smokerblog

The Call

We got it!

Our Visa Appointment date is January 23, which means that on that day, I'll be standing next to my son signing papers, taking oaths, and in all ways committing our lives to him in the eyes of the Chinese government. The only bad part? Kari won't be there.

Kari has for the past two Januarys worked with a local charity, Rural Opportunities, to train approximately 150 volunteers who will provide tax services for elderly individuals in our area. One of the reasons we've been getting increasingly anxious about our travel date is that we knew this conflict existed. Kari can't in good faith back out of this commitment; she has had to become certified by the IRS to provide this training and there are no other replacements for her position at this late date; if she backs out now, thousands of people in our community will be affected.

But that's okay. I decided long ago that if she couldn't go, I would be able to handle the trip alone. Other families do it all the time. I will be traveling with a group and will have a guide with me 24/7. I expect the two weeks that I'm in China will be most difficult for Kari. But hey! By the end of January, Ben will be here!

The only other option was to delay our travel date, and, well, that was never really an option we considered. We just want to get our son as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone for your support. The end (or rather, the beginning!) is near!

Heavy Reading

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was this hefty study of Lincoln and the cabinet he gathered, filled with his political rivals. It's a book I had been interested in after seeing an interview with the author. Hopefully the 944 pages will keep me occupied on our long flight to China.

But this wasn't the biggest book I received this year. Or should I say books. I talked Kari into getting the Complete Calvin and Hobbes, thinking that someday Ben may get to discover the magic of the boy and his tiger. However, after lugging it home, I realized that Ben isn't going to even be able to pick up one of these books until he's like 15 or 16. Of course, this just means that I will get to share the experience with him is all.

Still Waiting...

Christmas is around the corner and it looks like we aren't going to get the only present we were really hoping for.

We received a kind of cryptic newsletter from our adoption agency congratulating someone on their March DTC (i.e., date to China) appointment. We haven't been able to determine yet if that means us.

In any case, the various Chinese and US government agencies in whose hands our application still resides will be on an extended holiday break for Christmas/New Years followed quickly by another break for the Chinese New Year, during which the entire country more or less shuts down.

In the meantime, we continue to pine.

The New at&t

So AT&T has gone and redesigned their logo and all I can say is, bluck.

As anyone with whom I am a regular email correspondent understands, I am a fan of the lower-case letterform. But in this logo it just looks...wimpy. This logo does not say "telecommunications giant" to me; instead, it says something like, "two guys working out of their parents' basement."

I mean, seriously. The subtle shading looks cool and all, but these guys simply took the old logo, did a cheesy job of adding dimension, changed the font, and called it "revitalized." Look closely, try to follow the lines that show through the logo, they don't even look geometrically plausible to me.

I think that's what bothers me the most. When I look at the logo long enough, I start to get vertigo from those oddly positioned swirls. So but maybe that's the goal: to mesmerize the customer...ooooo...so round...so shiny...

Bach, Bach, Bach, Bach, Bach!

Thanks to our British broadcasting friends, we are able to listen to every single note ever written by Bach.¹ That's 10 days (214 hours) of nonstop Bach.

Except, (d'oh!) taking the time difference into account, the broadcast already started today at 2PM EST...

It should be noted, of course, that WHRB did this first.

*Hack* *Cough* *Wheeze*

Personally, I've never had a problem breathing in my backyard, but there it was in today's D&C: Rochester, specifically my neighborhood, has the worst air quality in the state. And it appears that ground zero is Kodak Park.

Based on my perceived respiratory health, I went looking for some evidence to dispute this report...the evidence doesn't look good.

Hot and Cold Balls

Those wacky Italian soccer fans. As if they don't already have enough to obsess about, now they've accused former German national soccer star, Lothar Matthaus, of rigging the draw for the upcoming World Cup.

So hey, that's a sign that US Soccer has truly arrived, eh? The Italian fans see us as a threat! So maybe they were hoping for Togo or maybe Trinidad & Tobago?

My June 2006 Calendar Is Blocked Out

This is a conundrum of epic proportions. The US Mens Soccer Team has drawn a difficult group in the opening round of the 06 World Cup. Even worse, the first two games, the two most critical games, fall within the timeframe of the Rochester International Jazz Festival.

What's a guy to do? What is Kari going to do? Luckily the games are played during the afternoon so I don't have to miss any jazz, but that means vacation time from work. Plus, I'll have Ben to care for.

Hmmm...soccer and jazz...might as well get started on his indoctrination program right away!

Because That's What Christmas Is All About

Now, there is no doubt that there are plenty of examples of political correctness run amuck out in the world, but a War on Christmas? A Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday?

Well, I never got that memo.

Some hard-line Christian groups have been having a lot of fun trying to pressure people into attaching Christ's name to various municipal trees, greeting cards, and retail enterprises. The folks at Fox News, and especially Bill O'Reilly, have also been particularly aggressive in spreading their version of Christmas cheer.

Earlier this month on his radio show, O'Reilly reminisced about his childhood Christmases, the magic of the season in his parent's 4-room Levittown house, waking up early in the morning to stare at the Christmas tree and the gifts beneath it. At this point in his rant, he pledged to "bring horror into the world of the people" who are trying to "diminish and denigrate the holiday and the celebration."

How Jesus' birth fits into all of this, I'm not sure, except that O'Reilly also provides a helpful list of retailers who will only be too happy to take your money in His name.

The Perfect Beverage

It is reputed to lower your risk of:

• colon cancer
• Parkinson's disease
• diabetes
• heart disease

There is also evidence that it can help:

• control asthma attacks
• enhance athletic performance
• prevent cavities
• cure headaches
• boost mood

Now (via Tom M.), the Washington Post reports that coffee can repair a liver damaged by excess alcohol consumption or overeating.

So it turns out, that wily Irishman got it just right by combining the poison with its own antidote.

Missing Posts

So a server at my webhost crashed, taking last weeks posts with it. Hard drive was toasted and no backup available since 11/28. Luckily, yahoo had me cached and I was able to copy and paste the posts back in.

Two days of my three-day experiment with haikus based on the word-of-the-day are gone, though...