Scientific Ink

Tag: Family

  • Cruising in the Caribbean

    Sunshine on the Caribbean
    Dave’s grandfather John loves cruise vacations. He has been on something like 30 cruises with his wife. They couldn’t cruise at the end, her Alzheimer’s made traveling challenging and unsafe. Since her death, we’ve gone on two cruises with him. The first was especially hard for him, as all the memories of their time together came flooding back. This one was easier, though we had some medical mishaps (I sliced open my foot on the first night, he caught a stomach bug).

    We enjoyed our trip on Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas. It was the same cruise line and the same ship as our previous trip, and so we re-encountered some of the folks that helped make our trip special the first time, especially Mihai from Romania who recognized and immediately fussed over John in Romanian (John speaks Romanian).

    Things I liked:

    • enforced indolence. On a day at sea, after an hour or so at the gym, there really is nothing to do except relax, read, talk, eat, etc. Even the stopovers were relaxed (see photo below from our day on CocoCay in the Bahamas).
    • the international staff. Fun to meet folks from Goa, from Romania, from the Phillipines….
    • the amazing cheery helpfulness. They must have some fascinating hiring criteria. We met nothing but patient, sunny folks who sincerely seemed to enjoy taking great care of us.

    Dave and Nate enjoy CocoCay

  • Thanksgiving highlights

    • My nephew
    • My niece
    • My brother-in-law’s deep fried turkey
    • My sister’s homemade non-canned green bean casserole (from Cook’s Illustrated – subscription required)
    • Hot and numbing beef roll in our take-out meal from Tasty China in Marietta
    • Dave’s bacon, avocado, leftover turkey sandwich, a play on Zingerman’s Tarb’s Tenacious Tenure. Hingerman’s Barb’s Tenacious Tenure anyone?
    • Going to the Marietta YMCA with my sister to work off aforementioned meals
    • My nephew and niece, again.

    Nathan samples the fried turkey

  • How young is too young for a laptop?

    So, it is nearing Christmas, and I am remembering my intention to purchase gifts mindfully. I haven’t been able to arrange charity exchanges with everyone, but I have got a few takers, and that’s good.

    Theo and Dave

    A colleague at work told me about one laptop per child, an organization that is providing rugged laptops to third world children. It’s a cool concept, building a low-cost, efficient laptop for kids (so no expensive office oriented software). I’ve heard that it is programmable, but also comes with a reset button to undo mistakes.

    The most intriguing part is that one laptop per child is offering a “give a laptop, get a laptop” promotion, allowing us to explore the form, function, and user experience of the XO laptop. It would be fun to touch it and play with it, but it seems to violate the spirit not to give it to a kiddo. I’m wondering if my four-year-old nephew Theo (pictured here eating his first s’more) is too young for it.

    Is 4-and-a-half too young for a laptop?

    11/25/2007 – After seeing him with Dave and Dave’s laptop over Thanksgiving (replacement photo at left) I think he’s going to love it.

  • The power of retreat

    Earlier this year, I took a week’s vacation and came back with a realization.

    I went to Austria with my husband and friends in March. I left behind my cell phone, my laptop, email, IM, everything.

    Just before I left, I feared my family was about to bust apart (stepmother and sister and I were in some deeply uncomfortable discussions about money and shared ownership). I dreaded going away for a week and brooding on the dissolution of my family. Somehow, we accomplished some major repair work by cell phone on the way to the airport. So, family as intact as it ever was, I was able to leave the country with a clear heart and be far away.

    I had several books, the company of friends, and was able to hide out in the mountains in a country where I don’t speak the language. I tried to learn to ski, I went for long walks in foothills. We took a day trip to Italy. We tried several varieties of schnapps. And I didn’t think about home all that much, except to be grateful for the lack of worry.

    After that most complete retreat, I saw the world differently. On the plane ride home, I realized that it was time for me to find a new job. It really was that simple, like crossing a threshold. Something about going away, about really taking a break, changed my perspective entirely.

    The hard part for me is taking that practice and incorporating it into my everyday life. I don’t always have a week to spare to realign my head. The hard part about being an adult is that there is (often) no watchful responsible party to call a timeout. So, I need to look for little opportunities to restore my energies, whether through a nap, meditation, a walk, a bike ride, or taking a long bath with a copy of the New Yorker magazine. I need to become a better judge of when to give myself downtime instead of pushing through whatever it is that seems important.

    I might never know what that rest might provide in terms of insight or new perspective.

  • Gifts in lieu of gifts

    Every so often, I get into a fit about how much stuff we have. I just purchased another set of shelves for our basement (buying stuff to hold stuff), just dropped off a bunch of cast-off stuff to charity, and of course there is all the stuff we just bought ourselves (renovated bathroom, new TV).

    I have everything I need: my health, my mom’s health, a terrific husband, loving family, smart, funny, and talented friends, a world class feline, a wonderful home…So, I’d like to declare a moratorium on stuff, at least for a little while. So, I’d like to propose a truce with those who give me gifts and to whom I give gifts: hold the stuff and spread the love a bit wider.

    I propose to give $ to charity in lieu of a gift. For instance, I just got “The Most Important Gift Catalog in the World” from Heifer International, and instead of a tchotchke to my mom, I can give a share of a water buffalo or honeybees or llamas or rabbits to a family in need. I have a short list of charities, but it seems like anyone who wants to “play” should use their own short list, or maybe we could exchange charities (I give to yours, you give to mine).

    It doesn’t seem quite fair for me to give to charity if you expect a gift instead, so I’m proposing to do this only with folks who agree. LMK!

  • Sausage likened to cheese, in a good way.

    I recently bought pre-cooked, frozen sausage after America’s Test Kitchen liked it better than “regular.” So, I got mild turkey since I don’t want a gazillion grams of fat & the kids don’t like spicy. Theo (4 years old) has been enjoying veggie sausage for a long time. When I nuked the turkey stuff, I let him know it would be different & hoped he would like it.

    After breakfast, I asked him which he preferred. He looked at me & said “Mommy, sausage is like cheese, and I like all cheese…”