HELLO QUINN

HELLO: This week, as we prepared to depart from AZ, we were blessed with Quinn Malaina, Mia and Brook's newest daughter. Mia and Quinn were both healthy and doing well; in fact, went home after only 2 days in the hospital. This is practically a miracle as for Mia to stay pregnant this long (37 weeks) she was on bed rest for 12 weeks. But we are past that now...and we celebrate with joy the reminder of a new life. The reminder of all things possible. The reminder of innocence and opportunity. I for one, celebrate that Piper, my Leo soulmate, should know the joy of a little sister.

Miss America

One of the blogs in my first "blogging year" was about Miss America (click the link to read it). Tonight, I saw a commercial for Miss America '08 - its on TLC this year. The tag line for the ad was quite clever: "Before there were TV dance contests and TV singing contests, there was a show where you had to be good at everything." To which I quickly said to myself "I am already inundated daily with images of incredibly beautiful but talentless women."

THAT'S IT! That is what has changed in America. Its why we aren't really all that interested in Miss America. We like the singing and dancing shows BECAUSE it isn't overly polished...and we like to root for the little guy - and we enjoy the experience of watching them get better..oh, and we like that the judges are even more catty than we are. Miss America lacks the human experience, the drama of evolution and the opportunity to "root for the little guy" and it TOTALLY lacks catty judges.

Even TLC knows that: they have another show on regularly (that I haven't watched): Miss America: Reality Check. I haven't seen it...but now I understand, showing Miss America TLC is a cross promo to market the show they created to mock the insanity of Miss America. Its all a little TOO camp for me.

I'm curious though, what my personal obsession is with Miss America.

Family Update

Every day, someone asks me about my sister and my Nana. And tonight, my sister wrote a beautiful update in her blog, so I was inspired to do so as well, especially since mine has been so...UGH lately.

You might recall that within the same week, Nana was hit by a car and at 24 weeks, Mia went into labor and was air-evaced to a hospital in Denver that could handle a pre-term baby that little. The week was horrifying. The only thing I could say to it was "everyone I love is still alive and safe..." and be grateful for that, despite the worry for everyone.

My sister is still pregnant. Despite what the doctors said about second pregnancies not being as long as first, as of yesterday, she beat that odd. She beat LOTS of odds - she has been on best rest for 12 weeks and in an out of the hospital just about every other week since she was released from the hospital. A total ARMY of people have made this bed rest possible, even with a 2 year old, not the least of which is my brother-in-law Brooks, his Mom and my Mom. In shifts, with love and dedication, they all did what needed to do -- while Mia did what I think is most amazing (the three of you will forgive me): STAYED IN BED. I mean, are you KIDDING ME?! SO - what was once an extremely serious life and death situation has turned into giggy anticipation of how long this pregnancy can last. Mia is 35 weeks..she is hoping for 38 weeks. After 12 weeks of bed rest, 3 more seems possible. We're out of the woods...and the sun is shining...and its going to be a beautiful day.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of life's journey - Nana has whipped up her own miracle. Last Sunday, Mom and Jeff and I went to see Nana in the care home she has been in since her release from the physical therapy center. She hasn't been out of bed for 12 weeks. So...we were shocked when she asked us indignantly (in response to a discussion we were having) "well, why WOULDN'T I walk?!" My Mom and I looked at one another. I tried not to act TOO surprised. I simply said "well, let's go for a walk." I have to tell you, I was honestly shocked. Amazed, grateful, but a little stunned. I mean, we knew she was physically ABLE to walk, but we thought she had forgotten she could walk. My Mom asked them to remove the wheel chair so she could forget she ever DIDN'T walk and she has been walking every single day. This is a beautiful thing for so many reasons...not the least of which is the fact that we can enjoy her at my Mom's again. When she was wheel chair bound, that just wasn't possible. Her eyes sparkled when we went for a walk, she held onto Mom and Jeff, but she didn't stumble, hesitate or show any sign of insecurity. She walked as she always has: with pride.

The mind is an amazing thing. Its powers are beyond our comprehension. It can do things that not even love can do. It can do what the fear in all of us is afraid to hope for. In the cases of these two amazing women (both Gemini's) it did what all the medicine in the world couldn't do: made up its mind, and did it. The mind just did what it was told to do, by two amazing women who never, never, never gave up.

I'm so honored by their internal power. I'm so envious of their strength. I'm so proud I'm related!

Adventure?? We Don't Need No STINKING ADVENTURE

When Jeff and I decided to move to Hawaii --- we did so in honor of adventure. In honor of "going with it" and celebrating life, and this time, which belongs to only us.

Well - be careful what you wish for...it might come true.

What you are about to embark on will be the truth, it will take a few minutes to read, but each portion of it is included TO THE LETTER of the communication so you, dear reader (and yes, I KNOW there is only one of you) can observe the true INSANITY of the experience.

Let me illustrate a series of email conversations with our moving company:

1/4/08 Tara: Hi Doug - can you advise when goods will ship to Long Beach?
1/4/08 Moving Company: Will advise as soon as we receive dims from Dirck's

EDITOR'S NOTE: RED FLAG -- the average person does not know WTF a "dim" is, I only recently learned and I work at a company that ships internationally all the time. For the record, its "Dimensions" and Dirck's is just another layer in the moving company rip-off.

1/8/08 Tara: Also, what is ETA - have the goods left Phoenix?
1/9/08: Moving Company: The interstate trucker should pick up the crates on Friday in AZ……..as soon as I have sailing info from Long Beach I will drop you an email……..roughly expect ETA port Honolulu about 20-30 days from today……

1/18/08 Tara:(3:15pm) Hope you are well. Just wanted to touch base with you see if there was any update as to sailing info from Long Beach?
1/18/08: (3:27pm) Moving Company: The car should arrive Hono today!! Call Matson HNL CAR DOCK for release...As soon as we have vessel info for the household goods we will advise…..

1/18/08 (3:49pm) Tara: :Oh DOUG! Not quite the 20-30 day window you advised; wish we could have had some advance notice and could have maybe made some arrangements. We are not in Honolulu yet. What is the storage cost/day for the car?
DEFINITELY need some kind of window on the household goods ASAP, before we buy our tickets.
1/18/08:Moving Company: Whoops………do you have a friend or someone you can authorize to pick up the car from Matson? Please call Matson to ask them about your options for pick up in Hono, free time, etc……sorry, assumed part of your family was there…..let me know what they say….MO…..please contact Pasha and check on vessel info for their HHGS ASAP.

EDITOR'S NOTE: LOVE it when they speak in code to the customer. For the uninitiated, "HHGS" means "Household Goods"...which inexplicably ship on a separate "vessel" than the car. In this email, he is asking yet another person in the moving supply chain about our "HHGS" - read: another piece of the moving pie.

Update: At this point I call Matson's and "Lewis" who explains that the "vessel" won't even arrive until tonight about 9pm. And they won't even get to unloading it until "sometime tomorrow, at the earliest" and that it will be a couple of days "before it gets to the pier" and all that to say this: it probably won't even be available for pick-up until sometime mid to late next week. I explain the situation and I must sound TOTALLY pathetic, he goes to "his manager" (I'm hoping this isn't some used car salesman tactic) to find out about storage. He returns to say "don't worry about it. you don't need to pay for storage." I am flabbergasted at this amazing turn of events and can only sputter out with "do I just tell them your name?!" When he tells me yes, I only believe him because just yesterday I called the telephone company about our phone order and wasn't asked for a social security, birth date, mother's maiden name or any other identity confirmation..the woman just HELPED ME?!! Bizarre.

1/18/08: (4:01pm) :
The HHGS are booked for:
Jean Anne v. 73
Departing 1/22
Arriving 1/28

Editor's Note: Yes, that is ALL the email says. Thank GOD I know the NAME of the "vessel" yes, yes, that is EXACTLY the information I was lacking. At this time I completely freak out and email Jeff with the "!" IMPORTANT code and say: you need to move January 28!!! It is in a brief moment of clarity, that I realize:

Tara: (5:03pm): Hi Doug -Can you please clarify - goods arrive Honolulu 1/28 - just so I am clear: when will they be delivered to our house? That's really what I need to know.

Moving Company: (5:12pm): I would get something in writing from Matson to confirm the free storage….always a good idea….Household goods can probably be delivered a few days after 1/31you will need to set the exact date with the delivery agent,they will not able to set a date until the goods are at port for sure it takes a 3-5 days for Crown to actual have the crates in their warehouse………once they have the crates, they can hold them for a few weeks at no charge. Hope this helps!!!

Editor's Note: Please note the FIRST HELPFUL ADVICE that I have received from this idiot and....the good news is that they can store our "HHGS" for weeks..WEEKS. Meaning we probably didn't need to rent our place as early as we did (just in case the "HHGS" arrived at the earlier part of said 20-30 window)..."

There are a couple of other exchanges, none of which do a single thing to make this any less stressful or more amusing.

Then, Jeff comes to pick me up (because my car is on a "vessel" in "Hono" tonight at 9pm) naturally, he hadn't read my "! IMPORTANT" email, so I explain it all to him. He takes me home..unlocks the door and immediately screams "Oh! MY GOD! DO NOT walk in here! Go for a drive! OH MY GOD, I don't believe it!" I push past him to see a trash bag and its entire contents strewn all over the living room floor. The dog, of course, is no where to be found. I walk upstairs as Jeff begins the stinky clean up...to be greeted by a very happy to see me dog..with a takeout bag hanging from his head..dragging on the floor. Finally. For the first time today..I laugh. I can not help it. And the dog, of course, senses that this is laughter, not anger...so he foolishly continues to drag the bag around and jump on me.

After I change clothes...I lose it. I freaking lose it. Finally.

Causing my husband to gently lay his hands on my head and raise his right hand and eyes to the skys and plead "Lord! Let these Demons be drawn from my wife."

None of this is not a lie, an exaggeration or an embellishment.

A New Election...A New America?

This is a really exciting time in the United States...its that time in the election cycle where the American voters are wooed...its like being young and single again..."OH! Who shall I choose?!" And just like those first few weeks of dating, we only see the good sides of the candidates. For the first time in my memory, there is a chance, that both the Republicans and the Democrats will go to the caucus without a forgone conclusion of the nominee.

And yet, there is something really different about this election. While the field is full of white men, I'm proud to be living in the time where there is a man of color and a woman running..there is also a Mormon and a former POW. I mean, what a fascinating group of people..do yourself a favor and WIKI your favorite candidate...all of these people have moved through life without a single moment's doubt that America is the place where their dreams can come true. One of the candidate's daughter is keeping a blog (mccainbloggette.com) and its exactly the blog you would expect from a 20 y/o (on her best behavior).

I have to say - THANK GOD. We're showing the world that we, as American's can at least entertain the thought of change. Every time I talk with people from another country (which is somewhat frequently) somewhere in the back of their minds...you know they are thinking: "is this one of the people who voted that idiot into office?". Perhaps in the near future, people will be meeting those of us from the States and SAYING "your President is amazing..."

Its going to be a fascinating year...and I hope an even more fascinating 4 years after that.

We can only hope.

What Will People Do For a View of Diamondhead?

Check out all the upgrades included in the view to Diamondhead.
(click it..go ahead)

NOW - its a 4bd, 1500 SqFt.

Let's here it folks - what do you think the (reduced) asking price on this place is? You have to post your answer to get the REAL answer.

No TV Update

Well - for those of you who missed the newsflash...Friday was the day that we shipped our "household goods" to Hawaii. Everything that we wanted to take is gone, and all that's left over are the items we decided not to take (including a bed, gratefully) and some toilet paper. We have no dishes, no silverware, no pots (to piss in or otherwise) one set of towels, and daily necessities (i.e. deodorant).

And guess what everyone keeps asking us? "What is it like to live without TV?!" Before I answer this question, and if you are one who asked this, you are in excellent company. Not one person has asked anything else first, regardless of age, sex, or race.

So here is the "no TV" update. Its surprisingly easy and refreshing. Jeff and I are both on our computers quite a bit more, and I can honestly say that if I had to live without my computer that would be the worse hardship. We read the entire paper today, we have seen two movies, we have been in bed at decent times. Its quite. No trying to talk louder than the TV, no commercials blaring in the background. We talk and listen to one another without distraction. I urge you to try it -- put your TV in the garage for a weekend. Granted, its a little easier to do right now given the writer's strike..but try it. Call it an experiment in communication.

I have to be honest - when I realized that we would be sans TV, I did have a moment of panic. Then I remembered I am reading a good book and Vanity Fair should be in my mailbox soon. But I do have to ask: "What does this say about us!?" What does it mean when not one person has asked how we are eating since we have no cooking or eating utensils? What does it mean that no one has asked if we even have a bed or sheets for said bed? What does it mean when TV is so incredibly integrated into our lives that it is almost part of the family? It means just that: we have so accepted this intrusion, it has become like any other addiction: a friend you can not imagine living without. It's a little crazy. It's a little sad. When I was a child, we were not allowed to spend endless hours in front of the TV, but that didn't stop me from becoming an adult who does..even as I watch "The Biggest Loser" and know that my time would be better spent getting back to the gym. I WATCH cooking shows...and occasionally I even cook. I watch the "Dog Whisperer" then turn around and scream at my dog. So I guess what I am wondering is just like every other addiction, what does this device ADD to my life? Entertainment...OCCASIONALLY. What it really provides me is the opportunity to escape - escape any serious discussion, any serious thoughts and any challenge. While I need to veg as much as anyone..I really think I can do that without completely tuning everything else out.

Before I leave you, I must tell you - this will probably be the last "No TV" update as we are borrowing one from Jeff's brother. =)

1/7/2008 Editor's Note:
Jeff has found out that you can watch Family Guy on YouTube and I figured out you can watch Desperate Housewives right from the ABC site (with about 2 minutes of commercial - TOTAL) WHO NEEDS TV?!!??? COMPUTERS ROCK!!!