Boxes assemble size 8 shoes as Arrow flies and Family Lebanon arrives
Another exciting week… Darius is flying to Lebanon where he’ll reunite with his lovely ladies, enjoy a Lebanese lunch, jump on a airplane and fly back to Seattle with Christiane and (4½ month-old) Leandra. It’s a trip designed for a bold..
“… and somewhat fearless young man.” I explained to Nazy. “Perhaps a little naive,” I thought, recalling my flights with very young children. In preparation for this trip, Darius spent a very long time on the phone with Lufthansa to make absolutely certain that he would have a seat that would support a bassinet. Darius and Christiane report that he spent more time negotiating with Lufthansa than young Leandra spent in the bassinet. (On a transatlantic flight!)
It is interesting how one’s perspective changes depending on the situation. When, for example, I moved to Europe, I was responsible for service delivery in a consulting group. I found Sales very annoying: “Why won’t these sales people simply sell what I can deliver?”. Then, after an acquisition and restructuring, I found myself (surprisingly) moved into sales where I found Delivery very annoying. “Why won’t these delivery people simply deliver what I sold?”
Because an economic analysis (our son is an economist) showed that it would be cheaper to buy things in the USA than ship them from Lebanon, Darius has seen lots of locally shipped boxes arrive at his new home. Somehow he put everything together before heading to the airport.
Note to the reader: Just before heading to the airport.
He had lots of boxes. He was prepared: The Martin Family, which celebrated 4 successive Christmases in four different cities (and multiple countries) a while back, understands ‘lots of boxes’. (See my photo at left.)
Nazy and I plan to visit the Darius, Christiane and, of course, the beautiful young Leandra next week. There is a rumor that more boxes with dreaded “some assembly required’ stickers loom. Nazy, for some reason, thinks I can help in the assembly process.
Here in Santa Barbara, Nazy and I are watching Arrow. Tom, Melika and Tiger are in Los Angeles where Mitra will watch Tiger while Tom and Mel watch Hamilton. Personally, I think Tiger would like Hamilton — he already knows many of the songs. (It’s fun listening to a three year old sing rap.) And speaking of three years old..
“Look at this Dan!” Tiger enthused. “My shoe has an ‘8’ on the bottom.”
“That’s because even though you are a 3 year old boy, you have a size 8 foot.” I replied.
“Wow, Dan! Size 8. Is that good?”
“It’s great Tiger! I have a size 8 foot too!”
Tiger looked at my foot and then his foot. “You’re wrong Dan.” He declared. And, there was no ‘8’ on the bottom of my shoe. He was unimpressed with the ‘8’ inside my shoe.
After Hamilton, Tom, Melika and Tiger are going to see the Dodgers play the Chicago Cubs. We are not sure how that will work out. Baseball is somewhat complex for the uninitiated. FWIW: My Mom was not impressed when Dad took her to a Red Sox game. Nazy was equally unimpressed when I took her to an Astros game. The only thing she understood was that we ‘could go home’ after nine innings. But: at the end of nine innings, the score was 0-0. It wasn’t my most popular choice for date night.
Here in Santa Barbara, Arrow is bubbly and happy. He’s feeling…
“… really good, Nazy,” I noted. “Because he gave his cold to me,” I sniffled.
Nazy and I took Arrow to Mission Park where he got a chance to walk on the grass. The surface felt funny on his feet and he responded by trying to hike up his pants to make things smoother.
As the center of attention, Arrow also went duck feeding with Nazy. He was very happy (the loud quacking ducks mostly stayed in the water) — and, Arrow discovered that, while he liked tossing bread into the pond, he also liked eating the bread himself.
He has been happy and joyful on the weekend. Although..
“.. I wish he was a little less jovial and alert at 3:30AM,” I explained to Nazy.
Arrow likes music and, if the easy listening channel on the cable isn’t playing, Arrow finds the remote and hands it to me.
(For some reason, the lad thinks that I understand how to use the remote.) While Arrow was randomly pushing buttons, he discovered a way to manage the external sound system with the same remote that is used for the cable service. We’ll be in singular remote status until the battery dies. (Or until Arrow gets hold of the remote again.)
Arrow likes to have books reads to him. His favorite is ‘Good Night Moon’ - which I have read at least 20 times (today).
As you can tell from the number of photos we have — it was really big weekend for Arrow. We’ve become best buddies.
And good news on the baseball front. The Dodgers won
“… and somewhat fearless young man.” I explained to Nazy. “Perhaps a little naive,” I thought, recalling my flights with very young children. In preparation for this trip, Darius spent a very long time on the phone with Lufthansa to make absolutely certain that he would have a seat that would support a bassinet. Darius and Christiane report that he spent more time negotiating with Lufthansa than young Leandra spent in the bassinet. (On a transatlantic flight!)
It is interesting how one’s perspective changes depending on the situation. When, for example, I moved to Europe, I was responsible for service delivery in a consulting group. I found Sales very annoying: “Why won’t these sales people simply sell what I can deliver?”. Then, after an acquisition and restructuring, I found myself (surprisingly) moved into sales where I found Delivery very annoying. “Why won’t these delivery people simply deliver what I sold?”
Because an economic analysis (our son is an economist) showed that it would be cheaper to buy things in the USA than ship them from Lebanon, Darius has seen lots of locally shipped boxes arrive at his new home. Somehow he put everything together before heading to the airport.
Note to the reader: Just before heading to the airport.
He had lots of boxes. He was prepared: The Martin Family, which celebrated 4 successive Christmases in four different cities (and multiple countries) a while back, understands ‘lots of boxes’. (See my photo at left.)
Nazy and I plan to visit the Darius, Christiane and, of course, the beautiful young Leandra next week. There is a rumor that more boxes with dreaded “some assembly required’ stickers loom. Nazy, for some reason, thinks I can help in the assembly process.
Here in Santa Barbara, Nazy and I are watching Arrow. Tom, Melika and Tiger are in Los Angeles where Mitra will watch Tiger while Tom and Mel watch Hamilton. Personally, I think Tiger would like Hamilton — he already knows many of the songs. (It’s fun listening to a three year old sing rap.) And speaking of three years old..
“Look at this Dan!” Tiger enthused. “My shoe has an ‘8’ on the bottom.”
“That’s because even though you are a 3 year old boy, you have a size 8 foot.” I replied.
“Wow, Dan! Size 8. Is that good?”
“It’s great Tiger! I have a size 8 foot too!”
Tiger looked at my foot and then his foot. “You’re wrong Dan.” He declared. And, there was no ‘8’ on the bottom of my shoe. He was unimpressed with the ‘8’ inside my shoe.
After Hamilton, Tom, Melika and Tiger are going to see the Dodgers play the Chicago Cubs. We are not sure how that will work out. Baseball is somewhat complex for the uninitiated. FWIW: My Mom was not impressed when Dad took her to a Red Sox game. Nazy was equally unimpressed when I took her to an Astros game. The only thing she understood was that we ‘could go home’ after nine innings. But: at the end of nine innings, the score was 0-0. It wasn’t my most popular choice for date night.
Here in Santa Barbara, Arrow is bubbly and happy. He’s feeling…
“… really good, Nazy,” I noted. “Because he gave his cold to me,” I sniffled.
Nazy and I took Arrow to Mission Park where he got a chance to walk on the grass. The surface felt funny on his feet and he responded by trying to hike up his pants to make things smoother.
As the center of attention, Arrow also went duck feeding with Nazy. He was very happy (the loud quacking ducks mostly stayed in the water) — and, Arrow discovered that, while he liked tossing bread into the pond, he also liked eating the bread himself.
He has been happy and joyful on the weekend. Although..
“.. I wish he was a little less jovial and alert at 3:30AM,” I explained to Nazy.
Arrow likes music and, if the easy listening channel on the cable isn’t playing, Arrow finds the remote and hands it to me.
(For some reason, the lad thinks that I understand how to use the remote.) While Arrow was randomly pushing buttons, he discovered a way to manage the external sound system with the same remote that is used for the cable service. We’ll be in singular remote status until the battery dies. (Or until Arrow gets hold of the remote again.)
Arrow likes to have books reads to him. His favorite is ‘Good Night Moon’ - which I have read at least 20 times (today).
As you can tell from the number of photos we have — it was really big weekend for Arrow. We’ve become best buddies.
And good news on the baseball front. The Dodgers won
For last week's letter, please click here
Some photos of Dan and Arrow
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