One week later

Again I remark on the fast-forward button being pressed in our lives... how can a week have gone past since the last update?

The week went very well at work: We installed the new system, trained the docs and techs, and had a pretty smooth go-live. This was just for one piece of the system, of course, and I'll be spending the next year putting in more, but this was important, AND it needed to go smoothly for us to have credibility and buy-in for subsequent phases. And we did well.

So on Friday, Pamela and I dropped the kids with Grandpa and Grandpa (as Bella calls them) and hightailed it out of town... to a bed and breakfast in Stillwater. We stayed at a beautiful Victorian mansion up atop a hill, looking down at the town and river beyond. We had early cocktails and dinner, and then settled in for a night in... whereupon Pamela passed out at 7:30... and didn't wake until 12 hours later! Oh did she need that rest.

I unfortunately had finished dinner with an espresso, and wound up awake until 1am or so. The problem was that I tried to go to bed by 11... so there were a few tossing and turning hours in there... Luckly I caught a nap the next day.

Saturday was a relaxing day of walking through town, antiquing, noshing, resting, reading, dining... We got caught in a summer shower on the way back from dinner and were happily soaked - it was so hot, and the rain was refreshing.

Pamela started and finished a book on Marie Antoinette. I got halfway through William Gibson's newest: A sci fi book set in last year (2006). It's surprisingly effective, and his imagery is just wonderful... If anything, removing the "well is THAT possible or unlikely?" reaction to technology imaginings allows me to focus more on his story and writing, which is very crisp.

I also continued my torrid affair with the Swedish language: As I may have explained over on Language Addict, I've been frustrated that I'm dabbling in so many languages but not feeling confident in any: So I've been focusing back on French, Spanish, and German. I'm also refreshing just a bit on Russian (mostly because I resent that I LOST the language after my college years - the goal is just to bring it back enough to... I don't know). So what's up with Swedish? Well, it's actually very close to English and German, and we have friends who speak it, so I thought it might be an easy "pick up"... and less than a serious week into it, I'm feeling ridiculously confident that this will be one in the belt within a few months.

But in terms of confidence: As I was walking in Stillwater, I passed an old German couple, and I understood everything I overheard. I even had right in mind a phrase to ask them if I could speak with them... but by then we had too much distance between us. I'm telling you, this multi-language way of working really is making ALL of them stick better.

I'll come back to the Asian ones in a month or two... but I really need to "own" my current languages better...

Ok - back to family: When we picked up Isaac this afternoon, we learned that Grandma had interpreted his 3am feeding time as "time to get up", so we had one TIRED little buster. He grabbed a tomato from me and started eating it like an apple... and seemed to like it. He also chomped many cheerios AND half of a go-gurt. So I think that he's starting to get into people food well enough... it'll grow. We played until 6:30 and then ZONK.

Bella played even harder this weekend: 3 hours at a pool on Saturday... And then zoning out to episodes of Scooby Doo... she was so catatonic that she completely ignored Auntie Carrie when she visited Saturday... But Bella has figured out the secret of Scooby Doo: The monsters are ALWAYS just guys in costumes. Therefore, it's not scary. She had an all-afternoon birthday party today... lots of playing and swimming... and yes, she's in bed now as well.

So it was great to get away for the weekend. We have a busy week ahead of us too! I have dates to see friends Tues-Wed-and-Thurs!!! I've got my 6am workouts Tues-Thurs. Full week of work, of course... and then Friday, it's off to VACATIONLAND with the family AND Jenny's family, for a whole week of all-meals-included family fun. Whoo HOOOO!!!!