Ex Patria

How many

Sometimes, you stumble over one of those Internet memes and you can't help but check it out.

On some blog, I found How many of me? and of course, I had to check it out.

I'm not sure how reliable this is (and I have the vague notion I've done it before but my memory sucks these days).  Anyhow - here are the results:

My name: 4 other people in the US with the same name
Doug: 19
Alan: 11
David: 124
Jacob: 9
Leah:  4 (Leah Marie, which is her actual name, yields "1 or less")

Other than David (it's a family name, so no surprise there), the names are not too common.  That's a good thing, I suppose.  My bestest friend also has a result of "1 or less", also no surprise there.

My maiden name, btw, results in the simple answer "1".   I guess I became more, um, common with my wedding. :-)

Real Life Unlimited

So you thought I'd died and gone to heaven?

Well, not quite.  Life has been very up in the air lately and that's very stressful and distracting. This has multiple reasons:

First, there is no new job.  Oh, there could have been one - a rather handsomely paid job in Afghanistan for Doug and a cushy stay in a First World country for the boys and I, for a year or so.  Doug loved the idea - it was a great job, very interesting, with the potential to really make a change in the world.  I was about to let him go.  We were assured that security for foreigners was good and tight and that there was but little risk for Doug's wellbeing. 

Then came the attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul  where one of Doug's colleagues-to-be got shot while running on a treadmill, and I pulled out the veto card.

Glory Days

Back in the days, a nuclear Iran was no threat, nor was Three-Mile Island.  In fact, atomic energy was all the rave.  So much so that you could by your radioactive material in the toy store.  In 1951 and 1952, A.C. Gilbert sold a complete Atomic Energy Lab! It consisted of:

1. U-239 Geiger radiation counter.
2. Electroscope to measure radioactivity of different substances.
3. Spinthariscope to watch "live" radioactive disintegration.
4. Wilson Cloud Chamber to see paths of electrons & alpha particles at 10k mps
5. Three very low-level radioactive sources (Alpha, Beta, Gamma).
6. Four samples of Uranium-bearing ores
7. Nuclear Spheres (used to visual build models of molecules)
8. The book "Prospecting for Uranium"
9. The "Gilbert Atomic Energy Manual"
10. The comic book "Learn How Dagwood Splits the Atom"
11. Three "Winchester" Batteries (size "C")

It cost $49.95 -- a lot of money in those days (oh, glory days).  One such set was sold at an Internet auction for almost $7,000 last year. 

I wonder if my boys' transformer toys will go for loads of money when we are old.  You know, something to retire on.

No?

Yah.  I didn't think so, either.

Hum.

Fun quiz, don't take it too seriously, though.  It doesn't ask you to pronounce "th", so it won't identify you as German...  Most funny are the comments of people who are offended by the results.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?"  Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Late

I'm late today. Things happen – the Internet was out all day, we had no water all day, and that turkey had to be digested somehow.

The nutmeg maple cream pie was to die for. The Bruxelles sprouts were actually better today than yesterday. The pumpkin cream cheese was a hit with my guests but I didn't care much for it. I really like the subtle flavors of real cheese cake and I don't really care that much for pumpkin in sweet dishes. I thought I should make a pumpkin thing for my American husband and guests but I should have stuck with actual straight-forward cream cheese and left it at that.

We really enjoyed our guests, a couple we only met a week ago. That was something to be grateful for.

I'm grateful for my husband, my kids, my family.

And I'm grateful that I have the bestest friend in the world. Thank you for being in my life. (You know who you are.)

No use

There are those who think I'm misled, politically way off the sanity bar, too green, too liberal, too doubting.

Well, at least they can't claim that I'm evil.  Just a very, very little bit.

How evil are you?

Go around

So, I'm back.

I also nearly died.

How's that for a captivating line?

Yerevan International Airport, a.k.a. Zvartnots, is a fog hole.  Last night, there was a lot of fog.  At this point,  I had been on the road (or better, in the air) for well over 30 hours.  Snow chaos in Munich, flight to Yerevan canceled, re-routed to London and then again to Yerevan.  So here I was, so close to home.  The plane descended, almost touched down -- and took off again, with howling engines.

It was dead silent in the cabin.  Nobody said a word.  Well, except for me.  I cried.  I was so exhausted, I hadn't seen my family in over two weeks, I had been in more airports and planes than I ever wanted to be, and at the end of all this, we didn't land.  One part of my brain had anticipated this, knowing about the fog situation, and about how bad the automatic landing system in Zvartnots is.  The other, much larger part, despaired. I had asked a flight attendant about what would happen if we couldn't land and she said most likely, since the plane was scheduled for Bishkek afterwards, we would fly on to Alamty, then re-fuel, go to Bishkek and turn around.   Another day, with another uncertain outcome in Yerevan. Great.

But the pilot made a big loop, and tried another descend, and this time it worked out very well.  We all clapped. 

When I left the plane, the cockpit door opened and the pilot came out.  I said, with heartfelt gratitude, "Thank you, Captain, for trying again."  He looked at me, pale and shaken, and said, "It was this close," and his fingers indicated a very small distance.

You know, I didn't want to know that.

But, what counts is that we are all well, just two of my suitcases are missing.  One of them includes the Tuxedo shirt and bowtie and cummerbund that Doug was supposed to be wearing tomorrow to Burns Supper.  I hope the suitcase comes tonight.   But that is not essential.

There is just this one thing:  frozen heating, burst water pipe, horror trip - all within the first three weeks of 2007.  Do you think this is a bad omen for the rest of the year?

Cruising

I turned 40.  That was a little while ago, and I got used to it.  Kids, and lots of them, and very exuberant active ones, are the best way to ensure you cannot brood over stupid things.  So, I didn't descend into the depths of despair over this number, even though I remember both my parents' 40 birthdays in my teens - they were young parents, and I'm an old parent.  That is the only gripe I have with my age.

Anyway.  This is not about age.  This is about my birthday present.  My wonderful soulmate and husband gave me a week-long cruise in the Caribbean with my best friend, without any kids, for a present.  From January 14 on, I'll be on the Millenium bound for the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas.  Our room is only a few feet away from the on-ship library, we have a terrace looking out over the sea, we get hors-d'oevres and fresh fruit every day, we have two formal dinners (and I have two new dresses), a day at the spa, plans for our shore excursions...  and no kids.

No kids!

This is both a blessing and a curse.  Before I left, I found myself giving my nanny instructions for the cases of

• severe head injuries,
• fire,
• earthquake,
• war,
• open, bleeding wounds.

Heh, that may be anal but if they have to survive outside at -20 degrees because the house was flattened in an earthquake, it's really important for them to know where the space blankets are, no?  I also left a gazillion phone numbers, including the direct line to the ship. I left five kilos of chicken nuggets, a pile of groceries, kilos and kilos of frozen vegetables, recipes for favorite dishes...

I am at my Mom's house at the moment, taking a day's break in my trip from Yerevan to Ft. Lauderdale (I will also break the trip in DC).  I find myself wanting to walk into rooms to check on various kids, and it's way too quiet and way too clean and nice in the house.  It's never clean and nice when my kids are here.  I slept for 14 hours.  I read for hours, without interruption.  I went to the bathroom and nobody wanted to "be with Mommy".   My Mom and I will go shopping today without having to arrange for various kids to be taken care of.

It's nice.  It's lonely.  It's weird.  And I discovered that it is possible to have a wonderful time with pangs of pain and guilt.  Being a parent is a strange, strange thing.

(I also miss my husband, btw.  But in a different way.)

I'm almost unique

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 5 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Well, I know there is at least one other person in Germany with my name.

Just because....

... it made me laugh.  But it's painful.