Liya launches her Coffeeaardvark web site at http://coffeeaardvark.com. When Jan first posted her Coffeeaardvark illustration on Facebook this past spring, some friends had said they’d like to buy the illustration on a t-shirt. Liya thought it would be fun to put together an online store to sell a Coffeeaardvark t-shirt and mug.
She put the site together over the summer with help from Jan, who carefully confined his role to that of a server administrator and design advisor. Essentially everything a visitor to the site can see is Liya’s work: the drawings, the organization, and the text.
Jan has to do a quick day trip down to Portland for work, and decides to go by train. It’s a fun trip: plenty of time to get work done while watching Puget Sound go by outside the window. This is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
We watch the election results come in on the New York Times election site while eating dinner. Hillary Clinton starts out with a very high chance of winning (~75%). During dinner, her chances begins to slip. By the end of dinner, she and Donald Trump have an equal chance of winning. As Donald Trump wins more electoral votes than expected, Hillary’s chances disappear.
We’re all stunned, and very, very sad.
We’re all in shock over Donald Trump’s win of the presidential election. Bree’s particularly upset. “I’m scared”, she says.
Later in the school day, Bree’s teacher sends a photo and this note: “Some of you wrote to let me know how your child was feeling about stressed about the election results. We started today off with students writing their feelings on the board. There are two pictures attached of what they wrote. We had a class meeting and I started off with the concept checks and balances in our government, which some were quite familiar with. Then students shared their feelings and insights.”
We have Jan’s mom over a dinner to celebrate her birthday. All the girls give their grandma things they’ve made: Anya gives her a print she made in printmaking class, Liya gives a Coffeeaardvark illustration, and Bree gives a pillow she sewed.
While Angela’s out of the evening and Jan is reading with Liya, Bree is busy on her own preparing for the next day. She leaves a note for Angela, who normally makes Bree’s lunch: “I made my lunch! Please come check on me. Have a good night, Bree”. She leaves several similar but smaller notes around the house to make sure Angela sees them.
Liya participates in her school’s Engineering Event for the last time. The theme is “Tall Ships”. The students all create models of sailing ships, complete with intricate rigging. No matter what the event’s annual theme is, though, the main event always seems to end up being the rolling of a rubber band-powered thing-on-wheels across a big white piece of Tyvek. This year is no exception, and the students dutifully roll their ships across the Tyvek to general applause.
For the Engineering Event, Liya also constructed a small model of a ship on an ocean that has motorized waves. When the model is turned on, the waves roll around. For the inner mechanism, Liya was happy to be able to reuse a little motor from a motorized duck model she assembled a few years ago.
We celebrate Thanksgiving at the home of Angela’s cousin, Ty, on Mercer Island. Ty and his wife Susana invite the extended Chen clan. Our girls are happy to reunite with their cousins. Jan’s mom Lyn is also there, and after dinner she takes a group Chen photo.
Front row, from left: E-moon, Cheng-nan, Ty’s maternal uncle, Ty’s mom Sue, Liya, Bree, Johnny, Angela, Miles, Peter.
Second row: Ty, Zoe, Susana, Jan
Third row: Zenni, Brian, Laura, Jason, Tom
Fourth row: Angela, Anya, Anthony, Aline
The weather’s good (read: not raining), so Jan takes Cheng-nan on a day hike in the Tiger Mountain area. Jan’s plan is to hike from Issaquah High School up the Section Line trail to West Tiger summit #3, but the trail turns out to go straight up the steep mountainside. After climbing 2000 feet, they’re still shy of the summit, but elect to turn right along an old railroad grade. This takes them to Poo Poo Point, which is famous both for its view and for being a popular launching point for paragliders. Jan and Cheng-nan eat lunch while watching the paragliders take off, then make the long trip back down the Poo Poo Point Trail back to the car. They get back around 4:00, just before it gets dark.
When the hike is over, Cheng-nan tells Jan that most of his peers are too out of shape or infirm to do such a hike: “I’m really glad you took me on this hike, because if you didn’t take me, I don’t know anyone else who could.”
Family trip to the Living Computer Museum in southern Seattle. This is a relatively new museum that includes both old computers and some modern techno-toys. Jan tries out the Tilt Brush 3D painting program in a VR rig, and draws a virtual wood campfire with a stick toasting a marshmallow. (The last person to use the rig was Anthony, who wanted to draw in space, so the campfire ends up floating in space.)
Bree and Jan play with an ancient TRS-80 microcomputer. This is the first kind of computer Jan ever saw. The BASIC computer language is still fun to play with.
Just before leaving the museum, Anya and Jan discover an art installation by Tokyo-based teamLab. It’s unclear how it works or what one is supposed to do with it, but they eventually discover a number of fun ways to interact with it. Eventually the rest of the cousins come in. Here Bree and her cousin Jason play with it, catching virtual objects with their hands.