It's freakishly official

Allan is a freak. Yeah, I know, that has most of you yawning and saying "Tell me something I DON'T know", right? Right.

But this time, I have solid evidence.

In recent weeks Allan, plagued with hip trouble, sought out a doctor and paid a visit to a rheumatologist, who diagnosed back troubles and stressed proper posture and ergonomics and the like. Just to be certain, x-rays were ordered. Allan dutifully had them done and then paid the doc another visit to discuss the results.

Thence came the unusual discovery: Allan was the proud owner of 6 lumbar vertebrae. Most modern, normal humans have 5. Yup, you read that right. Not only does he possess an extra vertebra (which goes a long way toward explaining why he's so giant despite not *looking* that tall), but it was early man (i.e. Homo erectus, one of the earliest of them all) that commonly had 6 lumbar vertebrae.

So... further proof that not only is Allan a freak, but he's moving BACKWARD along the evolutionary chain!

Since the x-rays are in electronic format, we ought to see about obtaining a copy of it, so I can post the picture here. Then we can all gather around like in the olden days of the circus, gawking at the freak show that took center stage...

Here We Come A Wassailing

Ever hear of that song? I've *heard* of the title, but never knew what it actually meant (it means caroling). And I'd heard of carolers going door-to-door but never really understood where it stemmed from.

Well, this year my son's school, which is affiliated with the local Orthodox church, decided to try caroling as a fundraiser, just as in the Orthodox tradition. And I learned something new.

The way it works is simple: during the 12 days of Christmas (from Christmas Day on Dec 25 to Epiphany on Jan 6), carolers go door-to-door, sing for the host home, get invited in for drinks and a snack, chit chat a bit, and then receive their donation before departing. In our case, since the fundraiser is specifically for the school, we organize it a bit more-- targeting priority homes (mostly those of school parents and church board members), giving a more detailed spiel explaining what the caroling/fundraising is for, and scheduling appearances. So far, the fundraising has been a smashing success-- and we still have a week to go!

Last night provided another opportunity to carol at a Christmas party hosted by one of the senior staff of the Orthodox church. Since we could always use more singers, I invited friends from our church (a non-denominational Protestant church) to come sing. After all, we'd been practicing Christmas carols for our own church's choir for the past few months, and figured it would be fun to have a few more opportunities to actually perform what we've learned.

We had a lot of fun and got to meet lots of new people. Small world, too, as one of the Orthodox church members recognized one of my friends (who is the choir director at *our* church) as her kids' music teacher at a neighboring private school! And one of the school parents runs the business that supplies our company (among others) with our coffee and water dispensing machines. This city of 90K is not that big, after all.

Anyway... if you're reading this and are in/around Santa Barbara and like to sing, feel free to come join us in caroling :-) It'll be lots of fun, and you don't even have to be a good singer (case in point: Allan sings with us!)

One last funny to close out the post: remember my post about Allan being called "Ms. Kwee"? Well, when Allan and I attended our first caroling session on Saturday, the headmaster of the school inadvertently introduced him as "Todd". Which is understandable, as he sees Todd far more than he sees Allan. But, as an old high school classmate pointed out, that combination of misnomers just goes to prove that Allan will someday need lots of help remembering who he is ;-) No wonder he puts on his nametag upside down every Sunday :-)

When gingerbread men turn...

Every other Monday, the Tech Group (which is more or less the entire Engineering Department) has a meeting, mostly to catch up on HR stuff (like awards and introducing new hires), and listening to presentations on a variety of tech-related topics currently of interest.

This past Monday, however, we held gingerbread decorating instead of an actual meeting. Only a handful of us showed up. The majority, I think, were out on vacation :-) The rest were simply not inclined for such shenanigans ;-)

Anyway, we trooped downstairs and found a table laden with gingerbread men, cans of icing, toppings, and frosting. And while there was a huge plateful of whole gingerbread men, there were also 2 boxes to the side containing broken pieces.

It was this box that I began rummaging through. At first I thought I might try a Frankenstein-like creation-- gluing together obviously mismatched body parts with icing. But then I discovered a headless, legless gingerbread man (his body in one box, his head in another) and my imagination kicked into overdrive. Especially when I discovered that one of the cans of icing was red in color...

This is what I came up with:



But it needed more of a crime-scene feel to it, I mused. So I grabbed a marker and drew a chalk outline. Then, drawing inspiration from bloody scenes I'd seen in newspapers and television shows, I added a smear in what would've been the right place for a fatal bullet hole. Missing from this photo is the last finishing touch: I cut a yellow post-it note into strips, taped the strips together end-to-end to create a long, thin "caution tape" strip and then wrote "CAUTION DO NOT ENTER" repeatedly across it... just like real yellow police tape! :-) I then used it to cordon off the crime scene :-D It actually worked, for my plate trio sat in the corner of the table, well away from the other, normal creations!

Click on image for larger, gorier details ;-)



Yeah... Helly has a morbid imagination. That doesn't actually surprise any of you, does it? I guess I was making up for my lack of doing anything gory on Halloween ;-) Some people said the cookiecide scene reminded them of Shrek. My husband grew wary of going home with me that night, and insisted on sleeping with one eye open. Never mind that some of those ideas came from him! :-P

So... cookies, anyone? *maniacal grin* >:-D

Our religion needs a name

A couple weeks ago, we heard an interesting sermon in church about the difference between faith and religion. And I would have to agree-- true Christianity is about faith, not the rituals that define a typical religion. But that is for another, more serious discussion.

Now, I have a confession to make: I may have my faith, but I also belong to a bona fide religion with its stringent sets of rules, the breaking of which would cause a member to be booted in shame and disgrace.

It doesn't have a name yet. It consists of a few core tenets, such as:

1. Thou shalt not run for the sake of running
2. Thou shalt not hike
3. Thou shalt not keep cats as pets, for they are the devil incarnate

Our religion enables us to provide a simple answer when people ask us if we run or hike. We merely say "No, it's against our religion". Interestingly enough, we've actually garnered a few followers using this method! Hey, everyone is welcome! All that we ask is that you adhere to the core tenets and all is well :-)

Now, just as many other religions out there, we're starting to feel a potential schism. It runs mainly along the lines of food. For example, I firmly believe that to mix mint with anything else (like chocolate!) is a desecration of all that is holy and mintly. Mint must be enjoyed in its pure and unadulterated form! Allan, however, dares to defile it by eating it with chocolate and other sweet goods. Sacrilege!!

Anyway... shaky as the side rules may be, we're still holding strong on the core guidelines.

But in the interest of uniquely identifying ourselves amongst the hordes of other cults and religions out there, we need a name. One friend has dubbed herself a follower of "Allan and Helly's religion". (She found it handy to throw at her husband when he invited her to go hiking with him). It's descriptive, but a bit generic and a bit long.

So... any ideas? What should we call ourselves?

Sunday afternoon funny

This little gem is currently reflected on mine and Allan's Facebook statuses, but since some of my readers aren't (active) on FB, I thought I'd share it here, too.

Sunday afternoon, we're shopping at Vons (Safeway for those of you outside of Southern California). Like most supermarkets, it has a rewards card entitling you to discounts. Allan and I both have one, but since his has long been inactive, we just use mine. To save on carrying multiple cards in my wallet, we simply key in my phone number at checkout, and watch the numbers roll off the prices. Easy peasy. Right?

Yesterday was no different-- I minded Todd while Allan paid for groceries. As he reached for the receipt, he was greeted with "Have a nice day, Ms. Kwee!"

Apparently my name popped up as the owner of the rewards card after I punched in my phone number. If the cashier had simply addressed him as "Mr. Kwee", it would've been funny enough. It HAS happened in the past, though usually by people who haven't actually SEEN Allan (i.e. mail/telephone correspondence) and seen that he doesn't look remotely Asian. Still, stranger names have happened, and it's obvious we're a family, so "Mr. Kwee" would not have been too much of a stretch.

But "Ms. Kwee"? When the obviously MALE customer is standing right there in front of you? Well! Too funny! Although I suppose if it hadn't been for this gaffe, I wouldn't have an amusing story to tell, and more ammo with which to poke fun at Allan! :-D

Or should I say... "Ms. Kwee" :-D

(this does jive well with the assertion that he's the woman and I'm the man in the relationship, but that's for another blog entry...)

When giving gets dangerous

Okay. I'm all for charity. We all have our pet causes. We all have issues we feel passionate about and would donate to, and even if not, we typically don't mind giving a dollar to a cause when asked here and there, such as at the store register or walking along the street. No pressure, typically, and it only takes a few seconds out of my day to either say "no thank you" or fork over a buck or a few coins.

Then there was today.

Do you remember my blog entry about poverty in Indonesia, whereby I described a poor woman in the middle of the road, one arm holding her hungry baby and the other outstretched for a few coins? Dangerous situation to be in. One moment of inattention by a hurried driver, and she could be history.

Now picture that same situation. But set in the United States. And instead of poor, hungry, homeless people, it's strong, healthy firemen. Not just one. But several. Canvassing the many corners of one of the biggest and busiest intersections in Santa Barbara. Traipsing from car to car and holding out boots, begging for donations to the MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association). And not just walking up and down the sidewalk, oh no. They were determined to reach maximum drivers by walking in the middle of the street lanes! Last I heard, that constitutes jaywalking, and is illegal here.

Don't get me wrong-- as I said before, I am all for charity, and laud the fire department for its efforts in promoting the cause and getting people to donate. I support charities that work hard and honestly and funnel our hard-earned money to the right places.

What I do not condone, however, is breaking the law to do it. Not to mention everything else:
1) by walking down the middle of a very busy street, the firemen are putting themselves at unnecessary risk for getting mowed down by a car. Yes, they usually wait until the light is red, but don't always extricate themselves in time for the light to turn green.

2) It holds up traffic. It's one thing to beg drivers who are already stopped and waiting for a red light, but the drivers who don't have to stop and only have to yield (i.e. those turning right) are another story. Some will actually stop when they should not, in order to pass money out their windows. And what did that lead to?

3) Traffic congestion: When I got off the exit that leads to the intersection, I was shocked at how full the off ramp was! By the time I inched to the front and made my turn, I saw that traffic was backed up so much, we couldn't actually move! Thoughtless/careless drivers making the left turn out of that offramp wound up blocking the road, and others trying to go straight in the opposite direction couldn't move. Oh, and this backup? Was all the way INTO the freeway offramp, not just the street. Meaning it stretched back nearly a mile. And had the potential for spilling that congestion into the freeway itself, which causes more potential problems and accidents.

4) What if there had been a REAL emergency requiring an ambulance to go through that congestion? Fat chance of getting through as quickly as it should under normal circumstances!

Seriously, guys. I understand the MDA is an important cause to you, and I respect that. But I cannot respect going out of your way to break the law, endanger yourselves and potentially others, and at the very least, inconveniencing many drivers along the way. Where do you think the police were during all this? Nowhere to be seen, unsurprisingly. If it had been demonstrators taking one step out of line, the cops would have been all over them. If a homeless panhandler was daring enough to jet back and forth amongst traffic, he'd no doubt be slapped with a jaywalking charge. And all for good reason-- that kind of behavior is reckless and potentially dangerous.

And you know, if you're so hung up on your cause that you're willing to put your neck on the line to support it (i.e. getting hit by a car), that's certainly your prerogative. But please don't risk the safety of the rest of us while you're at it. There are laws there for a reason. You, of all organizations/people, should know that better than anyone. Don't think that just because you're a revered and respected organization, you're above the law. And for the drivers that also disregard traffic laws and common courtesy: if you really want to give that badly, you can always visit the MDA website and donate there. Or look up their number in the phone book. Or heck, call the fire department and to get MDA contact info!

Blah. That's the end of my rant for today. I think I could give Nick a run for his money in the rant department. Maybe it's his fault, his rant mode from yesterday rubbed off on me ;-)

Mondays

What is it about Mondays that people dread so much? Aside from signaling the end of the weekend, which is probably the most obvious answer ;-P But really-- why do Mondays get such a bad rap?

I logged into Facebook to find several friend statuses all in a row, and all to the effect of "I don't do Mondays". Two of them made reference to the Bangles' famous "Manic Monday" song. Others expressed bleariness at the early hour. All brought to mind images of Garfield, loathe to get out of bed in the morning, especially Monday morning. Which, to be fair, was how I was this morning-- but then again, that's how I am EVERY morning, regardless of the day.

Monday's much-lamented arrival brings to mind scenes from "Office Space" and the annoying "someone's got a case of the Mondays!" co-worker. As if it were an awful, contagious disease.

Me? As I said above, I just don't do mornings, period. But aside from that, I actually like Mondays to a degree. I like that it's the beginning of a brand new week, a fresh start with the entire week at my feet, full of possibilities and accomplishments. I like that I'm somewhat refreshed after a restful (well, as restful as a 4-year-old will allow!) weekend, and not dragging like I am on Thursday and Friday. As much as I hate mornings, by comparison it is far easier to get up on Monday morning than on Friday morning, by which point the week's weariness has caught up. But most of all, I like that I am getting back into a routine. You know me-- I crave order and routine and abhor spontaneity and chaos. Monday signals the start of another week of regular, set schedules. I thrive in that.

And to the Bangles, I would say: if anything, it's Fridays that are manic due to the rush of trying to get things done before the weekend. Well... early morning hours aside, of course ;-)

Don't get me wrong-- I look forward to Friday's end and the weekend as much as the next person. But Mondays... just aren't that horrendous and dreadful to me.

So how are you? How is/was your Monday?

Furry Caterpillar

After being rudely awakened by one of those recorded spam phone calls this morning, the family and I trooped down to the clubhouse of our apartment complex to enjoy some free breakfast. We ate cheese, fruit and pastries in the warm sun of the pool patio. While Todd played in the adjacent playground, I suddenly spied something small and brown crawling VERY fast along the ground! I crowded in for a closer look, wondering what it was-- a centipede? Todd provided the answer: "A caterpillar!" I watched in fascination as he crawled rapidly across the playground and disappeared into the bushes. He was brown and furry and looked like a little cactus, but the cutest part of all was his big, black buggy eyes! He looked just like the star of the famous children's book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (except he was dark brown instead of green):



Cuter still? The way his head moved around as he took in the surroundings, figuring out the best way to navigate over the grass (no small obstacle course for such a tiny creature!) He looked just like a little dog, sniffing his way around as he explored the giant world around him.

Then... I decided I wanted to take a closer look at this little critter, so I got a leaf and placed it in his way, forcing him to crawl on it. I lifted it, examined the bug, and then-- he slipped and fell OFF the leaf and onto the grass, where he lay perfectly still! I only hope he was playing dead (like roly polys do) and wasn't really knocked out by the fall! Grass is soft, but who knows what it feels like to a little insect. I felt bad. Poor little guy! I hope he's okay. Allan has decided not to let me mess around with nature anymore. He has a point. We humans are notorious for upsetting the balance of nature-- from interrupting a tiny caterpillar's journey and dropping him, to polluting the oceans and destroying wildlife homes. What a shame. Animals are such fascinating creatures.

I hope the little caterpillar finally got up and made his way to wherever he was going. He was the cutest insect I'd ever seen, especially when taking on his dog-like antics. And I still think he's cuter now than when he will morph into a butterfly later on. Butterflies are cool and pretty, but they are not "awwwww!" cute :-D

Been ages...

... since I've posted here, and no wonder! Things have been going at full speed since I last wrote.

It started with our church's Thanksgiving potluck dinner. Allan turned a vegetable dish into his faux-risotto masterpiece-- cooking a bunch of different veggies and then adding a touch of rice and cream to it. Delicious! :-9 The evening was filled with fun and laughter as we played games and enjoyed good food with good company. At our table was the former CFO of our company, back when it was still a small startup. Small world!

The next day I delved into a short week at work, but it turned out to be one of the longest, as my only 2 colleagues in my sub-group were both out on vacation at the same time, so I was more or less filling in 3 shoes. Fortunately no major problems arose :-) Still, it was an interesting challenge, and a good gauge to see how much I'd learned this past year. Could I handle being on my own for a few days? Well, so far so good :-)

I was more than ready for Thanksgiving Thursday to roll around and just RELAX during the 4-day weekend. We did our usual-- celebrating at my sister-in-law's house with all of Allan's family. Todd apparently observed Aunt Debbie bustling about in the kitchen with nary a sight of Uncle Ron about, for when Uncle Ron tried to kid him about being the one to do all the work, Todd set him straight: "Uncle Ron didn't do anything! Aunt Debbie did everything!"

As much as I enjoyed the break, I was definitely looking forward to going back to work and resuming our daily routine again. You know me-- I crave order and routine, and thrive in it. So Monday began as it always does... except this time I found Todd a karate class! I'd been making phone calls a couple weeks ago, never finding anything suitable-- most of the kiddie lessons were during work hours, or else they were really far away (far away from an SB perspective, that is :-P). On a whim, I called one place whose website I hadn't previously been able to access-- and what do you know, they are located right NEXT DOOR to Todd's after-school care program, and starts at a reasonable hour! We visited and Todd did remarkably well, attempting to participate as much as he could, and even raising his hand and volunteering for a demonstration at the end! Here's to more successful lessons in the future!

Talking to my mother-in-law during Thanksgiving made me realize that I forgot to update everyone on the washer/dryer situation. It FINALLY got stacked! I actually printed out 3 pages of calendars to jot down notes on when I called and when things happened. I should blog it one day, just so you can see how crazily it stretches out over 3 whole months. But in a nutshell: we ordered the set on Sep 14, it arrived and was installed on Sep 26, and that's when the stacking adventures began. When did it finally get stacked? Nov 8. That's right-- nearly 2 months after we initially ordered it!

I got a treat in the mail yesterday-- thank you, Kendra, for the lovely card and the cute turtle bola necklace! I love them! And I'm sorry for ruining your careful handiwork by undoing the bow on the card :-( The picture of the Muppet threw me off, I kept thinking it was a real card instead of cardboard support, and the fact that I wrestled for ages to get all the bows undone didn't alert me that MAYBE they should've stayed tied up? Silly me!

One last note-- does anyone know what the going rate for a babysitter is? Our holiday party is coming up in a week, and we're thinking of hiring Todd's primary caregiver at day care to watch him while we're out. He (the caregiver) is okay with the idea, but we haven't finalized details. Obviously he's trained/experienced since he *works* at an after-school facility, which would warrant higher pay than the teenager next door... and I'm aware rates would fluctuate wildly from the rural backwoods to the busy big city, but... what do you think constitutes a fair rate?

This and that

I've been quite remiss in my blogging, haven't I! It's been crazy busy here, and I feel as though I barely have time to stop and catch my breath. Now the holidays are approaching and it's going to get even madder for a while, as it always does. I realized I haven't provided many personal updates. Not that there's much to tell!

Todd got his first report card as we had our first parent-teacher conference this week. He's doing fine, gets along well with his classmates, and is starting to come out of his shell a little more.

Gas prices have been dropping nicely-- I hear it's below $2 in some parts of LA. I've never seen prices dip so fast! One station I keep my eye on frequently was changing their sign almost every day this past couple weeks! Let's hope it soon translates to lower prices in the stores, too.

I've joined the choir at church and have been having fun practicing Christmas carols with our little group. Sometimes I'm the only tenor, as the other two guys will occasionally prefer bass, depending on the song. Despite our small size, though, I think we sound pretty decent singing a capella. This year we're also trying something a little ambitious-- the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. My head has been filled with Christmas tunes a little earlier this year!

This weekend promises to be a busy one-- along with the usual chores/errands, we've got a (surprise) party to attend on Saturday, and then Thanksgiving potluck with our church on Sunday. Allan shall be hard at work in the kitchen, preparing our dishes :-)

Next weekend brings the usual festivities and seeing our families in LA as we celebrate Thanksgiving at Ron and Debbie's. Then a holiday party at work, and preparations for Christmas!

Christmas shopping is never an easy task, but this year, with all my online perusals, I discovered a website that makes your shopping easier. It's called Kaboodle, and you can enter the URL of just about any shopping website and it will extract key information and keep it in a list for you. It's been great for organizing potential gifts from a variety of stores.

One store in particular garnered lots of browsing by me last night: Lush! I would never have heard of it had it not been for Jenna sending me some of their soap a year ago. I spied some interesting gift sets there. So... thanks, Jenna, for introducing me to some really unique bath items!

Back to the grind... end of year means annual eval time at work, and all the fun paperwork that entails!

Is it time to move yet?

I think it is no secret that I ABHOR wind. Every year in fall the Santa Anas whip through southern California, leaving me feeling dry, staticky, dusty and miserable. Give me rain or snow any day over wind! But really, the worst of it is that the combination of gusty winds and the dry desert climate of So Cal makes the perfect recipe for wild fires.

Last summer, the Zaca Fire (which broke out about 40 miles north of where we live) burned for nearly 2 months. It was one of the longest-burning fires in So Cal. Ash would still be blowing in months later.

Then this past summer, there was the Gap Fire, which was REALLY close to home-- I could see the mountains behind work ablaze! The sun was not to be seen behind the haze of smoke. Air wasn't fun to breathe, either. We lost power intermittently for several days, including at work. The car wash service that comes to our company every Friday was swamped the following week, with people bringing their ash-covered cars in to be cleaned.

Fast forward to my parents' home last month, where we were getting ready for our trip to Indonesia. Allan and Todd arrived Sunday afternoon to see us off, spend the night, and then hit Disneyland the next day. My parents and I departed Sunday night, and Allan told me the story of the rest: being rousted at 6am the next morning by rescue personnel who were evacuating the area. Fortunately, my parents' house and the rest of the neighborhood survived intact-- despite the fire burning along hills that were only a couple hundred feet away! We returned home to the sight of blackened hills and black ash EVERYWHERE. That was the Marek Fire. If you scroll down the pictures and look at the map view with all the dots, my parents' home is a little below the "o" in "San Fernando". Talk about close call!

And then... there was last night. The Tea Fire broke out in Montecito, which is less than 20 miles south of where we live. Far enough away, but too close for comfort, esp given the heavy winds. We had no TV, but we could peek out our kitchen window and see the faraway hills burning. In fact, we only initially learned about it by reading local friends' Facebook statuses! Wonderful thing, this here Interwebs ;-) Pray for winds to die down today so the risk of the fire spreading way out of control is minimized.

So yeah. I'm sick of winds. I'm sick of fires, ash and smoky air. Are we ready to move yet? ;-P

Veteran's Day ruminations

Today is Veteran's Day, and I'm at work. I got to reminiscing a bit about my Army days, especially as I was organizing my online photo albums last night. And I thought today would be a perfect day to re-write one of my old blog posts from nearly 3 years ago, when some friends asked me about my time in the military. The original entry took the form of a FAQ, I've decided to re-write it in more of a story format:

My story begins with a hint of curiosity more than anything else. My senior year in high school, I made friends with some of the JROTC cadets, and they kept persuading me to try it out. Since I was about to graduate, I figured I'd give it a spin when I started college. The following year, I enrolled in the UCLA Army ROTC progam, and things just sort of blossomed from there.

I don't know how many of you have read Colin Powell's autobiography, but in it, he says that he felt rather aimless in college, when the cadets in uniform on campus caught his eye. He decided to try it out, and found that it was not only something he enjoyed, but excelled at.

Well, it's pretty much the same thing with me. I found it was something I really enjoyed and became good at. But more than that, all that military and leadership training really helped bring me out of my shell.

After finishing my 4 years of ROTC, I received my commission into the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and after a few months of Officer's Basic Course at Ft. Gordon, GA, I spent the remainder of my 4 years of active duty stationed in Mannheim, Germany. (My subsequent 4 years were spent in the IRR-- Individual Ready Reserve).

It was an experience like no other. The military possesses a unique culture. The importance of teamwork and effective team-building was brought home to me every single day, since that's a large part of what makes our armed forces so great. The camaraderie and close bonds formed between you and the people in your unit, the immense pride in the work you do, the limitless opportunities for self-development and self-improvement-- all are things you rarely find anywhere else, and things I cherish.

It was also a great opportunity to go back to my birth country and see old family friends, as well as tour the rest of nearby Europe.

As I mentioned, I've always been very much an introvert, and still am-- but am more outgoing and sociable because of my military experience. But beyond merely the social aspect, I also gained skills that have proven useful anywhere, including a civilian career. Like planning, organizing, public speaking, training/teaching, and being adaptable to sudden changes.

It is also thanks to the jobs I held that I began to discover where my strengths and interests lie. The job I enjoyed most was that of the battalion Adjutant, which is akin to Human Resources in the civilian world. Some of you know that I mapped out our last family vacation on Excel spreadsheets. That is how much I love planning and organizing little details like that. I also discovered how much I enjoyed the training aspect of every Army officer's job, something that was reinforced during my subsequent years as a teaching assistant at UCSB.

On a lighter note, it is also thanks to the military that I now refuse to participate in any form of hiking or camping or anything that involves the raw outdoors. Mother Nature and I simply do not get along. And I firmly believe that the term "run for fun" is the ultimate of oxymorons. Eight years of "camping" and running miles at oh-dark-thirty is enough to get such crazy activities out of my system for the rest of my life ;-)

So here I am. No more waking up at the crack of dawn. No more digging my car out of snow on wintry German days. No more pulling my hair up every morning. No more 10-12 hour days. No more 3:30am alert calls and no more overnight staff duty. No more uniforms. No more morning formation. In a way, though, I miss the daily, predictable routine.

It's a world apart from combat boots to scruffy sneakers.

Happy Veteran's Day.

Political Friday Five

It's Friday and with the country still caught up in a post-election euphoria (or dismay if you're amongst the 48% "minority" in California), I thought it appropriate to post an election/politics-themed Friday Five.

Now, you all know me and know that I don't, as a rule, do politics. So the questions below are rather light-hearted in nature, although if any of them spark interesting discussions, that would be cool, too :-) Thanks to Deuce and Allan for being the inspiration behind a couple of the questions. And yes, I realize #5 is a sort of cop-out, but I really do want to hear from you!

Here goes:

1. Where we you when the Tuesday's historic election results were announced?
2. Who did you vote for the first time you were eligible to vote?
3. Do you have any political stances you feel strongly about?
4. What's your favorite (or least favorite) politician quote?
5. Submit your thought-provoking election/politics-related question here. What's on your mind these days? What wacky question would you like to pose?

1. We have no TV (well we have a television but no cable service) in our apartment, so Allan and I spent the evening refreshing our web browsers on various news sites. About the time the polls on the West Coast were closing, though, was Todd's bedtime. I was in the midst of snuggling with the little man, doing our usual nighttime routine, when Allan snuck into the bedroom and whispered "He won". It made me realize just how effective seeing other people (i.e. on TV) affects our own reactions. We saw/heard no cheers of jubilation, so we experienced our own quiet elation in the privacy of our own home.

2. I turned in 18 in 1995, so I wasn't eligible to vote until the 1996 election-- the three-way showdown between Clinton, Dole and Perot. I voted for Clinton.

3. Remember how I once blogged about my sadness at seeing live animals at an Asian supermarket? It got worse once I actually visited an Asian country. I won't go into the details here (save it for another entry-- I know, I'm always saying that!) but you can imagine how awful I felt for the poor trapped live animals. I find the treatment of animals and the blatant disregard for their welfare deplorable, whether it's inhumane farm conditions or neglecting your pets. Just as deplorable is human beings' treatment of other human beings, whether it's outright torture or ignoring the starving masses. It is something I will never understand, something I feel very strongly about, and something that touches my cold cold heart like no other issue. Animal rights and human rights.

4. I don't know of a whole lot of (in)famous politician quotes, but I do remember my favorite from the Simpsons. This is the one where the aliens Kang and Kodos invade earth and take over the bodies of Dole and Clinton during the campaign:

My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom. -- Kodos (as Clinton) gives a speech, "Treehouse of Horror VII"

5. I've supplied #3. 1 and 2 were from Deuce and 4 was from Allan. What's next? :-)

Rich vs Poor in a Third World Country

I logged onto Facebook this morning and was greeted with a slew of friend statuses that reflected today's election: some were neutral and merely encouraging us to go and vote, but many more made their stances clear. The plethora of donated statuses for Obama and No on Prop 8, as well as the proliferation of friends with "Hussein" as their middle name was quite a phenomenon to behold (OK, enough of the "p"s). Me? I cast my vote last week, mailing it in on Thursday. No long lines to deal with today :-D I have voted :-)

Now, everyone knows that to keep things civilized at a gathering, one of the key topics about which to avoid discussion is politics. But as election day drew nearer, it was inevitable no matter where you went. It was interesting to hear everyone's take on why they were voting the way they were. There were a few nutcases out there, but by and large most people stuck to the rational way of doing things: comparing each candidate's policies on various issues and determining whether they agreed with it or not.

Obviously, foremost on everyone's minds right now is the economy. I'm not going to launch a discussion of one candidate's ideas for reform over the other's, but thinking about our economic woes made me think of how other countries are faring. Particularly countries like Indonesia.

One of the most eye-opening experiences during my trip was driving through the streets of Surabaya, one of the largest cities. Like many big cities, it was crowded and polluted. Traffic was insane-- but I could write a whole separate blog entry on that... suffice it to say that there's no point in having traffic laws, as anyone who remotely adheres to them will not survive any length of commute. It was not unusual to see small piles of trash burning on the side of remoter roads. I was surprised to see men sitting along the riverbanks fishing, as I wondered how anything could live in that murky water. Though I've seen my share of dirty and polluted cities in the US, this was different somehow. And I think the difference stemmed largely from the juxtaposition of rich+new with old+poor.

Everywhere I went, I marveled at how shiny new shopping malls could rise into the air and then, literally (and you know that is not a term I use loosely) next to the building would be a dilapidated shack with a weary shopkeeper peddling his goods. Clean and modern buildings surrounded by slum. Every house that was remotely decent was fenced in by iron gates. There was no division of "poor neighborhood" vs. "rich neighborhood", unlike here, where the ghetto tends to be isolated away from 5th Avenue (and vice versa), not interspersed with it. The street dividers and the riverbanks (despite the dirty water) were lined with well-kept trees and plants, yet they were dotted every so often with makeshift homes made out of rusty corrugated metal and clotheslines strung between trees. Some folks weren't even that lucky, and simply slept on the ground.

More heartbreaking still was the sight of beggars by the side of the road. A haggard woman holding her baby in one arm and stretching her other arm out for a few coins (which aren't even worth pennies to us)-- in the middle of the road, not the side, where she's exposed to maximum traffic. A man with crutches and a lame leg, unable to find work anywhere. Saddest of all was a small child not much bigger than Todd, going around from car to car as we were stopped at a red light, hands clasped together in the universal "please" beg, eyes searching hopefully for a heart not yet hardened by years of sights like this. I wanted to cry.

The smallest bill denomination in Indonesia is 1000 Rupiah. Anything smaller than that is in coin form. We shocked our friends/family when we'd roll down the window and give someone a 1000-Rupiah bill. I'm sure the beggars were shocked as well. They are used to getting coins. But the thing is... 1000 Rupiah is worth only 10 cents to us. Can you imagine tossing a beggar in the United States a mere quarter? You'd probably get cussed at. The poor in Indonesia, on the other hand, are so downtrodden, they are exceedingly grateful for anything you might be able to toss their way.

It is no secret that there's a sizable gap between the rich and the poor. But in Indonesia that gap seems infinitely wider. Let's not even talk about rich, the gap between the *middle class* and the poor is nearly incomprehensible at times.

In contrast, our own panhandlers look fat and rich by comparison. Yes, they have it hard, and I don't mean to downplay the plight of the American poor and homeless, but they have so many more resources at their disposal. There are soup kitchens and homeless shelters and government welfare. There are far more well-meaning upper-and-middle-class people with good hearts trying to do something about it-- donating to charity, volunteering their time, doing something other than just driving by and ignoring it. True, these measures are far from perfect, but it's *something*, and it's far more than the homeless in Indonesia could ever imagine.

As I wind this down I get the feeling that none of this will truly come as a surprise to any of you. I am certain you've read similar accounts elsewhere about other countries. I have, too, in years past. But there's nothing quite like seeing it up front to really drive home the disparity between rich and poor in a country where the government doesn't have its people's best interests at heart. There's nothing quite like seeing it vividly in front of you to break your heart and make you truly appreciate all you have. For all the moaning we do about things going downhill in our (modern, developed, Western civilized) countries, we have a lot to be grateful for. And I hope that my heart will never cease to break at sad plights like the ones I've seen (and I know I haven't seen the worst of it!), and I hope yours never will, either.

Happy Halloween (and Friday Five)

Wow, October's almost over. This year has flown by fast. I'm sitting at my desk wearing a puffy orange jacket with Allan's orange tank top over it. On the tank top are black pieces of paper cut out in the shape of a jack-o-lantern, complete with a π-symbol nose and a headband with stem and leaves... and "3.14159" written on each leaf. Yup, I decided to go with my Pumpkin Pi(e) costume. Allan donned the gifts I brought him from Indonesia-- Hawaiian shirt and long sarong, even his new wallet matches! It was hilarious to see him shuffle along, unable to take the long strides he normally does due to the confines of the wrapped sarong :-D

Pictures forthcoming-- check back for updates!
EDIT: As usual, I'm way too lazy to crop and edit and upload a photo, but I've posted them (at long last!) to Myspace and Facebook. I think all of my readers have an account on one or the other (or both), so you should be able to view the pics there :-)

In the meantime, here's today's Halloween-themed Friday Five:

1. What is your favorite scary movie?
2. What is your favorite Halloween treat?
3. Do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events?
4. How did you celebrate this time of year when you were a child?
5. How about now/this year?

1. I don't, as a rule, like horror films, but I did enjoy "The Ring". And if they count, all those "Scary Movie" spoofs were pretty funny!

2. Tootsie Rolls!

3. Not really. See #1. I don't really like having my heart leap out of its chest... in a situation I knowingly placed myself in! I leave those for the brave of heart :)

4. My mom would make me a costume (or I'd whip one together based on my own weird imagination-- one time I dressed up as a "clown magician"-- I wore a starry cape, put red circles on my cheeks and nose with my mom's lipstick, and carried around a magic wand and a mini pumpkin) and I'd go trick-or-treating with my friends around the neighborhood. Pretty simple, pretty standard :-)

5. Let's see-- Todd gets a harvest party at school today, Allan and I are simply wearing our costumes to work (I hear there's candy around here!) and our apartment complex is holding a Halloween pizza party this evening, where all 3 of us will go, have fun, and return home in time to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. And then... we feast on our candy goodies :-9

How about you?