I've been feeling pretty positive about the writing work that I've been doing lately and the potential for an actual future for my career in technical writing. For me, it's loads more fun than bench research and it is more likely to combine with parenthood friendly part-time/ work-from-home type jobs.
Then I read Catherine's post on Play Pumps.
Suddenly it is clear that all I am doing is repacking information that someone else figured out. Engineers are out there designing things that are actually improving people's day to day lives. And not just making ever tinier ipods, but making it easier to have fresh water. Where was the recruiter to do this kind of work at the college job fair?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
still here, still pretty much only speak english
Hmm, looks like Trey has taken over the blog lately. Keeping myself busy since we've been back in Germany. I doubled my (online) teaching load at this term, took on some new responsibilities at my writing job, and Ellis has had a few restless nights and a few nearly napless days. Also, I am hoping to push myself over my current German-learning plateau. My big milestone is saying "bitte?" instead of "huh?" when I (suprise!) don't understand what people are saying to me. So, yeah, not really picking up on it too quickly. This point was driven home yesterday when I had a brief phone conversation with a midwife who teaching a baby-swim class. Though she supposedly speaks English, I guess she didn't feel like doing so. And while I thought keeping up with German in a face to face conversation was hard, having a German phone conversation is HARD! Only a little bit of context, no facial features and no wild gesticulating. But I found out the course for babies Ellis's age doesn't start till March, so maybe by then I will have a little larger vocabulary. Arg.
Okay, now here's something we hope you'll really enjoy:
Okay, now here's something we hope you'll really enjoy:
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Ewww...not a happy post
Today Rachel asked me if I thought Germans seemed less interested in acquiring stuff than Americans. I have to agree that people here are more willing to say, "Well, the 12 year old car probably has a few more good years in it," than the average American.
Rachel and I started pondering how the culture in America, with roots in Europe, could have varied so far in this dimension. Was it the wars? Different attitudes about religion or peronsal freedom? Different methods of approaching capitalism? Studies claim that, by and large, Europeans are happier with their lives than Americans and while I have done nothing scientific, I think I know enough Germans now to say that, on the whole, they do seem less interested in acquiring for acquisition's sake. When they do decide to buy a luxury item they approach it with a lot of research, hoping to make the best possible choice that will last the longest. For example, my coworker who is a photography nut (and has a lot of disposable income) has only three cameras, two film, one digital, and he researched the digital camera for 6 months before buying it.
After a bit of pondering, I have reached the conclusion that the American consumerism has a few sources. First, it is an attempt to buy happiness. Second, it is an attempt to buy a feeling of security. Third, Americans generally believe that hard work pays off and when confronted with a situation where we have worked as hard as our peers, we feel we deserve certain things. Americans aren't good at seperating need from want either and that contributes to all three. These aren't terribly original thoughts on the subject, but what I want to understand is why Germany seems so different from America in this respect and why America seems to have become more oriented toward having things in the last 50 years.
I see a few big differences that I think play a part. Germans, generally, have a more controlled economy, a big, stable, middle class and laws that keep it that way while the American economy is less regulated and the American middle class is approaching a crisis. The Germans are more secular than America, which is more secular than it used to be, despite the perception abroad of a governing class of zealots, and, American faith is changing. Germans have also sacrificed personal freedom in some areas for security and an average standard of living in which they take great pride.
To some extent, I believe Americans are trying replace relationships and experiences with stuff.
Americans generally don't live as close to extended family as we used to and when we move to a new town, most of us don't go down to the First United Methodist, looking to join an established faith community with familiar rituals. We also have a culture that says we should depart from those that comfort us many times in our life. The common wisdom says: leave your home and friends behind and head to college, leave those new friends and move for a first job, take a chance to live overseas and generally go to where the best job offer is, rather than stay close to those with whom you would prefer to eat your Sunday dinner.
While I know this sentiment will be unpopular with many, I think religion did play a very important roll in maintaining community. The weekly reminder to love thy neighbor and the fact that you saw those neighbors in the pews each week did a lot to maintain community. Further, with people following an old faith for generations and possibly attending the same church for generations, those that became rich were weekly confronted with the less fortunate members of the congregation. Now, those of us who are well off can easily avoid contact with the less fortunate and the reshuffling of sects has, to some extent, created more homegenous congregations. Faith is changing in other ways also, to attract more members from the consumer culture, inflating and reconstruing the meaning of such bible passages as the "Prayer of Jabez", for instance, and this changes the tenor of the message.
To some extent "community" accomplishes several things including a feeling of belonging, the creation of meaningful relationships and a sense of security. All things we are trying to replace with stuff. Maintaining community is something that usually requires each individual to recognize that exercising their full legal personal freedom may not be in the best interest of the community. When we stop seeing our community and being reminded of their importance as we would be on Sunday at church, it simply becomes easier to ignore them and act differently. Unfortunately, these actions are sufficiently seperated from the negative result, that we don't easily forsee them, as is the case in many socio-economic matters. And, Americans don't believe this stuff should be legislated.
Here in Germany, personal freedoms and the freedom of businesses is severely limited. The middle class is large and is kept that way with high taxes that fund, for one thing, a multitiered educational system, which keeps people on a track for good jobs. Many here argue that people who fail to pass the final exam from the lower tier highschools (those that would normally be shuttled into vocational apprenticeships) should be imprisoned to maintain a minimal productivity per individual. The high taxes keep the top from getting too far ahead and the taxes pay to keep the bottom from getting too big. All of this prevents the perception that someone else has it much better. The Germans have simply legislated their economic system in a way that maintains minimums. In many ways, the spirit that lead to these laws also engenders a sense of community and the Germans have no problem limiting their personal freedoms legally to make this circumstance possible. Combined with the German ideals about avoiding debt, this makes acquisition an unattractive proposition for the disillusioned.
Americans are much more comfortable with debt and marketers have figured out how to sell us more and more largely playing upon our insecurities and telling us we deserve something for our hardwork. We deserve the big sport utility vehicle. We deserve to have a 9000 sq. ft. house and our CEOs deserve millions per year and golden parachutes.
The Libertarians and to some extent the Anarchists (many of whom seem to me to be Libertarians whose values originated on the left and associate the Libertarian label with the right) promote the ideal of trusting the individual to make correct decisions and recognize the economic impact of their actions and the utility of cooperation for everyone's goals. But it seems, now, that in America, this is breaking down. Decisions are more complex in a complex economy and our urge to feel better today is governing too many choices. We now are talking about a faceless global megaeconomy, not the microeconomy of a limited geographical area. And, while we worry about what we will get next, the government is continuing to follow policies that make it easier for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer while paying lip service to programs like student financial aid.
So, I think that is the choice we face: legislate better communal behavior, try to educate the masses to better understand or expect the middle class to circle the drain. Of course, we need people to vote and better people to run and some way for those that aren't part of the establishment to get elected.
It is notable that there was much hand wringing over similar issues during the industrial revolution and the rise of the robber barons. Some argue that Teddy Roosevelt's lucky rise to the presidency saved us, but it is more likely that The Great War followed by the depression and The Greater War gave us a reprieve. Maybe we need a big scary disaster to shock us into appreciating what we have. 9/11 did it for about four minutes. Now we have messy and less understood eventualities on the horizon: global warming, a poor understanding of the impact of globalization, national debt and economic changes that have no historic precedent, not to mention terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Maybe we just had it too good for too long and now we are buying our own bread and circuses. But if we wait for someone else to do something, nothing will ever get better.
Anyway, leave your comments. This isn't necessarily my final opinion on all of this, just where I am at today, and I want to hear what other folks think.
_____________________________________________________________
A little addendum: I am not necessarily advocating that we all should run to churches, look to our neighbors to solve our problems or legislate the way the Germans have. What I am advocating is that we need to recognize the drift in our society that is causing us to lose our middle class and our sense of community and be willing to consider changing the way we live if we want to find a psychologically and economically stable alternative. I don't think the status quo can be the status quo for that much longer.
Rachel and I started pondering how the culture in America, with roots in Europe, could have varied so far in this dimension. Was it the wars? Different attitudes about religion or peronsal freedom? Different methods of approaching capitalism? Studies claim that, by and large, Europeans are happier with their lives than Americans and while I have done nothing scientific, I think I know enough Germans now to say that, on the whole, they do seem less interested in acquiring for acquisition's sake. When they do decide to buy a luxury item they approach it with a lot of research, hoping to make the best possible choice that will last the longest. For example, my coworker who is a photography nut (and has a lot of disposable income) has only three cameras, two film, one digital, and he researched the digital camera for 6 months before buying it.
After a bit of pondering, I have reached the conclusion that the American consumerism has a few sources. First, it is an attempt to buy happiness. Second, it is an attempt to buy a feeling of security. Third, Americans generally believe that hard work pays off and when confronted with a situation where we have worked as hard as our peers, we feel we deserve certain things. Americans aren't good at seperating need from want either and that contributes to all three. These aren't terribly original thoughts on the subject, but what I want to understand is why Germany seems so different from America in this respect and why America seems to have become more oriented toward having things in the last 50 years.
I see a few big differences that I think play a part. Germans, generally, have a more controlled economy, a big, stable, middle class and laws that keep it that way while the American economy is less regulated and the American middle class is approaching a crisis. The Germans are more secular than America, which is more secular than it used to be, despite the perception abroad of a governing class of zealots, and, American faith is changing. Germans have also sacrificed personal freedom in some areas for security and an average standard of living in which they take great pride.
To some extent, I believe Americans are trying replace relationships and experiences with stuff.
Americans generally don't live as close to extended family as we used to and when we move to a new town, most of us don't go down to the First United Methodist, looking to join an established faith community with familiar rituals. We also have a culture that says we should depart from those that comfort us many times in our life. The common wisdom says: leave your home and friends behind and head to college, leave those new friends and move for a first job, take a chance to live overseas and generally go to where the best job offer is, rather than stay close to those with whom you would prefer to eat your Sunday dinner.
While I know this sentiment will be unpopular with many, I think religion did play a very important roll in maintaining community. The weekly reminder to love thy neighbor and the fact that you saw those neighbors in the pews each week did a lot to maintain community. Further, with people following an old faith for generations and possibly attending the same church for generations, those that became rich were weekly confronted with the less fortunate members of the congregation. Now, those of us who are well off can easily avoid contact with the less fortunate and the reshuffling of sects has, to some extent, created more homegenous congregations. Faith is changing in other ways also, to attract more members from the consumer culture, inflating and reconstruing the meaning of such bible passages as the "Prayer of Jabez", for instance, and this changes the tenor of the message.
To some extent "community" accomplishes several things including a feeling of belonging, the creation of meaningful relationships and a sense of security. All things we are trying to replace with stuff. Maintaining community is something that usually requires each individual to recognize that exercising their full legal personal freedom may not be in the best interest of the community. When we stop seeing our community and being reminded of their importance as we would be on Sunday at church, it simply becomes easier to ignore them and act differently. Unfortunately, these actions are sufficiently seperated from the negative result, that we don't easily forsee them, as is the case in many socio-economic matters. And, Americans don't believe this stuff should be legislated.
Here in Germany, personal freedoms and the freedom of businesses is severely limited. The middle class is large and is kept that way with high taxes that fund, for one thing, a multitiered educational system, which keeps people on a track for good jobs. Many here argue that people who fail to pass the final exam from the lower tier highschools (those that would normally be shuttled into vocational apprenticeships) should be imprisoned to maintain a minimal productivity per individual. The high taxes keep the top from getting too far ahead and the taxes pay to keep the bottom from getting too big. All of this prevents the perception that someone else has it much better. The Germans have simply legislated their economic system in a way that maintains minimums. In many ways, the spirit that lead to these laws also engenders a sense of community and the Germans have no problem limiting their personal freedoms legally to make this circumstance possible. Combined with the German ideals about avoiding debt, this makes acquisition an unattractive proposition for the disillusioned.
Americans are much more comfortable with debt and marketers have figured out how to sell us more and more largely playing upon our insecurities and telling us we deserve something for our hardwork. We deserve the big sport utility vehicle. We deserve to have a 9000 sq. ft. house and our CEOs deserve millions per year and golden parachutes.
The Libertarians and to some extent the Anarchists (many of whom seem to me to be Libertarians whose values originated on the left and associate the Libertarian label with the right) promote the ideal of trusting the individual to make correct decisions and recognize the economic impact of their actions and the utility of cooperation for everyone's goals. But it seems, now, that in America, this is breaking down. Decisions are more complex in a complex economy and our urge to feel better today is governing too many choices. We now are talking about a faceless global megaeconomy, not the microeconomy of a limited geographical area. And, while we worry about what we will get next, the government is continuing to follow policies that make it easier for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer while paying lip service to programs like student financial aid.
So, I think that is the choice we face: legislate better communal behavior, try to educate the masses to better understand or expect the middle class to circle the drain. Of course, we need people to vote and better people to run and some way for those that aren't part of the establishment to get elected.
It is notable that there was much hand wringing over similar issues during the industrial revolution and the rise of the robber barons. Some argue that Teddy Roosevelt's lucky rise to the presidency saved us, but it is more likely that The Great War followed by the depression and The Greater War gave us a reprieve. Maybe we need a big scary disaster to shock us into appreciating what we have. 9/11 did it for about four minutes. Now we have messy and less understood eventualities on the horizon: global warming, a poor understanding of the impact of globalization, national debt and economic changes that have no historic precedent, not to mention terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Maybe we just had it too good for too long and now we are buying our own bread and circuses. But if we wait for someone else to do something, nothing will ever get better.
Anyway, leave your comments. This isn't necessarily my final opinion on all of this, just where I am at today, and I want to hear what other folks think.
_____________________________________________________________
A little addendum: I am not necessarily advocating that we all should run to churches, look to our neighbors to solve our problems or legislate the way the Germans have. What I am advocating is that we need to recognize the drift in our society that is causing us to lose our middle class and our sense of community and be willing to consider changing the way we live if we want to find a psychologically and economically stable alternative. I don't think the status quo can be the status quo for that much longer.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
I am so retro: bullets
In an effort to tell many stories in the shortest fashion here are some retro bullets:
- It feels like winter has finally arrived over here. We had an inch of snow and the temperature dropped. South of here they had 6 inches and closed Stuttgart Flughafen...yeah, I don't get it either, come on, suck it up and put winter tires on those airplanes if they are so goddamned important. Apparently, a German winter tire can grip black ice!
- I met a guy at work I hadn't met before. We were shooting the shit about how we like at least an 8 ounce cup of coffee. He is an expat Brit, me an American. I was feeling pretty good about our shared piggishness when he started talking about the President. I don't like the President either, but dammit, just let's have our little coffee moment.
- Same guy in the previous bullet then told me how he had gotten his Ph.D. in Madison, Wiconsin and couldn't believe all of those nice people he liked so much voted for Bush. I pointed out that Wisconsin went to Kerry. For guys like this, I am going to have little purple election maps like this printed up that show the county by county color blend for actual votes. Then I can give them out, or use them as visual aids to point out that we are not so homogenous and sequesterd as one might think. Given areas are just predictable; the signal doesn't have to be big, when the noise is low. Of course, then he will make fun of the Electoral College and I will make fun of Parliment and ask him to explain just how the Prime Minister is elected anyway and he will tell me to get buggerred and I'll say, "Nice teeth." I guess we shouldn't talk to each other anymore.
- The electric company informed us today that we have used 50% more electricity than they would have predicted (or we paid for) for the last 8 months. At first I felt like a wasteful American that leaves the lights on, then I realized that we have a dishwasher and a full size freezer which most Germans don't. We also have washed and dried a whole helluva lot of diapers this past 8 months. I am not entirely sure, but I hope to hell the washer and drier is on our electric meter. If the diapers account for it, then I feel pretty good about it.
- I am planning a work trip to Barcelona, wife and Ellis to join in. Should be a lot of fun. I will be giving a talk about high-end digital imaging devices for low light level microscopy. I am sure you are quite disappointed that you will be missing this tour de force in which I will debunk the camera makers claims and show that improved performance is now in the hands of the end users.
- Had a bad protein purification day today. The morning prep was a big old dirty suck of a mess, but told us what we were doing wrong. Afternoon's repetition was ruined by someone moving my ice bucket in the community cold room raising my little plastic hose off the bottom of the graduated cylinder and allowing the Talon Column to dry out, destroying my protein. I know it was an accident, but come on.
- This weekend we finish prepping the back room for wall papering and hopefully get the wall paper. Pictures of finished room due in April. I know you are giddy with anticipation.
- Ellis is eating some foods. He does love the pear. Tonight he had a little mashed potato and really seemed to like it better than the recently attempted rice. His expression was more like, "This tastes like compost," instead of, "This tastes like sh$t." Today, since I am being optimistic, I will call that progress.
- He can just about, is ohhhh so close to crawling it hurts to watch him try. Of course, when he can crawl, he will be able to wake up and escape from the bed. Now we can leave him in the valley between the Ma and Pa mountain ranges and he ain't goin' nowhere, except maybe back and forth between the foothills of each range in search of the trail head that leads through the pass low enough that rolling will get him through.
- Culture lesson: don't ever tell a French woman she looks nice today. In French, this is always taken as a round about way telling someone they usually don't look so nice.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
State of the Union
I got about 4 posts rolling around trying to say something profound about the cultural experience of living over here and nothing is coming together.
One cultural thing I can comment on is that the Europeans I work with found the State of the Union address to be something of a black joke. Generally, they think this speech is kind of stupid for its low level of real content, but they found this year especially ridiculous. Especially, what they saw as bandwagon-jumping on the issue of alternative fuel. They also enjoyed pointing out that the Republican driving that bandwagon is the govenor of California and a European by birth. They also found it interesting that the focus of fuel conservation was on alternatives rather than improving public transit or just using less.
It was again pointed out to me that I should stay in Europe until 2009 so I can claim to have lived in exile during this adminsitration.
One cultural thing I can comment on is that the Europeans I work with found the State of the Union address to be something of a black joke. Generally, they think this speech is kind of stupid for its low level of real content, but they found this year especially ridiculous. Especially, what they saw as bandwagon-jumping on the issue of alternative fuel. They also enjoyed pointing out that the Republican driving that bandwagon is the govenor of California and a European by birth. They also found it interesting that the focus of fuel conservation was on alternatives rather than improving public transit or just using less.
It was again pointed out to me that I should stay in Europe until 2009 so I can claim to have lived in exile during this adminsitration.
Monday, January 22, 2007
What's soft, orange and gives you a buzz?
Ellis has been in rare form as far as cuteness and really crazy facial expressions. And, this post marks the beginning of an era in these little picture essays as we now progress into a new type of cuteness: baby with food.
"Dad, zoom in close and take a picture of my brain for the internet. Come on, get in here close and point it up my nose."
"Stop calling me a devil baby! Stop it right now. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!"
"Am I holding this thing right?"
"Wait, wait, I think I feel something."
"Whoa, that carrot buzz comes out of nowhere. Is this why the Germans love carrots so much?"
"Dad, try this. It is some seriously good shit. You get a little buzz and its gone right about when you get tired of it."
"Dad, zoom in close and take a picture of my brain for the internet. Come on, get in here close and point it up my nose."
"Stop calling me a devil baby! Stop it right now. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!"
"Am I holding this thing right?"
"Wait, wait, I think I feel something."
"Whoa, that carrot buzz comes out of nowhere. Is this why the Germans love carrots so much?"
"Dad, try this. It is some seriously good shit. You get a little buzz and its gone right about when you get tired of it."Friday, January 19, 2007
Geburtstag
Tomorrow is Rachel's birthday. Ellis and I will be getting up early and preparing her a nice breakfast-menu to be determined tomorrow when we head to the grocer-while she lazes in bed sleeping and reading her book.
For those of you who might not have noticed, Rachel is an excellent wife and mother and should get breakfast in bed every single day. Sadly, this would lead to me losing my job and/or Ellis wielding knives and fire as he attempted to cook things he had never tasted. Since he can't read a recipe and really is only a conneisseur of one thing (breast milk) his offerings would likely be variations on a sweet and creamy theme. But, once in a while, we can do it up good on a special Saturday morning for the person who keeps us warm and clothed and fed and on the straight and narrow and makes sure we sleep enough and eat our vegetables and most importantly that makes this house a home with a warm bed and a vegetable garden. In this labor of love, she is utterly irreplaceable
For those of you who might not have noticed, Rachel is an excellent wife and mother and should get breakfast in bed every single day. Sadly, this would lead to me losing my job and/or Ellis wielding knives and fire as he attempted to cook things he had never tasted. Since he can't read a recipe and really is only a conneisseur of one thing (breast milk) his offerings would likely be variations on a sweet and creamy theme. But, once in a while, we can do it up good on a special Saturday morning for the person who keeps us warm and clothed and fed and on the straight and narrow and makes sure we sleep enough and eat our vegetables and most importantly that makes this house a home with a warm bed and a vegetable garden. In this labor of love, she is utterly irreplaceable
Thursday, January 18, 2007
why yes, I would like to experiment on my child
Several months ago I read an article linked from Ask Moxie that discussed baby-led solid introduction. The basic idea being that pureed foods aren't really necessary. If you wait until a baby is actually ready for solid food, they will make that readiness apparent and start showing interest in regular food, which they will be developmentally ready to eat.
This seemed logical, after all you don't see many other mammals eating pre-masticated foods as they are being weaned. But sometimes things that seem logical turn out to be wrong. At any rate, we decided to delay solids for a while and try out this method. I figu
red, the worse case would be that I would get impatient around six months and abandon it. And so we began giving him little pieces of fruit, bread, etc. He would pass them back and forth between his hand and crumble then up in the tiniest pieces he possibly could. Putting the food in his mouth did not seem to occur to him.
Then we went home for Christmas. People were eager to give Ellis bites of whatever they were eating, but whenever I saw this happening he made a face as if he has a mouthful of, um, dirt. After we returned to Germany, he still didn't show much interest, even when we mixed up that classic American first baby food, rice and breast milk. I tried to maintain a relaxed attitude about this, reminding myself that he was clearly getting enough nutrients and would eventually start wanting to eat. But who am I kidding? I am not that kind of mellow person. But yesterday he finally, finally encountered some food that didn't repulse him. Mmmm, sweet juicy pear. He chewed (well, gummed and sort of sucked) on his own skinned piece early in the day. In the picture he is sampling Trey's, which required a little help to get to his mouth.
This seemed logical, after all you don't see many other mammals eating pre-masticated foods as they are being weaned. But sometimes things that seem logical turn out to be wrong. At any rate, we decided to delay solids for a while and try out this method. I figu
red, the worse case would be that I would get impatient around six months and abandon it. And so we began giving him little pieces of fruit, bread, etc. He would pass them back and forth between his hand and crumble then up in the tiniest pieces he possibly could. Putting the food in his mouth did not seem to occur to him.Then we went home for Christmas. People were eager to give Ellis bites of whatever they were eating, but whenever I saw this happening he made a face as if he has a mouthful of, um, dirt. After we returned to Germany, he still didn't show much interest, even when we mixed up that classic American first baby food, rice and breast milk. I tried to maintain a relaxed attitude about this, reminding myself that he was clearly getting enough nutrients and would eventually start wanting to eat. But who am I kidding? I am not that kind of mellow person. But yesterday he finally, finally encountered some food that didn't repulse him. Mmmm, sweet juicy pear. He chewed (well, gummed and sort of sucked) on his own skinned piece early in the day. In the picture he is sampling Trey's, which required a little help to get to his mouth.
Sweetie, keep the lights low
I was telling a coworker about a book I am reading called the "Botany of Desire" about how we have shaped domestic plants. Talk turned to the chapter on marijuana and we discussed how this plant had been entirely changed by humans into something that was unbelievably controllable in its output of usable dope: 2 months from seed to crop, flowering controlled by changing the lighting and tiny dwarf plants producing giant THC loaded flowers. Anyway, he unnecessarily wanted to warn me away from considering growing my own here in Germany because it is so easy to get caught. I asked if they were using IR cameras to find warm spots on the walls of people's homes and he said, "No, it is much more straightforward than that. The electric company notices that you are consuming too much for the grow lights and they tell the police and they come search your house. Of course they have to go before a judge first, but all they need is the electrical information. No other probable cause is necessary."
He also told me that the police have pretty open access to banking info here. Recently an adult website was discovered to have let some illegal stuff make it up on their website for sale. The police noticed this, kept track of how long it took the owners of the site to notice that they were selling something illegal and then went to the banks and got the credit card info of anyone who had transferred money to that company in the time frame. Then got warrants and searched their homes for illegal sorts of things. They never had or needed a warrant or a subpeona for the banking info. The banks immediately handed the stuff over.
He also told me that the police have pretty open access to banking info here. Recently an adult website was discovered to have let some illegal stuff make it up on their website for sale. The police noticed this, kept track of how long it took the owners of the site to notice that they were selling something illegal and then went to the banks and got the credit card info of anyone who had transferred money to that company in the time frame. Then got warrants and searched their homes for illegal sorts of things. They never had or needed a warrant or a subpeona for the banking info. The banks immediately handed the stuff over.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Grabby Baby, Happy Baby
It's been a while since I've posted and that's partly because Trey's been so prolific and partly because Ellis has been extremely crabby lately. I think he's getting more teeth and judging by h
ow much worse this has been than previous teething episodes, I think he must be getting ALL of the rest of them. I have joked with Trey that he must be taking a serial approach to his development: first get 24 teeth, then move on to mobility. I figure this means he will have to learn to crawl, walk, ride a bike, and drive a stick shift before he can start talking.
Ellis has really started to show more of an interest in what we are doing. If we are watching a movie, he wants to hold the remote; if one of us is working on the computer, he wants to look at the screen and type and move the mouse
(sometimes all at once); if we are reading in bed, he tries to climb up and take the book; and if we are eating popcorn he must have a handful to distribute on the couch; we try to take a close up picture of him...you see the results. Right now he's coming to terms with the fact that he only has two hands, so if he's holding 2 items, he has to let go of one before he can grab a third. Oh the frustration!
Also today, Ellis figured out that his little baby mirror is good for something besides gazing lovingly at himself. Namely, it makes fascinating patterns on the wall in a slightly darkened room with a
lamp. Well, I'm not 100% he understood that the mirror was the source of the light on the wall or that his movements caused the light to move. I tried to explain it to him, but you know babies, they never want to listen to anyone else. They're a lot like grown-ups that way.
ow much worse this has been than previous teething episodes, I think he must be getting ALL of the rest of them. I have joked with Trey that he must be taking a serial approach to his development: first get 24 teeth, then move on to mobility. I figure this means he will have to learn to crawl, walk, ride a bike, and drive a stick shift before he can start talking.Ellis has really started to show more of an interest in what we are doing. If we are watching a movie, he wants to hold the remote; if one of us is working on the computer, he wants to look at the screen and type and move the mouse
(sometimes all at once); if we are reading in bed, he tries to climb up and take the book; and if we are eating popcorn he must have a handful to distribute on the couch; we try to take a close up picture of him...you see the results. Right now he's coming to terms with the fact that he only has two hands, so if he's holding 2 items, he has to let go of one before he can grab a third. Oh the frustration!Also today, Ellis figured out that his little baby mirror is good for something besides gazing lovingly at himself. Namely, it makes fascinating patterns on the wall in a slightly darkened room with a
lamp. Well, I'm not 100% he understood that the mirror was the source of the light on the wall or that his movements caused the light to move. I tried to explain it to him, but you know babies, they never want to listen to anyone else. They're a lot like grown-ups that way.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Whole lotta nuthin' goin' on
After one week back in Germany, I feel like the acute bout of home sickness has generally worn off. We still miss everyone, but it seems a little less painful to think about it.
Work is going okay. Data is coming in and there is a lot going on in the data. In fact, so much is going on that it will be a challenge to understand what part of it is of biological importance and what part only happens in in vitro. On Tuesday, I have to give an internal seminar which is throwing a wrench into things because I would like to keep doing science and I have to stop and prepare a presentation so I can talk about science. In my opinion, we have too many of these seminars. The group and team leaders think it is necessary and, since they never have to give the talk, it doesn't take any time from their schedules. The perception here seems to be that European students and post-docs need more practice at talking in front of people than Americans, because the Europeans don't do this growing up in school. More frustrating is that I told my boss I didn't want to participate in these seminars and he supported me, yet, I was signed up by the director of the seminar series without my consent. When I asked about this, he said, "Well, it isn't really fair for you not to go, especially being that you give good talks and are a native English speaker." I didn't bring up the fact that many other people have escaped without notice. So tomorrow will be a very long day and then Tuesday I give the talk.
We had a little break in the weather here today. It was sunny and 50. Since getting back the weather has been cloudy, humid and 40. To a midwesterner, this weather feels transitional, like we should be heading toward a warm spring or a real freeze with dry air, nightime snow and sparkly mornings. But it just stays 40 and humid and cloudy.
Ellis is battling some new teeth and battling his mom and dad because of them. The jet lag is a lot better so he is sleeping but he is drooling like crazy and crabby and needs a pretty steady flux of tylenol or advil through his system.
We did go for two long forest walks. That is, Ellis and I did, giving him mama a little break. Other than that, this was a boring weekend. The good kind of boring.
Work is going okay. Data is coming in and there is a lot going on in the data. In fact, so much is going on that it will be a challenge to understand what part of it is of biological importance and what part only happens in in vitro. On Tuesday, I have to give an internal seminar which is throwing a wrench into things because I would like to keep doing science and I have to stop and prepare a presentation so I can talk about science. In my opinion, we have too many of these seminars. The group and team leaders think it is necessary and, since they never have to give the talk, it doesn't take any time from their schedules. The perception here seems to be that European students and post-docs need more practice at talking in front of people than Americans, because the Europeans don't do this growing up in school. More frustrating is that I told my boss I didn't want to participate in these seminars and he supported me, yet, I was signed up by the director of the seminar series without my consent. When I asked about this, he said, "Well, it isn't really fair for you not to go, especially being that you give good talks and are a native English speaker." I didn't bring up the fact that many other people have escaped without notice. So tomorrow will be a very long day and then Tuesday I give the talk.
We had a little break in the weather here today. It was sunny and 50. Since getting back the weather has been cloudy, humid and 40. To a midwesterner, this weather feels transitional, like we should be heading toward a warm spring or a real freeze with dry air, nightime snow and sparkly mornings. But it just stays 40 and humid and cloudy.
Ellis is battling some new teeth and battling his mom and dad because of them. The jet lag is a lot better so he is sleeping but he is drooling like crazy and crabby and needs a pretty steady flux of tylenol or advil through his system.
We did go for two long forest walks. That is, Ellis and I did, giving him mama a little break. Other than that, this was a boring weekend. The good kind of boring.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Goin' on a Bear Hunt
"Whoa Papa, you're saying that if I kill something, then I have to cut its insides out and bring it home and we eat it? This is a problem in so many ways. Have you seen the lack of variety in my diet? Better leave me home. What? If I go, I can pee on a tree? Oh, count me in."
"The energy flow is all wrong in this pan mama. Do you know anything about Feng-shui? Here, let me reposition those potatoes for you."
"Oh, the milk will taste so good after mama eats this."Disclaimer: No babies, Ellis or otherwise, came into contact with any dead animals, domestic or otherwise, in any of the activities pictured here or otherwise referred to here. And, he was thoroughly scrubbed after the pics in the kitchen.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Fish and Ogre
I can't really come up with a good, cohesive post, so I tell you work stories instead.
I got a new computer, or should I say, I talked my boss into buying an "image analysis computer" and putting it in my private microscope room. I am the only one with a key and the only one who does image analysis. The biggest purpose is for work, as often I need to do online data analysis between experiments and need a pretty good computer to do it. I also got two monitors for it which makes the image analysis that much easier. I also got some cheap speakers for it. Today I streamed NPR all day and also had the most productive data acquisition ever. Coincidence? I think not. The Weekly News Round Up on Diane Rehm brought all my American angst and anger right up to the surface and I focused it on my microscope to maximal advantage.
I got all the details of Bush's new plan and wanted to wretch at the talk of attacking Iran. And, cry at the talk of Israel attacking Iran. And, change my underwear and move to a cabin in Alaska at the talk of Israel using nukes on Iran. I pray that there is someone with some sense left in this administration, but from what I can see, the Secretary of State, who should favor diplomacy, is running a runaway war.
A colleague pointed out to me today that if we stay in Europe until 2009, we can then state convincingly that we lived in exile during the Bush administration. I also got the following quote the other day, attributed to Sinclair Lewis: "When facism comes to America, it will come wrapped in a flag carrying a cross." Does anyone know if the attribution is right?
And, now the story of Fish and Ogre:
Background: In my line of research work we use a lot of very expensive microscopes. That main lens on their is called the "objective" and is typically one of the most expensive pieces of the scope, ranging from $500-$20,000. The one in this story lists at more than $12,000.
A week ago, a Friendly and Intelligent Student Hipster (FISH) came to me for help because I am a micrscope expert, or so he had the good sense to claim, before asking me to take time from my day to solve his problem. The problem was obvious to me, an expert, immediately and since the microscope is a shared piece of equipment, I referred him to the Overbearing Guardian of Research Equipment (OGRE). OGRE showed up in our lab the other day to announce he had repaired the problem. And, then the following ridiculousness broke out:
FISH: I am glad you could repair it.
OGRE: Stuff like this should never ever happen. We are lucky it wasn't totally ruined.
FISH: I guess, but at least we know how to fix it next time and now that I know what the symptom looks like I can clear it up right away. Is there some way we can prevent it? Maybe we need to put up a sign by the microscope reminding people that this objective is different than the others.
OGRE: That is already taken care of. The objective will be kept in my office in a locked drawer and must be signed out.
FISH: What if we need it when you aren't here? And, that means that we will be taking it on and off the microscope and up and down the stairs all of the time. Eventually, someone will drop it and totally destroy it.
OGRE: Yes, but this way their name will be on the sign up sheet, and we will know who to blame.
I got a new computer, or should I say, I talked my boss into buying an "image analysis computer" and putting it in my private microscope room. I am the only one with a key and the only one who does image analysis. The biggest purpose is for work, as often I need to do online data analysis between experiments and need a pretty good computer to do it. I also got two monitors for it which makes the image analysis that much easier. I also got some cheap speakers for it. Today I streamed NPR all day and also had the most productive data acquisition ever. Coincidence? I think not. The Weekly News Round Up on Diane Rehm brought all my American angst and anger right up to the surface and I focused it on my microscope to maximal advantage.
I got all the details of Bush's new plan and wanted to wretch at the talk of attacking Iran. And, cry at the talk of Israel attacking Iran. And, change my underwear and move to a cabin in Alaska at the talk of Israel using nukes on Iran. I pray that there is someone with some sense left in this administration, but from what I can see, the Secretary of State, who should favor diplomacy, is running a runaway war.
A colleague pointed out to me today that if we stay in Europe until 2009, we can then state convincingly that we lived in exile during the Bush administration. I also got the following quote the other day, attributed to Sinclair Lewis: "When facism comes to America, it will come wrapped in a flag carrying a cross." Does anyone know if the attribution is right?
And, now the story of Fish and Ogre:
Background: In my line of research work we use a lot of very expensive microscopes. That main lens on their is called the "objective" and is typically one of the most expensive pieces of the scope, ranging from $500-$20,000. The one in this story lists at more than $12,000.
A week ago, a Friendly and Intelligent Student Hipster (FISH) came to me for help because I am a micrscope expert, or so he had the good sense to claim, before asking me to take time from my day to solve his problem. The problem was obvious to me, an expert, immediately and since the microscope is a shared piece of equipment, I referred him to the Overbearing Guardian of Research Equipment (OGRE). OGRE showed up in our lab the other day to announce he had repaired the problem. And, then the following ridiculousness broke out:
FISH: I am glad you could repair it.
OGRE: Stuff like this should never ever happen. We are lucky it wasn't totally ruined.
FISH: I guess, but at least we know how to fix it next time and now that I know what the symptom looks like I can clear it up right away. Is there some way we can prevent it? Maybe we need to put up a sign by the microscope reminding people that this objective is different than the others.
OGRE: That is already taken care of. The objective will be kept in my office in a locked drawer and must be signed out.
FISH: What if we need it when you aren't here? And, that means that we will be taking it on and off the microscope and up and down the stairs all of the time. Eventually, someone will drop it and totally destroy it.
OGRE: Yes, but this way their name will be on the sign up sheet, and we will know who to blame.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Edison is ticklish
So, if your child's grandmother gave him a toy that not only plays songs, sings the alphabet song and says each letter, but also, with the push of a button, will make that letter's sound, what is the first thing you would try? That's right, spell dirty words and see if they sounded right. And so we did, utilizing Ellis's caterpillar toy from Leap Frog called Edison.
Each of the caterpillars 26 feet corresponds to a song, a letter and that letter's sound. The toy is really pretty good: the feet are easy to press and brightly colored to attract the baby's attention. The sounds are also very clear and even the songs sound pretty good. The only thing I don't like is that the baby can press a second foot and start a new song in the middle of another, so if Ellis is really wailing on the thing it starts to sound like a weird baby, sampled, dance club mash up.
But, our adolescent moment didn't work out. Those guys at Leap Frog must know that some babies have older brothers or adolescent parents, because they were ready for us. When you get to the last letter of a dirty word, instead of saying the sound, Edison giggles and says, "That tickles." Surprisingly, one can get away with "shit". But "dam", "damn" and the effenheimer are all ticklish. The engineer in me was impressed that they would hold the recent buttom pushes in memory, looking for a dirty combo.
I can just picture a 9 year old in a nice church going family with the minister over for dinner. Mom's cooking up a storm and Dad is trying to impress the minister with his piety and charity. The littlest is being mercifully entertained by such an educational little toy as Edison when the nine year old r rips it from his little hands and in rapid succesion rips off "da*n, t&t, f$ck" for everyone in the living room. And, as the father fumes, the boy smiles and says, "Hey, you told me to watch my mouth in front of the minister." But, alas, it can't be.
I do think it is funny that the company chose "ticklish" as the substitute. Being tickled usually means something good and the toy certainly giggles like he is enjoying himself (herself?, Edison could be a girl these days). It is as if those dirty combinations produce a postively pleasurable experience for little Edison.
Each of the caterpillars 26 feet corresponds to a song, a letter and that letter's sound. The toy is really pretty good: the feet are easy to press and brightly colored to attract the baby's attention. The sounds are also very clear and even the songs sound pretty good. The only thing I don't like is that the baby can press a second foot and start a new song in the middle of another, so if Ellis is really wailing on the thing it starts to sound like a weird baby, sampled, dance club mash up.
But, our adolescent moment didn't work out. Those guys at Leap Frog must know that some babies have older brothers or adolescent parents, because they were ready for us. When you get to the last letter of a dirty word, instead of saying the sound, Edison giggles and says, "That tickles." Surprisingly, one can get away with "shit". But "dam", "damn" and the effenheimer are all ticklish. The engineer in me was impressed that they would hold the recent buttom pushes in memory, looking for a dirty combo.
I can just picture a 9 year old in a nice church going family with the minister over for dinner. Mom's cooking up a storm and Dad is trying to impress the minister with his piety and charity. The littlest is being mercifully entertained by such an educational little toy as Edison when the nine year old r rips it from his little hands and in rapid succesion rips off "da*n, t&t, f$ck" for everyone in the living room. And, as the father fumes, the boy smiles and says, "Hey, you told me to watch my mouth in front of the minister." But, alas, it can't be.
I do think it is funny that the company chose "ticklish" as the substitute. Being tickled usually means something good and the toy certainly giggles like he is enjoying himself (herself?, Edison could be a girl these days). It is as if those dirty combinations produce a postively pleasurable experience for little Edison.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
we now return to regularly scheduled sleep difficulty
We did a very bad job getting ourselves over the jet lag after out trip to America. We arrived at around 8am in Germany and, thumbing our noses at the "stay up until it's bed time there" advice, all three of us went directly to bed. Worse, we stayed there until 5pm, had some pizza and went back to bed until past noon the next day. What can I say, we were tired.
So, it was pretty much the worst possible thing we could've done and we paid for it over the last week. Everynight Ellis refused to really go to sleep until after midnight or went to bed around 10 only to wake up at 2:30 and be ready for play time. Then we'd end up in bed until 11 or 12 the following day. Ugh. Everynight I would promise myself that "tomorrow morning I'm getting up at 8 no matter what." Right. But finally, finally last night he went down around 9:30 and stayed asleep. Well, he had to be nursed about 72 times, but I wasn't taking any chances on him getting himself back to sleep. Look! It is not even 8 here and we are awake- yeah!
So, it was pretty much the worst possible thing we could've done and we paid for it over the last week. Everynight Ellis refused to really go to sleep until after midnight or went to bed around 10 only to wake up at 2:30 and be ready for play time. Then we'd end up in bed until 11 or 12 the following day. Ugh. Everynight I would promise myself that "tomorrow morning I'm getting up at 8 no matter what." Right. But finally, finally last night he went down around 9:30 and stayed asleep. Well, he had to be nursed about 72 times, but I wasn't taking any chances on him getting himself back to sleep. Look! It is not even 8 here and we are awake- yeah!
Monday, January 08, 2007
Interview: Ellis Merle at 7 months
On the occasion of his 7 month birthday, Ellis Merle was ready to sit down and hold forth, ending his substantial reclusivness thus far in his life. His first seven months have been a time of change. He has grown from 7.5 to over 20 lbs, and is now nearly 26" long, sitting up and engaging with the world around him in new ways daily. In that vein, he insisted on a no-holds-barred, in-depth interview.We sat down on the 6th of January, 2007 as Ellis Merle was coming off his first transatlantic trip and admittedly was still battling jet lag. Following a good long meal, his mother sat him next to me on the couch and I started the tape recorder. Over the next 4 hours we discussed his union activities, dogs, family, Germany, parents, developmental milestones, pediatricians and midwives with only one break to nurse. Ellis was a bit churlish to begin with, but once the give and take was established I found him to be eloquent and to have a quite a social conscience. Here are the highlights of the time we spent together.
MiME: Well, its been quite a year.
E.M.: I hope you won't continue to resort to understatement and cliches.
MiME: Sorry, I suppose we might as well start at the beginning, what do you remember from the birth?
E.M.: Nothing, I was a new born.
MiME: What is your earliest memory?
E.M.: It is hard to say. The parents talk so much about everything you ever did that memories sort of show up that I think I could not have remembered. I do remember a deep visceral fear early on that I had two penises and then the upper one fell off.
MiME: Wasn't the upper one probably the umbilical cord?
E.M.: Probably, how should I know? But good riddance, I only need one good penis.
MiME: Starting early on, you were a good sleeper, but you still haven't given up nursing once or twice a night. Any thoughts on that?
E.M.: I am hungry, I eat. It is right there next to me in bed, super convenient, nutritious and gives me an excuse to snuggle with mom.
MiME: But a lot of babies your age sleep through without nursing.
E.M.: So what? If my weight and height are reasonable, what should I care what's in the stupid books. Plus, the [International Unified Brotherhood of Babies] IUBB supports a baby-led approach in these matters.
MiME: Well then let's discuss your union activities. What made you feel the need to get involved in organizing babies?
E.M. Well, it was a lot of things. I know I am very well cared for as are all of the babies I interact with. We have gripes, sure. But Silas and I were discussing his early bedtime and we both were thinking we have it pretty good. But we could see that the voiceless ones are also the ones without economic resources. So, as a practical matter we began our action working on first world baby issues such as naps and nursing to build a base of support and funding. Then we can develop programs for the developing world.
MiME: A cynic might claim you were really in it for your own good, looking at the emphasis on naps.
E.M.: Well all I can tell them is that by the time the next contract is settled, and I consider the first one to only be a stepping stone, I won't be napping anymore. It would be far easier for me just to wait and let growing up solve these problems in my personal case.
MiME: Allright, before we get too far afield lets get back to your own development.
E.M.: Okay, if that's what the people want.
MiME: What has been the toughest bit?
E.M.: Teeth, by far. There is plenty of biological unpleasantness for a baby, but the teeth are pretty bad. I didn't really understand at first what was going on and it makes you feel rotten all over.
MiME: Reports in the media, say that you aren't really showing much interest in anything requiring the use of these teeth.
E.M.: Well, I only have two bottom ones really above the gums and the tops are just breaking through. But, I know, I know, plenty of babies eat some soft stuff before teeth at all. Some of the food is looking better but I have decided to stick to nursing only until the IUBB campaign "Nursing is for Suckers" is finished next month. As the most visible face of the movement, I would rather not be photographed with a cracker or what not.
MiME: How about the crawling then? You certainly have the strength and have been rolling over for sometime.
E.M.: I would like to brush you back from all of this talk about what I can't do with some snarky comment like, "Crawling is an imperfect form of locomotion and as such I won't do it." But that isn't it. The beds are too squishy for me right now and the tile floors are pretty hard. Plus, soon is soon enough for me. And, I want to spring it on them so I can find out what is in the drawers and corners. As soon as they see me really moving under my own power, everything will be cleaned and locked up. As far as other developments, they are all quite good, my small motor control for instance. I sit up for long times and pick up my toys and play. It is all fine. They love to get me laughing. All right, enough, let's move on.
MiME: Dogs, both your pesrsonal feelings and the work through your organization.
E.M.:Well as far as the union agreement, it was out of neccesity for both of us. We needed each other to maximize our pull and if you look at how grown-ups try to help animals through poorly focused organizations like the Humane Society, well, it is pitiful. The plight of dogs is different than stockyard cattle.
Personally, I love Scout. I am sad that she needs to be back in America but I understand and, for both of us, our best days are ahead of us, in America.
MiME: Co-sleeping.
E.M.: Never done it any other way, wouldn't want to switch now.
MiME: Diapers.
E.M.: Hate it either way. As you know I like being naked, but for now it is a necessity.
MiME: Bath or shower.
E.M.: Bath, definitely, is more fun, but we don't have the option here in Germany right now.
MiME: You are well known for your natural hair style, how did that come about?
E.M.: My hand-eye coordination isn't good enough for combing it yet and my parents make that decision.
MiME: Okay, before we run out of time, what about the recent trip to America.
E.M.: I enjoy flying and had a wonderful time back there. Until that trip, I was an American who had never been to America. It was great to meet the family, the aunts and I am fortunate to have met 4 great-grand-parents. I hope to see them all again pretty soon and hope they all realize that we will have plenty of time together in the future.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Jet lagged and motivated
I am lying awake next to a super active, highly jet-lagged little boy who is exploring the full range of his vocal abilities. He is doing push-ups at a rate of 2 per minute and celebrating each one with a loud baby yodel. In between, he rolls over and kicks his mama a good one. She shoves him over by me where he stares at me for a moment, rolls to his belly and does another push-up. How he is sitting up next to me and giving me a "what next, dad?" kind of look.
Tomorrow we are getting up at 8. No more bad jet-lag hygeine for this family.
Tomorrow we are getting up at 8. No more bad jet-lag hygeine for this family.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Back to the office
First I want to give fair credit to Rachel for coming up with the theme of the previous baby wrestling post since she accidentally posted it under my name. Also, for the guys at the FBI monitoring this blog: IT WAS ONLY A JOKE! WE ARE NOT SANCTIONING BABY FIGHTS. For those of you who think this was obvious, I remind you that several law enforcement agencies looked into the "bonsai kitten" website before declaring it a hoax/joke.
Today was my first day back at work and it was slow. Apparently, Germans in my region are used to taking the time around Three Kings Day off for a ski trip, so there were a lot of folks missing. The joke is on them though because only select regions have enough snow and can't possibly accomodate the numbers who normally would go skiing this time of year.
Despite the lack of coworkers, there were some good stories. I asked my most politically interested coworker what the Germans thought of the Saddam Hussein execution:
"The outrage over capital punishment or the unfairness of the trial has been overshadowed by people pointing out that if you can't control the 25 people in an execution chamber and prevent them from filming the excecution, then you don't have much chance of controlling a whole fucking country."
Also, I heard a truly gruesome story about a tipsy Norwegian taking a baby pheasant to bed with him to keep it warm, subsequently rolling over on it and finding it dead the next morning. I am only one degree of seperation from this guy. The woman who told me the story is his step-daughter which kept me from asking her to teach me how to say "hillbilly" in Norwegian. I can't say I don't work with interesting folks.
And, when my coworker came over this morning to help me jump the in the dark, one of my neighbors heard us and came out to monitor the situation. Apparently, he told my coworker, "Who are you and what are you doing to the American's car? He is in America, do you know him?" My coworker pointed out that I was sitting right there in the car about to turn the key in the ignition. Now, I appreciate my neighbors looking out for me and my auto, but this neighbor is not someone I told that I was going to America. I would say that my relationship with him is of the "wave and smile a lot" variety. In fact, I only told one neighbor I was going and that was the one who lives below us. As near as I can tell, she only knows the car-guardian neighbor in passing, but shared our travel plans with him. This all ads to my feeling that we are being watched an awful lot by our neighbors. The Germans, they are like coyotes, for everyone you notice, there are ten more watching you.
I have also decided, in the course of evaluating what I am doing with my time in Germany, that I am going to try to generate five essays or articles for submission to magazines. We aren't talking about The New Yorker or anything like that, just some smaller niche publications at first. We will see how this goes and if my ego can bear the rejection. Some of the seeds will come from some blog entries, others will originate with other sources.
Finally, some of you may be noting that today is Ellis's 7 month b-day. Sorry, but the update post will be delayed for one more day. Now I am off to compose this month's dadbloggers entry.
Today was my first day back at work and it was slow. Apparently, Germans in my region are used to taking the time around Three Kings Day off for a ski trip, so there were a lot of folks missing. The joke is on them though because only select regions have enough snow and can't possibly accomodate the numbers who normally would go skiing this time of year.
Despite the lack of coworkers, there were some good stories. I asked my most politically interested coworker what the Germans thought of the Saddam Hussein execution:
"The outrage over capital punishment or the unfairness of the trial has been overshadowed by people pointing out that if you can't control the 25 people in an execution chamber and prevent them from filming the excecution, then you don't have much chance of controlling a whole fucking country."
Also, I heard a truly gruesome story about a tipsy Norwegian taking a baby pheasant to bed with him to keep it warm, subsequently rolling over on it and finding it dead the next morning. I am only one degree of seperation from this guy. The woman who told me the story is his step-daughter which kept me from asking her to teach me how to say "hillbilly" in Norwegian. I can't say I don't work with interesting folks.
And, when my coworker came over this morning to help me jump the in the dark, one of my neighbors heard us and came out to monitor the situation. Apparently, he told my coworker, "Who are you and what are you doing to the American's car? He is in America, do you know him?" My coworker pointed out that I was sitting right there in the car about to turn the key in the ignition. Now, I appreciate my neighbors looking out for me and my auto, but this neighbor is not someone I told that I was going to America. I would say that my relationship with him is of the "wave and smile a lot" variety. In fact, I only told one neighbor I was going and that was the one who lives below us. As near as I can tell, she only knows the car-guardian neighbor in passing, but shared our travel plans with him. This all ads to my feeling that we are being watched an awful lot by our neighbors. The Germans, they are like coyotes, for everyone you notice, there are ten more watching you.
I have also decided, in the course of evaluating what I am doing with my time in Germany, that I am going to try to generate five essays or articles for submission to magazines. We aren't talking about The New Yorker or anything like that, just some smaller niche publications at first. We will see how this goes and if my ego can bear the rejection. Some of the seeds will come from some blog entries, others will originate with other sources.
Finally, some of you may be noting that today is Ellis's 7 month b-day. Sorry, but the update post will be delayed for one more day. Now I am off to compose this month's dadbloggers entry.
ultra-ultra featherweight class
Jeez, this blog is melancholy lately. Thus, here are some of the silliest photos from our trip home- Baby Wrestling: Annie vs. Ellis!
Annie is 6 months older than Ellis, but 2-3 pounds lighter. We noticed a CroMagnon/ Neanderthal dynamic at work, in which Annie's superior technical developments (walking) gave her the edge in this match. If we are lucky enough to see her family again, perhaps we can look forward to a rematch on our next trip home.
Annie is 6 months older than Ellis, but 2-3 pounds lighter. We noticed a CroMagnon/ Neanderthal dynamic at work, in which Annie's superior technical developments (walking) gave her the edge in this match. If we are lucky enough to see her family again, perhaps we can look forward to a rematch on our next trip home.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Home Again, Home Again
Tomorrow we dig back into our German lives after nearly a full day's hibernation today. The flight went well with Ellis sleeping more this time, but we are both feeling the pain of the seperation from family.
Upon returning, I discovered the car wouldn't start. The first attempt at jumping the car was a success, but only a brief one as I inadvertantly turned the car off before the battery was charged by attempting to remove the keyless entry fob from the key chain so I could leave it run and still get back in. So tomorrow my coworker will stop back by at 7:45 to rejump it and we will take his car back to his wife and he will ride in with me where I will allow the car to run for a solid hour. I am suspicious that the battery may have reached the end of the line in which case I will have to con a coworker into running me over to get a new one and the tools I need to change it. Yes, I lack even such rudimentary tools over here, and that is the reason that on the morning we left, I failed to unhook the battery to preserve its charge--the multi-tool just couldn't do it.
On the flight back, the flight attendants booted other passengers out of the desirable bassinet seats so that folks with kids could use them as intneded. At first I felt bad (and some of the passengers raised hell about it) but I figure we payed extra for the baby ticket and just because they had reserved seats assignments their fare didn't guarantee them extra leg room. The result was that we sat in the middle four seats with a pair of missionaries next to us with their 18 month old daughter. The had originated in Washington state and still had a flight to Kiev and a 7 hour van ride in front of them to get to the school they run. This made our trip seem a lot easier just as their situation made ours seem much better.
Time for bed. Tomorrow we start in on preparing for taxes, straightening car insurance and I have to restart the battle for the raise that I am entitled to, but may not be getting. It never gets easier, so I guess I have to change my expectations.
Upon returning, I discovered the car wouldn't start. The first attempt at jumping the car was a success, but only a brief one as I inadvertantly turned the car off before the battery was charged by attempting to remove the keyless entry fob from the key chain so I could leave it run and still get back in. So tomorrow my coworker will stop back by at 7:45 to rejump it and we will take his car back to his wife and he will ride in with me where I will allow the car to run for a solid hour. I am suspicious that the battery may have reached the end of the line in which case I will have to con a coworker into running me over to get a new one and the tools I need to change it. Yes, I lack even such rudimentary tools over here, and that is the reason that on the morning we left, I failed to unhook the battery to preserve its charge--the multi-tool just couldn't do it.
On the flight back, the flight attendants booted other passengers out of the desirable bassinet seats so that folks with kids could use them as intneded. At first I felt bad (and some of the passengers raised hell about it) but I figure we payed extra for the baby ticket and just because they had reserved seats assignments their fare didn't guarantee them extra leg room. The result was that we sat in the middle four seats with a pair of missionaries next to us with their 18 month old daughter. The had originated in Washington state and still had a flight to Kiev and a 7 hour van ride in front of them to get to the school they run. This made our trip seem a lot easier just as their situation made ours seem much better.
Time for bed. Tomorrow we start in on preparing for taxes, straightening car insurance and I have to restart the battle for the raise that I am entitled to, but may not be getting. It never gets easier, so I guess I have to change my expectations.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
In Its Weakest Sense
Folks, tomorrow it will all be over. We will pack it in and head home and I use home in the loosest possible sense: the place we spend our days but not a place where our hearts have taken root. We've finished with our visits and we have packed the bags. Ellis has no idea what's coming. Tomorrow he will sleep on the plane (we hope) and on Thursday night he will be back to his meager selection of only two choices for his prebed rocking. Much to our relief, Scout is also settling in to her new surroundings in her temporary home. We hate to leave her behind but feel very good about the couple who will be taking care of her for us. I had a lot of trepidation about finding someone and then, over lunch with old friends, we found a good match.
Our big dinners and New Year's Eve party were all successes. Today we did some shopping and took my wife's grandpa to see her grandma's grave in town. The saddness of her death bubbled right up to the surface. I wondered standing there if we all shouldn't remember her sudden loss and bear this in mind as we, as all families, are often far too hard on each other.
I finished my book, Truck: A Love Story. It continued in the same direction and I enjoyed every bit of it. The author is sort of a prose writing, hillbilly counterpart to the cowboy poet. He shares many of my fears and worries about the future of our country and through the story of his own wedding paints a very human face on the issues surrounding same sex unions. In some parts, he speaks the language of the recovery/ACOA/AA set to which I belong without coming right out and claiming any association of his own. This is a refreshing way to revisit the ideas behind the personal recovery offered through these groups: without the specific problems associated with these groups providing the framework for every word, the ideas behind these programs are affirmed in a powerful way that shows there sense as generally good ways to lead a life.
This book also made me feel like there are a lot of things that are worth saying and worth me saying, which will hopefully reenergize this blog with a larger variety of post topics. Don't worry, there will still be baby pictures, you might just have to sift through a few more words to find them.
Our big dinners and New Year's Eve party were all successes. Today we did some shopping and took my wife's grandpa to see her grandma's grave in town. The saddness of her death bubbled right up to the surface. I wondered standing there if we all shouldn't remember her sudden loss and bear this in mind as we, as all families, are often far too hard on each other.
I finished my book, Truck: A Love Story. It continued in the same direction and I enjoyed every bit of it. The author is sort of a prose writing, hillbilly counterpart to the cowboy poet. He shares many of my fears and worries about the future of our country and through the story of his own wedding paints a very human face on the issues surrounding same sex unions. In some parts, he speaks the language of the recovery/ACOA/AA set to which I belong without coming right out and claiming any association of his own. This is a refreshing way to revisit the ideas behind the personal recovery offered through these groups: without the specific problems associated with these groups providing the framework for every word, the ideas behind these programs are affirmed in a powerful way that shows there sense as generally good ways to lead a life.
This book also made me feel like there are a lot of things that are worth saying and worth me saying, which will hopefully reenergize this blog with a larger variety of post topics. Don't worry, there will still be baby pictures, you might just have to sift through a few more words to find them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)