If anything makes flying more miserable, it's United Airlines.

#ifIhadTwitterthatwouldbemytweetaftereverysingleflightwiththemasfarbackasIcanremember

Photo Comparison

It's time for another photo comparison. Let's do this by 4's:

4 days:

4 weeks:

4 months:

4x2=8 months:

and... 4x2.375=9.5 months (ok, cheating maybe, but how else was I supposed to post a current photo?):

Exploring

I love to travel and only wish I could do more of it. My ideal vacation is one where I'm always on the move, and seeing as much as possible in as little time as possible. This requires some extensive research and planning prior to the trip, and there is nothing I love better. Forget about sitting in the hotel room flipping through pamphlets, deciding "where to go next" or "rest and relaxation". I can get R and R at home, and there are few things that put me in a more sour mood than being cooped up inside a house or hotel room when there is so much to do and see out there.

Sometimes I'm a bit overly ambitious in my planning, squeezing too much into one day, but I think it's better to err on the side of having to drop one thing from the agenda than to wonder at the end of the day if I could have seen more. My true exploratory and independent nature comes out when I'm traveling solo (usually on a work-related trip)-- in between meetings and seminars I'm riding public transit, jogging downtown, or taking a stroll at the park on my own. I absolutely love it. Any city with a good transportation system (D.C. takes the cake--- I'm pretty much in heaven) allows me to go everywhere and see everything. Public transit or not, one essential item that must be packed is a pair of running shoes. How much I can explore a city on foot! Even in the dark! Even without a map! It's glorious.

This week I'm in Minneapolis. I'm ready to get back to the warm weather at home, but I have to say that this city is quite attractive. It's clean, pedestrian-friendly, there are huge parks for running, free exhibits, and it's easy to navigate. Unfortunately I left my running shoes at home. I'm never doing that again. Oh well, at least I still got to see the spoon and cherry.

Boarding planes

After another round of flying I began to wonder how boarding "zones" are assigned. I'm about as picky about my seat assignment as I am in picking out bananas at the store (VERY picky!!!), and part of the reason that I choose to sit towards the back of the plane (aisle seat, please!) is because I want to board first so that there is plenty of room in the overhead compartment. But most airlines board in random order so that even though I'm in the back, I could board with the last zone/group and risk having to check my bag to my final destination.

This randomized method hardly seems the most efficient to me. I spent mucho time thinking about this and returned home to find this blog entry, proving that analytical/statistically oriented minds think alike. Some people ponder about the meaning of life. I meditate on things like this.

Fascinating.

I guess it matters not whether I book a seat near the front or back of the plane.

Time Flies

I've lost some weight since last April, but I pretty much still carry it around with me everywhere I go.

Flying with Mr. Wiggles

Flying with the little guy wasn't as scary as some people make it out to be... he actually did fairly well even though no one around us could possibly have taken a satisfying nap with all the yelling, grunting, and banging. He's not a cuddle baby... in other words, he doesn't like to be held all the time unless you are moving (and unless you are Ama). He's been like this since Day 1; he would never fall asleep in our arms (unless you are Ama) and was much happier lying down with enough space to wiggle and roll. So being constantly held by Mom and Dad in our seats for 3 hours wasn't exactly fun for him. Thankfully both legs of the trip we managed to have an empty seat between us and plastic cups for entertainment.

Mr. Wiggly's Food

It was one of those nights when getting Mr. Wiggly's pj's on --- much less his diaper--- was a mega challenge. The kid knows how to moooove.

We recently returned from a vacation to Mexico to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday. It was, um, awesome. So awesome that I ruined my camera when the Mexican dude who acted like he couldn't speak English made me speak to him in Spanish and then later told me to jump out of his boat. I did. And then I went under, camera and all.

Thankfully, my mom sent me home with her camera until my new one arrives. Thanks to Amazon Mom and Amazon Prime, it will be here tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a photo of some of Mr. Wiggly's food, fresh out of the freezer tray and ready to go back in their labeled ziplocks.

And here is a prettier photo of what the rest of Mr. Wiggly's food looks like but that I'm copying a picture from the internet of because I have no desire to make his food "look pretty for a photo" photo.

Over the past few weeks I have been having so much fun making Clyde's food and introducing him to new tastes. He loves to eat and it has been no problem getting him to accept solids. Of all the things I've given him, the only thing he's rejected (read: vomited up every single bite) is avocado. We'll try it again later. So far in addition to rice and oat cereal he's had carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, bananas, apples, pears, papaya (in Mexico), peas (just today!), and of course the avocado.



Next up maybe some squash or broccoli. I think I'll start him in January on some yogurt and chicken.