| Boy o Boy |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|09:54 am] |
It has been pointed out to me that I did not post about our baby's gender to LJ.
For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter, Flickr, or facebook, here is a peek at the baby Benson's private business from our 20 week ultrasound:
To give an LJ quality entry in relation to this photo...
As reported, it was my plan to put a report of the baby's gender into a Christmas card for my parents to open with the rest of their gifts on Christmas morning. This did not happen.
What happened was this: I let them see the non-gender related ultrasound photos 2 days before Christmas as we ate chocolate and drank wine (well, some of us drank wine) after dinner. My father asked if we were absolutely certain of the baby's sex. Buster said that we were. My father then screamed, "WELL THEN IT'S A BOY!!"
And after days of keeping it cooly to myself and not letting anything slip. After days of being coy and making jokes and playing with people's minds to convince them that I was having one and then the other... my red face (of course) betrayed me to my family. The secret was out, and it was hilarious.
I had no secret to put into a card. Oh well. |
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| Help me with Big Checkin? |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|12:22 am] |
I started thinking about how to best reflect on the year, and the decade, as I do every year. And every year I am dissatisfied with what's available. Reflection works best when it can build on reflections from the past, year over year, etc. We are changing, slowly, over time, in ways that none of us can really tell from up close.
I mentioned the idea a while ago, and have since started on this "Best of 2009" meme which has been making me feel pretty unsatisfied in the reflection department. I met with Carinna and Michael a couple weeks ago to start coming up with ideas on how to make yearly reflections more fun and more satisfying.
This is the first draft:
http://bigcheckin.com
I'm leaving for Delaware tomorrow morning for a week, so this is as far as I got. It has 15 questions, varying from checkbox selection to adjective listing to inner-circle creating to goal contemplation. The answers are stored in ways that I think will make it easy to create aggregates amongst people, and also in ways that will make it possible to chart your own changes over time.
It's not yet possible to publish your results, but it will save your answers and I promise that results will be made available as soon as possible when I get back.
This is another long-term project. I want to launch something in January that will include charts and graphs and statistics and ways to post your Big Checkin to places people can see it, ways to make some parts private, etc. But while I'm gone (and won't be near a computer) it would help if some people felt interested enough in the idea to post their own thoughts and reflections, it will help me better able to figure out what's interesting and what's not.
So, yeah, there's no report at the end yet. But I'm bringing my sketchbook with me to start thinking about it. Any ideas you have as well on better ways to ask the questions, ways to visualize the answers, etc, would be awesome.
Help? |
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| Best of 2009, #16 - 21) Tea, word, shop, car ride, person, and project |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|11:33 am] |
Tea of the year. I can taste my favorite tea right now. What's yours?
I should have read all the prompts before agreeing to do this I think. What kind of person do these prompts lead us to try to be? Tea? I think it was that curiously strong tea that comes out of my French press. For sure.
Word or phrase. A word that encapsulates your year. "2009 was _____."
My word of the year, determined early on, was "frugality to the max!" I suppose that sort of sums it up for me... an attempt to reign in the unbalanced nature of my life from the previous year. Back to basics, build from the strongest part of the foundation, make a plan for a sustainable and balanced future while still thinking big and taking well-calculated risks.
Shop. Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?
Lawyers, landlords, credit cards, and the IRS. I guess the offline shopping world wins again.
Car ride. What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with?
Another silly question. I don't have a car. But the scene from the window of a taxi is usually pretty exciting. I also enjoyed the bus ride to Vancouver this summer. My Zipcar errands were more about the destination, and our mini-roadtrip to Orcas was more about the people in the car.
New person. She came into your life and turned it upside down. He went out of his way to provide incredible customer service. Who is your unsung hero of 2009?
I'm very happy to report that my unsung hero of 2009 wasn't a customer service rep. That would be sad. I didn't so much get swept up by any new people this year as grow more solid relationships with the people I already know and love. Kellianne deserves special props for weathering our third year of higher highs and lower lows with me. I feel like I also got to know several of my friends a lot better this year too. You know who you are.
Project. What did you start this year that you're proud of?
Locavore, Enjoymentland, and project Baby Benson. |
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| I'll be home for Christmas... |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|10:41 am] |
I am so homesick right now! I guess it's good that I'm going the Philadelphia way in a matter of days. I hate it when Nor'easters happen without me! I have super special memories of every blizzard that ever hit the home coast during my lifetime, and always smart to think of the ones that somehow happened without my help and delight.
I always felt that the two best times to be in NYC are during the first rash of spring fever, and during any blizzard. Nothing like a bit of joyful weather to inspire great community happiness! Ah, and home in good old Delaware during a snow! The kids! The snow forts! The sledding! Icicle Alley! The best. |
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