on romantic chicken dinners

we don't celebrate Valentines day, we simply have to many dates, our days are the 9th and the 23rd of every month - 23rd when we met and I proposed a year later and the 9th was both wedding events, buying the house, baby shower and soon - April 9th will be the delivery date, already checked with the stork. so one day of us having to buy something seems fake to me, i prefer bring flowers occasionally , which i do now, more meaningful. so I was surprised when Alla brought me something yesterday. just a coincidence actually with valentines day but she got us sheets and pillows. when i heard that she got pillows, i immediately asked if she got me a very soft pillow, which i like, the answer was no, I got extra firm.. we laughed.

 

on the weekend with my mom visiting, the day was nice so we went on a hike, with no proper show gear for our guests we walked on the bike path which was clean of snow but with out signs of salt. with clear skies we walked for 7 k with regular walking speed, enjoying the brisk air and a pack and scaring off a pack group of deer. this was a straight hike, not  a loop. we parked the car on one end, and Inna , who joined the hike later at the other end and drove us back, a moment of scare passed when we couldn't find the car, well a moment of panic for Alla, her car after all, i just thought it was towed. we were just looking in the wrong place.

 

today, valentines day, while Alla is enjoying her day at the pharmacy, i went with a friend to a local pub for wings night, nothing is more romantic then wings. on wings night they come in packs - you cant get less then 10 in any flavor, and without honey mustard, we chose garlic Parmesan and Cajun. i don't go for the really hot wings, too hot for me, and yet i got burnt. the oil inside was super hot- temperature wise, burnt my tongue a bit. the chicken was OK, the Cajun better then the garlic, but the oil, oMG, so much oil, the chicken was drenched, a pool of oil appeared on the table below the wood like plate and some paper layer, the oil dripped down like acid in some movie, i needed ice cream after that just to cure my self from the oil.

 

happy valentines day and good night, about to try my extra firm pillow

 

p.s photos from baby shower

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/album/102015945709160921852/5844639733717433121#photos/102015945709160921852/albums/5844639733717433121

 

 

 

 

 

on double dipping, Giraffes and orange things

this weekend i entered the most secretive of secretive places, a thing that no man ever experiences, it's not a baccalaureate party , they have male cops or fire fighters or other uniformed guy. its not a book club or an Alanis Morissete concert. i am talking about the baby shower. its true, there are co-ed baby showers, but this was different around 25 woman + me (well + one feuds still unborn). I am here to tell you all about this bastion of woman.

 

I had my concerns about attending this event, didn't know what to expect, what to do, and most importantly, what not to say or do as not not embarrass the expecting mother, so I took a big book with me just in-case i have to sit in the garage and wait for the party to be over.

 

we left our house 2 minutes before the party started, which is a record for us this year i think and were only 20 minutes late for our own party, the room was full of estrogen by the time we arrived. A Russian crowd arriving on time is something rarely seen. we settled in and a few minutes later, the hostess .a,k.a sister in law Rita asks me what game to start to break the ice. I am of course the wrong person to ask, if you want to know why, read the paragraph above this one. lucky someone takes charge and people are herded towards the food- salads, Salmon, caviar, potatoes. I wait till the end of the line since we had a late brunch today, but few people suggest i eat something (lots of Jewish moms here...), so i take an orange plate of salmon, carrots and oranges, peppers when the 1st game begins.

 

a blue ribbon is presented and each person must identify the correct girth of Alla's belly, most guesses were way off, not sure if that's a compliment or not. i try to guesstimate by the length of my hug, but i need to asses my own body as well. I come close to the being the closest, but 2 estimates are better.

 

I continue to try to finish my plate of orange things when the next game is decided and its my game.

my game was simple- power point of multiple choice questions such as, what did Alla do when she found out, how she plans to decorate the baby room etc.. the crowd had to shout out their answers and each question prompted a discussion of about a minute with most question receiving all possible answers by the various individuals.- the most important question from my end is what color i said the wall was after it was painted in pool blue- i said it was green.

 

i resumed attempting to finish of my orange plate when the 3rd game begun, lucky i had a big brunch or this would have become the hunger games.

 

next came a set of few games

one was to guess baby names- a sheet of paper was given with clues about 15-20 clues of boy and girl names- such as "when flowers bloom" for girls- April or may (this game will not work well in Israel, there is no girls name February or march). this was an easy question, most were but some were harder. i like this kind of activity, especially the competition part of it. some people cheated!!! in a baby shower and contacted out side help!! and even shared effort. i was close again, but no victory.

 

next came a guess the word baby in different languages- its easy to spot Russian fonts- but not so trivial to differentiate Japanese ad Chinese if you never tried to notice the difference- i try logic and get this one right- Chinese is more artsy but fail between Spanish, dutch and German, again come in close and not close enough

 

during the process, people talk, eat some more, wish us happiness and give advice, a regular party.

the last game is some sort of torture.

 

we have 8 organic baby foods, without labels, we have to set them on our plate and identify what they are - we have the total list of options.

i don't recall what i ate as a baby, no one does i guess, and thanks heavens for that, that was the worst thing imaginable. i was making involuntary faces as i was trying to determine the different between a despicable winter squash to horrible butter nut squash (not winter) and something else. yuk! poor babies.

after sampling a few- they all start to taste the same, my pallet is so messed up right now that i even mis-guess the banana (with something else). i manage to guess 3 right- by color- green for spinach and the worst tasting one for the winter squash. after that i need immediate emergency taste bud relief. a whole can of orange juice doesn't do it. i try a few more things with no luck, the after taste remains. kiwi comes to the rescue, these are thinly cut, i basically just eat them of the big serving plate (and receive a comment about it, kind of a double dipping thing), but it was an emergency... so bad.

 

after the games , its time for the present , which mostly we chose of the registry, but it is still very nice to see them unwrapped. lots of bags with gifts and when they open, i get a dedicated commentary on the usage of every specific item, for what it is used, why is it needed etc.. very use full. strangely the present that is clearly my favorite is a toy giraffe , the most unusable item, but i had a fetish for those.

 

its time to clean, say good bye and thanks to the guests, the hosts and the kiwi, fully load the car with all the gifts. and now the rest of the guys come in...

 

thank you all for the amazing gifts, and a fun event.

 

so guys, if you are invited, you can attend, its fun and no one bites

 

p.s- photos to follow soon

 

 

on tackle the groundhogging

on this snowy and cold morning, instead of sleeping in, I headed down town. this is groundhogs day- and I sill have not heard if Phil saw its shadow or not. I was hoping to go this year but I have a presentation and test next week, and all cannot drive me there, to allow me to study in the car (cause she's working). well, need to better plan for next year. so instead, I went to the other event that happens on this day annually, tackle the tower. they have it in many cities, pick some tall building and run to the top. I always assumed it was the terminal tower, or the key tower, the highest in Ohio, so naturally i parked next to it, but saw no crowds. it's minus 9 Celsius out side right now, not good weather for just wondering around looking for the location, but that is what i did, key tower was closed, terminal seemed empty, so i finally looked at the web site that pointed me to the other side of down town (lucky its not big) and reach the galleria building, only 38 floors. but I was here, so might as well, check this item off the list. paid, put on the race shirt with too many sponsors on the back, saw the super hero green lantern (i think it was him, or more likely, some guy wearing his custom), Ronald McDonald was also there, but he is not a super hero, just a guy promoting fat. there was no coat check, so i went up with a bag that held my sweatshirt, camera, coat, watter. i really should prepare for these better, i start walking up and regret the whole thing right away, I don't know why stairs are so much harder then running or elliptical- i did 8.5 miles the previous night on the elliptical ans was not winded, but after 1 flight of stairs i feel like quitting. they divided it to a runners stair case and a walker stair case- to prevent trampling, i pass some people, catch my break, drink some water while the people i passed, pass me, and this cycle continues to the top, at time passes , i stop more frequently but for shorter periods and reach the top in 13:29 , personal best (well, since this is my 1st any result would be best). just for comparison , the winner last year did it in 4 minutes, the best result under age 10 was around 7. they also have a firefighter race- same thing just in full fire fighter gear, the heavy clothes, the oxygen tank and hat- their best time was 7 minutes.

i just had my natural baggage and my nylon bag. next year will try to do better - i can probably knock off 2 minute just by not stopping. just compared my time to last years result- i would rank about 800th out of 900 runners.

 

about 3 weeks ago I finally used a groupon and took a fencing lesson. I know little of real fencing, just what they show on the Olympics, but I definitely like movies with sword fighting. I drive after work to somewhere on the west side and i can't find the building, no house numbers (its a general problem in Cleveland for big buildings), i find house numbers close on either side , and assume i found the right one, it has a small inner parking lot with a basket ball, but no sign pointing to the fencing school. its dark out and i think i need a sword in case someone tries to mug me. finally someone comes, with irregular shoes- and they show me the way. climbing only 3 flights of stairs to a big parquet floor loft.

 

the 1st thing i learn is that this is not sword fighting, no gigantic movements, fancy twirls and holding the sword with both hands shouting in the name of whatever... or my name is Inigo Montoya , you killed my father, prepare to die. instead, its quick delicate movements, I assume the position, one leg in front of the other back 90 degree angle and after one minute of just foot work, back, advance, back advance , i begin to feel my thigh muscles, already!!!! fudge, this will hurt later, after a couple more minutes of foot work i am given the sword, its of the thin type meant for stabbing, not the movie swords. now i repeat the foot work with the sword and jab when the teacher tells me, i jab him btw, and still somehow try not to jab too hard to wound him, he doesn't seem too feel it, the practice continues and i learn several moves. this is just like dancing, i can do the foot work, i can do the hand work, but i can't really do them both at the same time. the next practice is sword vs tennis ball. i have to hit the ball in motion, while maintaining foot work, need more work on this, but i do whack the ball, now the teacher holds a swords as well, and its 50 cm from my eyes, or feels like it and its a rush! so i have to move back and forth and lunge a head while try not to stare at the sabre in front of me, not trivial, it spikes my adrenalin.

after another 30 minutes of breathless back and forth, lunge , back, and few more moves i rest and suit up in gear, not the full thing, but close enough, the suit, the under armor, the glove mask and sword and face a veteran student for my first real fight. i try to focus on what i was taught, defend, then attack, I block her shot, and before i am half way trough my lung, she recovers and strikes. I am too slow! and the sword hits my thigh which is in protected, it hurts for a split second and no more, but i try to be more cautious , focus on defence, and on occasion, strike, i am hit a few more times, and finally at some move i manage to strike my self, but i am sure she let me have one. this is a really fun sport which i want to find a way to fit to the schedule and only if i can do a lesson and not suffer from thigh pains for 3 days like i did now.

 

 

cheers from the tower

happy ground's hog day