Author: Doris

Jeremy took the day off work to chaperone Edda’s field trip to Mt. Vernon.  We talked about Washington crossing the Delaware at dinner tonight.  Vince’s pal, Owen, was at dinner and he’s a bit of a history buff and we wondered if we’d still be an English colony if Washington was unsuccessful in his Christmas Day attack.  Jeremy thought we’d still being an English colony today.  Owen said it would have only taken another year to get independence.

Edda boarded a fancy coach bus which did have a wheelchair lift.

Jeremy was bemused with the conversation on the bus which alternated between kiddie jokes and racy jokes.  Edda’s pals were impressed that Edda had her own phone.  Most kids here have to wait until middle school to get their own smartphones, but not Edda.

I hate to even mention how busy we are because all the things we are busy with are our own fault and because we are excited to be doing the things we are doing.  We are busy!  Jeremy got up at 5 am to start work before he left for the trip and then promptly started work again when he got home at 3ish and he’s still at it now.  He’s set up a permanent workstation in the dining room with multiple screens.  It’s close to the coffee.

Foggy nights and warm beds.

Vince is back from the 2-night camp out.  He has new freckles and a new facial hair.

He came back filthy.  You can see the dirt on his legs.

No shoes.  But he has socks at least!

1) There are more pigs in China than in the next 43 pork producing nations combined.

2) An investigation by the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services found more than one million counterfeit Chinese parts in the Department of Defense supply chain.

For the first one, no wonder the largest pork producing company in USA, Smithfield Foods, is looking to China for growth.  Evidently, there are a lot of pigs being consumed there every day.
For the Chinese parts, we are not only using their counterfeit parts unintentionally but also using their genuine parts intentionally.  For example, Pentagon waives sanction rules on Chinese magnets on our Radar System, landing gear and other hardware for F-35 fighter. Or otherwise, the colossal program can not be kept on track. 

Btw, these days, we use Russian rockets to put up our satellites too.  With all these NATO sanctions, I just wonder why Russian still let us using theirs – not in our military purposes though. 

In short, we all become desk persons.  This, I believe, is the direct results of our brilliant MBAs from our elite colleges – outsourcing (remember this fancy term?).  They and US Companies make millions overnight without doing much but, as consequence, leave all American folk in the dust. 

Our President is still in his campaign’s mood – running around the world, saying a lot, but not much can be delivered.

Not like President Nixon said “Speak softly, but also carry a big stick”

Donald is such a good brother.

Calls me almost every weekend, which is really nice.  We’ve never been in such close contact as we’ve been the past 5 years or so.  His last day at Oracle was Friday, he starts his new gig on Monday.  I don’t know the company’s name.  I only know that it’s in SF proper.

At the Montgomery College track.

At the top of Shady Grove Hospital parking garage.

Jeremy is home from a successful CA trip.  Vince is off camping this weekend.  We are both working /studying this weekend while Edda hangs out.  I’ve been experimenting with my phone’s camera for the blog because I now find myself in places where I don’t want to bring my big camera.  But the camera on the phone frustrates me to no end because I like taking photos of people moving in low light which is the worst thing you can ask a cell phone camera to do.

Vince got Donald’s hand-me-down iPhone 5.  It’s nice to have an uncle who likes the latest and greatest.  Then you get stuff that’s better than the crap Android phone your parents buy you.

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This is Alex our clinical instructor.  She’s fabulous.  I’m learning a lot.  So many, so many stories to tell.  But I can’t talk about it here.

Waiting for the bus with Ruby.

Even though it is cold, flowers are still trying to give it a go in the garden.