His Own Ensemble

Aubrey

I found this in my journal from February:

I had one of those sentimental deja vu moments this morning. I was out in the parking lot with the kids, and looked over at Aubrey. She had these tight little blonde braids trailing down her back; she wore Dane's old jeans for painting day at school; Dane's red Superfriends backpack hung loosely off her shoulders. The sun caught her blonde bright youthful shininess just as this delicate wind breezed by with that unmistakeable fresh scent of new Spring after a few weeks of rain. It was the onset of the school career: it was tininess, independence, life expanding beyond the easy reaches of a mother.

Scrabble, Anyone?
Hey to my fellow word nerds. My friend Kelly (Jason and Jordan West's sister) introduced me to online Scrabble at The Pixie Pit. For $10 per year you can play to your heart's content with anyone else signed up, whether it's one-on-one or in groups--and you can have multiple games going at once. You get up to seven days to make a play, so it's not demanding or time-consuming. You can also try it for free the first time. Email me if you're in!

(Don't worry. This isn't a pyramid scheme. It's for the love of the game!)

Tennis in Mill Valley

If the courts are dry we're starting to head to Boyle Park on Saturday mornings for $5 tennis lessons. Coach Spenser's got a cart full of balls and rackets for any kid who shows up, usually about ages 5-7. He's a patient, gentle kind of guy who calls every kid by name and gets them to wait happily in line until their turn to meet him at the net. There, he tosses them each a few balls (with speeds and bounce according to their abilities), coaches them in stance and swing, and sends them back in line proud of their accomplishments.

Last Saturday a player in an adjacent court yelled out "Spenser's Dungeon!" and raised his racket. Coach Spenser told the kids that the guy was a former student who now plays college tennis. Later in the session, we learned about Spenser's Dungeon when he had the kids play Simon Says: he had them walk-race to different parts of the court (service line, doubles sideline, singles sideline, alley) as he called them out, and the last kid to the line or area at each turn would have to go stand at his side, "Spenser's Dungeon," and finish the game from there. Dane and Aubrey were the first ones out (it was Dane's second lesson, Aubrey's first) but "Spenser's Dungeon" isn't threatening. In fact, I think the kids like standing by him.

When the lesson's over, after about 45 minutes, all the kids line up at a kiosk outside the tennis court with five bucks in hand to pay Spenser and get a popsicle of their chosen color from him.

Pix above of Dane playing. Spenser's the guy in gray. No pix of Aubs playing yet, but will add some after her next session.

Bound for North Beach: Dana and Anj
After a day of looking for the quaint little Hello Kitty shop we'd envisioned for the girls (we were only working from an address), we found it in downtown San Francisco at a gigantic humongous supersize MALL. We walked to North Beach's Little Italy in search of food after that shopping trip, and got to ride the bus during rush hour, which was perhaps the real SF experience. (December)

COUSINS



*At Alta Vista Park in SF in December






*At Fort Baker, looking at Golden Gate Bridge

Barking Dog

CATCH-UP. That's the theme for this entry. It's what we're trying to do with Mick while he's at home, it's what Mick is trying to do with his days off (with me, kids, sleep, woot.com, espresso machine, sleep, woot.com, espresso machine, and so on), it's what I'm trying to do for myself with a little spare time, and it's what gets to happen on this blogsite. With a little luck, it'll all pan out as planned...

We've been overwhelmed the last three weeks (and then some) with Mick preparing for finals, taking finals, and then recovering from finals (Spring Break). We can officially tell you now though that Mick has completed his third quarter, which, as I've mentioned before, is supposed to be the hardest. We hope it was the hardest, because it was HARD! Hard, we tell you! Mick kept his same crazy study hours, spent more evenings in the lab, took more (and tougher) tests, and all the while felt like the information, assignments and due dates just kept coming at him. At times, in fact, additional assignments were unexpectedly piled on when he thought he couldn't handle another thing; at others, extra credit assignments were made mandatory. (That one was a real bummer: Mick had completed one extra credit report in the wee hours and on time, only to have the professor change his mind later that week and give the other students a few more days to turn it in as a requirement. Rough break.) He's got his final grades, though, and all lights are green, so we're mostly relieved and happy.

With Mick gone so much, the responsibilities at home rested heavier on my shoulders. For the most part, I stood up to this well, but feel that I've earned myself a few mental health days to cash in on soon. (Like today, for instance. I've got the whole Sunday to myself while Mick and his dad take the kids to SF to ride the trolleys and visit the pier. I'm so glad...) I feel the challenge of mothering solo most when I think about how in seven days the kids typically have only about 6 hours of classes between them when I'm not needed. Thank goodness my two book clubs and my new writing club with Dawn Yun have worked out--I can take the kids to one book club (the Mormons of course!), and then Mick's either been able to accommodate me and watch the kids, or my friends Shari or Natalie have been available here at the apartments (fellow dental student wives). Other than that, I arrange play times with their friends or get some creative projects going; perhaps some of those'll make the blog--they're part of the catch-up plan anyway.

Mick's parents arrived on Tuesday. Mike's going home tonight and Jan's here for another ten days, which means she'll be here to relieve me a bit this next week. I always love it when she visits--not just for the help, but because she's good company and the kids are crazy about her.

This is probably enough catch-up and talk about catch-up for now. More soon!

Adventures with Sue

We met Sue through our friend Jason Hickman when he was visiting last Fall before heading off to Iraq. (Hi Jason) They've been friends since they lived in Boulder, but Sue now lives 5 minutes away in Mill Valley, so it's been great to have a new friend for me to pal around with while Mick's in school.

Here are some more photos from the Half Moon Bay Mavericks Competition we went to back in February (mentioned in a February blog entry)--including shots from our spot on the bluff.

Sue was between jobs that month so she also joined us for lunch at Pacific with Mick on Valentine's Day. The kids and I packed Mick a special lunch, including frosted heart sugar cookies on sticks, and he gave them the book Olive My Love, companion to a Christmas favorite Olive the Other Reindeer. We wouldn't see Mick home at a reasonable hour that night; he was staying late in the lab again to meet another demanding set of deadlines that week.

After lunch and a $40 parking ticket--have to read those SF signs closely; it might look like 2-hour parking weekdays, but not if it also says except for Tuesdays when it's off-limits due to street cleaning--Sue and I took Dane and Aubrey to a windy, cold afternoon at the San Francisco Zoo. There, it was so cold and windy that the zoo was nearly empty of visitors, Sue had to buy a (much-admired) Zoo windbreaker, and the shutters of the antique carousel shelter banged and rattled. Dane and Aubrey got some bang for their buck that day, though. They'd been sent some money by Grammy--or was it Mimi?--so they each had $5. They spent $3 on the zoo train ride and $2 on the carousel, which they got to ride twice as its only patrons. They also got up close with the lions and tigers and penguins, and fell asleep hard on the way home with chocolate hearts melted in their hands.

Note: new "Over-the-Hump" blog entry shows up below in Feb section

Aubrey's Birthday Dinner at The Outback Steakhouse
(mentioned previously in "4th Birthday Party" Blog)

January/February Beach Days

When it's not raining, it seems to be pleasant enough to spend three or four solid hours at the beach in swimsuits (or underwear, Dane). Note: Although it's warm, it is chilly enough that I draw the line when I hear "Mom, can we practice swimming with you?"

Aubrey and Dane and I head down to our little Sausalito Beach on weekend days when we want to be near Mick should he want to take a break from studying all day at the kitchen table, but far enough away to allow him to keep focus without too much play or work in the house.

Last weekend, the 12th, we met 80-year-old Dorothy when we asked if she wanted help putting her rowboat in the water. It was really heavy, so she was happy for the assistance. (With her tucked-in flannel shirt, high pants, rubber boots, canvas hat and weathered skin, I was really careful not to assume she needed assistance--she looked like she'd been taking care of herself just fine for years.)

Her boat was beautiful. She'd just painted it all-white herself, inside and out, and the square end (oh, brother--the front or the back, the bow or the stern, I quite frankly, just don't know) had "Dorothy's Boat" etched out in it and was painted light blue. We could tell she was proud of her work as she carefully cleaned and shook off her boots before getting in. She asked if the kids wanted to go out but there weren't any life jackets, so I said we'd better not. When she came back a couple hours later, we ran down to help her again. (That part was really heavy.) She said then that she was going to try to put in some life vests from now on, and that if we were down there again on a sunny day, she'd be happy to take us out.

We also met Amanda and Teddy, two pre-teens that Dane and Aubrey couldn't quit talking about, even though their play with them had been limited. The big deal, though, is that Amanda and Teddy helped them recover all their dinosaurs from under the sand, and then played beach ball dodge ball with Dane for a half hour (it was hysterical to watch Dane in his chase-flee giddiness).

Photos: January beach time. Toys that day: construction workers and vehicles. Object of interest: dead seal floating by.

Water Tower Hike

Less than a mile up the hill from our apartment is a series of dirt trails for hiking and biking that is part of the Marin Headlands. Evidently, the trails cover 13 miles of hilly terrain toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We haven't attempted that on foot yet--although I've run it a bit, and Mick has biked there solo and with Dane. When the kids and I go up, our big accomplishment is taking in the panormaic view of the bay and Sausalito harbor with all its sailboats, followed by a hike to the water tower and exploring all the little gulches and fields near it.

Here are some pictures of Dane and Aubrey exploring. There are also some that Dane and Aubrey took with the digital camera (yellow plant--should look that up; is it just scotchbroom?) and a pic one of them took of me (that doesn't have the shadow of a finger in it). They really love taking pictures these days; I've got to make a point of letting them do it more to see what they come up with.

The hike is popular with dog businesses. On any given day (many) vans full of dogs arrive to cut loose off trail. The first time we saw them, we were down in a gulch and looked up to see about ten dogs and a caregiver combing the hillside above us. They looked like sheep with a shepherd. We quickly chuffed up out of the gulch to check them out. Now, typically when we're up there, the kids get to play with some of these well-groomed canines, somewhat trepidatiously, and watch them sniff, roll, run and wrestle.

Over-the Hump Party
February 3, 2006

Mick with Akhil, who sits at Mick's pod in the Sim Lab. Akhil has two second-year roommates, Arvin and My (pronounced "my"), who've been really helpful to Mick in the Sim Lab. They're also pretty fun. I like the foot-high Yoda puppet they found in the road and propped up at Mick's station.

Rob and Josh (two first-years), with Tori (Rob's fiance visiting from Arizona).

Sepi and Sean (from Israel, I think). They've been through medical school together and decided to go through dental school together as well. Sepi's 32 and Sean's 38; they have an 8-year-old son and an infant. (Sepi gave birth first quarter.) Sepi's parents live with them and take care of the children during the day and during study sessions.

Mick and me with Megan and Jay. Megan's doing a residency in Pedo (children's dentistry) at UCSF while Jay's a first year at Pacific with Mick. Mick likes to study with Jay.

Yeah, I look a little crazed, but I'm actually just pointing out Akhil's snazzy little ascot.

Over-the-Hump is a party put on by second-year students marking the 18-month halfway point of dental school at Pacific. This year it was held at Bimbos 365, a gorgeous old renovated ballroom-style building in downtown San Francisco with rich red velvety curtained walls, glass chandeliers, and mirrored lounges in the back. The dress was semi-formal (didn't really catch that from Mick until we got there!), complete with catering and entertainment and dancing.

The entertainment was the highlight of the night. The second year students held an awards ceremony the class had voted on. Sample awards were: "Student Most Likely to Be Mistaken for a Mormon" (the winner of this award gave a brief speech, joking "Wow, this is a dream come true..."); "Student Most Likely to Fall Asleep in Class," (accompanied by a hilarious slide show of students asleep in class. One student in particular dominated the series--Robert Cho, I think--, and someone had managed to include in the slide show (a) an interview with Robert earnestly declaring his love for Pacific and classes and how interesting the subjects are, and (b) a video where he's sitting at a table with a bunch of students eating lunch and slowly falling asleep, eventually just plopping his head down on the table. The students went wild when he won the award); and "Student Most Likely to be Using Someone Else's Equipment."

In addition to the awards ceremony, second year students showed off some talent in dancing and singing, crescendoing to a perfect 5 guy boyband kind of dance routine to "You Got the Right Stuff, Baby." I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

Mick and I stayed out until midnight (WOW) while our kids had a great time spending the night at Vincent and Amelie's.

Aubrey's 4th Birthday Party

I'm not sure how this will format, since Mick just quickly moved these pictures to this post for me last night, but I'll go for it anyway.

Aubrey had a wonderful couple of days celebrating her birthday--in new party dresses (the pink ones from Auntie Dana)! On Saturday night, the 4th, Dane and Aubrey came out of their room dressed up to go out and celebrate at dinner. (They chose their own clothes, and, well, pretty much decided we needed to go out for the occasion in the first place.) Before we headed across the street to The Outback Steakhouse (convenient, affordable when we share meals, and loud), we all took turns using the tripod and taking family pix dressed up. Dane looked very serious in his shirt and (short) tie, concentrating fiercely on setting up the tripod--Mick and I felt like we were with a real pro. Dinner at The Outback was really fun too; we got the chance to celebrate Aubsie's birthday in style (take the "style" part there with a grain of salt) and we all loved getting Mick's undivided attention for a couple hours after another brutally demanding week at school (and another one to come). And, yes, we all enjoyed sharing Aubrey's free ice cream sundae.

For the party the next day, Aubrey and Dane and I colored about 20 butterflies to tape to the door and above the streamers. The butterfly ice cream M&M cake was a joint effort by Mick and me (Mick did the ice cream, of course). When the kids came at 3, they made party headbands with more butterflies they all colored. (Note: Dane and his friend Vincent made feathers for "Indian headbands" instead.) Aubrey loved playing with her new Polly Pockets (Cinderella, Ariel, Belle), princess dress, jewelry, and big rubber Hello Kitty ball.

Who attended? The Javadi girls (pictured with Aubrey) and their parents, Annie and Cyrus; Whitney (blondie pictured with Aubrey) with her Mom Natalie and infant brother Cole (this was Whitney's first big birthday party to attend and she was ecstatic); the kids' "new best friends" Vincent, 5, and Amelie, 3; and little Brighten and his dad Richard, a second year dental student (my good friend Shari was recovering from a week in the hospital with pnemonia, 7 months pregnant). The Schultz gang (my friend Margaret and her family, including Wilton, Dane's great friend, were gone to Bear Valley for the weekend, so they helped us celebrate earlier that week.)

Our film card ran out mid-party, so some pix haven't gotten to us from Richard's camera. Perhaps we'll post more soon, but these pix give the general gist.

-Anjie

The Best & Worst Cities for Men

Here's an article I swiped from HealthMSN.com touting the benefits of living in this fair city. Sure, it's only about Men (hmmm...) and, sure, Mick's one of the diabetics that lowers the diabetic ranking, but it's still nice to be here... (It also makes me really want to find "Hopper's Hands" so I can give it my own smack.)

---

The place where men thrive, and where health takes a dive

by Matthew Link, Men's Health; Photograph by Grant Delin

Just what, exactly, were the city fathers thinking when they played papa to your town? Nice plot of land. Fertile. Defensible. Wet (for fish and ships). "Here," they said, "we can build a future." Then they rolled up their sleeves for the original American workout: making something.

We've come a long way since. But that doesn't mean we've taken a step forward. Now, men can be as large and lazy as they want and still see many winters—but fewer than they might. Certain cities have more than their share of these men dying of heart disease, diabetes and all manner of cancers. Yet other towns pulse with that wild energy of yore, which keeps their male denizens slim, strong and motivated.

Our fifth annual survey of the 100 healthiest (and unhealthiest) cities for men throws several thousand chunks of data into a statistical melting pot to figure out why some towns thrive and others fail. The best part: No matter where you live, you'll find enough strategies in these pages to view your hometown just as its city fathers did centuries ago: as a precinct brimming with possibilities, where a motivated man can enjoy every last day of a long life.

Healthiest City in America 2005 — San Francisco, CA

Under the rust-colored arc of the Golden Gate Bridge, in the perfect California sunlight, runner after runner comes up to the base of the monument and engages in an odd ritual: Each person high-fives impressions of hands cast in a copper plaque. According to the inscription, these are "Hopper's Hands," and the chain-link fence from which they hang is the turnaround on the long path from downtown.

So why the tribute? As the story goes, a longtime bridge iron worker named Hopper (who is credited with talking down as many as 30 suicidal people from the rails of the Golden Gate over the years) would see all those joggers smacking the fence. So he put up something for them to hit.

Only in San Francisco. And only here would you have a constant stream of joggers running several miles round-trip just to smack a fence. Then again, only in San Francisco would you find the 75,500-acre Golden Gate Recreation Area—one of the world's largest national parks in an urban setting. Or a city council that hated smoking so much, it banned it in all outdoor public spaces.

It's no surprise, then, that San Francisco is our Healthiest City of 2005—scoring big-time grades in prostate cancer (fourth), diabetes (ninth), and heart disease (15th). Only Orlando scored better in average body-mass index (BMI). And only San Jose had more people hitting the gym. If you're not fortunate enough to call San Fran (never "Frisco") home, you can still share in its healthiest secrets, such as imbibing red wine (no city sips more) and swearing off sugar (no one eats less).

Mavericks Surf Competition, February 7, 2006 - Half Moon Bay, CA

( We* Were There! )

Above is a diagram of the Mavericks surf area. Mick and I first learned of Mavericks in the big wave surf documentary Riding Giants (great to watch even if you're not a surf buff--we highly recommend it). You can't come away from that film without a tremendous appreciation for the surfers who ride big waves. In the film, there's an entire segment that focuses on Mavericks and the one man, Jeff Clark, who "discovered" Mavericks and rode it solo for 15 years before anyone else joined him.

Here are a few pictures of the contest, which Dane and Aubrey and I went to with my friend Sue while *Mick (so sad) sat in classes all day. The four of us sat perched up on a high cliff where we could see the surfers only as little dots, but being there with ten thousand other people rubbed off some fun and exciting ju ju on us (yes, I'm afraid the kids even got their first whiff of ganja ju ju there as well--fortunately, not enough to impair any of us!).

News report: In one of the above photos, Grant Baker of South Africa celebrates with his trophy after winning the Mavericks surfing competition in Half Moon Bay, California February 7, 2006. Twenty-four surfers competed in the contest with waves between 30-45 feet to win the $30,000 top prize. The competition off California's Half Moon Bay attracts big-wave surfers from around the world, who attempt to catch and successfully ride waves as tall as 35 feet (11 metres) that are propelled by winter swells traveling the Pacific Ocean. Baker won $30,000 for scoring best among 24 surfers.

Note: When I get ahold of Mick's computer (where I can download personal photos), I'll add to this entry a few shots of us at this competition. I'll also publish those birthday party pix...