Every day is a start of something beautiful

I really should blog more often, if only to have a quick record of the things BabyT and I are doing together in these early months. My Caltech friend Laura blogs *every day* about her little guys, and she has *twins*. So if she can find time, I should be able to. Geez.

Plus, it's like talking on the phone (which I hate, incidentally). When you don't talk to someone very often, you struggle for things to say because you're not sure what's important enough to discuss. But if you talk to someone every day, you can talk about the most banal random things and it's fine, because they are "caught up" with your daily life. With those once-every-six-month phone calls you have to try to remember the important big stuff to try and do the catching up.

Incidentally, I hate talking on the phone. I think it started after email became ubiquitous, because I spent HOURS on the phone in high school talking to friends I had just seen all day long. In college I discovered email and it was great. I could think about what I wanted to say, and I've always been better with writing than talking. TJ is the same way, so I guess we're MFEO. (that's "meant for each other" - remember the girl in Sleepless in Seattle?) He likes the fact that email is "asynchronous" which means you can respond when you are ready, unlike with the phone where you are literally on the hook to answer questions and make conversation right then. But I even like IM better than the phone - it must just be that I type better than I talk :)

So anyway, banal random things. Today BabyT and I went over to the big city of Seattle to visit our friend Lisa, and the Baby Bacon who's still on the inside. Lisa is due at the beginning of February so BabyT and I are anxious to meet the little guy. All we know about him now is that he likes hamburgers. (Lisa and I had a couple of lunches where we were both pregnant and craving hamburgers.)

Some background on how we know Lisa. She's married to Dave, who we met in college and might be one of the smartest people I have EVER met. Those final exams where the average score was 6/100 and one person scored over 90 and we were thinking "who the heck did that?". That was Dave. He's now a research professor studying quantum computing. Basically, he's smarter than rocket scientists. But once we beat him at Trivial Pursuit and that makes it all good. Apparently Lisa had read my blog before I met her, which was weird when I met her, because she already knew stuff about us. I guess that's what happens when you put your life on the Internet. But anyway, Lisa and I got along, and fortunately she works near us, so sometimes we have lunch.

We went to the Five Spot, which is one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle that I never remember when we're trying to find somewhere to eat. Every quarter they feature a cuisine from a different place. Right now it's St. Louis. I didn't know they had a special cuisine :) But I think they try not to repeat places, so they've probably done a lot of the interesting ones already. But since they had pumpkin pancakes on the menu, I got those. I'm pretty sure they're not a St. Louis specialty but boy, were they yummy. BabyT hung out in her infant seat looking around for a while, and then fell asleep for most of the meal. She's cooperative like that.

Then we hung out at Lisa's house for a little while, because BabyT needed to eat. She snorked down 8 oz of milk which was pretty impressive for one so tiny. We also got to see Baby Bacon's room, which is quite awesome. Lisa is creative and talented and has put together a roomful of vintage treasures and bright colors that don't scream "baby" but look cozy and perfect together. I really admire people with those design skills, which I am sorely lacking. And BabyT got to try out the changing table. She approves.

Which reminds me of why I like living in Seattle so much even though we've started the season of 9-months-of-grey-yuck. We have some really great friends here, who also happen to be in the same life stage as we are. (and some just ahead so we can get advice and hand-me-downs!) Though as TJ will tell you, our trial period in Seattle isn't over yet. And in the darkest depths of winter, on the 37th day in a row of grey drizzle, sometimes I fantasize about living somewhere warm and sunny. But that would mean making new friends, and I'm not excited about that. What is it about getting older that makes it so hard to make new friends? Sigh.

Say what you want

Katy over at Sycamore Stirrings tagged me with this blog meme last week and I never got around to doing it. So that's what I'm gonna do now, though I'm going to be a bit of a rule-breaker and not tag anyone else for it.

I'm supposed to tell you six random things about me. I suppose they have to be somewhat interesting, huh? You probably don't care that my dinner tonight was a glass of milk, a peanut butter cookie and a chocolate chip cookie. Why? Because I'm a grownup and I can eat what I want, that's why.

Ok, here goes.

1. I graduated from high school just before my 16th birthday. While I wouldn't recommend that from a social development point of view, I love that I got 2 "extra" years to sort out my life, so my extra quarter in college and starting grad school late didn't really affect me much.



2. I met my husband when I was 16 and harbored a secret crush on him for a LONG time. We didn't start dating until I was 24. We got married just before I turned 30. Crazy, I know.



3. The hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life was getting through Caltech. That I came out with a decent GPA and an actual degree is icing on the cake. I have never worked so hard for anything in my life.



4. Spike and Peanut are the only real pets I've ever had. (No, I don't count fish.)



5. One of my favorite movies is "Crimson Tide". I have no idea why, since it's not particularly spectacular in any way. Zero bubble.



6. I really, really want to spend some time in Ireland. I don't know if it's because I started reading Maeve Binchy books when I was young, and have read nearly every one, or because secretly I'm Irish (kiss me!), but I can't wait to go there. That's gonna be our next big vacation, whenever that is.



So there you have it. If you decide to do this meme, post a link in the comments here so I can read it!

I wanna bowl with the gangstas

In honor of my visit to Caltech, you must watch this video.



Weird Al rocks my world.

In all seriousness, Caltech students seem a bit better adjusted and dare I say, happier, now than they did 10 years ago. Or maybe *I'm* happier now so the rest of the world looks better? Discuss.