Tag: observations

Hillary

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I voted in the California primaries yesterday, because I’ll be out of town for the big day. To be honest, it was a tough decision for me, because I’m pretty thrilled with the choices. Clearly, no matter whether Hillary or Obama wins, I’ll be especially proud to vote Democratic this year.

In the end, I decided to vote for Hillary in the primaries because I think she’ll be better able to hit the ground running. Lord knows our country can use every day of reasoned leadership we can get. Also, as my friend Sara said, I’d be disappointed in myself if our country finally managed to elect the first Madame President and I didn’t do everything I possibly could to help get her there.

I know a lot of you guys are in California, so please take advantage of your chance to help whomever you think is most worthy. It’s going to be a good year.

Bloggies!

Mighty Girl has been nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Bloggie, and it’s kind of knocking me for a loop. It feels awesome, but strange, to have my name up there with sites that are so much bigger than mine–and the past winners are a nostalgic list of the blogs I’ve admired and adored over the years.

Of course, I’m pretty grateful whenever I’m nominated for anything. I know how many people work so hard on their sites without any recognition at all, and sometimes without even a handful of readers to cheer them on. Lately, it feels like I have a whole stadium.

All of you, by just showing up to read what I’ve written, have inspired me to keep writing here for almost eight years. Because of you, I have a near daily record of some of the happiest years of my life. So thank you.

Please head over and vote for your favorite Bloggie nominees, because recognition is delicious. These are a few of the sites I’m rooting for:

Dooce for any one of her six(!) nominations. It’s nice when someone so talented is also so motivated to work her ass off.

NaBloPoMo for Best Community Blog. Eden’s simple, brilliant idea to get us all posting every day for the month of November.

Not Martha for Best Art or Craft Blog. Megan is passionate about details, and I bookmark several of her links every week.

3hive for Best Music Blog. It’s the Mighty Goods of music.

Twitter for Best Web Application. Makes far-away friends seem like they’re in the same city.

9 Tips for Quick Airpot Security Screening With a Baby

Admittedly, Bryan and I stress about getting through security efficiently. We don’t like to delay other people, and we also don’t like to miss our flight. So we developed a system, a meticulous system, early on.

If you’re a laid-back sort, these tips will amuse you. If you hyperventilate at the thought of people in line behind you rolling their eyes, you’ll find this helpful.

The tips assume one baby, two adults, and three carry-ons. And away we go:

1. Get organized. Put liquids, gels, or powder (including baby food) in clear plastic bags. Wear shoes that slip on and off. Skip jewelry, empty your pockets into your bag, and affix your watch to a bag strap.

2. Toss contraband. Before queuing, ask yourself if you have any food or water that you’ve forgotten, and then throw it away. If you accidentally stow it in your bag, they’ll have to search your stuff, possibly send you through the air-puffing machine, call out the dogs, strip search you, and so on. It’s a pain.

3. Centralize IDs and tickets. Have one person keep IDs and tickets in an accessible pouch or wallet. That person shows ID for the group, and collects boarding passes after screening.

4. Get in the fast line. Lots of airports will send you into a quicker line if you have a baby with you. Approach the security agent with your stroller and ask, “Should we be in a different line with the baby?” Blink innocently.

5. Prep while you wait. Remove your shoes and laptops while you’re waiting. When you reach the magnetometer, un-stack as many trays as counter space allows.

6. Use lots of trays. Laptops need their own trays, as do your plastic bags full of food and toiletries.

7. Split up if possible. Ideally, one of you loads the conveyer belt while the other carries the baby through and packs up on the other side.

8. Load the conveyer belt judiciously. That means:

– Stroller or sling so the baby is situated right away and you have your hands free.
– Bag, then contents of that bag, rinse and repeat. That way you can zip one bag shut before tackling the next.
– Shoes go last. Either slip them back on, or go sit down elsewhere so you’re out of everyone’s way.

9. Exchange high fives. Damn, you’re good.

Like I said, meticulous. But awesome, no? If you have more ideas, please share them in the comments.

12 Travel Tips for Flying With a Baby

Twelve Tips for Flying with a Baby

In Hank’s first year, we’ve visited four different states and three different countries. We’re very tired. Still, we’ve learned a lot about flying with the little guy, and it’s all stuff you should know too.

Follow these guidelines and you’ll be comfortable, entertained, and prepared for the duration of your flight. And if not? Well, at least you’ll be in Belize when it’s over.

1. Book wisely. If your baby is on a regular sleep schedule, take a moment to savor your good luck. Then book your flight during nap or sleep time. Booking tickets is your first chance to optimize seating, though fortunately not your last.

2. Ditch your diaper bag. This smallish Samsonite tote is Hank’s travel bag. (On sale for $20! The hell?) We use it as his carry-on instead of the diaper bag because it has more room, but still stows under the seat. The extra pockets and U-shaped top zipper also make things much more accessible.

3. Provide entertainment. Pack a few new toys if the baby is older, otherwise cup lids and pretzel packets will fascinate. Leave noise-making toys at home. Even soft jingle or squeak will irritate others after an hour or so.

4. Prep for security screening. Invest in a couple of sturdy clear bags that you can yank out of the tote when you get to the security gate. (By the way, food doesn’t count toward your quart-bag limit on toiletries.) We use a medium bag for all his food—usually two ready-to-use bottles of formula, one empty bottle filled with the right amount of powdered formula, and a baggie of powdered formula with the scoop in the bag. The little bag houses children’s Tylenol, hand cream, travel-sized butt paste, a nasal sprayer, eye drops, thermometer, etc.

5. Plan for mishaps. Tuck in two fresh onesies for the kiddo, and a clean T-shirt for you or your partner, in case there’s an incident. You’ll want a few quart-sized plastic zippie bags for wet clothes. I also throw in a large plastic yard bag because it packs so small and is useful if you have a little guy who decides to poop, pee, spit up, and repeat. Dress the baby for easy changes.

6. Prep for fussiness. If you know your baby is a screamer, pack a bag full of foam earplugs for your neighbors. We also find that chamomile or herbal teething drops help calm our baby when he’s grumpy.

7. Buy a couple bottles of water. You can’t get bottled water through security in The States, but you can bring it on the plane if you buy it at the airport. The water on planes has lots of bacteria, so I add bottled water to our powdered formula. We also use a little bottled water and bathroom soap as a last resort if we have to wash a bottle for re-use on board.

8. Strategize seating. A bulkhead seat or an extra empty seat will change your life for the next few hours. First ask for the bulkhead (if you’re traveling internationally with a baby who’s under 28″ or so, this is where they hook you up with bassinets). If they’re not available, and you’re traveling with a partner, ask them to seat one of you on the window and the other on the aisle. This often leaves you with an empty seat between, because no one wants to sit in the middle. If you still haven’t wrangled an empty seat when you get to the gate, bring your cute baby up to the counter and ask very nicely if they can help you find an empty seat should one open up. Then ask if you can get them some coffee.

9. Keep your stroller with you. They’ll give you luggage tags at the gate, and you just leave it outside the door of the plane. We travel with a Kolcraft car seat stroller so we can check the wheels and take the car seat aboard if there are empty seats.

10. Make friends. Be extra kind to every crewmember you encounter. When you board the plane, show the flight attendants your baby, introduce them, take your baby’s hand and help him wave. Flight attendants are awesome, and they’re your allies in keeping the little one quiet and happy. They’ll heat bottles, bring extra blankets, supply cup lids, you name it. But only if you’re pleasant.

11. Do a scrub down. Our doctor advised us to use a few baby wipes to clean our arm rests and table trays. We even clean the light buttons and air vents so everything we touch is a little more sanitary. When you use the changing table in the bathroom, you might also want to wipe off anything the baby can reach in there.

12. Ease ear pressure. The baby should suck on something during takeoff and landing. Nursing works, as does bottle feeding, pacifiers, or a lollipop.

That’s all there is to it. Easier than you thought, right? You’re welcome to leave more ideas in the comments. Tomorrow I’ll do a little roundup of the best way to get through airport security efficiently. You can hardly wait.

First World Problems

Like when you get your chai latte? And it’s all super sweetened instead of all spicy and delicious? Even now, you can hear my thighs stretching to contain the four tablespoons of sugar in the single sip I just took.

Off to watch some back episodes of “The Hills.”

Travel Tips

We choose an outside table and order a couple of caipirinhas to battle the heat.

“Towels?” a street vendor holds up a handful of dishtowels for us to consider.
“No, gracias.”
Another visitor moments later,
“Candy?”
“No, gracias.”

And so on every few minutes until a drunk man approaches and sways toward us.

“Can I have money for the bus?”
“No. Lo siento.”

My purse is sitting in my lap, and I feel uneasy. When the man leaves, I place it on the ground against the wall. The table and chair legs are substantial enough to block anyone who might reach and run from behind me. We chat for a while until a woman rolls up a large, janitor-style cart filled with small boxes.

“Incense?”
“No, gracias.”
“But it smells very good, see?”
“No, gracias.”
“This one? Patchouli?”
“No. Gracias.”

She begins to wheel the cart away, and then stops suddenly. She leans in close to my girlfriend and mumbles something incoherent. My friend looks confused.

“What beaaaautiful earrings,” the vendor says. “So beaaaautiful.” She comes even closer to admire them.
“Uh. Thanks.”
“Beaautiful!”
My girlfriend and I exchange a look, and she’s on her way.

Oddly, she’s the last visitor we have that evening, though several vendors approach other tables. We finish our cocktails and when the bill arrives, I look down for my purse. Of course, it’s gone.

After some conjecture, we figure that it was most likely the incense woman. It would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for someone to grab it from the sides, so I’m fairly sure there was a child or small person hidden on the bottom of her cart who reached in between our legs from the front of the table and grabbed it. Whoever it was had a bit of difficulty (the purse was really crammed in there), and hence the prolonged and awkward earring admiration.

Losses:

-About $100 in cash. Ugh.
-My gorgeous green wallet with bright pink interior that was a gift from my father in law.
-My very favorite, silver lamé clutch that I got for $2 at Goodwill. Irreplaceable.
-My notebook. My awesome Moleskine travel notebook filled with Argentina goodness.Ugh.

Wins:

-The knowledge that, for the first time in about five years, I left the house without my camera. Suck it, incense lady.
-I am impressed enough by the thief’s skill that I didn’t punish myself for too long over stupidly putting my purse on the ground.
-Someone found some of my abandoned wallet contents the next day and emailed me, because most people are goodies.
-After four years of marriage and a child, I finally have the incentive to get a driver’s license and credit cards with my married name on them.

In conclusion, when in doubt, shove your purse up your skirt.

Memory Scrapbook

More small differences between Argentina and San Francisco:

People don’t really throw anything out. There are two “vintage” stores in our neighborhood, and pickings are slim. One of the owners told me she goes to New York to get things, because Argentines pass down their clothing or use the fabric to make something new.

Perhaps because of the above, there’s a rich sense of creativity in the way Argentines dress and the things they make. So many of the objects in shops are completely novel to me.

Especially mid-day, about a quarter of restaurants and bars have no music. It’s peaceful.

There’s dog shit everywhere on the sidewalks, presumably because the dog walkers take out six or seven dogs at a time.

The ideal ice cream cone scoop comes to a point on top, because they don’t keep ice cream as cold here. All the giant pictures of idealized ice cream in heladerias have scoops that look like gnome hats.

They open presents on Christmas Eve, and some families light candles and make wishes before blowing them out. Everyone sets off fireworks at midnight, so the city sounds like New Year’s at home with all the explosions and shouting.

Whipped cream is more the consistency of whipped butter.

Lots of shop owners have a high fear of fraud about Internet sales.

“Hypoallergenic” products are often perfumed.

There are little garbage cans next to the toilets so you can throw away your toilet paper instead of flushing it.

Thermoses are everywhere in shops because people need them to keep their matê warm.

What nutella is to much of Europe, dulce de leche is to Argentina. It’s caramelized brown sugar, milk, and sweetened evaporated milk, and they put it on bread, pancakes, ice cream, whatever. The texture is unbelievable, like liquid silk.

Matambre

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Bryan is adventurous about most things, and especially food. Wherever we go in the world, he tries the sausage. Good idea in Germany, but Malaysia? Anyway, lately, he’s taken to trying meat of all sorts, which is how we ended up preparing Matambre for Christmas. Turns out it’s a very typical Argentine dish, and you should know how to make it, because it’s awesome.

It all started when Bryan dragged me into the butcher shop around the corner, and then pointed to stuff while I tried to translate. The conversation with the butcher went like this:

Bryan: What is that?
Me: What is that?
Butcher: Matambre.
Me: What is matambre?
Butcher: Meat and things.
Bryan: I want one of those.
Me: Uh. OK. How do you prepare it?
Butcher: You put it in boiling water for two hours, then freeze it.
Me: In the freezer?
Butcher: No.
Me: Freeze it?
Butcher: No! You freeze it with the post in the sink.
Me: You make it cold?
Him: Yes.
Me: OK. Do you cook it in the plastic and everything?
Him: Yes, yes! Then you break it with the sink.

In answer to my utter confusion, the butcher mimed preparation of the meat, which ended with us putting the roast in the sink and whacking it hard with the bottom of the pan.

Apparently, a lot of people serve it cold as an appetizer, though they don’t put it in the freezer to get it that way. It’s crazy tasty, and a lot like corned beef, except the vegetables are already rolled up inside with a couple of boiled eggs for good measure. That’s why it looks sort of like a severed arm when you first open it up. Delicious.

Turn Out She Took a Lunch Break

We give our server a bill worth twice the cost of our meal, and she vanishes. Some time later, we ask another waitress where she has gone. The waitress asks what she looked like. In Spanish, I say, “She had a short tail.” The waitress looks confused. “Her tail was short,” I say, gesturing toward my head. The waitress nods. “Do you mean her hair?” “Ah. Yes,” I say. “Her hair.”