Things to Do When You're Bored

Today was the first day of winter break, and the kids were bored. Bella literally lay on the kitchen floor, whining and crying about how bored she was. It was pathetic.

So I suggested we make a movie. This is what we came up with. It took us about three hours.

Sofia's Piano Recital

Sofia had a piano recital today at school. Luckily Cristina was able to get off of work so she could be there (and tape it!). The name of the piece is The Great Smoky Mountains by David Carr Glover. I rarely hear Sofia practice piano at home anymore, so I was amazed at how accomplished she sounds! Guess she's getting enough practice in school every day and at her weekly private lesson (which she partially "pays" for by babysitting the piano teacher's children every week).

https://youtu.be/p7RJpfOro24

Best for Babes

Feel free to click on the above ad to visit a site about one of my favorite topics...breastfeeding! Enjoy! (Full disclosure: we get a free magnet for posting their ad on my blog.)

Apologies to Liza Minelli

We were talking about the worst Christmas recordings of all time, and my ultimate, nails-on-the-chalkboard, can't-turn-the-radio-to-a-different-station-fast-enough winner is a certain version of Jingle Bells. I always thought it was Liza Minelli. Sofia has heard about this awful version for a while, and from sheer curiosity wants to hear it. So I looked for it on YouTube, and found to my shock that it's not Liza at all! It's Barbara Streisand!

Sorry, Liza, to besmirch your reputation, and I write this post to clear your name.

It seems counterintuitive to post a song that I hate on my blog, but it's kind of like when you take a swig of spoiled milk and in describing how bad it is, you solicit others to taste it for their confirmation. (Hmm, I remember an SNL sketch about that...I'll have to look for it.)

Another Reason to Love Tebow

Child Abuse Takes Many Forms

(Kudos on this Santa's real beard, though. Nice!
BTW, I don't know this child...just came across the pic on the web.)

The Perceptive Soul

Bella loves to sing. She goes to a school where singing is a part of the normal day, so it's no surprise that she often breaks out in song. Yesterday, we were returning home after shopping at Costco. Sitting at a red light, Bella started singing away in the back seat. I didn't think much of it, but then I listened to the words and a thought struck me. The particular traffic light we were stopped at was at the I-10 overpass and Baseline Road. Almost always, a homeless person stands at that corner, asking for help. We never give money to panhandlers, but sometimes we give them food. For example, there have been times when I picked up a pizza from Costco, and stuck a slice on a paper plate to give to the person standing there at that corner. Alex and I once saved a taco for the guy there after we got a bite to eat while running errands. If we have any fruit in the car, we'll slip the person an apple or a banana, or a bag of carrots. Whatever we have handy. Anyway, Bella wasn't consciously aware of where we were stopped. And no homeless person stood there that day. Fascinating, then, that this is the song she started singing:

There was a man who wandered Into the cold dark night. He had no cloak, no shoes, no bread Indeed, he had no light. O come, dear man, here's some bread for you It will keep you warm on this cold dark night.

Waldorf-people often refer to the Waldorf curriculum connecting to the child's soul. And I've kind of believed it. But kind of in the same way I believe a statement like "this school prepares students for college." Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. But Bella's little song, spontaneously erupting at a location where someone needy has received help from us on many occasions, definitely gave me pause. And a few chill bumps too. By God, there might be something to this Waldorf thing after all! Cristina wasn't surprised when I told her about it. It made perfect sense to her. However, the song is from Michaelmas, which was back in September. So it's not even a song that she's been singing lately in school. Kind of freaky! I'm ashamed to admit it, because people who drive distracted with their cell phones are a pet peeve of mine, but I used my phone while driving to capture her song before she stopped singing it. The quality is very poor, but I just had to document it and my phone was all I had.

https://youtu.be/3qN3ESSpMTg

Arizona Middle School All-State Band Festival

Just got this email from Sofia's trumpet teacher:

I am pleased to inform you that Sofia has been selected to represent ASA in the Arizona Middle School All-State Band Festival. Her selection was a result of her hard work and high level of talent on the trumpet. ASA is very proud of having Sofia be a part of the band program, and we hope that Sofia can participate in the event.

The event takes place on Saturday, March 13th and it is an all day event. Basically, the All-State band members get together in the morning and have several rehearsals during the day, and have a concert on Saturday evening. It is an excellent way for Sofia to interact with other talented students from different areas of Arizona.

Please let me know ASAP if Sofia will be able to attend this event. Thank you again, and congratulations to Sofia and to the parents for supporting her musical endeavours.

Sleeping with cats...an update

Last night, Bella ran a fever. I had a headache, so I got ready for bed with the kids, intending to fall asleep with Bella. We went to bed early, about 6:15. As we snuggled into the covers, Cash joined us as he often does. First he crawled up in between Bella and me. Then he stepped up on to my chest and curled up. And then finally he stepped down and curled up on Bella. As he was doing that, I whispered to Bella, "Cash is lying on you!" And she whispered back, "I know! It must be because I'm almost 5 and a half. Right, Papa?"

Thanks, Cash. You rock.

The Middle Child

Bella and Alex have a trundle bed: Alex's twin bed has a twin-size mattress that pulls out from under his, like a big drawer. That's where Bella sleeps. Every night, Alex, Bella and I lie down together. I lie with Bella until she's asleep, then I quietly get up and leave. Usually Alex is still awake and he tells me goodnight as I'm going out the door.

Alex suffers from "middle child syndrome," like most middle children do from time to time. He constantly feels like Sofia gets privileges that he doesn't (she does get some, because she's 4 years older). And he often fights with Bella, partially out of resentment for the attention she gets for being the youngest. I get it.

Or do I?

Cristina is the oldest of her siblings and I am the youngest. Neither of us has experience being a middle child.

As I lay on the bed last night, Bella was having trouble falling asleep. Sometimes she lies on top of my chest, usually she snuggles into the crook of my arm. Alex, from his vantage point on his bed, watches us snuggle every night. Last night, I had a revelation about middle children. It's simple, really. But I had never really processed it before.

Middle children don't have a hard time because they are denied things that their siblings enjoy. They have a hard time because they constantly witness their siblings receiving the benefits that they once had, and will one day have. They live in this peculiar bubble of time where they no longer remember being snuggled every night, though they must witness the younger sister's snuggles with her papa. They can't think beyond the day, let alone 4 years into the future, so they take no solace in the reminder that when they are 13 years old, they too will be allowed to stay up late and watch movies with the parents on Saturday nights. They resent the treatment of their brothers and sisters precisely because they can't remember or forecast ever receiving the same treatment. And so they feel neglected, like they were left out, even though they too had their time, and will have many more delicious privileges to come.

This revelation made me want to crawl up into Alex's bed and snuggle with him, but it also made we consider another response: to emphasize the privileges that the middle child receives that the oldest and the youngest don't receive.

And if I can't think of any, I'll make some up.

I'll let you know how it works out.

Percy Jackson Trailer

As most of you know, Sofia has been a big fan of the Percy Jackson books ever since they came out. Cristina and I have read them too and liked them. The movie version of the first book is coming out in February. It's always a little scary when Hollywood makes a movie of your favorite book. You want to see it, but you also hope they don't blow it and make a crappy movie. Hollywood has the potential to sully the reputation of your book.

Luckily, everything we've seen so far looks like they've done a good job on the movie. The first regular trailer (there have been 2 teaser trailers) just came out. Take a look.



This is an exciting event for Sofia. I'm sure she'll see it several times. I've already offered to take her to it once, and then Cristina can take her to see it again. I've tried to think of a similar movie experience from my childhood, but none of the movies that I anticipated with such fan fervor had been books first. So as exciting as it was for me to see the Indiana Jones movies, or the Star Wars movies, the Percy Jackson movies are a whole other level for Sofia. She's been immersed in the Percy Jackson world for years now, has re-read all five books countless times. It's pretty special.

Black is the Color

Sofia's fall band concert was a few weeks ago. I've been bad about getting something posted, but I finally have something for you. The name of the piece is "Black is the Color." Sofia is first chair trumpet and even has a short solo at 2:28! We're so proud of Sofia. As I listened to her practice recently, the thought occurred to me that she has already surpassed my trumpet skills when I played...even when I was a high schooler in marching band. Her diligence in practicing (which I always lacked) has really paid off. Go Sofia!

https://youtu.be/KuY8Auc09Vs

Another viral video

I think videos like this appeal to me because it's the kind of goofy stuff I'd do. And cats are just funny.

The price of affection

When I lay down with Bella and Alex for bedtime, one of our cats will often join us. Usually, Ling Ling or Cash will hop up on Alex's bed and curl up with him, but sometimes one of them stays on Bella's bed. Bella always wants the cat to lie on top of her, since sometimes a cat will curl up on my chest. I tell Bella that she's too small. The cat lying on top of her would be like us lying on a bed that was too small, it just wouldn't be as comfortable. She kind of gets it, but that doesn't stop her wanting a cat to sleep on top of her.

Tonight as we were getting ready for bed, Ling Ling got on Bella's bed. Bella squeezed in beside her, and instead of Ling Ling going elsewhere, she stayed beside our heads. Bella snuggled with her in the dark, and Ling Ling purred and rubbed against Bella's head. Then, quietly but sincerely, Bella said to Ling Ling, "I'll pay you to lay on me." I wasn't sure if I heard her right, but then after a brief pause, she followed it up with "I'll pay you five quarters."

Ling Ling did not take her up on the offer, but she did stay curled up on Bella's pillow until Bella was asleep. And that was good enough.

Auto-Tune the News

The Gregory Brothers are a band (3 brothers and a spouse) well known for a series of YouTube videos, Auto-Tune the News, in which recorded voices of politicians, news anchors, and political pundits are digitally manipulated to conform to a melody, making the figures appear to sing.

For those who aren't familiar with Auto-Tune, it's an audio processor that uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It's used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed many major label pop singers to record perfectly tuned vocal tracks without the need of singing in tune. It's kind of a cheat, and in the past few years it's been used more and more in rap. In this case, Auto-Tune can even be used to make someone who isn't singing sound like they're singing.

One more interesting tidbit for my North Carolina peeps...one of the Gregory brothers, Michael, graduated from Appalachian State University.



If you like this, they have several more on YouTube.

My Rules of Trick-or Treating

As we walked the neighborhood with our two youngest on Saturday night (Sofia was at a friend's house) I reflected on Halloween and what I like about it and don't like about it.

First, I was bothered at how few houses in our neighborhood were giving out candy. Granted, we were one of them. We decided to walk the neighborhood as a family instead of someone staying back to hand out the goods. So for the first time in many years, we turned our porch lights off and locked up.

I must admit, I have a romanticized ideal of a Halloween-friendly neighborhood: almost every house would have their porch light on, and young children could happily walk from house to house, modeling their costumes and receiving a small treat. About every other house would have some kind of all-out decorations, the kind with strobe lights and fog machines. And children would travel in great flocks with clusters of parents following behind to supervise. When the youngest ones got tired, the family would head home and call it a night. That's my ideal.

My neighborhood is nice. The houses are beautiful and the neighborhood is clean and landscaped well. The houses are close enough to be perfect for trick-or-treating. Yet there were massive chunks of neighborhood with no lights on. What gives? There are many reasons why people choose not to participate, and some of them I witnessed Saturday night. I saw first-hand reminders of why the ideal Halloween night doesn't exist, and maybe never did.

Here's some of the behaviors that give trick-or-treating a bad name:

1. Kids that are too old. What age should one stop trick-or-treating? I personally think kids should follow a natural progression rather than an arbitrary cut-off. For example, when you're old enough to go to Halloween parties with friends, you're done trick-or-treating. That's generally around the beginning of high school. Once you're at that stage, it's fine to dress up and help your little brothers or sisters trick-or-treat, but no candy bag for you, teenager. There will always be plenty of candy from other sources. You can get your sugar fix without embarrassing yourself by trick-or-treating too old. Here's another rule of thumb: if your costume has the word "sexy" in it (sexy nurse, sexy milkmaid, sexy witch) you are too old to trick-or-treat!

Sexy nun? Yeah, you're cute, but don't ask me for candy.

Regardless, we always see a few kids who are obviously high school age (or, gulp, older) running around the neighborhood with bags of loot. And often they're hardly even dressed up. Which leads to my second point.

2. Lazy costuming. My mom never liked trick-or-treating because she saw it as begging. I disagree. I see it as a cultural activity that has evolved into a mutual give-and-take. The homes that choose to participate (signified by leaving the porch light on or having a few decorations) invite little ones to come by in costume. In return, the kids receive a treat. Though the phrase "trick or treat" connotes a negative consequence to not giving a treat, this has become moot over the years. Very few actually play a trick, mean or otherwise, if the house does not have a treat to offer. If the light is off, the house gets skipped. If the house runs out of candy, no harm, no foul. You move on to the next one. Some people forget the give-and-take part of the equation and think that walking around with a bag is sufficient. Or the costume is so lame or hastily scraped together that it's pathetic. Yet most candy-givers don't refuse to give candy to these un-costumed frauds because they fear retaliation. If anyone would tear up your shrubs or key your car because you refused to give them candy, it would be the 16 year old in the throwback Raiders jersey and the Scream mask. When people get fed up with this nonsense, they opt out.

3. The automotive escort. Unless you are handicapped and there is no one else to supervise your kids, get out of the damned car and walk the neighborhood with your kids. Saturday night, the biggest worry I had was if my exuberant children were going to run across a street not paying attention to the SUV slowly following it's trick-or-treaters. It's anti-social. It's lazy. And unfortunately, it's so American. From the country where people drive around a parking lot for 10 minutes to find a spot that's 50 feet closer to the store comes the practice of driving our kids house to house. To get free candy. Yes, it's gotten that bad. It was crazy how many cars there were in our neighborhood Saturday night. Not normal traffic, but people driving their kids to the houses with lights. Exceptions to the rule: strollers are fine, as are wagons for the very wee ones. But using a car or truck to facilitate a larger amount of candy at the expense of a little exercise is absurd. And what message does it teach our kids?

I thought I had a longer list, but it's really those 3 things that bug me about the current state of trick-or-treating in America. When I was a kid, the big rules were things like "carry a flashlight" and "don't eat things that aren't wrapped." But my rules are different: know when you're too old, have the decency to put a little bit of time and creativity into your costume, and walk, don't ride.

Three steps that would get us closer to the ideal Halloween night.

How it Should Have Ended

Here's another brilliant "How it should have ended."

Messin' with Sasquatch

Most of you have probably seen these Jack Links beef jerky commercials before, where smug young people happen upon Sasquatch and decide to play practical jokes on him. They always get their just deserts in the end. My kids love these. They're some of the only commercials we never get tired of watching.

This is one of the first ones we remember seeing, though this one is an extended version that I found on YouTube. I had never seen the last 10 seconds of this before today.



And now, for today's language lesson, how many of you thought I misspelled "just deserts" in the paragraph above? From the internet:

The expression just desserts is a common misspelling of the actual idiom just deserts, which simply means to receive what one deserves. It is one of the more commonly misspelled idiomatic expressions, because it uses an archaic word most people are no longer familiar with. This type of spelling error based on a mishearing of a word, or misunderstanding of its context, is often referred to as an eggcorn.

The expression just deserts is pronounced just desserts, as though using the English word for a sweet after-dinner course, dessert. Most people when they see the word desert pronounce it differently, as though it is a large arid area of land, complete with sand dunes or palm trees. This is an understandable confusion, as the alternate meaning of desert and the accompanying pronunciation as used in just deserts has not been widely used in over a hundred years. Nonetheless, the spelling just desserts is technically incorrect.

There are two words we should consider here. The first is the word desert, as in, “Lawrence of Arabia spent many years traveling the desert,” with the meaning “arid wasteland.” This word comes from the same root as the word desert, as in, “The soldier deserted his company,” with the meaning “to abandon.” The common root here is the Latin word deserere, meaning to forsake, which made its way through French and Middle English. The secondary meaning of the word, however, with a pronunciation similar to dessert comes from an entirely different root. This use of desert, as in, “He got what was coming to him -- his just deserts,” comes from the Latin deservire through the French. This sense of desert is analogous to the word deserve, which originates from the same root. The pronunciation just desserts makes much more sense if we consider the word deserve.

It should be noted that the use of desert in the sense of to deserve has been in English since the mid-13th century. In fact, the use of the phrase just deserts--with the pronunciation just desserts--is noted as early as the end of the 16th century, in the line, “Upon a pillory, that all the world may see: A just desert for such impiety.”

Many people, because of the confusion stemming from the pronunciation of just deserts that makes it sound like just desserts, have come up with their own folk etymologies and meanings for this phrase. The most common of these false origins is that just desserts refers to the reward you get at the end of your meal--your dessert--and by extension can be used metaphorically for any sort of reward at the end of a job well done. While this is an admirable attempt at explaining the meaning, the truth is much simpler. We can talk about just desserts all we want, but when one receives one’s just deserts, one gets exactly what one deserves.

So now you know! You been edumacated.

Vader foolin' around

Here's another one of my favorites...

How Star Wars should have ended

I love Star Wars, but I also love parodies of Star Wars. This one is great!

Waiting for the Lights to Dim

The glitz and trashiness of the commercials
that bombard me today,
as I sit in the darkened auditorium
waiting for my film to start,
make me remember simpler times
when I stared at a massive droopy curtain
as I waited for the lights to dim.

Instead of slides of meaningless Hollywood trivia,
my eyes fixed on a curtain
where someone had skillfully
shot a blob of chewed gum,
years ago,
and no employee had the time
or the inclination
to erect a ladder for its removal.

Instead of a corporate host
telling me how many minutes until the previews start,
my eyes watched the yellow lights on the walls,
and my eyes often tricked me
thinking the lights were starting to dim when they weren't.

My wrist too young to wear a watch,
I marked time with the pre-movie music,
thinking that at the end of this song
surely the lights would dim,
and then the next song started
and I thought surely after this one.

And now when I have paid my nine dollars
to watch, captive, the million dollar products
of Madison Avenue
before the billion dollar creations of Hollywood,
I long for the boredom of that dusty curtain
that blob of hardened gum
those tricky yellow lights that refused to dim.

New Post

I'm tired.

I'm tired of seeing my last post.

But I'm also too tired to write a proper new one.

So here's a brief post, to at least freshen my blog a bit.

Got back from Payson last night after three days of camping with other families from Alex's third grade class. Good times. Didn't see any rattlesnakes this time. Cristina saw a dead one, but that doesn't count. Got a little too cold at night for everyone's liking, but overall the weather was nice. Good crisp campfire weather.

DVR'd the Florida-LSU game and avoided hearing anything about it until I could finally watch it Sunday night. Very satisfying win, but it got me to bed late, and I've been doing my best zombie impersonation today at work. Especially hard to get back into the swing of things after having a week off for Fall break.


And now I have to go to volleyball practice, which I'm looking forward to about as much as a trip to the DMV.

Our garden is sprouting nicely. Need to post some pics of it.

And Vivien needs a bath. She's camping dirty.

10 Bad Products

I like reading a website called Listverse, that publishes interesting Top 10 lists. I thought I'd throw one on my blog, just to take a break from the usual. I made a few edits to some of the entries, but I more or less agree with all of the choices.

Top 10 Worst Products Ever

Modern life is filled with a myriad of products; many of them are useful, but many of them are junk. Unfortunately we so often buy into the idea that life is better with these junk products and billions of dollars are spent every year acquiring them. This is a list of the ten worst products in modern times.

Disposable Eating Implements

It is becoming more and more common these days for people to use throw away cups, plates, and cutlery instead of glass, china, and metal. Not only is this a ridiculous waste of money (for the sake of saving a few minutes of dish-washing time) it places a burden on our natural environment. There is no reason that children shouldn’t use glass like everyone else – they did in the old days and it didn’t kill them. Do yourself a favor, save some money and buy a real dinner set.



Disposable Razors

The razor companies have it made – they have a virtual monopoly on the shaving market and people have become so reliant on them that they no longer know how to shave without a throw-away razor. These razors use cheap blades which go blunt quickly and can’t be re-used. Prior to these razors becoming so popular, men would use a straight razor which could be sharpened as needed on a razor strop. The initial price of the razor and strop needed to be paid once in most men’s lifetimes. You can still buy straight razors (or as they are affectionately known: cutthroat razors) and it is well worth the investment.

Diet Products

There are two main types of diet products – the first are strong medications that can be very dangerous, and the others are powders, herbal pills, and drinks. At the worst end of the scale we have drinks that solidify in the stomach so you feel full without eating and at the safer end of the scale are protein drinks used as meal substitutes. The fact is, all of these products are bad because they perpetuate the myth that you need to “diet” to lose weight. The only diet that truly works is moderation – eat less. It saves you money and makes you feel better.


Cough Mixtures

When you get a cold or a flu, there is virtually nothing you can do except keep warm and eat well. Cough medicines are marketed to people who are suffering and want respite – but it doesn’t come in a bottle. Instead of buying incredibly expensive mixtures (which do little or nothing to help), simply don't eat mucus-producing foods (dairy products, white flour, meat, eggs, potatoes, beans, rice, grains, fish, peanuts and fats) and eat lots of fruit that thins the mucus (pineapple, grapes, citrus) – it is cheap and just as effective at clearing phlegm. If you have flu ache, take Tylenol and lie down for the afternoon. The flu will run its course naturally and you won’t be out of pocket.

Self Help Books

Self help books don’t help. They are merely a marketing gimmick to get people to part with their hard earned money. When was the last time you met a person who had become a property tycoon after reading “Rich Dad Poor Dad”? When was the last time you saw someone beat depression after reading a self help book? This huge market now has books for virtually everything you could need, and ultimately the only person being helped is the author who is slowly getting rich. If you really feel that you need advice on life, try searching the internet for examples from real people who really found a way out of their problems.


Sleeping Pills for Children

Takeda Pharmaceuticals is a company that produces sleeping tablets for pre-pubescent and pubescent children. They used loopholes in the US marketing laws to advertise their products without mentioning the fact that they had not been fully tested on children and without listing any of the potential side effects. While that is bad enough, it is even worse that there are people who would consider buying these for their children. In most cases, a child who is not sleeping well can have their insomnia cured by more vigorous activity during the day. You don’t get side effects from turning off the television and computer.

Microwave Ovens

Microwaves have played a large part in the removal of decent cooking from so many of our homes and have helped the chemical laden “ready meal” market to blossom. In some supermarkets it is nearly impossible to find raw ingredients for cooking as the pre-cooked, pre-made meals now take up so much room. In most cases, there is nothing you can do in a microwave that can’t be done better on a regular stove and oven – and in many cases it can take as little time! Furthermore, oven cooking won’t give you food that is soggy, limp, and colorless – a microwave will.

Ab Machines

Infomercials have been pumping out a variety of ab building machines for the last ten years. The fact is, these machines are used once or twice and then end up in the garage or a cupboard never to be used again. The machines do nothing that the human body can’t already do, and if you are earnest about building up good abs, you would be far better off doing regular sit ups and getting a gym membership. It will probably cost the same price and won’t clutter up your home!


Sugared Cereals

It was a true genius that came up with the idea of taking something healthy and coating it with loads of sugar to appeal to children. Unfortunately this concept has now become so popular that many children will refuse to eat any cereal that is not sugary. All around the world governments are whining about fat children and trying to find a solution by banning all manner of things and trying to promote healthy living – but no one seems to be concerned about the fact that the majority of children start their day with a huge sugar rush followed by a crash and carbohydrate cravings.

Bottled Water

Bottled water is an utter waste of money and resources. To illustrate just how ridiculous a concept it is, I will demonstrate with Dasani Bottled Water. This product was created by Coca Cola and was marketed as superior bottled water. First of all, bottled water is a ridiculous concept in the western world where we all have easy access to tap water which is drinkable in most areas. Coca Cola wanted to be part of the ridiculous fad so they entered the bottled water market, but they simply filled their bottles with tap water! When the product was released in the UK it was a disaster. Scientific testing of the bottled water showed traces of bromate – a carcinogen. Coca Cola had to withdraw half a million bottles of the water and they pulled the product from the UK market.

Media Mayhem

We haven't had cable TV for over 9 months. Partly to save money and partly to minimize our TV watching. The digital converter boxes gave us the major networks and PBS, which was fine.

Until football season started.

I've had a hard time so far. I didn't realize how many good games were on ESPN instead of CBS or ABC (NBC is still the lame-o Notre Dame network). For the first two Gator games, I went to one of the Desert Gator viewing locations, a restaurant called Jilly's, and then last Saturday's game was on CBS. As a family man, it can be inconvenient to go to a restaurant to watch a game, not to mention it's more expensive, because when you're at a restaurant for 3+ hours, you're going to order something.

In addition to my football viewing woes, Cristina has had a hard time taping Oprah, the one show she watches regularly. She normally tapes it and then watches it at night while she's folding clothes. I know VCRs have become anachronistic (just go to the store to buy blank VHS tapes and you'll see what I mean) but we've been techno-hold outs. We've never had TiVo or anything fancier than a plain old VCR. I get tired of stacks of tapes lying around, tapes not being taped over because there's a certain episode she wants to watch with me. I haven't taped Gator games in years. If I see an instant-classic game that I want to keep for posterity, I'll download it and burn it to a DVD. Cristina doesn't like how watching multiple games disrupts our weekend family time, and I can understand that. I don't mind taping games and watching them after the kids are in bed. It's nice to be able to skip the commercials. But again, it's clunky to do it with a VCR.

So when Cris asked me how much it costs to get cable with a DVR, I jumped at the opportunity to do some research. We were already paying Cox $65 a month for internet and phone, so I checked out Qwest to see if we could add TV for not too much more than that.


So get this: we can switch over to Qwest and get faster internet (7 mbps vs. Cox's 1.5), free unlimited long distance calling, DirectTV (200+ channels) with DVR...all for about $95 a month. I'm willing to spend an extra thirty bucks for all that.Some people hate Qwest. Some people hate Cox. We've had 'em both before, and they both have their pros and cons. But I have no big gripe with Qwest, so bring it.

The switchover happened yesterday. Qwest is DSL rather than cable, so I no longer needed my old cable modem and wireless router. Qwest has a wireless modem that does both (one less outlet in use!). While the guy was installing the DirectTV dish last night, I got the modem up and running. I could immediately notice a difference in the speed on the internet, which was gratifying.

It's nice to know that we can call family from our home phone and not worry about how long we talk. Not that I'm a long talker anyway, but Cristina can sometimes yack away an hour or two at a time. Unfortunately, Qwest's international plan wasn't very good, so we'll stick to Skype for our Scottish, German, and Costa Rican contacts.

And we'll finally get to experience DVR. It still kind of blows my mind to think about pausing a live football game. I'm looking forward to taping some games this Saturday to watch after the kids are in bed. And though we will still limit the TV for the kids, it will be a relief to have commercial-free Noggin back. I like that channel. It's where we were introduced to the Wonder Pets!

The kids didn't know we were doing this until the guy was there last night installing the dish. Alex was so excited he had a hard time falling asleep. Funny...most families just take cable TV and video games for granted. To Alex, getting cable is something akin to Santa moving into our guest room. If we ever bought a Nintendo DS or a Wii,...geez, I think his head would explode.

Which brings up a thought: could limiting the media for our kids actually cause them to crave it more when they're old enough to make those choices for themselves? Maybe. Despite philosophical and developmental reasons for limiting media, there's also the "we must accustom our children to hardship" objective. From a personal experience, I had no cable TV until I was 11 years old. I wanted it badly then, but I can live without it today. Despite my football cravings, I'm far from a TV junkie. I'm kind of proud of how whenever someone asks me if I watch such-and-such, 9 times out of 10 I say "no." I wish I could say I don't watch much TV because I read so much. That would be the English teacher thing to say. But the fact is, I veg out on the computer more than the boob tube.

Dishes Gone Wild

When I called Cox this morning to cancel, the lady asked my reason for cancelling. I told her, "Oh, you know how it is. When you only have two choices, sometimes you just want to drink Pepsi instead of Coke." Silence. I don't think she got my analogy. But I was pleased to give her an answer that wasn't on her script.

So if you don't hear from me for a while, send in the paramedics. I may be in a DirectTV-induced coma.

Costa Rica is still on the table

A few people noticed the absence of Costa Rica as an option for moving next summer. It is still a possibility. We would love to live in Costa Rica for a couple of years for the cultural experience of it, for the chance to learn Spanish, to be closer to family even more distant than our east coast family. Though I can imagine retiring to Costa Rica one day, I'm not ready for a permanent move there. But a two-year stint or even a 4-year stint would be awesome.

I already submitted my resume to every English-speaking private school in Costa Rica, though it's still a bit early. I'll resubmit in January and see if we get any bites. A move to Costa Rica would be a lot more logistically challenging, but we'll see what's possible if a job offer comes my way. Until then, I'm putting my energy into Gainesville or Chapel Hill.

The Big Plan

Two years ago, Cristina and I had a long, heartfelt chat and we came to the decision that Cristina would not be going to Southwest College, which was the primary reason we moved to Phoenix.

With Southwest College out of the picture, there is no compelling reason to stay in Arizona. Alex and Bella go to a Waldorf charter school here, which we would have to give up if we went somewhere else, and Sofia is excelling in trumpet and academics at ASA. But other than that...we're ready to go back east. With the housing market suffering, we knew we’d need to stay in Phoenix a few more years until we could sell our house for a better price. But the time our children are still children runs shorter every year, so it's time to cut our losses and sell the house, even if it means a short sale. I'm not willing to live in the desert away from where we want to be just for the sake of building some equity, which could take another decade.

Choices
Our old master plan was that after Cristina finished naturopathic school, we’d move to Chapel Hill, NC. We like that area, it’s a small college town (our favorite type of town), just a few hours drive from most of my family, plus Cristina has extended family in the Raleigh area. So the natural conclusion would be to move to Chapel Hill.


However, we already have an established network in Gainesville. That is, we know the schools, we know the Baha'i community, we have friends and family there...it would be an easier transition. It's where Cristina and I met. It's where all three of our kids were born. There's a lot of energetic significance in that little college town. Moving across the country has really opened our eyes to the value and comfort of our roots. The idea of going back, of coming home, is extremely appealing. You know the cliche "if you love something set it free?" Our years away from Gainesville have made us realize how much we love it and miss it. This is what makes Gainesville a strong contender, even though the climate of Chapel Hill and proximity to the mountains make it a tempting choice.


It's not about the money
Whether we move to Chapel Hill or Gainesville, I'll be taking a hefty paycut. Some who are aware of our plans have suggested we move to Georgia, or even Orlando, where the pay is higher than Alachua County. No thank you. If it was about the money, we'd just stay here in Phoenix. We're seeking a quality of life, a proximity to certain things, that transcends salary opportunities. We can adapt to a lower income. Plus, for the first time in over a decade, Cristina is able to work full-time, so our earning potential is greater than it was when we lived in Gainesville before. And the urologist has made sure that it can't be jeopardized again.


Of course, in coming back to Gainesville, I could apply to any middle or high school. Buchholz is the “nice” school in town. But I still have a lot of friends at GHS, and it has special meaning for me. I taught there for 7 years, and they were the best, happiest years of my teaching career. I can’t imagine moving back to Gainesville and not teaching at GHS. It just wouldn’t feel right. I could teach somewhere else initially, but I'd probably try to transfer to GHS each year.

I know I’m not that old, but I feel comfortable with the notion of buying a house in Gainesville and just settling in, not on the lookout for where we might be in a few years. Tuesday night, at the ASA open house, Cristina was briefly talking football (weird, I know) with the assistant principal (who's a big Steelers fan). Cristina told her we're all about Gator football right now. I was fascinated that she said "we" instead of "he." Another reason I look forward to living in Gainesville is obvious. Those that really know me know that I’m nuts for my alma mater.


I didn’t used to think I liked the state of Florida that much. But living somewhere for 23 years, the most formative years of your life, has a cumulative effect. I even miss the humidity.

The Plan
So that brings us to present day. Here's the plan so far. I’ll teach here at South Mountain High School for the rest of this school year. We are tentatively planning to move back to Gainesville summer of 2010. That gives us about 9 months to pay off more debt and get the house ready to sell. I've already talked to a realtor about helping us with a short sale, a negotiation with the lender to accept less money than what is owed.

With a summer 2010 move, Sofia would be about to start high school, Alex would be ready for 4th grade, and Isabella would be ready for a 2nd year of Kindergarten (it's a Waldorf thing...but really, who wouldn't want two years of Kindergarten? They say the best years of your education are Kindergarten and grad school). Alex and Isabella would hopefully go to Expressions Learning Arts Academy, where Sofia went for Kindergarten and 1st grade. It’s a good school.


Assuming I get hired some time in the spring, we would plan to drive the moving truck to Florida around the end of June. Maybe I can even squeak in another summer school stint for some extra cash. We're toying with the idea of flying the three kids to North Carolina for a couple of weeks before we arrive in Gainesville, just to make the truck loading and driving easier.

I anticipate spending a few weeks in July living with my mother-in-law, with our stuff in storage, while we look for something to rent. If we do a short sale on our house, we probably won't be in a position to buy for a little while, but it's hard to say. The economy is kind of crazy right now, in case you haven't noticed.

Pitfalls
Two things could cause us to be in Phoenix one more year. The first would be if I can't get a job. Even if our house sells, we're not moving if I don't have a job. It's not like 2004 when we moved to Phoenix without a job. The economy was better and a leap of faith wasn't as risky. No way I'd do that now.

The other pitfall would be if our house doesn't sell. But now that I've looked into short sales, I feel confident we can sell it.

Looking forward
I’ll miss living just 5 minutes from a major airport, that’s for sure. But driving to the Orlando airport (my favorite airport in the world, by the way) is a good excuse to visit friends who live in Orlando.

I’ll miss Trader Joe’s, but it won't be long before Florida has TJ's.

I won’t miss the 115 degree summers that seem to never end. I won’t miss the blazing sun with no rain in sight for months. I crave those Florida summers where it thunderstorms every afternoon.

I love the idea of being 30-minutes from tubing down the Ichetucknee River.

I can't wait to get back to those cheap flights from Florida to Costa Rica.

I even miss Eastern Standard Time Zone. It's a challenge to stay in touch with Steve in Scotland with the time difference, but it's even worse in Arizona, where the difference is 8 hours.

I look forward to being just a day-long road trip away from my family again. After driving 7000 miles two summers in a row, driving from Gainesville to Asheville seems like a walk in the park. Living across the country can give you some perspective like that.

And I know I can speak for Cristina on this one: I miss trees. I haven’t said that too much during the past 5 years, because I knew it would only make it worse for Cristina, but I do miss trees and greenery.

21 Month Capsule

For the past few years, I've had the noble ambition to type up a year-in-review, print it on nice paper with some photos, and send it out to family and friends. I usually get the review written, but the publishing part is where I stall. I stumbled upon one that I had written for 2008, and it seemed a shame to let it go to waste. So I added on some updates for the past 9 months and will now post it for your viewing pleasure. So instead of a year-in-review, it's the past 21 months in review...

The D. R. P.
At the start of 2008, we took stock of our finances and realized that we were building up too much debt. So we started our big Debt Reduction Plan. This included getting second jobs and doing all we could to minimize expenses. In January, Wayne started tutoring after school at a local elementary school. Cristina worked part-time at Brilliant Sky, a local independently-owned toy store. In addition to earning a little extra, we cut expenses by getting rid of our cable TV, changing our health insurance plans, and deferring our student loans. To defer our loans, Wayne decided to attend college part-time. He enrolled at South Mountain Community College, taking incredibly challenging classes like the Art of Storytelling, Golf, and Introduction to Cinema.

Spring
Doing his part to help the economy, Wayne bought his first gas grill with part of our tax rebate stimulus money. Sofia’s school, Arizona School for the Arts, requires all students to spend the 3rd quarter working on a massive research project, concluding with an oral presentation. Sofia’s presentation on Egyptian Pharaoh Hatshepsut was excellent. In April, Wayne’s mother, Fran, came for a visit. She quickly became a part of our busy lives. She got to meet our little dog Vivien. She attended several of Sofia’s performances at school, and ate at Pizzeria Bianco for her birthday. While Fran was here, Cristina attended her first 5-day Jin Shin Jyutsu training. JSJ is an ancient art of harmonizing the energy in the body. Cristina fell in love with the technique in 2007 and is learning to be a practitioner. Two days before she flew home, Fran took a tumble on the stairs and broke her ankle. So her last 2 days in Phoenix consisted of emergency room adventures, wheelchair exploits, and lots of family TLC. We were sorry she had to leave us that way!

Summer
Wayne taught summer school for the second year in a row. Wayne also had a week-long reader’s/writer’s workshop training to attend in July. But we were not willing to abandon our plans to get out of the valley for the summer. Initially, we were going to tour the west coast, but it became too hard to juggle this plan with Wayne’s commitments. So we opted for another cross-country drive to the east coast. The day summer school ended, the drive began. We spent 5 days on the road, stopping at Carlsbad Caverns and a Texas water park called Schlitterbahn. Our summer road trip included extended stays in Gainesville, Florida and Asheville, North Carolina (where Fran’s ankle was healing up nicely). To maximize our time, Wayne flew back to Phoenix the day before work started. Cristina and the kids took their time driving home, visiting as many museums, science centers, and friends and family that they could squeeze in.

Back to School
Sofia started 7th grade at Arizona School for the Arts. Alex began 2nd grade at Desert Marigold (DMS). Bella started 5-day preschool at DMS. Wayne continued teaching 10th grade English at South Mountain High School (13th year of teaching!) and Cristina was hired as a Kindergarten assistant at DMS. Her new job curtailed the toy store job, as being in the classroom is more time and energy consuming. In October, Wayne took Bella to her first Gator football game. Wayne, Alex, and Bella flew to Florida for Gator homecoming. Alex enjoyed his 2nd Gator Growl and saw the Steve Miller band. They all had a great time at the game and even got a few autographs afterward. (During that weekend, Cristina attended her 2nd JSJ training and Sofia stayed with friends.)

The Home Stretch
We had a rare Thanksgiving in that we stayed home and had no visitors. Wayne cooked a way-too-big turkey because he waited too long to buy one and the only ones left were 24-pounders. But the meal was good and the leftovers were plentiful. Christmas break also yielded no visitors. However, we did go to the Grand Canyon Baha’i Conference where we saw Red Grammer and (Cristina’s favorite) Smith and Dragoman. We also drove to New Mexico to spend a few days in the snow with Uncle Doug and Aunt Lynn.

2008 Wrap-up
Overall, 2008 was a good, productive year. The economy may be tanking, but our lives are chugging along full strength, with no serious injuries or illnesses, thank God (except for Fran’s ankle). Our debt is slowly going away and everyone is happy in their school and work.

Spring 2009
Cristina’s mom visited us in March while Cristina made her first solo trip to Germany since she was in high school. Her friend Marion had a baby last fall and she spent 2 weeks with her and Harald and their new baby. While there, she visited the Baha’i Temple in Frankfurt (she’s seen 3 of them now) and spent a night in London on her way back and visited our friend Paula Posas. Stateside, Wayne and the kids visited the little towns of Jerome and Sedona, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and Lake Havusu. Wayne’s parents came in late April and stayed through Mother’s Day with us. And Wayne did two notable things in the spring: he bought a ukulele, and he went off all drugs for the Crohn's that has been in remission for 3 years now.

Summer 2009
Wayne taught summer school for the third summer in a row. Cristina and the kids flew down to Costa Rica midway through June and Wayne joined them as soon as summer school ended. Full details of our Costa Rican summer were blogged, so there's no point recounting them here. But it was a great trip.

Back to School
Wayne started his 14th year of teaching the day after returning from Costa Rica. He’s teaching seniors and sophomores this year. Bella started Kindergarten with a new teacher, Ms. Susan. It’s the first time she has not had her mother in the same classroom and it’s going just fine. Alex started 3rd grade with Mr. Tanner, and Sofia began 8th grade at Arizona School for the Arts, where she earned 1st chair trumpet. Cristina continues to work at DMS as a Kindergarten assistant, this time with Ms. Julie.

Things to Come
The plan is to move to the east coast next summer, pending employment. The primary choices are Gainesville or Chapel Hill. Stay tuned for a blog post updating our years-old plan to move back east!

We made the News

Cristina, Sofia, and Alex went to the Swap Phoenix thing today, a clothes-swapping group Cristina belongs to. A reporter and camera crew were there, and all three of them appeared on the news at 10. Alex is quite the interview!

https://youtu.be/UsWFfOOommw

What the...?

Does anyone remember these?

A little this, a little that

Been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd throw up a few bits of tid.

I was in the South Mountain post office Monday and witnessed two postal workers going a little, well, postal. One worker, Frank, was angry at the other one, we'll call her Marge, for letting an old man cut in line to make a passport appointment. The thing is, Frank had told the man he could cut in line since he just needed to make an appointment and Marge still had her book open. But then the old man proceeded to ask Marge a bunch of questions, which took a lot longer than just making an appointment. So as Marge was answering the old man's questions, Frank kept yelling "He needs to get in line! If he's got questions, he needs to wait in line!" Marge did her best to ignore Frank and tend to the old man, but finally she told Frank that he had bad people skills and was rude. "Shut your mouth," Frank spat, seething. This wasn't just playful banter between two old co-workers. They were clearly angry at each other. It was a bit awkward to say the least. One more reminder of why I avoid the post office whenever possible.


In completely unrelated news, we will hopefully be painting our downstairs during fall break in October. Those familiar with our blue and green walls will have to get used to some version of off-white, as that color is better for selling. And if you didn't know we were selling our house, now you do. Hope to have it on the market by January. Anybody want to make an offer? :)

Tonight's After-Dinner Entertainment

https://youtu.be/_D27-8sjE68

My Birthday Present

Two videos

I have two videos that I meant to post during the trip but wasn't able to...until now.

The first one is the awesome footage I got of a 3-toed sloth at Termales del Bosque near San Carlos.

https://youtu.be/g25slUaOgUU

And the second video is a clip from a "Good Morning America"-type show in Costa Rica called Buen Dia. We didn't have a VCR or DVR, so the best we could do was record the TV screen with our camera. The story is about the Escuela de Musica Pavas, the Pavas Music School, which Sofia performed with while we were there. If you watch carefully, you'll see her in a few shots (at the :31 mark, and the :42 mark, and a few other places). https://youtu.be/IJqLBkM8gz4

My Sphere

Here are some photos of my replica Pre-Columbian Sphere of Costa Rica. It came with the little stand. I'm keeping it on my desk at school.

A Depressing Trip to Fry's

When I went to Fry's grocery store, an hour or so after getting home from the airport, I was bummed at the selections and prices of produce. I totally got spoiled on the farmer's market right outside the door in Pavas.

Here in Phoenix, red and yellow sweet peppers are often very expensive, like several dollars each. Today, they were on sale for $1 each, which was nice...until I remembered how much sweet peppers cost in Costa Rica:

That 500 colones equals about $.86. That's 14 cents per pepper. And they were probably just picked, too.

Sigh.

Back to the Desert

Our last day in Costa Rica. It’s been a long summer, and a full one. And as much as I miss certain things about home (making music with Steve, listening to NPR on the weekends, having plentiful, beautiful bananas on hand for easy snacks for Bella, going to the movies with Peter) I’m a little sad to leave Costa Rica.

Chino wasn’t available to help us get to the airport, so we would have to make two trips. Wito would take me and the luggage at 3:30. Then he’d go back and pick up Cristina and the kids (and the few last purses and backpacks) and bring them to the airport. Our flight left at 6:35, so we needed to be there around 4:30.

The airport tax. I know I write about this every time we visit Costa Rica, but I’ll state it again for posterity: I hate the airport tax. In a big way. In a dump-the-tea-in-Boston-Harbor kind of way. Costa Rica is a great country, but their aggravating airport tax is one of the things I hate. Trivia fact: Juan Santamaria Airport is the only airport in the world to make you pay a tax before you can leave the country. It’s up to $26 per person now. So for a family of five, we have to shell out $130 just to be able to fly home. Plus, at the end of a trip, so much money has flowed out for last minute items (oh yeah, we need to get so-and-so a gift!) that the airport tax is just salt rubbed in this miser’s financial wound. I know airports have to get money to operate and maintain, but all I’m asking is that they work the tax into the price of the ticket instead of making you pay in country. It wouldn’t feel as painful that way.

Wito dropped me off at 4 am, said goodbye, and headed back to Pavas to get the rest of the family. A skycap wheeled our mountain of suitcases to the Frontier check-in counter.

Some tourists don’t realize that you can pay the airport tax early, at any bank. Cristina had done that Monday, so we didn’t have to wait in the airport tax line in the airport like so many other people. It was a long line. I was glad not to be in it.

To go through the line to check in, I first had to fill out a form on the back of the airport tax document (a procedure wrapped in a form inside a bureaucracy). It wasn’t too big of a deal because I was early and there were not very many people there yet, but I wished I had a cell phone to call Cristina and give her a head’s up. Then she could fill out all the other four forms before she got here. But I was powerless. No cell phone, and I was tied down to nine 50-pound suitcases and five carry-ons.

By the way, I can’t remember if I mentioned the picnic basket before. Maritza and Wito gave Cristina a picnic basket. I think it was for her birthday, because they gave it to her before I arrived. The handle on it is fixed upright, though. There was no way it could fit in any suitcase. So I filled it with light items, tied it shut with some rope, and planned to wrap it in plastic to keep it protected. We’d just check it as a piece of luggage.

Even as early as I was, I was second in line. I had 6,000 colones left. I gave the Skycap 1,000. That left me 5,000 to get the picnic basket wrapped in plastic. Wito said it would cost a couple of bucks, so I figured I’d have a little bit leftover. I couldn’t see the guys who plastic-wrap suitcases, and all our stuff was at the front of the line, so I was kind of stuck until the family arrived.

The line began to grow. Around 4:30, the Frontier people opened up and started checking passengers in. Every time they were ready for the next passenger, I told the person behind me to go ahead.

Soon, the plastic-wrap guys came to get their machines and wheel them up front, ready for business. I caught one guy’s attention as he was getting the last machine, and asked him if he could wrap something for me right there or if it had to be done at the entrance. His English wasn’t good, and my Spanish wasn’t either (“Wrap aqui? O solomente aya?”) but I figured out that he couldn’t do it right there. Since I couldn’t leave all my luggage, I was in a pinch. And with the line growing long, I didn’t want to have to do it after the family got there. But he solved the problem by just taking the basket up to a machine and then bringing it back all wrapped up. Just as he was coming back with it, I saw Bella and Sofia coming in the door. Perfect timing. I could see Cristina getting exasperated with the unexpected forms to fill out. All I could do was smile and wave from the front of the line.

I handed Plastic-wrap Man my 5,000 bill, expecting some change, and he told me it cost 5,300 ($9). A little shocked, I tried to get Cristina’s attention to see if she had some change, but the guy said it was okay and went on his way. I was officially out of money.

We got checked in and headed through security. They looked through each bag, and we were worried that they would confiscate our bottle of aloe vera lotion and Salsa Lizano (I had put it in my camera bag to lighten up the 67-pounder…totally forgot about the whole liquids thing in the carry-ons). But they let the items stay and we were in.

We parked our carry-ons at the gate and then I went to get some breakfast with the kids. Not many options. We settled on Burger King. I got “BK Pinto” for the girls (gallo pinto, tortillas, and sour cream) and egg and cheese Croissan’wiches for Alex and me.

I was hoping we would see Monica before we boarded, but it was not to be.

Finally, it was time to board. I saw them setting up tables for yet another inspection of bags (wasn’t one enough?). This time, the Salsa Lizano didn’t make it. They confiscated it. It pissed me off, too, because if I had had it in my pocket or in the bottom of a bag, they would have never known. Only because it was right in the top of my camera bag did they see it. The aloe made it because it was buried in Cristina’s bag. A package of salsa (like chips-and-salsa salsa) also got taken away. Cristina had filled her water bottle at the water fountain at the gate, and they made her pour it out. Oh, come on! If we wanted water, we’d have to buy it on the plane, they said. Ridiculous. How do you say “going overboard on security” in Spanish?

Still miffed about losing my Salsa Lizano, bummer number two came when we got inside the plane. We got front row seats, which at concerts and sporting events is a good thing. But on an airplane, it means that we have no space to put items on the floor in front, because there are no seats in front of us. And to add insult to injury, the first overhead bins are filled with survival gear, so we had to pack all our crap into the bins a few rows back. I’m sure the people sitting in those rows loved that.

In the air, I started catching up on my blog. We had drinks, and bought a bottle of water (grumble, grumble) and a bag of peanut M&Ms.

By 8:30, Bella was tired of listening to music. She was bored. Alex was listening to the iPod, Sofia was reading a book, and Cristina was sleeping. Bella kept torturing me with questions and whining about when we were going to be there. I couldn’t remember when we were scheduled to land. I asked the flight attendant. Noon. Three and a half more hours. Ugg. Thankfully, at 9:15 we crossed into U.S. airspace and the DirectTV signal became active. I’ve never been so glad to see Hong Kong Phooey in my life. Finally, Bella was blissfully silent. I worked on my blog until my laptop battery died, with only a part of one day left to finish writing.

Sofia and Alex noticed that there was a fly in the cabin. “How did a fly get in here?” Sofia asked. “I guess someone opened their window,” I said.

We arrived in Denver a little early. I called our friend Saba and left a voicemail that we’d landed in Denver on time. She’s picking us up from the airport in Phoenix. We had about an hour and a half before our connecting flight to Phoenix, and it took an hour to pick up our luggage, go through customs (no problems, except for a mild reprimand for not marking “food items” on the customs form…“Coffee is a food, ma’am”) and recheck our luggage. We were all hungry, but by the time we got to the gate, our flight was boarding in less than 3 minutes. I barely had time to run to the bathroom (I literally ran), so buying lunch was out of the question. And no laptop recharge either.

Train at Denver airport

The flight from Denver to Phoenix is about one hour 45 minutes. Luckily, they activated our TVs (since we were technically still on an international flight). For the domestic passengers, TV cost $6. At least the drinks are still free, but who knows how long that will last.

Bella fell asleep for the last 30 minutes and slept through the landing. I had to wake her up so I could get our bags down. As we walked to baggage claim, Saba called me. She was already at the airport, circling around the terminal. So we put all the carry-ons in her car and she drove me to our house. I thanked her, gave her a bag of coffee, found my car keys, and drove our van back to the airport to pick up the family and the luggage. None of the luggage was lost, which is always a victory of sorts, especially when you have 10 bags, plus a car seat.

At a red light, I was untangling something from the rear view mirror and didn’t notice right away that the light had changed to green. Glancing in the rearview mirror, I saw several cars behind me, yet no one honked. That was the first moment when it really struck me that we weren’t in Costa Rica any more. Sofia commented on how slow and polite the traffic seemed. And the streets felt so big.

We unloaded all the bags (the painting made it safe and sound) and slowly readjusted to life in the States. I think we’ll all experience a period of time where our hearts and minds are still in Costa Rica. We all miss it, but it’s time to start this (possibly) final school year in Arizona.

The picnic basket, still wrapped up

Marielos's painting

(Hooray! Unlike in 2006, I finished blogging the whole trip!)

Packing Day

We have enough experience traveling to know that on any long trip (more than a week) we really need to leave the last full day completely open. We make that the packing day, even though it doesn’t take all day to pack. In addition to the physical packing of suitcases, we usually need that last day to buy last minute items, run last minute errands, and so on. The longer the trip, the more things there are to do on that last day, and this one was no exception.

The first order of business was to turn the rental car in. The time on the contract was 11 am, and they were supposed to come pick it up. But when Wito called them to confirm, they said they didn’t know they were supposed to come pick it up. They said they’d be there around 12 to 12:30. So we scored an extra hour or so.

Cristina and I ran up to Galerón to buy the rest of the coffee, guayaba jam, and Bio-Land stuff (Costa Rica’s brand of organic products…everything from shampoo to cookies). I’m sure people could tell we were tourists about to depart: we had two carts and one of them was filled with bags of coffee.

The rest of the day was a blur. I took charge of packing the suitcases and Cristina was in charge of errands and phone calls. For example, she went to the Democracy Plaza to pick up her custom-made 9-pointed star earrings made of coconut shell. She picked up our old camera from the repair guy who didn’t fix it because I refused to pay $60 to fix a 3-year-old camera (I love the concept of reduce-reuse-recycle, but I’m also a cheapskate). Cristina paid our airport taxes at the bank (more on that tomorrow). She picked up her contacts from the optical place where we got our glasses. She called Ifigenia (the author of the sphere book) to arrange how to get her book back to her (she’s going to come pick it up next week). And in between all that, she talked to a bunch of people on the phone (Vicki, Jennifer, and I’m sure others) to get last-minute conversations in before we left.

Around 3, Carmen stopped by with the kids, who promptly struck up a final game of Qwirkle on the front porch. Later, Miranda stopped by with Sophia. And Ricardo and family came by as well. I didn’t do much visiting because I was so busy packing, but it was nice for the kids to play one last time. And nice to say goodbye again. They’re all so sweet and have totally taken us in as part of the family. I look forward to being able to speak better Spanish someday so I can actively participate more in conversations.

Because of all the visits, the two younger kids didn’t get to bed until 9. This was not ideal, since they had to get up at 3:30 am. But it was better to visit with family than get enough hours of sleep.

We had 7 of 10 suitcases packed and under 50 pounds each. #8, however, weighed 67 pounds, so we had to do some creative shifting. We finally had everything ready to go by 10 pm. We loaded Wito’s car with almost all the suitcases, showered and were in bed by 11.

Farewell Cookout

Apparently, the salsa (or pico de gallo) I’ve been making is a hit with the extended family, because every time we all get together, that’s what Wito tells me to contribute. Today everyone was meeting at Carmen’s house for a cookout. I hadn’t made the salsa the night before, so I took everything over to make it at Carmen’s.

As soon as we got there, I started dicing tomatoes and getting everything together. The kids started playing. It was a warm, sunny day…unusual for Carmen’s, where it’s usually overcast, windy, and a little cool.

Throughout the day, Fabian grilled an assortment of meats: chicken, pork, and beef. I liked the way he served them. After grilling the meat, he would cut it into pieces and serve it on tortillas. So no plates or utensils were necessary. When a fresh platter of meat off the grill arrived, you just picked your piece, scooped it up in the tortilla it was laying on, and ate it. The tortilla made a nice meat-holder. Like an edible plate. I might try that some time at home.

Among the afternoon's activities: the kids played in the sandbox and created an impressive lagoon (filled with buckets of water) and a volcano. I tried to make their volcano erupt with baking soda and vinegar, but Carmen didn't have any baking soda.

The kids slid down the hill behind Carmen’s house. They sat on pieces of cardboard box. Unlike the failed attempt when it was raining, the kids were more successful this time. Still, the hill was quite steep, and the kids often fell off their cardboard. I’m sure we’ll have some nice souvenirs (of the grass stain variety) to take home to Phoenix.

Eventually, the kids played in the hose, getting soaked. After they changed into dry clothes, Fabian got his kite out. It's always windy at their house, so the conditions are perfect for kite-flying.

A little chorus line action

Cristina dancing with her dad

Towards the end of the evening, an impromptu game of backyard baseball got started. We set up bases (using flip-flops, children’s books, and whatever else was handy). We had a nerf bat and a foam baseball, so everyone could play and no gloves were required. At one point during the game, Bella started reading the third base, but we played around her.

Fabian, Ricardo, and Fernando had a lot of fun by adding a tackling element to the game. If they were trying to get someone out they’d tackle them. Fabian especially loves to tackle Wito. He body slams him any chance he can get. We had several pileups, where someone tackled someone, and then everyone else piled on top. Tripping was not out of the question either as you can see from the photo evidence below.

Alex winds up to pitch...Fernando is on first, Ricardo covers first base...

The ball is hit...Fernando takes off...but wait! Ricardo has strategically extended his right leg!

Down goes Fernando! Down goes Fernando!

Wito finally joined the game to pitch...

...and wound up on the bottom of a pileup more than once.

Carmen brings 'em home

Everyone stayed late because it was our last day together and no one wanted it to end. It was also the end of the school break for Costa Rica, so the kids would be heading back to school the next morning. I believe we were the last ones to leave, and it was after 8 pm. On the ride home, Cristina and I talked about how we’d like to live in Costa Rica for a year or two. Especially now that the kids have their Costa Rican citizenship, a year or two living here would afford them the opportunity to learn Spanish, and then if they ever chose to go to college in Costa Rica (since it would be free for them) they’d be able to. It would all depend on a) what happens to our house in Arizona, and b) whether I could get a teaching job in Costa Rica. But regardless of what happens, we’ll definitely be in Phoenix one more year.

Bella fell asleep on the way back to Pavas (it’s kind of a long ride) but she woke up and ate some bread and jelly before going to bed.

I realized that I left my laptop charger at Carmen’s house. Major bummer, because they live so far away. Wito called her and she said she’d bring it by after picking up the kids from school on Monday. But until I got the charger back, I couldn’t do much work on the blog. The battery would only last so long.

Though it was late and we were tired, we found a movie on TV called The Shipping News and got hooked. It was great, although I watched most of it without my glasses, because I thought I was going to fall asleep. But the movie was too interesting.