l33tminion: Mind the gap (Train)
I've been so long without writing and don't know where to begin.

The last few weeks have been day-camp weeks for Erica, with two weeks of arts camp at Parts and Crafts on either side of one week of climbing camp at Boston Bouldering. Erica had a lot of fun with both.

Last weekend, I took Erica to Baltimore for a weekend visiting my sister and meeting up with my parents. Now she's off with my parents at Cascade of Music & Dance, then back to Cleveland for more grandparent time. I'll go there to pick her up after.

Baltimore trip was a ton of fun. Erica really loves spending time with her cousin Simon. We went to Chesapeake and Allegheny Live Steamers at Leakin Park (an adorable little 1/8-scale model rail that the kids can ride), spent some time at the pool, and took the water taxi shuttle across the harbor.

I flew Southwest to Baltimore, which was perfectly on time on the way there (despite warnings of bad weather) and then an hour delayed on the way back. Still was pretty nice. I'm always struck by Southwest's odd efficiencies. For example, their snack choice was these onion-and-monkfruit pretzels, which is a distinctly less middle-of-the-road choice than I'd expect for a one-option snack (compare, for example, with Delta's Biscoff cookies). Southwest does kind of have a bit of a "you'll do things our weird way and like it" attitude.

I enjoyed watching some of the Olympics coverage with Erica over the past weeks. The Tahiti surfing was especially spectacular.

I've also been enjoying the new Magic: the Gathering set, Bloomborrow. Set in a world of critters, it's a bit Magic meets Redwall (presumably also Whitewall, Bluewall, Blackwall, and Greenwall). The delayed rotation of the most-recent-sets Standard format has freshened the experience up a bit, though I still feel like the wider window on Standard makes it less fresh than it could be.

Julie's been extremely busy with newcorp stuff, but seems like something is getting off the ground.

I finished reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow on the trip. Thought it was pretty good, though I felt it had a bit of a period-piece-syndrome in the early parts (i.e. like it was trying to crowbar-in 80s references a bit too hard for realism). But I really liked the surrealism of some of the later bits. Overall a good novel, an interesting story.
l33tminion: (Default)
Everyone in the family has been a bit under the weather the past few weeks.

I took the day off on Patriot's Day (aka Marathon Day) because it was a daycare holiday, but I couldn't take Eris to the zoo or whatever because the weather was lousy. After spending the day cooped up at home, I did get out with Julie for a nice dinner, though still in the pouring rain.

Certainly made for an unusual Boston Marathon, though. The winner of the men's marathon, Yuki Kawauchi, is a non-professional but incredibly prolific runner, and quite possibly the best cold-weather distance runner in the world (setting the record for most under 2:20 marathons, as well as possibly the coldest, at the New Year's Marathon in Marshfield this year). In the women's race, winner Desiree Linden went from thinking she'd drop at the midway point to carrying the day, and second-place finisher, Sarah Sellers, was a hobbyist runner, a full-time nurse.

Last weekend, we went to visit my sister, Melissa, and her husband, Elliott, in Ann Arbor. My parents and Elliott's parents were visiting as well. Julie and I got to see the play Arcadia, which Melissa was directing. Was very good. One of Melissa's friends watched Eris while we saw the play, which was very much appreciated. I'd worried that the kid wouldn't like being left with someone new in an unfamiliar place, but she had no problem adjusting and apparently looking after her was "very easy" (who is this baby?) although she wouldn't go to sleep (she was still wide awake when we picked her up a bit after 11, though not for long after). The trip was great, and it was some wonderful time with family. I'd missed some earlier opportunities to visit due to schedule conflicts or general lack of wherewithal, so I'm very glad I made it this time. It will probably be my only time visiting my sister in Ann Arbor before she moves for grad school in the fall.

(Not everything went quite as planned, had to make a side trip when the kid's cold turned to an eye infection again. Fortunately, that was something that could be handled by a drugstore clinic, so it didn't require going too far out of the way.)

Yesterday, Julie was away on a day-trip for business, leaving early in the morning and taking the red-eye home. Which meant I got my first night alone with the kid. I was nervous, but it went fine, and the kid at least slept well.

Eristic improvements: Jumping down from a step, reassuring us when she takes a bump ("I'm okay!").

Woo

Oct. 29th, 2007 01:01 am
l33tminion: (Default)
Sox sweep the series. But I just don't have my heart in it when they're not the underdogs.
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