dec 21 2008

Dear Everyone

The background music is the Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones - - or maybe it’s Creep by Radiohead. Or Roxanne by The Police. The kids just opened their Hanukah present - - and it is Rock Band. The best so far has been Nicola’s soprano version of Joey Ramone. They are playing this a lot right now before their odyssey to Albany tomorrow morning until Friday. They will all fly back Friday, and then we will leave for Cancun next morning. Cindy has been busy packing for two trips as she does every year.

This afternoon we went out to Andy and Gail’s house to see their new kitchen, with built in Miele coffee maker that Andy had great pleasure in demonstrating. We brought ‘roquamole’ an idea I got from listening to Morning Edition on NPR interview Nigella Lawson (an English chef). Roquamole is a mix of blue cheese (Roqueforte, get it) with avocado, jalapenos and green onion. http://www.recipezaar.com/Roquamole-267026 Pretty good! The kitchen reminds me a lot of our redo in Pittsburgh, except that the colors are a shade or two lighter. Cork floors, pale green marble and light brown cabinetry - - that won’t catch your fingers. We watched the beginning of the Steelers’ loss to the Titans - - but at least the Vikings also lost today. If (ha) the Bears can win in the cold tomorrow against Green Bay they will still be in the hunt for the playoffs.

It has snowed at least 5 times since Dec 1 and Cindy is sick of it already. It has also gotten bitter cold (nostril freezing), - - I have had to skip a couple of Aikido days because I was worried I would get stuck, and I have been teasing our Costa Rican and Cuban residents about it. However, I think I need to stop doing this. I was listening to another show on NPR about a researcher who investigates group dynamics. He insinuates an actor into different small groups, and the actor either acts like an obnoxious jerk, an apathetic slacker, or a depressed pessimist. It changes the whole group dynamic - - these groups with bad apples perform only about half as well as normal groups. Actually, if you do an internet search over ‘bad apples’ and ‘groups’ you come up with a good number of articles. We certainly have a number of these at our work place, and I don’t want to be one. You can defuse these situations by listening and acting diplomatically - - not qualities I am especially known for!

Lucas was in a tennis tournament this weekend, and he made it to the second round. Here he was beaten by a kid who has gotten to him before. The tournament was in Bannockburn, and the Holtzman’s were also participants. Cindy saw Debbie on Saturday, but I was sleeping in front of the football game, so I must have missed Gary today. Lucas has also been building a model of an iron atom for school using bolts, screws and nails for subatomic particles. Maybe we will photograph it later. Jasper has been in some swim meets with spotty results. I don’t know what Nicola has been up to, and she certainly doesn’t tell me.

See you next year - - or in Mexico

Love, H.