Christmas Miracles

Okay, I don't want to get all religious here, but this past Disney cruise convinced me that miracles do happen. In fact, no less than seven miracles happened on this trip. So let's go to the video tape:

Miracle #1 - Dinner seating (Okay, we will call this a quasi-miracle)
Disney, as well as most cruises ships, makes you sit with people, you don't know, at dinner so that you can socialize. This lasts for the duration of the cruise. Now, don't get me wrong. I like socializing, really, but after a long day in the sun, children and parents tend to be, well, a bit annoying. Dinner is the time to unwind, socializing is the last thing you want to do. Sometimes you get lucky and sit with someone you like. Other times, not so much. Take for example, the family we sat with on the last Disney cruise. It was a single father with his two daughters. The youngest daughter would fall asleep in her plate, literally, while the other one would not stop, talking. She drove me crazy! She would be asking me stupid questions about my shirt or something while her father ate all three dinners. I swear, those kids never had a chance to eat. Needless to say, we were not looking forward to meeting our dinner guests this time around. There are two seating times for dinner, 5:45 pm and 8:00 pm. Most parents want the earlier seating because their children need to be in bed by 8:30. Here's where the miracle comes in. Since Matthew is older now, we decided to changed our seating time to 8:00. This would give us a chance to digest all the other food that we've eaten during the day. As a result, we got our own table. I think we were the only ones on the ship with our own table. No annoying kids, no yelling parents just blissful dining, yeehah.

Miracle #2 - Broken Bus
In the previous blog entry, Susan mentioned that our tour bus broke down in Cozumel on our way from the Mayan ruins. Let me clarify why this was a miracle. Cozumel is a small Mexican island East of the Yucatan peninsula in the Western Caribbean. Only 35% of the island in inhabited, the other 65% is dense forest. In fact, our tour guide told us that there are probably many Mayan temples that have not been discovered yet because of this dense forest. Okay, now, we are stuck on a bus, on the remote side of the island. Yes, there was no electricity, bathroom, food, nothing but Iguanas. So, when the bus motor died, I thought, great, here we are stranded on the side of the road, 45 minutes away from town, in Mexico. We are not going to see the ship or civilization for hours. By the time I finished bitching to my self about the situation, another bus shows up. Holy crap! It took five minutes for the bus to reach us, in fact it didn't even delay our trip. Now you have to admit, that was a miracle.

Miracle #3 - Luggage
Disney can actually check you into the airlines and issue your boarding passes while you're still on the ship. Your luggage is identified with a tag that has all your flight information and they take it straight to the airport. That's Disney for you, you pay through the nose but you get great service. Anyway, I digress, since 9/11, the customs regulations have changed for disembarking the ship. In the past, we reported to the movie theater and everyone got customs approval at once. Now, you need to go through customs and find your bag as you would in an airport. Close to 1600 people disembark from the ship at once, given that an average family has four pieces of luggage you are talking about 6400 bags. Well, we go through customs quickly and begin looking for our bags. Guess what, no bags. We looked everywhere. There is no carousel like in the airport, just a giant room filled with 6400 pieces of luggage. To cover more ground Matthew and I went one way and Susan another. Well after a little panicking and lots of cursing Susan found one bag, in the corner of the room, without a tag on it. Apparently, the tags got ripped off during handling and would probably still be in Florida today if she didn't find it. Matthew found the other two pieces of luggage in a roped off area that was being loaded onto a truck for delivery to the airport. We informed the luggage handler and he placed a new tag on the bag and loaded it in the tuck. Finding one bag in 6400 pieces of luggage is pretty miraculous to me. Lets see if it makes it to LaGuardia.

Miracle #4 & 5 - Missed Connecting Flight

I used my frequent flyer points to fly to and from Florida. The whole flight for the 3 of us, was 30 dollars. Because of that, we had to fly south to Miami, get a connecting flight and then head North to Orlando and visa versa for the return trip. Stupid, right? Then again, what do you expect for 30 dollars? Going down was pretty uneventful. The return trip on the other hand, was not. We missed our connecting flight in Miami due to a delayed takeoff in Orlando. We landed, ran 10 gates which felt more like 10 miles, only to to have the agent close the doors before we could board. This is the same airline as the connecting flight, mind you, but apparently they could not hold the plane for 5 freaking minutes! Missing a flight is bad, but this was not the worst part. You see, a few days earlier the Northeast got pounded with 24 inches of snow. 10,000 flight were cancelled. Hundreds of people were stranded in the airport for days. So what do you think the chances were to get three standby tickets for the next flight? How about slim to none. Okay, it's Thursday night at 6:20 pm. The next confirmed seating the ticket agent could give us was Sunday, yes, I said Sunday. Well, here comes the cursing again which seems to be the only thing I could do at this point. I didn't want to piss off the ticket agent too much because she was the one getting me home. Matthew is panicking, Susan is strangely calm and I've resolved myself to the fact that we are going to be spending some time in this airport. Our standby flight was at 8:20 pm. I plant myself in front of the ticket agent, looking as pathetic as possible so she would not forget that I was there. Everyone boards, things don't look good, then suddenly they call out our names. Miracle #4! Not only did we get on this flight but all our luggage, including the one that Susan found, made it to LaGuardia. How do you like that. We'll count that one as miracle #5. In retrospect, I realized that If they did hold the plane for us to board in Miami, then our luggage would not have arrived in LaGuardia at the same time as we did. So if I have to be stranded in an airport then it might as well be Miami.

Miracle #6 & 7- Snow Removal

This is a bit out of sequence for the story but while we were out at sea, we found out about the snow storm back home. My driveway is 125 feet long on a steep hill so driving up it when there's snow is impossible. As soon as we could get a cell signal, we called our landscaper to plow the driveway. If you've read any of my previous blog postings you'd know that I usually do the snow removal myself. Why, you ask? probably because it involves a power tool. I'm still figuring that one out myself. Anyway, the landscaper informs us that he would like to help us but his plow has broken down. In desperation we asked if he knew someone that could help. He told us that he would check and get back to us, but the call never came. So I expected that we would get home after this hellacious night, have to park the car at the bottom of the hill and wade through 2 feet of snow. The luggage and snow can wait until the morning. It didn't matter anyway. All I wanted to do was sleep in my bed and for this day to be over. It's 2:00 a.m., we are exhausted, I drive up to the house and the driveway is plowed, Miracle #6. The final miracle was that a tree had fallen due to the intense snow storm and high winds and by all logic should have landed on the roof of the house based on it's location, but instead fell to the right, defying all laws of physics, Miracle #7

The next day we went out and bought power ball tickets hoping to ride the miracle train one more time but to no avail. I guess it was a bit greedy but it was worth a shot.

Christmas Holiday

We've been really busy the past few months and haven't been writing as much on the blog. We hit the holiday season with the usual mad rush of picking up gifts, mailing out the holiday cards and all the other zany things that happens with the holiday season. We hosted the Christmas holiday dinner the Saturday before we were leaving for our vacation, crazy I know. We were going to set sail and visit the Western Caribbean. We were pretty excited about this trip. School, work and other day to day activities have taken a toll on all of us. We were anxious to detach ourselves from email, voicemail and other daily obligations.

We had the usual suspects at the holiday bash. We had a roasted turkey and all the other side dishes that go along with it. As soon as I packed up the Christmas china and stemware, I pulled out the luggage for the frantic packing. Murphy's law, you know how it is. The way you want things to work out, never really does. The day before we were going to leave, I had planned to work at home. It was going fine until the call I was on pretty much summed up that I was needed in the office. I had to high tail myself down to New York and was stuck working at the office pretty late. OK- it's all good. We're leaving tomorrow. I can finish any packing in the morning before we leave. Nope. The day we were going to leave, I was tied up on conference calls all morning dealing with the last minute emergencies. Running around on the phone and trying to finish the packing didn't go as planned. I resolved myself to whatever is missing, I'll just deal without it. Ran out of the house, picked up Matthew from school, threw him in the car and high tailed ourselves to the airport.

We made it to Florida and I wasn't able to unwind. We were leaving from Port Canaveral on the Disney Wonder the next day and sailing to Key West. Nope, not feeling the "ah" moment yet. My mind was racing with a million things in my head to do for the office. I was worried about Matthew's midterm exams, Chinese homework assignments, Kumon assignments and all the other things that run around in my head. While we were in Key West, I was still able to see emails from work and though I was far away, I wasn't far enough.

We sailed to the next port. We arrived in Grand Cayman on Boxing Day. Not a great day to arrive on the island since it is a holiday. We didn't find a whole heck of a lot going on so we wandered back to the ship. OK- so my phone doesn't work, I don't have emails coming in. For that, I was beginning to feel a bit detached. So detached, that we didn't realize that a blizzard just dumped a ton of snow in the Northeast and screwed up air travel. Ignorance is bliss and I can surely attest to that.

We sailed off to the next location. Cozumel, Mexico. Now, we're talking. I'm now starting to unwind a bit, catch up on a lot of reading and took a historical tour through San Gervasio,one of the largest Mayan ruins. Not bad. Got a lesson on history, got some sun, spent a nice day in Mexico. Murphy's law, when things are going well, something is bound to get screwed up and it was on our last part of the Mayan tour that we experienced our first miracle. Our tour bus broke down in the middle of no where. We were about 25 minutes from the center of town. The tour guide called in for a replacement bus which will take about 30 - 40 minutes to reach us to pick us up. We were running up against the time to be on board to the ship and we were wondering if we were going to be stuck here and the ship will set sail without us. Then out of no where, another tour bus picked us up since it saw us stranded on the side of the road. If it weren't for that bus, who knows, Matthew may be mashing guacamole dip on the side of the road and selling it in order to sustain us until we got rescued. OK- my imagination gets the better of me. We made it back to port on time and we were on our way to our next stop.

Last stop, Castaway Cay. Disney's private island. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, a bit on the cool side, but I must say, it was quite nice. Read on the beach, got some sun, I was digging this. I can get into the island life. While there, we started to hear about the snowstorm that screwed up the Christmas holiday air travel. Well, all I can say is I timed this trip perfectly. If we left the day after Christmas, we would have been sleeping on the airport floor instead of on the beach. The news of the snowstorm snapped me right back to reality. So much for the "ah" moment. It as great while it lasted.

I got this figured out

We went to the employee appreciation day party at Lake Compounce this weekend. After a quick lunch, Matt and I went on Thunder Rapids. Another family joined us and their young daughter, who was not dressed to get soaking wet, was convinced that the she figured out the ride. Now you have to understand, this is basically a raft that travels freely down a man made river. There is no way that you are not going to get wet. If the white water doesn't get you, the water fall will. Needless to say, she got wet, I mean really wet, down to her underwear wet. And of course, Matthew and I were laughing our butts off. To me, this experience was a metaphor for life, just when you figure it out you get wet underwear. I guess that's okay as long as you have fun on the ride.

Taxson Family Visit

Just as we finished off the bathroom and I've resigned from my job, Marty, Irene and Zee showed up on our doorsteps. The last time we saw each other was a year ago in Aruba. We had a great time catching up on things and were sad that Andrea and Anne were not able to join us for this gathering. Irene, Andrea, Anne and I used to roam all over the streets of Shanghai together and it would have been great to have the four of us together again. We'll need to schedule another reunion at a different location so we can all be together, just like old times.

Irene and her family were just coming off the cruise from the Queen Mary 2 where they sailed from the UK and arrived into NY. They showed up like gypsies with all their luggage and we were pleased to have them here. We spent the first day over a grilled lunch and caught up on all the news. We took the kids down to the beach and then headed over to Greenwich to get some dinner and gelato. Matthew in particular knows good food and ice cream. He will not be deprived and was pleased to show his friend around.

The kids had a fascination with Times Square so off we went into the city. Most of the day was spent at places that the kids wanted to visit - Toys R Us, the M&M Store and the Hershey store. We managed to wander up to Central Park for a short stroll and ended the day with a fabulous Japanese ramen meal.

We headed up to Mystic Aquarium the next day. We had a chance to watch a show with the beluga whales and the kids had a chance to feed the cow nosed rays and were pretty involved with the touch tanks. It was really nice that they had a great time with one another. We spent their last day laying low since we were running out the door pretty early in the morning. Just as quickly as they arrived with their luggage, they disappeared to move onto their next venue. They are truly a family on the move. It was great to have a chance to catch up with Marty, Irene and Zee. We'll be making plans for our next reunion. Any suggestions for the next venue?

Done

Tony's been working on the final touches for the past few nights. The bathroom vanity was moved back after he installed our medicine cabinets. We cleaned up the master bedroom and have officially moved back in. The drawback, we weren't able to take showers in our newly renovated bath since the tiles haven't been sealed. Our friends will be arriving tomorrow so he had an incentive to finish up everything by this evening. I heard a sigh of relief when he put the last coat of sealant on the marble.

The bathroom is officially done. It is almost unreal that we've come this far and it is now actually complete. He has some minor items to finish up like light plates and touching up the paint. The fact that we can now take showers or jacuzzi baths is a real accomplishment. Tony described construction to a man is like labor to a woman. You go through all that work, you feel the pain and you just don't want to do it. You know there is an end but you just don't know when it will be. After the labor and the pain is long forgotten, you want to do it all over again. If he wants to do it again, I have a few more projects that need to be done. I'll let him have a recovery period and have him start all over again. Stay tuned.

So long, farewell

I am always a believer of things happening for a reason. In the midst of all the construction drama, I received a call from a former colleague from International Paper who asked if I would be interested in joining her company for a position. I said why not. I interviewed and was offered a job with NCR. I accepted and gave notice to my company. I spent the past two weeks finishing up projects, writing out memos and passing the torch to the designated recipient of my unfinished assignments.

Today was my last day. In my short tenure, I've made many friends. Many of whom I will miss interacting with on a daily basis. I will always remember the laughs and the tears that came along with the frustration that I would encounter. I know the noise level will go down substantially without me and there will definitely be a level of calm in place but I am truly looking forward to my new adventure at NCR.

Almost

Tony was chugging along with the bathroom renovations and then came to a screeching halt. We had experienced a tornado that came through the area. Driving rain, high winds and hail managed to knock out our power for two days. Luckily, the weather wasn't that hot and we were able to get by. It really sucked that it took two days before our power was restored. We had sustained some food loss but all in all, we did OK. Tony managed to pick up where he left off and was busy installing the lights. One problem, the light fixture had a cover that didn't totally hide the back plate for the wiring. Being the engineer that he is, he used the spare marble that we had and custom made a fitting to finish off the bathroom lighting fixture. It came out fabulous. It was the perfect finishing touch.

He was on a roll and had to finish off the border around the bathroom. The vent cover was hitting the marble so he went ahead and customized it. He was busy out in the garage cutting off a small amount at a time. I'm glad that he took the time to finish off the details. When he installed it, it looked fabulous. Matthew commented that the bathroom looks like the hotels that we've been to. I agree. The color of the bathroom, the details that he went into have been totally worth it. He's got to install the medicine cabinets and seal the tiles and then we'll be ready to really enjoy the bathroom. The goal is to get it done before our friends arrive next weekend.

Not quite there yet

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. The shower door was installed today. After a week of it sitting in the garage, it was quite nice to come home today and find it installed. We'll have to wait for the silicone to cure but it is quite lovely to look at. The work is coming along when Tony has the time to work on it. I feel bad since he's doing the work after hours when he gets home from his day job. The punch list is getting smaller and I am sure he'll be really thrilled when this project is completely over. Looks like I'll have to find something else for him to do around the house. Any suggestions?

Progress

Tony returned to work and has been working on the renovations at night. He's pretty tired after a long day at the office but he's chugging along. We had a problem with the water pressure in the house the other night. A couple of days go by and we still couldn't figure out what the problem was. The other day, I look out in the yard and I find a whole flock of birds bathing in our backyard. Aw....how cute I say to myself. Then I realize there is a river running through the back yard. What the heck, it rained but it didn't rain that much. I go out to investigate and find out that there was a hole in my well hose. We had to shut down the water and the pump and vacate to a hotel. As a result, Tony lost a few days of construction work and was anxious to get started again. We returned to the house, the repairs were made to the well hose and Tony quickly picked up where he left off. The marble tiles went up fairly quickly and he even installed the bathroom floor by Saturday evening.


Happy days! We waited the mandatory 24 hours before he started to walk on it. He was biting on his nails since he was afraid he was going to hear the tiles crack like potato chips. Since it didn't crack, he started to grout the tiles. The grout was sponged on and we waited for it to cure. We returned home this evening and Tony proceeded to polish the haze off the tiles. I can't believe how beautiful the marble looks. We can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. All that's left is to install the toilet, install the bath and shower fixtures, hang the medicine cabinets (we hope they arrive this week), wire up the lights and the get bathtub enclosure installed. We can move the vanity back in and start the clean up of the master bedroom and bathroom. I am optimistic that the construction process will be completed by this weekend. This gives me ample time to clean up the master bedroom and move out of the guest room. We'll have the guest room ready by the time our friends arrive in early August for their visit with us.

Break Time

Tony has been trapped in the house for the past two weeks. He's been working really hard. He cleaned up and I decided it was time for a road trip. Matthew and I recently watched an episode on the Travel Channel about the birthplace of the original hamburger sandwich. It originated in a place called Louis' Lunch in 1900 and is located in New Haven. What the heck. Distance never stopped me from getting to food. We hopped in the car and drove up to New Haven to grab dinner.

Louis' Lunch is a very small establishment. There is one catch. You don't get any ketchup or fries with the burger. It is still made in the original equipment from 1895. The burger is grilled in an original cast iron grill and served between two slices of white toast. The only acceptable garnish is cheese, tomato and onion. Ask for ketchup and you will be thrown out of the establishment. We arrived and found people all over the place. You may get potato salad or dirty chips as your side. We ordered the burgers we wanted and found seats and waited patiently for our food. The burgers were good. So good that Tony and Matthew had seconds.

Walls are in

Tony's been busy putting finishing off the new walls. Everyday I return from work and I am amazed at how much he has accomplished. Today, the walls have been completely installed, spackled and sanded down. The amount of construction dust floating around the house is unreal. I can't go anywhere without finding a film of it in every room. I know that the house has to be completely sanitized at least twice before I can actually say that it's clean. I don't like construction but when you can actually see the progress, it's worth it. Tony will complete this and start installing the marble on the wall. He's going to have to cut out the marble to fit around the tub and shower fixtures. It's going to be interesting to see how that progresses along.

Tub Installation

Tony's cranking along. Not bad for a first time bathroom renovator. We worked on getting the plumbing done for the new tub. It's an air jet tub that allows the water to circulate and not harbor mold and mildew. Something that is quite important to me. I never liked the thought of water sitting dormant in a jacuzzi tub and having it blow back out the next time you turn it on.

Tony and I worked together to lift the tub into the house and had to install and reinstall the tub three times. The tub kept hitting a beam in the bathroom and Tony had to shave it down to get it to fit. The third time was the charm. I was happy that I didn't have to lift it anymore and he's now busy installing the rest of the hardware.

Problem

The new medicine cabinets are supposed to be recessed into the wall. Tony went ahead to start the preliminary work on carving out the size of the cabinets and found that there were way too many pipes, too many support beams for this to happen. That really sucks. The cabinets that we picked out are really nice and are supposed to look like a picture frame. In addition, I asked for more electrical sockets and that it doesn't look like I'll be getting as many as I'd like. I hate these little surprises that you encounter as you go along.

New floors are in

Tony's been working like a fiend. He stripped out all the marble off the floor, installed the new hardiback floor boards in anticipation of putting down the marble on the floor. I came home and found the floors completely stripped down and the new floor in place. Amazing.

Chugging Along

Home renovations never go the way you want it. We found this floor when we removed the tub. Tony groaned and knew what work was in store for him. He's on vacation to work on this renovation project. He's also got Matthew as his companion. Let me restate. He's got Matthew in the house...who helps...when he wants...but mostly spends time in front of XBox or the television.

He got Matthew to help rip out the rotted wood and help him replace it with the new wood. Not bad but there is a ton of work ahead. The floors have to be completely stripped down and then the new floors go in. Hopefully the sheetrock will be hung and we can install the new bathtub in by the weekend so Tony can start installing the marble tiles on the wall. I realize that this is a hard for a one man contractor but I am optimistic that he can get this project completed before he heads back to the office.

Bathroom Renovations

Ina's gone, time to get to work. The dumpster was delivered yesterday and we spent the day moving things around. Tony and I have moved out of the master bedroom and have taken residence in the guest room on the other side of the house. Amazing how much stuff can be stored in the bathroom cabinets.
We roped our friend Al into coming over to help us move the bathroom vanity and he stays to help with the removal of the debris. Tony starts to demolish the marble on the floor and the walls and starts to fill the tub with all the debris. May and the kids come by to see the demolition in progress and they get roped into helping out as well. I love child labor. Nothing like making the little kiddies work for their keep. You walk into this house during a demolition, you will be fed but you also have to work for your meal.

Several hours later, this is what the bathroom looked like. Completely stripped of the original marble, walls and cabinetry. I thought Tony was going to start crying. He has truly hit the point of no return. He can't leave it this way, he has got to go on. When we removed the bathtub, we found the flooring underneath to be completely rotted. How the original tub never fell through is an actual miracle. The flooring had completely disintegrated and it was only a matter of time before the tub would have actually fallen through. It was actually a godsend that we decided to embark on this project. OK- let me rephrase that. It was a godsend that I wanted this project done, he's not too thrilled with the damage that we actually found. He's going to spend the next couple of days removing the old floor and prep the new floor with cement hardiback board. Not to mention, he'll have to put up all new mold and mildew resistant sheetrock.

We'll keep you posted on the progress of the bathroom as we move along. Oh yeah, that is the royal we.....since he's the one that is doing all the work and I'm the one who is the job foreman.

Ina's Visit

We've rolled out the red carpet for our visitors. It started with Linda and now we have Ina for the weekend. For those who follow the blog, you know who Ina is. If you haven't read our past entries, Ina is Tony's colleague from Shanghai. They worked at ATC together and many times, we would spend our holidays together exploring the different parts of China. It's been two years since we've seen each other and she's here in the US for business. Meetings concluded, she hopped the Amtrak train down from Boston to spend the weekend with us before she had to return to China. Picking Ina up at the Stamford Train Station was pretty surreal.

Tony and Ina had a great reunion in our driveway. We spent some time catching up on the news from China and then we headed to Downtown Stamford to grab a bite to eat. During dinner, we spent the entire time reminiscing about our various trips in China. Of course, no meal is complete without a mandatory trip to Dairy Queen. We introduced Ina to the Blizzard when we were in Hangzhou, China. We could hardly finish the Blizzards but we had to for old times sake.

We stayed up to chit chat on the deck, fed the mosquitos and then worked our way to our respective rooms to get some sleep. I realized when I woke up at about 5:30 a.m. that the dumpster was going to be delivered. I was told that it would arrive anytime between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. I figured, it wasn't possible it would show up at 7, let alone early. Boy was I wrong. I heard the truck backing up the driveway at 6:40 a.m. A huge truck with a 12 yard dumpster, complete with a diesel running engine. Did I mention that the night was beautiful and the windows were open? Well, the dumpster was delivered right underneath Ina's window. Tony and I looked up and there she was looking out the window. So much for sleeping in.

Tony prepared a fabulous breakfast and we spent the last hours together chatting. Ina had to leave for her flight back to Shanghai. She promises to be back and we'll have the room ready and waiting again. I promise, no dumpster deliveries next time!

Linda's Visit

Linda is a friend of ours from China. Actually, she is a colleague who worked with Tony in Shanghai and we became friends. She's here in the US for business and has spent the week with Tony at work. We figured by today, she was going to be pretty sick of western food. It was time to bring out the big guns and take her to dim sum. Tony picked her up at her hotel and brought her down to our humble home. After catching up on the gossip in China, we took off to our favorite dim sum joint.

We showed up, took our table and proceeded to order a ton of food. Seriously in about 10 minutes, the table was covered...with filled dishes and empty plates. It doesn't take long for us to grab what we like and inhale it. Chewing is completely optional and Matthew was on the hunt for his favorite buns.

There was a silence at the table as we savored the delicious food and Linda was pretty happy to have a taste of Chinese food today. After dim sum, we waddled out of the place and proceeded to take her to the mall. She had some items to pick up and take back with her to China. This chick basically cleared out the Apple store. I just hope she doesn't get stopped by customs in China.

We dropped Linda back at her hotel and look forward to seeing her again when she comes back to visit.

Chinglish

There was an article in the New York Times about the prevalence of Chinglish in China. I was laughing very hard since it brought back memories of the ridiculous signs we came across while living there. Not to mention, the unique menu items that were offered for our dining pleasure. We would often find "crab ovaries", "tantalizing penis", "orgasm meat" and other food items that we were never that adventurous to try. Perusing through the menu often brought chuckles at the table. The locals could never understand what was wrong with the uncivilized foreigners. That would be us.

I've written about this subject before. Follow the link for my original entry.

Cha-Ching

Home ownership. Totally sucks. The American dream. You know which dream I am referring to. The one where everyone should own a home. We thought when we got married, that it was the right thing to do. We purchased our first home, moved in and Matthew was born. It was our condo on Hope Street. Not bad. We moved in, we got a new roof. We didn't have to shell out any cash for it. Hey, that was pretty cool. Living in a condo, all the exterior maintenance, landscaping, snow shoveling, taken care by the association. Wow. I loved the American dream.

Then we decided, "Hey, Matthew needs a yard." So, we sold the condo, purchased a free standing home. With that comes, the major responsibilities... such as, snow plowing, landscaping, exterior and interior maintenance. So, we were in the American dream for about 2.5 years and then we rented out our home. We moved to China, didn't have to worry about "maintenance", since we had landlords in China and we were OK. Come back to the US and we had a few projects to do. We undertook expanding the deck, changing the garage doors, a siding project and a major rock removal.

That seemed to snowball into the roof project, complete with new skylights (five to be exact) and a new water system. We just waved goodbye to the roofing crew that were crawling all over the rooftop of my house all week, like goats. They would arrive, pull things off, throw things over the side of the house, and put up all new roofing shingles. Watching them maneuver like little monkeys on the roof was pretty fascinating. While that was going on, we had to replace the water system for the house. We had two contractors hanging out at the house, simultaneously.

I don't want to think about the large sizable checks that I wrote out to the contractors. In addition, we had to put all new plantings for the front lawn and, did I mention that a tree fell the other day? The tree just decided to give and crack and is now laying in the side yard. Can't resuscitate it at all, so that means, I have to call the tree company and have them come and remove it. Can you hear the cha-ching? Like I said, home ownership sucks.

Mystic, Connecticut

Checked out of the hotel and we were looking for breakfast. We didn't want to eat at the hotel, we wanted to find a local diner. We found Norm's Diner in Groton, about 5 minutes from where we were staying. We pulled up and we were kind of skeptical. Looked like something from the 1950's in the bad part of town. It was packed so we figured, what the hell. Let's just go for it. So we did. The food was good, the place looked gritty but we survived. In fact, we liked it. We even picked up a souvenir t-shirt to commemorate our experience. The picture is of Matthew and our waitress. Believe me, she was a lot nicer than she looks.

We headed up to Mystic Aquarium after our bellies were full. The weather was pretty depressing today. Cold, rainy and gloomy. It was way too cold to be wandering around outside at the Seaport. So, why not go to an aquarium and watch the happy little fishes? It was great. Matthew got to participate in the touch tanks, I was watching the little fishes swimming and it was very zen like.


After we were done wandering around the aquarium, we decided to head over to Olde Mistick Village and visit some of the shops. While we were in La Bottega, a shop that carries Italian novelty items, Matthew spotted a sign that pretty much pays homage to the typical stereotype of the way Italians speak. So of course, we had to purchase it for him to hang on his door. No visit would be complete without a meal at a Zagat rated restaurant. We wandered over to Go Fish for some lunch. Matthew ordered the seafood pasta, Tony had a bowl of clam chowder and I had the oysters. We snacked on calamari and wandered out of there to get on the highway back home. At least, we didn't hit a major pile up on the expressway. The perfect ending to a great weekend.

State Award Winner

Hectic day today. The usual Saturday morning frenzy running around all over town for Matthew's activities. We arrived home just in time to pack up the car, close up the house, and head up to Mystic, Connecticut to get him to the Daughters of American Revolution State Award Ceremony Dinner. Of course, Murphy's law. You've got to be someplace, there is ALWAYS an accident on I-95. There was a 10 mile backup that caused major mayhem. I thought I would be smart and get off the highway and take Route 1 up. Yeah, no way. That was even worse. Hopped back onto the highway and just gritted my teeth all the way up. The trip shouldn't have taken more than 1.5 hours. It took us almost 3.5 hours to get there. We arrived just in time to get dressed and barrel out the door for the dinner reception.

We met up with the Stamford Regent for the Daughter's for American Revolution, Mr. Fox, Matthew's principal and the Stamford Chapter Member for the award dinner. It was an honor to be in attendance at the dinner since it was filled with lots of pomp and pageantry. We found out that Matthew beat out 43 other entries for the 7th grade category. That was pretty special. Matthew was getting nervous since he was supposed to read his speech to the whole entire room. There must have been about 250 people there. Due to the tight schedule, all the kids who were the first place winners got a reprieve. Matthew was so happy that he didn't have to get up and do his first public speech.

The evening ended with Matthew chatting with a representative of Sheldon's Horse. We learned that Sheldon's Horse is a re-established military and historical organization. The unit participates in a lot of ceremonial, educational, civic, and historical activities, mainly in the Northeast United States. We found out that Sheldon's Horse supports and participates in many historical programs on the American Revolution throughout the region. It was a pretty spectacular day for Matthew. One that I doubt he will ever forget.

State Winner

Got a call one afternoon around 3:15 from Principal Fox of Matthew's school. My first thought...."What the HELL did he do? I'm going to kill him and punish him when I get home." He immediately starts the call with "Nothing's wrong. All is fine. I need to tell you something." Me- "OK. What's up?" It's official. Matthew has won first place for 7th grade for the State of Connecticut in the Daughters of American Revolution Essay Contest on American History. That is quite an honor. All the teachers at school are all very excited. Matthew will have to attend the award ceremony in Mystic, Connecticut on April 24th. He will have to read his essay in front of a very large audience and get dressed up in a suit. Getting him to read the essay won't be the issue, prying him into the suit, shirt, tie and dress shoes, that will be a challenge. He'd rather stand up in front of the audience in sweat pants, t-shirt and sneakers. Combing his hair would be completely optional if it were up to him.

We're immensely proud of his achievement. As the winner for the State of Connecticut, his essay has now been submitted to the Regional Division and we will find out how he fares on that. If he wins that one, he will move onto the National level. Keep your fingers crossed that we'll take it all the way to Washington, D.C. for the National Award Ceremony.

Teenager

It's official. He is now a teenager. Complete with the eye-rolling attitude and infinite wisdom that comes with this rite of passage, I can't believe that he is now 13 years old. The voice is starting to change, the tapeworm has awoken and his feet are almost bigger than mine. I think by the end of the Summer, he'll be taller than me. What happened to my little bundle of joy that I brought home from the hospital at barely 5 pounds? He arrived prematurely, spent two weeks in the NICU and barely ate as a child. Tony and I used to worry about him not eating enough. Now, he eats us out of house and home. I don't understand where the food goes and I can't lift him anymore. To do so would probably cause a hernia. Yet, I remember all the moments growing up and wonder where the time has gone.

He entered this world with a companion. My cousin Dinah's son, Justin, was born on the same day. He arrived 12 hours earlier and together they have been celebrating their birthday's together. Today, was no different. Justin hosted a paint ball party and Matthew went along for the fun. It was nice to watch them share this rite of passage together and to know that they will always have one another to share milestones together.

Award Ceremony

Matthew received his award for first place on the American Essay contest sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The award ceremony was delayed by a week due to the snow storm we experienced the previous week. The Award Ceremony is often in the month of February which is American History Month. As first place winner, he had to read his entire essay to the audience. After reading his essay, he was presented his certificate and award medal from a representative from the Mayor of Stamford's office. Mr. Fox and Mr. O'Connor, the principal and a social studies teacher from his school, respectively, were present at the ceremony. Al and Dawn even drove down from Danbury to witness this momentous event.

Matthew's essay has been submitted to Hartford, Connecticut for the State competition. Keep your fingers crossed that he does well on that one!