Published!

I am trying to keep a steady head, but a wee part of me is bursting from excitement about having my very first activity book published!

I know that this is not a real 'book' in the literal sense with plots and themes and intriguing characters; in fact, it is only a workbook that students or children will look at and work through, but I am excited all the same!

We published 1000 copies of Tiny Tycoon$: The Complete Money Management Course For Kids! Activity Book 1 today and we hope to use them in our classes and seminars throughout Asia and (ideally) the West as well.


To say this has been a labor of love would be an understatement. I have been concocting this (or hatching?) for about 4 years now and only when Jo helped me organize myself (read: told me to get off my lazy butt) did anything fruitful come to pass. Indeed, this workbook (and many more like it) would never have come to pass without her help and encouragement. I am so lucky to be with someone who can actually help me complete something - anything! haha.......

Thus, we are the proud owners of the first catalyst. I say catalyst since this has awakened in me the need to get my ideas out on paper and to crystalize all the thoughts and ideas that have bubbled in my mind throughout my teaching career (there are many). Now that we actually HAVE something tangible (can you see the joy in my face as I hold the book?) we can start to market and sell these dead trees, ideally to make a difference in how people look at money and manage it.

I am so excited and thank you for taking an interest in this ongoing process!

Any thoughts, ideas or comments (good or bad) would be appreciated!

Regards,

Jeff & Jo

ps. We are also publishing our board game called: The Money Tree - A Game That Grows You Money! this week as well! Damn! So cool!

pps. We are also working hard on our website and will get that out as soon as possible! www.akiddio.com


If the color seems a bit off, this is due to the software that our (skillful) designer uses. The colors are perfectly normal and eye catching - in a good way in real life!

A Trip With Mocha

I mentioned in a previous post that we had found a sweet place to relax not so far from our home, so we decided to take advantage of that again, this time with Mocha. There were pros and cons about this, as I am sure all dog owners would agree.

Pros:

• Could do things as a 'family' and go to a place that we all would like
• Could enjoy the forest area and get some good exercise for all
• Could get Mocha used to new environments and people
• At least we did not have to clean up his mess in the woods (rather, just get it off the path)
  

There are some cons, however::

• A medium sized active dog in a small car is frustrating for all
• Most animals like to explore the forest and keep going, rather than stopping here and there to 'absorb the good feelings'
• We did not want to let him off the lease since many people are scared of (what they think of as a) big dog, so he was not free to run around
• We did indeed have to clean up any mess during transportation.....

Basically, even though Mocha is fairly well trained, driving up with him - for even that short distance - was frustrating for all. At one point, I had opened the windows a little to let him look out and feel the breeze. I noticed that the window was down more than I wanted so I pressed it to go up a bit. This happened about 10 times and Jo said in a clear way to just open it or close it. I did not want to open it for fear of him jumping out, but Jo said very clearly that he would not. So I left it open and within 1 minute Mocha jumped out of our car window going along a tight mountain road.

Sigh.

Thankfully, I had though about this and had leased him to my locked seatbelt, so when I say he jumped out, that is true, but as he jumped, the lease tightened and then he hung by the side of the car until we stopped and pulled over (which was almost immediate). We were all pissed at each other, and it was evident that Mocha was pissed since there were yellow drops on the side of the car where he was hanging.....

That was the start of our journey, so that did not make a great impression, but we did finally get to the place to walk around and that was fine, except by this time, Jo had a pretty serious headache and Mocha's energy had to be released in the form of fast walking through the forest, which - in my mind - kinda defeats the purpose of going to 'relax.'

But it all worked out and we made it back. On the way back, we kept the windows UP!!! this time and Mocha seemed to sense that things were on thin ice, so he did what he usually does as a defence mechanism: he looks damn cute. As I was driving back, he put his head on my shoulder for 2-3 minutes at a time and ... ok, I have to admit, we could not stay frustrated any more....

Here are some of those pics (since we were not in the mood to take many pics before!)


So we will reevaluate any trip taking with Mocha from now on and weigh the pros and cons.....hmmmm, I wonder which side will win?

Jeff & Jo and Mocha!

Mocha Needed A Nap, Not A Bath

We take Mocha up to the roof or outside each day and you would think by now he would be getting more fit, but there are some times that he plays too hard and is just dead when we get back home.

Sometimes we deem it necessary to wash him, since he usually plays with Hali (Zak's German Shepherd), which means spit, dirt and water are everywhere - on him, on Hali and on the ground. Oh, wait, he actually cleans the ground with his fur, so the ground is pretty clean....so this time we took him up for a bit and boy did he have fun....

...but he was dead afterwards in the bath....

Here is an expose of the event....

Here are 'Dad' and Mocha after the ordeal....

Time for a harder exercise program...for both of us!

Back from Hong Kong

We just got back from Hong Kong on business.

Hong Kong is one of those places that could be interesting to see, but then when you get there you realize it is just another big city, that is crowded, humid and noisy. Of course, there are many things to do, but it is not a cheap place by any means.

Actually, I have been there about 9 times....or is it 10. I am not sure. I had to make many trips to HK for visa purposes due to Taiwan's archaic rules at that time (well, they still have many archaic rules....). However, it was Jo's first time, so we did a little bit of sightseeing.

Yet, we went there on our kid's money management program business, so we did not have much time to plod about (especially since it was rainy the whole time).

Anyway, here are some pics of the seminar that we attended and the speech I gave about our programs.

Hope things will turn out well! We are having fun at least!

Jeff & Jo

Happy Birthday Jo!

Let's wish Jo a Happy Birthday!

She tells me she is 28 years old and I am inclined to believe her (especially since I am about 28 myself!)

Anyway, we had a GREAT birthday weekend. Great because it was relaxing, void of too many people and out in the fresh outdoors. Yes, that is VERY hard to find these days, especially on weekends.

At first, we were gearing up for a mountain hike that would take about 12 hours to complete over 2 days, but at the last minute we could not register in time to get on the mountain (they only take a certain number of people per day). To say I was relieved would be an understatement. I believe in other posts I have mentioned Jo's love of hiking and my love of.....well, relaxing outdoors - which - it turns out - are two completely different things. So, I was very relieved, but tried to put on a sads face when Jo told me the 'bad' news. Ah well, we will have to kill ourselves.....I mean go hiking another time.

So, we looked around on websites and studied a good old fashioned map of Taiwan and decided to head out to Big Snow Mountain - which is a perfect locale since it is getting mighty hot in Taiwan right about now. I slyly confirmed how many hours we would be hiking and it turns out that we would just be 'strolling' along paths, so that was good.

We were ready and packed, kissed Mocha and left a lot of food (which he ate before we closed the door) and headed out. We planned about a 2 1/2 hour ride and took enough snacks and drinks for a much longer journey (since we wanted to make sure we had enough things for the birthday celebration on Sunday).

As we drove, we came to an intersection and realized that not 1 hour into our journey we had found where we wanted to go (Jo's map reading skills need some work....). But we were pleasantly surprised since it was so close and continued into the park to look for our hostel.

The hostel it turned out was a small 6 bedroom place run by an older gentleman whom instantly connected with Jo and they talked a lot. He told us where to go for some good climbs or just walking and we sauntered off for a pleasant 2 days.

Here are some pics.

At a height of 2275 meters, the mountain was a blissfully cool 18.8 C out. In the city, it is 30 C average.....

We loved these 'weeds' and they seemed to grow everywhere here.

Even on trees....

Happy Birthday, Jo!

Love all your adoring fans...

ps. If you wish Jo Happy Birthday next year, she will be 28 as well....

Another "Secret" present for Mocha

Yes, we were excited to also give Mocha another "secret" present - one that we felt would make him much happier here in the summer months to come.

If you followed the post about a blizzard in our apartment, you may be able to guess where this is going.

So, without further adieu,

Here is Mocha all decked out in........well not much.


We have tried to be good parents, but who can not laugh at this? Or wait, is it...cry?

Yes, our beautiful dog is no longer beautiful (on the outside), but at least he is cool and Mommy (Jo) does not get such a serious allergy (the real reason we got him shaved).

I had no idea how he would look after the shave, but Jo assured me that it would be close to hideous or ridiculous and she was right. In our defence, we did not request the tail thingie - AT ALL! But it adds to the mistique of the Thing That Used To Be Mocha. And to top it off, it looks like Mocha will need to be shaved a lot for the sake of Jo's allergies (but we will tell him it is to keep cool, which IS very important here....).

When we did get him back, Jo immediately said he looked like a Dragon, and I scoffed, saying that is no where NEAR a dragon. However, of course, she is talking about a Chinese Dragon - wingless, white, elongated body and vute head, let alone beneficial to mankind. Our Western Dragon is basically a bat / lizard / dinosaur monster that hoards gold and kills anyone that comes close....so at least you could sense my confusion.

But then I remembered an old movie from my youth and it brought back memories of something weird and white and flying that looked a bit like Mocha. Could it be?

YES! BY GOD IT COULD!

It is Falkor the Good Luck Dragon from The Neverending Story!

Course, I have no idea what Mocha thinks of all this, but when we asked him about being a dragon, he did the following, which pretty much sums it up.


But who knows, maybe he is waiting for the right time to jump off the balcony and fly away!

Here's to you Mocha and your cool "Secret" birthday present.....

Don't worry, we still love you!

Jeff & Jo

Happy Birthday Mocha!

Mocha is one year old today!

Happy Birthday Mocha!

Now you are a big boy and will be getting big boy food and big boy toys......

We will update a few pics soon.

Actually, we don't know his real birthday, but we decided that this was the best and most logical time since we got him when he was about two and a half months at the end of June.

So, we celebrated by giving him 2 chew-bone presents, 2 real chicken bone presents, some wine (which did not go over too well) and a long walk around our river here.




Happy Birthday!

Love yer Mom and Dad,

Jeff & Jo

Snow in Taichung

It is currently snowing in Taichung right now. In fact, it is a blizzard.

Really!

Actually, I should say it is snowing in our apartment.

And to be more precise, I should say that Mocha has become St, Nick and is blowing all kinds of fluffy hair all over everything in our house.


It is really amazing.

Malamutes (what we found out Mocha is) and Huskies 'blow' their undercoat twice a year since - you know - it is cold in the artic regions and they need warmer fur to insulate them. But come on, Mocha! You are in Taiwan now (whether you like it or not) and you don't need to get that undercoat anymore.

Please, we are begging you!

I swear, I vacuum and sweep the floor at least once -even twice a day - and this is AFTER I have brushed him about 10 times fo get enough hair to fill a down pillow. In fact, we are planning to start selling genuine Mocha hair stuffed pillows this summer......

...it sounds like a joke, but by god, it is not.. I am assuming Wendy knows what I am talking about - but if not, trust me, I have never seen a white christmas here, but we are seeing a white spring for sure!

But, ok, yes, you are so cute (he is putting his head on my lap as I write - he must know I am making fun of him), and your hair is SO soft......I can forgive you.....

...but can you please stop shedding on EVERYTHING?

You don't know how many times recently someone has looked at me and said: "you have a dog?" with an innocent look, but they are really looking at the 5 million hairs all over my pants and shirts......sigh....."yes, I have a Husky" "Oh, they are so cute!" I just smile and nod, smile and nod.....

Since they are and Mocha is expecially cute.


Yes, we are biased. Biased and snow covered....

In a Winter Wonderland,

Jeff & Jo

Costco in Taichung

After many years of waiting, our town of Taichung finally got its very own Costco. This is exciting for all the foreigners here since (even though I have never been to a Costco in the States) many of us have been to the wharehouse mecca in Taipei just for their pizza and muffins.

So a little bit more of home has iinched its way here. And hot damn, now do I ever realize why many Americans are so big. Now we shall see if Taiwanese widen their girth as well.

Jo and I decided at first NOT to get a membership since we are only 2 people (plus Mocha) and getting so much stuff is impractical. The amount of the membership would only cover the savings made if we went more than the 3-5 times a year we would ever go in the first place. However, after one of Jo's friends invited us to go and check it out on his membership, we planned to only buy some steaks for a small gathering we were having.

Well, some small steaks turned into about $150 bucks worth of all sorts of things that we didn;t know we needed until we got there: Oh, Bagels! Damn, let's load up! That kind of attitude is what the managers what I guess and they succeeded. Even Jo was agog at all the things there since most were from the States and she had never seen some of the brands.

And the best part was that we are able to use this friend's company business card, which cuts the membership down by 2/3rds, so now it is worth it and we will be buying steaks and bagels and Mocha's food there from now on.

OH! and Wendy! They have Aussie shampoo and conditioner, so you are off the hook for gifts and things (we stocked up for about 10 years worth)! Oh, wait, this may be bad news since now you have to think of something else to get me! haha....although I did not see Twizzlers.....

Anyway, I am not sure if this is going to change the eating habits of people here, but at least I can enjoy good (and cheap) bagels again!

With a few extra pounds,

Jeff & Jo

First Day At Work - End of the Housewife

After we got married last year, Jo convinced me in pure Machevellian fashion to be the only breadwinner while she stayed home and relaxed. Of course, out of ignorance and love, I agreed. Actually, it worked out pretty well and even Jo was shocked that she kinda liked being .......drumroll...... an actual housewife (since Jo's character is one that feels staying home is like staying in a prison - unlike me).

But all good things must come to an end and today is the first day of her new job. She is bummed.

Actually, the great thing is that it is not a normal job. Since we opened our company and doubled its size recently, we also acquired an office and some workers, so Jo (and all of us in our company) are working for ourselves now. In fact, she is managing the entire part of the children's financial department, and it is bound to be interesting. I, on the other hand am the one who has to create all the materials and - at least for right now - have convinced everyone that I work better at home (so I am at home "working" most days). It is a very different feeling than working for someone else, so that is a motivating factor.

However, I know that even though Jo likes to be out and about and doing challenging things, she really just wants to take more time off and clean our house (which I sincerely try to keep up with....), drink our very good coffee, listen to music and do her Sudoku (which I have absolutely no interest in).

Maybe in the near future, she will get her wish again!

Until then, you may want to send Jo a note to cheer her up!

I have to get back to "working" now.....


Jeff & Jo

New Year Gambling Stats

Well, the holidays are over and the New Rat Year is finally beginning.

To bring in the new year, Jo's family did what they always do - gamble as much as possible over the holidays. Actually, this is not only Jo's family, it is most Asians. In fact, I will assume that many overseas Chinese also take a few days holiday during the Chinese New Year time and gamble away.

Of course, high stakes gambling is frowned upon, especially since family and friends are playing and winning a large amount from someone often brings large problems, but small stake gambling with friends and family (in the range of NT$10 - NT$50 - or about $.25 to $1.00) is exciting and interesting.

Yes, I am hooked.

Basically, there are many ways to take and give money to your family and friends, but the three main ones here (or that we play) are

• Ma Jiang (or Mahjong, Mah Jhong)

• Shee Bala

• Big Ol' Two

I am not going to go into the ins and outs of how to play, since especially for Ma Jiang it is too complicated, but the main point is that after playing with Jo's family for about 15 hours (over a few days), our coffers went up and down like the tides.

And our final tally is that we ended up in the red about NT$20 (or about $.70). At the high point, we were up about NT$400 bucks, but that quickly faded when we started playing Ma Jiang - although I have to give Jo credit - twice at the very last round (of MANY rounds) she got the best situaiton or "Zi Mou" (where you pick the tile that will make the perfect match) and that is when you rake it in. So that was cool.

But damn, Jo's mom is almost 70, but as sharp as a knife and won many times - at everything!

So we consider ourselves lucky to loose only a little bit - the other siblings lost about NT$200 to NT$500 to their mom!

For myself, I had a good run at Shee Ba La - the dice game - where absolutely no skill was required.....sigh....

Anyway, in this year of the Rat, things are looking pretty good!




Best Wishes in the New Year!

Jeff & Jo

Some Current Mocha Shots

I have some time now (due to CNY), so I can post a few more things between computer games and board games.....

So, here are some current shots of Mocha doing what he does best - waiting for food.

And since the best place to get food is near a table, Mocha's spot is under Mom's chair since that is the only chair he was allowed to chew on (much to the chagrin of Dad....).

He has almost bitten through that one leg so I am not allowed to sit on that chair....sigh....Jo is ok, though

Another place he can get food (if he is nice), is his "home" which is his cage. All we have to do is say that exciting word, and he is inside immediately, expecting something. Often times, it amounts to a crumb or some teeny leftovers, but he is always hoping.....

Mean Daddy fooled him again with "rabbit food" (some vegetables) but he ate it all the same and will continue to I assume.

That last picture is him trying his best to "Lie Down"

We have also taught him not to eat anything unless we say "Eat!" so we try our best to see how long he can last before there is a puddle of drool on the floor. The longest time is about 15 seconds..... Course, we have purposesly tried to get it longer and longer and once Jo gave him food, said "Stay" and then forgot she gave him anything. After about 3-4 minutes, she turned around and Mocha was still staring holes into the little piece of meat with a little pool of spit right under his mouth. But he did not eat it, so that was good!



.
Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Jeff & Jo & Mocha