our company cares for its customers.

Matthew Thornton III
Senior Vice President
US Operations
FedEx Express

A Poem by Li Bai

Here is another Chinese poem whose English translation had long been a favorite of mine. I finally found the original Chinese of the poem. Both versions are below. The English translation is not my translation.

The poem spoke to me more before I was married since it speaks of loneliness. I still like it now though. Strangely, or maybe not strangely, I've found poems about old age becoming more more interesting to me now such as the first few sonnets of Shakespeare.

Here's the poem. 

You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain; 
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care. 
As the peach-blossom flows down stream and is gone into the unknown, 
I have a world apart that is not among men. 

山中问答 

问余何意栖碧山， 
笑而不答心自闲。 
桃花流水杳然去， 
别有天地非人间。

 

 Notes:

12/8/10 Darren Jansen: There seemed to have been a mistake in the Chinese version that I copied from, so I changed the third from final word from 在 to 非. I've looked at three copies of this poem on the Internet, none of which are exactly the same. Two of them had a different character on the second line from the bottom, third one from the end. The character has the same pronunciation as the one I put above. However, computers don't let me type that character. Further, two of the three dictionaries I looked at don't have it. So instead of using that rare character, I used the more common one. I don't know which is the original.
12/8/10 Darren Jansen: � is the weird character. I had to cut and paste it to get it in here, since the computer wouldn't let me type it. Odd. Below is the dictionary entry for "Yaoran." 

常用词组 
　　1. �然 yǎorán 
　　[far reaching and far away] 指幽深遥远的样子 
　　如：山谷�然

Parting at a Wine-shop in Nan-king

This is a poem that I've been looking for for a long time and finally found. The English translation is not mine.
-----

Parting at a Wine-shop in Nan-king

A wind, bringing willow-cotton, sweetens the shop,
And a girl from Wu, pouring wine, urges me to share it.
With my comrades of the city who are here to see me off;
And as each of them drains his cup, I say to him in parting,
Oh, go and ask this river running to the east
If it can travel farther than a friend's love! 

金陵酒肆留别

李白

风吹柳花满店香， 吴姬压酒唤客尝。

金陵子弟来相送， 欲行不行各尽觞。

请君试问东流水， 别意与之谁短长。

Things Poppy and Caedmon said

Poppy: "Would you like some bastard on your sandwich?"

Me: "He's a country bumpkin." Poppy: "What's a country pumpkin?"

Seeing some solidified oil from bacon in the pan, Poppy asks: "Is that called 'tard?"

"It's too dry in the house. Will you turn on the humiliator?"

"If you just put on an external show for others to see, you're a hippo."

Me at Christmas time: "Wasn't there a German named Rudolf?" Poppy: "Yeah, of course. Rudolf Hitler!"

Caedmon:

2011Nov26: I gave Caedmon a little spider plant and a cup to put it in. I said, "What do you need to give it to make sure that it grows?" He looked inquisitive and started sniffing the spider plant. Finally he looked at me and said, "不gross." ("It's not gross.")
Skype video froze on a frame of Dad laughing, so after a few minutes of looking at his funny laughing face, Caedmon said, "Grandpa, 别笑了!" ("Grandpa, stop laughing.")

"爸爸我有点儿事 I want."

"摔down"

"脱off"

Squid

This was the supper Poppy made for us tonight. She boiled a squid, and we dipped it in pepper sauce.