Psychotomy

DC’s Metro differs from most (all) of the others I’ve been on in that the cost is dependent on the distance you ride. Possibly with some additional factors like whether your trip goes through the busy areas or something. But it costs a minimum of 1.65$ for a trip (such as the one station I ride between the train and the office to avoid walking through DC in the freezing cold). It goes up to 3-something.

Anyway, I tend to put 20$ on my metro pass at a time. When it gets down to ~5$, I’ll look for a chance to refill it. The other day going through a stile behind someone, I saw the display saying that their card had 200$+ on it. Wow. But OK, I use ~50 a month I think, and I’m doing minimum fares most of the time, so 100-200$ a month isn’t unreasonable I suppose. Seems like a lot, but 3$ each way, five times a week, four weeks is 120$, so if they have some extra for additional trips etc, maybe some leftover from last month’s allowance b/c of thanksgiving.

Then I saw someone last week who blew my mind. The card had ~2500$ on it. TWO AND A HALF THOUSAND DOLLARS! That’s like 80$ a day, counting weekends. If you add 5$ for parking (I don’t remember if it’s 3 or 5), I swear the max daily still caps at like 11$. Say 15 to be generous (even though weekends don’t have parking fees so it would average down not up). That’s still a bonus 60$ a day! Seriously, W T F!???

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So, Wednesday evening we went to the Lifetime Fitness near us, to look around and see if we wanted to go with that or the Columbia Association. We’d been members of CA before, but didn’t use it much after the first year and had been stuck in a 3-yr term.

So, Lifetime is month-to-month, which is nice. So we went for a tour. Place looks nice, big pool (indoor and outdoor) as well as water slides during free swim !! Kid Center for DK to play in while we work out. Huge equipment room with a ridiculous number of elipticals, bikes and treadmills. Resistance machines in dozens of varieties.

Since our major impetus was for DK to get someplace to swim, the pools are EXCELLENT. The kidspace looked interesting, but we didn’t get to look too closely (kids were in there, so it makes sense). All-in-all it looked great.

CA is an older facility (Lifetime was built after we moved in, so it’s only 5 or so years old). And it looks it even after renovations and such. Maybe two dozen bikes/etc. A dozen, maybe 18, resistance machines. If we pay the extra for Plus membership again, it’s about 50% more stuff in a “private” room … with all the other people who payed extra for the private equipment … But OK. Kid area DK would be confined to the non-toilet-trained area with a couple tables and a play kitchen and some trains. Nothing to climb on, not much space to run around …

Prices however, WOW! Lifetime is ~450$ just to sign up. THEN it’s 130$ a month for the three of us !!! CA is 90$ a month, no signup, minimum 1-yr commitment. Plus is 110$. Frankly we’ve agreed that to compare we should compare Lifetime to Plus, at which point we’d definitely go with Lifetime. But since with CA we wouldn’t ACTUALLY get plus, because the features aren’t worth it to us, the extra 20$/mo is kindof … the hangup.

the member advisor showing us around at Lifetime suggested that they have a 30-day moneyback garauntee, so we could try it for a month and if by the end of that we didn’t like it we could get the money back and basically a month free trial. Probably minus some portion of the signup fee. And they seem to regularly run specials (possibly to compete with CA) wherein the signup fee is reduced to 75 or 100$ (75$ of the signup is the ‘administration fee’ which, frankly, I don’t see why that’s not just included in the membership fee). But the guy was a complete tool. Tractionless shiny loafers, nice pressed pants and a shirt with collar points. And dude pushed harder than the last car salesman we talked to. I kindof wonder if that 75$ fee is the commission that he’d've gotten if we signed up.

So we decided to think about it, but we’re kindof thinking we’re going to go with Lifetime. Gonna see if we can go back and get a better look at the kids area, since the tool kindof glossed over it. Walked through the door, said “This is the kid center” and then started to leave again. He just didn’t seem to get that the family who said their main impetus was a pool for the toddler, who dad was wearing in a carrier, had some interest in the kid area.

Posted in: fitness by attriel /
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Pescatarian? Pescetarian?

Kiir points out occasionally when I saw that I’m vegetarian that I’m technically Pescetarian. Because I eat pesky people.

Of course, using a term like “Pescetarian” in public is just going to get you confusing looks. And since “vegetarian” has been so abused that it means everything from “I only eat vegetables” to “I eat everything except I don’t like corned beef”, it’s just as easy to say that I’m vegetarian. I try not to say that as I’m ordering fish, though, b/c I have enough problems and I don’t want to be part of the problem for the next guy who is really vegetarian and ends up with fish because “vegetarians eat fish.”

I usually just ask if there’s ANY meat in that? “Is there any kind of meat other than the crab in the crab dip?” “The Salmon and Asparagus just has salmon and asparagus?” Fairly straightforward. You’d think.

“The cedar plank salmon, that’s just the fish right?” “Yes sir.” … Comes out, and the salmon has bacon all over it … wtf? “The baked potatoes, are they vegetarian?” “Of course” “Then why are there bacon bits in them???”

Although I did love (same place actually as those two ; I only ate there the once with my in-laws … wonder why it’s not on MY list to go back to) asking about the french fries. What are the fries cooked in? “Oil?” Really, Sherlock? Damn. I was figuring maybe they were cooked in butterfly blood. What KIND of oil? And I could tell that his first reaction was that he WANTED to say “Hot?” But my mother-in-law jumped in and explained that I was vegetarian and wanted to know if the oil was vegetable oil. No, it’s peanut oil. Whatever, excellent. “But they sometimes toss the bacon drippings and some bacon into the oil” Even more excellent. PASS!

Come ON people! Vegetables give places this much trouble, no way in heck am I even TRYING something as complex as “pescetarian”!!!

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Interesting point for anyone using cloth diapers –

You seriously need to clean the dryer vent regularly. As in, take the hose off entirely and dredge it out.

I did that last night, because our diapers take two cycles. ~60-90 minutes ‘auto’ on low heat and 60 on medium (avoiding high to keep them from shrinking too badly or anything, and the automatic damp detect usually calls up short. For sheets and clothes, it’s OK. A little damp on sweaters. But cloth diapers, being generally designed to absorb things … so two cycles.

But between India and Thanksgiving, I started noticing that the first cycle was taking 2 and edging towards 3. So since Kiir and DK were coming back a day later than me, I decided to vacuum the hose, which I’ve done occasionally. Except when I pulled it off the end of the dryer I saw a bunch of fuzz, so I reached in to see how bad and it was pretty solid. And then I realized the vacuum was only getting a little bit. So I started reaching in by hand.

It turns out that dryer fuzz gets caught up in the folding on the hose. So I kept folding and pulling, eventually pulled it off the other end so I could get it from both ends …

In the end, I had nearly a cubic foot of dryer fuzz. OMFG.

So, pull the accordian vent off and dredge it by hand, folks. Collapse it down, then use your fingertips to drag the bottom edge, collecting the fuzz as you expand and collapse the hose by your fingers (basically using your fingers push it unfolded and let it fold back up behind you again ; you need to fold it because it’s a long hose usually)

This has been a public service announcement.

Posted in: PI by attriel /
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So Kiir’s mom bought a play-kitchen from Costco (KidKraft Vintage Kitchen Playset) and I put it together Wednesday afternoon while he was napping. Took a few hours to do (seriously? OMFG!) but it actually seems to be made of high quality pressboard (almost feels like solid wood, but at a 140$ I SERIOUSLY doubt that).

It’s a little small, but it’s a great size for him right now. I think it’ll last until he’s 6 or 7 before it becomes awkwardly short or small. But with a sibling two years behind him, that’s basically 7 years before it runs out. By which time one of kiir’s three siblings will likely start having kids. So amortized over the 15-yr span it’s likely to serve, it’s a good price. It’ll probably start showing the wear by the time DK and his sister are done, but I think it’ll keep working OK. And we can always look at painting it.

I’ll try to get some pics to upload next week, he seems to enjoy it though

Posted in: DK by attriel /
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So, DK has apparently decided that sleep is for losers.

To-wit, the last two nights it was midnight, or after, when he went down. Tonight he went down a bit early. This is only the second time in two weeks he’s gone down before 11 (10:45 IS before 11, even if we went up at 10 for bed)

Obviously this is leaving me disinclined towards doing much in the evening. I will get to posting eventually

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First day of the trip was travel. As in we left our place ~7:30 in the morning to go to my parents, shuttle to the airport, plane to jfk, flight to india, arriving ~4 the following afternoon. Short trip ;)

Flight from DCA to JFK was a small puddle-jumper commuter flight. TINY overheads, so we had to check the spare suitcase at the gate because it wouldn’t fit as carry-on. No problem, still had my duffle and kiir’s backpack, and it was only 45 minutes in the air.

Checking in for the Air India flight there was some confusion because they wanted to label EVERY bag as carry-on or checked. The car-seat is, technically, neither. That lady finally just threw up her hands, labelled it as carry on, and said we’d have to deal with it later. Which worked since it was now labelled the check-in counter had no issues with it.

But when we went to get on the flight, we four got separated by the process, so I’ve got DK and the carseat with my duffle sitting in the carseat. as we approach the causeway, they have people gate-checking items, since the plane is 100% booked they need the space. Kiir ended up checking the suitcase again, after we grabbed a few things out. In the meantime, however, I have some Air India guy telling me I have to check the bag.

It’s his carseat.
You have to check it.
But it’s his SEAT.
No, you have to check it, it’s too big.
But it isn’t a carry-on bag! FAA regulations say that an infant/toddler can have their carseat in their plane seat for protection.
No.

By now he’s getting pissed with me for not doing what he said, I’m losing my temper which I know isn’t going to help, so I yelled for kiir. Guy throws up his hands and I go to kiir to talk to the guy she was talking to, since he seemed more competent anyway. Kiir starts with him …

It’s his carseat
We have carseats
On the plane?
Yes, you have to check it

Well, hell, if the first guy had TOLD ME that they HAD carseats, THAT’s in the FAA docs as a possibility and that the airline can deny our carseat in that instance. Fine, great, happy now we handed it over to check and boarded.

When we asked the stewardess, she gave us a blank look. Danger, Will Robinson! After some more discussion, during which my dad joined us, it was established that (a) “carseat”, in india, is a basket. Basically a bassinet for laying the baby down. Uh. Not what we had. This is why we were trying to SHOW people what was in the case! Oh, and (b) we’re not in a seat that can have that carseat, even if it WAS acceptable to us.

I rushed back to try to get the carseat from the checking area, but the guard at the door of the plane told me that it was not permitted that I leave the plane after boarding it. Even though I still had my boarding pass (and my passport for ID). I wasn’t sure which way she was leaning with the stilted explanation. Either I wouldn’t be allowed to re-board, or I’d be arrested. I decided that neither was conducive to this exercise and tromped back to our seats

My dad then spent twenty minutes working his way up the chain of importance, with me tagging along uselessly but feeling like I should be there since it’s my son and my carseat :o In the end we had to get approval from the CAPTAIN to use it, after ASSURING multiple copilots and such that it was SECURE. Actually, the only reason we got that far was because my dad raised a stink about the fact that he paid for a FULL seat, FULL PRICE, not a discounted infant seat or anything, and if he’d wanted to hold the baby on our laps the entire flight he wouldn’t have bought a WHOLE SEAT for him.

Eventually they sent someone down to the tarmac to grab it for us since it hadn’t gone into the plane yet, and we got to set it up. Oi.

Apparently if anyone had asked me I could have also reassured them that the seat secures down using the airline’s seat belt. That made them feel even better when we showed them :o

We established that on the return flight we needed to make sure to mention that it was a full seat at full price, and that we probably shouldn’t call it a “car seat” but a “child safety restraint system” or something similiar. Which was in the FAA brochure, but I hadn’t really read it figuring that Kiir was there and had these answers, and it’s not like it was going to be that much of a shock to them to see a carseat. Americans have to use them semi-often, right?

Or, you know, NOT. AFAICT we were the only people to ever think of using a carseat on an Air India flight :o

OTOH, on the flight back two weeks later, we never heard a peep about it. I swear, that is a LOT of high-intensity training :o

Posted in: DK, India by attriel /
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In India, we were having to wash clothes by hand. Either Kiir or I would take a few items into our “bath” with us and wash them, hanging them up when we finished. The soap was sometimes hard to clear from the clothes, and since the water is from a reservoir my uncle filled every morning when city water pressure was enough to be able to pump it, we tried not to use too much.

So some things didn’t get quite 100% clean. We threw everything from the trip through the laundry when we got home. And DK isn’t the cleanliest of chaps, even at home with carpets and hardwood flooring and cleanly rural life. On hard stone flooring, open doors, and smoggy dusty dirty cities? His clothes got horrible. So they needed a couple cycles through the laundry :o

But some clothes? Needed it more. For instance, here’s his shirt from the flight home. Delhi to NYC, 15 hours, and not a damned thing to do on the flight. So he watched iPod with his Tigger & Pooh episodes, and he ate lollipops. Lots of lollipops.

The flight home was not kind

That’s how the shirt looked when we got to JFK, so once we had time to sit down with our bags etc and take him off my back (he was in the carrier for wandering through baggage and check in and security and such), we popped off hte shirt and gave him a fresh one.

Without the Flash, it's worse

When I didn’t use the flash, the color is flawed, but the effect is a little more pronounced. That entire neckline and parts of the sleeves? They’re actually ENCASED in sugar from all those lollipops.

But that was from the flight, and was generally expected. I mean, 15 hours on a plane? Lollipops? Of course he’s gonna get messy. The one that kindof threw us was this one:

The original 'Great White Shirt'

This shirt was from the first week. We visited a couple relatives on the way to another where we were gonna spend a night or two. There wasn’t a lot of running around in fields or climbing through ruins or anything. It was just general daily usage!

When we left in the morning, we were talking about his Great White Shark shirt. By the time we peeled it off him in the evening we had re-dubbed it the Great White Shirt. As the trip progressed, the term generalized to reference any previously white shirt. Because none of them made it back to “white” while we were there. But the Great White Shirt we never even bothered trying to clean while we were there. Because we figured the amount of work it needed required someone who did the hand-washing regularly and knew how to get dirt and stains out. We didn’t really.

But once we got home, we threw all his clothes in the laundry with some detergent and some Oxy and let them soak overnight. Then ran them in the morning. Then ran them again because all the white shirts were still stain-y.

Germs without germs

The germ shirt came out OK at that point, but a couple others were a little worse off still. But I pulled them out and sprayed them with oxy pre-treater and set them aside while I threw the rest of DK’s clothes into the dryer. Then I spent the day washing diapers (another story)

After spraying occasionally through the day I finally tossed the last of the great white shirts, including The Great White Shirt in during the last cycle of pre-wash and left them in for diapernight. This morning I checked them after drying, and LO AND BEHOLD!

The Great White Shirt Is White

And OMG. thats a LOT of washing! :o

Posted in: DK, India by attriel /
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So, when we went out on errands wednesday, DK fell asleep in the car on the way to costco at like 3. And slept until nearly 5, THEN we went for errands, and kept waking him back up. Because he didn’t really get up at 5, we just decided it was time for him to be done with nap. He went to bed around 8 still. Tired.

Last night, kiir took him up for nap around 3. He got up and played in his room and she went to sleep … oops. So I watched him for the afternoon, and made us dinner. He was NOT happy about having to wait while the macaroni & cheese was made (come on, I have to boil water and then boil the pasta kid, seriously, it’s only like 10 minutes or something!!!) He ate the first half bowl that I set for him, so I got the rest of his serving now that it’d've cooled off. As I was eating my dinner I looked over and he was asleep in his chair. He’d turned his head, like he was watching K, and then layed it down on the top and went to sleep.

Because I’m the good guy, and mommy was still asleep, there are no pictures. I took him up and put him in the bed. Then I endeavored to stay up until 9 or 10 (ended up 11, actually, because I was playing Civ Revolution).

Ungrateful lout woke up when I came to bed because I had the AUDACITY to move his leg a little so I could fit on the bed. Then the little bugger got up at 3am.

And, no, I don’t mean he woke up because he was wet and then went back to sleep. He was wet (and poopsy, so I can’t really blame him for waking up), but he was also DONE. In fact, he hasn’t gone back to sleep YET. I wish I’d've gotten more than about 4 hours of sleep last night (got a partial 5th around 5 when he called for ‘mom’ and i dropped him off on kiir … bad attriel, I know, but dammit! TIRED!)

Posted in: DK, India by attriel /
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So, we went through a lot of security garbaggio recently in our trip to India. And there were a few “WTF?” moments involved.

First off, we got to National (DCA), checked in, checked the luggage, and then went to security. Went through. Kiir got through. Dad got through. I got through, with DK on my back. My mom got flagged for beeping in the metal detector.

Then she got wanded and security went through the two bags she had. Her purse and a yellow plastic bag from some store or other she’d grabbed for a few items. Like DK’s coat, i think, was in there. After all this, they let her through and it was determined that the rivets on her jean pockets went bing. Which is strange, since mine didn’t and my metal belt buckle went through without a hitch …

while we were waiting for boarding, my mom reaches into her yellow translucent plastic bag and pulls out DK’s sippy. half full of water. THEN it hits us all that “wait, wha? How did THAT get through security without a blink or a question???”

When we landed in India, my relatives weren’t inside to meet us. We landed an hour early, so you know, maybe they just hadn’t gotten there yet. But my dad went looking around, and went outside and found them waiting outside the aiport. Because apparently they weren’t allowed into the arrivals area to meet arriving passengers. On the outside of security, customs, immigration, etc, everything.

On the way home from India, at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), my relatives were going to wait outside, but my parents were going to come in with us at least as far as check-in. Obviuosly they’d never get through security without tickets, but you know. An extra hour with us before we came home and they’re there another three weeks.

Except, apparently, you can’t get in to TICKETING without proof that you have a flight. Good damned thing we had the e-ticket confirmation papers :o So we said goodbye at the door (while my dad was arguing with the cops with semi-automatic rifles) and went in just the three of us. Checked our bags, and then got handed the customs emmigration papers for leaving India. Which included wanting the address and phone # where we stayed. Well, hell. That was on our luggage tags, which we just checked. My dad had all that information on the way in. Oh! I’ll go check.

Yep, they’re still standing outside with the rest of the family. Presumably waiting for the taxi to make it back to pick them up from wherever the taxi waiting lot is. (they hired it for the round trip). Great. I went and grabbed the boarding passes and passports for me and DK and went to the exit, figuring I’ll go get the info, then come back in. No exit at this exit. Use one of the others. OK. Go to the entrance we used and tried to exit. Nice cop with the semi-automatic rifle informed me, in bad english, that once you’re inside there’s no LEAVING the airport. Except on a plane, presumably. Or a body bag. But certainly not by walking out the front door again.

WTF? How is this “security”???

*sigh*

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