Maiden outing of the GoPro Camera. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Oh, and this....
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Geeks Unite
I'm so excited! This is a piece I've been wanting to write for a long time and finally I had the chance to bring it to life for ParentMap this month. It originally started back in October as a short article about how contemporary parents who grew up as geeks in the 80's have spread that love and appreciation to their kids. But when I pitched it, my editor got super excited about developing it a little more. It now includes how kids/teens now have embraced Geekdom and how it's become such a source of unbridled pride and identity. I personally think one of the big differences is the Internet. It's really amazing to see how it's linked people together in a good way. Despite some of the scary aspects of the world wide web there is this ability to assemble your tribe and not feel so alone as a geeky kid if you don't happen to have like-minded individuals in your school or immediate vicinity.
As a bonus, they made my story the cover/feature for the February print issue. This growing-up geek story is titled "Geek Love" in the magazine. I'm really proud of it and excited to start 2014 with a bang.
(Click the link in the sidebar or on the image below)
As a bonus, they made my story the cover/feature for the February print issue. This growing-up geek story is titled "Geek Love" in the magazine. I'm really proud of it and excited to start 2014 with a bang.
(Click the link in the sidebar or on the image below)
Monday, February 03, 2014
Superbowl Afterglow
How 'bout them apples? The city of Seattle is beside itself after the rare event that one of its teams not just won but dominated a world championship sporting contest. Admittedly, it felt so righteous to be on the dishing side of a monumental walloping. Most definitely I give homage to the true fans who live and breathe the ups and downs of the team and commit to it on a very deep level. I understand this commitment as seen through my grandpa and dad where the WSU Cougs are concerned. As the years tick by, a connection to a team can sometimes become so engrained that you wonder if you ever had a choice in the matter.
However I can't begin to say how thankful I am to have married a man who does not devote his weekends to sports. As if nothing could be more normal, like Joe Namath in a full length fur coat, my husband only starts taking an interest in Seahawks football during playoff time. It's at this point he also begins using the pronoun "we" when referring to the Seahawks team. This is not a slight to him but more of an observation that he genuinely feels that inclusiveness. But from my vantage, we have not burned the hours in front of the TV or expended the emotional capital to earn that "we."
Because, once an emotional connection is made to a team, it is hard to go back. It's why I can only stand to attend one live game of WSU's per season and why I only track their scores during other games or watch highlights after the fact. I just can't take it. A team like WSU carries some psychological baggage that foils it's own success and swagger at times. I think it's human to relate to that and hope to one day prevail. But I seriously get anxious watching their games. The Seahawks though are a totally different story as evidenced by last night's lopsided score and just looking at the face of Peyton Manning. The larger "drama" of the game keeps football interesting and NFL Films knows that. They keep their fingers firmly affixed to the nostalgia button and emotion switch. Slow motion music swells, stuff like that. NFL Films, quit making me feel things!
Don't get me wrong, I am happy for the devoted fans and for my town. It's nice. It's all anyone can talk about. It's something that brings us together. On several phone calls this past week to people I didn't know previously, the conversation ended with their valediction, "Go Hawks!" I mean, that's something. But I also feel a bit of a hypocrite when I reflect on how macho, violent and injurious the sport has become. I wish the players wouldn't hit so hard, I wish they wouldn't hurt each other so badly, and I wish the spectacle surrounding football didn't promote such a culture of boorishness. It's nearly impossible to have it both ways: reveling in the victory yet having moral objections to the game itself. So I find myself of two minds and it's a weird place to be when the afterglow and civic pride is shining, for once, in Seattle.
However I can't begin to say how thankful I am to have married a man who does not devote his weekends to sports. As if nothing could be more normal, like Joe Namath in a full length fur coat, my husband only starts taking an interest in Seahawks football during playoff time. It's at this point he also begins using the pronoun "we" when referring to the Seahawks team. This is not a slight to him but more of an observation that he genuinely feels that inclusiveness. But from my vantage, we have not burned the hours in front of the TV or expended the emotional capital to earn that "we."
Because, once an emotional connection is made to a team, it is hard to go back. It's why I can only stand to attend one live game of WSU's per season and why I only track their scores during other games or watch highlights after the fact. I just can't take it. A team like WSU carries some psychological baggage that foils it's own success and swagger at times. I think it's human to relate to that and hope to one day prevail. But I seriously get anxious watching their games. The Seahawks though are a totally different story as evidenced by last night's lopsided score and just looking at the face of Peyton Manning. The larger "drama" of the game keeps football interesting and NFL Films knows that. They keep their fingers firmly affixed to the nostalgia button and emotion switch. Slow motion music swells, stuff like that. NFL Films, quit making me feel things!
Don't get me wrong, I am happy for the devoted fans and for my town. It's nice. It's all anyone can talk about. It's something that brings us together. On several phone calls this past week to people I didn't know previously, the conversation ended with their valediction, "Go Hawks!" I mean, that's something. But I also feel a bit of a hypocrite when I reflect on how macho, violent and injurious the sport has become. I wish the players wouldn't hit so hard, I wish they wouldn't hurt each other so badly, and I wish the spectacle surrounding football didn't promote such a culture of boorishness. It's nearly impossible to have it both ways: reveling in the victory yet having moral objections to the game itself. So I find myself of two minds and it's a weird place to be when the afterglow and civic pride is shining, for once, in Seattle.
Monday, January 06, 2014
In Remembrance of Betty Faulkner
Today, our dear friend Betty Faulkner was laid to rest in Poole, a town in southwest England. She was 88 and the wife of Ron, the kind-hearted, gourmet cook and jokester we lost in 2009.
She actually passed away on December 15, 2013 but it wasn't until today that they were able to do the service.
It was strange. On Dec. 11th, I reached out to her in email, knowing that her gardener monitored the account. Without getting too "woo-woo," I just had a feeling...an urgency to get in contact with her. In weeks leading up to this moment, my thoughts had drifted to days spent in England back in the mid-90's. How I had missed those adventures and the people I'd met during my time there--she being one of them. Though far removed from my current life, the memories and faces came back so strongly. I hadn't heard from Betty since last Christmas when she had sent a one-line mass-email wishing everyone a Happy Christmas but I had hoped I'd hear something.
When Ron had died, I would send a card to Betty every few months or so with a note and some updated pictures of us & the children. In every letter, I would ask her if she watched and liked Downton Abbey (one of my favorite shows). Because if nothing else, it was something that might bridge our far away lives and be something we might look forward to in the same timeframe.
But I never did find out if she liked Downton. A few days after I wrote the email, an alarming response from her gardener said that she had fallen and things were not looking good. And then two days later, a final email came confirming that Betty was gone.
It could not have been easy going on without Ron, Betty's constant companion for almost 62 years. I remember when Ken and I visited them in 2004 enroute to Italy where we would become engaged (though I didn't know that at the time). They took us to a local Indian restaurant. We simply sat as two couples, eating our dinner and talking. It was in the way they spoke to us and to each other--if I closed my eyes--I would have sworn it was a much younger couple. Something in the tenacity of their affection for one another and level of respect. They might have been older but they hadn't given up or been defeated by the weight of the world. (Mind you, they didn't have children either which while wonderful, definitely depletes some of your energy & life force.) But it was significant to me as an example of what was possible and that surprises came in many forms, young and old.
Though I'm not religious, I would like to think that Ron and Betty are together again somewhere. Their spirits so entwined are no longer separated by this plane of existence. Betty, I shall miss having a world with you in it but I am thankful for the moments we did have together.
1994 While having tea at a hotel overlooking Poole Bay:
Kali: "Look at that gorgeous sunset..."
Betty: "Yes. It's very big."
She actually passed away on December 15, 2013 but it wasn't until today that they were able to do the service.
It was strange. On Dec. 11th, I reached out to her in email, knowing that her gardener monitored the account. Without getting too "woo-woo," I just had a feeling...an urgency to get in contact with her. In weeks leading up to this moment, my thoughts had drifted to days spent in England back in the mid-90's. How I had missed those adventures and the people I'd met during my time there--she being one of them. Though far removed from my current life, the memories and faces came back so strongly. I hadn't heard from Betty since last Christmas when she had sent a one-line mass-email wishing everyone a Happy Christmas but I had hoped I'd hear something.
When Ron had died, I would send a card to Betty every few months or so with a note and some updated pictures of us & the children. In every letter, I would ask her if she watched and liked Downton Abbey (one of my favorite shows). Because if nothing else, it was something that might bridge our far away lives and be something we might look forward to in the same timeframe.
But I never did find out if she liked Downton. A few days after I wrote the email, an alarming response from her gardener said that she had fallen and things were not looking good. And then two days later, a final email came confirming that Betty was gone.
It could not have been easy going on without Ron, Betty's constant companion for almost 62 years. I remember when Ken and I visited them in 2004 enroute to Italy where we would become engaged (though I didn't know that at the time). They took us to a local Indian restaurant. We simply sat as two couples, eating our dinner and talking. It was in the way they spoke to us and to each other--if I closed my eyes--I would have sworn it was a much younger couple. Something in the tenacity of their affection for one another and level of respect. They might have been older but they hadn't given up or been defeated by the weight of the world. (Mind you, they didn't have children either which while wonderful, definitely depletes some of your energy & life force.) But it was significant to me as an example of what was possible and that surprises came in many forms, young and old.
Though I'm not religious, I would like to think that Ron and Betty are together again somewhere. Their spirits so entwined are no longer separated by this plane of existence. Betty, I shall miss having a world with you in it but I am thankful for the moments we did have together.
1994 While having tea at a hotel overlooking Poole Bay:
Kali: "Look at that gorgeous sunset..."
Betty: "Yes. It's very big."
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