Day 90 - Gear

My in-laws went 100% digital many, many years ago.  While they had always dabbled with their digital camera & my father-in-law used it exclusively for his work, they could not give up their film cameras.  I understood at the time.  I used both for many years.  I always found point-and-shoot digital cameras made pictures look flat.  So, I always shot pictures both with digital and film.

Because I was not willing to give up film before my in-laws, we inherited all of their gear.  They had been collecting it for over 30 years by that point.  In the collection was at least 3 Minolta SLR bodies, about 6 lenses, and countless filters and such.  I should mention that this picture only shows about a third of the gear they gave us.  There are two more bags of it.  How did they get so much camera gear? As I mentioned in my birthday wishes, they lived in Japan when Garbanzo was born.  While they were there, they got most of their gear - cheap.

When I bought my Nikon D80 (digital SLR) a year ago, I had hoped that maybe I could use some of the old gear.  Some digital SLRs are compatible with the film SLRs.  But, not in my case.

I have gotten a lot of use out of the very nice tripods and unipods that they gave us.  And, the camera cleaning kid was also quite useful.  But, I'm realizing that I need to make a decision about this stuff as it is literally gathering dust.  A friend suggested eBay.  He had made enough selling old lenses that he was able to buy a couple of nice new lenses for his digital camera.  I have been looking at a new lens for my camera - a Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF Lens to be precise.  My birthday is coming up, and Garbanzo is always complaining I won't tell him what I want...why not leave a huge hint! ;-) 

But, there is a part of me that wants to keep it for a while longer. I want my kids to understand what it is like to shoot film versus digital.  I don't want them to be ignorant of it like most kids are of records these days.  Garbanzo has to usually show the kids what a record is when it comes up in a story or something because they have no idea.  Plus, they are still a great way to learn about photography.  So, I guess will stay with us a bit longer.

Happy Birthday Garbanzo!!

35 years ago, in a military hospital in Japan, Garbanzo was born. 

Go wish him a happy birthday!

Day 89 - Ponies

I love having kids.  I love stumbling across their discoveries.  For example, My Little Ponies have magnets in their feet.  We've walked into the kitchen to find them scaling the fridge.  We have found them climbing their beds which have metal frames.  And, in this case, they are carefully lined up on the edge of the claw foot bathtub in the bathroom.  I know there are others and suspect they have actually fallen behind the tub to be retrieved later when I sweep.

Indigo informed me that the ponies like living in the bathtub.  I guess I can see why.  I mean, they have water, a good place to climb, and they are always clean.  What more could they want?

Images from Central Oregon - Part 1

As I drive to the Bend area in Central Oregon where my family lives, I always cross over a bridge that spans a gorge.  There is a park called Peter Skene Ogden Scenic Viewpoint which allows you to stop and see the amazing view of the Crooked River which is 300 ft below.  I had never stopped because I'm either going to or from visiting family.  When I mentioned this to my dad, he immediately pulled into the park.


The first thing you see when you get out of the car is this:

And this:

These signs are posted in front of almost every parking spot in the parking lot.  I love the command at the end of the dog warning sign "Put your dog back in the vehicle!"  Clearly they know people try to disregard the warning.   


This was a bit of a shock to be honest.  I knew it was deep, but I guess I didn't realize the amount of times people (and dogs) go over the edge and die.  Clearly enough that it warrants signs...everywhere.


As we walked along the path near the ridge, my dad begins telling the story of the most recent suicide into the gorge.  I guess, somehow, the guy drove his car into the gorge.  They had to send in a mountaineering team to repel into the gorge to retrieve the body.  No one is quite sure how they are going to get the car out of there.  The story explains, a bit, why there are signs.  You go over the edge, and no one can get out without calling a team to do it.  Your chances of survival are slim to none.  Nice thought.

There are actually three bridges that span this portion of the river.  This one is the new highway bridge; the one I am always driving across.

This one is the old highway bridge.  It is still structurally sound; they replaced it because they wanted a wider bridge.  It is now a way visitors to the viewpoint can walk across the gorge.  

And, this is the train bridge.  It is still in use today. 


Whenever I encounter these amazing gorges, I can't help but wonder what the settlers traveling in wagons felt like when they found it.  Can you imagine, trying to go west in the high desert where the land is already harsh, and encountering this? And, this is straight down.  There isn't really a gradual slope in the vicinity of where we were.

There are spots well past the train bridge where it looks like it gets better, but if you get down one side, getting back up the other is still almost impossible.  I know in some areas along the Oregon Trail, they had to lower the wagons down huge cliffs.  I also know they lost many wagons in the process.  Nothing like traveling thousands of miles and losing everything right before you arrive to where you are going.  


I leave you with a close up of the warning sign about leaving the dogs into the car.  I don't know why, but I find this image to be weird.  Doesn't the dog look like he wants to jump to his death?  Maybe it's the birds soaring that are luring him to do it.  I don't know.

Day 88 - Neighbors

Next door to use lives a man.  A single man.  He is in his 60s, I think.  He lives in the unit closest to our house in a quadplex.

I have a love-hate relationship to this guy.  He loves kids.  He can be kind.  And, he cares about his unit and how the front of it looks, etc.

But, he acts with a sense of entitlement that drives me crazy.  For example,  how many cars do you think a single guy needs?

See the three cars - the Jag and two Mercedes?  Yep, those are three of his four cars.  He believes he should be able to park all four vehicles in a row on this side of the street.  The problem is the fact there are other people with cars that would like to park near where they live.  Hell, I'd like to park in front of my house occasionally.  But, if I do, I get attitude from the guy.  So, I park halfway down the block and walk to my house.

Because he doesn't drive these three cars - our street doesn't get cleaned in the summer and fall which means the leaves don't get swept up, drains flood, and cause issues all the way back past my house.    Then he will leave passive aggressive notes on our door about how it is our fault somehow.

I think he reported us to the city last summer because we hadn't trimmed the tree in the picture.  We hadn't been able to trim it because his car was always under it.  After getting the letter taped to the door, I went out and trimmed it anyway.  He moved his car after that - too bad it didn't last long.

I think there are a lot of us in the neighborhood fed up with this guy.  I noticed that his cars are getting tagged for towing because they haven't moved.  This only happens when someone calls and complains.  Someone is beating Garbanzo to it because he normally makes those phone calls.

Last summer, the owner of the quadplex and I became friends.  A tree from his backyard fell into ours & miraculously caused no damage (this was a huge tree too - it missed our deck, the kids swing set, the raised beds, our fences - everything.).  While he was freaking out, I was the one calming him down and telling him to get it out of the yard when he could - and not to worry about the minor damage that was done to a pretty old and rickety table that was back there.  He told us a couple weeks later that he was blown away that we didn't freak out and demand immediate action and compensation.

I may have to use this to my advantage and ask him what is up with this neighbor who has recently decided to start his own thrift store out of one of the garages.  There is now a makeshift shed near our property line, and we are starting to get concerned about it attracting crime.  It wouldn't be too hard to steal that stuff.  It would just take a sharp knife and a good kick.

We love our other neighbors.  But maybe it's because they don't act as though the world owes them.  I'm sure that helps.

Day 87 - Annoyance

My brother called me last night to say they would be by in the morning for breakfast and to say goodbye before we left.  I told him that I wanted to be gone well before noon.  He said that was fine - they would be there earlier in the morning.  Great.....

....In theory.  About 10 am, he calls.  His daughter just laid down for a nap, they would be by after she woke up.  By this time, I'm a bit annoyed.  I was begged to stay an extra day so that I could see my mom.  Turns out, my mom needed to work today - at 7am.  I saw her for about an hour last night.   So, I got another crappy night of sleep just so my mom could see us for an hour.  Now, my brother has decided that "early" is most decidedly not early, in my opinion.

While I'm waiting for them, I start packing everything up into and onto the car.  This annoys my dad for some reason who feels it is me being anxious to leave.  Yeah, I am anxious to leave.  I haven't been home most of the week, and I wanted to get home so I can get some things done around the house before the week begins.  Call me selfish, but I'd like to use some of my vacation time too.

My brother and sister-in-law show up closer to 11 am.  We make breakfast and eat. I notice we are now approaching the noon mark, so I finish pulling everything together so we can leave.  Again, when I said "before noon", I wasn't talking 5 minutes before noon.  I guess what annoyed me most was the lack of respect for what I wanted to do.  I was expected to work to their schedule, not to mine even though mine was laid out for them.  Yes, I'm on vacation, so do I really have a schedule, but getting home earlier today means less laundry and other fun work tomorrow.

The great irony to the whole thing was the fact that my brother the day before had complained that my dad has no sense of when "soon" is.  If he says he'll leave soon, it means in the next 4 hours.  My dad had the same complaint of my brother.  I just find it hilarious that they can even complain about the other since they seem to be on the same schedule.

So, I'm already annoyed when we leave.  You can imagine my further annoyance at the crazy ass drivers on the road.  Most of the drive is on a two lane highway with occasional passing lanes.  When people use the passing lanes appropriately, the drive is not a problem.  In fact, it is a good drive.  Today, the idiots were driving.  Tailgating was pretty much par for the course.  Drivers going the other way passing when it clearly isn't safe to pass.  (I ended up with a car in my lane twice where I ended up slowing down so they can get back in their lane.)  People pulling trailers and going 45 - and refusing to turn off to let the other drivers pass.  These are just a few examples.

I'm already annoyed - I've mentioned that.  I also have a temper thanks to the good Scottish blood in my veins.  I really am not in the mood for this shit - not today.  Further complicating this is the fact it is storming out.  Lots of rain, lots of wind, and lots of snow in the higher elevations.  Oh, and an insane amount of road spray today which made seeing the lanes even more difficult.  All in all - not a good day for me to have a 2.5 hour drive.  After getting through all of that crap, I reach the freeway.  I'm home free.  I know I'll be at the house in 15 minutes tops.  Yeah, right.  There was a stall somewhere - cleared out of the way by the time we got on the freeway, but the damage was done.  Thirty to forty-five minutes later, we were finally home.

So, I leave you with a picture taken as I was going through the pass. I literally lifted the camera up and snap a picture blindly.

I like the fact I got the 6% Grade for the next 5 miles sign.  It would have been better if it were the "runaway truck ramp" sign - or the runaway truck ramp that was clearly used recently.  I usually try to stay away from semi-trucks on the way down the mountain for this reason.  That ramp clearly gets a lot of use.  Better they use the ramp than cause an accident, but I would feel safer knowing they had properly functioning breaks.  I'm just saying.

Day 86 - Pilot Butte

Or Pilot Mute as Indigo kept calling it.

Pilot Butte is located in the middle of Bend, Oregon. It is actually an extinct volcano that is about 500 feet above the surrounding city. The view from Pilot Butte is amazing. Near Bend is a set of mountain (also volcanic) that are called The Sisters. Further south from the Sisters is Mt Bachelor which is a popular skiing and snowboarding destination. Further n

orth from Sisters is Broken Back, Mt Washington and Mt Jefferson. You can understand why the city made the top into a scenic view.

My brother called me from work in the morning and suggested we meet for lunch. But, before lunch, we should hike up Pilot Butte. The hike, on the surface, seems pretty minor. It is only around a mile in length. What makes it a challenge is the fact that the mile is one hell of a steep mile. Each year, they hold the Pilot Butte Challenge where kids and adults can run up the butte and see if they can get the fastest time. At the base of the hike is a big board recording the times of men and women with age brackets starting 12 & under and going all the way to the over-90 division for each group. And, there are record holders in all brackets. It's rather amazing.

I completely understand why my brother suggested this hike. It takes about 20 minutes (especially with a 6-year old), and it was a perfect way to spend a sunny 60 degree day in the high desert. Here are some pictures I took from the top:

These are a few of the Sisters. There are three of them in total.

Here is another broader shot of the view. You can see the mountains out in the distance and the city that grew up around the extinct volcano. Okay, you could see if it wasn't the desert - but trust me, it is pretty populous.

My Kingdom for a Nap & Other Random Things

My daughter snores. To be fair, she has a cold, but she is still snoring. Why does this matter? She and I are sharing a room at my parents' house. And, I cannot sleep with someone snoring. Since I was considered a tolerant person on the softball team in college, I would always get paired up with his one person who snoring could shake the hotel. I would throw things at her. I can't exactly do that to my daughter. And, I have signed myself up for another night of this too. My mom begged me to stay until she got home, so I'm going back Saturday instead of tomorrow. I just want my own room. But, having my own room wouldn't have mattered last night. Last night, their dog decided he wanted to play with my dogs. So, he howled, barked, whined....you name it. My dad, Mr Retired from 22 years in the Field Artillery, doesn't hear it because he can't hear it. It drove me fucking nuts.

I bought my dad a wireless router today. He has a PC and wouldn't need it normally, but I decided I needed Internet access while I was here. And, the neighbor who I normally steal it from figured out how to secure her Internet.

My parents found God a few years ago. And, I only say it somewhat sarcastically not because I think there is anything wrong with it. Not at all in fact. In fact, it is great that they have found connection with their faith. My parents have done a total 180 in every part of their thinking. Again, not bad, but rather interesting given where they have been. My parents are not bad people - nor were they ever bad people. But, the way they act now, you would think they were the scum of the earth. We have had to have this talk with my dad about once a year over the past few years. A situation will arise and he will feel the need to apologize for how he raised us. My parents were the definition of "working poor" while we were growing up, yet we had shelter, food to eat, clothes to wear, etc. My parents would without a second thought sacrifice for their kids - and they often did. This is the change of thinking that bothers me. I mean, my upbringing made me the way I am today. While I think everyone can think of some things they would rather have not gone through as kids, generally speaking, I would not have changed a thing about how I was raised. Knowing this is what makes it hard for me to hear them apologize, and they have been told this by me many times.

My parents have taken their new mission for clean living very seriously, and believe it also extends to helping their children. My dad, the one who had quite a stash of Playboys, Hustlers and other selections for many, MANY years, now reviews what people using his computer are accessing while on his computer. He doesn't want any of that kind of activity happening in his house. Fine - not under his roof, blah, blah, blah.....but I could do without it as an adult. (And for me, the worst part is knowing I showed him how to do it while "helping him".) After everyone leaves, he will review the web history, check on sites, etc. And, he will confront people for sites he feels are inappropriate. Not that I think he would ever confront me for my internet browsing. I think he would die of a heart attack if he read some of the sites I visit - or at least go into shock. This would be uncharted territory with me - my brothers are another story. Oh, and I also don't want to accidently stay logged into my email either as that might create new discussions I could do without.

So, now, I have wireless in their house. He asked me earlier if I could show him how to tell who is connected, what they are doing, etc. I told him no - that it wasn't possible - as I stared at the cross hanging next to the computer. I am so going to hell.

But, I can't give my dad too much crap. For the second time in 18 months, he has found a mysterious lump on Bob, our yellow lab. The first one had to be removed immediately. It wasn't bad. In fact, the vet said there was nothing to worry about; yet insisted it be removed immediately. The first lump was on his neck. This one is near his hip. Given the lack of straight answers from our vet, I am going to find a different vet this time.

I'm going to have to talk to Garbanzo when he gets back out is iTunes habit. We share an iTunes account, but I get the emails about the activity since I was the one who set it up. Since there is always a delay between when you buy something and when you get the email, I usually open it to see how far back it goes. I got a list of about 20 different song and application downloads the other day with the strangest names. Garbanzo must have been bored while traveling the other day and decided to explore iTunes. I mean, he didn't have any free time on his hands or anything.

Quite seriously though, I am just happy he and DJ have arrived in Mexico safely and with luggage. I am sure he is enjoying the local beer and tequila. At least they will help him when dealing with his parents.

Happy Friday!

Day 85 - Brotherly Love

After my brother ignoring the questions and comments about going mountain biking, he finally decided to join me....and Indigo. Yep, my 6-year old, up on two wheels a whole 9-months, went "mountain biking" and I do use the term loosely.

Near my parents house is a ravine that has walking trails, but also some bike trails too. The bike trails are nothing extreme, just some nice twists and turns, ups and down. There are a couple of areas where the expectation is you will do a minor jump. But, overall, it is EXTREMELY tame.

We rode down into the ravine. Okay, he road, I walked with Indigo who was a bit freaked out. Once at the bottom, we decided to start with the paved path first. We wanted to see how she would do. She did pretty well, so we cut over and went back on the dirt path which is about maybe a foot in width. Indigo actually did pretty well. She doesn't always understand the concept of needing to keep the wheels in motion to keep herself upright, but she is a little young for physics. But, when she got going and kept going, she did awesome. She was riding ahead of us, and we would hear her screaming "weeeeee" as she would go down and around a turn.

My brother's running commentary was hilarious. I have video too and may post some of it another day. He was trying to be Mr Tough Guy while biking. I laughed at him because it's hard to keep up the tough guy act as you are gasping for air because you are so out of shape.

After dinner, I found him like this:

Poor little guy was tuckered out. Actually what did him in was the climb out of the ravine. It is pretty easy compared to other climbs I have done on trails, but I made a comment that I was going up without stopping. He decided to try to best me. While he did beat me up, I have to point out that Garbanzo had hybrid tires put on my bike since I ride equally on the street. They were slipping in the sand. Can't go fast if you don't have traction. When we hit the top, my brother gets off of his bike and says, "I'm going to feel that tomorrow. That was hard." (I won't feel that tomorrow because I'm not out of shape - bwahaha.)

When he asked me why I was taking his picture, I told him it was to show how he got his ass kicked on an easy trail. This was the response I got:

Ah, yes, brotherly love. I should also mention he got me back again later when he told my mom that I drove her car and ran into someone else. (I did drive her car again - but I did not hit anyone else. It really is no wonder why my mom didn't believe us when we told her this story yesterday given the lies we are always telling her. She is easy and fun to get spun up. Thankfully, she also has a great sense of humor and knows she is a target because of her reactions. But, that could be a whole other blog post or three.)

A Great First Day

After getting through the snow storm on Mt Hood, we got into the Bend area at about lunch time.  The rest of the drive was rather uneventful.

 

My dad asked me if I would follow him to the dealer.  He needed to drop his car off for service and hadn't been able to arrange anything with either of my brothers.  Sure, I said.  I got into my mom's little SUV and followed him to the dealer.

 

No big deal, right?

 

The outcome could have been a hell of a lot worse.  I do realize that.  But, being in town for 10 minutes and rear ending my dad's care whild driving my mom's car doesn't exactly start the visit off well.

 

We were at a stop sign, and my dad acted like he was going to turn in front of a truck.  Not knowing where I was going, I knew I had to go out right after him or risk losing him.  The problem - he stopped right after he started....abruptly.  I was looking left trying to gauge if I could make it.  And, didn't see him stop.  I felt it.  And it made a nice thud.  

 

My dad, I knew, would understand.  My mom - not so much.  You see, my dad taught me to drive, so I drive like he does.  He completely admitted he caused the accident.  He said he was going to go, but changed his mind.  My mom is, shall we say, overly cautious to the point of being a hazard in traffic.  My mom has been giving me shit about my drivig for a long time.  And, I knew the accident I got into 20 years ago would be used as further evidence why I should not be driving. 

 

The good news is the fact there was very minimal damage to my dad's bumper and nothing on her car.  I hit him hard, so that surprised the hell out of all of us.  The bad news is that our family likes to tease.  If you can't dish it out and take it, my family would likely drive you nutty and/or offend the hell out of you.  This little accident will be fodder for quite a while.

 

Knowing this, my dad started telling me how he was going to tell my mom.  Not lying, just leaving out details.  When he talked to her last night and told her, she didn't believe him.  He handed the phone to me, and my mom thought I was lying too.  I finally got her to believe it.  And, her response was definitely the result of her having just spent the day grieving with her family over the loss of their brother:

 

"The car is only a material possession.  I don't care about it.  As long as you are all okay, I am happy."

 

Definitely the right perspective, but it was unexpected from my mom.

 

Then I talked to her this morning.  She said she has decided it was really my dad's fault since he was the one that taught me how to drive. 

 

We'll see what she thinks tomorrow when she gets back, and I offer to drive.  That will be the true test.

Day 84 - Important Difference

A smart ass would have looked at the weather on the mountain before
driving over it, and then made witty remarks. A dumb ass would not
even think about it until hit with this and stuck behind two snow
plows for 30 miles. The only smart thing that I did was drive my car
and not Garbanzo's litlle car. Oh well, gave me some winter driving
practice I don't normally get.

Heading Out

The good news is that Garbanzo and DJ are now on an airplane to San Diego where they will continue to Dallas and then to Mexico.

And, further good news is that I will get to leave soon with Indigo, the dogs and the bikes to go to Central Oregon.  This should be interesting since Bob is a seasoned car traveler while Harry is not.  He is willing, but gets a bit freaked out by it all.  This should be fun.

If I am totally motivated, I may send some pictures from my phone as I go up and over the mountain. I know I'll have to make several stops as I go.  Indigo can't travel 20 minutes without needing a bathroom.

Happy Wednesday!

Yin & Yang

Garbanzo and I are like yin and yang. We represent two opposite sides, yet exist harmoniously. We can bring balance to each other because we have this dynamic nature where it is like we constantly shift to balance the other.

For example, I am organized; he generally is not. I take a very logical approach to situations; he generally takes a more emotional approach. What will piss me off will usually make him take a less ... um....colorful approach. I can look at a situation, see the parts making it up, and systematically approach it. Garbanzo can't see the forest for the trees, gets overwhelmed, and wants to hid under his desk. He can be Mr Social which balances my occasional anti-social nature.

While these are generalities that aren't 100%, these are some good generalizations. There are times where Garbanzo can surprise me. Like the summer he decided to tear out the chain link fence and put up a privacy fence. He was organized just short of a Gantt Chart. Made the project manager in me swoon. The construction workers who were building the compound next door approached him asking who was doing the work as they might want to hire him. Garbanzo proudly said he was doing it himself. He had deliveries scheduled and arriving on time, everything. It was amazing. And, it was done during the weekend - delivered on schedule and on budget. And, during these times, I don't worry about stuff getting done. I don't have to be detailed because he's doing it. I can follow his lead on the project and help versus having to take it over and lead it.

Then, Garbanzo goes through cycles about once every 5 years like he is on now. If you read his blog, his vacation is off to a great start. I must publicly admit that I was not part of the trip planning, so I had no idea when his flight was. Hell, until today, I had never seen an itinerary. We have an online family calendar (I'm a geek, of course it's online) - yet it isn't updated. We had one on the wall at home until it was just as unused.

When he is in these ruts, I have two choices. I can be like his mommy and ask what is going on each day, check his email for plans he may have forgotten to include me in on, and nag him about everything. Or, I can let it go realizing I already have two kids - I never signed up for a third. Obviously my current approach is the latter. (I don't do nagging well; I tried. I usually just get mad - then there is lots of yelling, swearing, and leaving so I don't break something. I have a temper - I blame my DNA. That and I have issues with acting like a mom to someone I'm married to. Too creepy for me.)

What I discovered today is a new element to our yin-yang, my dear husband doesn't have the ability to prioritize what is on his mental to-do list. A list of what he really needs to worry about and what he needs to simply let go. That test that he posted the other day - the one where most of the kids failed. You see, that's on his mental to-do list. "Teach kids study techniques to make the parents happy and hopefully get the kids to actually study the two page study guide I make for them each test so they can pass the test." This comes on the same list as create the study guide, create the lesson plans for in class studying for two days, and make the test from the study guide. He takes kids failing personal. Sign of a great teacher, but one that will have an incredibly short career if he doesn't learn to let go of some of it.

A normal person....okay, me (not to imply I'm normal).....I would look at all of that and say to the parents that we will look into a middle school wide studying technique adoption next year. Until then, your kid has two pages of what may be on the test. At least half of those "examples" will be on the test. They need to study instead of going to the 4-hours of scheduled after school extracurricular activities. Oh, and I would probably remind them that in high school, the teachers aren't going to care if they didn't know how to study. Figure it out, get a tutor, find a friend - whatever. (The high school the kids will be going to happens to be the one Garbanzo graduated from....he knows this from experience; and it is one of the best high schools in the city academically.) Then, I would focus on actually teaching. Not Garbanzo - nope - he will fret about all of it - giving it all equal weight and priority. And, looking at each failure as the possible reason the school rating could go down next year. Again - it's the way his mind works.

Just like communication style. He read an email sent to me recently and totally misconstrued a point made in it. I am a direct person, so people tend to be direct with their communications to me. I appreciate it. Takes guess work out of what is going on as all of the cards are on the table. Garbanzo doesn't get communicated to like that - so he tries to read things into it that may or may not be there. He can't believe it. He must do something. He feels bad and can't just sit on his hands waiting to find out if he misread it or if it is true. He must act now. He is what I call a people person - cares about feelings, cares about making everyone feel good, etc. Not that I think that's bad....caring is good. Caring too much - can be bad especially if you are caring about the wrong things.

Then, we have to layer on the worrying. Garbanzo worries about everyone and everything. Did he say something that may have hurt their feelings? Did he handle that situation correctly? What are they going to say? And the list goes on and on and on.

Rugby used to help him keep this stuff in balance. Have a bad day at work, feel stressed? Go out and tackle your teammates hard at practice. Take it out on the adults on the team. Then go out afterwards for a beer and dinner with these guys. I think this may be some of the issue. No physical outlet of his stress and worry and all of that. And, I've been told that sex doesn't help in the same way, but he's willing to try more if necessary.

I am hoping that the time on vacation gets him de-stressed and back into balance. I am hoping we have reached the tipping point where he will dump it all and start again - this time with more forethought as to how he will deal with this shit. Because personally, I need a long break. It's getting hard to keep things in balance. But, as I keep reminding myself, this is the worse in the "for better or for worse" that they were talking about during that little ceremony about 14 year ago. He's lucky - the better still far outweighs the worse. We just need to make sure it stays that way.

Early Morning Pondering

I've been awake now for about an hour, and I'm not getting the feeling I'll be going back to sleep soon. Nothing like your body and mind waking you up at 4 am. But, it could be worse....it could be 2 am like it was for almost a week.

I think my mind woke me up as it was going through the list of things we need to do today. Garbanzo and DJ take the red eye out tonight, so we have the day to get them packed and ready to go. Being the list maker that I am, I have already started mentally putting together a list of what we need to still gather. I just worry about getting everything packed in a reasonably sized suit case. The in-laws are having a lot of things delivered to them via Garbanzo. They will definitely come back lighter than they arrived.

I think the other reason for my early morning rising is I'm thinking about my mom. She called me right after I got home from the kids' taekwondo last night. She was actually in Portland on her way to fly back to Iowa. A few weeks ago, I mentioned how my family has been using Facebook to keep track of the happenings of a sick uncle. I got a call Sunday morning that he had died. While no one likes to lose a loved one, I am happy his pain has ended. The past couple weeks have been extremely difficult for him and his family as they have had a lot of problems getting the pain under control. The funeral is tomorrow. Another thing for my to-do list - send flowers, not that they will help remove the pain my aunt is feeling now that her soulmate is gone, but it's the thought that counts. Right?

While Garbanzo is gone, I am going to try to find a place to transfer his Grandfather's 8mm video onto DVD. My father-in-law found a huge box at Christmas under a bed at the house. He had a few reels transfered to DVD already, but just maybe 5 clips. We received a DVD with them videos and a note asking if we thought we should get the rest transfered. Garbanzo and I looked at each other and without watching the DVD said, of course. The home movies go back to 1942 while he was stationed on the Yangtze River, China in command of one of the river patrol boats during World War II. There is some amazing video of when the bombings were occurring by the Japanese. We had seen pictures of the bombings, but the video is definitely more amazing and horrible to watch. When Garbanzo was down in San Diego a few weeks ago, he shipped back the rest of the movies along with random slides he found. Now, we just need to find someone to do it. We have a couple leads, but just need to follow-up on them.

His grandfather, I should mention, was a Naval Academy graduate who served as Naval Attaché in Thailand and a couple other Asian countries post WWII. During WWII, he had quite an adventure after his river ship and crew were caught inside China after the Japanese took control over the Yangtze River. He got his men out of the country via India, Africa, and to Trinidad which was the first Naval base they had come across. (The procedure in situations like that one was to report the first Naval base with your crew.) He didn't lose a single man, and Garbanzo's Aunt found recently that a Congressional resolution was passed accepting the expenses he accrued during this operation. This is all the entire family knows of this situation. While it was something written and talked about, it was not something his Grandfather would talk about. It was only after died did we start piecing things together. He had a copy of most of his Naval file, so we pieced it together thanks to copies of reports he had to make, etc. There were other stories, unfortunately, lost with him. For example, he was awarded Thailand's highest military honor - the White Elephant. Very few foreigners were ever awarded it. When asked why he got it, he would only say that he taught the king how to play poker. The missing piece was "while getting him out of the country due to the civil unrest that threatened his life". Anyway, we hope that some of the pictures and video start piecing more of things together. What we have seen so far is pretty amazing. I may post some snippets of what we have already if people are interested.

While I will miss Garbanzo, I will have to admit that I will not miss the girls continual fighting which has definitely hit a peak over the past couple of days. My parents would laugh at me because this is exactly how my brother and I were at this age....maybe not exactly - there is less physical violence with the girls. Having no fighting and referring for a week will be nice. Garbanzo and I are contemplating separating them into their own rooms again. They had their own rooms before the great "nanny incident", but decided to stay in the same room after she was gone. It was nice having a spare room, but we think many of the issues are due to DJ needing her own space. We'll see. We get enough visitors that losing the guest room may not be an option for a while.

Okay, I'm off to get started on the day. Happy Tuesday!

Day 82 - The Snorkel

Over the past week, we have been getting weird little emails from my in-laws.  Some of them are requesting things to be brought to them.  Things like chocolate chips and Italian seasoning and kippered herring.  Others are telling Garbanzo what they have planned and suggesting what they should include in the packing.

Their latest email suggested finding DJ a snorkel, mask and fins for the trip.  They have already made reservations to stay on the beach and want to take her snorkeling.  Last time I went snorkeling with my in-laws it was also in Mexico - off shore a sea lion preserve.  Having sea lions think you are their playmates was not exactly fun especially when the guides in their broken English explain that the sea lions have been known to grab people and pull them under.  But, don't worry, they would quickly say, they let them go before anyone drowns.   Maybe letting my in-laws take her out isn't a great idea....

Remind Me Why I'm Here Again....

Today is the official first day of Spring Break for Garbanzo and the girls.  My original plan was to take the whole week off.  Garbanzo and DJ leave to go visit the in-laws in Mexico tomorrow, so it is just Indigo and me the rest of the week.  With all of the work to get done to get them ready to go, I figured we could use that extra day.

Why did I choose, instead, to come into work for a single day?

Because we are at a critical stage in a huge project, and rumor had it that the consultants needed to meet with me before I went on vacation.  When I left Friday, I had noticed that no meetings had been scheduled.  Since the consultants work Monday through Thursday, so they can travel home on Friday, I figured I would get some requests over the weekend.  Nope. Didn't get anything.

In talking to my boss, I discovered that they were probably not going to be ready for me until the end of the week.  She was a bit annoyed that I had told them my schedule, yet they didn't shift things around as they should have.  I'll let her go deal with that one.  

Instead of having good productive meetings, I am now left to do adminis-trivia.  My favorite was reviewing the contract for the VP of Sales.  Like many around here, they have a love-hate relationship with me.  If I'm on their side advocating for them or managing their project, they love me because I'll get it done.  If they have to work with me and get my opinion on things, then they hate me.  Why?  I don't exactly mince words.  I spend an hour reading this stupid contract just to have more questions than answers.  For example, if you reference an "Exhibit A", you may want to write it up and have it ready for a contract review.  I also sent him a few other questions that revolve around some changing business processes we are all working on implementing.  I don't think he recalled that we are going to "stop doing" some of the things he is putting into the contract.  I'm sure he will love my pointing them out given he is not exactly on-board with the changes.  

After the contract, I now get to go through corporate phone bills.  Yes, I'm in hell.  Either that or I'm paying early penance.  

Speaking of penance, my cohort, the chatty one, he had way too much caffeine this morning.  He can't sit or stand still, but he can sure talk a hell of a lot more and faster.  I have my earbuds in my ears listening to my iPod, and my hair is down (which means no one can see them) - he has come into my cube twice and had a full blown conversation with me before realizing I don't hear him.  My back is to anyone who comes into my cube, so I'm not sure what he was thinking when I wasn't turning around to acknowledge him.  Both times I realized he was there because he was bouncing the whole floor.  I love the way they build buildings for earthquake regulations.  If someone is bouncing their foot in the right part of the floor, it shakes the whole floor.  This is how I've discovered him in my cube twice.  

And, when I'm done with phone bills, I get to do my quarterly Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) auditing!  I'm so glad I got up to come to work....I just need to keep reminding myself that I don't have to come back for the rest of the week...

From the Mouths of Babes

Kids say the craziest things sometimes.  I think we've all been there before.  They will tell teachers or other adults anything without thinking about what they are really saying or even asking themselves if this is something they should be sharing.

Sometimes they do it because they find it funny and want to share the humor with others.  Like last summer when Garbanzo went to Vancouver BC for training.  He had asked me what I wanted him to bring back.  I told him to surprise me, and he did with underwear with the Canadian flag on it.  The girls thought it was funny and told everyone including my parents, my brothers...you get the picture.

Last week was spirit week at the school.  And, spirit week usually ends with pajama day - a day where everyone comes to school in their pajamas.  The first year DJ was at school, she was super excited about pajama day.  She and her teacher were talking before school about pajama day, and DJ commented to her teacher that her dad had to find pajamas because he usually sleeps....naked.

I've mentioned that our children attend the same school that Garbanzo teaches at, right?

I love DJ's kindergarten teacher because she took it in stride, made a comment about how some people like to sleep that way, and changed topics.  Then she went and found Garbanzo to tell him.  He was thankful it was this teacher and not one of the others.  She isn't a gossip nor does she join in the throng of jokesters, so we knew it would die pretty quietly.  I think the only thing we could have done without was her comment to make Garbanzo feel better - it was "I had to find pajamas too because I usually sleep nude"....too much info.

I'm just thankful that these are all of the statements that have been made.  The Principal has his two kids at the school too, and he has had much worse to deal with in terms of things his son, specifically, has said.  One of his off the cuff statements landed him a suspension.  Could you imagine having your dad suspend you?  Another was pretty hilarious really.  I won't go into all of the details, but his son was telling his friends about seeing video of his parents in various sexual positions with odd food items....and I mean odd food....stuff you would NEVER think of as "sexy".  And, this got back to the principal via a parent.

That really is the upside and downside of this school.  It is small, the parent community is very tightly knit, and everyone knows everyone else's business.  The good is that everyone is supportive of everyone else.  The bad is that these kinds of statements would spread like wildfire through the parents.  And, they have LONG memories.

The good news for us is that we got through this year's spirit week unscathed.  Now onto Spring Break!

Day 81 - Spring Day

While Friday was officially spring, the only thing that has felt like spring in Portland is the odd weather. Rain, hail, and sunshine in the span of an hour is par for the course in Spring. But, this change usually marks the start of the wait for the rain to end. As I've mentioned before, you can't expect the rain to totally go away until July....and usually that means after the 4th of July.

I read a book called Dakota many years ago. The author had grown up in the Midwest, but had lived her adult life in New York. After her grandparents died, she and her husband returned to the small Midwest town where she had spent most of her childhood. One of the observations she makes as someone who moves back is that feeling of spring in the air. The smell of the rain that is different. The air feels less like it is going to grow incredibly cold again. The atmosphere has finally changed leaving winter behind.

That is a great description of how today felt. Despite the rain, the hail, and the odd sun breaks, the weather has clearly changed. The yard will soon dry out and cease being the mud pit it currently is. I may even go as far and start getting ready to plant the gardens later this week. The change is nice.

Remind me how I feel right now when I complain about spring in about a month.

Morning Negotiations

Sunday mornings around our house are pretty much the same.  The girls get up, eat cereal, and watch cartoons.  Garbanzo and I lay in bed reading while we drink coffee that one of us got up to make.   About 9-ish, one of the girls will come in and ask to play Wii.  We own a Wii, but the girls aren't allowed to play it very often.  They usually have to earn the right.   We will usually give them an hour to play on it because it means we get to stay in bed a bit longer.  (I know - great parenting!)


This morning is no different than any other Sunday morning.  The only difference - Garbanzo's answer to the "can we play Wii" question.  They come into our room and ask, and his response is "I don't think anyone has gotten me breakfast."  Being who I am, I turn and glare at him.  I mean, get your ass out of bed and get your own breakfast if you want it.


But, the girls see their opening.  DJ confirms what the agreement is.  "If we get you breakfast, we get to play Wii.  Right?"  Garbanzo confirms, and off they run to the kitchen.  


A minute later, Indigo returns with a yogurt and spoon.  She confirms it is the right flavor, then turns to run out of the room again.  Before she leaves, she asks "how many do you want?"  Garbanzo responds with "2" and she runs out.  How many of what is the question.


She comes back a minute later and says "so you want two nuts? right?"  I snicker because....well....it's funny.  Garbanzo reponds, "oh, you were talking about how many nuts I want"...insert more of my laughter here...."I want 8.".....yes, more laughter....I can't help it....I'm like a 14 year old boy when it comes to stuff like this.


The girls both return with the last of his breakfast.  A peanut butter, peanut, and honey sandwich.  This got them 40 minutes of Wii.  They will likely get more depending on how much fighting there is.  


Garbanzo's response: "Why didn't I discover this sooner?"  

Day 80 - The Train Bridge

Going along with my bridge idea from a few days ago, I bring you what is affectionately referred to as the "Train Bridge". Its real name is the Northern Pacific Railway Bridge, but everyone refers to it as the Train Bridge.

The neat thing about this bridge is that they converted it in 1989 from a swing arm bridge to a lift bridge. Portland, believe it or not, is a port city despite the fact it is located upriver from the ocean by about 100 miles. With the exception of a couple bridges which have the clearance, most of our bridges must lift for ship traffic. This is one of the reasons why traffic can be a problematic because they will do bridge lifts during rush hour.

A swing arm bridge is exactly as its name applies. The middle span swings open for the traffic instead of lifting. DJ studied the bridges last year as part of science and history, so I know now that this transformation from swing bridge to lift was made in 72 hours as to not disrupt sea and rail traffic.

This is Garbanzo's favorite view of this bridge.

Because I gave you a shot of the St John's Bridge as you get on it, I thought I would give you a little better view.

As I was walking down to Cathedral Park (underneath the St John's Bridge) to get the picture of the second picture of the Train Bridge, I noticed this sign:

The Notice below the big yellow sign is a list of all of the fish you should definitely not eat out of the Willamette River with some words encouraging pregnant women to avoid any and all fish out of the river.  The local "joke", and I do use that word loosely, is that you can pull mutated fish and other creatures out of the Willamette because of all the pollution in it.  Between accidental sewage spills and other chemicals that have "accidently" gotten into it, I know I wouldn't touch that water let alone eat anything caught in it.  Look at that second picture again closely.  Did you notice the number of fishing boats out there?

The last thing about the river that should be mentioned is that it is affected by the ocean tides.  Throw in some "dead heads" as they are called (logs that are drifting around in the river and could damage boats), and you get some interesting finds at low tide.

Day 79 - Spring

Getting out of the car after work, I could smell these flowers before I could even see them. I had to search around to find them, but when I did, I was surprised to see that not only were the out of the ground - but they were also open. I can never remember what they are called (I have lots of plants in my yard whose names I cannot remember). But these bulbs never let me forget them each spring.

Friday Randomness

Today is the last day of school for Garbanzo and the kids. You know, I've never had a spring break until Garbanzo started teaching. In elementary school through high school, they gave us a four day weekend around Easter - but that was it. And, if we had too much snow, one of those could be taken away as a make-up day. The college I graduated from didn't have a Spring Break because of the weird class structure. (We took one class at a time for 3 1/2 weeks, then had a four day weekend between classes.) While Garbanzo and DJ are in Mexico visiting his parents, I am taking most of the week off to hang out with Indigo. I am actually looking forward to it.

Ever wanted to buy a homemade gift for someone but don't want to go to a craft fair or find a store that carries such things? Head over to Etsy. Etsy gives crafters and craftsman a place to sell their wares. I love browsing this place. I was reminded of it once again when I saw a link to this person's shop on Etsy: GooseGrease. This person makes very simple but well done wooden doll/figures. Think Doll House type dolls, but much more creative. What caught my eye was this checkers game she did:

Pirates versus Ninjas....how cool is that!

The first week without my Blackberry has been incredibly nice. I have to figure out how to call people on my iPhone and not hang up on them. I don't know why, but I don't always hear the phone ringing after I dial someone. Doesn't always happen, but happens enough to make it annoying.

It has been funny to talk to coworkers who are still a bit freaked out about me not having the Blackberry. Their #1 question is how to get ahold of me if there is an emergency. I've given them my number and said they can use it for an emergency, but they are still concerned. Change is hard sometimes. Given that change in a constant in the IT world, I always enjoy watching IT people struggle with it. Kind of gives them a glimpse of what it is like for our users.

I have to go out at lunch today and get a consent form signed for the trip next week. Even though a child cannot get a passport without the consent of both parents, a child cannot travel outside of the US without both parents unless the other parent has sent a notorized consent form from the non-accompanying parent. I left work early yesterday to get it notorized, but they had a schedule change of the notory on duty at the UPS store, so it was a no-go. Hopefully I can get it take care of today as I don't want to wait until the last minute.

Tonight we are sans kids! Woo-hoo! I love my kids, but we don't get enough time away from them sometimes. The taekwondo school does a sleep over at the school twice a year. Now that both kids are in taekwondo, they can both go. The head of the school actually enjoys these nights. This one should be extra fun because a couple of the college age instructors are back, the new assistant instructor is about as excited as the kids are, and the Romanian taekwondo champion that the head of the school is training is also going to be there to help. His taekwondo skills amaze the kids, and he is trying to translate a Romanian bedtime story to tell them. His English is pretty good, but doesn't always translate, so it should be interesting.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Day 78 - The Beginning

I walked outside this morning and was greeted by this:

Our flowering plum tree has started its annual bloom. I guess spring is definitely in the air.

Air-Speed Velocity of a Swallow

I told you a few weeks ago about my cohort that annoys the hell out of me with his constant talking.  As much as he annoys me, I do admire one aspect of his management style.  He cares.  He wants to make sure that his people have relevent marketable skills if they were to leave the company.  The world is a scary place right now, and as someone who has been through the collapse of the Dot-coms in the Bay Area, he knows how to mitigate the risk one will be jobless for a long stretch of time.  You mitigate by keeping your skills current.

Many of the network guys at our company have no Linux skills.  Since this is a critical skill to have in the job market, he has spent considerable time putting together and deliverying training materials to his team.  He is doing a stellar job with it really.  

Yesterday, he was putting together the next round of it when we started talking about how it was going.  He said they seemed interested, were attentive and were asking questions.  I asked him the all important question -  "are they playing with Linux on their own?"  A couple of keystrokes later as he looked up the activity in the test environment, he had the answer.  No. 

I don't care how many books you read and tests you pass.  Hell, I don't care how many certificates you have on your wall.  If you have not touched the technology and broken it and rebuilt it, you cannot claim you are learning it.  You cannot claim experience in it.  You cannot list it on your resume.   But, people do it all of the time, and it becomes the game for the hiring IT manager to filter out those who can talk the talk versus those who can walk it.  Again, this is something both my cohort and I emphasize constantly with our staff.  

My cohort, being the geeky guy he is, put the following into his latest training presentation:

"Neither RFC 1149 nor RFC 2549 may be used as LDAP transport layers.  RFC 3514 compliant packet will likewise be rejcted."

I don't expect you to understand this as I am going to explain why this is hilarious.

Data travels on the network via packets.  (Yes, I am making this very simple, so bear with me if you are a technology geek.)  RFC 1149 is the protocol for transporting data packets via carrier pigeon.  It is a joke.  An old networking joke.  And, there are plenty of write ups about the efficiency of this transport method (at least 50% reported data loss, for example).   RFC2549 is the protocol for transporting data with quality assurance via carrier pigeon.  It's the updated joke.   RFC 3514 is security protocal to reject "evil packets" of data.  Again, another old networking joke.  If you try to use any of these protocols in Linux, they will usually reveal themselves as jokes.   (Geeks like to perpetuate jokes by actually taking the time and building them into the software.)

His approach is similar to a teacher who creates a test where the instructions of the test are to read all of the questions, sign the back of the test and turn it in.  The goal isn't to see how many of the qustions the kids can answer, but if they are paying attention to the directions.    This is my cohort's same approach.

At the end of his lessons, he always encourages the network guys to go our and try these in the test environment.  I guess we should know next week, how much research these guys did on the material.  He is already trying to decide his approach if no one comes back to him about this one.   I suspect it will be some smart ass comment asking where they found carrier pigeons to try out this way of data transport.  For their sake, I hope he is having a good day when they reveal they haven't test it or even researched it.  When he's angry, he talks a lot more than usual.   I guess that may be their punishment. 

Day 77 - Another Redhead

The week before Spring Break at school is traditionally Spirit Week.  Each day, the kids have another day to prepare for.  Monday, each class was to dress in a certain color.  Tuesday was crazy hat day.  And, today was crazy hair day.  One year, DJ went with blue hair.  One year, she went with pig tails all over her head.  This year, the girls went with red hair.  DJ's hair is red, so it was just redder.

Indigo wanted red hair too.  I left for work before I saw the end result. It is quite red and streaked in odd ways.  But, she was happy, so, I guess, mission accomplished.

Now we have to get her to wash it out of her hair.  Hope it comes out....guess I'll find out soon.

Tomorrow is mis-match day where the kids are supposed to dress in things that don't match.  My kids prove almost daily that they won't have a problem with that one.

Never Ask an IT Person for Their Opinion

I received a survey request from the school district recently.  The survey description was horribly worded, so I was not quite clear as to what I was being asked about.

It was about the school's phone and voice mail systems.  

Part of me was surprised it was a priority.  The district is trying to magically find the funds to keep the school open for the entire year, and they are asking how people feel about the phone and voicemail systems.  Replacing it would be a huge project that would take a couple years, at least.  And, depending on which direction they would go, the cost could be huge for hardware, wiring, etc.  

The other part of me wondered if the district's IT director finally decided to address the antiquated phone system.  We are talking a phone system that is half a step up from rotary phones.   While yes, it is copper and therefore works without issues, it is also surprisingly lacking.  I mean, the secretaries have enough to do without having to be switchboard operator and message taker for the whole school.  Our school's secretary has been nicknamed by our kids as the "other principal" because she is involved in so much of the day-to-day school stuff.  

The questions floored me as well.  Their focus is on educational value and parent-teacher communication - that was clear.  Good goals.  But, and there is a "but", the questions asking about how quickly do teachers return phone calls to parents -or- how quickly does the office return calls......what does that have to do with the phone system?   Yes, you could say that with a better phone system, this should be improved.  But, there is the good 'ole people aspect to this process.  A message lands on their desk via paper, email or vmail, it is in their court to act on it appropriately and in a timely fashion.  No system or delivery method is going to make that go quicker.  

After these odd questions, they ask "do you have any other comments?"  

Why yes, yes, I do.  

Then I launched into the various options that would make things run more smoothly in the school from a telephone standpoint.  There are free/open-source solutions out there that would give ever teacher their own voicemail box and give parents a way to direct their own calls.  What a novel concept!  I also took the opportunity to point out that the people element in this process will always be their breakdown point from complete and total efficiency.     This is the downside of creating a "free form" text box.    I did refrain from naming actual solutions they should consider given their cost.  Maybe I'll throw that out there if there is a follow-up survey.

In the meantime, if they have money to spend, can they get the middle schoolers at the school lockers?  I know three middle school teachers who are sick of having destroyed rooms because their middle school students don't have their own space for their stuff.  You figure they would have those lying around somewhere.

Day 76 - A Toast

Today I raise my drink to Garbanzo's Grandpa.  A St Patrick's Day cannot pass without me thinking about this old guy.  He introduced Garbanzo and me to the age old tradition of eating corned beef and cabbage and drinking beer on St Patrick's Day.

After Garbanzo's grandma died, everyone was pressuring Grandpa to sell everything and move into a retirement home.  Being the good grandkids we were, we offered him another solution.  Garbanzo was looking to go back to school, so we offered to live with him while he traveled and figured out what he wanted to do.  This would take the pressure off of him to make a decision and give us a chance to have reduced cost housing.

Grandpa loved to cook.  I mean, he LOVED to cook.  I don't think I could count on one hand the number of times Garbanzo and I cooked while living there for about 18 months.  Grandpa was also  a very laid back guy.  He had his routines, but generally he loved to tell stories and stories we did hear.

We knew when Grandpa was trying to get back into the dating scene, but never quite heard the true story about how he got hooked up with a dating service.  At 78, he was getting dressed up and going out on dates.  We knew things were getting serious with one when the herbal supplement El Toro suddenly appeared with other vitamins at the table in the breakfast nook.  I don't know if I am proud, happy, or a little weirded out by knowing the Grandpa's sex life was alive and well.  But, alive and well it was.  

He married his sweetheart about a year after we moved out.  She is a wonderful woman who kept him in line through the remainder of his life.  He died three years ago, but he will always live on with us.  I mean, how many grandkids have this kind of knowledge of their grandparents.

So, I must raise my glass of Guinness to Grandpa!  May he be eating corned beef and cabbage, drinking a good stout, and telling lies wherever he may be!

Removing the Leash

I did something today that I have been dreaming of doing for two years.  I gave back my Blackberry.

I know there are people who love their Blackberry devices.  They are handy little things.  But, in my personal experience, there is a level of expectation people have if you have one.  Their expectation is that you are always available to them.   It matters not how they try to reach you (phone or email), you should respond instantly.  This little device allows them to bypass everything.....after hours procedures for getting help, going to the correct person during business hours, etc.   And, they do it in the name of "you having a Blackberry".

When I was the last IT manager standing a 18 months ago, I wanted to chuck that fucking device against the wall.  There were many MANY times when I had to set it down and walk away.  Imagine, if you will, taking a much needed mental health day at work, but being expected to carry the damn thing and answer issues all day.  Not much of a mental health day, huh? And, I won't tell you the number of vacations that damn thing has ruined because of a message I have gotten. 

A convenience device turns into a leash back to the company.  At anytime, someone can yank you back to it.  And, they can do it without a second thought.  Why? Because the company gave you the Blackberry, you had better be using it.  One executive has gone on record many times saying that Blackberry numbers should be published for everyone regardless of position in the company.  Statements like these make IT people go crazy.   After hours support, for us, is reserved for business critical issues.  Most of the issues reported after hours are not business critical.  Giving out cell phone numbers to IT people means anyone can get around the screening process.

The CIO who I work for does not have a company Blackberry. She refuses a company cell phone as well.  She has publicly stated she refuses to have her cell phone activities exposed internally - and she refuses to be a slave to messages sent to the Blackberry.   If it is that urgent, people can call.  Calling mean it is urgent....emails do not.  I love boundaries.  She has been here almost a year, and no one has forced her to get one yet nor will they.

Last week, a couple of things came together that made this event possible.  The first and most important was a request that someone internally get a Blackberry.  Our new plan at work has an early termination fee, so giving back my Blackberry would be easier if it were going to someone right away.  The second thing - my personal phone contract is pretty much up.  I say pretty much because my phone has been having issues, so up or not, the phone needed to get replaced.  The third thing that came together was a random statement made by the CIO - I guess taking away Blackberry devices as a cost savings measure has been discussed.  In talking with her later, she gave her blessing to get rid of it.

Over the weekend, I got my iPhone.  After playing with Garbanzo's the last few months, I decided I liked the single device.   No more carrying around my iPod and cell phone.  No more worrying about needing a wireless connection so that I can look something up when I am away from home.  I checked over the weekend, and I can actually get to my work email if I need to....but only if I need to.

One thing we did refrain from doing was passing my old cell phone number to the person my Blackberry is going to.  We decided that was too evil.  Given who the phone will be going to, there is a level of humor and/or irony....but it was still too evil.  Damn that right thing!

Day 75 - Bridges

I could do a whole series on Portland Bridges.  We have a couple of them....or more like 12 of them, if my memory is correct.   I'll have to keep that in mind if I get desperate for pictures down the road.

This first bridge is our favorite.  It's the St John's Bridge.

What makes this bridge special is that it is a suspension bridge.  In fact, it was built before the Golden Gate Bridge and by the same designer.   Below the other end of this bridge is a part called Cathedral Park.  The supports for the road on that side are shaped like the inside of a cathedral.   Because it is on the river, they hold the annual Pirate Festival there in the fall.

Last year, DJ and her class studied the bridges.  For their science fair project, they were supposed to make a replica of their favorite Portland Bridge.  She wanted to build the St John's Bridge, so she and I built a real suspension bridge modeled after the St John's Bridge.  It was huge, but pretty cool because she saw exactly how a suspension bridge worked.   Suspension bridges are cool.

We have Leprechauns

After taekwondo Friday night, we went out for Indian food.  I was in the mood for curry - spicy curry.  With this head cold that I was fighting, I decided that it may help.

As we were waiting for our food, Indigo began telling us how they were trying to catch the leprechaun in their classroom.  I guess they have nets and everything.  This led to DJ telling the story about how she and her K/1 class found leprechauns outside of their classroom in the flower beds.  Indigo immediately asks how they found them.  Did they actually see them?

DJ and her friends found mini baseball bats, balls, hats, and gloves.  They also found some plates, I think.  This lead to a great debate among the class as to what to do with their find.  Some of the kids wanted to use it as evidence of the leprechauns, while the other half of the class decided it would be stealing to take it from them.  In the end, they left the leprechauns belonging where they were.  On St Patrick's day a few days later, the class found leprechaun footprints all over the classroom, and I believe, gold as well.

I had totally forgotten about the leprechauns until that moment.  After they found the stuff in the classroom, DJ had come home and announced we had to make a blueberry pie for the leprechauns.  Blueberry pie was their favorite.  That night, we made one.  The next morning, there were little footprints through the flour that was still on the counter.  This totally solidified her belief.

The girls were getting quite animated about leprechauns at this point.  I asked them if they thought we had leprechauns in our yard.  Both launched into their rationale that there were, indeed, leprechauns living in our yard.  They believe they live in the huge lavender bush in the front yard.  DJ, our scientist and detective, began discussing the evidence she had discovered in the front yard.  Also discussed was the habitat she believed would sustain the leprechauns.  I think I'm going to have to start planting things out there for the girls to find.

Portland has a leprechaun park called Mill Ends Park.   This park was created on St Patrick's Day 1948 by Dick Fagan, a columnist for the local paper.  This park is 2 feet in diameter and is in the median of a road.  Mr Fagan declared it Mill End Park after he saw a leprechaun digging in the dirt in that location.  He ran over and caught the leprechaun who was obliged to grant him one wish.  Mr Fagan wished for a park named after him.  The leprechaun gave him his hole and said it was his park.  Mr Fagan had failed to describe the size of park he wanted which is important when negotiating with a leprechaun.  It was renamed Mill Ends Park.

What really happened was the city had dug holes for lamp posts, but failed to ever install a lamp post in that hole. Mr Fagan's office overlooked the hole which became filled with weeds and looked horrible, so he went out and planted it with flowers.  He named it Mill Ends after his column.  And for 20 years, Mr Fagan featured the park and its head leprechaun in his St Patrick's day column.  After he died in 1969, the city made it into an official park.

I'm sure we will have to pay homage to the park.  But, before then, we will likely be creating our own small leprechaun reserve in our front yard.  I wonder if the girls have thought about how to keep our cat from trying to catch them.  This could turn into a fun little project for them over the summer.  Hmm...

Day 74 - Beware the Ides of March

My poor brother was born on the ides of March.  I never realized that until we were forced to read Shakespeare's  Julius Caesar in high school English class.  "Beware the Ides of March" was the warning given to Caesar.  Of course, lots of jokes were made about that one at home....my brother being the target, of course.  I mean, nothing good could come from a person born on the Ides of March.  I believe I probably made some comment to my mom asking if she were warned beforehand to beware of the Ides of March...and subsequently her son born on it.  She loved that one, I'm sure.

What was really ironic about this is the fact my mom and brother were at each other's throats for most of high school and into college.  At one point, I don't know who was going to kill them first - me or my dad.  The fighting finally stopped when my dad told my brother to either respect "his wife or get the hell out".  It was when my brother was home from college one summer.  We weren't 30 minutes away from school and they were at each other's throats again.   I still don't understand what it is about the two of them, but they can fight about anything at a drop of a hat even 20 years later.  Oh, family.

So, this little story has nothing to do with my picture.  I guess I can say that you need to beware of the ides of March in Oregon where the weather is concerned.  Today it was pouring rain most of it.  But, now, the sun acts like its going to come out.  The great tease....

While the kids went outside between rain showers, I called my brother to wish him a happy birthday.  The gift from his daughter was her cold.....learning to share at 8 months, how sweet!  I got caught up on the family gossip.  Then greeted my two wet rats, I mean, children at the door.  There was a downpour and they had initial decided it wasn't raining that hard, so stayed out longer than they should have.  And, being good Oregonians, they were outside in sweatshirts and sweaters, not raincoats.

Day 73 - For the Kids

Tonight was the annual auction at the school that Garbanzo and the girls attend.  The PTA and Foundation put together a huge auction that usually raises enough money to supplement the teaching staff at the school as well as provide other programs for the kids like Spanish instruction.  People show up to spend money and give generously.  About half of these parents could afford to send their kids to private schools, but choose instead to give the money to their neighborhood school - to make up the difference.

You could tell that the economy was definitely affecting the auction this year.  The paddle bid alone usually generates $45,000.  A paddle bid is when they ask who is willing to donate a certain amount of money, and everyone raises their paddle.  They usually start in the several thousands and go down to $10.

Each class does a project that is auctioned off, and there are both silent and oral auction items.  Last year, we donated a 6 course meal for 8 people at our house.  This year, Garbanzo donated a cake - and since the theme was "Think Green", I donated a couple shopping bag kits.  Everyone does this - they tap into their networks of friends, family, and business associates to get the items.  It is usually pretty amazing what you will find.

I actually insisted that this year Garbanzo not work the auction.  He usually is on stage with the parents hamming it up trying to get the parents to bid more.  This usually causes issues as he wants me to bid on something, and is trying to communicate that to me with a series of hand signals, etc.  It was nice spending the night with him, chatting with parents, and being a participant.

There were really three auction items we went in wanting to win.  The first was this:

I had to crop the hell out of it because I didn't realize the 8th grader put her name all over the gift certificate.  A great thing happened as we were bidding on this.  Several parents who were also bidding told us they actually have great babysitters, so if we ever need one to just call.  Our lack of babysitters recently has actually resulted in a babysitter abundance.  Oh, and we won this one too.  The girl who is offering this one is fantastic - and the girls love her.  We're hoping this blossoms into a more regular gig with her.

The other thing Garbanzo went into the auction wanting was this:

A gift certificate for a pair of Chuck Taylor Converse.  Garbanzo has about 8 pair of them - and wears them to school daily.  The Chuck Ts and the kilt are his signatures as a teacher.  This was supposed to be a "custom pair" which is a service they offer.  Not quite custom, but a nice idea anyway.

The last thing we wanted was a picture by an amazing photographer who is a parent at the school.  Garbanzo has taught his older daughter, and the younger daughter is a good friend of DJ.  He is amazing and uses an old style printing technique....no digital photography for this guy.  He does amazing work, but his best stuff is considered "too dark" by the general crowd at the school.  Each year, he puts in a pretty photograph.  And, each year, he sends a copy of what he will exchange it with to the parents who enjoy his "real work" more than the "main stream".  I'll take a picture of part of it once I get it - or put a link to his site when I find it on there.  I didn't know the story about the photo until tonight.  I guess he had read the Twilight books that his older daughter was obsessed with, and it inspired the photograph.  This is one of those parents we are friends with outside of school because his family is so amazing.

Oh, and last story that has to be shared.  I'm waiting in line to "check out" after the auction, and one of the dads who is running one of the check-outs starts flirting with me.  He's commenting on my the cashmere sweater I was wearing, my wedding rings, everything.  This guy was pretty specific about the comments too, telling me exactly why he liked it, etc.   And, he knows I'm the teacher's wife.   Now I should mention that this is a non-alcoholic event because it is at the school.  (Everyone brings flasks and carries around their own coffee mugs. Heck, Garbanzo and I had our own concoction we were drinking thanks to his flask.)  I think I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he had been imbibing too.  I have asked Garbanzo to find out who's Dad he is though, just to be safe.