"I need some tooth pulling music"

Faith has had her first loose tooth for the past couple of weeks and today we opted to check on the progress. Joel told her that he'd pull it for her to which she said "no" and got teary-eyed (we were at breakfast at the time). On the way home, the big brothers were advising her on how to do it and how it's not too scary: Isaac suggested she push it down, twist, and then pull it out; Elijah suggested she get her fingernail under the edge and pull. Both were encouraging her to do it :>)

Joel suggested that she might need some "tooth pulling music" and turned on the radio. . . A while later we turned it off and continued the advice-giving. Faith then said, "I need some tooth pulling music" and Joel cranked up Linkin Park's "What I've done" and she pulled her tooth out! Bravest girl ever!! First tooth lost and she cracked me up to boot. :>)

You've got to admire that girl!

Side note: As Mommy - there's a part of me knowing that this is another milestone for my baby's growing up -- she's officially losing those baby teeth. Wow. (sigh.) A little sad. Still, very proud of her and amazed.

[Missing tooth: bottom middle on the left]

Praise God, I made it home!

Well, yesterday I left our hotel in New York City at 2 A.M. Oregon time, stopped in Salem for lunch and to hug Isaac, Mom, & Dad, then I headed home. After dropping off the rental car, picking up dinner with Joel, Faith, and Elijah and then stopping at Hollywood Video for rentals -- it was nearly 7 P.M. Oregon time. Holy smokes it was a long day! (This is the day that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends. . .)

Sooo glad to be home! I was in bed by 9, slept in and napped today. I'm still tuckered out! But oh what an adventure :>)

Last night in NYC

Well, it's official: I'm exhausted! Pleasantly so, as I sit here in my hotel room in my sweats & tank top, eating part of a brownie, drinking milk, and watching "Bridget Jones' Diary." Ahh. . .


















Today's activities? I attended class this morning and learned a few things ;>) Things like converting currency, translating categories to foreign languages, and enabling cube users to over-write data weren't particularly useful topics, but I did get some ideas for things we could do and that helps me get excited with this new job :>)

But, confession: I skipped out of class early (lunch-time) and then headed out to Central Park to see Belvedere's castle. . . It was beautiful, smaller than expected, and had outstanding views of the park. Admittedly, I continue to be surprised at how much smaller things are than in the movies :>) Guess the camera adds 10 pounds. I loved the carved rock steps and the variety of playgrounds and . . . getting a small sense of home :>) Alas, it's winter and there's no leaves on the trees; the bulbs are starting to peek up giving me a hint of the beauty in the spring. I think it would be great to visit in various seasons.

Also, minor miracle: I successfully navigated New York on my own (stadium cheers). Nancy went out with her daughter and so I figured out the appropriate subway to travel back and forth to the park. Very cool :>)

Then, while missing my children, I went out and spoiled them by buying a bunch of souveniers. Places of interest? Build-a-Bear, a HUUUUGGGGE Toys-R-Us store (it was 3 stories, had a ferris wheel, and a big tyranosaurus!), Hard Rock Cafe, and a local health food store. I love the freedom of going wherever I want whenever I want ;>) I also get a sense of satisfaction at having grown familiar with this neighborhood (to my surprise I discovered that the Empire State Building is literally behind our building and across the street).

For those of you familiar with Manhattan: We're staying at the Comfort Inn near Herald Square off 35th (near 6th and Broadway).

Anyhoo, I fly out tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning; meaning that I need to be at the airport by 5:40 AM (God help us!) and then I'll drive home from Seattle so as to avoid the inevitable layovers and delays. . . I'm ready to hug my kids, kiss my husband, and sleep in my bed! Have I mentioned that already?

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." So true!

P.S. My feet feel bruised.

P.P.S. I packed an extra duffel bag in my suitcase and it is now full! :>)

NYC: Thursday night

Hi!

I've decided that I could be a New Yorker. . . maybe ;>) I love the people watching and that there's constantly something. I like wondering about everyone's story and hearing so many accents. I like being able to walk everywhere and see something new everywhere! On the flip side, I miss the trees and greenery of Oregon (sigh).

Impressions today? We went to Time Square and it's all the bright flickering lights and more than I expected. . . very cool! Rockerfeller Center, on the other hand, felt more cliche and smaller than expected. . . until I read the plaque at the front with a long statement on "I believe. . . " -- it was very touching and renewed my spirit :>)

Then we made it down to lower Manhattan for dinner where there was some sort of contest/party going on at a park and they had what looked like a skateboard ramp covered in snow and TONS of people and lights. . . We never quite figured out what was going on there. Hmm. . . And we had dinner at a local pub -- I LOVE the people! I've found that all the waiters, doormen, and housekeeping seem genuinely surprised when I look them in the eye and smile. I like to pick up conversations with them and ask them what they'd recommend. Very cool.

Other good memory: The parking garage guy down the street. He's an old man in a black stocking cap who reminds me of Joe Pesci. He holds a sign for parking and stops people on the sidewalk when there are cars trying to enter the garage's driveway. . . We started off making eye contact each day (since I pass him each time I head back & forth from the hotel), then a nod, then a smile, and now I'm up to a smile & a wave. It's very cute and I enjoy our daily interactions. . . Is that silly? Ahh well, it's good all the same.

By today, I'm just too tuckered to write too much. . . Tonight is my last night here and so I think I should try to get some rest so I'm ready to go. I'm hoping to hit Central Park tomorrow. . . wowee!

P.S. The Gothic-looking building is the New York Archdiocese's Cathedral. It's beautiful! Bummer deal is that the bottom half of the building is under construction. . . not quite the same. Still, gorgeous architecture in the midst of the sky scrapers. . . Lots of art to be seen in my surroundings.

P.P.S. I miss my kids, my bed, and the hugs from my husband . . . Oh, and a good night's sleep! (Have I mentioned that already?) :>)

Feeling guilty. . . Mind is full. . .

We're learning a bunch, but I think I'm at that point where I can no longer consolidate the information. Know what I mean? All graspable concepts . . . just. . . too. . . tired. . . to . . . think. . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................................

MDX learning

I'm learning a lot in today's MDX section of class. . . It's the "Ah-ha" moment in realizing that it's just another query language similar to SQL and SAS but it's a way to query (and create calculations) aggregated data in a OLAP cube. Hmm. . .

In SAS terms it's reminding me of the Proc Tabulate command (cross-tab) and it runs quickly because the math has already been done within the cube measures. Granted, we can also use MDX to create more advanced calculated measures. Hmmm. . .

Very interesting. . .

NYC: Day 4

Wow. . . each day it feels like there is a lot to reflect on; like how Manhattan is this big, tall city but it also feels small -- everything is less than 5 miles from each other. . . And subways drop people off just 7 blocks away! I've been getting the hang of things and have been fairly proficient at navigating around town; I occassionally get turned around but I've been doing pretty well :>) Nancy & I even successfully navigated our way around town on the subway! (YEAH for us!) Did we mention the crazy people on the subway (see picture)? ;>) Also, there's the funny issue that the subway seems to be one of the quietest places in New York. Too funny!



Class continues to be "interesting" . . . More on that later. . . Okay, teaser for now: We were forewarned that the class moves really quickly and there's a lot to learn; however, we have a different instructor who regularly falls further & further behind in the slides because he's going down tangents. It's the difficult situation of trying to pay really good attention but having to follow someone who starts giving an example down one path & then discovers that won't work and makes the statement that we should probably get back to the coursework. I'm trying to keep an open-mind, but "wow." Then there's the fact that more than half the class arrives between 30 minutes and 2 hours late. . . regularly. Hmm. . .

Anyhow, we enjoyed the rest of the evening (we TRULY need to get out during daylight one of these days! We asked our instructor about getting out early on Friday and he'd been hopeful but at the rate he's going. . . Today we ended up staying late. grrr. . . ). . . ANYHOW, we went to Ash Wednesday mass at St. Francis Assissi -- we were trying to make it to St. Patrick's Cathedral but were running late and ended up just finding a church on the walk along the way. I really had the sense of the world-wide church there. The diversity of cultures, looks, and people in New York is amazing! I'm not noticing any predominant ethnicities here!



After mass we headed toward the subway and down to Ground Zero. . . We ended up stopping at St. Paul's Episcopal church right across the street from the WTC. The church is where George Washington had attended and there's many more historical notes of interest, but most impressive is that it was the refuge after 9/11. It was miraculously un-touched when the buildings around it were damaged -- it was also where many signs for missing people & messages were posted. Most importantly, it was a main base for the many volunteers those first several months. . . with people generously giving all they could. A sign there had said that they served about 3,000 meals a day there to volunteers and they had chiropractors, pedometrists, and massage therapists there to help the volunteers who were bunking there between their shifts of searching through the debris.


I was touched and teary. . . A small voice inside me heard that scripture passage about Moses, "Take off your shoes for the ground you stand is holy. . ." Know what I mean? Wow. I definitely think that is a place I will want to go on my future visits to New York (have I mentioned that I think I will need to visit often?). In contrast, the actual Ground Zero site was mostly fenced off with high fences we couldn't see past. And then there was the surprise that the subway is back in service there! Wow. (How many times can I say "wow"? but truly, there's no better word for my experiences.)

















So, that's a little bit of my day today. . . Each day after I post I think of so many more things to say, but . . . I guess some of it gets to wait to tell you in person ;>)

Quick observations

Three out of the eleven of us in class are female. . . Odd?

Ooh! And one more think I left out from yesterday: Even during the Broadway show I felt the periodic rumblings of the subway running underneath us - Wow!

Happy Ash Wednesday!

I'm just off to class but I wanted to say: Happy Ash Wednesday today! :>)

New York, New York. . . Day 3

Hi!

It's LATE Tuesday night (almost Wednesday morning here in New York) and I'm sitting here happily reflecting on a good day and good friends. :>) I've been attaching a few pictures here and there but there's so much about New York that can't be captured in pictures:

SOUND - - tons of sound all over the place; right now I can hear the sounds of the people across the hall from us being pretty noisy. Sounds like they've got some sort of accent. . . There ya go, that's something new: All those times you call tech support and assume it's been sent off to some foreign country - it may be someone here in New York! Everywhere we go there are people with thick accents and talking in foreign languages. Wow! Even the majority of our class has an accent (FYI: We're in NEw York for SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 training)! Then there's the sounds of the cars honking, the ambulances driving by, and the on-going construction work. . . just to name a few sounds.

SMELL -- Wow! Every couple of feet there is a new smell - no joke! Between B.O., sewage, hot dogs, some mysterious good smell, and restraunts that make you want to head in -- there are TONS of smells! This has been a surprise!

Then there's the rest of it:

Truthfully, we're not sure if our teacher knows what he's talking about. Is that awful? When we ask him a question (i.e. what do you think of Unified Dimmensional Models?), he says that it's some ambiguous up in the clouds kind of thought and not really important anyway. In contrast, the class textbook says that this is a major change in the 2005 software and is hugely important. Hmm. . . I'm trying not to pass judgement, but hmmm. . . It's made me continue to appreciate all that our co-workers taught us ahead of time!

Anyhow, we spent the evening walk around Upper Manhattan and even saw the beautiful brownstones. It's really amazing to see the architecture and the history of New York. . . Every building is different, every building seems to tell a story, and it changes step by step. Wow.

Ooh! And we had dinner at Alice's Tea Cup place. . . the famous Alice in Wonderland shop where they serve you tea and the atmosphere is very cool!

Finally, highlight of the evening was that Nancy's daughter, Becca, got us tickets to a hot Broadway show "Sunday in the Park with George" . . . Awesome show that was big in London and is touring in New York. The music and acting was amazing and I was touched by it (even got teary!). The music was WONDERFUL and they did this really creative scenery where they projected the art work and scenes onto the stage like magic. It was truly amazing!

I, of course, made friends with the person sitting next to me and found out that he's spent the last 17 years in London (this is his first year in New York) and he saw the play twice in London and now in New York (he's a big fan of the two leads who have traveled with the show). Anyhow, information about the play can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundays_in_the_Park_with_George and is based on Georges Seurat's painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grade Jette -- an impressionist painting where the artist created colors with a colored dots painted closely together to give the illusion of another color (e.g. reds and blues create violet). The story is touching as it examines the life of an artist; missing life as he was absorbed in his art and the humorous/touching portrayal of the woman who loved him. It then moves forward to his ancenstor who is also an artist and who gets a more hopeful message when he too is under the pressure of producing art. I can't put into words an adequate description that would do it justice. Suffice to say that I really enjoyed myself!

Anyhow, it's late right now (Wednesday morning now) and so I'll have to post the picts tomorrow. Thank you for the special messages from my good friends. . . it makes me feel cared for and loved. . . and a bit homesick, but in a good way ;>)

More tomorrow!

NYC: Day two

Wowee! We had another very cool day, here's some highlights:

* It snowed this morning! Nothing stuck but it was still pretty cool to see.

* Attended the first day of class today and Nancy & I were surprised to feel competent! It helps that the other two members of our team helped coach us ahead of time. Very cool!

* Class got out late (bummer! Baaaddd teacher!) but we still made the best of it: Checking out Macy's department store (Wow! Window displays and what appear to be antique escalators and elavators.) Both Nancy & I felt pretty claustrophobic in the elevators -- seems that New Yorkers are fine with pushing elevators to maximum capacity; there were a few floors where I thought, "surely they'll see that the elevator is full when the doors open and they'll wait for the next one" but No, they just crammed in a little tighter. Wow. . . . In fact, we had a "New York" moment: A man in the back of the elevator wanted off & the kid in front of him hadn't moved, he proceeded to push and made a comment about how the kid was fat & stupid. Everyone else commented on how he was rude and the lady next to us said, "I sure hope we don't have anyone from out of town here" to which I raised my hand & said we were. She busted up laughing. . . Ahh, quite the experience!

* From Macy's we headed down the road and ended up at the Empire State Building. Wowee! It had never occurred to me that the entire downstairs is shops (we ate at the Sbarro's on the ground floor) and that the building is a tenant building (businesses and residents). Wow! Alas, I am a chicken and afraid of heights and so I didn't take the elevator up to the observation deck. Baaadddd Lizabeth! But it was still a cool experience to see a national landmark :>)

* Finally, we ended up at the Manhattan Mall -- a big building with the bottom 4 floors being the mall . . . a mall like the rest of us know: Bath & Body Shop, KB toys, Pretzel stand, etc. etc. but they also have a few stores we don't! We went to Steve & Barry's - a AWESOME store with Sarah Jessica Parker's clothing & jewelry line. My friends, Rhonda & Barb recommended it and I was very appreciative -- awesome deals (e.g. jeans & coats for $9.98 and t-shirts for $3 to $8!) and a lot of t-shirts that made us laugh. Very cool.

Anyhow, it's the end of a long day -- we both feel like we woke up at 4 AM despite the fact that the alarm clock here said 7 AM . . . too early! But it was all good :>)

Tomorrow we have plans for class and then to catch a show. . . Should be lots of fun!

Woo-hoo! New York, New York!

NYC: First night on the town

Hey!

We made it and met up with Nancy's daughter Becca who was kind enough to teach us some of the rules of New York. For example, we shouldn't ride in the first or last cars of the subway because that's the furthest from the conductor and most likely to have bad stuff going on. We were also advised to act like we know where we're going and to avoid smiling at strangers -- uh-oh! I'm in trouble!

Anyhow, we braved the subway and headed south and had dinner at Harbor Lights - a beautiful restaurant looking across the river towards Brooklyn. With all the lights lining the bridges and the lights of the city, I was really reminded of Christmas :>)

I'm still disoriented as to which direction is North and which is South, but the adventure has officially begun! As for now, time to chill out (10 hours of travel!) and watch "Meet the Fockers" with Nancy and Becca --- see, now THAT feels like home! ;>)

Here's a couple picts:

We made it!!!

My co-worker, Nancy, and I have made it to New York City! I have taken my first ride in a yellow taxi cab and I'm still kinda in shock that I'm here. . . . Oh, small town girl in the big city!

One quick observation before we head out: Riding in the taxi cab was kinda scary but also fascinating. . . It's like a choreographed number: The cars dart in and out between each other like they're dancing. Wow!

Just gotta share my goofy dogs!

Here's our two cute/funny dogs:

Kali - (Alaskan Malamute) was born the day before Thanksgiving 2006. She LOVES squeaker toys and is very playful. She's also energized by the snow and cold. We think she's a big goof! This week during the snow she would dig in the snow with her nose and toss some in the air and bite it. Too cute!

Oliver - (Jack Russell Terrier) was adopted from a Craig's list posting from a family who got him two months earlier from the Humane Society. We're guessing he's about 21 months old right now. He's a total spaz who likes to roll balls around the house and chase them. His favorite? Bones to chew on! Right now he looks hilarious in his "pimpin'" black down jacket to keep him warm in the cold . . . without it he shivers pathetically out in the cold.

These two are a kick! "The Odd Couple" -- they like to sleep in the same crate, wrestle, play, and sleep on each other. Oliver has been small enough to sneak out of the yard a few times, and then Kali just howls & howls until he comes back. And, Oliver (God love him), stays right next to the house even when he gets out because he doesn't want to wander too far from family.

Just had to share these dogs with you!

P.S. 3 AM

There's a song by Anna Nalick called "Breathe (2 A.M.)" and some of the lyrics are:

2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, its no longer
inside of me, threatening the life they belong to

I totally get that.

3 AM reflections of September 11th

Here it is 3:13 AM Feb. 2, 2008 – I’m scheduled to leave for New York in roughly 26 hours. Wow.

What do I want to see while I’m there? What’s important for me to see? Admittedly, I want to see some “signs” of the New York I see in movies and shows – where I can recognize landmarks and say “THIS is New York!” You know Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Time Square kinda stuff.

Then there’s the one important place: Ground Zero. Why do I want to go there? Morbid curiosity? Historical landmark? No. It’s much more the sense of needing to say good-bye, to have some closure, to show respect for those who died. It’s the same urge and need that I have when I go to Hillsboro and need to stop at the cemetery to talk to Grandma. I owe it to her and I don’t stop my life often enough to appreciate it. Going to the cemetery forces me to slow down and reflect.

Where was I on September 11, 2001? My memories are of waking up to the clock radio announcing some news of a plane crash and something about the Pentagon. It didn’t sink in. Instead I flipped off the alarm clock and did what I always do, say a quick prayer (“God please be with those people, their families, and those trying to help them.”) and then I got up to get the kids ready for childcare and school and me ready for work. Elijah, age 4, was headed to Mrs. Franke’s for childcare; Isaac, age 5, was headed to St. Mary’s school for kindergarten. Me? I was headed to work at the State and Joel was getting ready for school at Chemeketa Community College.

After getting everyone dropped off, I started driving into work and flipped on the radio. Stunned . . . shocked . . . confused. At work, I headed to my cubicle and everyone was milling around in shock. Juli, my co-worker, and I kept reading websites and telling each other what the latest news was. . . Everyone periodically headed over to our administrator’s office to catch the news on the TV in there – replays over & over again of what happened. I remember feeling so confused and wondering if there was some kind of mistake.

We all felt so helpless. Shaken. It shattered our world. We all know how it is where you assign a guardian for the kids in case of a “if anything ever happens to me” but you know it’s a long shot and so you don’t think much about it. Kinda like my upcoming flight to New York – what if something happens? But, I tell myself that statistically, I’m perfectly safe – the chances are slim. September 11^th something happened. God bless those families. I felt shaken . . . what did this mean? Knowing this means war – glad Joel was no longer Active duty, afraid because he was still reserve, knowing he wanted to go fight, afraid to be left with just me and the kids again.

I felt grief and wondered why because I likely didn’t know anyone who died, or did I? Then there is the mixture of fear that someone I know or someone close to me would be impacted – even a cousin’s death or my sister’s brother-in-law’s death would impact us all. And, again, the guilt that I felt some relief that it wasn’t affecting me and the people I know weren’t hurt. (Granted, the whole year following I recognize that I was on pins and needles wondering if the alumni newsletter would announce someone from my class had died or that at a family reunion I’d hear that someone close to me had been hurt . . . and then there was the anxiety that maybe it wasn’t over and we’d be hit again.)

At work that day, several of us headed to the noon mass, held hands, and cried. We grieved . . . We grieved for people we had never met. Then, I headed home and got my kids and held them. Torn between wanting to watch all the news: Hoping for a miracle (“thousands of people found sheltered in a tunnel”), afraid there was more to come, and wanting answers. Torn because we knew the kids shouldn’t be watching it and knowing that they knew something was going on and I didn’t quite know what to tell them (“some mean people crashed some planes and killed a lot of people and so we need to pray for those families”). Feeling helpless . . . willingly giving our money to any charity that asked or any jar at the grocery store or anything. . . Feeling helpless.

Admittedly, I also felt guilt because one of my very first thoughts at work that day had been “who has to track all those fatalities and set up those cases?” As a Occupational Fatalities Analyst, I was used to my ears perking up to words like “fatal” or “killed” because I would need to set up cases to investigate . . . I understand logically why I thought that, but, I still feel guilty.

Why do I want to visit Ground Zero? To acknowledge that this is all real. . . To touch the grave of all those people and say “I’m sorry” and “thank you” . . . I believe that everyone has a purpose and is put here for a reason; was their reason to shake me up – shake us all up, force us to quit taking life and each other for granted. We now live in a world where we know to say “I love you” and give each other hugs each morning because it may be our last or their last. . . . What more did September 11^th teach us? For me, I think I’ll be reflecting on that for years to come.

So, why do I need to go to Ground Zero? Because I need to. Know what I mean?

And, is it bad that the flip side of this reflection is the excitement to see “the City”? I think the true New Yorkers would appreciate that. Goodnight!