Today we had a wonderful day, I test drove some cars. The Volvo V40 and a Jetta. Then we went to the Poughkeepsie Galleria to buy Vince some new clothes. Then this evening we went to the Bard Valentine’s Dance and had a swing lesson and listened to this 20 piece band play. Great fun!

I don’t have my regular routines in place, so I have been lazy about getting my journal article in every night. (Sorry, dad..I’m fine, really 🙂 ) Last night, I went to a talk at Bard about footbinding. Dorothy Ko gave the lecture and about 50 people showed up. She looked wonderful in a dragon pant and coat set. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Rhinebeck run by Taiwanese people and it seemed like we were back in Taiwan for a moment. All the staff people were holding Vince and laughing. I had a great time. Jeremy was off to Austin last night. He drove to Manhattan last night and stayed in Bob and Katherine’s apartment in the city and saw Ben for dinner. This morning we all woke up to snow, so he called from the airport to report runway delays.

Jeremy started his first day at IBM. We thought there was going to be an orientation, but there was nothing except getting his badge. Here at home we played and played for a while. This evening, a bunch of people who taught in China were here, we all ate Chinese food and talked and saw their pictures.

Last night we went to see “Catch Me if You Can”, our first real date since Vince was born. Very exciting. Today we went to the diner for breakfast, to the Rozman’s for lunch and to Tivoli for a child-filled rumpus party.

Finally saw Austin Powers Goldmember last night. Woo hoo! Today we spent the morning driving around the center of Dutchess County looking for a house. A bit discouraging. We aren’t sure what we are looking for exactly. Then we stopped off a Gymboree for a preview class, which Vince liked OK. Then in the afternoon I saw a doctor for my ears. Said there was no ear wax in the ears, but my infection hasn’t cleared up yet, so I got another course of antibiotics, this time for 10 days.

Kind of a grumpy day today. We got up on the wrong side of the bed… Anyways, we are looking for a house to buy, so we spent some time in a realtor’s office sifting through listings. Turns out a lot of our coworkers have bought houses already. Sigh. We spent two hours in Bob’s office with Vince and had a great time.

Today we went into Poughkeepsie and found a little neighborhood that we might like to live in. Also met Mia Farrow today. She was waiting for Seamus at the house. She held Vincie for a while. Then we took a walk on campus.

Tokyo for 2 days. Mainly saw Yuki and my mother’s graduate school friend Hajimi. We saw the river on a cruise, gardens, Ginza shopping, the imperial palace gardens. Flew fome, Vince was pretty good… Today we did a quick driving tour and Jeremy looked at cars. We are all a bit tired and sick.