Yes, we're still here

I am a terrible blogger, I know. I'll resume operations after the holidays, if not before, but for now I wanted to let everybody know that we're fine after Hurricane Northwest. Our neighborhood never lost power, so we have heat and light and working freezers and cool things like that. It cost me a work day, though, because Microsoft is dead as a doornail -- which I unfortunately didn't discover until I had driven down there and inched my way through about a dozen dead traffic lights. And we had a houseguest briefly, my coworker who drove into work not realizing she wouldn't be able to fill her gas tank to get home in the horrible traffic.

I could rant about the traffic -- where exactly did all those people think they were going? -- but it would be a bit of pot calling the kettle, since I was out there with all the idiots.

Anyway, we are safe and warm, with a fallen fence the worst of our complaints.

In case you don't hear from me before then, I wish you the happiest of holidays. Merry Everything!

Memories from February 2005

Chloe's amazing talent

Nick and Chloe on the Space Needle observation deck

Chiara and Ronnie at Priest Point

Marty on the move

Marty's physical and occupational therapy is coming along really well. He can walk a little bit now, using his walker (which he was using even before the stroke), and is able to get his shirt off and do other tasks like that. This morning, he confounded Frank (and probably himself) by maneuvering himself to the side of the bed, lowering the rail, and climbing on out of bed. He ended up on his knees and needed help, but it was some impressive feats of strength and dexterity up til then.

They had a family gathering yesterday with the whole gang out at Judy's. I'm sure the company and food were just fine. Sorry I missed it!

Photos

I had to steal this photo of MJ's birthday party from Erin's blog:
Ella, MJ, Chelsea

And here is a blast from the past -- Chloe at approximately age 2, feeding ducks at Lafreniere Park in New Orleans
(photo credit: nephew-son Jerry):

Derek's triumph

Check out this entertaining and impressive video of Frank's cousin Mary's son, Derek, achieving a personal best.

http://www.strangepuzzle.com/videos/3x3x3 DerekTilton 52.75.wmv

Grammar makes a comeback

From the Washington Post:

Grammar for Teachers
"The Loudoun County school system offers an annual summer staff development session called Grammar for English Teachers, tailored to teach the basics to teachers who didn't learn them in college. 'It usually fills up pretty quickly,' said Carrie Perry, supervisor of English language arts in Loudoun... The newest English teachers are products of a grammarless era, unprepared to distinguish an appositive from an infinitive.

"'What you have is a generation of teachers from the early to mid-'70s who don't know grammar, who never learned it,' said Benjamin, an author of the national council's publication. 'We have armies of teachers, elementary teachers and English teachers, who don't have the language to talk about language. It's kind of their dirty little secret.'"

Grammar for Students
"In surveys, not quite two-thirds of students said they had studied grammar by the time they took the 2005 SAT.

"Those concerns, and a growing consensus among scholars that many high school graduates 'can't write well enough to get a passing grade from a professor on a paper,' drove the addition of a third section to the SAT, upending decades of balance between reading and math, said Ed Hardin, a content specialist at the College Board.

"The new section introduced a long-form essay and -- less publicized -- a series of multiple-choice responses that test how well students can assemble and disassemble sentences."

The full article is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/22/AR2006102201135.html

Brief e-mail from Chiara

Chiara wrote to say that she loves her new college life in Milan. She didn't share any details, unfortunately (e-mail being her least favorite conversational medium). I'll track her down and provide more info as I get it.

Nonconformists?

I'm an emo kid, nonconforming as can be

You'd be nonconforming too if you looked just like me

"The Emo Song"

Traffic was really bad when I drove home from work yesterday, so I cut over to a side street once I reached Everett. There was a pack of teenagers strolling down the middle of the road. There were five or six of them, girls and boys, all dressed in black, with black hair, piercings, tattoos, studs on their clothing, etc. Real badasses. They stayed in the middle of the road even as I came up close to them, then grudgingly moved aside (gray vans winning out over black Vans any day of the week).

They all looked over at me, no doubt expecting to see irritation or even an angry gesture or two. Instead, I was grinning like a fool. They were so cute!!!

On their way

MJ and her friend Kyla are on their way to San Diego for some fun in the sun with Papa Bill and Renée, Aunt Lynn, Artie and Colin, and, of course, Brody-the-Airedale. It's MJ's first time flying without a parent. She's pretty excited.

They don't have firm plans yet for what they'll do. Evidently the weather is fabulous down there, so just about anything will be a treat. There's been talk of the zoo, the beach, and maybe Dizzyland (as Papa Bill calls it).

Star of saddle and screen...

MJ had a long work day at Hope for Horses today. The organization is being featured in an upcoming documentary about a much publicized bestiality case that occurred here in Seattle in the summer of 2005 (a man died after having sex with a horse). The horse ended up with HFH and was eventually placed with a family up in Bellingham who have a 14yo daughter. Bellingham isn't real convenient, so the film crew used one of the local HFH horses as a stand-in for the horse/victim. For the 14yo girl, they used (you guessed it) MJ!

They started setting up about 1 and filmed until nearly dark. Chloe and I went to watch the tail end of it (no pun intended). It was very cool. The crew would set up the shot, then the director would say, "Sound on. Camera on. Aaaand... MJ, action!"

I think MJ had a really good time (aside from getting a little saddle-sore), but Pete, the stand-in horse, was pretty fed up with all the rigmarole. Saddle on, saddle off, move him here, move him there. It was nice, though: You'd see him getting irritated, but then MJ would talk to him and his eyes would go all soft again. Those critters really adore her.

The movie itself will be, er, interesting. They are evidently giving equal time to the people who think bestiality is okay. Here are a couple of write-ups I found on the Web:

Documentary Filmmakers to Tackle Enumclaw Horse Case

The crew is hoping to get the film ready for Sundance 2007.

Improvements all around

Marty is doing really well. He had a doctor's appointment Monday. Doc says, whatever they're doing, they should keep doing! The difference in Marty between last Tuesday at the nursing home and this Tuesday at Judy's is HUGE. The doctor said he doesn't need to see him again until December. Yay!

Sooo... Frank is coming home. Another yay! We miss him a lot. He'll be back a week from tomorrow. Cheaper fares then, and he'd like some time with his dad knowing it's just a visit and not a good-bye.

I made major handoffs today for the two major (ridiculously scheduled) projects I was working on. I feel light as a feather now! I'm down to one full-time job instead of three! Yet another yay! After nearly 5 months of being buried, this feels really good.

New passions

A while back, I posted a list of things we proselytize about. Here are some new additions:

14. Heroes. Monday nights on NBC, repeats Fridays on Sci-Fi. This comic-book-as-a-TV-series show has us totally captivated, especially the Japanese character, Hiro. If you want to join in the fun, NBC will be re-running episodes 2 through 4 in the Sunday Night Football slot starting Oct. 22. (They can't show football during World Series games.) Things are getting really interesting.

15. Manga, manga, manga. See previous post. Ties in nicely to #14 above.

The original list is archived here: June 2006 (June 10th).

Chloe manga

After years of frustration with her drawing skills, Chloe has found a style that suits her to a T. Here are a couple of her wonderful new manga* characters.

* Manga: Japanese-style comic-book art


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Good news from New Orleans

Marty moved home to Judy's Tuesday (the same day Frank arrived), and he is doing SO much better there. He had pretty significant all-over swelling that is way down now, and he's off the pain medications they had him on. The result is that he feels better and is much more alert.

The alertness is probably the biggest, happiest improvement. He had been sleeping virtually all day and had to be shaken awake at mealtimes and so on. But last night he seemed to shrug off the last effects of the pain meds. Judy was out, so Marty, Frank, and Gary had boys' night and stayed up until midnight eating and shooting the breeze. For the first time in months, Marty asked about his money situation (something he checked in on regularly before the stroke), cracked jokes, and seemed to really tune into life. And today, he took only a couple of small naps and showed signs that his so-called incontinence was more a factor of the inattentiveness of the nursing home staff than a real condition.

Frank is very pleased with the physical/occupational therapy Marty is getting. The therapists actually get him on his feet, despite the weakness/immobility of his right side. This contributes greatly to his feeling of self-reliance and dignity.

The news is not all good, unfortunately. His short-term memory is definitely impaired: he has to be told daily where he is and why, and he didn't remember much of last night's conversation today. Also, we don't know the status of his kidneys; he has a doctor's appointment on Monday that we hope will tell us more.

Keep a good thought!

Frank's report on Marty

Marty's kidneys seem to be failing, so Frank has flown down to New Orleans to have a visit and help out. Here's a snippet from the e-mail he sent to us this morning:

"Got Dad to Judy’s yesterday afternoon. He slept well and had breakfast and is now in the shower. Nurse/assistant seems nice and is taking good care of him. He seems pretty alert to me. In the wheelchair but mobile in that context. Physically he’s shaky and has right-side pain but does have some mobility of his right arm. Mentally he seems just about as 'there' as he used to be. Sleeping frequently. We watched some Law&Order after he got home and he followed it as far as I could tell."

The girls and I are bach'ing it, which is going to take some juggling since I've got 5 due dates in the next couple of weeks. MJ leaves for her San Diego trip with unschooling pal Kyla in a week, so she at least will be well entertained then.

Please welcome Lila!

Emma and Ella have a new sister! Lila Elita Jean was born at 4:16 Saturday morning. She was 9 lbs., 6 ounces, has lovely dark hair and eyebrows, and is sweet and calm. Mom Erin and Dad Erik were both troupers (Mom through labor and delivery and Dad through a nasty bout of food poisoning).

In addition to her immediate family, Lila's arrival was attended by her aunties Megan, Denise, and Ronnie, and cousins MJ, Chloe, Chelsea, and Megan. The livingroom was a bit crowded, but it was sure a special time!

Blog neglect

I know, I know, no posts in weeks. Sorry! September is always a busy month for us, usually with at least one birthday party each weekend. This September has been even crazier because I had a big deadline last Thursday. I made my deadline, but that's about it for my news because I've spent so much time at work.

MJ and Chloe have been quite the social butterflies. In addition to all the birthday parties, they've had a couple of get-togethers with some of the kids from Not Back to School Camp. They spent one afternoon in Seattle, first in the University district and then downtown at the new library and beyond. There was a pack of about 12 of them, and they ended up having so much fun together that they organized an impromptu slumber party at one boy's house (a boy who obviously has very accommodating parents). That was so much fun that MJ and Chloe invited several kids over here for a sleepover the next week. It ended up being 5 girls and one outnumbered-and-loving-it boy.

As you can see, we have definitely entered the teen years. It's going to be fascinating.

Perhaps because of all this new exposure to other kids, we've had two different colds hit various family members this month. I got both of them, of course. Fortunately, the second one didn't attack until after my deadline.

Frank has been working pretty consistently, doing a second pass on all the files they threw at him so hurriedly in order to make one of their legally mandated milestones. But he's finished that now, so he should get a couple weeks of getting paid for being on call. I'm sure the girls wouldn't mind a tad bit more attention.

MJ continues her work at Hope for Horses. She got to be one of the bosses the day 30 or so Microsoft employees showed up at the barn for the Microsoft/United Way Day of Caring. Also, HFH is gearing up for their annual fundraiser auction, so she helped put together the packets and invites for that. She plans to work the auction, so we went to our favorite thrift store to find appropriate attire for an event at Bellevue's swank Meydenbauer Center. Mom and daughter disagree just a bit about what "appropriate" means. I found her this gorgeous, 100% silk Georgiou dress that looks fabulous on her -- the steal of the century at $5 -- but she thinks it's too boring. She prefers a cute spaghetti-strap number in blue (that I think is a bit casual). Her opinion will no doubt rule the day.

That thrift store is so fun! The three of us spent about $70 total and ended up with six dresses, a skirt, a jacket, and several shirts between us. All like new. Love it!

As you might have noticed, Chloe has not returned to Summerhill. In late August, she started expressing serious reservations about going back. We had a number of conversations about it, and Frank and I shared our best advice ("Go back"), but ultimately she decided that the good times she had there didn't outweigh her loneliness and boredom and some things about the school that made us all uncomfortable. (Here, I'll just say there was an incident that left us with serious doubts about the headmistress' competence. If you want the gossip, send me an e-mail.)

So, we have our daughter back. We felt compelled to advise her to go back, but Frank and I couldn't be happier that she ignored our advice! :-) She's been filling her time with the usual Chloe Variety Pack, but the last week or so has been devoted to watching over a hundred episodes of Inuyasha (anime) on YouTube. She is quite excited about it and now wants to learn Japanese. She's already putting together a bit of vocabulary, just from reading subtitles. The series is set in feudal Japan, so we've made some neat connections to other video ("Shogun" especially) and Dad's sword-based Japanese martial arts.

She's also conducting a bit of an experiment on herself. All this Inuyasha watching has taken place mostly at night, so she's started charting her sleep hours to see if her body runs on a 24-hour clock or not.

Anyway, all is well at our house (except maybe our upper respiratory systems).

Big news from New Orleans

Judy and Gary are engaged!!!!

No date has been set yet.

Happy Birthdays

To Gabrielle yesterday (12)
To MJ, Pam, and Judy today (14 and never you mind)
To Madison tomorrow (8)

The latest on Marty

Judy says:

"We're not real happy with the nursing home. It seems that another nursing home wouldn't be any better. We're VERY seriously considering taking him home once he's done with therapy. I need a little more info on what Medicare will cover and we need to see if we need to make some modifications to the house... I'm just not comfortable with him there & Gary has been very unhappy with their performance even with us going every day & keeping on them about stuff."

We'll keep you posted.