Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Off to Grandma's we go! postscript
Traveling with my two kiddos was not that big of a deal. Again, it falls back to expected behaviors. My kids behave better when it's just me in charge because they know (okay, really The Girl knows) that I really don't care about some perceived, horrible injustice.
Over the holidays, Wifey was trying to get the kids to be good. She came up with the brilliant plan (you're free to copy for next year) of "Calling Santa". She got on the phone and pretended to dial Santa at the North Pole. Instead of reaching Santa, though, she would end up dealing with an elf (isn't that always the case where you can't get the manager in charge?). And so, she had a few conversations with the "Elf" about how the Boy was being bad.
The Boy, he didn't care (actually I'm not sure he actually understood).
But the Girl? Her eyes were wide open as she realized that she could be ratted out to Santa (via a middle-man elf). The side effect of this call was she started behaving herself.
If only for 30 minutes. But we'll take what we can get.
On the way back from Houston, I heard different variants of this from the back seats (all from The Girl)
And then while I was driving, and ignoring her rambling threats to him, I suddenly heard her bursting out bawling - very upset.
The Boy, thinking it great fun, had put his fist up to one ear and pretended he was on the phone; and he was babbling away.
The Girl was freaking because she thought he was calling up the Elves and ratting her out to Santa.
Must. Keep. From. Laughing.
Over the holidays, Wifey was trying to get the kids to be good. She came up with the brilliant plan (you're free to copy for next year) of "Calling Santa". She got on the phone and pretended to dial Santa at the North Pole. Instead of reaching Santa, though, she would end up dealing with an elf (isn't that always the case where you can't get the manager in charge?). And so, she had a few conversations with the "Elf" about how the Boy was being bad.
The Boy, he didn't care (actually I'm not sure he actually understood).
But the Girl? Her eyes were wide open as she realized that she could be ratted out to Santa (via a middle-man elf). The side effect of this call was she started behaving herself.
If only for 30 minutes. But we'll take what we can get.
On the way back from Houston, I heard different variants of this from the back seats (all from The Girl)
"[Boy], you better be good or I won't be your friend."The difference between Wifey and me? I was driving and trying very, very hard not to crack up. If Wifey had been along, the Girl would have been telling Mommie to tell the Boy the exact same things. With me, she knows it's pointless to involve me in her perceived slights from the Boy (I think he was touching her stuff or something like that).
"[Boy], if you are not my friend, I won't give you a gift card for Christmas."
"[Boy], I'm NOT your friend!"
"[Boy], I am NOT giving you a gift card for Christmas. There!"
"[Boy], I'm going to call the Elves and tell them you have been bad. Hello Elves?(at this point she has a pretend phone to hear ear) I'm calling to tell you that [the Boy] has been a bad boy. Yes, no presents for him!"
And then while I was driving, and ignoring her rambling threats to him, I suddenly heard her bursting out bawling - very upset.
The Boy, thinking it great fun, had put his fist up to one ear and pretended he was on the phone; and he was babbling away.
The Girl was freaking because she thought he was calling up the Elves and ratting her out to Santa.
Must. Keep. From. Laughing.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
This is not not good
I got an odd invite from my manager for a short 15 minute meeting with him late today.
My office neighbor and one of my best friends at work asked me, "Uhhh, did you get a meeting invite?" I said yes and he confirmed others in the department did as well.
He, always seeing the glass as half empty, thought it did not portend well for us.
I, resigned to the fates, said, "It's probably to tell us we didn't get laid off."
But as soon as that came out of my mouth, I realized that the same meeting could as well be used to tell me to start looking for a new position.
Oh.
Anyhoo, he caught me on internal chat and asked if I could come up early.
And he told me I was NOT getting laid off.
Whaaa? We have layoffs?
I shouldn't be surprised. It's come to my attention that the Mega-lo-corp seems to have layoffs every two years, regardless of the economic environment. Some division always misses its numbers and cuts have to be made every 2 years.
So, good to go until 2011.
Woo-hoo.
My office neighbor and one of my best friends at work asked me, "Uhhh, did you get a meeting invite?" I said yes and he confirmed others in the department did as well.
He, always seeing the glass as half empty, thought it did not portend well for us.
I, resigned to the fates, said, "It's probably to tell us we didn't get laid off."
But as soon as that came out of my mouth, I realized that the same meeting could as well be used to tell me to start looking for a new position.
Oh.
Anyhoo, he caught me on internal chat and asked if I could come up early.
And he told me I was NOT getting laid off.
Whaaa? We have layoffs?
I shouldn't be surprised. It's come to my attention that the Mega-lo-corp seems to have layoffs every two years, regardless of the economic environment. Some division always misses its numbers and cuts have to be made every 2 years.
So, good to go until 2011.
Woo-hoo.
Off to Grandma's we go! pt 2
So, where were we? Oh yes, dinner with my sister and BIL.
First, I thought it would be with her whole brood - which is currently 8 kids. The oldest moved out and got her own apartment. However, she then fell in "love" with a musician and now has followed him to AZ, much to the horror of my sister. And yet, they can't do anything about it because she (my sister) defied my parents when she was close to that age for "true love".
Second, my sister and I haven't exactly had many conversations that lasted more than 2 minutes in length since we had a falling out over 20 years ago. In the first place, we don't see each other (physically) much, so that has something to do with it. Secondly, she's always had this mass of children milling around her so that becomes a buffer. She's busy being a Mom and it's a distraction that (thankfully) prevents each of us from having to engage the other in conversation. And finally, we both just can't fake sincerity. I know she keeps thinking,
So for my Mother's birthday, she (My Mother) wanted her two kids at the table with her. And, for the first time ever (okay it's not that often since I don't see my sister and BIL much - maybe once every 3 or 4 years), they didn't have their kids with them. Egads, will I actually have to talk to them?
When we got to the restaurant, we passed this couple in the parking lot. It took me a while to realize that they were my sister and BIL. He really hasn't changed that much, but....wow, my sister has changed dramatically since I last saw her. Or maybe it's a case where I haven't wanted to pay much attention?
She's gotten....ummmm, heavier. I guess giving birth to 10 kids*, duh, that's to be expected. But her face is so much wider and the white hair! I don't know much about women's hair styles, so I can't describe what it is. But the front "ridge" of hair is mostly long white hairs and it's all combed up-and-over the head. I kept looking at her during dinner and thinking, "Wow, she has really aged. But wait, so have I. But wait, she looks way worse than I do.*** But man, she has really aged. But then......we only see each other about every 2 or 3 years. I wonder what I look like to her?"
Fortunately, I was seated opposite from them at the large, round table in the Chinese restaurant**. My sister passed me a wine-gift bag and two red envelopes for our kids! Wow! I then passed them a big white envelope (no time to find red envelopes) for her 8 kids still at home. I think she was surprised. I was shocked that they gave us a bottle since they are both teetotalers and I wasn't sure they knew how to buy wine.
We didn't say anything to each other, other than, "Here this is for you" and "Thanks". As I said, we can't fake the closeness and sincerity that one would expect in a Norman Rockwell picture.
They didn't ask about the kids, other than how old they were. She just kept looking at the Girl and Boy and smiling. And not much conversation was exchanged around the table. It wasn't a cold atmosphere, actually. Our family, we're not big dinner table talkers. So we just ate and my mother, for her delayed birthday party, got to enjoy having her two kids at the table with her.
Oh, and two interesting side notes about dinner. First, my mother opens up a hard case from her purse, about the size of a eyeglass case. In there is a metal spoon and some portable, metal chopsticks. The chopsticks are in halves and she has to screw them together like one would do for a fancy pool cue. I asked her, "Wha? You bring your own chopsticks?" She answered, "The chopsticks here (cheap, wood, split-aparts) are dirty. Look." She split up the wood chopsticks in front for her and then proceeded to rub them across her black slacks -depositing the fine wood dust. And of course, she added with a hint of light sneering, "They're made in China." That's my Mom!
Second, at Chinese restaurant (about 98% filled with Chinese), the waitress came by and in addition to the standard menu, handed my Mom two pieces of paper. One was a (Mandarin) printed list of items, off menu, that were special for the day. The second piece of paper was a hand-written list of additional (secret and only allowed for the yellow-man) items not on the first piece of paper. Poor 2% of customers who will never be able to read the list and know what special, special items they are prevented from ordering because they can't read Mandarin.
Oh wait, that's me!
*One died at childbirth
**97% Chinese customers - yes!
***I've been on a diet and weigh less than I did maybe 15 years ago - yeah, I'm amazed.
First, I thought it would be with her whole brood - which is currently 8 kids. The oldest moved out and got her own apartment. However, she then fell in "love" with a musician and now has followed him to AZ, much to the horror of my sister. And yet, they can't do anything about it because she (my sister) defied my parents when she was close to that age for "true love".
Second, my sister and I haven't exactly had many conversations that lasted more than 2 minutes in length since we had a falling out over 20 years ago. In the first place, we don't see each other (physically) much, so that has something to do with it. Secondly, she's always had this mass of children milling around her so that becomes a buffer. She's busy being a Mom and it's a distraction that (thankfully) prevents each of us from having to engage the other in conversation. And finally, we both just can't fake sincerity. I know she keeps thinking,
"I know your soul will burn in hell for eternity. I'm so sad for you."And I know I keep thinking,
"Are you still waiting for the mothership to emerge from behind the comet?"
So for my Mother's birthday, she (My Mother) wanted her two kids at the table with her. And, for the first time ever (okay it's not that often since I don't see my sister and BIL much - maybe once every 3 or 4 years), they didn't have their kids with them. Egads, will I actually have to talk to them?
When we got to the restaurant, we passed this couple in the parking lot. It took me a while to realize that they were my sister and BIL. He really hasn't changed that much, but....wow, my sister has changed dramatically since I last saw her. Or maybe it's a case where I haven't wanted to pay much attention?
She's gotten....ummmm, heavier. I guess giving birth to 10 kids*, duh, that's to be expected. But her face is so much wider and the white hair! I don't know much about women's hair styles, so I can't describe what it is. But the front "ridge" of hair is mostly long white hairs and it's all combed up-and-over the head. I kept looking at her during dinner and thinking, "Wow, she has really aged. But wait, so have I. But wait, she looks way worse than I do.*** But man, she has really aged. But then......we only see each other about every 2 or 3 years. I wonder what I look like to her?"
Fortunately, I was seated opposite from them at the large, round table in the Chinese restaurant**. My sister passed me a wine-gift bag and two red envelopes for our kids! Wow! I then passed them a big white envelope (no time to find red envelopes) for her 8 kids still at home. I think she was surprised. I was shocked that they gave us a bottle since they are both teetotalers and I wasn't sure they knew how to buy wine.
We didn't say anything to each other, other than, "Here this is for you" and "Thanks". As I said, we can't fake the closeness and sincerity that one would expect in a Norman Rockwell picture.
They didn't ask about the kids, other than how old they were. She just kept looking at the Girl and Boy and smiling. And not much conversation was exchanged around the table. It wasn't a cold atmosphere, actually. Our family, we're not big dinner table talkers. So we just ate and my mother, for her delayed birthday party, got to enjoy having her two kids at the table with her.
Oh, and two interesting side notes about dinner. First, my mother opens up a hard case from her purse, about the size of a eyeglass case. In there is a metal spoon and some portable, metal chopsticks. The chopsticks are in halves and she has to screw them together like one would do for a fancy pool cue. I asked her, "Wha? You bring your own chopsticks?" She answered, "The chopsticks here (cheap, wood, split-aparts) are dirty. Look." She split up the wood chopsticks in front for her and then proceeded to rub them across her black slacks -depositing the fine wood dust. And of course, she added with a hint of light sneering, "They're made in China." That's my Mom!
Second, at Chinese restaurant (about 98% filled with Chinese), the waitress came by and in addition to the standard menu, handed my Mom two pieces of paper. One was a (Mandarin) printed list of items, off menu, that were special for the day. The second piece of paper was a hand-written list of additional (secret and only allowed for the yellow-man) items not on the first piece of paper. Poor 2% of customers who will never be able to read the list and know what special, special items they are prevented from ordering because they can't read Mandarin.
Oh wait, that's me!
*One died at childbirth
**97% Chinese customers - yes!
***I've been on a diet and weigh less than I did maybe 15 years ago - yeah, I'm amazed.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Off to Grandma's we go! pt 1
[This post written 12/22]
We have returned from a quickie trip to visit my folks. I found out from my Dad that he and my uncle were leaving for Taiwan on December 25th, and so I wanted the kids to see my parents before Christmas. My Dad is extremely close to his 97(!!) year old mother. And he realizes that each time he leaves Taiwan, it could be the last time he sees her. So now, he tries to visit her at least twice, maybe three times a year. And he kept telling me on the phone, "The flights on Christmas day are SO CHEAP!". Actually, I've flown home from a Hawaiian tour trip on Christmas day. It is very good day to travel (the crowds are thin, the workers and the travelers are more subdued).
On top of that, December 15th was my Mom's birthday. So, she delayed having her birthday celebration until we could come and join her for a big dinner. Well, because we made a last minute decision to visit them, we couldn't find boarding for the 3 dogs. And, we have neighbors who complain about our dogs barking (which is quite a long story and not as true as it sounds), Wifey decided to stay home with the dogs.
Now let me say that she wasn't exactly shedding tears at not having to go to Houston to visit my folks. She got to sleep as late as she wanted with no kids waking her up (ha-ha-ha. I take care of the dogs - she was going to be in for a rude surprise while I was gone).
But did you know that Wifey has never had to care for the 2 kids overnight, by herself, since we adopted the Boy? I don't travel for work anymore, and she travels once a quarter for her job. Thus, since we picked up the Boy in Spring of 2007, I've had to take care of the kids by myself about 5 separate times (ranging from 2 days to 1 week). When Wifey goes on a dramatic soliloquy about the stresses of having to take the 2 kids shopping by her self, I have to remind her that I've had to do the equivalent for a week. And then she responds, "Hrrumph! It's not the same!" (Exactly)
So, I sucked it up and decided to drive the kids to visit Grandma before Grandpa took off for Taiwan. I was expecting the Girl, seeing a chance to spend a whole Saturday with her Mommie, to back out at the last minute and refuse to go. But surprisingly, she gladly went on the trip to see my parents.
The trip to Grandma's house was fairly uneventful, other than I had to play silly child guessing games with the Girl to stay awake while driving.
And when we got to my parents' house....the children refused to get on the couch with my Mom; they immediately leapt onto the other couch and into my Dad's arms. No matter how much my Mom tried coaxing them to come and cuddle with her, they both steadfastly refused.
I was thinking of the movie/series "The Teminator" where dogs could sense Terminators and start barking at them. They sensed that my Mom was a Terminator (and she IS!).
Poor Mom. But, she reaps what she sows. Later that evening she told me, "You have to watch that one [the Girl]. If you don't control her now, then you won't be able to control her later, when she's grown up."
[Insert eye-roll here]
When I asked my Mom if the Girl reminded her of my sister when she was younger, my Mom said no. I was always given the impression my sister was more....ummm, "witchy" when she was young. Then my Mom said, "Oh no. When you two were little kids, I forbid you two to do wrong things at every turn. You two never gave me any trouble."
[Insert eye-roll here]
And then the lecturing continued, "You and Wifey need to sit down before she gets any older and decide and agree on discipline. You need to agree on the rules and be on the same page."
[Insert eye-roll here]
I sarcastically said, "Now? You are now saying this to me now? Gee, we've had her for 4 years and now you think Wifey and I should together and talk about this now? Duh, we did it 4 years ago. We don't agree on a few things, but.....Duh, we did this 4 years ago."
And to be fair [cough] to my Mom, the Girl was not on her best behavior. She was being borderline-rude just to get attention from my parents. She was slightly taunting them with on-the-edge rude statements to see if she could get a rise out of them.
My Dad just totally ignores it and doesn't acknowledge. The Terminator, she's zeroing in on her target.
And of course, my Mom is the queen of backhanded compliments. She said to me twice, "Well, now that you're a Dad of two - you are finally exercising the patience that we always hoped you would have."
Any wonder why I'm a hard-ass?
Oh yeah, dinner with my sister and BIL. That was later that night.
We have returned from a quickie trip to visit my folks. I found out from my Dad that he and my uncle were leaving for Taiwan on December 25th, and so I wanted the kids to see my parents before Christmas. My Dad is extremely close to his 97(!!) year old mother. And he realizes that each time he leaves Taiwan, it could be the last time he sees her. So now, he tries to visit her at least twice, maybe three times a year. And he kept telling me on the phone, "The flights on Christmas day are SO CHEAP!". Actually, I've flown home from a Hawaiian tour trip on Christmas day. It is very good day to travel (the crowds are thin, the workers and the travelers are more subdued).
On top of that, December 15th was my Mom's birthday. So, she delayed having her birthday celebration until we could come and join her for a big dinner. Well, because we made a last minute decision to visit them, we couldn't find boarding for the 3 dogs. And, we have neighbors who complain about our dogs barking (which is quite a long story and not as true as it sounds), Wifey decided to stay home with the dogs.
Now let me say that she wasn't exactly shedding tears at not having to go to Houston to visit my folks. She got to sleep as late as she wanted with no kids waking her up (ha-ha-ha. I take care of the dogs - she was going to be in for a rude surprise while I was gone).
But did you know that Wifey has never had to care for the 2 kids overnight, by herself, since we adopted the Boy? I don't travel for work anymore, and she travels once a quarter for her job. Thus, since we picked up the Boy in Spring of 2007, I've had to take care of the kids by myself about 5 separate times (ranging from 2 days to 1 week). When Wifey goes on a dramatic soliloquy about the stresses of having to take the 2 kids shopping by her self, I have to remind her that I've had to do the equivalent for a week. And then she responds, "Hrrumph! It's not the same!" (Exactly)
So, I sucked it up and decided to drive the kids to visit Grandma before Grandpa took off for Taiwan. I was expecting the Girl, seeing a chance to spend a whole Saturday with her Mommie, to back out at the last minute and refuse to go. But surprisingly, she gladly went on the trip to see my parents.
The trip to Grandma's house was fairly uneventful, other than I had to play silly child guessing games with the Girl to stay awake while driving.
And when we got to my parents' house....the children refused to get on the couch with my Mom; they immediately leapt onto the other couch and into my Dad's arms. No matter how much my Mom tried coaxing them to come and cuddle with her, they both steadfastly refused.
I was thinking of the movie/series "The Teminator" where dogs could sense Terminators and start barking at them. They sensed that my Mom was a Terminator (and she IS!).
Poor Mom. But, she reaps what she sows. Later that evening she told me, "You have to watch that one [the Girl]. If you don't control her now, then you won't be able to control her later, when she's grown up."
[Insert eye-roll here]
When I asked my Mom if the Girl reminded her of my sister when she was younger, my Mom said no. I was always given the impression my sister was more....ummm, "witchy" when she was young. Then my Mom said, "Oh no. When you two were little kids, I forbid you two to do wrong things at every turn. You two never gave me any trouble."
[Insert eye-roll here]
And then the lecturing continued, "You and Wifey need to sit down before she gets any older and decide and agree on discipline. You need to agree on the rules and be on the same page."
[Insert eye-roll here]
I sarcastically said, "Now? You are now saying this to me now? Gee, we've had her for 4 years and now you think Wifey and I should together and talk about this now? Duh, we did it 4 years ago. We don't agree on a few things, but.....Duh, we did this 4 years ago."
And to be fair [cough] to my Mom, the Girl was not on her best behavior. She was being borderline-rude just to get attention from my parents. She was slightly taunting them with on-the-edge rude statements to see if she could get a rise out of them.
My Dad just totally ignores it and doesn't acknowledge. The Terminator, she's zeroing in on her target.
And of course, my Mom is the queen of backhanded compliments. She said to me twice, "Well, now that you're a Dad of two - you are finally exercising the patience that we always hoped you would have."
Any wonder why I'm a hard-ass?
Oh yeah, dinner with my sister and BIL. That was later that night.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Personal favs of 2008
1) Resolutions
2) My stuff is great! Your stuff sucks!
Ahhhh, marriage.
3) More on the Boy's Orphanage Town.
And newbies on the Yahoo group still ask about visiting.
4) Steakfest 2008
Who doesn't like steakfest? No one!
5) Why buy one when you can buy six?
I recently bought the Girl 9 pair of socks she liked.
6) Two Little Hamburgers
Less choking, more eating!
7) Anti? Pt 3
8) School Daze
Now, we have to worry about things we thought would take care of themselves.
9) Never Forgotten
10) Never wrestle with a pig
Sometimes, you have to live through months and years of work frustration to end up with a funny story.
11) Grandparents and their grandkids, pt 3
Relatives, you can't pick them!
12) RMS Titantic
Sigh.
13) Everything I Say is False
And apparently, it's still true.
2) My stuff is great! Your stuff sucks!
Ahhhh, marriage.
3) More on the Boy's Orphanage Town.
And newbies on the Yahoo group still ask about visiting.
4) Steakfest 2008
Who doesn't like steakfest? No one!
5) Why buy one when you can buy six?
I recently bought the Girl 9 pair of socks she liked.
6) Two Little Hamburgers
Less choking, more eating!
7) Anti? Pt 3
8) School Daze
Now, we have to worry about things we thought would take care of themselves.
9) Never Forgotten
10) Never wrestle with a pig
Sometimes, you have to live through months and years of work frustration to end up with a funny story.
11) Grandparents and their grandkids, pt 3
Relatives, you can't pick them!
12) RMS Titantic
Sigh.
13) Everything I Say is False
And apparently, it's still true.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Absolutely!
I appreciate the fact that people take the time to vote on my polls when I post them. Because sometimes people miss the fact that there is a poll, I now have a post that I re-fresh that points to polls to let people know a new one exists.
Before I put up questions in a poll, I already have a post about something along that subject matter rambling in my head. So, I ask the questions in a poll so that I can later use it as a comparison point. And people who voted can read the post and then think about how they voted in the poll.
Which.......leads to this post.
When writing up a question for a poll, there are many, many possible answers to a question. And the way the question is framed, that is more important than the possible answers. The problem is that I can't factor in ALL the permutations. And once someone votes, the program locks out any modifications to the poll (which makes sense).
I then wondered......."I wonder how people would vote when they're unsure what they are voting for?"
Thus, I posted a poll question. The only question was "Yes?" And the two possible answers and the results of the poll are:
I had to chuckle at this. Here are the various thoughts I imagined people thinking:
Before I put up questions in a poll, I already have a post about something along that subject matter rambling in my head. So, I ask the questions in a poll so that I can later use it as a comparison point. And people who voted can read the post and then think about how they voted in the poll.
Which.......leads to this post.
When writing up a question for a poll, there are many, many possible answers to a question. And the way the question is framed, that is more important than the possible answers. The problem is that I can't factor in ALL the permutations. And once someone votes, the program locks out any modifications to the poll (which makes sense).
I then wondered......."I wonder how people would vote when they're unsure what they are voting for?"
Thus, I posted a poll question. The only question was "Yes?" And the two possible answers and the results of the poll are:
Yes! | 51 (80%) |
No! | 12 (19%) |
I had to chuckle at this. Here are the various thoughts I imagined people thinking:
- Heh. He's asking us to vote for something I don't even know what the real question is about.
- Whaaaaa? I ain't voting.
- Wait, did part of the question get chopped off?
- Mmmmmm. Why didn't he offer "Yes" instead of "Yes!"? And what if he had offered "yes" and "Yes" and "yes!" and "Yes!" or....wait, why not "YES" or "YES!"?
- Hah! Whatever it is, I don't like going with the crowd. What are we sheep? "No!"
- But wait, why didn't he offer "No" or "no" or "NO"?
- Wait, is there a distinct difference between "Yes" and "Yes!"? Is that the point he's trying to make? Argggghhhh, quit screwing with my mind!
- How can I vote for something I don't even know what the question is about?
- Wait, how could those other people vote for something?
- Wait.....does he have a secret blog somewhere where he's asked the REAL question and this is where they are supposed to answer?
- Wait.....why I wasn't I invited to the secret blog?
- I hate him!
- Wait....
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Personal favs of 2007
1) Sympathy for the Devil
When it was getting close, but we missed. For some reason, I was was fairly sure it was going to happen the next month (and it did).
2) Steakfest 2007
Carnivores, celebrate!
3) The Day, the recounting
And yes Jacquie, a haircut.
4) How to meet someone IRL!
And ever since then, patdowns for all!
5) About a Boy
6) How much you pay for baby?
Question is still sometimes asked by my relatives.
7) What if your child IS the diversity?
I recently recounted this story to a Hispanic Dad who has a Japanese spouse. He chuckled and said, "Yeah, make them come to you!"
8) White Rabbit
One year in blogging pictures - before going to the other side of the world.
9) Family Day recounting, pt 2
10) Hey I met Jacquie!
Odd that you meet another person you "know" in person on the other side of the globe.
11) Well, that was interesting, pt1
12) Stardust Memories
A video for the Boy
13) Personal archaeology
All that we know and will ever know.
14) So, it's come down to this
One of my many retirements. [cough, cough]
15) Little burrs
16) Oh by the way, I'm not white. I'm Asian.
17) Burning Ships, pt 2
18) A different type of investment
So far, of the 12 loans, I've had one default.
19) Trainwreck
Still true, to this day.
20) A rumor of
Still rolling along! I had forgotten all the angry comments and counter-comments.
21) Paradise Lost
A redhead that you all know was lamenting this the other day.
22) Why my sister has nine kids, pt 14
This touched a nerve as everyone has a blacksheep in their family.
When it was getting close, but we missed. For some reason, I was was fairly sure it was going to happen the next month (and it did).
2) Steakfest 2007
Carnivores, celebrate!
3) The Day, the recounting
And yes Jacquie, a haircut.
4) How to meet someone IRL!
And ever since then, patdowns for all!
5) About a Boy
6) How much you pay for baby?
Question is still sometimes asked by my relatives.
7) What if your child IS the diversity?
I recently recounted this story to a Hispanic Dad who has a Japanese spouse. He chuckled and said, "Yeah, make them come to you!"
8) White Rabbit
One year in blogging pictures - before going to the other side of the world.
9) Family Day recounting, pt 2
10) Hey I met Jacquie!
Odd that you meet another person you "know" in person on the other side of the globe.
11) Well, that was interesting, pt1
12) Stardust Memories
A video for the Boy
13) Personal archaeology
All that we know and will ever know.
14) So, it's come down to this
One of my many retirements. [cough, cough]
15) Little burrs
16) Oh by the way, I'm not white. I'm Asian.
17) Burning Ships, pt 2
18) A different type of investment
So far, of the 12 loans, I've had one default.
19) Trainwreck
Still true, to this day.
20) A rumor of
Still rolling along! I had forgotten all the angry comments and counter-comments.
21) Paradise Lost
A redhead that you all know was lamenting this the other day.
22) Why my sister has nine kids, pt 14
This touched a nerve as everyone has a blacksheep in their family.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Reconnections
The other day, I had finished swimming laps at the gym. I was getting dressed, and then I noticed someone literally stop in their tracks. I looked up and they were just staring at me with the most shocked look. He said, "Johnny?! Johnny?!" It took me a while to realize who it was. It was Greg. Wow.
So, let's back up. I met Greg and his wife when he and I were in grad school. He was put in charge of the lab workers (people who pulled printouts and put them in bins). I probably got to know him because of that. And I hung out in his grad school office quite a bit, in between classes.
I graduated one semester before him, and he joined the Mega-lo-corp when he graduated. When I was helping him move into his new house (from my same apartment complex), I noticed that the lot next door had a For Sale sign. He told me that a deal had fallen through, so the lot was back on sale (these were small lots for beginner homes). I decided to buy that lot and the house that went with it and had a small house built right next door to my buddy! Plus, we were literally 3 miles down the road from our offices at the Mega-lo-corp. It was a 5 minute commute.
Everything was going great. I got along very well with Greg and his wife. I had gotten along with them well when we were in grad school (she was a school teacher for a short while, then went back and got her MBA).
And one day, I come home and there was a For Sale sign on their front yard.
Whaaaa?
I asked him what was going on. He said that he had given two weeks notice to Mega-lo-corp, he was joining a small startup, and they were selling their house and buying a big lot in a fancier neighborhood.
Moving on up! Wooo-hooo!
Except.
Geee. My feelings were kinda hurt. We were good friends, neighbors, and worked in the same building - and he never told me his plans.
But, in this business you wish them the best of luck. At that time, it was slowly become the dot-com boom (we just didn't realize it). He was joining a small startup made up of some Mega-lo-corp veterans. He was going to be employee #20, or something like that. I also know that he probably ended up working 60-70 hours the first few months.
And then about a year and a half later, the Mega-lo-corp bought them out.
Carumba! All those early people were R-I-C-H!
Except, in all this time, I never heard a peep out of Greg.
Shortly after the Mega-lo-corp swallowed his startup company, I saw his distinct last name pop up in an email. So, I emailed him with, "Dude, I can't believe you're back with the Mega-lo-corp!". He answered with a, "Yeah. You know I did well by them, so I agreed to stay on as a manager for a short while."
In other words, as part of the buyout, he had to agree to stay on for at least one year.
And shortly after that, he was gone.
Over the years, I've wondered if he was still in our town. About two years ago, I did Google him and found out that he and his wife (still married - these days you can't tell) have two kids. They live about 7-8 miles from my house (in the "richer" part of town). He joined another startup; they went public. Then another startup; then they went public (although this time, there were some irregularities with the books). And now he's at another startup.
Let's say that he works hard and is thusly rewarded.
And while we were catching up in the gym, I had to pretend I didn't know about his previous startups and the kids.....'cause googling and researching him....errrr....a bit stalkerish.
He gave me his email address(es). But now, I wonder if I should contact him and reconnect. The one thing that has always bothered me is, "Gee, did I have bad B.O. or what? Why did you completely cut me off once you moved and left the company? It's not like I tried to talk you out of it. Those three and a half years we knew each other....they were just closed and done, like a chapter in a book."
I couldn't decide what to do. Let sleeping dogs lie or re-kindle a dormant friendship?
And then I mulled it over. He never said, "Hey, let's get together and catch up!" He never asked me for my home email address. And that's okay, I started suggeting a get together and stopped myself. I'm as much to blame in the lack of reconnection.
Sleeping dogs lie, it shall be then.
So, let's back up. I met Greg and his wife when he and I were in grad school. He was put in charge of the lab workers (people who pulled printouts and put them in bins). I probably got to know him because of that. And I hung out in his grad school office quite a bit, in between classes.
I graduated one semester before him, and he joined the Mega-lo-corp when he graduated. When I was helping him move into his new house (from my same apartment complex), I noticed that the lot next door had a For Sale sign. He told me that a deal had fallen through, so the lot was back on sale (these were small lots for beginner homes). I decided to buy that lot and the house that went with it and had a small house built right next door to my buddy! Plus, we were literally 3 miles down the road from our offices at the Mega-lo-corp. It was a 5 minute commute.
Everything was going great. I got along very well with Greg and his wife. I had gotten along with them well when we were in grad school (she was a school teacher for a short while, then went back and got her MBA).
And one day, I come home and there was a For Sale sign on their front yard.
Whaaaa?
I asked him what was going on. He said that he had given two weeks notice to Mega-lo-corp, he was joining a small startup, and they were selling their house and buying a big lot in a fancier neighborhood.
Moving on up! Wooo-hooo!
Except.
Geee. My feelings were kinda hurt. We were good friends, neighbors, and worked in the same building - and he never told me his plans.
But, in this business you wish them the best of luck. At that time, it was slowly become the dot-com boom (we just didn't realize it). He was joining a small startup made up of some Mega-lo-corp veterans. He was going to be employee #20, or something like that. I also know that he probably ended up working 60-70 hours the first few months.
And then about a year and a half later, the Mega-lo-corp bought them out.
Carumba! All those early people were R-I-C-H!
Except, in all this time, I never heard a peep out of Greg.
Shortly after the Mega-lo-corp swallowed his startup company, I saw his distinct last name pop up in an email. So, I emailed him with, "Dude, I can't believe you're back with the Mega-lo-corp!". He answered with a, "Yeah. You know I did well by them, so I agreed to stay on as a manager for a short while."
In other words, as part of the buyout, he had to agree to stay on for at least one year.
And shortly after that, he was gone.
Over the years, I've wondered if he was still in our town. About two years ago, I did Google him and found out that he and his wife (still married - these days you can't tell) have two kids. They live about 7-8 miles from my house (in the "richer" part of town). He joined another startup; they went public. Then another startup; then they went public (although this time, there were some irregularities with the books). And now he's at another startup.
Let's say that he works hard and is thusly rewarded.
And while we were catching up in the gym, I had to pretend I didn't know about his previous startups and the kids.....'cause googling and researching him....errrr....a bit stalkerish.
He gave me his email address(es). But now, I wonder if I should contact him and reconnect. The one thing that has always bothered me is, "Gee, did I have bad B.O. or what? Why did you completely cut me off once you moved and left the company? It's not like I tried to talk you out of it. Those three and a half years we knew each other....they were just closed and done, like a chapter in a book."
I couldn't decide what to do. Let sleeping dogs lie or re-kindle a dormant friendship?
And then I mulled it over. He never said, "Hey, let's get together and catch up!" He never asked me for my home email address. And that's okay, I started suggeting a get together and stopped myself. I'm as much to blame in the lack of reconnection.
Sleeping dogs lie, it shall be then.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Pot Roast
Pot Roast? Pot Roast? It's come down to this? Say it isn't "So".
Hey, let me tell you a funny story. When I was a little kid, I learned cooking techniques from my mother. I was her kitchen helper as she was in the next room (former formal dining room) giving piano lessons. She asked me to heat up somethings she made in the crock pot a few days ago. I took the ceramic crock pot and put it (the crock itself) onto our electric cooktop. About 30-40 minutes later, the crock sorta "popped" and split open and sorta disintegrated.
Wow, so you're not supposed to re-heat food like that?
Surprisingly, my parents didn't freak out when I essentially destroyed their crockpot. But I think that part of the reason was it was something my Mom didn't cook with very often. And thus, cooking with a crock pot has been (until the last 2 years) something missing from my skill set. And then, I started making stewed meats like the Asian Short Ribs and the Oso Buco. That started me thinking about what I could do with a crock pot and 12 hours of stewing. So, I've been testing out various pot roast recipes.
With feedback from Wifey, I've essentially mixed together ingredients of Asian Short Ribs and Oso Buco into a pot roast.
First, start off with some short of Chuck Roast. The more visible fat you can see, the better and softer the final pot roast will be. Take the Roast and season with salt and pepper.
Here are the ingredients that will eventually go into the crock pot. Start from top left and going clockwise: Tomato paste, star anise, cloves, (lite) soy sauce, bay leaf, red wine, beef broth, thyme, ginger root, (pre-cut to make my life easier) onion, carrots, and celery, rosemary, garlic, and a garni herb sack.
Take the salt-and-peppered roast and sear each side in a frying pan.
Stuff all the "solid" spices and herbs into the garni bag. I buy 20 of them at a time and they last me about 1 year.
The recipes always say 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. I dump the whole (small) can in. Unless you do a lot of Italian cooking, saving the rest of the tomato paste is too much trouble. Besides, the more tomato paste (and assorted acids) you have in the stew, the easier it is for the tomato acid to break down the fats in the meat and make everything as soft as butter (literally!)
Add the meat and the pre-cut vegetables. At the time this is happening, it is 6:15 am. Thus, the slicing an dicing was done the night before and saved in a container. And yes, it does suck to be cooking at 6:00 in the morning.
Beef broth. It seems odd adding beef broth to the food you are supposed to get juices out of.
Wine. Note the spice bag has been added to the crock. This makes it so much easier to fish out the spices you normally wouldn't eat as part of a meal.
Soy sauce. Not too much. Wifey complains that the meat is a bit on the salty side. But then she complains more when it isn't salty enough.
Cover the crock. Set on HIGH for 1 hour, then turn it to LOW for the next 11-12 hours. I once accidentally turned the knob (of Wifey's 25 year crock pot) to OFF instead of to LOW and ever since then, it's made me paranoid I've accidentally turned it off (and I have to come back and double and triple-check that the crock pot is actually on).
And then you leave it alone for the rest of the day. The searing and the one-hour HIGH part make it tricky (timewise) if you have to head out to work like we do around 7:15 in the morning.
And the end product after stewing for 11 hours. No knife needed, forks are enough to break up the pieces into smaller bites.
(I added fingerling potatoes to the crock about 1.5 hours before serving time - you need small type potatoes to fit into the crock pot).
Hey, let me tell you a funny story. When I was a little kid, I learned cooking techniques from my mother. I was her kitchen helper as she was in the next room (former formal dining room) giving piano lessons. She asked me to heat up somethings she made in the crock pot a few days ago. I took the ceramic crock pot and put it (the crock itself) onto our electric cooktop. About 30-40 minutes later, the crock sorta "popped" and split open and sorta disintegrated.
Wow, so you're not supposed to re-heat food like that?
Surprisingly, my parents didn't freak out when I essentially destroyed their crockpot. But I think that part of the reason was it was something my Mom didn't cook with very often. And thus, cooking with a crock pot has been (until the last 2 years) something missing from my skill set. And then, I started making stewed meats like the Asian Short Ribs and the Oso Buco. That started me thinking about what I could do with a crock pot and 12 hours of stewing. So, I've been testing out various pot roast recipes.
With feedback from Wifey, I've essentially mixed together ingredients of Asian Short Ribs and Oso Buco into a pot roast.
First, start off with some short of Chuck Roast. The more visible fat you can see, the better and softer the final pot roast will be. Take the Roast and season with salt and pepper.
Here are the ingredients that will eventually go into the crock pot. Start from top left and going clockwise: Tomato paste, star anise, cloves, (lite) soy sauce, bay leaf, red wine, beef broth, thyme, ginger root, (pre-cut to make my life easier) onion, carrots, and celery, rosemary, garlic, and a garni herb sack.
Take the salt-and-peppered roast and sear each side in a frying pan.
Stuff all the "solid" spices and herbs into the garni bag. I buy 20 of them at a time and they last me about 1 year.
The recipes always say 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. I dump the whole (small) can in. Unless you do a lot of Italian cooking, saving the rest of the tomato paste is too much trouble. Besides, the more tomato paste (and assorted acids) you have in the stew, the easier it is for the tomato acid to break down the fats in the meat and make everything as soft as butter (literally!)
Add the meat and the pre-cut vegetables. At the time this is happening, it is 6:15 am. Thus, the slicing an dicing was done the night before and saved in a container. And yes, it does suck to be cooking at 6:00 in the morning.
Beef broth. It seems odd adding beef broth to the food you are supposed to get juices out of.
Wine. Note the spice bag has been added to the crock. This makes it so much easier to fish out the spices you normally wouldn't eat as part of a meal.
Soy sauce. Not too much. Wifey complains that the meat is a bit on the salty side. But then she complains more when it isn't salty enough.
Cover the crock. Set on HIGH for 1 hour, then turn it to LOW for the next 11-12 hours. I once accidentally turned the knob (of Wifey's 25 year crock pot) to OFF instead of to LOW and ever since then, it's made me paranoid I've accidentally turned it off (and I have to come back and double and triple-check that the crock pot is actually on).And then you leave it alone for the rest of the day. The searing and the one-hour HIGH part make it tricky (timewise) if you have to head out to work like we do around 7:15 in the morning.
And the end product after stewing for 11 hours. No knife needed, forks are enough to break up the pieces into smaller bites.(I added fingerling potatoes to the crock about 1.5 hours before serving time - you need small type potatoes to fit into the crock pot).
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Personal favs of 2006
1) Thanks baby
I still remember that feeling. It's something (and event) I will always have in my memory.
2) d) All of the above
And our friend succumbed a few months after I posted.
3) We having fun
And now this same playground is her daily recess playground for Kindergarten.
4) Texas Cowbugs - 'round em up!
What was I thinking? I'd never do this again. Maybe because the blogsphere was different back then. And sadly, I have almost lost all contact with those who attended.
5) 5 P1impin' Parents
And yes, it is ONE suit. I just did a cheap photography trick to help with the photoshop.
6) Walkabout
This keeps happening to me in cycles. But I think once I recognized it was a cycle, it was something I could deal with.
7) Smelling the rose
This is what I think of when I take the Girl to the park. She still wants that first push from me, although I know she can get started by herself.
8) You people are so LOST
I'm glad I never got sucked in.
9) Dear Comrade
10) For my dad
11) Nannies and the photobook
The Girl's orphanage ended up in one of those blog postings about evil orphanages. I don't know what to say other than our child seemed to have been loved.
12) Why 7:30 means 7:30
Still, I sometimes have people coming through the door after we've started eating.
13) I am so blogging this
It can't be helped!
14) Fun conversations with Mom
15) Goodbye to my girl
16) Riding Shotgun
She stills gets crazy emails from him. And he keeps changing his account name because he realizes his email is getting caught by spam filters.
I still remember that feeling. It's something (and event) I will always have in my memory.
2) d) All of the above
And our friend succumbed a few months after I posted.
3) We having fun
And now this same playground is her daily recess playground for Kindergarten.
4) Texas Cowbugs - 'round em up!
What was I thinking? I'd never do this again. Maybe because the blogsphere was different back then. And sadly, I have almost lost all contact with those who attended.
5) 5 P1impin' Parents
And yes, it is ONE suit. I just did a cheap photography trick to help with the photoshop.
6) Walkabout
This keeps happening to me in cycles. But I think once I recognized it was a cycle, it was something I could deal with.
7) Smelling the rose
This is what I think of when I take the Girl to the park. She still wants that first push from me, although I know she can get started by herself.
8) You people are so LOST
I'm glad I never got sucked in.
9) Dear Comrade
10) For my dad
11) Nannies and the photobook
The Girl's orphanage ended up in one of those blog postings about evil orphanages. I don't know what to say other than our child seemed to have been loved.
12) Why 7:30 means 7:30
Still, I sometimes have people coming through the door after we've started eating.
13) I am so blogging this
It can't be helped!
14) Fun conversations with Mom
15) Goodbye to my girl
16) Riding Shotgun
She stills gets crazy emails from him. And he keeps changing his account name because he realizes his email is getting caught by spam filters.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
All Teeth
Remember this sweet puppy?
Well, as with all puppies, she developed teeth and a curious mind. How does one satisfy curiosity? Why one chews!
Shredded her bed. Ohhhhhkay.
And when I put her in the laundry room because she's barking up a storm in the back yard
She actually crawled under the big laundry sink to get to the wall to gnaw on it.
And then she gnawed on the door trim (note the wall patch I quickly put up to cover another hole in the sheetrock)
And, she also chewed on the leg holding up part of the sink.
And on our tranquil back deck
She's chewed some of the trim wood
Gnawed on the spindles
Chewed on my teak deck furniture!
Argh!
She got the outside door trim!
And shredded 3 window screens!
Why you little......
Well, she does love me the most. And some nights, she crawls under the bed to sleep right under me under our platform bed.
And then later, I found out that while she was down there.....she was gnawing on the bed supports!
Why you little!!!!!!
(eventually, I got a bottle of apple bitter and that seems to have helped)
Well, as with all puppies, she developed teeth and a curious mind. How does one satisfy curiosity? Why one chews!
Shredded her bed. Ohhhhhkay.
And when I put her in the laundry room because she's barking up a storm in the back yard
She actually crawled under the big laundry sink to get to the wall to gnaw on it.
And then she gnawed on the door trim (note the wall patch I quickly put up to cover another hole in the sheetrock)
And, she also chewed on the leg holding up part of the sink.
And on our tranquil back deck
She's chewed some of the trim wood
Gnawed on the spindles
Chewed on my teak deck furniture!
Argh!
She got the outside door trim!
And shredded 3 window screens!
Why you little......
Well, she does love me the most. And some nights, she crawls under the bed to sleep right under me under our platform bed.
And then later, I found out that while she was down there.....she was gnawing on the bed supports!
Why you little!!!!!!(eventually, I got a bottle of apple bitter and that seems to have helped)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Personal favs of 2005
Like TV shows that are close to "Jumping the Shark", I've decided to go back to my old posts and pick out those I liked the best for the year. I was going to do a "Top Ten", but since I post so much, I couldn't stop at 10.
The reason that almost all these old post don't have comments is that when I first retired, I did hit the big DELETE button on the blog - and everything was nuked. When I decided to come back, I rebuilt the postings from archives saved on my computer. I decided it was pointless (and egocentric) to also include the old comments.
Also, I think many people have missed some of my posts because I sometimes write too many posts for the screen to display. So if one clicks to read the posts for a month, the screen will display a portion of the postings, but to see ALL of a month, you have to click on the "Older" option at the lower right corner.
Finally, in the later blogs, I went through and tried to scrub out Wifey's real name, as well as the kiddos. In posts (and comments) where I scrubbed, I usually displayed it as [Wifey] or [The Boy].
1) Oh Crap!
Yes, I was told right before I was leaving for China for A1 that I would need to look around the Mega-lo-corp for a new job. I eventually found one, but it sucked for the 2 years I was trapped in that job. I recently read about a blogger whose spouse lost their job a few days after the referral. Sigh. The sweet with the bitter.
2) I'm sorry, but it's because you're not white
Nothing like dating and knowing you have no future. And, years later she googled my name and found me (drat) and we exchanged a few superficial pleasantries. And thankfully, she let that connection drop.
3) Finger in the mouth
I was going to say we no longer have this type of unspoken closeness. But sometimes....sometimes she walks up to me while I'm laying on the couch and wordlessly just climbs up and lays on top of me. But only for 10 seconds and then she hops off.
4) Why my mother hates Chinese adoption
For a while, this was a highly "hit" google search according to my sitemeter. Thankfully, it's gone down quite a bit.
5) The Secret Handshake
Ahh, if there were only one. I've asked an adoptive grandparent about their Chinese grandchild, which turned out to be from Vietnam. I've asked an adoptive parent about their Chinese baby to find out she was Guatemalan. Repeat after me, "Ooopsie!"
6) Our Hula Girl
Mostly because these pictures remind me of how small she was, and how her personality was poking its way out.
7) Just two steps back
This is interesting to read. Because with the slowdown in referrals. Each day or week delayed in LID has a very magnified ripple effect on your month or year of referral.
8) Please sit next to us
Because we have become "those people".
9) A.K.A.
So, so many naughty things you can do with Photoshop.
10) Thanks for joining my team
Sadly, this was when blogging and the community were a little bit nicer to each other.
11) Dumb parental moves
And no, we don't get any smarter as time goes by.
The reason that almost all these old post don't have comments is that when I first retired, I did hit the big DELETE button on the blog - and everything was nuked. When I decided to come back, I rebuilt the postings from archives saved on my computer. I decided it was pointless (and egocentric) to also include the old comments.
Also, I think many people have missed some of my posts because I sometimes write too many posts for the screen to display. So if one clicks to read the posts for a month, the screen will display a portion of the postings, but to see ALL of a month, you have to click on the "Older" option at the lower right corner.
Finally, in the later blogs, I went through and tried to scrub out Wifey's real name, as well as the kiddos. In posts (and comments) where I scrubbed, I usually displayed it as [Wifey] or [The Boy].
1) Oh Crap!
Yes, I was told right before I was leaving for China for A1 that I would need to look around the Mega-lo-corp for a new job. I eventually found one, but it sucked for the 2 years I was trapped in that job. I recently read about a blogger whose spouse lost their job a few days after the referral. Sigh. The sweet with the bitter.
2) I'm sorry, but it's because you're not white
Nothing like dating and knowing you have no future. And, years later she googled my name and found me (drat) and we exchanged a few superficial pleasantries. And thankfully, she let that connection drop.
3) Finger in the mouth
I was going to say we no longer have this type of unspoken closeness. But sometimes....sometimes she walks up to me while I'm laying on the couch and wordlessly just climbs up and lays on top of me. But only for 10 seconds and then she hops off.
4) Why my mother hates Chinese adoption
For a while, this was a highly "hit" google search according to my sitemeter. Thankfully, it's gone down quite a bit.
5) The Secret Handshake
Ahh, if there were only one. I've asked an adoptive grandparent about their Chinese grandchild, which turned out to be from Vietnam. I've asked an adoptive parent about their Chinese baby to find out she was Guatemalan. Repeat after me, "Ooopsie!"
6) Our Hula Girl
Mostly because these pictures remind me of how small she was, and how her personality was poking its way out.
7) Just two steps back
This is interesting to read. Because with the slowdown in referrals. Each day or week delayed in LID has a very magnified ripple effect on your month or year of referral.
8) Please sit next to us
Because we have become "those people".
9) A.K.A.
So, so many naughty things you can do with Photoshop.
10) Thanks for joining my team
Sadly, this was when blogging and the community were a little bit nicer to each other.
11) Dumb parental moves
And no, we don't get any smarter as time goes by.
Monday, January 12, 2009
A shower instead of a blizzard
As we were opening Christmas presents, I noticed the Girl was somewhat subdued at the end of the present opening. Wifey didn't think so, but I noticed that she wasn't bouncing off the walls like in years past.
And of course, I blame Wifey!
I've posted about how much Wifey lurves Christmas and bombarding the kiddos with presents. She'd been waiting a long time for that special event (having kids to bombard with presents). Now, she's lightening up a bit now that we have two kids. A summation of the years gone by:
Year 1 - The first year with the Girl. She didn't go overboard because the kiddo was only 18 months. However, she had something like 15 presents for her to open. And the Girl was barely cognizant of what was going on. Therefore, each present took about 15-20 minutes to open. At the 6th or 7th present, Wifey finally said, "Okay, we'll open the rest of these presents later."
Ya think?
Year 2 - Bombarded the Girl with presents. There was SO MUCH torn wrapping paper in the living room.
Year 3 - I think Wifey tried to overcompensate the simmering jealousy the Girl was feeling towards the Boy. Even more gifts! Ugh.
Year 4 - Now, she's got to account for two kids. The Girl - she is extremely picky and finicky. The Boy - he's extremely easy going. He loved everything he got. Just a few toys suffices for him. The Girl, she'll play with one thing, get bored after a day or two and then no longer play with it. Sigh. However, the one bright spot was that the Girl did not get jealous over any presents the Boy received. Progress!
Finally, at the end of the day, Wifey did notice that the girl wasn't as enthusiastic as she was in Year 2 or Year 3.
She related this conversation she had with The Girl:
Oh, that's all she needed.
*We're pretty sure that it's from the children's song "All I want from Christmas is a Hippopotamus"
And of course, I blame Wifey!
I've posted about how much Wifey lurves Christmas and bombarding the kiddos with presents. She'd been waiting a long time for that special event (having kids to bombard with presents). Now, she's lightening up a bit now that we have two kids. A summation of the years gone by:
Year 1 - The first year with the Girl. She didn't go overboard because the kiddo was only 18 months. However, she had something like 15 presents for her to open. And the Girl was barely cognizant of what was going on. Therefore, each present took about 15-20 minutes to open. At the 6th or 7th present, Wifey finally said, "Okay, we'll open the rest of these presents later."
Ya think?
Year 2 - Bombarded the Girl with presents. There was SO MUCH torn wrapping paper in the living room.
Year 3 - I think Wifey tried to overcompensate the simmering jealousy the Girl was feeling towards the Boy. Even more gifts! Ugh.
Year 4 - Now, she's got to account for two kids. The Girl - she is extremely picky and finicky. The Boy - he's extremely easy going. He loved everything he got. Just a few toys suffices for him. The Girl, she'll play with one thing, get bored after a day or two and then no longer play with it. Sigh. However, the one bright spot was that the Girl did not get jealous over any presents the Boy received. Progress!
Finally, at the end of the day, Wifey did notice that the girl wasn't as enthusiastic as she was in Year 2 or Year 3.
She related this conversation she had with The Girl:
Wifey: "So, did you enjoy Christmas this year?
The Girl: "Yeah, it was okay."
Wifey: "Just okay?"
The Girl: "Mmmm. Yes, it was good."
Wifey: "Did you get everything you wanted?"
The Girl: "No, not really."
Wifey: "Really? What did you want that Santa didn't bring you?"
The Girl: "[Dead Serious] A hippopotamus!"*
Oh, that's all she needed.
*We're pretty sure that it's from the children's song "All I want from Christmas is a Hippopotamus"
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
Major and Minor
The one thing about "To Do" lists is that they are so much like New Year's Eve resolutions. A list, especially a chore list, is a list of things you need to do to better your situation or solve a problem. However, it's easy to slip or defer or ignore.
I've come to the conclusion that I am a good and a bad list person. When I have a specific short set of goals, I do pretty well with them. But if I have a long list of goals, with no defined window of completion, the list doesn't go very far.
Thus, during major holidays when I'm home for a week or more, I've been creating a list of chores broken up into Major and Minor. A Major chore is one that will take more than 1 hour and up to 3 or 4 days. A Minor chore is one where something can be done in 15 minutes.
But if something can be done in 15 minutes, why not have already done it? Instead of writing up a blog posting, work on that Minor chore!
Exactly.
I'd rather be working on the blog posting!
So for Christmas vacation 2008, I sat down and wrote up my Major/Minor chore list. I did pretty well. And that's another part of the secret is not to get too down on yourself if you didn't get all of it done.
My chore list is below. Those that listed in bold are those that were completed. Additional explanation or stories behind the chore are in blue.
Major Chores
1. Replace hinges on bed frame doors
We bought a floor model bed from a discount (unfinished furniture) store for the Boy. The wood is solid, not veneer, but the hinges on the below-bed storage doors were cheap, cheap, cheap.
2. Repaint kids’ bathroom
That part of the house hadn't been painted in 10 years (when the house was built). I guess it will have to wait one more year.
3. Drag up fence planks from back yard
A long story concerning the fence. When Wifey was about to move in with me before we got married, we brought over her two dogs and let them mingle with my two to see how things would go. As expected, Kara just tried to ignore and get away from Max and Bubba. Blue? She tried to kill anything with 4 legs. A very alpha and territorial dog, having these goofball interlopers was the ultimate insult for her.
I started envisioning coming home from work to see a dog beat up to a pulp, and that dog would be Blue. Although she was a tiger, she was outweighed 2-to-1 by those Dalmatians.
I got out the checkbook and had someone build a fence that split our backyard in two. I just told the man (and his young son) to follow a natural ridge that ran down the yard and break up the back yard as best he could (with the beginning of the fence actually running under our back deck). And of course, we added a gate so one pair of dogs could go their side early in the morning. Since my dogs were "old girls" and Wifey's dogs were "young men", my dogs got the shade and deck part of the back yard.
More important, there were no vicious dog rumbles whilst we were both at work. (and for the home remodeling, it was a godsend to be able to put the dogs on one side of the yard while the workmen were on the other side).
And then when Blue passed away, I took down the gate so that the three dogs had the run of the place. In fact, it took them a while to get their minds around the fact that they could wander over to "the other side".
And then after a few months, when the weather got colder, I took down half the fence (so you couldn't see it from the kitchen).
Last Fall, I took down the remaining 3 panels of fence that went down into our steep back yard. But I left the wood pickets down there until the weather got colder and I had time to finish up.
(finishing up means taking the nails out and bundling them for bulk recycle/disposal)
So over Christmas, I had to play billygoat and go down the hill (I forgot to take pictures of the piles of pickets)
4. Take out nails from planks
The Boy helped me out with many of the nails in the planks. I had to place the claw of the hammer around the nail and help him pull, but he found it kinda fun....at least for the first 50 planks. Then, he wanted to move onto other things.
5. Bundle up planks
And then these will be dragged to the curb when our bulk item pickup (which the city does about twice a year) is scheduled.
For the last set (about 2 years ago), I bundled and hauled up about 120 pickets up to the street level. After two days, someone took them! This happens for broken down gas grills or lawn furniture or lamps no one wants, but weathered, split, and rotted (some termite damage) wood pickets?
A friend of mine said, "Well, they may have taken it for firewood?". Yeah, they'll really like the smell when they get to the parts where the dogs peed on the wood while marking territory.
(more power to those fools)
6. Leaf blow, pt1
I'm not going to even imagine that we have more leaves to rake/blow than my buds in the NE. However, I grew up in a house that had no trees! Yes my Dad, the farmer's son, saw no need for trees and never wanted them (and if you think of growing up working the fields, you'd understand). So only when I owned my first house, did I have to learn how to rake and dispose of leaves.
I know that my front yard takes two phases - one phase for half the yard. This is the yard before I got out the blower (which burnt out after years of use and I had to go buy a new one).
And this is where half the yard has been cleared to be ready for bagging and disposal (I just dumped it in a part of my back yard I've designated the mulch/compost area).
Yes, this is December and the grass is very green. The weather is mild and the leaves have sheltered the grass during cold nights (but leaving the leaves on over the winter will kill the grass when Spring arrives).
7. Leaf blow, pt2
I blew/gathered the second half of the yard. And then I disposed of half of that. And then the rains came. So, I have a quarter of my yards leaves left in a pile. Thus, I can't consider this chore done - yet.
8. Repair walls in laundry room
Abby! It will be explained in a future posting.
9. Examine toilet seat springs
When we remodeled, the woman at the plumbing fixtures store was explaining this fancy-schmancy new toilet lid. Wifey was lapping it up, I was trying to prevent the Girl from going into boredom-meltdown (we'd been there over an hour) and I was like, "Sure, sure, get whatever you want). This lid has springs that automatically, gently brings down the lid and the seat to the toilet. Nice. However, after a year and a half, the lid seemed to be closing faster and faster. Finally, some part of the spring gave out and it just BANGS down. I took the lid/seat off. The lid still comes down slowly, but the seat has lost it's spring. Thus both, come down quickly. I couldn't figure it out (without breaking up the entire seat). So, I reassembled it and we just bring it down by hand.
10. Examine cold water tap in bath sink
Wifey's cold water tap in the main bathroom wouldn't shut off the water properly. So, I turned off the water for a while to investigate. Turning on the water, the problem went away. Then, it started leaking very slightly. Turned off the water for 2 weeks until I could look at it during the break. Turning it on again, the problem has gone away. We'll see.
11. Clean garage, pt 1
12. Clean garage, pt 2
13. Replace deck gate with hog wire mesh
Minor Chores
14. Fix and test vacuum cleaner
15. Put away blowup pool
Ummm, still sitting in the front yard under a pile of leaves.
16. Dust cobwebs away from corners of ceilings
17. Take old oil away to recycle
18. Turn in CF lights to recycle
So these compact florescent lights are supposed to last up to 5 years? I've had two barely last 1 year and conk out. And they're expensive!
19. Get [The Boy]’s passport application submitted
Yes, this took 1.5 years between when I jotted this down as a To-Do, to when I actually did it.
20. Secure items in safe
21. Mail D & A’s present
22. Clean out car
23. Buy air filters for upstairs exchange
The mechanical guys who installed my air returns did a great job. It impresses some home builders that I have 5(!) air returns (where the filters go) in my house: One in each of the kiddo's bedrooms and one for each of the two "hallways" and one in our master bedroom. The only problem is......4 of the 5 return openings are different sizes! Thus, I have to stock 4 different sized air filters in my house! And, you know me....Mr. Why-buy-1-when-you-can-buy-6? I buy 12 filters at a time for each of the return units because I hate the excuse of not replacing a filter because you "just ran out".
24. Buy and install carbon monoxide sensors
25. Take out bad disk from Wifey’s computer
I bought a factory "recertified" disk online. Yeah, it works, but it also makes clanging noises and her computer was always giving her (false) warning messages of imminent disk failure. Anyone want a 500 GB paperweight?
26. Shred more documents and consolidate file cabinets
27. Clean [The Boy]’s humidifier part
28. Set up [The Boy]’s humidifier
29. Put on new license plate sticker
Yeah, 4 months late! I had it in my desk drawer, but just couldn't find the 5 minutes to scrape off the old sticker and put on the new one.
30. Fix squeaky front door.
Yea, next Christmas time, maybe.
I've come to the conclusion that I am a good and a bad list person. When I have a specific short set of goals, I do pretty well with them. But if I have a long list of goals, with no defined window of completion, the list doesn't go very far.
Thus, during major holidays when I'm home for a week or more, I've been creating a list of chores broken up into Major and Minor. A Major chore is one that will take more than 1 hour and up to 3 or 4 days. A Minor chore is one where something can be done in 15 minutes.
But if something can be done in 15 minutes, why not have already done it? Instead of writing up a blog posting, work on that Minor chore!
Exactly.
I'd rather be working on the blog posting!
So for Christmas vacation 2008, I sat down and wrote up my Major/Minor chore list. I did pretty well. And that's another part of the secret is not to get too down on yourself if you didn't get all of it done.
My chore list is below. Those that listed in bold are those that were completed. Additional explanation or stories behind the chore are in blue.
Major Chores
1. Replace hinges on bed frame doors
We bought a floor model bed from a discount (unfinished furniture) store for the Boy. The wood is solid, not veneer, but the hinges on the below-bed storage doors were cheap, cheap, cheap.
2. Repaint kids’ bathroom
That part of the house hadn't been painted in 10 years (when the house was built). I guess it will have to wait one more year.
3. Drag up fence planks from back yard
A long story concerning the fence. When Wifey was about to move in with me before we got married, we brought over her two dogs and let them mingle with my two to see how things would go. As expected, Kara just tried to ignore and get away from Max and Bubba. Blue? She tried to kill anything with 4 legs. A very alpha and territorial dog, having these goofball interlopers was the ultimate insult for her.
I started envisioning coming home from work to see a dog beat up to a pulp, and that dog would be Blue. Although she was a tiger, she was outweighed 2-to-1 by those Dalmatians.
I got out the checkbook and had someone build a fence that split our backyard in two. I just told the man (and his young son) to follow a natural ridge that ran down the yard and break up the back yard as best he could (with the beginning of the fence actually running under our back deck). And of course, we added a gate so one pair of dogs could go their side early in the morning. Since my dogs were "old girls" and Wifey's dogs were "young men", my dogs got the shade and deck part of the back yard.
More important, there were no vicious dog rumbles whilst we were both at work. (and for the home remodeling, it was a godsend to be able to put the dogs on one side of the yard while the workmen were on the other side).
And then when Blue passed away, I took down the gate so that the three dogs had the run of the place. In fact, it took them a while to get their minds around the fact that they could wander over to "the other side".
And then after a few months, when the weather got colder, I took down half the fence (so you couldn't see it from the kitchen).
Last Fall, I took down the remaining 3 panels of fence that went down into our steep back yard. But I left the wood pickets down there until the weather got colder and I had time to finish up.
(finishing up means taking the nails out and bundling them for bulk recycle/disposal)
So over Christmas, I had to play billygoat and go down the hill (I forgot to take pictures of the piles of pickets)
4. Take out nails from planks
The Boy helped me out with many of the nails in the planks. I had to place the claw of the hammer around the nail and help him pull, but he found it kinda fun....at least for the first 50 planks. Then, he wanted to move onto other things.
5. Bundle up planks
And then these will be dragged to the curb when our bulk item pickup (which the city does about twice a year) is scheduled.
For the last set (about 2 years ago), I bundled and hauled up about 120 pickets up to the street level. After two days, someone took them! This happens for broken down gas grills or lawn furniture or lamps no one wants, but weathered, split, and rotted (some termite damage) wood pickets?
A friend of mine said, "Well, they may have taken it for firewood?". Yeah, they'll really like the smell when they get to the parts where the dogs peed on the wood while marking territory.
(more power to those fools)
6. Leaf blow, pt1
I'm not going to even imagine that we have more leaves to rake/blow than my buds in the NE. However, I grew up in a house that had no trees! Yes my Dad, the farmer's son, saw no need for trees and never wanted them (and if you think of growing up working the fields, you'd understand). So only when I owned my first house, did I have to learn how to rake and dispose of leaves.
I know that my front yard takes two phases - one phase for half the yard. This is the yard before I got out the blower (which burnt out after years of use and I had to go buy a new one).
And this is where half the yard has been cleared to be ready for bagging and disposal (I just dumped it in a part of my back yard I've designated the mulch/compost area).Yes, this is December and the grass is very green. The weather is mild and the leaves have sheltered the grass during cold nights (but leaving the leaves on over the winter will kill the grass when Spring arrives).
7. Leaf blow, pt2
I blew/gathered the second half of the yard. And then I disposed of half of that. And then the rains came. So, I have a quarter of my yards leaves left in a pile. Thus, I can't consider this chore done - yet.
8. Repair walls in laundry room
Abby! It will be explained in a future posting.
9. Examine toilet seat springs
When we remodeled, the woman at the plumbing fixtures store was explaining this fancy-schmancy new toilet lid. Wifey was lapping it up, I was trying to prevent the Girl from going into boredom-meltdown (we'd been there over an hour) and I was like, "Sure, sure, get whatever you want). This lid has springs that automatically, gently brings down the lid and the seat to the toilet. Nice. However, after a year and a half, the lid seemed to be closing faster and faster. Finally, some part of the spring gave out and it just BANGS down. I took the lid/seat off. The lid still comes down slowly, but the seat has lost it's spring. Thus both, come down quickly. I couldn't figure it out (without breaking up the entire seat). So, I reassembled it and we just bring it down by hand.
10. Examine cold water tap in bath sink
Wifey's cold water tap in the main bathroom wouldn't shut off the water properly. So, I turned off the water for a while to investigate. Turning on the water, the problem went away. Then, it started leaking very slightly. Turned off the water for 2 weeks until I could look at it during the break. Turning it on again, the problem has gone away. We'll see.
11. Clean garage, pt 1
12. Clean garage, pt 2
13. Replace deck gate with hog wire mesh
Minor Chores
14. Fix and test vacuum cleaner
15. Put away blowup pool
Ummm, still sitting in the front yard under a pile of leaves.
16. Dust cobwebs away from corners of ceilings
17. Take old oil away to recycle
18. Turn in CF lights to recycle
So these compact florescent lights are supposed to last up to 5 years? I've had two barely last 1 year and conk out. And they're expensive!
19. Get [The Boy]’s passport application submitted
Yes, this took 1.5 years between when I jotted this down as a To-Do, to when I actually did it.
20. Secure items in safe
21. Mail D & A’s present
22. Clean out car
23. Buy air filters for upstairs exchange
The mechanical guys who installed my air returns did a great job. It impresses some home builders that I have 5(!) air returns (where the filters go) in my house: One in each of the kiddo's bedrooms and one for each of the two "hallways" and one in our master bedroom. The only problem is......4 of the 5 return openings are different sizes! Thus, I have to stock 4 different sized air filters in my house! And, you know me....Mr. Why-buy-1-when-you-can-buy-6? I buy 12 filters at a time for each of the return units because I hate the excuse of not replacing a filter because you "just ran out".
24. Buy and install carbon monoxide sensors
25. Take out bad disk from Wifey’s computer
I bought a factory "recertified" disk online. Yeah, it works, but it also makes clanging noises and her computer was always giving her (false) warning messages of imminent disk failure. Anyone want a 500 GB paperweight?
26. Shred more documents and consolidate file cabinets
27. Clean [The Boy]’s humidifier part
28. Set up [The Boy]’s humidifier
29. Put on new license plate sticker
Yeah, 4 months late! I had it in my desk drawer, but just couldn't find the 5 minutes to scrape off the old sticker and put on the new one.
30. Fix squeaky front door.
Yea, next Christmas time, maybe.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
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