Home Safe

We made it.

We woke up early, had breakfast, and then out to Hamilton City to see John's new business: He has rehabbed an old warehouse and turned it into an auto repair shop (he specializes in electrical systems)... but he's not operating out of it yet - he's still running his shop out of the farm, because the city is not moving on a requirement that John pay for $40k in new sidewalks and curbs around the business, despite the fact there are no sidewalks for several blocks in any direction around the space. Ah, bureaucracy.

But as we walked through the space, he was showing me what he had done to the 70-80 year old warehouse space... "we dug out 4 feet of ground here, and leveled out this whole lot (then points to a mountain over there - "that's where we dumped the dirt!")" "we built this fence all the way around the space, from scrounged piping!" "I blew through the wall here, but then had to put in reinforced pillars...." My mind was just boggled - this guy runs a full time business AND a farm, and "found time" to build up a huge space too. It made me feel a bit like a slacker... ;->

Then it was back to Sac Intl Airport: Yep we used a full tank of gas on the trip (15 miles to and from the farm every day a few times... Plus Chico is 90 miles from Sac-to). The kids caught a short nap on the drive down, and then it was time for the flight....

Isaac was actually pretty well behaved on the plane - for a 3.5 hour flight, he was reasonably patient. We had no aisle promenades, and the laptop battery held out for shows for most of the flight... the only hitch was that after the "turn it all off" and before we landed, there was an extra 15 minutes of circling, so we had to sing some songs.

No, the casualty of the flight home was Pamela, who got good and airsick, and brought that woogieness home, and passed out on the couch while the kids were exploring what Santa had dropped off for them! And Santa brought Bella her Ukelele, which she played non-stop. Santa also brought them flashlights, so the house looked like an X-Files episode for a while with all of the lights-off investigations going on. Of course Isaac got some cars, Bella got more specimens...

I got the kids down to bed (close to their "real bedtime" as opposed to their "Pacific Time Zone bedtime"), then puttered around, enjoying a little taste of Laphroaig 15 to remind myself what home tastes like. Then I woke up Pamela to bring her upstairs. Our little Queen size bed felt positively lilliputian.

Everyone slept well and late - we all got up around 8 (which is near miraculous) and had a great lazy morning. Now Jenny is here showing off her new Nintendo DS, and bella has been making up songs with her Uke all morning too. She put on her eyeball hat and was singing "I got my eyes on you!!!" And daddo is working on keeping the Uke in tune so that his ears don't start to bleed.

It's great to be home.

And it's a wrap...

Today was another crisp and clear day here in Chico. We got up and out in time to open the shops... which led to the purchase of the correct wind up crab (a HERMIT crab, which is where I went wrong earlier), secure some coffee and pastries, play a little soccer in the town square, and then have Isaac completely melt down. Yes, the poor guy is really at the end of his rope - he needs to get back into a comfort zone ASAP.

Thinking maybe a little protein might help his mood, I tried to get him to taste some falafel, but the kindly shopkeeper short circuited my effort by giving him a big slice of coconut honeycake, which he devoured. At least I tried for healthy (sort of healthy at least). Got him back to the hotel and tossed him into the crib, and he zonked.

In the afternoon while Isaac napped, I took Bella out for a little date in town: We got a deck of cards and played Go Fish in Starbucks with a hot cocoa. It was some nice down time for us. Pamela had Sherry and Sherry's mom over for cookies, and when we returned, they took Bella back out to the farm for some more running around: Bella got to spend quality time with the sheep - two old rams, actually. The more agreeable one assented to be led around with a rope, and both decided to give Bella a show by gamboling (which a playful jumping around - typical of lambs, but not as common in old rams). We can only imagine how Bella must have looked, but that serene smile must have been present.

Pamela got us packed up this afternoon, and we'll be hitting the road around 8:30 Saturday AM for a noon flight homeward. James and Henry came over to watch Isaac and Bella while we went out for a final dinner with our hosts to a local hearty food place. Got back by 8 and spent an hour getting the thoroughly overwrought Isaac and Bella to bed... Bella shrieking about some plastic bag or something (exhaustion) and Isaac singing and muttering well past the hour...

I have to say I've had a wonderful vacation, but it's been a LOT of work: Those kids have not been easy to wrangle, and Isaac's defiance (he is VERY two) has been a bit of a drag... but then there have also been so many wonderful moments, and so many great cuddles, that... non, je ne regrette rien. C'est la vie. They'll be old enough soon enough, and I'll take this exhaustion as evidence of fighting the good fight, and take my sleep as the rest of the just.

That said, if you hear in the news about a Northwest flight from Sacramento to Minneapolis diverted due to an insane two year old...

Here's the sun!

The sun favored us today with an appearance - it was a bright and clear Christmas, though still on the cool side with a brisk wind. We got up early (as usual), had breakfast, and headed over to Sherry's for Xmas Morning: Santa had got the memo that we were out of town, and decided to fill some stockings for Isaac and Bella at Sherry's house, while leaving the other presents for us back in Edina. Santa is sure flexible.

Bella's stocking had some great stones and glass marbles that looked like planets. Nature girl was thrilled. Isaac was fixated on his candy cane and made a horrible mess. The boys (James and Henry) got their main Xmas, with loads of great books and tools. We got them matching "Cyber Surfers" which are remote controlled helicopters in the shape of a surfing robot. They spent the morning crashing them in the house, and the afternoon learning how to fly them for real... by the evening they were actually good at flying them! Ah, perseverance.

Henry showed us a very cool thing about chickens: When you hold them, they want to keep their heads in place in 3 dimensional space. So if you move the body up or down or back and forth, they'll stretch or scrunch their neck to keep the head in the EXACT same XYZ coordinates. If you pull it too far, they'll snap the head to a new location and try to hold it there. This could explain how they walk too: They move forward, moving under their head, until it's uncomfortable, and then they snap the head forward into a new holding position... I was amazed - wonder what sort of little GPS in in that head?

In the afternoon, us MEN went with a WW2 era forklift and pulled some dead trees out of a ravine near the farm, dragging them with a chain to a bonfire location. 6 feet of shipping pallets formed the core, with 7-9 foot lengths of wood stacked around in a teepee shape. When we lit that sucker, it was probably visible from space. Oddly, the family didn't congregate around the flame - I think it was just borderline too dangerous to risk Isaac wandering toward. They stayed inside and worked off their food comas with some Spongebob. Sherry has been whipping up some wonderful meals for us out here - we're very lucky to have her hospitality.

Hoping the weather holds for tomorrow - we'd love to walk around Chico a bit (maybe get the RIGHT walking crab). And apparently there's a VERY good sushi restaurant right around the corner from me... Maybe Isaac would like some sushi? (I know - kids get the cooked stuff.) If nothing else, I might like to visit El Patio one more time too... See if Isaac will eat another bowl of Pico de Gallo? ;-> Little mister sweet tooth hasn't been quite as agreeable with subsequent meals - he's zeroing in on where the candy and cookies are in any room and demanding them. Along with any wine, Diet Coke, or whiskey he can see... which is just strange.

Final note: Bella and I went shopping on Xmas Eve and she demanded the silliest hat I've ever seen: A black cap with black spikes, and on the ends of the spikes, eyeballs on strings. Here it is if you're curious. She's been wearing it pretty much non-stop for 2 days now, and it's definitely her "Christmas Look". She just looks... happy... when she's wearing it.

Rainy Day

Today the sun has decided to boycott Chico CA. It's in the 40s and rainy... Fortunately Pamela thought ahead and booked a suite for us this trip, so we have elbow room to help fight the cabin fever. The farm is big, but the house is small, so we're better off cooling our heels here in town until tonight, when we have a nice Xmas Eve feast out there. We had a great evening there last night too: A neighbor had made a big batch of venison stew, which was rich and delicious. Isaac totally lost it around 7pm PT (9pm CST, which he is still clinging to), throwing lincoln logs and punching people... Boy needs a bit more rest.

Funny thing about a King Size Bed: It is like a million times larger than a Queen Size. You wouldn't think the difference would be that big, but we are able to get all 4 of us into the king here comfortably... at least until Bella decided she wanted NO covers, and that meant I got no covers, and that meant that one of us needed to hit the couch (I was voting for Bella, since she was being the midnight stinker about it... but it wound up being me). But even with just two in a King, it's like there's a whole area code between you, which is really nice when one of the two of you is a snorer. It does make cuddling something you need to plan for a bit more. Got to get the GPS fired up and all to find the other side.

Right now, Isaac is having a good long nap, which he'll need to get us through a little later tonight, and I'm watching the fort. I had a little too much caffeine to nap properly. The girls are out getting henna on their hands, the boys are seeing a movie, so I watched a show or two and have finished my book as well.

Yesterday Bella saw a wind-up toy crab in a toy store around the corner, and had a fit when it wasn't bought for her. I was up here with Isaac so I didn't see it in person but I heard about it. And apparently it was the LAST ONE. So when I went out for coffee today I stopped in, looked in the wind-up area, and found a single windup toy crab... decided to get it I mean, I had the parameters - red wind up crab, only one left. I proudly walked in, and showed it to Pamela, who shook her head. No, there was ANOTHER ONE that she had her heart set on. So that crab is staying in the pocket for now... No need to cause a scene.

I'm hoping everyone is having a good few days - I know I am. I might just be RELAXING a little.

Not food related

So yes, I was totally fixated on the food in the last post - mostly because my kids were being total aliens and eating like they NEVER do at home. But there have been other things to report....

1) At Sherry's house they have chickens, including a crested polish they've named Woitec (sp?). Isaac loved the chickens, hollering out "HEY CHICKENS!!!!" Then they brought out some stale bread for Isaac and Bella to feed to the chickens, and he was hollering "COME AND GET IT! GOT SOME TOAST HERE CHICKENS!!!!" Despite his enthusiasm, the chickens were not spooked by him, and did in fact come and get it.

2) Sherry's husband John is a mechanic and tinkerer extraordinaire, and the property is littered with innovations - half built electric carts, salvaged metal outbuildings, former restaurant stoves and vent hoods, a half-restored 1956 Caddy (with no interior at all, except a child's chair, which John sits in to drive it)...

3) The almonds have all been harvested and it's winter on the farm, but the orchard is still a beautiful thing to behold. I loved the optical illusion of driving past all of the orchards and watching them resolve into rows at 45 degrees, 90 degrees, ad 135 degrees as you passed... Sherry also has other fruit trees, and some orange, grapefruit, and mandarin trees that are improbably still fruiting. The idea of having fresh fruit growing outside has got me contemplating a move out here... ;->

4) TODAY we went and visited a friend of John's who is a neon artist, who gave us all a tour of his workshop AND a full demonstration of the creation of a sign from straight glass to a round blue circle, fully lit. Bella and James were rapt, but as you can imagine, Isaac was not only NOT interested much, but also proved to be a challenge in a workshop with open blue flames and stacks of glass tubing.... We all took turns with him outside running around... but ultimately I had to take him back to the hotel for his nap before the final neon was complete... sigh... But at least it got me an opportunity to update you!

Very Quick

Escaped Minneapolis this morning - it was 9 below. Piled the family onto a flight to Sacramento - Isaac's first flight ever, and he was barely containable throughout, leading to stress and worry... but he charmed his way through.

Landed, enjoyed an In-n-Out burger (Bella ate fries dipped into chocolate shake) and drove to Chico. It's in the upper 40s here, which is brisk but comparatively heavenly.

In Chico, cavorted with Sherry and family - Bella seems to have a bit of a crush on the young (11 year old) Henry. Isaac is having trouble with the names - calling Henry "James", and James (13) "Tyler". James introduced me to buttered popcorn drizzled with Cholula habanero sauce. Delicious.

Had dinner at "El Patio" (which is I believe Spanish for "The Patio") - a dive in Harrison City which was flat out delicious and will be visited again this trip. Isaac ate an entire bowl of Pico de Gallo (with chips, and the just picking up the bowl and drinking the juice), handfuls of pinto beans, and SOME taco. Bella impressed by downing three cups of veggie soup, one taco (with shredded beef, not ground!), a few bites of my Chili Verde pork, and almost all of my flan. The kids had some WACKY appetites!

Now off to bed for more adventures in the AM. The update is short, but I wanted it out there.

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!!!

I'm in the Rose City of Portland OR today... and the city has screeched to a complete halt in the past few days: They got an inch of snow earlier in the week, and most employers told people to STAY HOME for GOD'S SAKE!!! Cars have chains on their tires. People are very concerned about the weather later today.... in which TWO INCHES of snow are expected.

As a midwesterner, I have to simply giggle madly at this. I met my team out for dinner last night and we were swapping "can you believe this" stories: My team is from Duluth, Madison, Denver, Lancaster PA, and Tampa. Well, the lady from Tampa was a bit spooked by the weather, but no-one else.

The dinner was at Papa Haydn, and it was delicious: Lots of organic and local-sourced ingredients, very hearty entrees, and most importantly, the most extensive dessert list I've ever seen. Two full pages of desserts, and two full pages of after-dinner drinks (which I did not partake in - even though I can drive with a little snow on the road, I wanted to be fully sharp since it seems everyone ELSE on the road was going to be freaking out). For dessert, I had a huge yet delicious panna cotta.

I was talking to my client up in Tacoma this AM (by phone, the 120 miles from Portland is a bit much for a quick discussion) and she's from California... and we were both laughing about the cautious temperment of drivers up here. Every time I drive around here (Portland OR Seattle), the prevailing traffic pattern is 2 mph below the posted limit. Lots of 53mph going on. So I just take a deep breath and downshift mentally. At least Oregon Public Radio is half decent: Seattle's Public Radio stations are just unlistenable.

Well, off to home this afternoon to conclude my last business trip of the year. I'm Platinum on NWA, Gold on Marriott and Hertz, and have grown addicted to the upgrade culture... ;->

In the skating rink

Woke up this morning to find the world a bit warmer, with a gentle rain falling. That could mean only one thing of course: WICKED ICE AHEAD. By 2pm, the world was a huge skating rink, and even Mister Marshmallow the 4x4 had his share of slippage. But I get ahead of myself...

I'm very fortunate to have my dad's wife Karen in the picture: She has decided to make sure that Bella has a rich physical activity life: She was instrumental in getting Bella swimming, and still takes her every week. (side note - bella got a gold medal last week for swimming 32 laps straight, a mix of different strokes... she's a MACHINE). Now she's decided that Bella should learn to Skate as well. So Friday, Bella went to G+G's house for the night to help decorate the tree. I saw her at swimming (I brought Isaac, of course), and then she went off to learn to skate with a family friend. She spent over an hour on the ice, learning with a folding chair for support... and apparently took to the ice pretty well!

We got her back around 5, and she was nearly catatonic, but we went to a neighbors for a Punch Pizza party, and she played with George and Theo and watched Rudolph.

While Bella was out and Isaac was napping, we watched Wall-E in the afternoon and had pie (me) and icecream (Pamela): Pamela had never seen Wall-E, and I thought it was maybe important for her to see the cutest robot movie ever. Now she understands, I think. I say the 5th time is the charm. EVE's little laugh is an endless source of warmth for me.

You'd think that with such a busy weekend that people might sleep in a bit on a Sunday, but no. Isaac was up at 6. At 3 he was hollering, so we brought him into bed (when he hollers earlier, we try to keep him in bed, but in the 3-4 window, it just doesn't make sense. Plus he's cuddly). At 6 he was up asking where Mommy was... and indeed she was not in bed. Insomnia plagued dear Pamela and she was zonked on the couch downstairs (after reading, surfing the web, and eating at 4am).

In the late morning, we went to see Santa at Bachman's (our annual tradition). There were some minor changes this year - a new Santa, a different set, but it was still a great time, and even the new Santa was wonderful (a different vibe from "scatterbrain Santa they've had in the past, a bit more mellow and peaceful seeming)... and of course we got some pictures. No screaming, either!

Now the kids are asleep, and we're continuing our effort to clear out the crap from our house... operation "be able to use the basement" continues apace.

On a media note, now that I'm caught up on Terminator (and naysayers say that it'll probably be canceled soon), I needed another show, and looks like Fringe will do the trick. It's sort of like an X-Files, but with an ACTUAL, PLANNED conspiracy as opposed to "whatever Chris Carter thinks of this week". Sorry, I really felt burned by the inconsistencies in X-Files. I'm sure I've written about it before. Anyway, Fringe is totally gross and a bit intense, but also very funny - so it's great headphones stuff. I bet if I was watching it downstairs, I'd get a lot of "turn that DOWN" from upstairs.

Anyway, I'll be caught up on Fringe this week: One more business trip for the year - Portland OR for one more night to see my team out there... and welcome one more - an emergency request came through at 5pm Friday, which led to crazy email and cellphone wrangling well into the evening, but we got the right person, and would have even got her there by start of business Monday if not for this crazy snowstorm... (She's in Duluth which got whited out today). And we're back to the ice rink. GOOD NIGHT!

Out in the world...

I'm back home again, and got to have a date with Bella. We went to the Cheesecake Factory, where she wolfed down a full slice of plain cheesecake and a handful of fries (this AFTER she had a burrito for dinner!) I had half of one of their absurdly large burgers. We got a booth and sat on the same side of the table and cuddled a lot. I think she was maybe a little happy to have me home.

And I'm glad to be safe and sound: Last night on the way from Tacoma to Kirkland, I was stuck in traffic due to an accident on the road ahead. On the way home from Kirkland to Tacoma, another accident. On the way from Tacoma to SeaTac this AM, another accident. On the way home from the airport tonight, 4 separate accidents - 1 left lane on 494, 1 right lane on 494, and two going the other direction on 100 (one of which happened just before I passed - an SUV rollover across multiple lanes of traffic). Plus a sign indicated that the crosstown was fully closed due to a crash on the eastbound lane.

You bet I was driving pretty defensively. Fortunately no incidents with Bella in the car... but I'll take the hint from the world and keep my head screwed on while driving.

Impressions from Seattle

1) As I watched Heroes last night, an ad for Kay Jewelers came on advertising 25-50% off original prices, with the unbelievable disclaimer across the bottom of the screen:

"Original prices may not have resulted in actual sales"

What this means is they're admitting that their retail price was a sham all along, and that the 25% "discount" is actually just normal price. I thought it was a very surreal advertising confession.

That aside, another great episode of Heroes. Cake?

2) I had an incredible sushi feed with Paul and Caesar tonight in Kirkland at Izumi. We asked for omakase, which means "feed us your best". The chef is very big on custom marinades, so we got some strange fishes I can't name with strange flavors I can't identify, and yet it was all delicious. My first sushi feed in years where no form of Tuna was involved. And in the end after more than dozen pieces of exotic sushi each, it came to around $33 per - though Paul and Caesar refused to let me pay. Silly geese, I have an expense account!

3) As I drove back to Tacoma (35 miles from the restaurant in Kirkland, but such is life) I passed a red neon sign with one letter missing.... TACOMA ELF STORAGE Likely a busy place this time of year.

4) I'm now current with Terminator - the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I love the show, but especially the cyborgs: From Cameron to Cromartie to the lead singer of Garbage. They're all so cool and alien. My deepest hope is that the writers have a huge whiteboard and are keeping every time paradox looped in and tracked: I cannot endure another X-Files like situation where they make it up week to week: I need arcs, continuity, and consistency. If they let me down, I'll sic a T888 on them PRONTO.

5) I had to stop watching a 30-Rock because Nathan Lane was on it. I think I don't like Nathan Lane all that much right now for some reason. That's not related to anything, but I think I just needed to put that out there. I just don't like Nathan Lane. I'm sorry Nathan. I really am.

Room Service

This morning Bella has decided to spoil Mommy, bringing her food, coffee, and the paper in bed. I came upstairs to find Pamela's hair festooned with barrettes, and Bella with lotion on her hands rubbing Pamela's feet.

Bella said "I'm your room service today Mommy! I'll do anything for you... anything except throw myself out the window."

This will be an interesting day.

Tacos

My final day in LA was interesting: We met with a client in West Hollywood and had an amazing lunch at a very SoCal place filled with beautiful people, and their beautiful cars were on the streets - Astons, Bentleys, and Teslas (the electric sports car). It was a very perfect experience. We even saw ladies with miniature dogs in purses.

Earlier in the day, we wandered through the neighborhood we were staying in, avoiding the grubby "characters" in front of Grauman's Chinese (we saw a spiderman in a faded suit with a spider fanny pack... and a lot of Captain Jack Sparrows). These people all were hustling for pictures, and even if there was no money in it, it felt cheap and awful. On the other side of the coin (and other side of the street) we saw Ms Cate Blanchett appearing for her Star on the Walk of Fame. Alas, she didn't have time to join us for coffee.

Finally, I made another visit to Beard Papa and ate a Green Tea Cream Puff. It was not entirely unpleasant, but it was completely unsweetened - a purely green tea flavor that was at odds with the creaminess of the filling, which put me right back into Shinjuku, eating odd muffins that weren't flavored "right" for my western taste buds.

In summary, LA is a very strange place, and there is much to enjoy and avoid. As I visit in the months to come I hope to get more of a grip on this fairyland.

At the airport, my conservative companion attempted to engage another coworker (a consultant who was on the same flight as us) in political discussion. He floated a few trial balloons, to which the coworker replied "Gee, it sounds like you've got some strong opinions on that, don't you?", and left it at that. That was masterful.

On the ride home I was trapped in Coach, but fortunately had legroom thanks to an open middle seat and considerate front neighbors who declined to recline. They were spanish speaking and spent the flight with a huge buffet of foodstuff laid out in front of them - fruits, meats, breads... I read an ebook and watched a few episodes of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (which is my new addiction). There was a scene in the season 2 opener where a robot (who minutes later has been trying to kill our hero) is trapped and about to be deactivated and it pleads for mercy which was absolutely haunting. Especially for a lover of the robots like myself. Amazing television.

The flight had its own drama: As we approached Minneapolis, we were stuck in a holding pattern for over a half hour, then came in for landing. I watched the familiar sights out the window, getting closer and closer, and suddenly the plane pulled up sharply with high acceleration and we were all slammed back into our seats. The pilot said the runway had been closed and we needed to do a second approach... but we circled for another 20 min before finally landing. I do wonder what really happened, because it was pretty dramatic feeling.

Today was back to family-time: We swam in the AM, I went out on a date with my dad for some shopping and sushi.

Tonight was Taco Night, and Bella amused and horrified us by eating 8 loaded tacos. Eight. And she was munching into them with such abandon that shards of taco shell were flying across the table. After the eight, she kept going with chips to scoop up any meat and cheese that had fallen to the plate. I think she'll put on a half foot tonight.

Bella will be learning to Ice Skate with grandma, and she got new skates today. She's got these big feet (sidetrack: In the hospital the day after her birth, when birthmom Kaitie handed Bella to us, she apologized, saying "sorry, she got my big feet!") These big paddles don't fit into dainty figure skates, so Bella got hockey skates, which she said "look way cooler anyway". And tonight she put the blade guards on, strapped the skates on, and walked around the living room saying "Look, I can already skate!" She's going to be a real terror on the ice, I can already tell.

The evening beyond the kids bedtime was just Pamela and I enjoying being in the same room as one another - she reading a book, me watching another Sarah Connor, both in front of the fire and just happy to be near.

Walking in LA

Only a nobody walks in LA. (here's a video to refresh your memory...)

Alas, my time in LA did NOT afford me a visit to the Dresden Room: We got in a bit too late, and met our team at the hotel bar instead. I'm staying right around the corner from the Kodak Theater, Grauman's Chinese Theater, and Scientology Ground Zero. There's a Beard Papa a half block away which I've visited... so delicious.

Yesterday was an odd day: Trapped in a car with a co-worker who is QUITE CONSERVATIVE who likes to toss out little "questions" like "do you think that America should be STRONG or WEAK economically?" These black and white things, which it only makes sense to answer with "it depends on how you define it..." He was telling me that he listens to conservative radio because he listened to some Air America last year and they were so shrill and unbalanced... yet admits he hasn't listened to NPR for 8 years.

Basically he's a guy who needs to be assured that there is right and wrong in the world, and that his side is right. So it was a very long hour drive to the conference... and an even longer 2 hour drive BACK from the conference (love that LA traffic).

Fortunately it was possible to divert to work talk, movie talk, TV talk, high school and college shenanigans talk, band geek talk, and kid talk, so I didn't have to murder anyone. Actually some of that background info was very helpful: I pretty much know the kid he was and how he got to this point... not that it helps when he decides to grind the ideological axe, but I at least have more dimensions to work with.

At the conference, it was one of those boondoggles where there are 200 people there, 170 of them are vendors and only 30 are civilian "targets" that we're all trying to get casual conversations started with. Plus I had to/got to disappear for 2 hours for conference calls with... wait for it... people in Minneapolis.

But as I did my conference calls, I was strolling up and down Sepulveda Blvd, noticing that EVERYTHING is very far from everything else, and that this is really not a pedestrian city in any way... and that Missing Persons song just kept playing in my head.

I'll be in LA a bit more frequently as I take over the accounts from my conservative colleague, and am trying to understand the rhythm of it: There's nothing happening early AM - the city wakes around 9 or 10am, but stores and restaurants are ghost towns by 8-9pm. Apparently in Hollywood, things go to sleep from 8-11, and then wakes up from Midnight - 4am, which I would have missed since I'm a human who needs sleep. I'll get the hang of it, however.

Have some meetings soon, and then a late flight home - I'll sneak in around 10pm, and gaze lovingly at my sleeping children (and most likely sleeping wife...)

Where were we?

Oh yes, we were in Chicago, on our way up to a water park in Wisconsin. Well, nothing too much to report on the park: It was adequate but not stunning - the pool was a touch too cold for extended swimming (Isaac was shivering), the hot tubs were a bit too small (especially since the main pool was a bit chilly, the hot tubs were THE place to be). There was a pair of waterslides - one tube, one body. The tube slide was (T/L)ame but the bodyslide was hellfire fast and fully dark. The only issue was that after 10 times through, my back grew to know every last seam in the tube, which grew to feel like I was being run through a mandoline. Add to this a potential mild case of food poisoning from the restaurant and I think we'll pass on this particular site in the future (though I am not against all waterparks - they can be quite fun).

For the drive home, we took turns with the Marshmallow (with screaming tired kids) and the Jag (with blissful peace).

We are now in recovery mode with the kids getting them back into their routines. They're just getting back from their frazzled overtired state and are starting to act a bit normal.

With Marshmallow in the driveway and leases up on both the Mini and the Jag in the next few months, a decision needed to be made. And I made it. The Jag is MINE again. MINE. And the Mini, though I love it, is going back to the dealership. My butt has decided it likes the comfort, and as I've written before, I actually get VERY good mileage on the Jag, and it's BETTER on road trips than the Mini mileage-wise. So I went to the dealership and sealed the deal today.

I have a first floor full of nattering ladies tonight - Pamela is hosting a Silpada party: This is a jewelry party where the product is actually REALLY nice, and quite affordable. I put the kids down after having a basement pizza party (Isaac downed two large slices of pepperoni pizza, Bella did three). Isaac fell asleep immediately to the cacophony, but Bella took a bit longer.

My scotch recommending superpowers have been called on twice in the past 4 days: Once for a coworker (her dad - went for the Lagavulin 1991 Distillers), and once for my Best Man (Erik - went for the Balvenie Doublewood). I celebrated with a taste of my Glendronach 33 - so rich and smooth.

Had a horrible bit of the day today: At my fitness club, an instructor was let go for directly disobeying club rules - and it was in a class I attended. So I was asked to be a witness in his challenge to the Unemployment ruling. I felt sort of like a rat because I did like the guy, but then he started saying things that were actual lies and exaggerations (not against me, but about the situation), and my sympathy evaporated. The judge ruled with an iron fist, so nobody got to editorialize or accuse, which was a godsend... but it was still an uncomfortable situation. The lesson here for any employer: If you have a strange pain in the ass employee, DOCUMENT THE HELL out of everything. Because crazy people are crazy.

I'm off to LA Wed Eve through Fri Eve: I'm taking over that territory, and there are a few active clients so I get to meet some people, shake some hands, have some drinks. It should be a good time... but I don't think I'll make it to the Dresden to see Marty and Elayne this time. I know, how 1990 of me to care about the Dresden. Carrie actually introduced me to the phenomenon long before Swingers came out, so I feel like I'm a "real guy". If you don't know what I'm talking about: http://www.martyandelayne.com

Ok - sounds like things are winding down a little so I may need to go start cleaning up (yes, I'm a helpful husband).

Food Update

First: Immediately after buying the white beast, Pamela and I celebrated with burgers at Portillos.

Second: Yesterday evening, we enjoyed Lou Malnatis pizza with the K family, and some friends of Bailey and Ty who were over for hijinks. It was really really fun to watch them interacting - and it reminded me of being that age, hanging out with friends at people's houses...

A highlight of the evening was two impromptu performances by Ty's friend Tim (doing some dance and singing - the man is shooting for BoyBand status), and Ty who did a little trumpet concerto, but was frustrated by not having warmed up (neither his lips, nor his trumpet which was in the garage...) - In my book, it took guts just to say "yes I'll play you something", and I was just proud that he went for it. I don't think I would have done a recital for family friends at that age... Though if memory serves, many of the family friends DID come see PG13 play at the park centers that we performed at.

So we really have been fitting a lot in...

Oh yes, so far, I've talked to two teen fans of Twilight who were somewhat "meh" about the movie - Bailey's friend Morgan, and our niece Lilli. They had a lot invested in their own imaginings of the characters and couldn't get past appearances. Lilli was horrified that the Cullen house was so different from the book. We all agree that whatever that character thinks she is, she is not OUR Alice.

Ok, now to catch up on Heroes - everyone's asleep (except Papa who is working on the rigging of the ship) so now is my chance.

More Details

With a full belly from the Thanksgiving Feast, I can reveal more details of the past few days:

1) Bella and Papa have been inseparable - they've been working on art projects nonstop and she has had a peaceful smile on her face. Their big project has been carving, painting, and decorating a dragon boat. This will join the pirate ship, raft, and dinghy on our dining room plate rail display area.

2) Some funny details about buying that car: The salesguy Max was a riot with strange one-liners and a manic enthusiasm that had us laughing. There were things in the car he simply didn't know about: As he walked up, he found out it had remote start. As he was showing the trunk, he found the video-game plug in area (with a standard power outlet). And there are some things he didn't mention that we're discovering - today I found out it has an activated XM radio. So we've got Satellite Radio.

You also learn that a Toyota is sold very differently from a BMW(mini) or Jaguar - the warranties are much different, roadside assistance, free tire service, and rentals for service are all extras in the Toyota world, while they're standard in the Jag world. And I guess they don't give you a full tank of gas anymore... just had to fill 'er up today. But that's all PROCESS issue - we have no problems whatsoever with the PRODUCT.

I drove Marshmallow Pearl back and forth from thanksgiving (everything in Chicagoland is... far... ) and really grew to love the beast. But I need to spend some quality time with the manual to find out more about the voice command feature, the hands free phone capability, the multi-zone climate control, and if there's any way to make the GPS lady get a British accent...

3) Isaac the maniac decided that his ideal Thanksgiving Meal consisted of:
- 8 ritz crackers
- 3 dill pickle spears
- 1/2 roll
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- 1 chocolate chip cookie
- 1/4 banana with peanut butter.

For lunch today he sat with the full jar of peanut butter with a spoon. Whatever it takes.

Tomorrow we leave Palatine and head up to a waterpark for the day, and back to the ranch Saturday.

White Thanksgiving

We're in Chicagoland for Thanksgiving. The drive down was uneventful - the kids slept half of the way, which led to much late night mayhem once we landed in Palatine.

We bought a car.

I'll explain. One of our two cars is coming off lease in January, and Pamela was getting concerned with what to replace it with... something that is better at carrying multiple kids and could also support the inevitable dog. We had settled on the Toyota Highlander, preferably a hybrid, and hopefully used to take some of the sting out of depreciation.

The past couple of weeks we've been watching the used car lots in town to see if any relatively new Highlander Hybrids (07?) are hitting the lots, but none have shown up. The only ones we'd seen were 2006 with beige cloth - very basic cars. When we arrived in Palatine, Pamela and I thought: Chicago is a much bigger market, people go through their cars faster, and they seem to like to pimp them out with options a bit more... maybe there's something here!

We did some searching and found the holy grail: a 2008 Hybrid, fully loaded with every conceivable option, driven for a year by a Toyota sales rep who put 20k miles on it, available for sale for $13k lower than the equivalent NEW model. We RAN down to Naperville and test drove it - there was no catch - it was purely the miles that caused the depreciation, not haunting/ghosts/murder or grievous hidden damage.

We made a deal on the spot, and we're driving it home (along with the car we drove down here...). Bella LOVES the car, and we're working on some names. The car is pearlescent white and flat out gorgeous. Hence the White reference in the title... though having written it, I imagine we'll have some sort of snowstorm around here... ;-> Right now, Bella's thinking about naming it "Marshmallow". I'm leaning towards "Cracker" but nobody's backing me up on that one.

Tomorrow is the big meal - it should be wonderful. A quote from Bella:
"I like Thanksgiving because there are always mashed potatoes. Plenty of mashed potatoes, and that's all right with me."

A hippo birdie

It has been a great Birthday run. Wednesday shortly after my last update, I met with Paul and Caesar for an amazing dinner at Trellis, the restaurant in my favorite hotel in Kirkland (Seattle), the Heathman. I had some steak, Caesar some Coq au Vin, and Paul had an increcible cassoulet with boar and duck meat. We felt very 17th century.

I did wind up finishing my big presentation for Thursday, about 3 hours prior to the presentation itself. I got it over to a Kinkos, picked it up (after discovering I had ordered it for the NEXT day accidentally - but they were quite accommodating), and made it out to the SeaTac conference center.

As it usually happens the actual attendance was a bit lower than expected - about 20 people, perhaps 1/3 were competitors/vendors, and 2/3 actually were interested. For some reason I was feeling VERY comfortable, and felt like it was a very smooth presentation. We had a lively Q&A afterwards, and then I was back to the hotel, having missed the last reasonable flight out of town.

I'm finally watching 30 Rock, which is a dream show, so I had some good laughs, then had another great dinner at Trellis, solo this time. Friday I flew home to a happy family, and had some great cuddles... Bella went off to a sleepover, so I put Isaac down and then my boys showed up for a birthday Avenging.

It was a wonderful line up of scotches - my new Glendronach 33 was a star, as was Ant's Bowmore 16 and Chicken's delightful Bunnahabin 12. We took a break to watch R.Kelly's flat out insane video on Youtube of "Real Talk" - oh my was that the most foul mouthed and hilarious video ever. Kids - no. DON'T LOOK AT IT KIDS. But dang. We finished the night watching Wall-E in Blu-Ray.

Saturday (the ACTUAL birthday) started with me and Isaac off to swimming: He was shivering again - that boy just has very little body fat, so I think he chills easily even though Foss keeps that pool at a comfortable 170 farenheit. (actually closer to 90). Then Pamela, Isaac, and I went and looked at some cars (the Jag is coming off lease in January, and we plan to get a dog in the spring, so we need a little more room... The Toyota Highlander is a strong contender right now.)

In the afternoon, Isaac forswore napping, and joined Bella and I in the basement for yes another Wall-E viewing. Everybody loves those robots. I could watch that movie every dang day. The new short at the end showing Burn-E, the one robot who was severely inconvenienced by Wall-E's exploits was just great.

After the movie (and waking Pamela from her long afternoon nap, which she deserved after 3 days of watching those kids while I galavanted around Seattle), I was off to Mae's: Yes, I went with 6 other moms to watch Twilight. After a drinkiepoo, we all piled into a minivan and went to the theater - arriving a full hour early so we could get the best seats.

Now you know I loved the books: Not the most challenging material in the world, but a ripping yarn (certain parts of book 2 notwithstanding). The movie was a very accurate translation of much of book 1: There were some details changed (Bella's caretaker role of her dad is not really there - they moved all meal scenes to a diner since the movie needed more than the 4 settings they cycled through in the book). But in all, it was a very rewarding experience: The budget was low low low - the SFX were definitely Sci-Fi channel quality, but the fireworks were there - Bella and Edward have some CHEMISTRY on screen, it cannot be denied. I also really liked the actor who played Jake... It's looking like the full series is greenlighted, so hopefully we'll have more of these movies pretty soon.

After the film, we all headed down to Wildfire for steaks and drinks. I decided that since I was an honorary girl for the evening (I don't believe there were ANY adult males in the audience who weren't chaperones), I'd have a proper girl drink - a Pomegranate Martini. We got home well before midnight, and sleep came quickly.

Today (which is still my birthday) I enjoyed an avalanche of facebook greetings, a lazy morning by the fire, and a lot of cuddles from the kids.

We pack up and head to Chicagoland tomorrow for the Turkeyday, after I teach my class at 6am, of course. While down there, Papa will be helping me test drive more cars, Lilli will be playing with the kiddos, Pamela will be chilling with her holiday entertaining magazines, and all will be well with the world. And Portillos will definitely get a visit. Or two.

Ah Food.

It's been a while since I waxed philosophical on food. Today is a food day.

I'm in Tacoma yet again (and will be biweekly for the next few months, just for a night at a time at least). This is my 4th or 5th visit and I'm getting to know the sights a bit, and had driven past a very home-y looking place a few times called "John's Hob-Nob". As I had been up since 5, caught a 7:30 flight, and reached the area by 10am local time, I was famished, and decided to try the Hob-Nob.

The walls were festooned with pictures of old ships, the wooden booths and formica counters spoke of a very different time - this is an old place. Must be still around either because it's good, or because it's convenient.

Fortunately it was good. VERY good. I had a classic Waffle, Eggs, and Bacon special with a side of Rye toast and coffee. Every single component of this breakfast was exceptional: The bacon was crispy, and somehow dissolved before it even hit the back of my throat. The eggs were un-greasy, the waffle was light and fluffy, and the toast had a lot of caraway flavor. There was not a crumb left on my plate, and I emerged SATISFIED.

Now, a few blocks away, there's been a place that has gripped my interest as well, and I had been planning to visit it, but having read an enthusiastically positive review of it, I have decided I do not need to visit it:

"Fingers are crossed for not only the liquor license, but the food permit that will allow Acme guests to chow on some fine eats. And by “fine eats” I’m talking about frozen Swanson dinners and Costco pizza. Hell yeah, that right there is some good drunk grubbin’."

Yeah, that's not really a place I'm at in life. We shall pass.

In Home News: The furnace has been replaced, and our home is habitable again. Thank you all for your concern.

Isaac has learned how to climb OUT of his crib now - Pamela had put him down and was in the basement cleaning when he walked into the room. She watched him pull himself up, swing a leg over, and gently lower himself with his wiry powerful arms. The kid is a maniac. We've put a gate on his room, but we suspect he'll just vault it like a hurdler.

He's also holding true to form by having an injury to his face: He tripped on the sidewalk yesterday and skinned his nose. He's like a little Rudolph. These things never seem to dampen his spirit, though we also suspect his molars are coming in - he's drooling like a basset hound/bull mastiff mix... I have to wear a tarp when we're wrassling.

Allright, I'm doing a 2 hour presentation tomorrow that is only 1/3 written, so I'd better blog off and get writing.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr

The weather outside is frightful, and inside it's not much better: When we had the 3rd floor redone, we added in a furnace to heat and cool the third floor and the kid rooms. Last fall we added in a gas fireplace for our first floor living room. Last WEEK, our basement furnace decided to die. So while the kids are warm at night, the family has been collecting in the living room most of the time, with occasional trips to the basement where there's electric baseboard heat.

A new furnace will be installed tomorrow (Monday) and I can hardly wait. The old one was about 14 years old, which is a typical lifespan for this model: It had additional damage from some bad draining (rust), so the repairs would have been PRETTY expensive (not as much as a new furnace, granted, but we're also buying peace of mind, and with the furnace that old, it'll be another thing and another thing to die...)

As if on cue, the NYT crossword this AM had "br" puns (though those of you who get the NYT at home know this was LAST week's puzzle - we're a week delayed here in the twin cities). So "where's the brief", "brand in boston" that sort of thing.

Isaac perhaps from cold, perhaps from early cabin fever, and perhaps from teething (we suspect molars) has been a bit of a nutcase these days - lots of instant tantrums, lots of "pick me up put me down PICK ME UP" action. Today we sat and listened to Raffi and sang together, which was just a bit sissy for me, but he loved it. He then had his new favorite snack of carrots and cucumbers with ranch dip, and drifted peacefully off to a nap.

Bella has been attending art classes Thursday afternoons: The teachers give them guided exercises to work on perspective, scale, colors, and whatnot, but she's free to be creative within the exercise... and I must say that her "personal" artwork around the house has taken a quantum leap forward - she's really drawing some wonderful pictures.

This morning, she wanted to "draw some funnies" like we have in the past - but she decided to do all of it - writing, drawing, labeling. The picture was of her cryin, getting her hair pulled by isaac, who is smiling. What makes it insane is she drew a thought bubble above isaac's head showing the same exact scene in miniature: "He's dreaming about pulling my hair, and his dream is coming true". Helpfully I suggested it would be even more funny if she drew a tiny thought bubble over Isaac's head in the thought bubble... increase the regression... and she agreed. But right about then Isaac decided to rip the paper which led to some massive screaming. Fortunately Pamela was ready to whisk Bella off to church.

And now they're back! Time to go spend some family time huddled around the fire.

Taping times three

Today I took a loooooong lunch break and snuck over to Time Out to teach BodyPump at 1:15. Yes, it was another attempt to tape my performance (the first attempt foiled by a malfunctioning camcorder, my second foiled by someone in frame doing something they shouldn't have been doing). So this was try three, and it went very well (I think.)

And I had a great audience, including Pamela! As we were talking over our schedules last night, we figured out that we were both planning on attending the same class, just with me on stage. She parked herself far off to the side so lurked in my peripheral vision more than I would have liked, but I guess for the taping I'd want to not be giggling and making googoo eyes at the participants.

A fun little goof up: Prior to the class, I met with Jeanne the club owner and she wanted to see some of my BodyAttack coaching. I ran through two tracks, and felt oddly spent: Everything felt off about the tracks and I chalked it up to nerves about Jeanne's watching - she's a total perfectionist. I was figuring I needed to hit the woodshed pretty hard in the coming days to improve...

By about the third track into Bodypump I finally figured out the problem, because it was affecting the class too: There is a speed control on the CD player, which lets you speed up or slow down the track significantly. Turns out the cd player was set to FASTER - at least 5-7% quicker, which is very noticeable. And with a high speed cardio workout already, pumping the speed up that much is frankly insane - which is why I was gasping for breath. In Pump, it didn't impact the tracks too much because the were slower to begin with, but I'm glad I caught it before the later techno tracks.

Regarding BodyAttack: The Perfectionist has decided that we need to dry run it full volume full microphone 20 times before we launch in front of others. I've done it 4 times so far and have improved each time. Even today's horrible superfast rehearsal was great because she literally didn't do any move I didn't announce, so I needed to cue way harder than I'm used to. I am excited to see how good I'll be at 20. Also, my body will have adapted and I'll be able to jump straight up clearing 6 feet, and will be able to hold my breath for seven minutes.

Tonight Pamela is out with her Vegas Buddies (the Free Range Mommies), so I put the kids to bed: They were plenty wound up. Bella insisted on Go Dog Go for HER book tonight... it really is a wonderful book. 30 min after lights out, I hear Isaac hollering "IT'S BROKEN". I come in to find him naked, having pulled off his jammies and he has busted the zipper. Also he has sucked on the footies, so it's a bit soggy too. That KID.

From the Plane

Out my window I see mountains... I'm flying to San Francisco for a quick series of meetings and will be back Tuesday night in time to tuck the kids into bed. Today, the flight attendant called me by name. Well, tried to - it's a long last name. But I guess that's what happens when you go Platinum.

I've been doing a little work but that was getting a bit dull... I tried to watch a movie I had rented, but it was flat out terrible. I've really been enjoying the little news breaks on the Onion website. But the MOVIE they came out with (direct to DVD) is just painfully unfunny. I gave it 30 min that I'll never get back in my life... fortunately it was just airplane time. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some sketch comedy - the Peter Serafinowicz Show on BBCAmerica is sheer brilliance. But this was like bad MadTV.

In conclusion: I do not recommend "The Onion Movie". Now, on to the kid stories.

Last night I put the kiddos to bed (with Pamela's help, of course, but when I go out of town I like to be the "staying in the room" parent to maximize my cuddle time), Both were pretty wound up: Isaac is ready to move from the simple picture books to longer stories, so last night I brought out "Go Dog Go", which he sat bolt upright for. At the end, he demanded an immediate re-reading. At the end (spoiler alert - don't read if you don't know the ending to Go Dog Go) when the dogs are headed to the tree for the party, I read "What is at the top of that tree?", Isaac shouted "A PARTY!!!!" I'd say that kid is definitely retaining what he hears.

Hush Little Alien is a take on that Mockingbird rhyme (Hush little alien don't say a word, papa's going to catch you a goony bird, etc). It was one of his favorite books, but he's decided he likes a few songs at bedtime, so I turn out the light and sing him the book from memory. It's to the point where he's singing along now, so I need to mix in more songs. He doesn't like Mary Had a Little Lamb anymore (even with the secret third and fourth verses). I was singing him "Hold Me Now" by the Thompson Twins, and need to work on a few more I think. Maybe People are People by Depeche Mode?

Bella had a hard time winding down too: She grew concerned about her grandpas and wanted to know how old they were and whether they were going to die soon... I assured her that they're both healthy and had strong parents so they'll definitely be around to see her get married and maybe even have a kid. And probably even longer, with the advances in medicine. Well, that opened the door: she wanted to know why old people die, and why I think medicine will help them live longer. This got into a discussion of the circulatory system, why arteries are red and veins are blue, (and why there are "arteries" and "veins" - "can't we just call them tubes?" she asks) and how arterial blockage can be fatal. I stopped short of discussion cardiac catheterization, but we'll get there. It was very fun, even if it was a ploy to stay awake a little longer... if she learned something, that's a reward in itself.

Jenny weekend

Bella's friend Jenny spent two nights while we let her parents go off to Wisconsin for a vacation. It was fun to have 3 kids for a limited time, and very interesting to see the change in dynamics: Bella spent a lot of time in various states of jealousy depending on how much attention Isaac was getting from Jenny. And Mister Enthusiasm was definitely trying to be in the middle of everything!

Saturday we did swim class, and then some of us went to see Madagascar 2 (not Issac and Pamela) with some others in the neighborhood. Honestly, not quite as charming as the first, and with a lot more potty humor and violence. But there were some laugh out loud moments for me. Mostly I was just excited to see a preview for Monsters vs Aliens (no not THOSE "Aliens" - different ones). Looks like a great retro-feel monster adventure.

I had the boys over for Scotch Night Saturday, and it was again a remarkable lineup: We opened a Gordon and Macphail Strathisla 25 year sherry cask that Chicken and I had given Ant for his birthday some weeks back, and it was flat out mental how wonderful that dram was. We also revisited a young Caol Ila, an older Port Ellen, and Glen Scotia, whose subtlety may have been impacted by the Auchentoshan we opened with. We watched The Incredible Hulk, which was another great Marvel Movie - they're definitely on a tear with Iron Man and now this... can't wait for Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers (all in development).

Today was a lazy lazy day - very little was achieved. Pamela and I have decided to keep our "lazy sunday" policy, so no big projects. It felt good.

Isaac's eating keeps getting nuttier: Tonight he ate almost half of a cucumber with italian dressing. Smacking his lips - "I LIKE THIS!!!". We had some epic wrassling today.

To follow up on my "sore legs" comments from last week following my BodyAttack training: By Tues Night, I had finally stretched things out to the point of being able to walk again. Wednesday AM I attended BodyPump, and then ran through the full BodyAttack workout. And did the same Thurs and Friday. By Friday, I was starting to feel that this intense workout is indeed do-able, and my legs were certainly not in any pain. It's weird to be able to actually feel oneself getting STRONGER in a short period of time like that. My last bump like that was after the 3 day BodyPump training. Hmmmm... Intensity = results. Strange that.

For my BodyPump certification, I finally reviewed my videotape that I need to mail in: One of the conditions of the taping is that you are the SOLE instructor - nobody helping in the room. Any hint of that and you're immediately disqualified. So I was a bit disheartened to see in the first minute of the tape the club co-owner who was doing the filming caught in the mirror behind me coaching several people on their posture. You're watching me on stage, and framed in the bottom left corner is the mirror showing him correcting posture. So I need to re-tape now. Sigh.

I haven't blogged on the Obama Victory: I'm ecstatic of course, loving the fact that we have this great opportunity. I have many friends who went the other way - they had their reasons and I don't blame any of them (with the exception of my coworkers who really really liked Palin... more than McCain). And I think McCain's concession speech was wonderful: If he had brought more of that class to the end of the campaign and less of the dirt and smears, I think it would have been a lot closer. It was nice to see the McCain who I actually respected back in 2000, not the man who had continually compromised in the past 8 years to cater to "the base".

But I don't think Obama will magically make everything better: He's got a tough row to hoe, and 43 has left things about as bad as one conceivably could, short of a smoking crater. But I'm looking forward to seeing Obama apply his cool head, his sharp wits, and his ability to see many sides of an issue to the situation we are all in now. I'm not going to armchair QB his cabinet picks... Give the man some time to work some stuff out!

I'm off to San Fran for one night Monday. We're interviewing a candidate, plus I'm meeting with one of our senior consultants to plan out a new business line... should be fun. I also have to work on some major presentations for next week (!!!) where I'm presenting both to the board in Tacoma, and to a trade association in Seattle. Being in a different time zone or on an airplane with nowhere to go should help with that. ;)

Attack'ed

So this weekend I did the two day training for Les Mills BodyAttack, and got my butt thoroughly kicked. I previously trained in BodyPump, which is a weights class: I was good and tired, but was able to reduce my weights as needed to survive. BodyAttack is a full running cardio class with tons of jumping. Having just come off of a big cold and a lot of travel, I don't think I was in the prime condition really succeed....

We ran through the full (55 min) class 3 times in two days, plus a few hours of technique work, plus two 45 minute "Fitness Challenges", which I'll spare you the details of... suffice it to say I did almost five hundred jumping plyoric lunges across the two days, plus a lot of running. By the end of Saturday, I had a mildly pulled hamstring, by midday Sunday, my calves were cramping, and by the end of the weekend, my calves were so tight I could barely walk the stairs.

BUT... I must say this is a really fun class and I can't wait to teach it. I'm working on the choreography, and may be able to start previewing it at the club next week... Despite the pain I was able to do all of the learnings, and led my class well too. I didn't get a full pass, because my legs were too tight for me to do the "proper" technique for the final evaluation, but I just need to retest with my club manager in a week, which won't be a problem.

Add to this, the class itself was very fun - 7 people from our club, and two "visitors" from Wisconsin who were a total blast to be with - we formed a pretty tight group by the end.

I'm off to Philly this afternoon and have dinner with one potential client, then a big presentation tomorrow.

In cute kid news:
Isaac grabbed a couple of Curious George books, pointed to George and declared "I like that guy!".

I'm very worried about what I'll do with myself on Wednesday: I've grown so dependent on the minutiae of every little poll hiccup, every twist and turn in the campaigns... and to have it done will just be wonderful.

Finally, there's a semantic blog checker that "reads" the blog and tries to tell if it was written by a guy or a gal at www.genderanalyzer.com. You'll be pleased to learn that I am, in fact, a woman.

More as I know it.... gotta get on that plane.

Halloween!

Good EVENING! Perhaps you are wondering - how can he be blogging at 8pm on this most spooky of nights? Simple - I have a two year old.

Despite talking all week about how on halloween he was going to be a "Gunk" (two year old for "Skunk"), when the rubber hit the road, the man chickened out. No costume no way. I tried. Pamela tried. Teachers tried. The Dali Lama tried, as he passed through town. Barack tried. That costume was not going on.

Perhaps as a consolation prize, his teacher did some face painting today. He had a carrot across his forehead. For the evening, we had him in a coat, and pinned a large sign to the back of the coat for all to read:

"I refused to wear my costume because I am two years old".

He got all candy crazy on two starburst and a reeses peanut butter cup, and instead of trick or treating, he stood in the yard spinning and yelling for about a half hour. I took this to be a subtle cue that me may be ready for an early bedtime. As my costume was somewhat slight (Cat ears, a tail, and a collar - bought from the "Cute Lady" part of the costume shop and put to far more pedestrian use), compared to Pamela's get up (Metro Witch, full costume and makeup), I took the duty of chilling the boy out.

I brushed his teeth and washed him up, and we played with toy airplanes for 15 minutes, did a little wrassling, and finally got into pajamas for stories and songs. He dropped of pretty soon thereafter. It was just what he needed - some quiet one on one time with dad.

Bella on the other hand, gleefully wore her rat costume at school, at home, and out trick or treating. She ran with the neighborhood kid pack (actually one of the packs - there were no fewer than three running factions this time), did two candy drop-offs and one swap-out for a pillowcase instead of a bucket.

Bella and Pamela are now at the neighborhood party, and will be until probably a bit too late. I'm turning in early myself: I've got my two-day Les Mills BodyAttack training this weekend, which will involve about 14 hours of running and jumping across two days. I'll need my rest.

Oh - work. No big news this week. Another visit to Seattle, finally got over my cold around Tuesday, after having a nice dinner with Caesar Monday in which I coughed about a pound of phlegm. But the table we were at was perfect for this - my seat actually abutted a little passageway (might have been an old entry to the restrooms that they placed a table in front of), so I was able to literally duck my head into a DIFFERENT ROOM for each cough. Didn't see Paul S since he was just on the UPWARD tick of this cold - hopefully he's well by now.

Next week, it's one night in Philly. The following week, San Fran, then Seattle again! Did I mention I made Platinum on Northwest/Delta? Yes. I'm that guy.

My next posting will be with limbs made of jelly. Wish me well.

sniff sniff

Well this is just great: At the end of a whirlwind week with a full schedule awaiting me tonight through the weekend, and I might just have a full blown cold. I'm amping up the fluids, teas, and vitamins, I got a good night's sleep, and will snooze on the plane today, but I have doubts about how effective I might be as a fitness instructor tonight. I'm less worried about having my scotch buddies over: I can happily abstain and enjoy their company as we watch a crazy movie (Speed Racer). Unless the Ant brings some legendary dram, as he did last time (that Glenmorangie 25 was the stuff of fairy tales).

Denver has been good: I visited the grandparents for a bit: Grandma is well, Grandpa is looking ashen - he has bronchitis again and his back is hurting... and his memory is flickering a bit: He asked the same question to me twice, but I did see him correct himself on a few other things - you can see him trying. Grandma said that he's been asking for key background info at times - "Did you come from Bismark?" was one question asked in the middle of the night. Grandma is weathering it well, but I can't imagine how hard it would be to watch Pamela slip away like that.

On to the REASON I was in Denver: Our big "rebranding meeting" - my company will no longer be what it was. And since this blog is googleable, I won't go into the new or old names here. The new name is predictable, but the new LOGO is way better than I expected - it's very compelling. New to the organization (and brought in by the acquisition of our company, where the personal touch was paramount) was the concept of bringing all your people together for big announcements: Previously this sort of thing would have been an email. Ted, the CEO, said that the past 3 weeks with these town hall meetings were the most rewarding he's had in the last 3 years with the company, which was pretty nice to hear - if we at 80 people have influence the culture of a thousand person firm to that extent, that's amazing.

On a purely personal note, it is nice to be standing in a reception and have the CEO holler out my name as he walks in the room. To have identity like that in a big company is not bad at all.

This AM, I was chagrined to have not remembered the lesson I learned back in July at this hotel: They have the worst breakfast on the planet: Omelets made to order, but they cook the eggs completely, then toss the "add ins" in (cold) and fold it over like an egg taco. I watched them make my waffle, and he picked it out of the iron with his FINGERS. The tray of bacon on the buffet was at best medium-rare, and I never got a warm up on my coffee... yes, this will not be a breakfast I repeat.

Well it's time to pack up and head back to the airport. I have two fresh "killer sudokus" to do on the flight home: Killer is were you not only have to not repeat numbers in a 3x3 box, row, or column, but you also need to make the numbers ADD UP to sums all over the board. Whereas I can usually chew through a half dozen sudokus on a usual flight, a Killer will last the whole flight.

Portland Effect

So this is the crazy travel week - 24 hours in Portland, home to put the kids to bed, then followed by 24 hours in Denver. I had a couple of good events yesterday.

I introduced one client to the wonders of the Voodoo donut. She enjoyed the "Voodoo Doll", which is person shaped, jelly filled, chocolate dipped, and pierced with a pretzel stick. She "let" me enjoy the Bacon Maple, which was amazing as always. In the spirit of options, I had also got a custard filled (with little eyes drawn on the top) and the Old Dirty Bastard (Raised with chocolate dip, oreo crumbs, and peanut butter), which we gave to some geeks on her team. No I did not revisit the VooDoo this morning. One donut per visit is enough.

In the evening, we did a team building dinner - my six people have had a pretty rough couple of weeks, with 2 of them NOT GOING HOME for over 3 weeks. So I treated the gang to a steak dinner and drinks to thank them for their work. But there was no carousing afterward - everyone just wanted to go home and crash.

This trip, I've been catching up on the Alan Partridge BBC shows: Steve Coogan was simply brilliant in this series following a washed up BBC presenter adjusting to life as a radio announcer in Norwich. Combined with Heroes (Episode Six, another BARN BURNER), I have good media mojo happening right now.

Poor Pamela has bad Stair Mojo happening: She slid down our stairs at home yesterday and banged up her bum and elbow: Thankfully nothing broke, and her back didn't give up the ghost... but I'm demanding that she wear workboots with strong vibram soles and strong ankle support whenever she attempts to navigate any vertical passage (see a few weeks back, the Isaac Lip Incident for other Stair Mojo issues).

Besides, I need her at full fighting strength: We're rearranging the basement for better feng shui, and everything is turvy topsy. We need both of us to whip it into shape down there by the weekend!

Something about Oregon encourages beards: I've seen quite a few big bushy chin afros around here. Interesting. That's it for now.

Le Weekend

Bella got better just in time for school to be out for an MEA conference, but she was laid LOW by that illness, the poor dear. Everyone else in the house seems to have avoided it (knock wood!). She got a lot of good playing in over those two days, however.

Isaac had some extra synapses connect during the week: He's definitely in a "dramatic tantrum" phase, but is extra cuddly too. As you know he loves phones, and will use just about anything as a "phone" - from a diaper to a sock - and have a conversation with you by phone. Tonight Pamela had her legs stretched out on the kitchen booth bench, and he walked up, put his head up to her foot, and said "Hewwo? Oh hi!" We almost fell over.

Isaac has been bottle-free since Labor Day weekend, but only just this week could we say his appetite has taken off: He's eating pretty well now, if not with any particular discipline. He messed around all during dinner, but immediately before bed snarfed an apple and 6 spoonfuls of peanut butter. Whatever it takes.

This morning Isaac and Bella went to swimming class: I swim with Isaac, and Grandma watches Bella. As I jumped into the water, I dunked my head under and turned around just in time to see Isaac take a running jump right into the water: That kid is FEARLESS. His teacher said he's never had a set of kids who were as comfortable in the water as this group.

We're rearranging the basement: the feng shui was all wrong, with the couch against the cold wall, and the view of the TV conflicting with the view of the stairs. So everything's getting moved. We've clocked some serious time down there this week. Tonight I was assembling more of those ancient Crate and Barrel shelves.

Today Pamela and I took a CPR class at the Red Cross: I had to for my fitness instruction work, and Pamela thought it sounded like a good idea in general. It was great fun to be in the class together - we got to be partners for exercises and everything.

Another Time Out instructor was there, so we were chatting about the studio a bit. On the subject, Friday was a double whammy silly day: I went to the 6am to co-teach, only to find that nobody had a key to the place! So we and all the students had to leave. And I was going to teach at 5:15, with a camcorder in place so that I could finish my certification for BodyPump, but there wound up being a big issue with the machine, so I didn't tape... though I did teach. We'll have to try again later.

The 6am crowd is full of regulars who need (in general) very little coaching - they're pretty serious and experienced. Friday afternoon is a very very different crowd - a lot worse form, less attention span, and more brand new people. It is a fun challenge to bring those people along with the teaching.

Next week will be a strange travel week - Two trips, two nights away: Portland Tues-Wed, and Denver Thurs-Fri. I'll try to see the grandparents again when I'm in Denver, of course.

Two media things: First, I invite you all to experience Tarvu: www.tarvu.com This is a religion created by the "Look Around You" geniuses Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz. Secondly, I must say that Season Three of Heroes is like electricity applied directly to the pleasure centers of my brain: Every episode has rocked so hard that reality itself seems suspect. The direction they're going right now is simply amazing: through choice, cowardice, or inertia, the heroes are slowly becoming villains, and some villains are showing signs of becoming heroic. Truly amazing television happening here.

And that's the news for the moment...

Quick Ones

Bella IS sick: She spent Monday and Tuesday in bed with a fever and some puking, but somehow managed to perk up when I came home from San Fran tonight... so we played some go fish, colored, read stories, and cuddled, while Pamela got some much needed time... Isaac was also a bit of a wreck tonight and passed out pretty early so we're hoping there's not any sickness headed that direction.

San Fran was wonderful and productive this time - no grand adventures to Muir Woods alas, but good connections with clients current and future, and some consultant bonding too.

Two quotes from Bella for you:
1) Jenny wasn't at swimming with Bella on Saturday, and Grandma wondered if perhaps she was sick, so she asked Bella "Was Jenny on the bus with you yesterday?"

"Why do you ask?" was her response.

2) At Bella's birthday party, where was a short food fight (clearly started by the older boys). On Monday, Pamela asked "Who started the food fight at your party?"

Her response: "I don't know: I wasn't involved."

These are very grown up responses from my little girl.

Well, I'm home now until next Tuesday - hopefully the house will not get any sicker, but if something does happen, I'll be here to help.

A big weekend

For me, the weekend started on Friday, with me teaching another "double shift" at the club - 6am and 5pm. I'm tantalizingly close to being a solo teacher - by the end of next weekend I may have everything I need. But it wiped me out but GOOD - a double workout for sure! In the evening, we made some beef stew for the weekend, which filled the house with incredible smells. Sort of the opposite of cooking eggs.

Saturday started with swimming for the kids, and Isaac continues to do very well: He's an amazing backfloater, no stress about having his ears under water, and I only need to place a single finger at the base of his skull to have him floating. Bella is also a superstar swimmer - she's with girls a year older than she, and is holding her own with LOTS of full lane length swimming.

Immediately after swimming, we welcomed Grandma and Grandpa, and Carrie and (fiancee) Scott for a little combined birthday for the kids. The stew flavors had come together, and we had a fun couple of hours. Grandma got Bella a foam stomp rocket set and spent the afternoon strafing the family (with the kid's help, but I note that she held the aim).

A short break, and then it was Bella's birthday party with her friends: 10 kids, with a horse theme: The table was covered with oats, carrots, and apples. The chandelier had carrots hanging from it, and in what may be a first for birthday parties everywhere, the kids had a one-upmanship thing going on with WHO COULD EAT MORE CARROTS. We had an obstacle course set up in the front yard with hay bales and corn stalks.

By the end of the party, the kids had discovered that the corn stalks had actual ears of corn in them, and shucked them all, de-kerneled all of the cobs into a pot, and stacked all of the stalks into a "bonfire" in the middle of the yard, with our solar-powered yard lights all uprooted and piled in the middle as "fire". They took the hay bales and formed a ring around the "fire", and told stories. This was all done with absolutely NO intervention from any adults - they made this all happen. It was amazing to watch kids at work.

In the night, Bella was tossing and turning with concern for her loose tooth. I told her "Tell your body that if you feel something loose in your mouth, DON'T SWALLOW IT - WAKE UP". And sure enough, around 2 am, she called me in to her room: She had woken up with a tooth in her mouth! So now she's got a cute little gap in her bottom teeth...

Today was much lower energy: Isaac and Bella helped me with some errands in the morning and we got Burritos. Then during Isaac's naptime, Bella played with friends and I mowed. Bella was pretty fragile all day - she was quick to cry, and prone to inactivity. Perhaps it's because of all of the activity, but I also think she had not been sleeping well with worry over that tooth for several days.

In the afternoon, we had one more birthday party - Bella's birthfamily had us over for sandwiches and snacks and presents. Poor Bella actually lay on their couch the entire time, barely moving, with half closed eyes. Even the present opening failed to elicit much activity. She was flat out dead on her feet (or tush, as the case may be). I felt kind of bad for the family - she wasn't really "there"... but they were understanding. Isaac made up for her by being extra-active, along with his cousins Macy and Clayton.

Today's Isaac amazingness: As he opened presents, he said "Oh my GOSH!" He also ate a frightening amount of pickles.

So now we're home - Bella went right upstairs and passed out. Isaac has finally stopped thrashing around too - these kids need to catch up on their sleep!!! Mom and Dad could probably use a break too. The tooth fairy has been left a note asking politely if Bella could possibly keep her tooth for her collection: I suspect the tooth fairy will respect her request: Pamela still has a box with all of her baby teeth too, so we know the fairy can be flexible where girls who like to collect nature are concerned.

Tomorrow, I'm off to San Fran for a single day - meeting with a new client with room to grow, so it'll be worth it. My boss is a Ritz Carlton "superdude" and secured us a suite downtown SF for $200, so we'll be living MUCH larger than our budget would indicate!

Birthday Girl

Bella turned 6 officially yesterday. She reluctantly tumbled out of bed to find some presents waiting: a new set of silky pajamas (with Owls!), a set of dried bird eggs, some polished rocks, a hunk of petrified wood, a 1" diameter copper ball... you know, typical things kids love (!?!?). But you know Bella - she loved every bit of it.

She came home with a backpack FILLED with drawings that her friends in class had made for her... Which struck me as wonderfully creative of her teacher. She's a lucky gal.

We had a sitter for Isaac, and we went off to Chuck E Cheese - Bella's request. We had so-so food, and burned through 200 tokens (winning a pretty decent 900 tickets in the process. And no, dad didn't really help with that - she had this rain-man like way with the "pure chance" ticket games and won scads of tickets). Bella got a whole bag full of prizes - she's the kind of gal who will not even LOOK at the 500-1000-5000 ticket "big prizes" up on the shelf: She was happy with 4 10-ticket plastic frogs, 2 100-ticket clay sets, a 100-ticket troll head pencil, and the like.

We got home in time for Pamela to run off to watch the Debate with friends, and for me to put two wound up kids to sleep. Isaac is going through some big brain development right now and isn't sleeping very well: thrashing about late, and up at 5am. It's a phase and I'm sure once those lego bricks in his brain lock in with the new skills, he'll be back "in phase" with our universe again.

In Jimmy News: I attended Bodypump this AM as a civilian - just participating for the first time in a week. I loaded up the weight and really felt it by the end. OOoof. Just got confirmation on my second set of training - BodyAttack which is a no-step aerobics training: Coming up in under 4 weeks (must work on my cardio! 2 full days of running around!). Plus I have CPR training in 2 weeks! So people better be healthy around here, dang nabbit.

Had a big full-day meeting with my "real job" to plan out the next quarter and some vision for next year: There's going to be a lot of travel in the coming weeks unfortunately. I'm actually doing WORK out in Tacoma, plus trying to get a prospecting trip up to New Hampshire... I'll be Platinum Elite before the end of October, actually. When you're elite, they actually give you pity miles when you DON'T get upgraded to first class. And you're allowed to fly the plane once a quarter. One of those two perks is real, actually. But in good news, we're looking to add a support staff under me, who will do a lot more of the "onsite" work for me. We just need to get it through the budget.

And that's the news for now...

Fang

We brought Isaac to the dentist today to have those teeth checked out: Turns out that while he did knock a couple of them up a bit into the gums, they don't appear to be chipped or cracked, nor have they impacted the "adult teeth buds" above. The dentist thinks they'll make their way back down on their own in the months to come, and everything should be fine.

His lip is almost completely healed as well, with just a little line noticeable. So while 9 days ago, I was staring in horror at a bloody mess, today you might have to tell me to look for where the problem was! Amazing healing power. Perhaps a superpower?

We had a great family weekend, and this evening I even got to have dinner out with Pamela. Without the kids. All grown up like. It was wonderful! We need to do that a lot more...

Bella turns 6 tomorrow morning. between Kindergarten and this birthday, it has me feeling like she's growing up too fast. But the loose tooth is definitely affecting me the most. That's big kid stuff. Speaking of big kid stuff: Bella asked that we take her to Chuckie Cheese for her big event. She's looking forward to the Skee Ball, the basketball hoops, and the strange machines that spin around and spit out tickets. At age 6, it's all about the tickets.

Media Alert: Still loving Heroes: Episode 4 tonight was another nail biter. Ooooh those supers.

Off to bed. I've been up since 4:45 - taught class this AM, taught last night at 5pm as well, so I got a LOT of work in. I'm planning my trips for the month - somehow I need to hit San Fran, Portland, Denver, Philly, and Seattle, and none of the trips are lining up right for multi-stop: They're 5 different trips. Sigh.

All about Bella

After a long stretch of Isaac Posts, I'm pleased to offer a set of stories about the amazing Bella.

Bella had made it very very clear that she wanted a Razor Scooter, and BAD. So for her birthday, we got her one, and decided to let her open it early, for more fun on the weekend. She was zooming through the house on that thing all evening. We had Paul and Melissa (the lovely couple whose wedding I officiated) come by for wine and a chat, and they got the full Bella show. Isaac decided he liked Paul pretty well too, and was climbing all over him.

Ant and Chicken soon came and added to the gang (an Avengers evening was planned, with the viewing of Iron Man on the ticket), and we all mingled for an hour. As I put Isaac to bed, Bella got more and more excited about showing off her scooter: She created a "speed circuit" from the living room to the dining room, around the table, and back. She had us all shouting the count for her (between 8-10 was the usual), and would pick a language for us to count in - Between Paul, Ant, Chicken, and I, we were able to cover quite a few of them. By 9, the newlyweds were home, Pamela was putting Bella to sleep, and the Avengers were in the basement enjoying some absurdly delicious drams, including a very rare Glenmorangie 25, a Port Ellen 24, and a bewildering Highland Park 12 Sherry Cask. And of course Iron Man was insanely good.

This morning instead of going to swimming, Bella insisted that we participate in the TC Marathon Family Mile run: We road rallied out to the State Capitol with some neighbors, and had a wonderful morning in the crisp fall sunlight. As to the RUN - it was more of a 1/8 mile run, and a 7/8 mile stroll, but Bella was very excited to be doing it. She got a shirt, a number, and a medal at the end, which she proudly wore all day.

We got lunch at Cosetta - delicious Mostaccoli and Pizza: Bella worked up quite the appetite and devoured a half order of the mos, and a full slice of pizza. We actually got there at 10 minutes to 11, and opened the place up: By the time we left, the line was snaking out the door as usual: So we really played that one right.

Big Girl: She woke up today with a LOOSE TOOTH. Bottom middle, back and forth. She spent all day wiggling it, but around 8pm suddenly was filled with worry about the tooth, which she had decided was "her favorite tooth":
- Will the new tooth that comes in be just as nice looking?
- What if she loses or swallows it - how will the tooth fairy know?
- How can she possibly brush her teeth with that loose tooth?
- She can only eat SOFT FOOD now... until all her teeth are big.

I have done my best to assure her that tooth fairies are very clever and are quite willing to offer up rewards based on lost teeth, regardless of whether the tooth is in hand or not. And also that food WILL need to get eaten, and teeth WILL need to be brushed.

Sunday looks like a quiet day... so we'll just see how THAT pans out... ;->

Like a ROCK

Isaac got his stitches out today: Now I remember getting stitches out as a kid (I had a quite a few), and I don't remember it being particularly pleasant. But Isaac was a champion:

I held him snug, he held a lollipop, and simply sat there looking patiently at the doctor as she pulled the stitches out: No screaming or crying. At one point, he asked us to sing "ABCs" to him, which we did... And when it was all done, he popped the lollipop in his mouth and marched out of the room.

During his nap, the rest of the scab fell off his lip, and he now looks 90% normal, with some little lines in there, and we still need to see the dentist about those teeth.

We celebrated tonight with Pei Wei, which we all devoured eagerly, along with a dessert of those "Humongous HoneyCrisp Apples" which are maybe the best tasting apple ever ever ever created.

Off to bed - I have to teach tomorrow AM!

Finished Book 4

Yep - Book 4 of the Twilight Series was consumed in under 24 hours - couldn't put it down for even Heroes (though I do love the new directions that Sylar is taking, make no mistake... and Claire's de-humanization is fascinating to watch. But we're talking about Twilight here).

Book 4 made slogging through Books 2 and 3 completely worth it: But you can't skip 2 and 3 - you don't realize how important the stories they tell ARE until it's all brought into focus in book 4. Very well done.

And to anyone (MOM) who might be thinking about taking a breather between books: Don't do it. Just dive into 4. DO IT.

Halfway through my crazy trip: Tacoma went VERY well, and I'm back in MSP ready to board for Boston. I'll be back home in 27 hours from now.

Isaac continues to heal - stitches come out Thursday, and we'll see the dentist next week. I do miss that all of my creatures at home - Pamela, Bella, and Frankenstein.

Tough Guy

After the events of yesterday, Isaac was up and at'em at his usual time (7am), and spent a good 20 minutes rolling around in bed with us playing. He was just happy. His face was good and swollen, but you could see him smiling in there.

After a few shows in the AM, he insisted on going outside to play. Bella was invited over to a neighbors house for a long day of playing. So we started up the block, and as we passed people, I felt the need to explain his face... so we went up the block SLOWLY.

When we hit mid-block outside of Casey's house, we saw a bald eagle perched up in a tree, looking over the neighborhood. There were three very annoyed crows circling around yelling at him, but the eagle was unperturbed. It is an odd thing to see such a large bird... I figured it was the Great Spirit coming down to see how Isaac was doing.

After the sighting, Isaac decided he was strong enough to march down to the park and play on the swings and slides for a while. We got back up the hill and he had some lunch, and a nap... and Pamela and I took the opportunity to pass out too.

Into the evening, Isaac kept on playing, showing no signs of feeling his face - his attitude was entirely intact. We had dinner and more playing, and he hit bedtime at his usual 8pm time, somewhat reluctantly.

In the meantime, we got so many nice calls and notes from people - we were really touched. And we got quite a few cookies delivered as well, which was too bad since we don't like cookies all that much ;-> .... we were in HEAVEN!!!

Alas, I'm off to Tacoma in the morning, and won't be back until Wednesday evening, so keep those good thoughts of support coming for Pamela and the family. I wish I could cancel, but there's a boardroom waiting for my presentation. Sigh.

Oh, one more thing: Finished Book 3, and will likely consume Book 4 on my long travel week here. Good stuff here. Good stuff.

PS - it's in the air

In the past 6 days, one friend's kid broke his arm in two places, and another friend's kid fell of his bike, and got a road rash on his face, many stitches, and a loose tooth.

There's just something in the air.

I should also mention that as a kid, I sent my parents to the emergency room several times: At least two bike accidents that I remember between ages 4-5, and one severe dog bite at 11 or 12. There might have been more, but I don't recall clearly through the fog of time.

Poor Little Guy

Isaac went in for his 2 year checkup on Friday morning, and the doctor told us that he is apparently suffering from a raging ear infection. Of course, we had no idea - the guy isn't crying, he's not particularly cranky, and not tugging on his ears... he was somehow bearing this burden quietly, while maintaining his happy personality. We shook our heads in amazement, and thanked our stars that this was caught before it got worse. We considered ourselves somewhat lucky.

This morning, Isaac and I played hooky from swimming - his ear didn't need that chlorine for sure. We ate together, had a shower, wrassled, read stories, and generally had a great time. Bella came home from HER swimming (with Grandma) and we three went out to meet Pamela, who was just finishing a Pilates session.

We went to our favorite garden store with the fabulous restaurant inside, and I ordered up quiches for us while Pamela wrangled the kids. Isaac was running around, and Pamela was chasing him. Just as I came to the table with the appetizers, I heard Isaac screaming and Bella ran up saying "Isaac FELL!".

I rounded the corner to see him with a face full of blood: Pamela was carrying him back to the table and tripped - Isaac caught the edge of a stair with his mouth and bit through his lip and cheek - an inch long hole - and had knocked the teeth too - one chip, one pushed up into the gums...

We ran to Children's Hospital where they got us right in and the poor little guy was just wracked with sobs. They gave him a sedative and he chilled out a bit. In the meantime, Grandma and Grandpa raced to the hospital to fetch Bella and give her an afternoon that didn't involve sitting in a hospital looking at her brother's face. For that we will be forever thankful.

Isaac wound up getting 23 stitches to close the wound - some inside, some outside. It's not quite as bad as the Joker's scars in Dark Night, but it definitely extends beyond the lip line. Through it all Isaac was actually pretty brave - when he cried, we all (including the doctor and nurses) sang songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, and ABC, which calmed him right down. He even tried to sing along. He told every new nurse "Hi!" as they arrived, and "Bye" as they left. And they had a TV with Spongebob on over his bed so he was telling us about "BobBob" as he watched.

I spent the whole procedure right at his side. I couldn't hold his hand, since he was strapped into a papoose for safety purposes. In a very strange moment, the EMT who was holding his head firmly but gently had her pager go off, and it was a man's voice saying "are you there?" over and over. Which reminded me of a 1990s techno song by Josh Wink that used almost the same sample.

He should have the stitches out by Thursday, and may or may not have a little scarring - it's very dependent upon the person. The teeth will wait until early in the week, when we'll see a dentist.

We got Isaac home and watched Mister Rogers, feeding him a vanilla protein shake for strength, read a few of his favorite stories as he held his diddos (blankies) and I held him until he fell asleep.

Through it all, even though he was clearly in pain, Isaac tried his best to be his usual friendly self. As I watched him in the late afternoon, he was trying to be normal, but his balance was off (still a bit drugged), and would suddenly notice the stitches again, and be worried.... the next few days will be VERY hard for all of us I think.

What's worse is that Sunday is Pamela's birthday: I had hoped to let her sleep in and pamper her for the day, but instead it's all hands on deck. And I'm sure she's feeling some guilt for the accident, for which I hope that she forgives herself, as no one could ever blame her - it was simply a terrible accident. And we're going to have to remember that Bella needs a little extra love in this time too.

Extra love all around I say. We're going to need it.

Busy Days

I bookended my day with workouts: my 6am as usual, and then an extra hour at 8pm to work on technique and vocal projection: Even though we use mics, it's important to speak from your diaphragm when leading group fitness, and I need to work on my "big leader voice". The catch is that that big voice takes a lot of energy to produce. Add that to the mental energy of remembering the choreography for a full hour, the emotional energy of trying to bring a room of people along with you, and the physical energy of actually lifting weight along with everyone else, and you've got an amazing workout.

Plus, if I get that big voice, I'll be able to command others in my work and personal life to do my bidding. GET ME A CUP OF COFFEE NOW PLEASE (even when commanding, one should be polite)

I got my big strategy project out in Tacoma, so I'll be heading out there next week, and then a few more times later in the year. It'll be good experience, and a nice excuse to visit the area (and build more business out there... Seattle is a somewhat tough nut to crack. Maybe if I grew a beard....?)

Isaac has been putting us to work: Since we eliminated Bottles 3 weeks ago, he has been a very spare eater, worrying us to death. But his energy level remains high, he's strong, and happy as always, so perhaps I should worry less. But as we took the bottles, we reverted to more cuddling and rocking at night, and we need to get back to "it's night time, go to sleep" (which we had working pretty well up until Bottle D-Day). So we'll have to let him do some crying, but he's a very adaptable guy.

I visited Bella's kindergarten class last night and met her teacher. Oh my goodness, Bella is a lucky girl - her teacher is a "true believer" and loves kindergarten with all her heart. She made a movie of the kids learning in school, she read us some of their conversations, and explained her own history...

I found it interesting that she shared two "science" stories where she was overhearing the kids coming up with theories about things amongst themselves... and Bella was featured in both stories: She is a natural scientist, and her teacher is going to let her continue to explore than knowledge on her own terms. It was wonderful.

In truth, I wanted to run right back and join that class as a student. Their learning just seemed so free and fun. At the very least, I want to be a fly on the wall as the go through their day.