Kid and Caboodle

Chris, A.J. and I went to see my friend/neighbor/former boss perform with his garage band at a local restaurant tonight. It was good music for a great cause, but it was a little disconcerting to see how many of my coworkers also were there. These days with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter I can’t help having my work and personal lives blend on the Internet, but it was a little weird to have it happen in real life as well. Also, I’ve been out of the office for the last six days and will still be out for the next three, so seeing so many of my coworkers tonight felt rather like stopping in the office while in the middle of vacation. Eh.

Just spent about 40 minutes playing with the Wii. Much of it was my trying to figure out how to play various games, then going back and trying to get it right. Oh well. No matter what, it was more fun than jogging on the treadmill. I fear I’m going to be pretty sore tomorrow, though!

Technically I received a Wii gaming system for Christmas. It was supposed to be a fun way for me to get exercise. In reality, I have spent about 20 minutes using it, hurting my finger in the process. In contrast, A.J. and Chris have spent the last few days playing with it. I guess the Wii was really a gift for the household!

Oh well. Technically I gave Chris a Kindle for Christmas, but so far I’ve spent more time using it than he has!

I’ve been spending much of the afternoon going through piles of paper throughout the house.  In doing so, I found the following list of tips from an office newsletter:

Successfully Managing the Work/Life Juggling Act

If you have a family, managing work and life can be challenging — and often unpredictable.

Consider the following tips to help you successfully manage the work/life juggling act:

• Make time for fun and relaxation. When you add more leisure to your life, you’ll become a healthier and more effective employee and parent.

• Build and use support systems. People with strong support systems tend to be healthier, happier and better able to tolerate stress.

• Forget perfection. While it’s admirable to put your best efforts into your work and parenting responsibilities, it’s simply impossible to be perfect at everything you do.

• Take care of yourself. It’s easy to focus on your responsibilities to your partner, children and employer and forget about taking care of yourself.

• Be happy. Studies show that happy individuals are successful across different areas, including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health.

I’m not exactly sure how one can will oneself to “be happy” — does this newsletter mean “try to think positive”? But otherwise, these tips seem pretty sound.

Hmm, wonder what else I’ll find as I continue decluttering the house ….

Tomorrow is going to be a hectic day. My office band, the Lost Agency Ramblers, will be doing a performance for Daniel Pearl Music Days around lunchtime.

Tomorrow evening I’ll be volunteering at the AAJA-D.C. Trivia Bowl, our major fundraiser for the year. I’ll be getting home well after A.J. has gone to bed.

How can things that are fun also be so tiring? (In between those two events I have to work, too!)

Well, it finally happened: an electronic magazine I’ve been helping write since 2005 officially folded this week. I’m a little sad, but I’m proud of the work we did for so long. I’m also a little relieved I don’t have to face writer’s block every month anymore! In memory of the column I used to write, I’ve now changed my blog to the same name, “Kid and Caboodle.” Even though the E-zine is no more, my random musings will continue. Ha ha ha!

The last few weeks we’ve been going to or hosting a lot of social gatherings.  Starting with A.J.’s birthday party November 23, then moving to two family gatherings over the Thanksgiving weekend, a black-tie shindig celebrating this year’s winners of the President’s Quality Award, and today’s holiday potluck party for the D.C. chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, Chris and I have been very busy.  This Friday we also have a holiday party for A.J.’s tae kwon do school, then I have a bunch of office Christmas parties, then a family Christmas gathering, then New Year’s.  Whew!

Got up this morning at 4:45 to get in some exercise before work.  Decided also to try checking my e-mail and other things I usually do in the morning.  I managed to set up my laptop on the treadmill (no mouse), but had a lot of trouble trying to type and walk at the same time.  I did ok reading online newspapers, though, and even managed to e-mail a piece to someone.  Not sure if I’ll continue this experiment, but it was interesting.

Today we took A.J. to a trial Mandarin Chinese class.  The class is set up like a regular preschool class; children learn through playing games, singing songs, doing art projects and other fun activities.  After the trial class, we asked A.J. what he thought about his experience.  He said he had fun and would like to do it again.  The teacher said A.J. would fit in with the class just fine even though it is already the third week of the summer term, so we happily registered A.J. for the rest of the term.  Since we were there already, we decided to register him for the full 2008-2009 academic year as well.  Hope this works out!

This means, of course, that Chris and I will have to start studying Mandarin again so we can keep up with our son ….

A.J. also expressed interest in taking tae kwon do classes recently, so we’ve signed him up at a place where many of his classmates go.  I’m wondering whether Chris and I also should take some tae kwon do classes so we can defend ourselves from A.J.’s new repertoire of punches and kicks ….

A.J.’s bike riding also has inspired Chris to buy a proper bike rack for my car and to look into getting his own bike cleaned and repaired.  I should probably get my bike checked out at the same time.  Maybe we can all do some family bike rides and thereby get exercise while enjoying ourselves!

It’s amazing the influence that little kid has on our lives ….

The numbers on the scale in the morning are starting to alarm me.  It’s obviously time to resume watching what I eat and, more importantly, to get more exercise.  But when?  I don’t want to get up any earlier than I already am during the work week, and I’m really tired in the evenings after I take care of my son.  Perhaps I should try walking around a lot at lunchtime?

Here is something I should try as well:

Need Encouragement to Shed Some Pounds? Blogs May Help.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051202555.html