Do we want to have a child? We discussed this topic many times over the years. For a long time we both thought the answer was no, but… then things like maturity, love, and a strong relationship happened
Like most people, we knew how to make a baby the old fashioned way. But no matter how hard we tried (or how many times), it just wasn’t happening. Perhaps this had something to do with the vasectomy I had about 12 years ago?
Determined to extend our family, we explored our options, comparing costs, success rates, and convenience factors.
Although we had health insurance at the beginning of our journey, it seldom (or never) covers the costs of infertility treatment, so cost efficiency was important. Why pay more than we had to?
Somewhere in the deep recesses of childhood memory, I vaguely recall a fuzzy black & white Lee Majors sprinting across the television screen at incredible speed in the TV show The 6 Million Dollar Man.
We Can Rebuild Him
For the unfamiliar, Majors played Steve Austin, an astronaut who was severely injured in a test flight of an experimental aircraft. Rebuilt by the government with a bionic body, he had superhuman strength and speed, infrared and zoom vision, and the greatest in 1970’s fashion.
The total cost of this life-saving operation? 6 Million Dollars. That’s a lot of money to create one amazing human being. With inflation, that 1973 procedure would cost more than $33.5 million today. Or would it?
Over the past few months, using the latest in modern technology, we have managed to create an amazing little human of our own at an expense of slightly less than $7,000 (although certainly that is only the down payment)
That’s right, Winnie is pregnant! We are both pretty excited
It’s that time of year again, time to give the teeth a little tender love and care.
Taiwan is the 4th country in which I’ve visited a dental office, and this one looked much like the others. The diploma on the wall from The New York University College of Dentistry could have been on the wall of any dental office in any town in the United States. The Chinese calligraphy too
Take a Seat Please
The cleaning was quick and efficient, and personally taken care of by the dentist himself. He found a missing filling and another two 10-year-old fillings with small cracks in them. This was explained in perfect English, but a high-res camera let me see the cracks and the diagnosis clearly first-hand
A week later I had these 3 fillings replaced. It was quick and painless, both physically and financially
The total cost for a cleaning and the replacement of 3 fillings was less than the $250 my old US dentist charged just for a cleaning.
For years, I would sit at work with hunched shoulders, counting our dollars and contemplating our early retirement and world travel plans
No longer do I obsess about the value of our portfolio, but I have yet to completely shake the Mr. Burns hunch. Sometimes after long guitar sessions, writing a blog post, or hours of practicing Chinese writing, I can feel that old work tension creep into my shoulders and upper back
This Guy Needs a Massage
Doing a little yoga or getting a massage helps, but some of those knots are deep, built up over years. It isn’t something a 90 minute massage is going to completely work out
So I decided to give something else a try… so I signed up for a session of Chinese Cupping Therapy. When in Rome…
Exploring the numerous Taipei dining options is a big task. Thousands of restaurants, food carts, and street vendors offer nearly every dish from across the globe, making it possible to have a hamburger, hummus, and haggis all in the same day.
Buy we are in Asia, so let’s feast Asian style!
Here are 3 more great meals we’ve shared in Taipei
