Selena is not allowed out of the house for one month, so says Confucius.

Okay, maybe it’s not a decree specifically from the ancient Chinese philosopher specifically but somewhere between his time and the beginning of the Lo Dynasty (two weeks ago) the Chinese rules for ... [ more ]]]>

Confucius say "You're grounded, Selena."

Selena is not allowed out of the house for one month, so says Confucius.

Okay, maybe it’s not a decree specifically from the ancient Chinese philosopher specifically but somewhere between his time and the beginning of the Lo Dynasty (two weeks ago) the Chinese rules for a new mom were determined.

They are:

• Drink only special Chinese tea
• Eat only special Chinese chicken soup
• Do not go outside

At first I thought these were ancients customs, good to know in that understand-your-heritage sort of way. But, no, they are being taken this very seriously.  I know because of how many people come to visit bearing chicken soup.

Selena’s dad, step-mom, aunt and uncle, her dad’s friends, and even our have dropped by to see Kaylee and brought with them the special Chinese chicken soup.

With each new guests arrival, it became clearer to me that this was a conspiracy. I have been in the dark, while the greater Chinese culture was cooking Chicken soup, mixing hot teas and getting ready for Selena’s recovery month.

And how has Selena taken to being grounded by her culture?  Pretty well. She’s been recovering from the surgery, so she’s hardly been interested in even going upstairs, much less out on the town.  Plus, she prefers warm beverages anyway, so that was no biggie. The real aspect that’s required some discipline for Selena has been the food. Chicken soup is good on occasion, but she’s had to eat quite a lot of it. When this month is over (in about two weeks), I know she’s going to be craving some good eats.

My brother Jeff went skiing this year on our annual pilgrimage to the Poconos. It may not sound blog-worthy, but this is the first time he’s strapped on a pair of skis since 1992 when on a high school class ski trip ... [ more ]]]>

Skiers on the ski trip (Jeff at center)

My brother Jeff went skiing this year on our annual pilgrimage to the Poconos. It may not sound blog-worthy, but this is the first time he’s strapped on a pair of skis since 1992 when on a high school class ski trip he was ridiculed by the jackass instructor. Jeff finished the lessons, returned the skis and (despite coordinating a ski trip to Shawnee annually for 10 years now), never returned to the slopes… until this year.

For our book club, Selena and I are both reading World War Z – The Oral History of the Zombie War.  I am only half way through the book, but I have already mentally shredded my Zombie Contingency Plan. I realize now how naïve and foolish I ... [ more ]]]>

World War Z

For our book club, Selena and I are both reading World War Z – The Oral History of the Zombie War.  I am only half way through the book, but I have already mentally shredded my Zombie Contingency Plan. I realize now how naïve and foolish I was when I made that plan.

My whole plan involves hiding for a series of days. But if the zombies do rise, they will grow in number feasting on civilians far faster than our military will be able to build the force to eliminate them. It would likely be a lengthy battle of years, with our human side taking heavy initial casualties (that would then become essentially defectors).

So, now I need a new plan, something that involves running like hell or stockpiling some ammunitions I think. Perhaps I’ll finish the book and see how those humans won that war, and take some pointers from there.

The whole Hunt was done on foot in a section of DC that was mapped out ... [ more ]]]> This past Sunday I was running around downtown DC with about 10,000 other people trying to solve riddles and piece together clues to win a $2000 prize. It was the second annual Post Hunt.

The whole Hunt was done on foot in a section of DC that was mapped out in the Washington Post Magazine. Solving some initial trivia told you where on the map to go to find the five clues. At each of these five points were Post Hunt volunteers providing the clues in brilliantly creative manners, such as:

House Bill 98999

Two faux members of the House debating the merits of the text of bill 98999 and stating that it lacked accountability. Nowhere in the text of the bill could you find one word of accountability.

Do you get it?

For this clue you had to pull out your phone and “text” the word “accountability” to the number 98999. You immediately got a response that “The solution is a simple majority”. Being that this was a faux bill in the House of Representatives, which has 435 members, the majority would be 218. That was the answer: 218.

All the answers were numbers and corresponded with clues in that same Post Magazine. Once you had all five clues you were prepared to hear the final puzzle, which would be a race to finish, first one to solve it wins the whole Hunt.

We did ace all five clues, but sadly, we took a wrong turn in the third or fourth step of the final puzzle and ended up not finishing. Still, it wasn’t about winning or prize money, it was about you and your team having that eureka moment when you suddenly discovered a right answer.

I am really glad I joined a team to play this year and familiarized myself with the event, and hope I can get a lot of you all out next year to join me on the Hunt.

Over the past few months Selena and I have been going to open houses and trying to formulate an idea of what we would want in our next home. We will be leaving condo living behind and moving ... [ more ]]]>

We do really like our proximity to Rockville Town Center

Over the past few months Selena and I have been going to open houses and trying to formulate an idea of what we would want in our next home. We will be leaving condo living behind and moving into our own home with more room, and more storage and a big kitchen and preferably a man-cave.

So the type of home we want is really taking shape, but we still can’t figure out where we would like that home to be. For as long as we’ve been in this area, we really don’t know it all that well, especially from a real estate perspective.

So, help us out blog-nation. Tell us where you think is the best area for Greg and Selena to live. Is it staying in Rockville? Moving to Tysons? What about Alexandria? Is PG County sketchy? How about Huntington?

And for those visitors to this blog that are not in the beltway, don’t feel you can’t weigh in as well. Why should we move back to Delaware or up to New York or Boston or San Francisco or down to Atlanta or Florida?

Let us know where you think is the best place to live in the comments below.

I will be trying to Twitter all through the next two days during baby’s first colonoscopy. And Greg will have to keep me in check and make sure I’m not twittering irresponsibly, like this person.

Well, this could very much be just too ... [ more ]]]> I’ve laid out all of my meals for tomorrow:

I will be trying to Twitter all through the next two days during baby’s first colonoscopy. And Greg will have to keep me in check and make sure I’m not twittering irresponsibly, like this person.

Well, this could very much be just too weird, but you know me…pushing the limits of uncomfortability.

There’s a simple reason. Girls have something to be gained from it. We secretly kinda like it, right? Because admit it, guys, it’s impressive when ... [ more ]]]> After pondering this for the entire day, I’ve come to a conclusion: Girls are much more susceptible to becoming geeks than guys are to becoming “sensitive.”

There’s a simple reason. Girls have something to be gained from it. We secretly kinda like it, right? Because admit it, guys, it’s impressive when a girl can hold her own in a conversation about why Return of the Jedi was the best of the original trilogy. Or to correct another person on the number of times the Patriots have gone to the Superbowl. So we girls are actually accepting this geeky knowledge because it makes us still feel marketable when we’re off the market, but at the same time, brings us closer to the men we love. Win/win.

Whereas, if a guy were to bust out their reasons on why Blair and Chuck just belong together, it’s not quite as hot, is it? In fact, it’s a little skeevy.

So there you go. Any girliness your man exudes is all for you and no other reason. Isn’t that sweet to know?

NOTE: This is a repost, regretfully all previous comments were lost