My respond to the group discussion:

N, some of your sources are very telling. I would be quite skeptical of anything that comes out of the Daily Mail, which has been widely known to publish false clickbait stories. I wouldn’t trust a tabloid newspaper like the NY Post, which is one of Murdoch’s propaganda machines, to provide me with medical-related information. These are dangerous sources for Covid materials.

For now, the mask mandate is settled. FCPS continues to require universal masking. It also challenges the executive order. Then again, as the leaders pointed out, LDHV has its own policies and regulations. I hope that LDHV stays its course and continues its mask mandate to protect everyone, particularly for those who are immunocompromised. LDHV also needs to figure out how to accommodate those with medical exemptions while still keeping everyone else safe. Please let us know what to expect before tonight’s party.

N has been vocal about bullying and that needs to be addressed. While I disagree with him on masking and politicking, I don’t want him to be silenced, blocked, or singled out. We should have open dialogues. If this is not the right platform to discuss politics, let the members know. We should also respect the leaders for their time. They have very limited resources and I am sure they rather focus their energy on running Scout activities and teaching our kids leadership and practical skills than dealing with bureaucracies.

As Đạo and I headed out the door this morning, he asked if he could take a banana to school for snack. Of course he could if the bananas have been ripened. He told me, “Dad, did you know that bananas release their hormones, but they don’t know when to stop.” Still in my clouded mood, I mused with him, “Are you saying they are always horny?” He looked at me with a puzzle on his face. He didn’t know what “horny” meant. I thought he would have learned that in school by now. My bad!

While we’re on the sex education subject, Đán came home one day and told me that he learned about his private parts in school. He explained to me how a penis can get hard and big. He even used the term erection. He also said that he knew about the girl private parts as well, but he didn’t want to talk about them. I challenged him to tell me something that he knew. He explained to me that every month a girl would bleed when she’s on her period. I asked him, “Where does she bleed?” He said with confidence, “From her nipples.” I almost fell off my chair. I said to him, “Son, you need to get some information straight. Go talk to your mom.”

I worked on my ice skating’s salchow jump for weeks, but I couldn’t get it down. My balance was off and I couldn’t land to check out. I got frustrated and put it on hold to focus on skiing.

Today I went back, after taking a week off the rink, to work on the salchow jump again. I fell twice; therefore, I tried hopping instead of jumping. I focused on my hands-and-feet coordinations and made sure my technicality was correct. Then it started to click. I was able to land and check out without tipping over or falling.

Now that I got the basic concept down, I need to practice to do the actual jump. I am not quite there yet, but I am making progress. I can’t wait to do some more.

Learning on my own seems to be much slower than with an instructor, but I am not in any rush. I just need to do it at my own pace.

A half-hour special in which Ansari returned to the Comedy Cellar to drop a few jokes about vaccinations, politics, and digital diets. He showed empathy for the anti-vaxxer who received misinformation, talked a bit about Trump and his content, and returned to using a flip phone. Though the special was enjoyable, I wish it was longer.

As the mask debate continued at our Scout pack, one of the parents who is a dentist chimed in:

Lastly I’ll add, that I also am not a big fan of the political show of non effective masks mandates. As a man of science (I got a bachelor of science in biology, and went on to become a doctor taking plenty more science classes like virology, immunology, pathology, and tons of microbiology) I think it’s a joke that half the time people wear masks like a chin diaper, I’ve yet to meet a kid or adult, who has correctly don and doff his/her mask, it’s funny to me that putting on a cloth mask makes people feel safe against covid (especially omincron) when what really needs to be worn for protection is a fitted and sealed 95 level mask…

My response:

Thanks for the scientific information. I must confess. I got a kick out of the “chin diaper” analogy. If nothing else, we should continue to wear masks for that reason. It is not a bad idea for some of us, myself included, to cover up our shit. LOL! Sorry, I couldn’t help it.

On a serious note, we are indeed living in deeply divided times. As I dropped off my kids this morning, I was checking around to see if I should let them into the building or drive them back home. I was worried for their safety not from Covid but from some mom who threatened to “bring every single gun loaded” to school.

I know we’re not to delve into this topic anymore, but I appreciate the open discussion N has put forward. Even if we don’t see eye to eye on these issues, I hope that we can agree to disagree.

OK I will shut up now. Have a great Tuesday!

Since the kids had no school yesterday, we headed back to Liberty Mountain Resort. Because it was Monday, the lift lines weren’t too crowded. We arrived around 10:30 am and split up. Đạo and Đán went on their own. They hit the blue and black slopes. My wife worked on her turns at the bunny slope. I took Xuân and Vương on the green slopes. Vương enjoyed riding the lift he referred to as the magic seat. With the harness, I helped control his speed and his turns.

After we had lunch, I took Xuân and Vương on the bigger, longer green slope. Xuân went straight down the slope. Vương did the same thing, but I had to slow him down because he didn’t know how to brake yet. We did it for three runs before he got tired and wanted his mommy. I was surprised that he lasted for almost four hours.

As Xuân and Vương went to the warming room to rest with my wife, I hit the black slopes with Đạo and Đán. They took me to the double black diamond slopes. When I looked down, the steepness of the slopes appeared intimidating. There was no way I could make my way down without flipping. Then Đạo and Đán went down with ease. They gave me the confidence to give it a shot. I combined short turns, hockey stops, and a bit of carvings to navigate my way down. To my surprise, I did not fall at all on both double black diamond slopes.

I tried out the blue mogul terrain. I had a bit of trouble getting around the big moguls a bit. I need more practice on how to ski on top of the moguls.

I loved skiing with these two kids. Đán is fearless and Đạo is cautious. I am in between them.

Took our little family to Whitetail today. I was expecting the resort to be packed, but I didn’t expect it to be super packed. The lines to the lifts were long. I could only manage to get Vương on the magic carpet once. He was tired and sleepy so I had to hand him over to my wife.

Đạo, Đán, Xuân and I went on a blue slope. Xuân was a bit intimidated and a ski patrol taught him side-slipping down the steep hills. As I was waiting for him to go down, I saw two snowboarders crashing into each other. One of them had to be transported down on a stretcher.

I took Xuân to the green slope, but the lift line took 40 minutes. He zoomed down the slope and went in with his mom. I joined Đạo on the blue slopes. We did two runs. They were fantastic. We’re planning on going back on Monday since the kids will still be off from school. The lines won’t be too crowded then.

A parent as our kids’ Scout uses Youngkin’s executive order ending mask mandates in public schools to attract attention. I am not posting his email because I don’t have permission. I am just going to post my responses. Here’s my first reply:

According to the state law, FCPS must adhere to the CDC guidelines; therefore, universal masking is still in place—at least until August 1, 2022.

From what I had observed, the kids didn’t seem to mind wearing masks at Scout meetings. The Cubs seemed to enjoy the activities the leaders had created.

Masking is not a political issue. Masking is a safety issue. We all have family members who had been infected with Covid or had died of Covid. I am sure some of us had been infected ourselves. If you think masking is a communist tactic then you must not have lived under the communist regime. You need to check your privilege.

In his reply, the president of our pack wrote:

If you and your kids follow the rule to wear mask then you and your kids are more than welcome to join us at our scouting events. If you refuse to do so then this lien doan will not be the right place for you.

Knowing his calm personality, it must be very difficult for him to write those words, but I support and respect his firmness and leadership. He puts our Liên Đoàn’s safety first. Since we started Scouting again, we hadn’t had a single case of Covid in our Liên Đoàn. Masking must have worked; therefore, I strongly encourage everyone to continue to make it a safe environment for all of us.

Sincerely yours,

Donny Truong

Here’s my follow-up respond:

As I said, Covid touched all of us one way or another. The members of this Liên Đoàn weren’t Covid-proof, but we did our part to keep this community safe. If we got sick, we stayed home. If we gathered indoors, we masked up. The members didn’t have to report their case and I didn’t need to know about their private health information. All I knew was that there was zero case in which Liên Đoàn had to cancel an in-person meeting due to Covid. There was zero case in which we spread the virus to each other during meetings. This is one of the reasons I have chosen to stay with this Liên Đoàn and dropped other activities where masks were recommended and not required.

As anyone who had fled Vietnam, which is all of us here, knew a thing or two about the communist. Accusing Liên Đoàn of using the communist tactics is low blow. We understand the difference between common sense and communism. Don’t let your hatred cloud your judgment.

I am not here to discuss your political agenda. I frankly don’t care. I am deeply concerned about the health and the safety of our Liên Đoàn, particularly our kids. Call it “fear-mongering” all you want, but I feel safe that the leaders have reaffirmed the mask mandate is still in place. When this policy changes, however, I would appreciate it if Liên Đoàn would let us know ahead of time before any future meeting.

Thanks for your time.

Regards,

Donny Truong

Today only my oldest son, Đạo, and I went skiing at Liberty Resort. My wife thought it was too cold, but the weather turned out perfect. The sunshine made the temperature felt warmer. Since today is still a weekday, the resort was not too crowded. We were able to get on the lifts quickly.

We skied down all the green and blue slopes. They were fun. We skied down the black slope twice. I could control my speed much better with short turns. I attempted to try the double black, but it looked too steep. I backed out.

I am still trying to learn carvings. They were trickier than I thought, but I’ll get them. I just need more practice. We skied for about four hours and were exhausted. We headed home early before the sun went down. We had a great time together. I rarely got to spend time alone with one of my kids; therefore, I treasured every moment. Đạo is just a wonderful kid, especially when his siblings weren’t around. He acted much more mature.

I wish Đán, Xuân, and Vương joined us, but we’ll go again tomorrow. I bet Saturday will be extremely crowded though. We’ll see.

For the backstory, read this post first. Because many people had experience the same leaking issue from their dishwasher, which includes the Whirpool brand, there are a handful of YouTube video showing how to fix it. I followed this one.

Replacing the dishwasher diverter valve seal grommet was straightforward. I just needed to wait for the product to arrive from Amazon. The first time I replaced it, the water still leaked in tiny drops. My wife read somewhere that applying sealing tape around the grommet would stop the leak. I did that and voila: no more leak.

The grommet cost $5.