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Sunday, June 24, 2007
The Mommy Life: Jack Dances and He Loves Red Bull
For several days in a row now, Jack has invented clever dances to amuse himself and his family and friends. From a hand-up twitch, he turns, and bum squiggles too (that look suspiciously like squats).
As for me, I have a nasty case of flu still but the nose has dried but the cough has taken on a life of its own. This afternoon I managed to type out and do a first edit of my poems and send them to my BFF for a review. It felt good to get back into writing. She has helped me pick 3 for the competition.
I really should sleep soon but my mind, as tired as it is, screams for me to do more "me" activities. I have run out of Red Bull... which reminds me of a funny incident that happened yesterday (the day before).
Dad and I had lunch at the Subway in Great World City where Jack was wandering around with his fave Red Bull can (drunk by me! and washed clean), slightly crushed by repeated squeezing, in his hand. Two young professional men in their 20s pointed to him and appeared very impressed by a baby walking around with a squished can of Red Bull in his hand. Later, he even napped carrying his can while I carried him in the sling.
Now, of course I don't let my son drink Red Bull! I do... for energy. But I do believe in letting him learn for himself that some things are dangerous but if he is careful, he can play with it. Since I pointed it out, he is very careful with the sharp edge and while he presses his fingers there, he notes that it is sharp and doesn't do it again. This way, he gets to enjoy more things in his young life with the awareness and knowledge that parts of some can hurt but if he is careful, he can enjoy the whole.
However, the can was later confiscated by a concerned grandma who promptly threw it away and chastised me about safety. Still, the image of him tottering around in Subway carrying his can of Red Bull, and the twinkle in the eyes of those two men stay with me and bring a huge smile to my face.
Being a spy is one of the coolest jobs in the world. But if you're fired, it is terminal.
BURN NOTICE (būrn nō'tĭs) n.
1. An official statement by one intelligence agency to other agencies, domestic or foreign, that an individual or group is unreliable.
In the middle of an assignment, CIA operative Michael Weston receives a burn notice. The inexplicable notice is unexpected and he immediately drops everything to head back to Miami where he tries to search for the reason why he was so suddenly terminated.
Could it be his hesitation in carrying out what appears to be an extremely sensitive mission or was he framed for the secrets he carries in his head? There is no one he can trust so he channels all his wit and training to extricate him from this madness that put him on the run.
Starring Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Weston, the divine Gabrielle Anwar, horror alum and Evil Dead superstar (and my idol) Bruce Campbell, and Sharon Gless, USA Network's Burn Notice is set to immerse you into Michael's world where nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted.
Burn Notice premieres in the US on 28 June at 10/9C. Don't miss the very exciting first episode of this thrilling new series.
Today is Day 3 of the Nasty Bug. Thankfully my Dad came by to help and DH babysat Jack for a couple of hours while I dozed. I feel much better now, definitely cheered by my friend Mini (not her real name) and J who came by for a delightful visit. We talked cats, cats, and renovation and weddings. It was one of the best evenings I have had for eons!
Mini and I share a lot in common, especially our furry kids who are incidentally related. Her youngest boy Maggie is half brother to Tux, Buffy, Sam, and Kaku and was litter mate to the latter two. Like Sam and Kaku, he is shy with humans and he looks like and sounds like Tux! :D
There's nothing like catching up with old friends for a wonderful time. Jack and J absolutely adored each other. It was so lovely to watch them together. We'll definitely do this again soon.
Tomorrow (actually today according to my clock), dinner with more dear friends.
I've been sick with flu the past few days: headache, stuffed sinuses, raw throat, giddiness. DH confessed to being sick last week and I must have caught it from him. Thankfully, Jack has been spared.
Jack's been ever more brilliant since he turned one. He has been a sponge, saying 'zebra' after his grandma, dancing, shhing, putting his friend Paddy back into his house (the cupboard), drawing very abstract art.
As for me, I have started writing poetry again: 4 today, 3 yesterday. Something about fever makes me hungry to write. Plus, there is a global warming poetry competition going on and I'd like to win a nice fountain pen for my Dad.
Meanwhile I am sporting a new look. I call it Frenchy, DH (and friends) call it country. :) It's been styled a little better now. I'll go with Frenchy.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Geese force-fed and then slaughtered for their livers may get their final revenge on people who favor the delicacy known as foie gras: It may transmit a little-known disease known as amyloidosis, researchers reported on Monday.
The new planet is about 50 percent bigger than Earth and about five times more massive. The new "super-Earth" is called Gliese 581 C, after its star, Gliese 581, a diminutive red dwarf star located 20.5 light-years away that is about one-third as massive as the Sun.
Because it lies within its star's habitable zone and is relatively close to Earth, Gliese 581 C could be a very important target for future space missions dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life, said study team member Xavier Delfosse of Grenoble University in France.
Computer models predict Gliese 581 C is either a rocky planet like Earth or a waterworld covered entirely by oceans.
"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius [32 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit], and water would thus be liquid," study leader Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland said.
The scientists discovered the new world using the HARP instrument on the European Southern Observatory 3.6 meter telescope in La Sille, Chile. They employed the so-called radial velocity, or "wobble," technique, in which the size and mass of a planet are determined based on small perturbations it induces in its parent star's orbit via gravity.
Udry said there was a fair amount of time between the calculation of Gliese 581 C's size and the realization it was within its star's habitable zone. "That came at the end," Udry said.
A gigantic bird-like dinosaur weighing as much as a car towered over its relatives about 70 million years ago, a new finding suggests.
The unearthed beaked dinosaur was not full-grown, yet it tipped the scales at more than 3,000 pounds. Paleontologists who discovered its remains estimate the behemoth was just 11 years old when it perished.
Chinese scientists unearthed the skeletal remains of the dinosaur, now named Gigantoraptor erlianensis, in the Erlian Basin of Inner Mongolia, China.
I've been itching to take the family for a break for a while now. Hubby and I have been both exhausted from work and parenting. A good exhausted but still, nevertheless, exhausted. I begged the hubby to take a few days off next month for a nice celebration but he said his bosses need him to work. Alors.
Anyhow, year-end we definitely have a wedding to attend overseas. But the Europe holiday we have been planning (sometime during our lifetime) is still out of reach. I do regret not stopping by Amsterdam while I was working for a Finnish game company and travelling to Finland fairly often. I did buy back a block of cheese on transit though.
We will have to visit London sometime before our friend Greg leaves so that we can stay at his place although it would be nice to stay at the Radisson-Edwardian! It would be lovely to bring Jack to see the quaint curiosity shops and old bookstores I adore.
Since I was a kid, I have always wanted a telescope. There is something almost spiritual about looking into space, at the stars and planets out there. Actually I didn't just want to look at the stars, I wanted to go there.
It looks like it isn't going to happen in my lifetime. But thanks to Ben Bova and his amazing Grand Tour novels, I have visited the planets of our Solar System, and thanks to Gregory Benford, I have seen Pluto, in a space suit no less.
Now with a telescope, you may not be able to see everything (planetary alignment, distance of light, etc), but with meade my sky (full name: Meade My Sky Personal Video Planetarium), you can explore space virtually as well as control a Meade computerised telescope.
Jack simply refused to nap today, playing basketball, football, and stair climbing. When he got home, he crashed and I thought it would be the perfect time to finally get a DVD into my laptop and watch a movie.
Dang Windows Media Player and the other one I downloaded, Video LAN played it poorly - very choppy - and I spent an hour trying to fix it.
A headache, backache, and neckache later, I gave up and decided to use the 7" portable DVD player my brother lent me to watch it instead. No dice. It kept loading but never played.
Hence I am back online for some actualisation before I sleep... :)
"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness." -- Bertrand Russell
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
-- Thomas Edison (Harper's Magazine, 1890)
A woman's romance with motherhood, green living, finance, and this heady thing called life.
