The planets were in perfect marital alignment yesterday! It was one of those days that brought out the best in my wife and I and proved just why we were a couple! I had volunteered to bring something to our office Christmas party. My wife said she'd be happy to make her famous brownie recipe. I was grateful for her offer for I had just planned to buy something. But I was concerned she wouldn't have time. She was planning on helping a friend last night and wouldn't get home until late. "No," she said. " It shouldn't be a problem."...
I've been working on a web project about 9/11 and have been totally consumed. You know that feeling? Total commitment to an idea and its realization. It's like the sports equivalent of the zone: you look up and five hours have passed since you last realized, well, reality. What a rush and mixture of emotions. I haven't felt this way in quite a while. But, with the sharp awareness that I lack the power to control the uncontrollable these days, this is my only alternative. All I've got is my creativity. It's the one thing in life where no compromises are...
Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 24.08.2001
Vacation 2001: West Meets East
We’ve just returned from an East Coast summer institution and I have been baptized in the waters of Wildwood, New Jersey! Our family’s first vacation at the New Jersey shore. The Shore: one of the first differences I noted about East and West Coast summer rituals. Oh, people here often call it “the beach” but “the shore” has a long standing tradition. It’s an event imbued with 19th century gentility: one of escaping the oppressive heat of New York, Philadelphia or the swampland called Washington, DC. People around here will tell you they’re going “down the ocean” (said in my best...
My wife turned over in bed and said "Happy Father's Day, honey! Would you like breakfast in bed?" "No thanks," I replied. "But some early morning 'p and q' [peace and quiet] would really be nice." One of my most favorite times in the day is early, early morning, before the kids get up. I often wait for the newspaper to be delivered at 5:30 am just to sit and read, uninterrupted for 30 minutes before getting ready for work. My quiet time is worth so much to me I gladly go to bed at the ungodly hour of 9:30...
Synchronicity. Thursday morning I got two emails. One from another Jeff Gates (this one's the real estate agent in Michigan who was first to register jeffgates.com). The second from a woman who wanted to know if I was related to her grandmother. I answered the Jeff first, informing him we had a "relative" who ran for Senate in the Green Party this year. Then I opened Nina's email. I was intrigued the moment I saw the subject: my grandmother's maiden name. About three years ago I happened upon a geneology site and registered all my grandparents' names. I'd gotten one dead end...
Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 04.06.2001
Parents Con Solo
She must have taken pity on us as we told our tale. For when we finished she suggested our daughters spend the night at her house so we could go out for our anniversary! We were in shock! It was hard enough finding a babysitter for any evening (the reason for our plight), let alone the entire night! Why this was unprecedented (in our house). This was a first! We gladly and immediately accepted. So on Saturday, around 4, we dropped both of them off. We felt secure for she was my daughter's teacher and we knew her boys, the same ages...
This is a momentous day! First, it's Le Premier Fauchage de Pelouse du Festival de Saison, a holiday celebrated throughout the known suburban world this time each year (at least in the northern hemisphere). It's also the fanciest way of saying I mowed the lawn for the first time this season! I never knew that translating mundane tasks using Babblefish could make my life seem so rewarding. But more on that in a minute. Part I The day started early. I got up at 5:30 am (on a Saturday I'd like noted) to get to the county's aquatic center to register my...
Commuting with Nature, Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 23.04.2001
Keep on the Sunny Side: The Right Side
As mentioned earlier, I take my daughter to school on the Metro (DC's subway). Well, actually, I take both of my daughters to school. When commuting downtown with a 4 1/2 and 3 year old at 7 in the morning, you never know what to expect. What are my fellow passengers thinking of this trio of two highly-charged youngsters and one aging adult? Despite my daily scans of their faces, it's often hard to tell. On our better days we bake cookies and read books. But mixing make-believe ingredients can quickly change to sibling screams as one invades the other's space....
This morning started out as most weekday mornings do: a rush to get us and the kids ready for work and school and a mad dash to the car, making sure everything and everyone is in place. As we pulled out of the driveway, I said "ding dong". "What does that mean?" my four year old asked. "Ding dong," I repeated. My daughter likes to make up games. She especially enjoys making the rules (the province of four year olds). Often, on the way home from school and work she'll decide to play a guessing game. You know, "it's green...
As we walked through the door she began her incantation. Raising her hands before her, eyes closed, she began: I wish, I wish with all my heart To fly with dragons in the land of heart I stared, transfixed, as she repeated her words again and again. I knew her chant from her favorite cartoon show. And I took special note of a four year old's version of an often-heard rhyme. Her eyelids moved to the beat of her voice. When she stopped her eyes slowly opened and looked at me. “Now, I’ll teach you how to make a wish. If you say it...