Pictures

I've added some pictures to my Christmas entry, and for those of you who are my friends or family on Flickr, I've added a whole bunch of pictures there. If you'd like to be able to view my pictures on Flickr, let me know, and I'll add you.

Here's some pictures from the Longfellow Inn on our last day in Massachusetts.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. 2009 is the year of the Ox which symbolizes hard work and strength.

Here's a link to a little Chinese New Year fun. Click on the lantern to start, then move your mouse to make the fish dance.

http://www.etnet.com.hk/LunarCard/2007/ecard_etnet.html

Happy New Year!

Great Expectations

A couple of people commented today that yesterday was a big day for me. At first I didn't get it. My birthday was Sunday, not Tuesday, but then they explained. Yesterday was the inauguration, and as an American, I should have been excited. Oh, yes, of course--I suppose I should have been excited, but really it wasn't that big of a deal. Election day was a much bigger deal, but even then it wasn't a huge source of excitement for me. I'd describe it more as a sense of relief. The end was in sight for this era of national embarrassment.

I did attempt to watch the inauguration. I turned on the TV around 5 PM here (11 AM in Washington DC) and channel surfed regularly until about 9 PM (3 PM there) in hopes that somebody would be showing it, but no such luck. I caught a couple of people talking about it, but I wanted to hear the actual speech. Luckily, I was able to catch some highlights of it this morning. I was hoping to hear rhetoric at the level of Martin Luther King (or at least Sam Seaborn), but it didn't measure up.

That got me thinking: what kind of expectations do we have for this guy, and how could anyone possibly live up to them? It seems like almost the entire world is looking to him to solve everything from war and economic crisis to global warming. Frankly, the president of the United States just doesn't have that kind of power. But this particular president does seem to have the power to inspire. He has already inspired hope all around the world, and I hope that he can continue to inspire everyone to do what they can to solve the world's problems. Then, maybe those great expectations might not seem so unreachable.

Currier & Ives meets Disney’s marketing department

MORE FROM OUR VACATION...

After the weekend’s big snowstorm we arrived in snow-covered Boston on Tuesday afternoon (12/23). We were staying with my brother-in-law and his family outside of Boston. The colonial style houses were decorated with lights and wreaths and covered in snow. It was so beautiful! It looked just like those Currier and Ives Christmas cards that one can’t really relate to in California.

It had been over a year since my daughter had seen her cousins, O who is also 6 years old (though a few months younger) and R who is almost 3. They had been very excited about seeing each other again, and got along fabulously right from the start.

SIL served us delicious homemade lasagna, made something else for the kids (O doesn’t eat anything with tomato sauce, with the exception of ketchup), then dashed out to do some errands. She spent most of the 24th doing errands too, and I spent much of the day wrapping presents. My husband played with the kids in the snow while BIL also wrapped presents. Normally, I wouldn’t be wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, but there wasn’t much point in doing it before flying to Boston since everything would either get thrashed in the suitcase, opened by TSA or both.

Christmas festivities started for real with dinner at SIL’s sister’s house. Her mother and brother were also there along with all the kids. I lost track of how many kids there were, but they were all a bundle of energy, and my daughter didn’t hesitate to run around the house screaming with the rest of them. After dinner, we adjourned down the street to SIL’s mother’s house. There were stockings hung in the den and bowls of candy everywhere, but they went pretty much unnoticed since the entire living room was literally knee deep in presents. And then the feeding frenzy began. Imagine piranhas in a horror movie, but with paper instead of blood. I was really impressed by the generosity of SIL’s family. They included my daughter in everything even though they hardly knew her, and they gave her quite a lot of presents—not as many as the other kids, naturally, but way more than I would ever imagine. Then there was dessert: chocolate cheesecake, yule log, pecan bars, raspberry bars, and some sort of white cake (I showed some restraint and didn’t try that one). The evening ended with the kids putting on a song and dance show. It was around midnight by the time we got home.

Despite it being Christmas Eve, the kids were sufficiently exhausted that there was no problem getting them to bed. Unfortunately we adults were also pretty exhausted, but we got a second wind as we played Santa, bringing out the presents and putting them under the tree. Since they had a train under the tree, my husband built tunnels with the presents. We also assembled a workbench for R and a dollhouse for O. Needless to say there was way more than would fit under the tree. It was 3 AM before we finally got to bed.

My daughter was the first to wake up at 7:30. I was relieved that we got to sleep that long. She woke the adults up, and then we let her wake up her cousins. It took all morning to open all those presents, and we spent the rest of the day trying them out. It was fun, but in the back of my mind, I was overwhelmed by all the stuff. How on earth would we get all this home? Our suitcases were already maxed out, and the weight and volume of the Christmas presents we received far exceeded that of what we gave.

The next day, SIL and I took the kids to Disney on Ice: Mickey’s Magical Journey. I’d seen Icecapades as a kid, but this was so much more. The amount of marketing was staggering. Besides the normal fast food places that filled the sports arena, there were huge booths set up with Disney products: dolls, stuffed animals, trinkets and battery operated gadgets beyond descriptions, all for each of the many Disney princesses and characters. We dragged the kids past these and found our seats only to have vendors walk by with more stuff. I considered getting the kids some cotton candy until I heard that they charged $10 for it. The kids loved the show, but between getting ready and the traffic leaving the show, it took all day.

The next few days were spent taking it easy and enjoying each other’s company and all the presents. The kids watched a lot of the Disney channel, and I became aware that every program had its spin-off products. My daughter had never even seen High School Musical, but she saw the commercials for the products and was thrilled to get some of it. Worst had to be all the Hannah Montana stuff—everything from socks and shoes to dolls and makeup. One would think that Hannah Montana was running for president. For that matter, one probably could run a presidential campaign with the revenue from that product line alone.

Another survey

Welcome to the new 2009 edition of getting to know your family and friends. Here is what you are supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person who sent it to you….
Yea, yea, I know the drill, but I'll post this here instead. You're welcome to post this on your own blog or e-mail it, if you're so inclined.
1. What is your occupation right now? Photographer
2. What color are your socks right now? Grey with light blue, dark blue, silver & white stripes
3. What are you listening to right now? The West Wing
4. What was the last thing that you ate? A pecan butterball cookie with a cup of tea
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? The reporter who interviewed me for a profile in the local paper
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Sure (Like anyone would bother filling this out and say no?)
8. How old are you today? 5 days shy of 40 years
9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? I don’t watch televised sports anymore. I used to watch football (go Chargers!)
10. What is your favorite drink? Chocolate malted milkshake
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? No, but I’m now considering it.
12. Favorite food? Chocolate (that count’s as food, doesn’t it?)
13. What is the last movie you watched? Ghost Town (on the airplane)
14. Favorite day of the year? Halloween
15. How do you vent anger? Yelling at my daughter (shame on me)
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Legos
17. What is your favorite season? Summer in Sweden, Winter in California
18. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries
19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Sure
20. Who is the most likely to respond? I hate this question.
21. Who is least likely to respond? Hate this question too.
22. Living arrangements? Half renovated farm in the middle of nowhere with my husband, daughter and two cats.
23. When was the last time you cried? reading my Schwab statement
24. What is on the floor of your closet? Piles and piles of stuff
25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? Val & Romy
26. What did you do last night? Watched the West Wing and folded laundry
27. What are you most afraid of? Dinosaurs, luckily that’s not much of a problem around here.
28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Cheeseburger
29. Favorite dog breed? Cat. Thought we did have a dog that was a mix of Golden Retriever and Collie—wonderful except for the house full of fur.
30. Favorite day of the week? Don’t really have one.
31. How many states/provinces have you lived in? Countries? California, Switzerland, Taiwan, Sweden
32. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds, I guess. I’m entirely too low maintenance.
33. What is your favorite flower? Tulips
34. What is your current hair style? Shoulder length with bangs.

A funny thing happened...

A funny thing happened yesterday, so I thought I'd share it even thought I haven't finished telling about my vacation yet.

I went to Malmö to visit my Finnish friend. She used to live very near us, but now she lives in Belgium. She came early for a business trip to Copenhagen, and on her way to visit other friends, she had a few hours to kill in Malmö. It was great to see her again, but that's not what was so funny.

On my way to town, I dropped my daughter off at a friend's house to play. As I left the house, I considered running back to tell my husband again where and when to pick her up. I'd told him earlier, but was once enough? Was he really listening? I had my doubts, but I was running late, and I figured he'd call if he didn't remember.

About ten minutes after the designated pick up time, he did call. Where was he supposed to get her? The funny thing was that I heard people laughing in the background. He'd gone to the wrong friend's house! He'd knocked on the door, and the parents there let him in, and they'd talked for about ten minutes, then the conversation went something like this.

Friend's dad: So how's your family?
Husband: Um... Isn't my daughter here?
Friend's dad: No...

That's when he called me. Luckily he was just around the corner from the correct friend's house.

Too much stuff

After a fantastic vacation where I was too busy to blog, I’m back in Sweden again. Here’s what I’ve been up to since my last post.

On Monday night we came to the conclusion that not only had our luggage needs increased, but the extra bag that we’d packed wasn’t big enough. We had an entire suitcase of Christmas presents and another of ski gear, plus car two bags with mostly car parts, so I guess this shouldn't have been so surprising. The problem was I'd forgotten about a basket of dirty clothes. So at 9 PM we were at the mall shopping for a suitcase. My mom lives near Fashion Valley, and as usual, it was quite deserted (a really bad sign of the times). We liked the new lightweight Delsey bags, but they only had the large size we wanted in magenta and periwinkle. Eek. Luckily the store at South Coast Plaza had them in silver, so off we went. South Coast Plaza is huge. I used to hang out there as a teenager and eventually worked at a bookstore there, but the mall has grown so much that I hardly recognized it. There were two Macy’s buildings visible, so we walked up to one and found the map. We left in dismay: is it possible that this huge building was just for men’s clothes? The other even bigger building was just for women’s clothes? An employee saw our confusion and offered help. We received directions to DRIVE to the correct department. Parking was abundant here, and our mission was soon complete. We got a really nice suitcase for a reasonable price (less than half of the regular price), so my bargain hunting side was quite pleased.

The new suitcase easily enveloped all our excess things, and I got a few hours sleep before the shuttle picked us up. We weighed the new suitcase as we were leaving, and much to my horror it was 12 pounds overweight. I frantically stuffed things in other bags and my carry on. Then I noticed my hand was covered in blood. It was on my face and in my hair. I must have ripped my knuckle open on something. The shuttle driver waited while I found bandaids cleaned up. The upside of this was that a tin of cookies and brownies ended up in my carry on. After hearing what American Airlines charged for food (they didn’t even give free pretzels), this was a really good thing.