A Gr8 8/8/08 for Four

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Johnny Quatro had himself a great birthday.  Even Darth Vader had a fun time. . .

 

Many thanks go out to those who participated near and far, and may the force be with you, always.

A Public Service Annoucement From All of Us at the JPH3 House

We had a fantastic time kayaking down the Provo river on Saturday.  Good family & friends, good food, good fun.

A big thanks goes out to the Kellys for such a great time!

And though my children were all soaked to the bone (due to our turbulent run-ins with those darn bridges), I was fortified with the knowledge that these “public-service instructions” have imparted upon me. 

So, you will all be relieved to know that I resisted the urge to toss my kids in the dryer before we headed off to see WALL•E (which was awesome, BTW).   Phew, that was close.   Thank goodness for good parenting instructions.

Oh, and guess what, despite what you may have heard, it actually is OK to dunk your Blackberry in the Provo river several times.  I tried it on Saturday, and it was only broken for a couple of days – now it works just fine.  Must be that fine Chinese construction.

Sweet!

PS: I’ve added the full set of these funny little signs to the Funny Fotos section as a public service to anyone looking for good parenting advice. 

 

Happy Obligation-Chocolate Day!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Japan.  I’m going back there in a couple of weeks, and in preparation for the trip I have spent some time brushing up on the language, customs, prior memories from living there, etc.  In doing so, one interesting aspect of Japanese culture that came back to me was ‘Choko-day’, which is their equivalent of Valentine’s Day, also celebrated on Feb. 14. 

Yup, you guessed it, the word ‘Choko’ means chocolate.  So for them, this is the day for giving chocolate to friends, family, co-workers, strangers, missionaries (score!), etc.  And of course it is also a day for giving large sums of casholla to ‘choko-ya’ (chocolate makers).  But what’s interesting to me is that Japanese folks are very upfront about labeling the relationships behind the giving on choko-day.  For example:

• Tomo-choko (友チョコ) is the chocolate that one gives to a friend (tomo).  Usually kids give tomo-choko.
• Taku-choko (宅チョコ) is the chocolate that a member of a home/house (taku) gives to the home itself (it is then usually gobbled up by the kids in the home, since houses don’t actually eat chocolate, FYI).
• Koi-choko (恋チョコ) is the chocolate given by a girl to a secret crush (koi). 
• Giri-choko (義理チョコ) is obligation chocolate, or chocolate that is given out of duty born of professional or societal roles.   E.g. workers are ‘obligated’ (giri) to give giri-choko to their bosses and sometimes students give giri-choko to their teachers.
• Honmei-choko (本命チョコ) is the chocolate given to the most honored of loved ones, truly and sincerely, from the heart of hearts (the honmei). 

I have no market data to support this, but my guess is that the largest amount of chocolate given on Feb. 14 in Japan is giri-choko, and at first blush, this might sound like a bad thing.  But please note, the notion of ‘obligation’ in Japan means something a little different to a traditional Japanese person.   

The components that make up the word ‘giri’ are ‘gi’ (justice, righteousness, morality, honor) and ‘ri’ (reason, principle, right, truth).  So, adding a little of my own understanding of Japanese culture, I believe a more complete translation for a gift given of ‘giri’ would be ‘a demonstration of service to one’s superiors with a sense of self-sacrificing devotion’.  This, in my book, is a very good thing – assuming your superiors are honorable, of course. 

But as with all giving, regardless of terms, definitions, semantics, and what-not, obviously the true value of the gift comes from the intentions of the giver.  Even in Japan, duty and obligation can be, and often is, automated and void of traditional intentions. But still, to many over there, devoted service is a way of life. 

So, to make a very long story only slightly longer, to my friends and colleagues wherever you may be, I wish you a happy ‘Obligation-Chocolate day’, along with my sincerest hope that I might have the opportunity to serve you well in the coming year.  

But lastly, and definitely most importantly, to my beloved wife: only you will receive my gift of honmei-choko.  From my heart of hearts, and with everything that I have inside, there is nothing more important to me than you.  

Cheers,
jph3

Welcome

Greetings Family and Friends!

Welcome to my little slice of humble blog pie.  Here you will find no promises, commitments, answers, or solutions to life’s most perplexing problems.  Nor will you be able to leverage this platform to further the quest for truth, justice and the American Way.   

However, I do hope that you visit periodically just to see what’s up with us, and maybe also get a glimpse of our thoughts, feelings, and whatever else happens to be on the plate d’jour.  That said, please have a look around (even tho there ain’t much here yet) and drop us a line sometime.

Merry Christmas to you and yours,
jph3