Kid and Caboodle

I’ve been spending way too much time playing on Facebook this weekend!  One game I’ve been playing a lot today is H2Opia, in which players take care of other people’s tanks of virtual fish and exchange virtual parts to build underwater homes (as well as more virtual fish).  Certain actions apparently will lead to the game company to donate water resources for real to needy populations.  It’s fun and does good in real life — how can you lose?

Downloaded and tested various pieces of software onto the new laptop.  I was able to load a driver to access our home printer through the wireless network and loaded two pieces of software I need to update the AAJA-D.C. Web page.  I also successfully tested my access to several work-related Web sites.  So far I’m pleased with the performance of my new machine.  The only thing that bugs me is that the “Delete” key on this machine is in a different place than on the laptop I had to return, so I keep hitting the wrong button.  Oh well.

I’m still waiting to receive my DHL package. Despite talking to DHL headquarters late Thursday night, they made another attempt to deliver in the early afternoon yesterday, when I wouldn’t be home.  Finally got hold of the number for the local DHL office and spoke to the manager yesterday.  The latest word is that it’s supposed to arrive between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. today. Heh.

On a more positive note, A.J. has learned how to ride his bike! I had him put his bike facing downward on a hill and told him to start pedaling as quickly as he could once the bike started to move. Once he mastered that, I gradually had him start off on surfaces that were more and more level. Now he can start off at will; I no longer have to balance his bike for him so he can start riding! Yay! Next task: to teach him to stop his bike by using his brakes rather than dragging his shoes on the ground.

A.J. also served himself breakfast for the first time this morning! He dragged a chair over to the refrigerator and got down a box of his favorite cereal then opened a small carton of shelf-stable milk and poured both into a bowl. Yay! Maybe tomorrow morning he’ll let my husband and me sleep in now that he knows he can feed himself ….

I’ve been playing around on Facebook lately. It’s a useful tool to maintain social ties, especially with people who live far away, but it is a real time sink!

We’re supposed to go boating with some friends today. I want to socialize, but I’m not sure I want to go out in the 90-plus degree weather we’re supposed to have today. I’d better start making a lot of ice ….

I’ve had a very frustrating day, and I’m trying to think of some nice things that happened today to counteract a grumpy mood. I did have a good chat with my neighbor this evening as we watched our kids play outside. I also finished reading a new book, Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair. As a literature major, I enjoyed the classical references and word play, especially the crazy names of all the characters. Examples include Thursday Next, Jack Schitt, Paige Turner and Millon De Floss. The plot line was fairly silly, with a lot of deus ex machina moments saving the plucky protagonist or at the minimum giving her inspiration. It was an enjoyable read for me, though, and I plan to look up more books in the series.

This is the last official “think positive” post I’ll be making. This 30-day experiment to find at least one good thing to write about each day has been interesting, but I don’t think it has made a permanent change in my outlook on life. I think it is a healthy attitude to try to find something good in everything, but I also think it is important to acknowledge when things really are beyond saving.

Last weekend was enjoyable. Attended a birthday party for the daughter of a friend on Saturday and got to socialize with some of my college friends. It was nice talking to people who appreciate my personality quirks rather than judging me for them and who understand the challenges of balancing work, family and personal obligations. Saturday I also had dinner with several family members and friends who are part of a football pool. It was very nice to see them; we don’t get together nearly often enough. On Sunday, my husband and his stepfather went boating while my mother-in-law, A.J. and I went to an arts-and-crafts store. We had a grand time going through the bead section — even A.J. picked out several things he liked. One of these days I really should take a beading class …. I think I do fine stringing together artistic combinations of beads, but I don’t know how to finish things off yet.

While I have been figuring out how to do beadwork, my husband has been working on model rockets. He had a frustrating time with some spray paint last week because he couldn’t really control it. So, on Sunday I also bought him some enamel paint and some detail brushes. Things are starting to come together! We’ll be visiting some friends in Charlottesville next weekend. Not sure if the rockets will be ready to launch by then, but it is interesting to see the progress he is making.

Right now I am multitasking. In addition to writing this blog entry, I have been cooking tomorrow night’s dinner (oven barbequed chicken) and doing laundry. I also need to do some writing and editing, but I think I’ll leave that for tomorrow night.  It’s late.

It’s Friday!

Tomorrow we have two social activities planned — a birthday party for a friend’s daughter, and our annual dinner with the rest of the football pool (the “Shedd’s Spread League,” so named because we glued an empty margarine tub to the top of a block of wood as a trophy).  It will be very nice to get together with friends and family.

I think I need to start cleaning my living room, though!

An Australian friend / former co-worker of mine was recently interviewed by a local TV station about his family’s love of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. You can see a video clip on his Web site, Abraham Multimedia. (link)

Today my son persuaded one of his classmates to try a grilled cheese sandwich for the first time in his life. A.J. told him that “cheese is really tasty,” and the kid took him at his word. I find it almost unfathomable that a child living in the United States has never had cheese before, but I guess his parents only expose him to Chinese food. A.J. says his classmate does drink milk at school and doesn’t get sick afterward, so it’s not a matter of lactose intolerance or milk allergies; he just really has never had cheese before. A.J., you’ve opened up a new world for your friend!

Tonight I’ve been rereading one of my favorite books, Patricia McKillip’s The Changeling Sea. It’s a children’s book, but it is a wonderful little story. I love Patricia McKillip’s writing in general; reading her books is like having a beautiful, strange dream. I’m never quite sure what’s going to happen in one of her stories, but I don’t mind because her writing is so beautiful.

On a more serious note, today I picked up a copy of a book about Osama bin Laden’s family. As Sun Tzu says, to win a war, one must know one’s enemy as well as oneself.

Today I was invited out to lunch with some former co-workers, one of whom is retired. It was very nice to take a break from work and to catch up on our lives. We had lunch at Full Kee, in Chinatown, which is one of the few restaurants in town that serve authentic Chinese cuisine. No “crab rangoon” or “chop suey” here! You can get some of the standard Americanized foods, like beef with snow peas, but you also can get various frog dishes, congee with preserved egg, pig skin-and-duck blood soup, or other delicacies. I rarely take a lunch break since work is so busy, so it was doubly nice to get away today. And the weather was good, too!