Thursday, August 17, 2006
It was an anticipitation-filled day but the husband is home now, safe and sound. Unfortunately his luggage is not. It figures. This trip marked the first time he’d ever checked luggage and now it’s gone, without a trace. Hopefully Finnair will find it soon.
In other news, I have been such a slackass about getting us out of the house lately. Last night I fully intended to go to my friend Lani’s birthday BBQ/party, but wound up taking the little man to dinner at Evergreen instead…and then heading straight home. And there are all sorts of other events coming up. Saturday night - a friend’s going away party. Sunday is the husband’s grandpa’s birthday party, and the Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival at Como. Monday is music and movies in the park with Low (and Cary Grant). And later in the week The Flaming Lips/Sonic Youth show at the State Fair. I guess I’ll just have to be determined, and not allow myself to be sidetracked by laziness, or by my rediscovery of this online Scrabble game.
Bonus: Looks like Neil Gaiman is sharing the husband’s troubles, and they even passed through the same airport today.
Today is our third wedding anniversary…and the second one we’ve spent apart. Last year I’d taken the little man to San Francisco, but the husband stayed behind as he had to work. This year he’s in Helsinki. Working (or, as he told me this morning, “being paid to traipse about Europe”). Next year I’ll try to top that. Perhaps I’ll head to Beijing. The year after? Well, it’ll be his turn. Maybe someone can fly him to the moon.
After a long yet uneventful journey, the husband arrived safely in Finland. He attempted to call me but Skype doesn’t play nice with our landline’s security screen settings. And when he tried my cell phone the connection kept cutting out - so that I barely heard every fifth word or so. We wound up going old school and using talk. It felt more like 1996 than 2006. But it was oddly comforting and, dare I say, sort of romantic-like.
Other than the husband’s adventures, it’s been a fairly quiet weekend. The little man had a decent swimming lesson yesterday, and I was able to try out my nerdy new goggles. While they performed well they did draw some odd looks from passers by (but hey, I’m used to that sort of thing). Today we dropped by my folks’ house for a visit. The little man knows my Dad has a GameCube, so he brought along his latest obsession - Lego Star Wars. My Dad is, essentially, a big little kid so they had a good time with it. Sadly I think they bonded more over gameplay today than they ever have through other means. Typical.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Today a co-worker and I went out to grab some lunch. On the way we stopped by the eye doctor, so I could pick up my new prescription swimming goggles (yes, I am Queen of the Nerds, all other nerdlings shall bow before me). When we walked in the dude who works the counter asked if this co-worker was “my boy”. At first I interpreted this as “boyfriend” or some such variation on that theme. But a few further remarks made it clear that he meant as in “son”. Sure, this co-worker is a bit younger than I am, but no, I was not bearing children when I was eight years old, thank you very much. And way to make my day, guy.
Nerves are also on edge, what with the husband’s impending international flight. Rationally I know it will probably be just fine, but still. And aside from angst over the added risk, there’s the more practical matter of plain old additional hassle. The man generally travels light, carrying a single backpack, which eliminates the need to check luggage. But he is planning to bring some sketchy substances, like shower gel and toothpaste, so he’ll have to check a bag after all. And I wonder if security will make him take a few puffs off of his asthma inhalers at the gate? Sigh.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
I’ve waited until it was official…but the husband is going to Finland. Sure, it’s for work. But the only place I’ve ever been sent for work was Faribault, MN. When I first heard the news I thought maybe I could tag along, you know, lend the husband some much-needed moral support. But then I found out how expensive the airfare is. Initially Travelocity gave me fares in the $2200+ ballpark. Now that it’s closer to departure I tried lastminute.com - but it’s still over $2100. And that’s $2100 I shouldn’t be spending just now. Besides, the little man would be completely heartbroken if we both went off without him. It’s bad enough as it is. I tried to be clear about it - when I told him that we’d be taking the husband to the airport on Saturday. But his wishful thinking got in the way and he assumed we’d all be flying away on some grand adventure together. Not this time, dearie.
On to more practical matters. It turns out the power adapters we bought for our laptops, for our trip to Iceland, will work in Finland. Score. And the husband asked his boss how he should dress when meeting with the clients. A button down shirt with jeans is acceptable (except that the husband possesses neither) but his boss suggested he check out www.Hel-Looks.com for more extravagant Helsinki fashions. That only makes me want to go that much more. And I can’t even live vicariously through the man. He doesn’t own a camera. I offered mine, but he has politely declined.
Bonus: I’ve seen these USB drives before, but a co-worker went down to the Wizard World Chicago con last weekend and was able to handle them in person, and brought back some promo materials from their booth. Too cute. Also too spendy. Sigh.
This morning I got out of my pajamas for the first time since Thursday afternoon. But only so I could get the little man to the bus stop without looking like a complete slob. I’m still running hot and cold, simultaneously. My stomach is sour and my sense of taste is shot. I’m off coffee. And my lungs are burning. At least the whole of my body no longer aches like one giant bruise. That’s progress, I guess.
I attempted to work from home today, in between lie downs, and did manage to get a bit done. But I missed the ambiance and communal vibe of my workplace. It’s the little things. We usually tune each other out when one of us is on the phone, but last week one small snippet reached our collective consciousness: “So basically he was just pulling my pigtails?” No idea what it was in reference to but it made us all laugh.
A few gleanings from the last several days:
I’m down sick with a head cold and have been in a fog all day. Even lost my voice for a bit this morning, which seriously confused the little man. I was feebly gesturing and croaking, trying to indicate that he should go downstairs to eat breakfast. Thankfully the husband stepped in. He packed the lad’s lunch and drove him to the bus stop. I am in no shape to be driving. And since the guys appear to be healthy I suspect I picked this crud up the other day when I went to the clinic (for an unrelated health issue). Grrr. The weekend is officially shot. We’ve had to cancel plans we made for this evening. But it’s not the end of the world, even though I’ve been on a post-apocalyptic kick all week. Monday night I watched Shaun of the Dead. Wednesday night I watched 28 Days Later. And last night I started re-reading my trade paperbacks of Y: The Last Man. I’d say the Evil Dead movies should be next but I have to admit, I don’t own them. Perhaps I’ll just stare at the ceiling some more until I drift back to sleep…
It’s been a day of firsts. First day of August. First break in this heatwave in quite a while. First real rain in ages. First time I took the little man to Intelligent Nutrients (for vegan cake, and tea for me). And the first eye exam for the little man. The good news - he was fantastic during the appointment, totally listened to the doc and followed her instructions, and it turns out he has 20/20 vision. The bad news? He was so disappointed. He really really wanted eyeglasses.
Unfortunately it’s still hot enough inside the house that the little man is camped out in our room (with its window a/c unit), crashing on his old toddler bed mattress. As he was drifting off tonight he asked “who took a bite out of that apple?” It took me a moment to get his meaning. I thought he might be talking in his sleep, but he was actually looking up at the top of my glowing powerbook. Nope, nothing wrong with his eyesight.
My last little man anecdote for now…after spending a night on his grandma’s sailboat the lad has decreed that, when we sell our current house, we should move into a houseboat. But we live in Minnesota. It gets cold in the winter. His solution? When it’s cold we can live in a treehouse. Another local yokel came up with a different idea…a riverboat condominium project, one that relocates to warmer climes over the winter. Weird.
Note: A number of folks have asked why I’m not blogging about Lebanon. That’s a tough one. This isn’t a political blog. While I feel very passionately about many issues, I also feel a sense of futility…combined with an inability to articulate my positions as well as I’d like. And today, after I spent a while catching up on some news coverage, I realized my jaw was aching from clenching my teeth. For now I’ll just point out a few of the folks who can articulate this complicated mess more clearly. Top of the list, Robert Fisk. And a great story in the NY Times, describing how far Lebanon had come in recent years, and showing just how much they’ve lost and how surreal this all is for them. And this, a tale of two friends - one from Tel Aviv and the other from Beirut. Lastly, the American University of Beirut Medical Center is running out of fuel for their generators. The most vulnerable will suffer.
Like one of the writers, who is also observing from a safe(r) distance, said “my own despair is more of the existential angst variety” but it is all so very overwhelming and disheartening.
Last Thursday night I set out to retrieve my precious powerbook. I thought the little man would be overjoyed to join me on this mission. But he quickly corrected this erroneous assumption. When I suggested that maybe we all three could go to the Apple store together the lad gave me a look. Then he slowly, politely replied - not just for himself, but speaking up for the husband as well - with “we’d love to, but we can’t. We have to work.” In this case, the “work” actually meant playing. Playing the newly arrived Lego Star Wars video game, ordered by the husband. Upstaged again.
The weekend wasn’t terribly exciting. Too hot to be so. Our lives are being lived in the two rooms of the house with a/c units, while we let restaurants do most of the cooking (almost like Manhattanites). I lounged about reading comic books in bed instead of going to a party I’d planned to attend. Together we watched an excessive number of movies, at the theater and on DVD, and played a few card games. And the male 2/3 of the household played video games, of course. When Lego Star Wars grew stale, Pikmin 2 and Super Monkey Ball were there to pick up the slack. I do hope this alleged cool front comes through. I think we could all do with a bit of sunshine and fresh air.
Yesterday morning I left my brand new lip balm in the car, in the little cubby below the emergency brake. When I was leaving work in the afternoon I foolishly reached for it. Upon popping open the cap I was sprayed with hot wax. The tube had completely liquefied. Where it splashed against my skin it quickly cooled and crusted over. But where it came in contact with the black steering wheel (that had been baking in the sun all day) it remained slick, which made driving a bit of a challenge…and made my hands smell peculiarly of lemon and lime.
Like many people I have a pretty decent internal chronometer. Without a timepiece handy I can usually guess the approximate time. But the other night, when I was re-reading one of my favorite books, I was way off my game. I started to get tired and thought it would be a good time to turn in. I figured it was about 10:30pm or so. It was 1:07am. Doh.
Tomorrow is System Administrator Appreciation Day so the husband is taking the day off. Yay! He deserves it. It’s also my last Friday off, so we plan to spend the day together. And the evening too, because the little man is staying overnight with his grandparents. As usual, though, we’ll have this precious time off with only vague ideas of how to use it. The movie we both want to see is opening this weekend, but not in the Twin Cities. So we’ll have to come up with another selection we can agree upon. I’m sure we’ll eat out. Somewhere. But that’s about it. It becomes more difficult to be spontaneous when you are old and married with kids and junk. Suggestions would be most welcome.
Bonus: Camera Obscura is playing tonight at the Varsity Theater. But Superhopper’s CD release show is also tonight, just across the river from us, on the MMAA’s patio. So torn.
Plus: Shoot, I just spotted this article: West Siders lobby at St. Paul City Hall. I’m a West Sider and would have gladly joined yesterday’s protest against gentrification and unchecked development. One of the developer dudes actually turned up on our doorstep, on a subzero day last winter, feebly attempting to rally area residents to support this ghastly project. Even though we plan to move out of the neighborhood next year, I hope this atrocity doesn’t come to fruition.
And: I miss my powerbook.
