Author: Doris

Today, during our noon time walk around the plant, we saw a helicopter flew over and started power washing an electric Transmission Tower close to the nuclear reactors.

I checked with one of electrical engineers here. The reason is to wash away the dirt accumulated between insulators (ie., ceramic rings) so they will not become conductors. But, he said, it is very unusual using helicopter though. He also said, his dad used to wash a lot of transmission towers in California deserts. Maybe, I just didn’t notice that for the past zillion years.

Oh, the helicopter is back and Mom just went out 🙂

Yesterday afternoon, Edda fell a few more times than usual and bonkered her head on the floor. I’m hoping it was because she was exhausted from the trip to the Mall and not anything more serious. Edda falls sometimes, but most of the time she can avoid hitting her head and so the helmet is not part of her normal everyday attire. When she fell 2-3 times within an hour yesterday and seemed at bit dazed, Jeremy went ahead and slapped on the bike helmet. Wearing a helmet inside does nothing for Edda’s cute factor, even when it’s orange and covered in Dora pictures. (Also, perhaps we could remember to take it off while eating at the table. I think the chance of a head injury while strapped in a chair and eating a banana is quite low.)

Last night, Jeremy’s college roommate, Alan and his family arrived. So today, we went back to the National Mall for Tourism – part deux.

Here we are at the Metro – somehow I liked these photos the best from the day. At the Metro, we are not yet hot, not yet exhausted from walking for miles in the 90 degree heat.

We went to the Natural History Museum and the kids had a nice time.

After the Natural History Museum, the kids headed home with Jeremy (all three. I know, I can’t really believe it either.) The rest of us, we went to an art museum and then we trudged to the Capitol and then to the American Indian Museum. Then we headed home. I am so tired, I’m looking forward to going to work tomorrow, so I can recuperate from the weekend.. Ha!

Edda went to the NJ Rett Clinic today with Jeremy. Her appointment was in the late afternoon – so they just got home 45 minutes ago. Her appointment went fine, she’s doing well, we are all happy.

Nicholai, Vince and I headed down to DC to see the museums. It was so incredibly hot – it was a wonder we all didn’t melt. I decided that I need a gem like this. What would I do with it? I’m not sure, it’s just so pretty!

Vince’s Sponge Bob Square Pants ice cream was melting faster than he could eat it…

We have a full house this weekend. Two sets of visitors who are overlapping as well as a trip to NJ to the Rett Clinic. Our first visitor is Nikolai, a visitor from Germany, who is a distant cousin of Jeremy’s. He’s in the US for 5 weeks, spending most of the time in upstate with Kiki and Kappa – he’s swinging by DC to do some sightseeing. We went to dinner and out to ice cream.

Here’s Edda doing her pirate imitation – Arrrr!

Gold’s Gym was doing a class outside and Vince pretty much did 50% of the workout. Lots of lunges and pushups.

And look. We finally did it! We cut a hole in the ceiling to figure out the plumbing problem. We are such chickens, such lame DIYers. What can I say, it took us months to decide to cut a hole in the ceiling, it’s a wonder I can even manage to decide what to have for lunch.

And what you all are waiting for – it’s a complete mess. I don’t know what that blue goop it, but there is a huge leak at the joint. We are trying to figure out the history of this, but I think we’ll need to take out both more of the ceiling and get a plumber.

Jeremy got featured on Nebraska public radio today.
Link: here.

I have been battling seasonal allergies this month, everywhere I go, I’m a little sniffy and itchy – I’ve been a little off kilter either because I’m taking allergy medication or I’m not taking allergy medication.

This morning, I sat for my three-hour certification exam – a hurdle I need to get over in order to start working from home.

And, to top off this blog post of no interesting information about Doris, I got a new boss, aka the Director of the USPTO. This photo was taken at his swearing in today outside the patent office. He’s the guy with the shaved head and the blue blazer. He’s an old IBMer, just like me. Go Big Blue!

My life is pretty uninteresting, but everyone else is having a great time, even though I consider August to be the dullest month ever. It’s hot, no one is in school or camp. Jeremy’s been taking some time off and working from home some. The kids have been at the pool, library, zoo, you name it, they’ve done it. But since it’s a pain to lug around my big camera and it’s the only camera that the family owns – there are no photos of fun things. You only get the photo of the back of my new boss’s head. And photos after I come home.

If you haven’t seen 500 Days of Summer, I’d highly recommend it. It’s funny, charming, if not painful at times. You’re right Yi-ling, I enjoyed it. Oh, I should also mention that I’m bitter towards Ronnie. After promising to see the movie with me when it first came out, he proceed to watch not once, but twice, without me. While members of the opposite sex were involved, and could be blamed, I still put the brunt of it on Ronnie. pssshaw!