They didn't vet her!

Ok, I have to admit, I was astonished and excited by McCain's choice of Ms. Palin. I thought it was a good choice for McCain, to attract female independents and also because she had a son with Down Syndrome.

But the Daily Kos is reporting that her son, Trig, is actually her grandson by her oldest daughter!

Take a look at the evidence.

OMG, they didn't vet her! It's like The Days of Our Lives around here.

School.

We have moved every year that Vince has been in school. His "schools" have all been very transitional, his first school was a day care with people joining and leaving all the time. His 2nd school was in Singapore and he started with all the other kids who were new to the school. His 3rd school was kindergarten - which again, all the kids were new to each other, and now that we've moved, his 1st grade is his 4th school.

School here started last Tuesday, and Vincent has happily gone to school each day. He's good at transitions and is very friendly, but he pretty quickly figured out that the kids in his class already know the school and know each other from last year and that he's a bit on the outside looking in.

We went back to our "old" house last night to visit my parents who are in town and on the way home, he was a little weepy thinking about the old house and how nice it was there and about his pals who are all going to his old school.

Why I love my husband. Year 10.

Jeremy got us a super-duper digital antenna to get the super-duper broadcast channels:



And installed it indoors on top of a bookshelf. Now that is waaayyy attractive.

Cat with Two Wings

This Chinese cat has two wings :)

Moody.

I have been grouchy - this is why I haven't been posting (or taking pictures for that matter). I try and keep this blog perky and upbeat, it is my daily lesson in optimism, but I have been not optimistic. Not even a sugar cookie could cheer me up today. (Have you tried the one from Potbelly's? Yum.)

This past weekend, my parents, Jeremy's parents and a few siblings came to the house for a low-key housewarming party.

It was so low key, my dad took a nap in the middle of it all!



A little chatting:



Some card playing:

Vince attempting to mow the lawn with the battery powered Newton

Frozen custard, anyone?

We found our neighborhood ice cream shop.



The soft serve was huge (we ordered a small!) so Ruby had to help out.

Poison Oak.

I have managed to get poison oak on only my face. What, did I just sniff a bush of poison oak? I thought it wasn't very noticeable, but every person I ran into yesterday and today inquired about it. I am itchy - (so is Jeremy, by the way, he has some nice hives all over his body. The team that scratches together stays together!)

EEG

The day we moved into the new house (now well over a week ago), Edda had her 24 hour EEG. We were able to do it most of the procedure at home, we went into the clinic for just an hour or so to get the electrodes attached to her head and then she wore a fanny pack all day and all night. The next morning, we FedExed the whole thing back to the clinic.

We took a walk in the afternoon with Edda's head all turbaned up, we made quite a scene - mouthing, wheelchair and head all bandaged. People practically broke out into a sprint from across a lobby to hold open doors for us. They were all thinking: "What the heck happened to her?

Mowing the lawn.

Even though we pay for super-duper Internet, we don't pay for cable TV - mainly because we are addicted enough to the Internet, we don't need another electronic opiate in the house. So I've missed out on American Idol, Gray's Anatomy and other things I don't even know about. I still follow celebrity gossip happily, but I often have no idea why the people I'm reading about are famous.

However, I was hungering a bit for some Olympic action, so Jeremy went out and bought some rabbit ears, and I just can't believe the quality of broadcast digital TV. It's beautiful!

Vince has also discovered broadcast TV - so we've gotten a few, "I can't leave now, it's time for my cartoon!" We have not yet succumbed to Tivo, which I believe only works with cable and not rabbit ears. Perhaps we'll have to hitch the old VCR to tape some digital broadcast TV cartoons. Talk about retro...

I mowed the lawn today.

Montgomery County Fair.

Last night, we went to the Montgomery County Ag Fair. It's the 60th anniversary of the fair, so perhaps I should have gotten the commemorative T-shirt, but I did not. I think the last time I went was exactly 20 years ago, I remember clearly riding the tilt-a-whirl and winning a stuffed unicorn and hanging out with my high school pals.

Now as an adult, I would not go to the fair, I find it a bit too crowded, the food too greasy, the rides too scary and just a little overwhelming. Also, I don't really think of Montgomery County as being agricultural (not like where Jeremy's parents live in Dutchess County, NY) but I really wanted to introduce Yvonne to the wonders of America - so off we went! It's so nice to go to a fair with someone who has never heard of:

A monster truck rally.



Fried Oreos (which were delicious, I had never had them before! we also introduced Yvonne to the corn dog (which I believe she thought looked obscene) and funnel cake).



Midway games, we are now the host family of Cindy, the fair goldfish.



We lasted 2.5 hours at the fair, which was pretty good considering Edda did not care for the fair at all. We tried taking her on the carousel, but she was crying and hit me in the head a number of times to tell me that she was pissed that she was made to go on a ride she indicated clearly that she did not want to go on.



Now some photos of rabbits and chickens, which are the least stinky of all the barn animals:

We have rejoined civilization.

The internet got installed at the house yesterday. We were really roughing it for the past few days. We are well and will post soon!

Swimming & Fencing Golds

It was pretty neat to see a swimming gold and a fencing gold went to a Japanese and Chinese. I hope we can excel in Ping Pong and weight lifting someday. Go USA ...

Helmet Love

Lately, I've been going out on some dates. While I'm not going to talk about them on the blog, I think it's quite interesting to take note of how I react to people and dating.

I guess I've been single for a long time, and I'm under the impression that I do want to be with someone. But I think it's funny to note my pattern - basically I flirt with everyone, and don't pursue it past that. (I do have a very loose definition of what flirting is.) For the most part, it's fun, and mostly harmless. We talk, we laugh, connect and generally have a good time. But a couple things I think emerge from my pattern:

- I don't want to be hurt
- I don't want to hurt someone else
- Being responsible for someone else's feelings/well being weighs heavily on me

I think it comes from some sort of insecurity about the future, or the uncertainty surrounding my life. But perhaps on the flipside, being committed to someone, some place, something, would ground me... but do I want to drag someone into that process?

Weekend Predate...

Well off to Half Dome. Fun. We'll be doing a crazy 1.5 day trip. Should be good.

Also just for kicks, a friend of mine managed to get reservations at the French Laundry after redialing for FOUR hour straight. That's worse than buying an iPhone.

Moving.

Edda is still slowly pulling out of her summer cold. Vince's version lasted for 3 days, so this is day 3 for Edda and it's plotting the same course. Jeremy mentioned that it's good she's getting better since she has her 24 hour EEG tomorrow morning. I'm looking at her now, she's watching Little Einsteins, tottering around in her diaper and pantsless and smiling. It's a good thing.

Jeremy took the day off to help coordinate the movers who came today to shelp all of our stuff from the basement of my parents' house to the new house about 15 minutes away. Jeremy loves the physicallity of moving - he loves to pack and unpack and decide where all the furniture goes. I don't really care that much and this move in particular, I got a little but of joshing about my non-professional packing job that I did with the office/desk/papers that were in the study - so I ended up packing only the things that belonged to me (which I consider to be pretty much just my own clothes). Jeremy and I have a long running joke in our marriage that I don't actually own any of our stuff, it's all just his. I refuse to "own" anything because I'm in love with the idea that my life can fit in my car which is some throwback to a my fantasy about living in NYC in a studio apartment by myself with a futon and a crate for a chair.

Gossip.

Found out today that one of my ex-girlfriends is getting married next year. I'm actually pretty happy for her, and tho we dated for only a brief period, I look back pretty fondly on the relationship. However I do find it pretty funny in a couple ways:

1) I find it funny that I have go seek out information about my ex-girlfriends. Not a single one of my friends ever offers me information about them. Dating a guy, breaking up with a guy, getting engaged. That's all pretty juicy gossip. Not a whisper.

2) For this particular ex, we only dated for like 2-3 months. But it was a funny time in both our lives, as she had broken up with her first bf, and I was trying to get over an ex of mine as well. A little bit after we broke up, she ended up going out with him again, and today, I find out they are getting married. Just think it's a bit funny how I managed to get slotted in the middle of all that somewhere.

We talk once in a very blue moon... but always sorta curious about how she viewed our relationship. I'll probably never end up knowing. :)

In other random news, there's another possibility that another one of my ex's is married and preggers! Tho, my sources could be totally making that up... I'll have to get confirmation sometime in the near future.

Email in the palm of your hand.

Jeremy's dad now is able to check email on his PDA. I am so behind the times.



Edda's totally miffed, why do they make the buttons so small on those things?

Edda's big adventure.

While we were in upstate NY, Edda regularly got up at 4:30 am - we took her on the early morning bagel run. The morning light was wonderful, but for the life of me, I couldn't convince her to stop mouthing for the photo.



Edda is hanging out at home with us this week. It was going to be a fantabulous week, no school, just summer and hanging out with the 3 adults - no Vincent to take over the TV or leave his Legos scattered all over the living room creating a painful obstacle course.

But on the drive down from upstate NY, Edda spiked a fever and spent last night shivering between doses of Motrin and Tylenol. But right before we realized that Edda was getting sick, we were getting off the freeway to find a McDonalds, and we ended up in Easton, PA, home of Crayola and they just happened to have Dora visiting!

Reviews

Here's my book reviews:

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande

In medicine, mistakes costs lives. Gawande gives a stark examination on how doctors and the health care system can better serve their patients. He brings to bear a vast arsenal of resources: history, statistics, publications, technology, his own experience as a surgeon, and his own time in the field examining the processes, systems, and techniques of doctors and clinics around the world. All the while, he never loses sight of the fact that medicine has a very human element - every single mistake has a human cost. So it's ironic, when Gawande realizes that solution lies not in new technology or research, but in reducing the human frailty of health care workers. Simply that health care can do better, thru diligence, understanding their patients better, creating performance metrics, improving those metrics, and examining what the very best in the field are doing differently. Not to say his answers are easy or clear cut, but they are well within our capability. If nothing else, health care professionals could just wash their hands more. :)

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max

Tucker Max is indeed an asshole. He makes no qualms about it. He revels in it. He shares it with you in this book, and you find yourself inexplicably laughing out loud ever 3-4 paragraphs. Unlike The Game, don't expect some soul searching metamorphosis in the end. Tucker only shows you his drunk, raving side. But it's the other side, the side of him that he hints at throughout the book, the side that has him "matured" at 31 vs 24, that you end up being most curious about. Sadly, There's no incentive for Tucker to reveal his alter ego, so take the book for what it really is - your drunk, sex crazed friend, telling you some shit-ass f'in' hilarious stories.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A wonderful tale of vivid detail and incredulity. It's like eating a steak in The Matrix. You know it's probably all fake, but the richness of texture, the nuance of flavor, makes you wish it was oh so real.

Vincent's big adventure.

Vince's last day of camp was on Friday, we actually picked him up early to head up north to Jeremy's parents' house where he's going to spend a week in "the country" with Kiki and Kappa. It isn't really the country, as it's still just 15 minutes from the Target, but there are farms and goats and chickens within a 5 mile radius of the house, all of which are illegal in any neighborhood at home with an attentive home owner's association.

We all headed back down south of the Mason-Dixon line today after a too-short visit. Edda is now sick with the family bug - the last one in the long line... First, Vincent, then Jeremy and I, then Yvonne and now Edda.