Bus Tales

That's the title of my forthcoming book on public transit in a mid-sized American city. I have tales to tell of drunks and prostitutes and transvestites, as well as racing the bus on my old bike and catching 5 transfers in one trip. But today's tale is a simple, Kafka-esque one of the insanity of life.

My story begins with Daylight Saving Time. This morning it was still dark when I left for work, and my body said it was 5:30, though the clock said 6:30. I arrived, after a perilous 5-minute walk in the dark, at the bus stop, and a few moments later, the bus arrived.

Now, this is one of the new buses the city bought recently. They are 99% emissions-free and still have that new-bus smell. But today we saw that they truly don't make 'em like they used to.

After the bus pulled up I waited for the doors to open. And I waited. and I waited. For about 3 minutes, the driver struggled to get the doors open. Finally, with a push from me and a pull from a passenger inside, we got it opened, and I--somewhat nervously--stepped in.

For most of the ride, the doors then worked fine. But once downtown--about 5 stops from where I get off and walk--the same problem surfaced. We sat there for a minute while the driver attempted to get the doors open. After announcing that we would wait at the downtown bus station for maintenance, she closed the doors--the doors that would not open! It was like a horror movie (a pretty lame horror movie, but what do you expect, Stephen King?).

So, the moral of the story is you get what you ask for when you board a bus you know might not let you out. (For the record, I was able to pull the door open and catch another line to work. Apparently, the compressed air that controls the doors was not working properly.)

A Mother's Observations

Well, Roy took my idea before I could post first. But since we see the children in different lights I thought I would post my own insights into the children's doings. Now several years ago I wanted to keep journals for each of the kids about themselves and their doings. I started pretty strong and kept at it for quite a long time, but life hit me full force and I just couldn't keep up with it. So we will keep these insights as meansof communicating their growth and humorous moments, as well as a record to give to the kids in the future. Here are my weeks noticings:

Evan's hair started sticking straight up! Not only does this make him look slightly taller, but he looks older as well, which of course, just makes me long for him to stay a baby longer. Isaac noticed the hair and thought Evan looked a lot like Calvin.

Isaac donned his Superman/Batman cape, his fire fighter helmet and his flashlight and went in search of buried treasure under the dining room table. He found a lot apparently, which, embarassingly, turned out to be bits of stale popcorn, crumbs of cheese crackers and the like. So I got disgusted with the house and we ended up doing a full-scale deep-cleaning of the kitchen.

Ryan made his first phonecall. He called his "best friend" Michael to remind him to watch "Arthur." Michael has called him a few times and apparently this is becoming a tradition. Ryan also stayed home from school on Thursday with a "sore throat."

Allyson declared of her own volition, with no prompting from parents (Roy was gone and I, who was in the other room, just happened to overhear the discussion at the breakfast table) that her mother knows everything! I just hope she remembers this truth when she is 13.

What's Up Here

My posting rate recently has been terrible, and I'm trying to figure out why. It's not that I'm busy writing a dissertation (nope, not that at all), and work is no more demanding than ever. It seems, more than anything, that it's because we're not doing the kind of cool stuff we usually do. No trips, no hikes, no camping. And we've certainly got the bug for the latter, but it's still too cold for a camping trip. We do have an excursion up north coming up soon, but we're not really doing much.


This brings me to a suggestion from Summer. A friend of ours who moved to Los Alamos last year uses his blog to keep a sort of journal of their kids' lives (they have 5 kids under the age of 8, making us look like real slackers in the procreation department). Every week he posts an update listing one new or unique thing each child did that week.


So we're going to try this out. Summer has some observations from her time with the kids that certainly exceed anything I could say, but I have picked up on a few things. To whit:

• Evan has started raising his arms up slightly when he wants to be picked up. He will also lean toward Summer when he sees her and wants her to take him. He almost dismounted from my grasp the other day in his anxiety to get to her.


• Isaac has fought Summer everyday on taking a nap, so the other day she put him down for an evening nap. He's also urinated on the bathroom floor twice this week.


• Ryan ran lines for his drama club performance with Summer. When he focused, he got everything right, and seems to be becoming a bit of a ham. Whudda thunk it?


• Allyson made thank you cards for people who bought Girl Scout cookies (Bby the way, they're here, so if you haven't done so yet, please send us your money. Email me if you need to know what you owe.). People at work bought over 150 boxes, and so far everyone has said that the thank you cards were a great touch. Keep the customers happy!

When I Grow Up...

I have noticed recently that the years keep getting shorter and the kids keep getting older. I am coming to the realization that this grand time of staying at home with my children will not last forever. Eventually I will have the opportunity to work outside our home again. And as it has been so long since I have had a paying job (many of you would laugh if you knew how long) I have really no experience to help me down the road. But I figure I work hard at my job as a mother and I think I am pretty good at it, and I certainly have learned a thing or two (or ten thousand). So I have come to the conclusion that the work I am doing now is giving me on the job experience and will prepare me for several possible careers as listed below.

I could be an…interrogation expert for the CIA. The kids certainly think I have what it takes to torture people, particularly when it comes to rinsing their hair after a good scrubbing. Can you say water boarding?

I could be a…make-up artist at a mortuary. I’ve gotten pretty good at making myself look alive at least.

I could be a…trainer of primates at the zoo. I have done a pretty good job at teaching ours to speak and be somewhat understood by others, to listen once in a while (when they are not busy picking their boogers), and to not throw their feces.

I could be a…HAZMAT worker. You don’t want to know the things I have had to get out of our carpet.

And I am sure that there are a lot of other careers out there that are just waiting for me!

Presidents Day 2008

Since the kids and I all had the day off, we decided to celebrate by taking a trip to Explora, the hands-on science museum in town. The museum is a two-story playground of experiments and displays about math, science, and discovery. One of the kids' favorites is the air section, where exhibits detail how wind power works. Here, the boys play with pressured air to suspend beach balls in the air:
And here's Allyson doing the same:

Another favorite is the bubble pool, where kids (of all ages) can make huge bubbles. Summer tried to encase the boys in bubbles, and here Ryan decides to try the same with Isaac:

Explora is one Albuquerque sight we haven't taken visiting family to yet, so next time anyone's in town, we'll make a trip. Look for more pictures as we make use of our membership to the museum, especially over Spring and Summer breaks.

New Links

Pretty self-absorbed post here, but isn't blogging all about being self-absorbed?

I've added two new links to the "Roy's Favorite Podcasts" list on the right. The first is NPR's Bryant Park Project, a lively and somewhat irreverent news show with a heavy dose of wit and entertainment. If I was hip 20-something living in New York, I would be on this show.

The second is the more staid NPR Books, a compendium of items on reading, author interviews, and book reviews from the previous week. Given NPR's demographic, their shows tend to feature a lot of bookish pieces, so this hour-long podcast is quite rich.

Super-Computing?

The title obviously refers to Isaac working away on the toy laptop with his Superman cape. But, as there always is, there's a story behind the (admittedly) adorable photo.

Last Friday, Isaac came to work with me. I brought Ryan's toy computer, thinking that it would keep Isaac happy for most of the day, along with the books and snacks we brought. My one concern was that the games on the computer are LOUD, so he wouldn't be able to use it during my meeting in the early afternoon.

As it turns out, we wound up bringing the computer to the meeting, but I explained that he couldn't use it because it was too loud. But after watching me work on my laptop for nearly an hour during the meeting, Isaac got antsy.

Finally, when I wasn't looking, he opened up the toy computer. But, ever the responsible one, he didn't turn it on. Instead, he stared at the blank screen and simply typed. I turned to see him smiling, rat-a-tat-tatting on the keyboard, much the way I was on my laptop (for the record, I was finishing up some PowerPoint presentations for this week's classes).

Once again I was reminded how a young child can make you realize that he's watching--and, even more humbling, trying to be like--you.