Right about now Daughter#2 and her husband should be winging their way east over the North Atlantic, probably very close to where the Titanic sank, on their way to Manchester, England. They are scheduled to trek across the lake area of northern England with a group from Virginia Tech's School of Architecture. Thanks to US Airways they are here at our house spending the night and waiting for another flight tomorrow evening. They drove up from Harrisonburg early this afternoon and we drove up to Pentagon Row for an early dinner. Her favorite Lebanese restaurant wasn't open yet so we dropped into Sine's Irish Pub instead. It was very crowded with the post work crowd from the Pentagon and Crystal City and we ended up sitting in the bar area. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner before dropping them off at Washington National just after 5:00 for their 7:00PM flight to Philadelphia where they would connect with a 9:05 flight to England. Plenty early enough or so they thought. Although why it takes an hour to fly to Philly from Washington is beyond me. When they checked in they were told that their 7:00 flight was always late and they would not make the connection so come back tomorrow and fly to Philly at 3:00. How nice of them. Needless to say our brave travelers were heartbroken and had to scramble to make changes to their itinerary and make attempts to notify their group of their delay and make alternate travel arrangements in Manchester to catch up to their group. It would have been nice if US Airways had been a bit more forthcoming with their connection problems when Daughter#2 was making her reservations. Jerks.
On the up side, we get to babysit the Black Demon for the two weeks that they are treking across merry England. She seems none the worse for wear from her hiking accident. Her fur is pretty much grown back and she seems her normal rascally squirrel chasing self. It will give Ann someone to walk with and keep her company.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
YouYou
I played this over on Laura's site and part of the game is posting it on your own site so I am doing so. Because I MUST!.
Leave your name in my blog comments. Once you do that, this is what I’ll do for you…
1. I’ll respond with something random about you.
2. I’ll tell you which song or movie you remind me of.
3. I’ll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle you in.
4. I’ll say something that only makes sense to you and me.(if possible. if not, I’ll say something that only makes sense to me.)
5. I’ll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I’ll ask you something I’ve always wondered about you.
8. If you play, you MUST post this on yours. You MUST. Actually I'll make this optional. Up to you.
Leave your name in my blog comments. Once you do that, this is what I’ll do for you…
1. I’ll respond with something random about you.
2. I’ll tell you which song or movie you remind me of.
3. I’ll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle you in.
4. I’ll say something that only makes sense to you and me.(if possible. if not, I’ll say something that only makes sense to me.)
5. I’ll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I’ll ask you something I’ve always wondered about you.
8. If you play, you MUST post this on yours. You MUST. Actually I'll make this optional. Up to you.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Basketball and Movies
Saturday was a day for watching basketball and Sunday a movie day. My usual Saturday routine, when it's not rowing season, is to get up around 7:30 or 8:00, grab a Coke and a breakfast bar and go read e-mail and what not until it's time for lunch. Sometimes I'll do some erging if I haven't done so the day before. This Saturday was such a day. I wasn't feeling all that up for it given that my 5,000 meter time the week before was depressingly slow. I was determined to do better and I did. I think a lot of my erging problems stem from erging alone and therefore not pushing myself as hard as if I was doing an erg test and surrounded by teammates. This Saturday I did much better. Not great but back in the normal range for me at this time of year. Now if I can just make myself erg during the week to keep aerobic capacity up that would be a plus. Saturday there was also a number of college basketball games Ann and I wanted to watch. George Mason, which is sort of right down the street from us, and Ohio, Ann's and Daughter#1's alma mater were playing in the Convo Center at Ohio. That game started at 1:00. Maryland was playing at 2:00 against Miami and finally, Radford, The Son's alma mater, was playing VMI at 4:00. Somewhere in there we also had to do our grocery shopping. After we finished lunch, we headed to the store and started taping the GMU - Ohio game. We finished at the store such that we only had to rewind the first ten minutes or so. We like both schools so it was hard to route for one over the other. It certainly was a game of two halves. Ohio couldn't score in the first half and Mason couldn't score in the second. Ohio did better in the second half then Mason did in the first and ended up winning the game. I fell asleep for much of the second half and missed most of Ohio's comeback. I then watched the first half of the Maryland vs Miami game and DVRed the second half. Maryland was behind by 9 at the half. I the switched over and watched the Radford vs VMI game. It was sort of like watching a high school game more than a college game. The difference in athleticism between say the ACC and the Big South is pretty dramatic. But I wanted to support Radford and watched to the end of regulation. Of course they played to a tie and went into OT and we had to head off to Mass. So I started recording that game as well hoping for the best. After Mass I put the game on and going into the last minute of OT, Radford had the lead and then the screen went blank. Crap. I had to look up the final score on line. Radford won, thank goodness. I didn't watch the second halve of the Maryland game after Ann informed me they ended up losing by 15. I didn't see the point. So a lot of basketball and I'd say my teams went 2-2. Radford won, Ohio won and Maryland and GMU lost. We were in bed asleep by 9:00. We are so old.
Sunday I got up the usual time and walked the dogs. They had been neglected what with all the basketball on Saturday. They are old dogs and seem to do much better during the day if they can start it off with a walk. After finishing our walk, Ann fed them breakfast, while I got the laundry started. Sunday is our laundry day. I hate doing it so I try to get it started and therefore over with as early as I can so it's not hanging over my head like some albatross all day. At eleven I went and erged at my class and managed 11,200 meters. It felt good and not as exhausting as it has felt recently. I already miss football and baseball hasn't started and there were no college basketball games I wanted to see, so we dove into our Netflick stash and pulled out National Treasure. It was was light enough and action packed enough to be entertaining. Just what the doctor ordered. We also have The Passion of the Christ at home. Ann has wanted to see it for a long time. I can't say that I have. It creeps me out. I'm just not sure I'm up to watching a realistic portrayal of the Crucifixion. Even if it was to save us all. Ann got about a third of the way through it before stopping it. We haven't sent it back yet, but I think it's only a matter of time.
Sunday I got up the usual time and walked the dogs. They had been neglected what with all the basketball on Saturday. They are old dogs and seem to do much better during the day if they can start it off with a walk. After finishing our walk, Ann fed them breakfast, while I got the laundry started. Sunday is our laundry day. I hate doing it so I try to get it started and therefore over with as early as I can so it's not hanging over my head like some albatross all day. At eleven I went and erged at my class and managed 11,200 meters. It felt good and not as exhausting as it has felt recently. I already miss football and baseball hasn't started and there were no college basketball games I wanted to see, so we dove into our Netflick stash and pulled out National Treasure. It was was light enough and action packed enough to be entertaining. Just what the doctor ordered. We also have The Passion of the Christ at home. Ann has wanted to see it for a long time. I can't say that I have. It creeps me out. I'm just not sure I'm up to watching a realistic portrayal of the Crucifixion. Even if it was to save us all. Ann got about a third of the way through it before stopping it. We haven't sent it back yet, but I think it's only a matter of time.
Friday, February 22, 2008
A New Door
The weathermen were predicting a sizable snow and ice storm for us today. The schools were closed in anticipation. Of course all we got was rain. Mostly. There was some minor icing on the grass and on cars, but the roads were fine. Not that it mattered to me seeing today was my off Friday.
Yesterday, I took a work from home day so I could babysit at The Son's condo while his sliding glass door was replaced. His old door was an accident waiting to happen. It wouldn't slide very well and kept jumping the tracks and actually fell in on him and his gf one time. Definitely time for a replacement.
The contractor showed up just after 9:30 to begin work. First order of business, remove the old door and install the new frame.
This turned out to be trickier than planned as the brick frame wasn't square by a long shot. Thank god I wasn't doing this. Once the frame was in, the job went much faster. Here the frame and door are in with just some framing on top to complete. The building dates back to the 60s and I assume the size of a standard sliding glass door was a few inches taller back then. No one makes them that size any more, hence the need to frame in the open area left by the bigger older door.
I might add that while all this was going on, it was about 25 degrees out. It was freezing inside what with no door and all. I had the heat cranked up, but it was still cold. I worked out of the second bedroom where The Son has his desktop set up.
Here is the finished effort. The door is in and the curtains back up. The Son is cleaning off the adhesive left by after peeling off some labels on the door. Looks pretty good. Now he can go out on his balcony and smoke (yuck).
Since today was our day off, Ann and I decided to take in a movie. This is not a great time of year for new movies. Too late for the Christmas releases and too early for the summer releases. It's known as the dumping ground for bad movies. So not a lot appealed to us. We decided to go and see Juno. It was a cute movie and handled a delicate subject well. Juno reminded me a lot of Daughter#2, less the being pregnant at 16 part, of course. It had a lot of good laughs in it and a reminder how painful high school can be.
Yesterday, I took a work from home day so I could babysit at The Son's condo while his sliding glass door was replaced. His old door was an accident waiting to happen. It wouldn't slide very well and kept jumping the tracks and actually fell in on him and his gf one time. Definitely time for a replacement.
The contractor showed up just after 9:30 to begin work. First order of business, remove the old door and install the new frame.
This turned out to be trickier than planned as the brick frame wasn't square by a long shot. Thank god I wasn't doing this. Once the frame was in, the job went much faster. Here the frame and door are in with just some framing on top to complete. The building dates back to the 60s and I assume the size of a standard sliding glass door was a few inches taller back then. No one makes them that size any more, hence the need to frame in the open area left by the bigger older door.I might add that while all this was going on, it was about 25 degrees out. It was freezing inside what with no door and all. I had the heat cranked up, but it was still cold. I worked out of the second bedroom where The Son has his desktop set up.Here is the finished effort. The door is in and the curtains back up. The Son is cleaning off the adhesive left by after peeling off some labels on the door. Looks pretty good. Now he can go out on his balcony and smoke (yuck).Since today was our day off, Ann and I decided to take in a movie. This is not a great time of year for new movies. Too late for the Christmas releases and too early for the summer releases. It's known as the dumping ground for bad movies. So not a lot appealed to us. We decided to go and see Juno. It was a cute movie and handled a delicate subject well. Juno reminded me a lot of Daughter#2, less the being pregnant at 16 part, of course. It had a lot of good laughs in it and a reminder how painful high school can be.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A Movie, A Walk and A War
Sunday and the Monday holiday were lazy days for the most part. Sunday I did manage to finish our taxes before heading off to my erg class. That's done for another year. We had another full class (20+ rowers). Our Instructor is still nursing a foot (ankle?) injury and can't erg herself. Rowers take turns at the Instructor erg leading the class while our Instructor calls out what she wants done (1/2 pressure, 3/4 pressure, power 10s. etc.). The audio system was giving her fits and went in the tank on our last piece. What was suppose to be our last hard piece ended up being about 1,000 meters longer than planned as we rowed and rowed and rowed some more until she got the CD player working again. I got in 11,500 meters, which is about 1,500 meters more than usual. I was beat and dragged my butt out of the gym. Sunday afternoon Ann and I watched "No Reservations" with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Now I think Catherine is gorgeous and always enjoyable on the eyes, but the movie was just so-so.
Monday provided us with quite a delightful day as the temperature reached the low 70s. We took advantage by giving the dogs some extra time outside. I also talked Ann into trying a different bike in anticipation of starting to ride in the near future. It was the same bike used by The Son on our Labor Day ride on the W&OD Trail. We made a few adjustments to the seat height and she seemed to like it so will see how bike riding season goes this year. I wanted to go on a ride after she tested the bike, but Ann thought it too windy and suggested a walk instead. I really don't like to take walks. I find them pretty boring. I should note that I don't consider hiking the same as taking a walk around the neighborhood, which is what we did. The only thing worse than walking is running/jogging in my book. Anyway, I know Ann is trying to get into more regular walks and lord knows she tolerates me being gone a lot for rowing so I agreed to walk with her. We walked a little over a mile to the middle school and did two laps around their track and then another mile home. A total of about 2.5 miles. While we were walking the temperature dropped about ten degrees. By nightfall, the temperature was back to a more seasonal 43. At least we had the warmth for most of the day. We wrapped up our holiday by watching "Inside the Vietnam War" on the National Geographic Channel. It was three hours long, but very well done and had some great film footage. It seems we need to relearn some lessons over and over while the youth of our nation pay the price.
Monday provided us with quite a delightful day as the temperature reached the low 70s. We took advantage by giving the dogs some extra time outside. I also talked Ann into trying a different bike in anticipation of starting to ride in the near future. It was the same bike used by The Son on our Labor Day ride on the W&OD Trail. We made a few adjustments to the seat height and she seemed to like it so will see how bike riding season goes this year. I wanted to go on a ride after she tested the bike, but Ann thought it too windy and suggested a walk instead. I really don't like to take walks. I find them pretty boring. I should note that I don't consider hiking the same as taking a walk around the neighborhood, which is what we did. The only thing worse than walking is running/jogging in my book. Anyway, I know Ann is trying to get into more regular walks and lord knows she tolerates me being gone a lot for rowing so I agreed to walk with her. We walked a little over a mile to the middle school and did two laps around their track and then another mile home. A total of about 2.5 miles. While we were walking the temperature dropped about ten degrees. By nightfall, the temperature was back to a more seasonal 43. At least we had the warmth for most of the day. We wrapped up our holiday by watching "Inside the Vietnam War" on the National Geographic Channel. It was three hours long, but very well done and had some great film footage. It seems we need to relearn some lessons over and over while the youth of our nation pay the price.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Erg Racing and Bike Jerseys
Last Saturday my rowing club hosted an erg sprint for the local high school crew teams. This is the fifth year we've hosted the event. It provides the teams something to shoot for as they reach the end of their winter training. They start on water practices the week of the 25th. Lucky them. We run the sprints out of the local Golds Gym where are our club and Golds own about 25 ergs split between Model Ds and Model Cs. We use the new Model Ds for the sprints. We set up ten ergs for the kids to race on all connected to a lap top, which in turn projects the race live on a TV as it happens. Here are the ergs set up and ready to go with the TV in the background.
Getting ready to race are the under 16 girls. The girls in green are from Woodbridge High School.
A race under way. I think this is a coxswain race. They race for just 500 meters. The regular rowers race over 1,500 meters.
A good time was had by all. We had over 180 rowers compete. When you have that many kids together along with parents, you can get some really loud cheering, especially if the race is close. We got some very nice feedback from a few of the coaches and how pumped up it got their kids. Winter training is often boring and tedious so we are happy to provide a distraction for the kids.
Getting ready to race are the under 16 girls. The girls in green are from Woodbridge High School.A race under way. I think this is a coxswain race. They race for just 500 meters. The regular rowers race over 1,500 meters.A good time was had by all. We had over 180 rowers compete. When you have that many kids together along with parents, you can get some really loud cheering, especially if the race is close. We got some very nice feedback from a few of the coaches and how pumped up it got their kids. Winter training is often boring and tedious so we are happy to provide a distraction for the kids.Planning for our own rowing season is underway. I was up way to late closing the books for the 2007 season and preparing a budget for 2008. We had a meeting on Saturday morning and the budget was accepted without that much discussion. The downside is we're going to have to raise our fees. Again. That should generate some bitching among the membership. Sigh.
The rest of Saturday was spent watching basketball. VA Tech got crushed by UNC and Maryland beat Florida State. So 50% for the day.
For Daughter#2's birthday last year, we bought her a VA Tech bike jersey. I bought it on line and waited and waited for the confirmation notice that it had shipped. After a month of nothing, I called to find out what the delay was. I was informed that VA Tech jerseys were on back order and were one of the most requested jerseys as a result of the shootings in April. It finally was shipped 3 months after I ordered it. It looks pretty good on her.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Ice Man Cometh and One Year Ago
Yesterday was Virginia's primary election and I was looking forward to voting in it. In Virginia you can chose to vote in whichever party's primary you want. I figured the Republican side was all but locked up by McCain, so I was going to vote in the Democratic primary. Unfortunately the weather had a say in it all. On voting days, we usually try to leave work an hour early. We must have been brain dead (or just too tired) to think about coordinating 8 different people's schedule in order for the vanpool to leave early. By the time we thought of it, it was too late and we paid for that mistake. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get home in the freezing rain. The last 16 miles alone took over two hours. The Springfield interchange, better known as the mixing bowl, where three interstates converge was shut down as all the new flying ramps were iced over. Even after we took back roads to avoid Springfield, we got caught in the HOV lanes as they closed them right in front of us to clear an accident. Three and a half hour commutes suck.
My Dad celebrated his 79th birthday over the weekend. My sister and her husband took him out for a lobster tail dinner. Ann, The Son and I called to wish him a Happy Birthday. Here's to many more Dad.
Speaking of The Son, he was over on Sunday and we went over his taxes. They're still pretty easy to do since he bought his Condo so late in the year. Next year he can start itemizing. He came over again on Tuesday and had dinner with Ann while I was stuck out highway. At least someone got a warm meal.
Daughter#2 called on Saturday to let us know her dog Gracie, had been injured while they were hiking. She has no idea what happened. Gracie is use to being let off her leash during their hikes and running ahead and to the side of her and her husband, but always returning from time to time to check on them. This time when she returned she had a nasty gash on her side. One that required 18 stitches to close up. Poor Gracie.
February 12th also marked the first anniversary of Ready....Row. I've enjoyed writing it and hope you've enjoyed reading it. Comments and e-mails are always welcome.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Interview with Ally
The Great Interview Experiment continues. This time it's my turn to ask the questions. I was lucky enough to draw Ally of ACTing Like a Mama! Ally is a young Mom who lives in Australia's capital city of Canberra.
1. Is this your first blog? What was your inspiration for beginning a blog?
No, I began my first blog in March 2005. It primarily began as a weight-loss blog after several months of reading other bloggers who were being inspired and motivated through the blog-community. I hoped that it would do the same for me. It didn't. I felt a lot of pressure in writing and losing weight, feeling bad if I couldn't record a loss for the week, or if I wrote a post about eating the wrong type of food. My blog then changed when I got engaged and became more about the preparations for our wedding. It became a bit of a release for me. Once I got married I just stopped writing - I felt I had nothing more to say. The night I went into labour, I was up at 2am with nothing better to do, so I thought I would write down what I was feeling, I opened up Microsoft Word and then thought "Hell, why don't I put this on a blog". I didn't want to go back to my old blog, hence I set this up! It has since become a great medium to talk about my son, my life and keep in touch with my family who are all around Australia.
2. What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Oh so many things! I did a lot of acting when I was younger, and I think I must have been reasonably good at it, I had a lot of major roles in our Acting group and was even offered a lead role in a musical right before we left Alice Springs for Canberra. I think I always knew I never wanted to BE an actor, but I loved and still love the theatre - I wanted to be a part of it, maybe by being a playwright, a stage manager or maybe a director, but heck, if I was able to iron the costumes for the performers I think I would be happy! I still get chills when I walk backstage into a theatre, even though I have done nothing related to it for several years. I love the energy of the place.
3. Australia, like the United States, is a country of immigrants, what originally brought your ancestors to Australia?
From what country did they come? Oh where to begin! On my father's side I believe one of my ancestors was a catholic brother sent out to the missionary in WA. Due to the circumstance of the place (remote, unpopulated etc) they were actually encouraged to find wives and begin families. I believe he was Spanish, and brought a variety of tomatoes to Western Australia. On my mother's side they were French/Irish and brought Hereford Cattle to Australia -they settled on the East Coast, not far from where my parents are moving to shortly! So we are mainly from Irish stock, with a bit of Spanish and French thrown in. I am a sixth-generation Australian, so feel much more connected to Australia than any other culture/place. (Oh I hope I have this right mum and dad!)
4. What type of school activities were you involved in growing up?
Sport was always a strength for my brothers and sisters - I was never good at it, and felt a lot of pressure that I needed to be good at it, you know, you couldn't just enjoy playing a game. Lucky for me I found an Acting School and from the first day I began I knew I was doing something that I loved, and that I belonged. I did my drama classes at least three days a week and often all day Saturdays - I loved it. I learnt how to dance, sword fight, convey emotions, control and read body language, and so much more. In High School I joined the debating team and we had reasonable success - I think we only ever won one final, but we usually always came second which was still pretty good! I created and edited the school newspaper in my last year of primary school, "The Grapevine"- I still have a copy!
5. How did you meet your husband and what about him attracted you? Where did you go for your first date?
I met Joe at work. We were both working at Prime Television and we started talking at our Christmas Party. It just grew from there. Joe and I were seeing other people at the time, so it took a while for us to hook up. There is a 14 year age gap between us, so this also made us a bit wary about what we might be getting into. I liked how generous and kind-spirited he was, and never had a bad word to say about anybody. His staff also showed him a great deal of respect and seemed to really like him, I thought that if you can find that in a manager, then he must be a really good person at heart. Our first date was to a lovely Italian restaurant called "The Haig" It specialised in seafood, and on the walls it has popular Italian-themed movies like "Il Padre" (The Godfather) and things like that. I ordered the seafood marinara and it was probably the worst thing to order on a first date - I had to suck all the crab meat out of the claws - not very classy but it obviously worked!
6. What did your father do for a living that you lived out in the middle (literally) of Australia in Alice Springs?
My mum grew up in Alice Springs among other towns as her father was the Chief Inspector of Police for the Northern Territory. Dad moved when he had finished his uni degree - he was a civil engineer and came to NT to build roads, bridges etc. My dad used to walk pass my mum's house every morning to go to church, one day, my grandfather (mums dad) offered him the choice of a night in jail or a date with my mum - he chose the date and they have now been married for 40+ years! (I loved Ally's answer to this question. Her Grandfather sounds like quite the match maker :-) )
7. You mentioned in your blog that when you first moved to Canberra you didn't like it. Why?
I was 15 and leaving everything I knew- My friends, my small school, and my acting. I was coming to this cold, cold place and I didn't know anyone. It was the middle of the school year so I was worried if I might be dumber than everyone else, if any kids would let me hang with them - the usual teenager angst! One of the promises mum made when we left Alice Springs was that I could come back to perform in one last production (EVITA), it was also our year 10 formal (prom). When I came back I realised how lucky I was to live in Canberra and have the opportunities that I wouldn't have in Alice Springs. It gave me the closure I needed and from that day on I fell head over heels in love with Canberra!
8. Now that you are a Mom, are you planning on having more children? If so, how many more?
Yes! Yes! Yes! We want more children. We are hoping to start trying for another child soon so I can continue my leave at work. I am not sure how many we will have - Joe would like to stick with two children, however I think three or four would be much more interesting! I come from a family of six children and big families have always been something that I love. Of course, the dilemma is that once you go past two children you often need to upgrade the house, the car, the mortgage!
9. You mention in your blog decluttering your house for 2008. How is that going?
Well, it got off to a good start! I have put my de-cluttering on hold to help mum and dad with their packing. Dad will move in to our home for a period while he still works in Canberra, so I have a room that I need to de-clutter in the next couple of weeks. I don't think I realised that de-cluttering and children do not go hand in hand! I cannot believe the amount of clothes, toys and space that a child takes up! Another thing that has slowed me down is our storage situation, I am ready to throw out so much stuff, but for the things I wish to keep, I am struggling to find room for, I keep telling Joe we need a trip to IKEA to obtain some storage solutions before I get really stuck into it!
10. Any ideas yet on your miniresolution to be more green?
Every day I feel more and more guilty about the footprint I am leaving on this earth. I am trying to be much more considerate to the future. Some things we have started to do is buying our produce locally, and only buying seasonal items. This doesn't always work with a baby because sometimes if the only thing he will eat are blueberries, then dammit - we need blueberries! I am also enjoying going old school and making my own pasta and pizza bases - I figure the more I can do at home, not only gives me a greater satisfaction, but will hopefully help the planet in some minuscule way. My project for this month is starting a compost bin, and I am really excited about this. I have started doing some research on the best way to set one up and am looking forward to see the circle of (plant) life demonstrated in our own home. But these are all just little things, and as I said, I constantly feel I should be doing MORE and MORE to make it a better world for my child.
11.You wrote about taking your finals at uni, but not how it turned out. What grades did you end up with?
Yay - a Distinction! I really wasn't expecting to get that, I thought I would be lucky if I passed, so I was so excited when I got my results. It made me think twice about taking six months off, but now I am glad I did, and hopefully by July I will be ready and rolling to start Uni again!
12. Have you travelled outside of Australia? If so, what countries have you visited? If not, what countries would you like to travel to?
No, I haven't travelled outside of Australia, it is on my list of things to do. I really want to visit South Africa, Russia and one of my dreams is to live in Italy for six months and absorb the culture of Joe's heritage. One thing I have done though, is extensively travelled Australia - not many Australians have seen their own country and it is so vast and beautiful, I have travelled through every state except Tasmania and just love this country that I live in.
13. Faith seems to be a large part of your current life and growing up. What denomination are you?
My family are catholic - we were brought up attending church every Sunday and celebrating the important feast days etc. As an adult, I don't attend church or call myself a catholic, however I think I have a strong faith and many of the principles and values I believe come from my catholic upbringing. As I get older I tend to disregard the regime and routine of a faith, and focus more on the true spirituality and the concepts of what faith is - a set of beliefs that one can follow and apply to life. I think more about nature and the world we live and how treating each other and the earth is so much more important than attending mass on Sundays. While I see the value of creating and strengthen a community by praying and worshipping together, I also see the segregation that this can cause. Denying people because of their beliefs, lifestyles, colour of their skin, or the amount of money in their wallet really gets to me and is a problem I see for most religions. I believe that Jesus was a wonderful man that brought a whole new perspective to living life - I think that what he tried to teach often gets lost in the translation and politics of a religion. I think this could probably be said for most religions, Islam, Judaism, etc. I think we are all people of the same world, and no one is a chosen race, religion or culture - what makes us so wonderful is how diverse we are. I enjoy learning about other people's values and beliefs and find that it often not only challenges my way of thinking, and causes me to justify what I believe in, but it also opens my mind to how wonderful being human really is. I often pray to God, but my God is also Mother Nature, he is not fire and brimstone, she will not buy you a bicycle for your birthday, but I believe that my God is there to help us learn how to live, to encourage us to learn what sacrifice is, what love is, what a challenge is and most importantly, what it feels like to live. (Well said)
14. I thought of one more question I'd like to ask, is the title of your blog ACTing Like a Mama! a take off from the fact that you live in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)?
Yes! Oh I am so glad someone got it! My blog has had several (very corny) names from "The Adventures of the Canberra Paolinos" to "Diary of New Mum" and I was looking for something a little different, maybe a bit catchy and so I ended up with this ACTing like a Mama - not sure what Iwill need to change it to if we ever move!!
(It should be noted that I had visited Ally's blog several times, Googled Earthed Canberra and Alice Springs (road trains are disturbing) and did some research on Wikipedia before the ACT in her title clicked in my brain.)
I want to thank Ally for participating in the Great Interview Experiment and I hope she had as much fun answering my questions as I did in asking them.
1. Is this your first blog? What was your inspiration for beginning a blog?
No, I began my first blog in March 2005. It primarily began as a weight-loss blog after several months of reading other bloggers who were being inspired and motivated through the blog-community. I hoped that it would do the same for me. It didn't. I felt a lot of pressure in writing and losing weight, feeling bad if I couldn't record a loss for the week, or if I wrote a post about eating the wrong type of food. My blog then changed when I got engaged and became more about the preparations for our wedding. It became a bit of a release for me. Once I got married I just stopped writing - I felt I had nothing more to say. The night I went into labour, I was up at 2am with nothing better to do, so I thought I would write down what I was feeling, I opened up Microsoft Word and then thought "Hell, why don't I put this on a blog". I didn't want to go back to my old blog, hence I set this up! It has since become a great medium to talk about my son, my life and keep in touch with my family who are all around Australia.
2. What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Oh so many things! I did a lot of acting when I was younger, and I think I must have been reasonably good at it, I had a lot of major roles in our Acting group and was even offered a lead role in a musical right before we left Alice Springs for Canberra. I think I always knew I never wanted to BE an actor, but I loved and still love the theatre - I wanted to be a part of it, maybe by being a playwright, a stage manager or maybe a director, but heck, if I was able to iron the costumes for the performers I think I would be happy! I still get chills when I walk backstage into a theatre, even though I have done nothing related to it for several years. I love the energy of the place.
3. Australia, like the United States, is a country of immigrants, what originally brought your ancestors to Australia?
From what country did they come? Oh where to begin! On my father's side I believe one of my ancestors was a catholic brother sent out to the missionary in WA. Due to the circumstance of the place (remote, unpopulated etc) they were actually encouraged to find wives and begin families. I believe he was Spanish, and brought a variety of tomatoes to Western Australia. On my mother's side they were French/Irish and brought Hereford Cattle to Australia -they settled on the East Coast, not far from where my parents are moving to shortly! So we are mainly from Irish stock, with a bit of Spanish and French thrown in. I am a sixth-generation Australian, so feel much more connected to Australia than any other culture/place. (Oh I hope I have this right mum and dad!)
4. What type of school activities were you involved in growing up?
Sport was always a strength for my brothers and sisters - I was never good at it, and felt a lot of pressure that I needed to be good at it, you know, you couldn't just enjoy playing a game. Lucky for me I found an Acting School and from the first day I began I knew I was doing something that I loved, and that I belonged. I did my drama classes at least three days a week and often all day Saturdays - I loved it. I learnt how to dance, sword fight, convey emotions, control and read body language, and so much more. In High School I joined the debating team and we had reasonable success - I think we only ever won one final, but we usually always came second which was still pretty good! I created and edited the school newspaper in my last year of primary school, "The Grapevine"- I still have a copy!
5. How did you meet your husband and what about him attracted you? Where did you go for your first date?
I met Joe at work. We were both working at Prime Television and we started talking at our Christmas Party. It just grew from there. Joe and I were seeing other people at the time, so it took a while for us to hook up. There is a 14 year age gap between us, so this also made us a bit wary about what we might be getting into. I liked how generous and kind-spirited he was, and never had a bad word to say about anybody. His staff also showed him a great deal of respect and seemed to really like him, I thought that if you can find that in a manager, then he must be a really good person at heart. Our first date was to a lovely Italian restaurant called "The Haig" It specialised in seafood, and on the walls it has popular Italian-themed movies like "Il Padre" (The Godfather) and things like that. I ordered the seafood marinara and it was probably the worst thing to order on a first date - I had to suck all the crab meat out of the claws - not very classy but it obviously worked!
6. What did your father do for a living that you lived out in the middle (literally) of Australia in Alice Springs?
My mum grew up in Alice Springs among other towns as her father was the Chief Inspector of Police for the Northern Territory. Dad moved when he had finished his uni degree - he was a civil engineer and came to NT to build roads, bridges etc. My dad used to walk pass my mum's house every morning to go to church, one day, my grandfather (mums dad) offered him the choice of a night in jail or a date with my mum - he chose the date and they have now been married for 40+ years! (I loved Ally's answer to this question. Her Grandfather sounds like quite the match maker :-) )
7. You mentioned in your blog that when you first moved to Canberra you didn't like it. Why?
I was 15 and leaving everything I knew- My friends, my small school, and my acting. I was coming to this cold, cold place and I didn't know anyone. It was the middle of the school year so I was worried if I might be dumber than everyone else, if any kids would let me hang with them - the usual teenager angst! One of the promises mum made when we left Alice Springs was that I could come back to perform in one last production (EVITA), it was also our year 10 formal (prom). When I came back I realised how lucky I was to live in Canberra and have the opportunities that I wouldn't have in Alice Springs. It gave me the closure I needed and from that day on I fell head over heels in love with Canberra!
8. Now that you are a Mom, are you planning on having more children? If so, how many more?
Yes! Yes! Yes! We want more children. We are hoping to start trying for another child soon so I can continue my leave at work. I am not sure how many we will have - Joe would like to stick with two children, however I think three or four would be much more interesting! I come from a family of six children and big families have always been something that I love. Of course, the dilemma is that once you go past two children you often need to upgrade the house, the car, the mortgage!
9. You mention in your blog decluttering your house for 2008. How is that going?
Well, it got off to a good start! I have put my de-cluttering on hold to help mum and dad with their packing. Dad will move in to our home for a period while he still works in Canberra, so I have a room that I need to de-clutter in the next couple of weeks. I don't think I realised that de-cluttering and children do not go hand in hand! I cannot believe the amount of clothes, toys and space that a child takes up! Another thing that has slowed me down is our storage situation, I am ready to throw out so much stuff, but for the things I wish to keep, I am struggling to find room for, I keep telling Joe we need a trip to IKEA to obtain some storage solutions before I get really stuck into it!
10. Any ideas yet on your miniresolution to be more green?
Every day I feel more and more guilty about the footprint I am leaving on this earth. I am trying to be much more considerate to the future. Some things we have started to do is buying our produce locally, and only buying seasonal items. This doesn't always work with a baby because sometimes if the only thing he will eat are blueberries, then dammit - we need blueberries! I am also enjoying going old school and making my own pasta and pizza bases - I figure the more I can do at home, not only gives me a greater satisfaction, but will hopefully help the planet in some minuscule way. My project for this month is starting a compost bin, and I am really excited about this. I have started doing some research on the best way to set one up and am looking forward to see the circle of (plant) life demonstrated in our own home. But these are all just little things, and as I said, I constantly feel I should be doing MORE and MORE to make it a better world for my child.
11.You wrote about taking your finals at uni, but not how it turned out. What grades did you end up with?
Yay - a Distinction! I really wasn't expecting to get that, I thought I would be lucky if I passed, so I was so excited when I got my results. It made me think twice about taking six months off, but now I am glad I did, and hopefully by July I will be ready and rolling to start Uni again!
12. Have you travelled outside of Australia? If so, what countries have you visited? If not, what countries would you like to travel to?
No, I haven't travelled outside of Australia, it is on my list of things to do. I really want to visit South Africa, Russia and one of my dreams is to live in Italy for six months and absorb the culture of Joe's heritage. One thing I have done though, is extensively travelled Australia - not many Australians have seen their own country and it is so vast and beautiful, I have travelled through every state except Tasmania and just love this country that I live in.
13. Faith seems to be a large part of your current life and growing up. What denomination are you?
My family are catholic - we were brought up attending church every Sunday and celebrating the important feast days etc. As an adult, I don't attend church or call myself a catholic, however I think I have a strong faith and many of the principles and values I believe come from my catholic upbringing. As I get older I tend to disregard the regime and routine of a faith, and focus more on the true spirituality and the concepts of what faith is - a set of beliefs that one can follow and apply to life. I think more about nature and the world we live and how treating each other and the earth is so much more important than attending mass on Sundays. While I see the value of creating and strengthen a community by praying and worshipping together, I also see the segregation that this can cause. Denying people because of their beliefs, lifestyles, colour of their skin, or the amount of money in their wallet really gets to me and is a problem I see for most religions. I believe that Jesus was a wonderful man that brought a whole new perspective to living life - I think that what he tried to teach often gets lost in the translation and politics of a religion. I think this could probably be said for most religions, Islam, Judaism, etc. I think we are all people of the same world, and no one is a chosen race, religion or culture - what makes us so wonderful is how diverse we are. I enjoy learning about other people's values and beliefs and find that it often not only challenges my way of thinking, and causes me to justify what I believe in, but it also opens my mind to how wonderful being human really is. I often pray to God, but my God is also Mother Nature, he is not fire and brimstone, she will not buy you a bicycle for your birthday, but I believe that my God is there to help us learn how to live, to encourage us to learn what sacrifice is, what love is, what a challenge is and most importantly, what it feels like to live. (Well said)
14. I thought of one more question I'd like to ask, is the title of your blog ACTing Like a Mama! a take off from the fact that you live in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)?
Yes! Oh I am so glad someone got it! My blog has had several (very corny) names from "The Adventures of the Canberra Paolinos" to "Diary of New Mum" and I was looking for something a little different, maybe a bit catchy and so I ended up with this ACTing like a Mama - not sure what Iwill need to change it to if we ever move!!
(It should be noted that I had visited Ally's blog several times, Googled Earthed Canberra and Alice Springs (road trains are disturbing) and did some research on Wikipedia before the ACT in her title clicked in my brain.)
I want to thank Ally for participating in the Great Interview Experiment and I hope she had as much fun answering my questions as I did in asking them.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The Great Interview Experiment
I signed up for the Great Interview Experiment of 2008. The idea is for bloggers to interview each other and publish the results. I had the pleasure to be interviewed by Zookeeper over at Tragedy Strikes the Same Place Twice. The interview is posted on her site. I had a lot of fun doing it and Zookeeper asked some interesting questions. Not only was the interview fun, but I now have a new blog to follow.
My job now is to interview Ally of ACTing Like a Mommy. It should be interesting as Ally lives down under in Australia. I'm hoping to have her interview posted by the weekend. Of course I have to get her my questions first.
The weather today was unbelievable. We didn't have the storms the midwest and south did, but it hit 70 degrees today - in February. It was actually a pleasure walking the dogs today. Even now at 11:00PM, it's still 67 degrees. It's freaky. We're also getting hit with a thunder storm - in winter. Next thing you know we'll have snow in July.
My job now is to interview Ally of ACTing Like a Mommy. It should be interesting as Ally lives down under in Australia. I'm hoping to have her interview posted by the weekend. Of course I have to get her my questions first.
The weather today was unbelievable. We didn't have the storms the midwest and south did, but it hit 70 degrees today - in February. It was actually a pleasure walking the dogs today. Even now at 11:00PM, it's still 67 degrees. It's freaky. We're also getting hit with a thunder storm - in winter. Next thing you know we'll have snow in July.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Super Bowl and Low Rate Erging
Like most of America, I spent Sunday evening watching the Super Bowl. I had no real routing interest in either team, but as I got into the game I found myself routing for the Giants. It's not so much that I didn't want New England to go undefeated. On the contrary, anything to shut up the 1972 Dolphins and their annoying toasting to themselves every year. Grow up. I guess it was more routing for the underdog. Back in the day when I was little and growing up in NJ, I was a big Giants fan. At least until the AFL and the Jets came along. There has been talk that this was the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. So not true. Anyone who says the 1969 Jets - Colts (the true Colts from Baltimore not the sham Colts in Indianapolis) wasn't the biggest upset just doesn't understand football or more likely is under the age 35.
While waiting for the game to come along, I made it to my Sunday erg class. There were far fewer rowers than normal. I think it's because the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints were held on Saturday and those rowers, wisely, decided to skip the Sunday class. We also had a substitute Instructor. I know her as she's one of the younger rowers from our club not long out of college. Rather than our usual row, she had us doing pyramids at very low stroke rates - 16 to 18 strokes per minute to start out. At these lower rates, you have to put a lot more omph into it. It's basically a strength exercise rather than an aerobic one. It turned out well and was something different. I ended up putting in almost 13,000 meters so I got my money's worth. Now to make myself at home tomorrow to keep things moving along.
While waiting for the game to come along, I made it to my Sunday erg class. There were far fewer rowers than normal. I think it's because the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints were held on Saturday and those rowers, wisely, decided to skip the Sunday class. We also had a substitute Instructor. I know her as she's one of the younger rowers from our club not long out of college. Rather than our usual row, she had us doing pyramids at very low stroke rates - 16 to 18 strokes per minute to start out. At these lower rates, you have to put a lot more omph into it. It's basically a strength exercise rather than an aerobic one. It turned out well and was something different. I ended up putting in almost 13,000 meters so I got my money's worth. Now to make myself at home tomorrow to keep things moving along.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The Sloth
I erged this morning for the first time in over a week. Needless to say my time for my 5,000 meter piece was pretty hurting. My time was closer to 22 minutes then the 21 minutes it needs to be. As Daughter#1, who is my crew conscience, likes to remind me, it's winter conditioning that determines who will make the "A" boat come the spring. Being what the rowing community considers a lightweight rower (i.e., less than 165 lbs) plus being only 5'6" on agood day, the only way I can compete with the other guys in my club is to be in better shape and to have better technique. I need to step up the erging to 4 times a week and also start hitting the weights 3 times a week. Easier said than done with my work schedule so we'll see.
My eyes are feeling much better although the rims of my eyes are still a little red looking. I'm applying heat a few times a day, taking antibotics and using an ointment. I can tell the swelling is way down from what it was.
Friday was a work from home day, which was just as well as the forecast called for freezing rain. Ann went and worked from The Son's condo waiting for the plumber, who was to check for leaks in the bathroom. They had rescheduled twice on us and we were suppose to their first call of the day. He still didn't show up until after 10:00. The good news is no leaks were found. So we're not sure where things go from here. If the occupants of the unit below The Son's still complain about leaks, then the only way to find the leak is to cut into their ceiling to find it. Given their silence over the past week or so, the leak can't be very big and maybe the problem has resolved itself. Time will tell.
My eyes are feeling much better although the rims of my eyes are still a little red looking. I'm applying heat a few times a day, taking antibotics and using an ointment. I can tell the swelling is way down from what it was.
Friday was a work from home day, which was just as well as the forecast called for freezing rain. Ann went and worked from The Son's condo waiting for the plumber, who was to check for leaks in the bathroom. They had rescheduled twice on us and we were suppose to their first call of the day. He still didn't show up until after 10:00. The good news is no leaks were found. So we're not sure where things go from here. If the occupants of the unit below The Son's still complain about leaks, then the only way to find the leak is to cut into their ceiling to find it. Given their silence over the past week or so, the leak can't be very big and maybe the problem has resolved itself. Time will tell.
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