Month: March 2009

Jeremy got a rusty old bike for free from our next-door neighbor. He’s having a fun time trying to rehabilitate the whole thing. I think it’s going to end up being my bike, perhaps replacing the trusty BMX bike that I’ve been riding. I love my BMX bike, I look so ridiculous riding it to the Metro – I get a lot of perverse pleasure from it.

Jeremy’s been trying to find a better bike for me, but I would not agree to spending a lot of money on a new bike that might get stolen from the bike racks. I think a rusty bike (it’s a Giant Iguana) is a good compromise.

After more than a year of attending services, I finally joined our local Unitarian church.

Here’s what Unitarians believe:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Unitarian joke:

It is show-and-tell day at school, and all the children are requested to bring in an item which illustrates their religious beliefs. David stands up and says “This is a star of David and I am a Jew”. Dorothy stands up and says “This is a crucifix and I am a Catholic”. Jimmy stands up and says “This is a casserole and I am a Unitarian”.

Famous UUs:

Frank Lloyd Wright
John Adam
John Quincy Adams
Abigail Adams
Kurt Vonnegut
Alexander Graham Bell
Samuel Morse
Charles Darwin
Linus Pauling
Isaac Newton

After Vince’s weekly ballet class, we usually go to the Chick-fil-A down the block for lunch. We order 2 kiddy meals – one for him (6 piece nuggets) and one for me (2 chicken strips). He gets one of the toys and we save the other for Edda. I don’t often spend time with only one child at a time, so I really like that we have this ritual. It also helps that Chick-fil-A is quite yummy – yummier than McDonald’s.

We are still biking to the Metro – through rain, snow, fog and darkness. I guess we are dedicated bikers. I’m excited that the stimulus package included an increase in my transit benefits. I’ll be able to lower my commuting costs to zero! So my only expense is 2.5 hours of my time. Still a big thing, but at least it’s costing me nothing in terms of moola.

Yesterday was a big (work) day for both Jeremy and me. I finished up my quarter with production goals intact. Jeremy went to the White House and did a little speech to various environmental groups and was all dressed up handsomely. He managed to integrate some cute alliteration and metaphors into his speech which he is rather proud of.

My ear has been plugged up for about 10 days now from a lingering head cold. Everywhere I go, I have to ask people to repeat themselves. “Eh? What did you say?”

Jeremy torqued his back two weeks ago (from what else? Getting Edda out of the car) and has been downing Motrin ever since. He told me last night that whenever he sees anything he wants on the floor, he gets all flustered thinking about how he’s going to manage to pick it up.

Vincent and Edda sleep in the same room on two twin beds shoved next to each other.

Last night was the eve of Edda’s birthday – the lights were off, Edda was snoring contentedly on her twin bed. Vincent was snuggled on top of the crack between the two beds (something he has been doing for the past few months to be closer to Edda) and I was on second twin bed.

Vince and I were chatting. Vince told me that maybe (for Edda’s birthday) in the middle of the night, fairies would come and (unlike doctors who would need to cut Edda’s head open) wave their magic wands over her head and fix the parts that were wrong with Edda’s brain.

I asked him if he believed in fairies. He said not really. I told him if fairies fixed Edda’s brain, then she might run around and steal his toys and yell at him to be quiet and maybe be an annoying sister sometimes. Vince thought about it for a moment and said that that would be all right with him.

Happy Birthday to You – Edda 🙂 & Love Always

from Grandpa Noel & Grandmom Rena (Washougal, WA)

After driving for a week, we are at Elko, Nevada. We will arrive at SF Friday afternoon. Along the way on route 80, we visited almost all outlet malls and several casinos. Mom won ~$40 somewhere in Iowa.

We plan to have a nice dinner with Donald and our friends Friday night. Saturday, hiking with Donald is in our schedule – I need exercise more. Saturday night, we are going to have a Bay Area college classmate mini-reunion. A lot of our classmates settle in the Bay Area. In addition, it is good that they are still pretty close to each other. Very glad to see them again. Last time, when we were with them, was during our niece’s (Andrea) wedding several years ago.

Of course, to be with Donald for a while is also worth the trip. While we will be in Washougal, WA, we will make our house there more livable. May be buying some furniture and make it a fully equipped place to live.

Take a break there and relax.

I went back on Lexapro today. It’s kind of a relief. I try not to hop on the medication bandwagon too quickly because I always say to myself that my depression will resolve itself in the next few days and it usually does, but now it’s been a few months of consistently feeling bad and swirling the same useless crap around in my head. A few weeks of not taking care of myself (like not brushing my teeth at night) and falling asleep at 8:30 pm fully clothed is not a good sign. Crying at work and at parties is not a good sign. Anyhoo – I hope to be a bit more cheerful soon.

Yesterday, Rena & I visited Uncle Louis at his place in Rockford, IL

He has been feeding a lot of cats around his house. Look at this picture and one can tell how many cats are there by counting bowls sitting on the deck.

Quite a sight! 🙂