Feeling a little groggy today. I did that thing where you wake up in no man's land (for me it's around 7:00 a.m.) and you have to decide whether or not you just get up and be a little tired throughout the day, or whether or not you try to fall back asleep despite the fact that you can hear other people awake in the house. I went with the latter, and apparently it was a good decision, as I manged to fall back sleep until nearly 11 -- paying off the sleep debt that accrues throughout the week, I guess -- but now I'm in that post-slept-in daze. Oh well, it's better than the painfully-tired daze.
Anyway, last week I had a nice little vacation. I took the entire week off as well as Monday this week. The Sunday before Thanksgiving my friend JY, his wife CC, and their 9-year old boy IY came to visit for a few days. On Thanksgiving I drove with S, S's mom, and Lil' S down to South Carolina (S's parents' home when S's mom isn't staying with us) to visit a bunch of family on S's side for a few days. Coincidentally, CC's dad and step-mom also live in South Carolina only a few miles from S's parents, so JY and family also drove there the day before Thanksgiving.
It was great to see JY (especially since I won't be going to Sea-Tac for Xmas, which is when I usually see him). On Monday, we basically recreated the trip I took with my family in June. Thankfully this time it wasn't 104,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit outside and nobody nearly passed out from heat stroke; quite the opposite, it was a bit on the nippy side. Also, the reflecting pool was actually filled in and there was no construction going on like in the summer. This is good because it made our Forrest Gump references a little more poignant.
We met up with a friend of IY and his mom -- they recently moved to the DC area from Seattle -- and we strolled around the National Mall for a bit; well, for IY and his friend it was really more of a wrestle than a stroll, but you get my point. We saw all the memorials in the area (Vietnam, Lincoln, Korean War, WWII), and then we hit up the Natural History Museum.
IY went into a 9-year old snit at the museum. He wanted to see an IMAX movie, which JY agreed to, thinking it was just like a 15-minute presentation that's part of the typical museum admission, but it's actually a full-length movie that you have to buy tickets for and all that, so JY had to recant his agreement for time reasons, and this put IY into an inconsolable stew. He did that thing that all little kids (and sadly many adults) do when they're upset -- pout and make it a point to demonstrate just how aggrieved they are. It him in a weird bind because there are dinosaur skeletons and giant sea creatures and sparkling gems and all this cool stuff around to look at (especially for a kid his age), but he had to pretend like wasn't enjoying it, which to his "credit" he managed to do for quite a while. Finally, he broke down though and told his dad, "I really like all this stuff. I'm just doing this because." To which his dad replied, "I know. Now, knock it off." And after that everything was good. A great thing about kids is that they usually don't hold grudges for very long.
After the museum we went to the Metro Center part of town for lunch. I envisioned sitting down somewhere, being waited on, and maybe even having a beer. I suggested a pizzeria I know in the area. But as it turns out, IY's friend can't eat gluten so that was out. So annoying. Being married to a vegetarian (a picky one at that) I already feel like I spend way too much of my time trying to find an accommodating eatery. This is one area where S has it easier than me -- if she's making or buying dinner, she can literally make or buy anything and I'll eat it (and almost always enjoy it) -- she doesn't even have to ask me. If I'm making or buying dinner, I have to be so precise about it or she won't eat it. Anyway, we ended up eating at Pret A Manger, which is a quasi-fast food sandwich shop. It was OK, but there was no place to sit; it wasn't very relaxing, but so it goes.
Next we went to Ford's Theater which I've never been to before (I tried to go with my parents once but it was closed). It was pretty cool. I never really knew the details behind Lincoln's assassination -- for instance, I didn't know John Wilkes Booth was a well-known actor, which is how he was able to access the presidential box in the theater -- so it was cool to learn. IY liked it, but he fell asleep during the lecture part of the tour. To be fair, so did I for a few minutes What? I woke up early and did a lot of walking.
Just before the South Carolina leg of my vacation I came down with a pretty bad cold, ironic since I had just been bragging to JY about how seldom I get sick. I thought about not even going to SC, because I didn't want to get everybody else sick, but S wanted me to go, if only to help out with the drive (3 adults vs. 1 baby on an 8-hour drive -- advantage baby), so I went; it's not like I wanted to spend Thanksgiving by myself anyway. It ended up being fine. I started feeling better pretty quickly, and I don't think anybody else really caught my bug. Lil' S got a bit congested, we could hear some phlegm when he breathed, but it was nothing some elevation and a little Baby Vick's Vapor Rub couldn't handle. It's kinda good to expose him to some common sicknesses now, get his immune system working -- at least that's what I tell myself.
S has two little girl cousins (ages 7 and 3, they are S's cousin's kids to be exact, Lil' S's second cousins) who were in SC with us. They are a lot of fun, but they are relentless in wanting you to play with them. And they always want to play whatever game expends the most energy and makes the most noise, usually some sort of chasing game. They also want to "play" with the baby, meaning they want to poke and pull and prod at him. You end up doing a lot, "OK... That's enough... I don't think he likes... OK, be nice... Don't... Just leave him..." when they're near him. I taught the oldest one how to play chess, so that we could do a nice, quiet, consuming activity for a while. She mostly understood. She was good for about 15 minutes, and then after that she'd start getting bored and start trying to move the pieces illegally to capture all your men. She called bishops "bishers" which was cute.
On Saturday JY and I ditched the families and spent the day in Clemson for the Clemson vs. South Carolina football game. Neither of us had a rooting interest in the game (he's an Oregon Ducks fan, I'm a college football agnostic), but we heard SEC football games were off the hook, so we wanted to check one out. Honestly, it wasn't really anything more crazy than any other big college game I've been to -- pretty much the same atmosphere as UW and U of O.
We had these crazy nosebleed seats where the benches didn't have backs and pretty much everybody stood for the entire game. The game wasn't boring, but it wasn't particularly exciting either (SC won fairly decisively). The most action came in the row in front of us where two chesty college kids started jawing at each other. There were a lot of "What are you going to do"s and "C'mon, then, bitch"s and "You ain't nothing"s thrown about. One of the kids looked like he was about 5' 3" and the other wasn't much bigger. I had a fantasy of lunging forward and shoving both of them down the steep stadium tier -- it would have been so easy. Ultimately their girlfriends stepped in to play peacemakers, and the stadium police stopped by for a chat at some point, but nothing came of it. Or if it did, JY and I missed it, because we left early. I'm not a huge fan of leaving sporting events before they're over (why even go), but I must admit there's something very satisfying about walking past the rows of parked cars, knowing that you'll be out of the vicinity in a few minutes while everybody else will be stuck for hours. It's like evacuating a hurricane's path just before the storm comes.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time...
Anyway, last week I had a nice little vacation. I took the entire week off as well as Monday this week. The Sunday before Thanksgiving my friend JY, his wife CC, and their 9-year old boy IY came to visit for a few days. On Thanksgiving I drove with S, S's mom, and Lil' S down to South Carolina (S's parents' home when S's mom isn't staying with us) to visit a bunch of family on S's side for a few days. Coincidentally, CC's dad and step-mom also live in South Carolina only a few miles from S's parents, so JY and family also drove there the day before Thanksgiving.
It was great to see JY (especially since I won't be going to Sea-Tac for Xmas, which is when I usually see him). On Monday, we basically recreated the trip I took with my family in June. Thankfully this time it wasn't 104,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit outside and nobody nearly passed out from heat stroke; quite the opposite, it was a bit on the nippy side. Also, the reflecting pool was actually filled in and there was no construction going on like in the summer. This is good because it made our Forrest Gump references a little more poignant.
We met up with a friend of IY and his mom -- they recently moved to the DC area from Seattle -- and we strolled around the National Mall for a bit; well, for IY and his friend it was really more of a wrestle than a stroll, but you get my point. We saw all the memorials in the area (Vietnam, Lincoln, Korean War, WWII), and then we hit up the Natural History Museum.
After the museum we went to the Metro Center part of town for lunch. I envisioned sitting down somewhere, being waited on, and maybe even having a beer. I suggested a pizzeria I know in the area. But as it turns out, IY's friend can't eat gluten so that was out. So annoying. Being married to a vegetarian (a picky one at that) I already feel like I spend way too much of my time trying to find an accommodating eatery. This is one area where S has it easier than me -- if she's making or buying dinner, she can literally make or buy anything and I'll eat it (and almost always enjoy it) -- she doesn't even have to ask me. If I'm making or buying dinner, I have to be so precise about it or she won't eat it. Anyway, we ended up eating at Pret A Manger, which is a quasi-fast food sandwich shop. It was OK, but there was no place to sit; it wasn't very relaxing, but so it goes.
Next we went to Ford's Theater which I've never been to before (I tried to go with my parents once but it was closed). It was pretty cool. I never really knew the details behind Lincoln's assassination -- for instance, I didn't know John Wilkes Booth was a well-known actor, which is how he was able to access the presidential box in the theater -- so it was cool to learn. IY liked it, but he fell asleep during the lecture part of the tour. To be fair, so did I for a few minutes What? I woke up early and did a lot of walking.
[It's a little dark, but this is the box where President Lincoln was assassinated.]
Just before the South Carolina leg of my vacation I came down with a pretty bad cold, ironic since I had just been bragging to JY about how seldom I get sick. I thought about not even going to SC, because I didn't want to get everybody else sick, but S wanted me to go, if only to help out with the drive (3 adults vs. 1 baby on an 8-hour drive -- advantage baby), so I went; it's not like I wanted to spend Thanksgiving by myself anyway. It ended up being fine. I started feeling better pretty quickly, and I don't think anybody else really caught my bug. Lil' S got a bit congested, we could hear some phlegm when he breathed, but it was nothing some elevation and a little Baby Vick's Vapor Rub couldn't handle. It's kinda good to expose him to some common sicknesses now, get his immune system working -- at least that's what I tell myself.
S has two little girl cousins (ages 7 and 3, they are S's cousin's kids to be exact, Lil' S's second cousins) who were in SC with us. They are a lot of fun, but they are relentless in wanting you to play with them. And they always want to play whatever game expends the most energy and makes the most noise, usually some sort of chasing game. They also want to "play" with the baby, meaning they want to poke and pull and prod at him. You end up doing a lot, "OK... That's enough... I don't think he likes... OK, be nice... Don't... Just leave him..." when they're near him. I taught the oldest one how to play chess, so that we could do a nice, quiet, consuming activity for a while. She mostly understood. She was good for about 15 minutes, and then after that she'd start getting bored and start trying to move the pieces illegally to capture all your men. She called bishops "bishers" which was cute.
On Saturday JY and I ditched the families and spent the day in Clemson for the Clemson vs. South Carolina football game. Neither of us had a rooting interest in the game (he's an Oregon Ducks fan, I'm a college football agnostic), but we heard SEC football games were off the hook, so we wanted to check one out. Honestly, it wasn't really anything more crazy than any other big college game I've been to -- pretty much the same atmosphere as UW and U of O.
We had these crazy nosebleed seats where the benches didn't have backs and pretty much everybody stood for the entire game. The game wasn't boring, but it wasn't particularly exciting either (SC won fairly decisively). The most action came in the row in front of us where two chesty college kids started jawing at each other. There were a lot of "What are you going to do"s and "C'mon, then, bitch"s and "You ain't nothing"s thrown about. One of the kids looked like he was about 5' 3" and the other wasn't much bigger. I had a fantasy of lunging forward and shoving both of them down the steep stadium tier -- it would have been so easy. Ultimately their girlfriends stepped in to play peacemakers, and the stadium police stopped by for a chat at some point, but nothing came of it. Or if it did, JY and I missed it, because we left early. I'm not a huge fan of leaving sporting events before they're over (why even go), but I must admit there's something very satisfying about walking past the rows of parked cars, knowing that you'll be out of the vicinity in a few minutes while everybody else will be stuck for hours. It's like evacuating a hurricane's path just before the storm comes.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time...
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