My co-workers and I sat at the high rise office building looking out the window on Thursday and observed the Olympic torch relay in Burnaby. Crowd was there, policy cars were there and what's most moving was that the torch was carried by a paraolympic athlete sitting in a wheel chair, no motor, just by her bare hands, rolling the chair for the 3 miles while carrying the torch. I missed watching the opening ceremony on Friday, need to catch up on the Internet some time, I heard it was wonderful.
One of my clients is going through tough personal issues, I can see how those things are getting through to her, wearing and tearing her down. She is a brave lady who survived cancer, a divorce and over ten years of a significantly handicapped child, so she said she can get through anything but still it takes toll on her. We chatted from time to time, I think women communicates different, we appreciate a pair of sympathetic ears and just someone who is willing to listen, and things feel better that way.
2/13/2010
2/05/2010
Bebepod
We bought Ellie another new thing: a shiny, soft, watermelon red Bebe pod. She loved it so much that she insisted on sitting in it the all night, played with the rattle that sit on the top of the table incessantly. Way past bedtime and there was no sign of sleepiness.
My parents did another 3 hours of Skye with Ellie, they got so good at baby sitting over the Internet that I could even go downstairs to cook a quick meal.
Today is cloudy and rainy, we stayed at home mostly and played with Ellie. Rolling over is so easy for her that she doesn't even bother to grunt about it. She just raise her hip, pull her hands forward and tilt, and there she goes. Dan and I think she will be crawling soon.
My parents did another 3 hours of Skye with Ellie, they got so good at baby sitting over the Internet that I could even go downstairs to cook a quick meal.
Today is cloudy and rainy, we stayed at home mostly and played with Ellie. Rolling over is so easy for her that she doesn't even bother to grunt about it. She just raise her hip, pull her hands forward and tilt, and there she goes. Dan and I think she will be crawling soon.
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.
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.
1/27/2010
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.
1/10/2010
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.
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.
1/01/2010
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.
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.
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