Month: February 2014

Dad and his new smart phone.

Dad got a job in Oak Ridge, TN – so he cut his Florida vacation short (leaving my mom with her pals) and came home to pack and see us before he drove to Tennessee. He came over a few times for dinner, we fed him and packed lunches for him. We made fun of his dumb phone. Vince used his phone to talk to my mom. Vince said his favorite phrase in Chinese (he started this year in school) which roughly translates into “I’m sorry, my Chinese is really lame.” to which my mother answered in a torrent of excited and rapid Chinese and then Vince laughs and laughs and says “I’m sorry, my Chinese is really lame.” again.

Dad is going to spend 6 months in a hotel room (an effort to maximize the per diem payout) so he wanted a hotspot for internet connection. We looked into the prices and plans and just decided to get him a smart phone (actually we wiped Jeremy’s cell phone and gave it to him). Now we are getting emails from him declaring “I’m sending you an email from Sonic! I’m sending you an email from my phone!”

Snowed in lunch –

Thursday, when we were all snowed in, we invited the neighbors on both sides over for lunch. Both sets of neighbors moved in after we arrived in 2008 and we’ve been meaning to have them over for a long time.  Since everyone was home with nowhere to go, a Thursday lunch seemed like a good idea. Jeremy made soup from ingredients in the pantry – hatch chili/corn soup and chicken tortilla soup.

Kate, Chris, Sophie, Mike, Alice

Making valentines.

So the snow is coming tonight. Some weather models are forcasting 12-18 inches. Kids are gleeful.  I’m a little winter weary.  I hope we have enough toilet paper.

Nat and the kids made valentines for Edda’s class yesterday afternoon. Vince is a little disappointed that he no longer has parties in middle school – so he wants to go to Edda’s party.

New camera!

Saved my pennies and bought myself a full-frame camera. Such a relief for a 28mm to really be a 28mm – look how close I can get to Vince’s face. I’ve been forever suffering from having lenses that are not wide enough. And – really nice performance at ISO 1250. So many focus points and I don’t yet know how to choose the one I want. I just hope that I didn’t catch the DSLR as they become obsolete. As everyone heads to their cell phone cameras – I go the opposite direction.

Back from Costa Rica

Rena & I just came back from our Costa Rica’s 5-day trip.  It was very good and we enjoyed it very much. With a flourishing tourism, I guess the local people has not benefited from it as they should be.  This is going to be a huge problem in the long run.  The tourism only drives up prices for everything for the locals.

Having said that, probably, Costa Rica is still a better place than those other countries on the other side of our southern border.  In my views, globalization is killing every possible opportunity for upward mobility for most people in the world, including us.  Look, everywhere in the world, rich gets more $$$ and poor gets less necessity. The gap is increasing in such an alarming rate and its slowing down is not in sight – there is no light yet on the other side of the tunnel.

Eliana’s getting married!

Eliana, our 2nd au pair, is back from Colombia and is marrying her American boyfriend on Friday (Valentine’s Day! Very romantic.) We met him for the first time on Sunday at lunch. He’s a nice guy sweet and talkative. Plays a lot of football, yet knows how to put fondant on a layered cake. A man of many talents.

I’m excited to be Eliana’s witness at her wedding on Friday. Actually, I’m honored that I get to go and do this for Eliana – all these girls are like family to me. I wish her a lifetime of happiness and good fortune!

Hen party.

Went to a “hen party” on Saturday where I heard lots of stories about the women’s lib movement.

It’s been really interesting to be going to school now in a female-dominated field after a lifetime of being in a male-dominated field. Lots of interesting gender observations. Lots of people at the afternoon tea mentioned that I should open a medical device company or else be the bridge between the nurses who are called upon to use more and more complicated technical/computerized machines and the medical device engineers who usually make devices with poor user interfaces. We will see! Exciting possibilities.

*******

Meanwhile, I have to get through nursing school. This semester, I have to actually demonstrate skills – so here’s a review card.