Make a Wish!

He really is 10--the cake don't lie. Thomas realized later that he forgot to make a wish. (Note silly string in hair. Grrr.)

Pinata Insanity

Near the end of the party, we brought out the favorite--the pinata. Thomas, because he is the birthday boy, gets the first whack.

Jimmy gets a turn.
Sofi then gets a go.
Grandma, fed up with watching their swings get nowhere, shows them how it's done.
About 20 whacks later, the pinata finally burst open and candy and "prizes" (like tubs of goo and crappy whistles) flew everywhere. The kids then spent about 30 minutes sorting, eating, and resorting.

sipod!

A package arrived for me on Wednesday containing a miraculous device. I say miraculous, because it appears to need no batteries and works equally well under normal circumstances or underwater. And, indeed, with or without headphones! If I have any complaint it might be the rather narrow range of music available, but this is a small quibble. Can anyone truly tire of "Pop Goes the Weasel"? Certainly not THIS listener:



I must relate, though, that after expressing disappointment that Matthew did not actually construct every component (music box innards, headphones, the lot) from their component atoms, Thomas went very quiet for a while and said (after about 20 Pop Goes the Weasels) "do you think Matthew would make me a Thomaspod?"

Small Stories

1: A few days ago after Thomas and I had gone running* together in the morning (I ask him every time I head out but so far only once has he rolled out of bed to join me) we were climbing up a hill surrounding the nearby high school track, he said with a tremor in his voice, "I think when I am 110 and dying of cancer I am going to turn on my blinker and then not turn, just to see what happens." If he hadn't been on the verge of tears at the thought of his own mortality (joined with the thought of his future self at the point of having so little to live for that crazed naughtiness was the only thing left) I would have laughed.

*"running" should be understood to mean "moving, usually walking, occasionally jogging with rare and very brief bursts of speed"

2: Yesterday Frederick was rummaging through our fridge and cabinets, clearly searching for something delicious and finding nothing that would satisfy, so I went in and asked him what he wanted. Hardly daring to have hope, he said (in a very small voice, "Cookie." [Cookies--at least the kind he craves, namely dark chocolate digestives--are taboo since he can't digest wheat gluten.] I showed him what we had, gluten free oatmeal cookies (the only postiive word for them is "worthy") and rice cakes (I know, hardly cookies, but they are round and crunchy). He stared at them sadly and then, with a tremor in his voice, said, "Cookie." I explained again that we had no cookies, just oatmeal and rice. With tears in his eyes, he whispered "Dammit," and sadly walked away.

Passport to Portland

We arrived in Portland at around noon, but were not allowed to check into the hotel until 4. (Why? Just one of the many strange rules we encountered during our stay here.) We also arrived with a digital camera with dead batteries. Although stuffed with restarants and funky/trendy stores, Portland seems to lack the more basic drug/convenience store. Finally, after much wondering, we found this dive that sold over-priced batteries. So here is the first photo of our trip.

This is in one of the many green spaces in downtown Portland. What does it mean? I have no idea.

And here is the (in)famous Powell's books, which covers an entire city block, and has 6 or 7 different colored zones inside so that you can find your way about. It is great, but limited to two small carry-ons, there is only so much time you can spend looking at books you can't allow yourself to buy.

We were staying in the Pearl district, which is significant, apparently. I don't know why.

Finally, we are allowed to enter our room and Thomas does what he wants to do more than anything else--play on his DS. Actually this was fine with me because I hadn't finished writing my paper before leaving Flint. I thought procrastinating would give me a finely tuned mental energy that would power me through it the night before. But it didn't. After wrestling with my laptop for several hours (which, in retrospect was silly because I didn't have easy access to a printer), I gave up and sketched some thoughts out on paper. Good enough. Who is going to attend a talk titled "Body and Self: A Hegelian Analysis of Sex Identity" anyway? (It turns out that quite a few would. Oops.)

Feeding and Philosophizing

Here is one restuarant that wasn't aimed at the transgendered crowd that had very nice broccoli soup which Thomas inhaled. But (we found out later in the day) they wouldn't serve us food after 4 pm, because Thomas is a minor. What's that about?

What luck! A knit shop about 100 yards from the hotel. And I forgot to bring anything to knit on the plane, too! This turned out to be Thomas's favorite stop within the city of Portland because not only were all the yarns gloriously candy-colored, but the bathroom was unbelievably luxurious: stone mosaic-ed floors and walls, green-tea scented incense, dozens of soaps and lotions to choose from and use, relaxing world music playing softly, dimmed lights--with a room like that, who would ever leave it and face the day?
Later in the afternoon I did actually have to do some work to justify this extravagent trip, so here we are at the University of Portland where I attended a few talks (putting in a good show) and gave my talk (which, I think, wasn't that great (I realized right in the middle that I had a large gap in the argument--not a happy moment) but others seemed to like it. Simon says, "It's the court cases! You can't go wrong with court cases. People eat them up like candy!" Apparently they do, as one woman (at the University of Illinois) asked me to write up something special for her to use in her classes because she found the court case information and my analysis of them so interesting. So, not a total loss.

Thomas after waiting several hours for me in the hallways of UofP. I asked him if he wanted to stay longer and let me go to more talks but, amazingly, he didn't.

So here is the diner we went to for dinner, which was right across from our hotel. And they aren't lying, those sandwiches were the size of our heads. But, sticking to our vegetarian principles, we opt for omelettes (for me) and (french toast) for Thomas.

Footloose and Philosophy Free

Whenever it was we were last in Oregon, we stopped by this place at the base of Multnomah Falls. Thomas had no memory of seeing the falls but has a vivid memory of visiting this gift shop and Simon buying a bookmark and lip balm, both with a picture of the falls on them.

Here we are approaching the falls. The bridge you see is just over 300 yards up the falls, and is far as we got last time. Not burdened by Frederick or Simon (who can be very lazy about these sorts of things) this time, Thomas and I vow to make it to the top.

One mile? Pah! I laugh at your one mile.

Over an HOUR later, Thomas and I stumble to the top, to admire the view. I admit that I slowed our progress a bit and that Thomas could have most likely jogged up in under 15 minutes (he's skinny, but wirey) but the important thing is that we had a quality time together, and that we made it in the end.

Here is the view from the platform that overlooks the drop. Not only is the view spectacular, but it is about 15 degree cooler up there, which is a wonderful reward for all the hard work it took to get there. Now if I did that everyday, I'd get fit in no time.

OMSI Me

Friday, free of my conference obligations, we decide to see the sights of Portland. One thing we were told we must do is go to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (or, OMSI, to those in the know).
This awaited us outside the OMSI, promising good things inside. (Can you see the tiny Thomas posing in front?)

As if we would.

I took several pictures inside, but it was so freakin' dark in there, this is the only one that shows anything. Not only were the dinosuars unbelievably large, but for the most part they were ones we had never seen before, so well worth the trip. We also made a point of seeing a dinosuar film ("Dinosaurs ALIVE!" os some such thing) in the OMSImax (not to be confused with the astonishingly inferior Imaxes that clutter the world). For this thing, you have to lay down to watch a film that is projected onto a domed screen that completely fills your field of vision. Five sets of giant speakers concealed behind the gauzy screen then blast the sound-track at a deafening volume. It didn't bode well when the usher, just before the start of the film, announced that "nausea is common" and pointed out the exits at the back of the room. When we arrived at the OMSI I had really hoped we would see both the dinosaur film and the one about King Tut and the pyramids, but by the time I got through this film there was NO WAY I would sit through another. Thomas was a bit green, too, which was a relief in a way as I feared he would beg to see it again. Not a chance. Several hours and one unbelievably expensive lunch later, we had recovered enough to attempt the dozens of puzzlers and mind twisters that always fill these sorts of places.