We got back yesterday, today we’ve been recouping. DK had an issue at lunch, but we think it was too much milk too fast after getting back. He had something like 20oz this morning. After virtually no dairy in two weeks, that might have been a little much :/
I’m going to post day-by-day mostly, although I will compress those days that didn’t have much to report on probably.
So we got home today. Landed at JFK ~5:30 this morning, more than 20-hours after leaving my aunt’s place in India for the airport. Hit up the Delta counter to see if we couldn’t change our 9pm flight to something, say, before lunch … :o
They put us on the 8:30, and all was good. Indira Gandhi airport from 9:30 til boarding ~11:45, local. Then ~15 hours in flight, landing at 5:30 US. Another two hours in JFK after everything waiting again. An hour in flight. Half an hour at Reagan National. About an hour in the shuttle van. Stopped at my parents for a bit, then the drive home. Finally got in our door ~1 I believe. DK’s taken a couple hour-and-a-half naps, kiir went to bed about 3 I think. I just took DK up for bed-time since he was falling asleep on my leg again I figured I was now fighting a losing battle and might as well put him in a bed.
Trying to stay up for another hour or two before I crash. See if I can’t go down during ‘night’ normal.
So, we dropped K off for the trip. Unlike the vacation to NC earlier this year, we couldn’t really leave him home. Drummer has a job and lives in NoVA now, bit of a drive … My folks are going with us, they certainly can’t check in on him. My friends in the area all work, so I couldn’t really ask them to look in on him. And I wouldn’t want to see the bills for calling every few days to check in :o So we went back to the kennel we used to love so much.
And there’s been some changes. All new people in the front, and we understand that the management has changed again since last fall when he got banned from daycamp. Apparently the “permanent ban” wasn’t quite as permanent, since there’s nothing in the computer about it.
We told them that he’s door agressive, so when someone goes out the door, he has to be tied up or he will attack whoever is leaving to try to make them stay. I don’t know that they wrote that down anywhere other than “door aggressive”, but we’ll find out. I also pointed out that if he’s attacked , he will defend himself. He’s not aggressive, but he’s not passive either. Guy checking us in seemed to think that was a given and DUH of course he defends himself. Apparently we’re not the only ones that thought that NOT defending himself was unusual :o
Honestly, I don’t expect him to get to stay in camp more than a week, but we’re hopeful that maybe they’ll listen. And there’s still a few people there who know K from before, so I figure even if he gets kicked from camp again, they’ll play with him some. Maybe not as much as he used to get, since there’s only a few of them left AFAICT.
So, Saturday evening before we leave Monday morning, my parents called me to let me know that apparently our international return flight had moved.
“I’ve got good news and bad news.”
“What’s the bad news?”
“You’ve got a 15 hour layover in JFK on the way home.”
“WTF? What the heck is the GOOD news???”
“They changed your flight from a two hour in london to the non-stop. So you get to leave at a more reasonable time.”
See, the old flight left at like 8am, so we had to leave the house for the airport in India ~4 or something stupid. The new flight is midnight? So we can leave ~8pm. Then of course, it’s a fifteen hour flight opposing a 10-hr time change. So , we’ll be landing ~6am. Then we just have to figure out HTF we get home from JFK, because we don’t really love the notion of hanging out at the airport for 15 hours for our evening flight :o
So, we actually finished packing 90% like 4 days before we left … It was eerie!
We spent the next few days running around and getting this that and the other to fill out the carryons and the few things we needed still for the suitcase.
We have two big checked bags, one of which actually has a third inside of it in case we need it for the trip home. Then kiir has a backpack and a carryon suitcase, I’ve got a small bag, and des has a small backpack. Plus the big carseat thingie.
It’s going to be a BLAST hauling around an airport. Especially JFK when we get off the plane, go through to get our bags, turn around and check in at another flight, check the bags again, and come BACK through security. In like 3 hours. *sigh* If we didn’t have to check in, I’d say kiir and DK could stay inside security and then I go through and move the bags around. That way the carryons and toddler don’t have to go through security again :o
So, I have a slightly overactive mind. In that I can’t focus on a single thing at a time, I almost HAVE to do multiple things at once. (For instance, right now I’m writing up this post, thinking about what we need to pack, bring back, etc, and at underlaying levels I’m still thinking about stuff for work and video games)
In fact, if I try to “eliminate all distractions,” like all the college into study stuff tells you to do so you can learn how to do things right in uni? Yeah, I get distracted within minutes and end up off on some complete tangent.
If what I’m working on is interesting enough to engross me reasonably, I can get by with some kind of music. But a lot of times I was doing my homework while watching Highlander and Zorro at 1am because I needed that level of background where I could flick my eyes and have them catch something easily to go back.
And I’ve continued doing this for years at my jobs. Until a few weeks ago I got caught by one of the older generation who is still freaked out by us not wearing suits to the office :o He got all red in the face when I tried to tell him the video was background noise, but apparently he walked up while I had stopped typing to think about something. So he saw me sitting there watching a vid.
Which is going to be a nuisance for everyone, because I’m certainly not the only person to do it :o But he sure does seem to be the only one that cares so far. Unfortunately, he’s up the chain a few levels, so I have to lay low for a while. Which means my productivity is going through the cellar since I’m going to get distracted and tangentified a LOT.
But, hey, at least the company can know that I’m sucking by following the rules rather than excelling by ignoring the ones that no one cares about :o
So, DK’s still having sleep issues. Basically I have to hold him down screaming and kicking until he sighs and gives up struggling for long enough to say “ooh, tired, zonk”
Unfortunately, he kicks and flails a lot, and if I hold him tight enough to keep him from escaping, I’m not sure he CAN fall asleep reasonably. And he’s figured out how to stop struggling for a few moments, go limp so I’ll loosen up a little to let him snuggle down to sleep and .. BOOM! he explodes out and squirms away. Fun fun fun :/
This has been going for two weeks now … My ribs hurt :o
So, this evening after work, I was going to Chiro. But I figured the CostCo is on the way (relatively speaking) and it’s like 20c cheaper a gallon. And I need gas.
So first I get there, and it turns out it’s 40c cheaper (273 vs 315). Then there’s this huge freakin’ line, so I’m throwing it into neutral while we wait, because the needle is kinda straddling that zero marker … “need gas” light came on this morning on the way to the train, I need gas …
TWENTY MINUTES that line took. And then .. and then … *sigh* effing pump can’t read my debit card!!! ARGH! I no longer HAVE an alternative, I’m basically OUT OF GAS dammit! *sigh* drove across the parking lot, ran into the costco itself, got a cash card, came BACK to the station and … sit in another 10 minutes of line. OH. GOOD. GRIEF.
13ga tank. Took 14.8ga. I think, off the cuff here, but I *think* I may have been running out of gas :o
I guess I need to call the bank and get a new debit card issued. Because it didn’t work at joanns this evening either. And of course that’s gonna cost me 5$ for “replacement card” … not because I lost the effing thing, but because it just quit working!
So, it’s been pointed out (repeatedly, by MANY people) that the title of this blog is misleading. poorly worded. a bald faced LIE, even.
Because let’s face it. It’s not daily. Even if I manage to do daily/weekdays for a bit, it never lasts more than a week or two. And then there’s the problem that I’m frequently posting in the evenings and I’ll come up with two or three posts and either put them all up at once or I have to schedule them to trickle out, and I STILL don’t hit daily very much.
Also, I don’t really “gripe” as much as I used to. More “commentary” and “observation” with some kvetching.
So I’m thinking about changing it. Keeping the URL an’ all the other stuff, just changing the title and the tag.
Frankly, I’m kindof thinking of using the Psychotomy from the url. Basically like:
Pyschotomy
When a disordered mind breaks up
Because if a psychotic break is when a well ordered mind breaks down …
But I’m open to other suggestions. Since I don’t post many DK pics (I figure Kiir’s got that covered quite well ;) I’m not really sure that I have a focus at all …
Today was DK’s 18mo appt (Wow, kiir posted the stats while I took K and DK for a walk !)
We got there right at his appointment time b/c I forgot how long it’d take to get there (oops). But that’s OK. It’s a doctor’s office. They are NEVER on time, eh?
So we checked in at the desk, and I put DK down to run around and play with whatever they have out. He kept trying to play on other visits but was never quite solid enough to maneuver the blocks-on-rails jungle-gym thingie. But now? Yeah, he’ll LOVE that and be in control an’ … uh … wait …
Where IS the thingie? OK, toy cars, they have a basket of toy cars and such on the other side … wait , where’d they go? Uh …
In the end the only things I could find for him to ‘play with’ were the magazines they had out (which they don’t want the kids tearing up and destroying, even if it IS the May ’08 issue), and the venetian blinds. And actually I was putting away the magazine when he started with the blinds but I didn’t think much of it. Then one of the receptionist/nurse/etc folks was all “DON’T LET HIM PLAY WITH THAT!”
Funny thing. OUR doctor (Kiir and I) has a bunch of toys and a section of the waiting room for kids. And it’s a much smaller office. She does kids, too, so it makes some sense. The glasses shop? Well, the one guy gets all tetchy when DK plays with the sample frames that are under my waist level (seriously, there’s no logic for them to be that low EXCEPT to provoke kids), but the exam area has a toy kitchen, two crates of toys and books, a house-front of some sort. The Psych’s office? The old one had a corner with a table and toys on a bookshelf. the new one has the same setup, but fewer toys. Maybe a dozen or so. Hell. I think my gastroenterologist (say that fast) had toys in the waiting area. Either for the kids so that mom or dad could come in for a talk, or possibly they have do look at kids sometimes. Either way.
And these are all places that “also take” kids. But the pediatricians office? Nothing. Nothing in the waiting room. Nothing in the exam room. W. T. F.
Oi.