the gunks

I talked to Ariel briefly as she was walking from her subway station to her new apartment. It sounds like many good things are happening with her graduate program and work at IEEE Spectrum, with some possible travel, including a trip to Boston, where she'll visit Terra & Karl. She and Chris have been spending weekends around the Catskills, the Shawangunk Ridge (or Gunks) in particular, where they've been doing some technical rock climbing. There's a Minnewaska State Park Preserve there, but I haven't sorted it all out, and a village called New Paltz, where they join other climbers for eats. She said it's about an hour outside the city, but it can take another hour to get out of the city. I think they must camp out. Lots of other good news, including a mutual friend moving to the city soon.

The boys' school is in full swing. I can actually get Ry to talk some about his day. Mostly I know the names of the boys in his class and that they aren't doing math. We got him a backpack on sale, a really good one that he likes, red, without any super heroes or other commercial junk, a little big for him but it's got a secret compartment and a place for a lunch bag or box. Jack's not playing the Wii as much as I dreaded. In fact, they seem to be playing together with each other, re-discovering old toys again. Cyndi got the film version of Where the Wild Things Are, from netflix, and that seems to be a hit. We started reading The Magician's Elephant last night, and so far it's a good story for them. Ry fell asleep but woke up briefly to tell me to keep reading after I finished chapter one. Jackson, I noticed, must have been interested enough lying at my side because his hands stopped moving in the air and he settled down cuddling next to me. So a good start.

It cooled off some yesterday, thank goodness, because I didn't really tweak the swamp cooler as well as I thought.

late summer 2010

Okay, the photoshow says fall. That's because the sun was shining this morning but it was several degrees cooler, the boys have started school, they're selling local sweet corn from a truck on the corner, and you can smell chile roasting. But it's still mid August and Labor Day is a couple of weeks away. We still go swimmming at Cyndi's club.

It was back to school this past week, running around for school supplies and still some (skateboard) shoes and a backpack to get. Rylee got Jackson's kindergarten teacher in the classroom that was finished the year Jack was in kindergarten. This makes Cyndi very happy and feeling secure for Ry's sake. Jackson started Wednesday for a half-day and Rylee started Friday. Thursday, Jack's birthday, he wore the birthday cake hat to school and carried in cupcakes for his classmates. Friday, Ry's first full day in school, Cyndi was sad. It was a big day for her. Ry joins Jack and his two cousins, Lauren and Nicholas, in the same school.

And it was Jack's birthday. He wanted a special breakfast, which Cyndi prepared on the morning of his first full school day. I had teased him about the Wii during the last few days, and when he got it in the morning he was very happy. That evening it was family over for dinner and cake and ice cream. He opened the many cards and gifts he received that evening.

Ariel called last night as we were eating Chinese. She and Chris were rock climbing in the Catskills and had moved into their new place before leaving. I talked to Beth on her birthday, and she and Gary told me about their Maui trip, the not-fun plane trip out, and the onset of what sounds like a serious back pain issue. We also caught up on Ariel's generation, Sarah going to Louisville, Terra and Karl moving to Missouri, Emily's last year in college, Eric's first year in college, Jennifer and Jacques moving, I thought I heard, to Valdez, and Michael's safe return. We're expecting David around Labor Day, and Beth thought she'd like to come out to visit this fall.

Jack has the Wii all hooked up. There was a bit of a scene the first night with the cousins, which we are going to avoid in the future. It's already giving me headaches. We've talked a lot about how these games affect behavior and about being very selective about what games or channels are played in our home. The console also gives online access to the internet and to netflix, for movies. Bottom line is we're making some technology switches, including dropping cable, adding a Verizon mobile "mi-fi", subscribing to netflix, and relying on internet streaming for lots of the children's entertainment. It should cut some costs, too. A good time to make changes.

The swamp cooler is on the other end of the technology spectrum. Such a simple machine. I finally learned how to tweak it, though, so we have a better flow of cool air. The keys are the pad saturation and the adjustable motor pulley. And keeping the water pump clean.

It's been a hot summer. The monsoon rains have been sporadic. Fall's close, but summer's not over.

Jackson's birthday

meanwhile

The big event yesterday for the boys was the return of their cousins. The boys stayed overnight in Belen and saw Brendon the next day. Jack got to hook up a computer in Belen and show Papa. When the boys got back home, Nick and Lauren came over and they all got caught up after being apart for almost two weeks. They were all so excited. The boys had to explain that there was no YouTube viewing, and they were really okay with that. Jackson renewed his request for an app upgrade, and when I said no, not now, that was the end of that. They were both so affectionate that evening. It was good to have them home.

Heard from my Dad about their trip to Juneau, with the crowd of family, and how they went out every other day on the water to the crab pots and caught a cold on the plane.

more about legos

I talked with Ariel. She and Chris are in a two-week limbo after moving out of the place in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn and before moving into the place in the Cobble Hill neighborhood, south of Brooklyn Heights. The new neighborhood includes something called the Columbia Street Waterfront District, is near Red Hook, which gets mixed reviews, and together with Carroll Gardens is sometimes called South Brooklyn (I guess for being south of Brooklyn Heights). It's not far from the Brooklyn Bridge and Prospect Park. Cyndi told me Ariel might be in Albuquerque in October.

I got a call from David. He may be visiting us on his return from a "business trip" that concludes at Mesa Verde. All this should happen around Labor Day. He and Sandra hosted a bunch of people up in Juneau, including Terra (showing) & Karl, Uncle Al, Mom & Dad, Beth, and maybe even Jacques and Jenni, who may be settling in Valdez, which I remember Ariel really loved from backcountry skiing trips with Chris.

I often ask Cyndi, How's the boys? She says, Precious.

Rylee is a sweet boy. I love the way he talks with me about things. He loves to explain things to me. Lately, it's been about his Christmas list, which I explained was five months away. There's lots of legos on the list. I'm trying to steer him away from Star Wars legos, which he likes due to the influence of his older cousins and, well, they're just more popular and involve light sabers. He just got Indiana Jones legos and for now those are his favorite. If he gets a larger set for Christmas, I think it should be in the City series, much more positive for playacting. It's the minifigures he loves best, and I heard you can collect those apart from the building sets anyway. I told him how I use to play with toy soldiers, starting with the lead ones my father gave me, lining them up in battles, some were from World War II, others from the Revolutionary War, along with cowboys and Indian figures. The lead ones were probably WWI soldiers. He liked the sound of toy soldiers.

Okay, so I think this list came about because Jackson started a birthday list, and Number One on the list was a Wii electronic game player, which I adamantly opposed. I really hate the whole idea for so many reasons. Jackson hasn't mentioned it again but he hasn't mentioned anything else he wants. I saw the player at Costco, so I know it's there.

We, or is it just me, have been shutting down some of the computer and electronics entertainment. No more bakugans on YouTube. No more YouTube for the time being. There's some really horrible stuff put on YouTube by kids. Some is very inventive. Some is fun. But a lot is offensive--though, apparently, not offensive enough to the captivated kids. We've been watching some better movies and channels lately, or none at all. I see the boys entertained by things more intellectually stimulating and that is what I want to see. I made the remark to Ariel that she would not have had a Wii when she was a child. Of course, I didn't mean she was deprived of anything. She didn't respond to that remark.

Ry carts around the old DS game player, but I don't see him playing on it much. Jackson has turned more to his IPod Touch as a result of this ban that everyone assumes is temporary, and he's been bugging me about downloading new applications. He tries to sell me, saying such and such is educational, or doesn't cost much. Most times I say no on principle, and give in later on occasion. I will probably lose on the Wii, as I've talked to others and they all say the same thing. They went through it and finally gave in. But no Guitar Hero!

We applied for a free Adobe Flash Builder. Sent Jackson's second grade report card for Dennis Chavez Elementary and he was accepted for the free student download. Otherwise, it's a few hundred dollars. Our idea is that it should help us design Jackson's Cool Club web site, without having to do all the Action Script coding. We have really no idea what we're doing. I talked with Ariel about it just this week, since she's also starting to learn and use it in conjunction with internet journalism. I just heard there's a Lego Universe web site being launched this Fall. It's the sort of thing the boys would love, and it's the sort of thing Jackson wants his website to do. The key phrase seems to be "massively multiplayer online game" and I've seen the acronym before, trying to figure out where to begin. I think that's what Club Penguin is, which is the model so far for what Jackson wants to do. I think we'll be lucky to make a ball bounce on a web page. Ariel told me that was one of her first projects.

So Rylee was showing me his list, and there's also a desk, a desk lamp, a Lobo rug, a skateboarding rug, a gray Lego building board, and an IPhone on the list. I appreciated that he was asking for a desk. He needs his own special space for his things. I laughed when he said an IPhone was on his list. He has a way of laughing at himself, too, especially things he says. As Cyndi often remarks, something he says strikes him funny and then he repeats it with a laugh. For a genuinely riotous laugh, Jackson has a great one.

I got to tell you what struck Ry as funny during his annual "wellness" checkup with his pediatrician. By some definitions of the word, Ry grasped a situational irony. It made him laugh and he told me and Cyndi. He was wearing an I [heart] N Y tee shirt, with those four symbols forming a square on his chest. The pediatrician listened to his heart with her stethoscope. Ry stood still and quiet. When she finished he ran over to us, laughing. "She listened to my heart through the heart of my shirt."

He's got this lisp, a lateral lisp, that makes "Jackson" come out "Zchakshen". The boys like to repeat the line from Silence of the Lambs about fava beans and a nice Chianti, which they picked up from Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.



I have a hard time imagining the chipmunks spouting the line. I don't think the boys have the complete line, but it's been a kick to hear the phrase through the lisp of a five-year-old.

This weekend Cyndi thought we could take the Rail Runner to Santa Fe for a little trip in the afternoon. We'd only have about two hours in Santa Fe. We waited at the Journal station, pacing several times, and no train came. After about a half hour a rumor spread that there had been an accident and the line was closed. The sky was threatening great rains up and down the central valley and north central mountains. Cyndi asked the young woman sitting next to her at the station if she needed a ride to Santa Fe, and off we all went. After dropping our passenger off at her home, we went to the plaza. First thing, we went to the toy store, Toyopolis, our regular Santa Fe stop now, where we typically get a small Lego set, one for each boy.

In fact, just before we drove to the train station, the boys and I went to another toy store, Out of the Blue, in Albuquerque, which had a better selection of Lego sets. That store was next to a new candy store, selling dozens of flavors of taffy. We picked several and got a small bag at the candy store, but saved a toy purchase for later. Meanwhile, Cyndi was closing a little business at the Starbucks across the street.

After the toy store in Santa Fe (where Jackson elected to get a blue building plate, even though he really wanted a green one), and after a small on-sale purchase at J.Crew, we went to the balcony of the Ore House across from the plaza. We got good Reposado Margaritas and ordered some quesidillas, while the boys assembled the Indiana Jones minifigures and small movie props on the blue building plate. It was raining, and a man played Flameno guitar. Jackson was hungry. We thought about ordering a meal but instead we drove to Tomasitas, by the depot. Tomasitas has become so popular now. It was a 45 minute wait. We sat in the

truck, parked right across from the front door. It rained.

It was worth the wait. Another round of Margaritas, house this time. The boys whole bean burritos came right out. I had chicken enchiladas with red and green; Cyndi had huevos rancheros with red and green. Later, we drove home. Great electrical storms filled the sky.