A Joyous Distraction

I just got back last night from a week of taking my family to see my family. My wife Sandy, and my son Adam just went to Indiana for a week to show Adam off to his brother, sister, paternal grandmother and three aunts. He charmed everyone, including a lot of people in airports and on airlines in the process of getting their and back. I think the reason why babies are so cute is to make their heads bigger when everyone tells them how adorable they are. Adam is nearly always not only happy, but enthusiastically happy. He is also affectionate. It makes one want to spend a lot of time with him, and he always wants the attention. The price for all this happiness and affection is that he is wearing Mommy and Daddy out. He wants to be held but he twists and squirms to see things and just hanging on to him is very tiring, as is holding him as he jumps up and down on my lap. As a result, I am not getting things done as I would like, including keeping up with my classes and investments, as evidenced by the fact that I was interrupted three times while writing this post. Not being able to invest the money in my IRA may not have been a bad thing, though. The stock market is at its lowest point of the year and apparently headed lower.

Bringing Technology to Silicon Valley

The week of being trained last week did not get off to a good start. Getting to the meeting was a hassle because the 8:19 a.m. Acela Express train to Washington was cancelled. I got my tickets changed to the 8:45 a.m. regional train to Washington, but it did not arrive in New Haven until about 10:00 a.m. and didn't leave until about 11:00 a.m. because a switch was frozen. Each stop took longer than usual because several doors were frozen. My arrival in Washington, which was supposed to be at 12:47 p.m., did not happen until about 6:00 p.m. I think Amtrak needs to devote more resources to equipment maintenance. Before the training got started the next morning, we trainees were herded into a small room to fill out forms to have security badges issued to use. The only information on the forms was names and Social Security numbers, and did not have to be signed. Since the information on the forms was already available, I think the forms and the cattle treatment was unnecessary. The badges should have been made ahead of time and waiting for us.

The object of the training, the electronic folder, is quite an amazing process. To put it briefly, hearing offices are going to have to learn a lot of technical knowledge in a short period of time. Right now, I am in the second week of training, where I help give the training to a hearing office. The trip to San Jose was long, and the other trainer and I were taken to the wrong Hyatt Hotel because the brochure for courtesy shuttles only listed the one nearest the airport, and we didn't know that there was more than one Hyatt here. San Jose, California is a beautiful city with a beautiful climate. I tend to favor places were palm trees grow. Teaching technology to people working in the heart of Silicon Valley - wouldn't that be something to put on a resume?

A Memorable Week

Sandy and I flew to Guatemala City on Saturday, January 15. Sandy, Adam, and I flew back on Friday, January 21. The fact that more of us flew back than flew there was obviously the most memorable part of the week. The first major event was the fact that our luggage was not on the airplane when it arrived in Guatemala City. I promised myself that I would mention in this post that DELTA AIRLINES LOST OUR LUGGAGE. It arrived the next day. Sandy and I toured Lake Atitlan and Chichicastelnango on Sunday, and toured Guatemala City and Antigua on Monday. We took possession of our new son on Tuesday, after waiting in the lobby for two hours past the time when we expected him. We spent that night without a crib because there were so many babies in the Marriott. When the crib arrived the next night, one of the wheels was held on by rubber bands and it kept falling out if the crib was moved much. The rest of the week was just great, however. Adam was well behaved even during the wait at the U.S. Embassy for his resident visa and for the flight back. However, he had diarrhea, and refused to take any formula until we called his pediatrician in Guatemala on Thursday morning. He suggested a different brand of formula, and Adam started getting nutrition again. Until I saw him drinking the first bottle of the new formula, I was afraid he was going to come to the United States only to starve here. After a week in sunny, warm Guatemala, we arrived at Bradley International Airport, north of Hartford, and the pilot announced that the temperature was 5 degrees Farenheit. I said to Sandy that Adam is going to think that he was kidnapped by Eskimoes. The next morning Blizzard Charles hit. If we had delayed the arrival in Connecticut for one more day, it would have meant being unable to come home until today (Sunday) because Bradley International Airport closed at 6 p.m. Saturday because of the blizzard.

Adam is a beautiful, happy baby and everyone who met him is thoroughly charmed. His foster mother and her daughters cried when they said goodby to him. I can imagine that saying goodbye after living with such a little charmer for 7 months has to be extremely difficult. Having to say goodbye to him for just a few days when I leave for Washington tomorrow morning is also going to be difficult.

One of the chores Sandy will be faced with while I am gone is to try to make sure that Adam's Certificate of Citizenship, which is supposed to arrive within 45 days has his name as Adam Jefferson Enders, rather than Carlos Andres Enders, which is the name on his passport and his visa.