Milk, Planes and Airports

I feel like I can write a book about milk and travel now. Although I brag about being a pumping master, I really can't handle it very well when things don't go well. Let me tell you why.

United mis-delivered my checked luggage twice in a month: the first time the bag was on the plane that came in 3 hours later after mine original flight, I had to sit at the airport waiting for it, ruined the first part of my night; second time, the luggage somehow went all the way down to LA and made its way back to SFO around midnight, then they informed me that they will deliver the bag to my house between 1-3am, of course I believed them and waited up, and of course nothing and nobody showed up, not between 1-3am, not between 3-5am and not between 5-7am, when I finally got hold of someone at 7am, they said the delivery crew never picked it up from SFO therefore the bag had been sitting there the whole night, and finally it made its way to my house around 9am. Now, the funny part. Last night I got on the plane and made such a big complaint to the United agent that they sent the general manager of the airport to get on the plane and made sure my luggage IS really on that plane. They also made a very nice gesture of upgraded me to first class for free. Oh, so I thought my night would finally go fine. Of course it didn't: first of all, we sit on the runway for over an hour due to the heavy rain and gust in SFO, then we took off, got to SFO, but could not land due to the weather, circled for another 2 hours in the air until the caption said he could not hold it any longer due to fuel and safety reasons. We landed you know where, SJC airport. Of course they could not let the passenger off because they said this was international flight and had to clear customs in a port of entry which SJC wasn't. This is complete nonsense for anyone with common sense. So, after an hour they worked it out with SJC airport police department, by that time many passengers were so upset or uncomfortable that they insisted to get off at the risk of being arrested. So I made my case of getting off the plane, and talked to the caption about the need to having to pull my bag out of the plane, etc. Surprisingly he understood what I was going through and let my bag be pulled as an exception - he announced to all the other passenger that he can let people off the plane but ALL checked luggage had to go back to SFO.

Oh well, I consider myself very lucky that night, after 4 hours of delay I got home WITH my precious bag of breast milk. And I kept wondering about those passengers who had chosen not to get off the plane at SJC, waited for someone to refuel the plane, waited again for someone to push the plane out, waited for the arrival approval from SFO and waited for their luggage, hoping it would come out ok. I hope no one has to go through this experience again, just reading it is exhausting enough.

Missing Ellie

Dan said Ellie was fussy all day and only had 20 oz worth of milk. Not knowing what's bothering her and not being able to be there to help Dan out just broke my heart. Chatted with a few working moms at the firm and sharing the day to day struggle of work life balance actually provides a better perspective for me, knowing that I am not alone and we are doing the best we could for the little baby.

First tooth

Ellie's first tooth came out on Jan 3rd, 2010. And Ellie took the first bite of solid food on Jan 4th, 2010, well maybe not too solid, it was one little bit of pureed banana. And she visited Ranch 99 for the first time on Jan 10th. Daddy was very happy, in fact, too happy, he bought 5 baby spoons and 2 cans of baby carrot puree. The spoon is designed very nicely - the tip would turn white if the temperature of the food is over 41 degree, so that baby doesn't get accidentally burned. Oh well, baby deserves only the best of course.

Vancouver Border Control

Vancouver was one of the first airports to announce that they will hand search each carry on luggage after the attempted Chrismas bombing. But when I turned up at the airport, the situation turned out to be much worse: they have enforced zero carry on luggage policy. Thousands of men and women carried their laptops in their hand, or throw the little things like lip stick, cell phone, chewing gum, whatever, into a plastic bag since they won't fit into human being's two hands any more. They don't know how long this policy will be enforced, perhaps throughout Feb during the Olympics. Everyone was very grumpy, but there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it. I wonder what's the limit that the public has to pay as a consequence for something one individual has done.

Wall Street is announcing record breaking bonus this year due to the astronomical performance the stock market has been through in 2009. While this is a free capitalistic system, they would not have the basis to enjoy the market performance if it were not because of the government bail out, which of course came from main street. Again, what's the limit that the public has to pay to ensure the interest of individual institution or individuals have be to protected, all in the name of the entire financial system.

Happy New Year 2010

We woke up at 6:30 this morning to welcome the new year and the new decade. Oops, then I realized that we missed watching the blue moon last night, it only happens every 2.5 years and for blue moon to happy on the new year, it is even more rare, some thing like every 19 years. Oh well, Ellie will be able to appreciate it more next time. Plus the weather was not ideal last night, very cloudy and rainy, blah blah, now I am just making excuses for not diligent enough to watch it.

I gave Ellie a bubble bath, pleased to find out that her Eczema is getting better, thanks for the A&D ointment and Hypo-Allergenic detergent we have been using. We are getting ready to go to friends for pot roast tonight, will bring along a bottle of Chandon Moet to celebrate the arrival of the new decade.

Passport

Ellie took her passport photo today with the nice US postal worker. I held her up while manage to stay out of the picture and Dan had her attention and successfully put a grin on her face. Her application is now in the mail, it should take about 2 weeks to get her passport. We will then book the trip to Europe and China in 2010. Two big trips for her to take, am curious to see how she will enjoy the international travel in business class.

There was a failed terrorist attempt to blow up an Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on X-mas day. The Canadians have already tighten the security control by announcing that they will hand check every carry on luggage. I am all supportive of appropriate security measures, but I wish they can truly find the bad guys without causing so much inconvenience for the regular commuters like myself. There will be so much more time I will have to waste going through security every week. Man, got to find a way to be more productive while waiting in the lines.

Ellie's 1st Christmas

We had our first Christmas with Ellie, she wore a new set of outfit, a long sleeve cotton onesie with reindeer in the front, crimson pants, snow white socks, a pair of tiny shoes from New Zealand, the sole is made of sheep skin, and shoes are hand woven sheep wool. And she wore the beige colored hat with crimson flower patterns, looks like a little model baby.

The three of us went to the Christmas in the Park in San Jose on X-mas day, there were so many people, music was in the air every where, hundreds of uniquely decorated X-mas trees, we bought a couple of newly fried churro's from the food stand, sit down on the bench, Ellie got so much compliments from people passing by. What caught my attention was the older man sitting across from the bench, looking like he can use a nice shower, a good meal and a nice outfit. He started smiling at Ellie when we tried to take picture of her, he did succeed in making her put on a big grin. When we were ready to move again, the man came over and flip open his jacket and digged out a white polar bear toy from deep in his pocket and gave it to Ellie. What a surprise, I was the one who was wondering if I could offer anything to him, but now he did it. X-mas is in the air indeed.