Aleutian Islands

Tonight I was doing a puzzle book and came across the clue "Aleutian Isle." All I knew about the possible answer was that it was four letters long and had two syllables.  All I knew about the Aleutian Islands is that they are by Alaska.  So of course I went to wikipedia to find out more.  Here are some interesting facts about the Aleutian Islands:

-The chain includes 14 volcanic islands and 55 smaller islands
-The islands extend about 1200 miles west from the Alaskan peninsula
-The islands have 57 volcanoes total
-The largest islands are Attu (which is the furthest from the mainland), Unalaska, Umnak and Akun.

Map of the Aleutian Islands

The answer to the question in the puzzle book was Attu.

What I learned: I learned about the Aleutian Islands.

Masada

After church today, we had our monthly meeting for the Grace Book Club.  I mentioned in a previous post that we read The Dovekeepers this month, which was an amazing book.  Angela came prepared, as always, with pictures on her tablet of Masada that included scale models of Herod's temple as well as actual photographs of what Masada looks like today.  Apparently there is a museum at the site that opened in 2007 and the author visited it and was able to be more accurate in her telling of the story since she was actually there and saw the ruins.  She was able to know exactly where the dovecote was in relation to other buildings for example.

In reading about Masada, I also found out this interesting fact:


"The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Moshe Dayan, initiated the practice of holding the swearing-in ceremony of soldiers who have completed their Tironut (IDF basic training) on top of Masada. The ceremony ends with the declaration: "Masada shall not fall again." The soldiers climb the Snake Path at night and are sworn in with torches lighting the background."

And lastly, I always thought that it was a confirmed fact that the Jews committed mass suicide to avoid being slaughtered by the Romans who had seiged Masada.  However, only 30 skeletons have been found at the site and there is no evidence of a mass burial.  This is odd since apparently there were 960 inhabitants at the time of the mass suicide.  I doubt that the Romans moved all the bodies off of Masada.  So it remains a mystery as to whether it was all a myth or did in fact happen.

What I Learned: It is not an historical fact that the Jews committed mass suicide at Masada.  Also, the Israeli Army uses Masada for their swearing-in ceremony.

VACATION!!!!

For the sake of time (and for fear of boring you), I will try to summarize this as quickly as possible.

Jared, Blake and my dad planned to go to Michigan on a fishing trip the first weekend of May to Jared's family's cabin. I wanted to come along with Avery initially but seeing as it will be two weeks from my due date and after the whole Georgia "vacation" debacle, I decided it would be more trouble than it was worth for me to go. My in-laws have been trying to convince me to come along so they can see me and Avery at the cabin while the men are fishing. Then today, Charmaine emailed me with some wonderful ideas and this is what was decided:

We are leaving on Thursday to drive to MI. I will be dropped off in Lansing at my best friend Mollie's house while Ken, Blake, Jared and Avery continue on to Flint. On Friday, they will all drive up to the cabin while I stay at Mollie's. On Sunday morning, Mollie, Matt, Lucy and I will head up to the cabin to join everyone else and stay until Monday evening. Then Mollie's family will head back to Lansing and we will head back to Flint, eventually heading for home on Tuesday. This means that a)I get to see Mollie, b)I get two days to RELAX FOR REAL while Avery is up at the cabin with everyone else and c)I still get to go to the cabin (because I do really like going).

The only bad thing is that I have never been away from Avery that long and hope that he is okay (and that I'm okay!) with being away from me for two days. But, if I'm ever going to take a break (and the clock's ticking so I don't have much time left before baby #2 arrives and I will be without a break for awhile again), what better situation to leave him in than in the care of three of his grandparents, both of his godparents and his father at a cabin, especially when Avery's favorite thing on earth right now is to play outside?

Thanks Charmaine for thinking of such a wonderful idea :)

What I Learned: Avery and I are going to go to MI after all and I will get a real break for two days!

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

Today, the choir that I am in, the Lutheran Acappella Choir of Milwaukee, sang at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago for their Sunday service.  The experience was really wonderful as I had never sung in a venue of that size and stature before.  However, the service itself was quite weird.  While the church is technically an Episcopal church, the church has an interreligious center and prides itself on its openness to all religions.  While that in and of itself is perfectly fine and wonderful, it doesn't really make sense that the church is Episcopal as it really seemed to mean nothing.  Besides that, the guest "preacher" was a theology professor at the college who basically just read his dissertation about Christian witnessing, or more appropriately, what he called Christian witnessing.  It was so hard to follow and was very scholarly and had no place as a sermon in a church service.  If anyone had come to that church to learn about Christianity, they would never come back.  To make the service even more weird, the service followed a very traditional layout with liturgy, scripture readings and hymns.  It was an odd mix of a very traditional Christian service with a much more secular sermon (if you can call it that) and communion practices.

Despite the oddities of the church service, we had a really good time and I really enjoyed walking around the church with Jared and noting all the cool architectural features and engravings.  The church was the size of cathedrals in Europe, so of course I loved it!

What I Learned: While the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel says it is an Episcopal Church, it only is so in name.

My smart cousin

Tonight I had practice for LAC and remembered that this coming Sunday is when we are going to Chicago to sing at the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago for their Sunday morning worship service. When I first found out about this performance, I called my cousin Laura who goes to school there to see if she could come for the service. She didn't know at the time if she would be able to come because it was a few months in advance. Well I just remembered that I hadn't talked to her about it since, and now it's in a few days! So I called her on the way home from choir and found out that of course, her department is having a conference this weekend that she's presenting at and won't be around at all :( It's funny that we finally are making it down to Chicago and of course Laura is busy being smart and awesome :) Oh well. Now we just have another reason to go to Chicago this summer to visit her!

What I Learned: Laura can't come to my choir performance on Sunday because she's presenting at a conference for her department.

Eating Out is Gross

Today is our last day in Georgia and I am seriously tired of eating out. We had originally planned to buy groceries so that we would be able to make all our meals, not only to save money, but also so that we wouldn't have to eat fast food every day. But when we got here, the fridge was already unplugged and the entire kitchen was packed up in boxes, so there was nothing with which to make food and nothing to store the food in. So we have literally eaten every single meal "out." I feel so gross. I can't wait to be able to make some food at home!

What I Learned: Eating fast food for 5 days is gross.

Muscle Memory

Since yesterday was such a nightmare for me and Avery, I decided to call my cousin to see if we could come over for a few hours just so I could get out of the house. I didn't want to drive to Snellville at all, but realized that the drive would afford me 2 less hours at the house, as well as the hours I would spend at Mandy's. Thankfully, Mandy and Brandon were available, so we headed over. I stopped and got Chick-fil-A for lunch first and then spent a few hours there playing Euro games. Avery had fun playing with a giant bin filled with old Happy Meal toys and watching Sesame Street. It was awesome.

I realized when I left Bill's that I hadn't been to GA in a little over two years, and even that time, I flew in, so I didn't do any driving. I wondered if I would need to look at a map to remember the best way to get to my cousin's house. But I soon realized that driving in Atlanta is kind of like muscle memory. As soon as I started, I knew which way to go and remembered as I went along. This may sound silly to those of you who are not from Atlanta, but Atlanta is not laid out in any way that makes sense, and it's about 10 times the size of any city in Wisconsin, so you really have to know your way around to get anywhere and none of the roads go north-south or east-west. There are many winding roads with many turns everywhere; there is never a straightforward way of getting to any one place.

Needless to say, I made it there easily after years of being away. I definitely prefer driving in Wisconsin and don't miss Atlanta at all still. I also realized that I have no desire to ever go to Snellville  again (except to visit my cousin of course!). I have no nostalgia for that place. I am so glad I left.

What I Learned: Driving in Atlanta is like muscle memory for me.

Bill's House

We arrived safely in GA this afternoon to find Bill's house all in shambles with stuff everywhere. Mostly there are just boxes all over the place, but while his house was not anywhere close to being baby-proofed before we arrived, it is certainly worse now with the move going on. On top of that, Avery remembered that he loves swimming in pools and so the sight of Bill's pool keeps making him super excited, only to be brought to tears when we have to keep him inside, far away from it. He doesn't understand why he can't go in the pool and he certainly doesn't understand why he can't go exploring all over this new house he's in. It's actually kind of a nightmare trying to be here with Avery. I hope that tomorrow there is some alternative to me staying in the house with Avery or it's going to be a long few days.

What I learned: Keeping Avery confined in Bill's house, in one room, is not only difficult for Avery to understand, but difficult for me to endure. Traveling with a very mobile and curious toddler is turning out to be the opposite of a vacation.

Unpredictable

Tonight, Jared, Ken, Avery and I left for GA around 8pm. We anticipated that Avery would fall asleep as soon as he got in the car because he usually goes to bed between 7:00-7:30. This he did. We also thought that he would sleep for 4-5 hours and then wake up for milk like he usually does. This he also did. But upon waking up, he couldn't fall back asleep because he was very uncomfortable, having been in a car seat for five hours. This was completely understandable. So we decided to just stop at a hotel so that we could all at least get some sleep and so Avery could fall back asleep comfortably. I thought that surely stopping at a hotel would give us all more sleep than continuing to sit in the car with a crabby baby.

But of course, when we got to the hotel (by this point it was 2am), Avery thought it was play time and stayed up until 5am and was wide awake. He finally fell asleep around 5:00, so our plans to leave around 7am were thwarted because Avery of course was so tired that he was sleeping. Jared only slept for two hours while I got about three (Thankfully, Ken slept through it all and got in a solid 6 hours of sleep, plus the few hours he slept in the car, so at least he was capable of driving). We finally left the hotel around 9:00. So what was supposed to be a more restful night because we broke down and got a hotel turned out to be even more tiring. I just hate that I can't predict when Avery is going to sleep and cooperate and when he's going to suddenly be wide awake and not sleep. Grr.

What I learned: Never assume what Avery is going to do when it comes to sleeping. I will be wrong.

Haircut

This morning I began my Day of Solitude with a free 30 minute massage at Elements Spa in Elm Grove. I then ate some lunch and checked into my hotel. Around 2:00, I got the hotel shuttle to bring me to Bayshore to the Vici Beauty School to get my hair cut. I got it ALL chopped off. I have never had my hair this short before and I really like it. I was so afraid that it would look bad and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it, but I have to say, it looks good and I feel like it makes me look older (and by that I mean, I now think I look my actual age). And since I donated the hair to Locks for Love, my haircut was free! I didn't know that beforehand, so that was a nice surprise.

What I learned: If you donate your hair to Locks for Love, your haircut is free and I look good with short hair :)

Possible Road Trip

My dad called me today to let me know that he is most likely driving down to Georgia next Thursday and wanted to know if Avery and I were interested in coming along. He is going to help his best friend Bill and my brother Sam move. Now I obviously can't help move really but it would be a great opportunity for me to go and see my friends before baby #2 arrives as the next time I can go to Georgia will most likely be more than a year and a half from now. I haven't been in two years so I want to go and see my friends but am dreading the idea of 15 hours or more in the car with Avery. I think I convinced Jared to take off work to come along as it will make it easier for me and it will be a nice break for us together, assuming we don't have to help move 24-7 while we're down there. We shall see.

What I learned: I have an opportunity to go to Georgia next week.

Hawaii

I have never been the type of person who enjoys hot weather. This is due to the fact that I lived in Georgia for 18 years, being sticky and gross and uncomfortable for most of the time. I hate it. So when it comes to going on vacations, I have also never been the type of person who would ever want to go someplace warm or tropical. For our honeymoon, Jared and I went on a cruise in the Mediterranean in November when most people would have gone to the Caribbean for a cruise to get away from the Wisconsin winters.

However, after reading Moloka'i (see earlier post) and then watching The Descendants tonight, both of which take place in Hawaii, I really want to go there. Now I have always wanted to go to all 50 states (I think I've been to 35-40 of them) so in that sense, it's not that I didn't want to go to Hawaii. But now I want to plan a vacation there. I mean, I really really want to go. Maybe Jared and I can go there for our 5 year wedding anniversary next year...but probably not. Too bad flights are ridiculously expensive these days. :(

What I learned: I actually want to go on a vacation to Hawaii.

Priceline

I have never used Priceline.com before, specifically the "name your own price" feature. This is mostly due to the fact that I am leery of paying for something before I know exactly what I'm paying for. However, I know a few people who have used it before and have never heard any complaints. So when it came time for me to book a hotel in Milwaukee (I am getting a Day of Solitude, courtesy of my wonderful husband, where I will be leaving on Friday morning, 2 March and not returning home until the following afternoon. I have never left Avery for this long or overnight and think it will be hard, but I also haven't slept for more than 3-4 hours in a row in almost 2 years, so I need a break before baby #2 arrives! And I digress...) I decided to try it out. I only wanted to spend $40 at a hotel but wanted to stay in the Glendale area. Thinking that this would never happen, I filled out all the required information, gave them my credit card info, clicked "submit" and waited, assuming that it would come back saying that no hotel took my offer (I also said I required at least a 2 star hotel). But to my surprise, it came back with a 3 star hotel that took my offer! The Northshore Radisson Inn in Glendale had accepted my offer. I went to their website and pretended to buy the same room on the same night and it cost $130. And I got it for $40! What an awesome deal! I think I'll be using Priceline again.

What I learned: You can get awesome deals on Priceline.com.

Lady Gaga

This morning, my mom, Afton, Avery and I drove to MN to attend my great-uncle's funeral (which is tomorrow). In the car, we listened to a variety of music that we could all agree on. One of the last CDs we listened to was a burned CD of Afton's that had various current pop songs on it, including songs from Kelly Clarkston, Adele, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga. Afton was about to skip a song stating that Mom wouldn't like it, so I asked what it was-it was Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory. I told her that we should listen to it anyway and see if Mom would like it, because how would we know since she had never heard it before? And surprisingly, she really liked it! Who would have ever guessed that Mom would not just tolerate, but enjoy Lady Gaga?

What I learned: Mom likes Lady Gaga (well, at least the two songs she heard!).

Tolls and Mr. Jack Pocket

Today, Blake, Ken, Gary, Jared and I drove down to Board Game Barrister at Gurnee Mills for their awesome game sale (see post from the 12th). Upon arrival we soon realized that they really didn't have that much left in stock that we had heard of or that were on our lists. We looked up a lot of games online to see ratings, etc and finally decided on five new games (buy two, get three free!). Here are the games we purchased:

-Mr Jack Pocket
-Martian Fluxx
-Rush n' Crush
-In the Name of the Rose
-Megacorps

Ken and Blake got one game each while Gary got three. All in all, it was worth the trip. However, we found out on the ride down (too late of course) that apparently as of January 1st, the tolls in Chicago on 94 went up. The first toll, which I believe used to be $1.50, is now $2.80! I hate taking 41 but man, it looks like I'll have to do that from now on. Either that or buy an I-Pass.

After Avery went to bed today, mom agreed to learn Mr. Jack Pocket with me. This is a 2 player game based off of the board game Mr. Jack which is about Sherlock Holmes trying to catch Jack the Ripper. This pocket version of the game only takes 15 minutes and is really easy to learn but requires a lot of logic, so we both really liked it. Only four more games to learn!

What I learned: The tolls in Chicago almost doubled; how to play Mr. Jack Pocket.

International Date Line

Tonight we went to the annual Tiefel New Year's Eve Party. It was fun as usual, even though we were only there for an hour and a half (Jared's family was in town so we just made an appearance at the party and then went back home to celebrate the New Year with them). While we were I learned an interesting fact.

Apparently, back in 1892, the U.S. convinced Samoa to switch to the east side of the international date line in order to align their days with the U.S. and nearby American Samoa, a trading partner. In that year, they celebrated July 4th two days in a row to make the switch. Samoa was the last place on earth to see the sun set. Now, New Zealand and Australia are major trading partners and this causes problems as those countries are on the other side of the date line, meaning that even though they are really close together, when it's sunday in Samoa, it's already monday in New Zealand. In order to remedy this problem, on Thursday at midnight, they skipped right to Saturday the 31st. They are now the first place on earth to see the sunrise.

What I learned: Samoa skipped a day to move to the west side of the international date line.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/12/30/samoa-skips-friday-in-leap-across-international-date-line/

Chinese Parenting Tip?

My sister-in-law Anna is currently teaching English in Yinchuan, China. While she was back in the states for the summer, she related to us several stories, anecdotes and cultural differences. One of the things I found the most interesting (and disgusting) is that babies in China wear split pants-not diapers. They therefore relieve themselves wherever and whenever they please, whether it be in a building, in public, on the streets, on a bus, etc. This is completely socially acceptable. What is even worse, the parents are not expected to clean up after their child when this happens. The defecation is just left in its place until a worker cleans it up.

Fast forward to today when I was at playgroup with a group of moms. One of the moms, Jess, shared that she was also in China (in Yinchuan, too) a few years ago and related the fact to the rest of the moms about the split pants and babies going to the bathroom everywhere. I knew all of this since Anna had told us this summer, but then Jess continued and told us this: starting when babies are born, the mother whistles every time the baby goes to the bathroom (assuming they catch the baby in the act). After a few months, the baby associates whistling with going to the bathroom. Then, whenever the mom is somewhere where it is more convenient for the baby to go to the bathroom, the mom holds the baby out in front of her and whistles, and the baby goes to the bathroom! They train their kids like Pavlov's dog! I don't know whether to be shocked or impressed. I guess if I was too poor to buy diapers, I'd think of a way to control where and when my baby went to the bathroom, too if I could. I still can't believe that it is not expected for the mom's to clean up after their babies though. It's one thing to be too poor to buy diapers. It's another thing to walk into a building and have poop on the floor.

What I learned: Chinese mothers train their babies at a very young age to go to the bathroom on cue.

Scenic Drive

It was a beautiful fall day-the sky shone bright blue, clouds dotted the horizon, the sun was brilliantly shining off of amber trees-it was a sight to behold.  As we drove, the view improved. The trees were covered in golden, red, orange and some yet unchanged leaves. There were rolling hills offset with fields, quaint farm houses nestled in valleys and horses roaming open plains. Miles and miles passed and still, the sight continued. Where was this picturesque paradise? The farmlands of Wisconsin? Northern England? Somewhere out East? No. It was West Virginia.

Now West Virginia receives a lot of flak for being, well, West Virginia. I’ve driven through parts of West Virginia before, but not on this road. We were on Hwy 35 driving from OH through Charleston when we beheld this marvelous stretch of American Road. When the scenic view ended, we were also surprised to see how picturesque Charleston, WV was. The capital was built along the Kanawha River and cut into the Appalachians. There are dozens of bridges spanning the river, guiding traffic to opposite banks of the city. The freeway wound through the city giving drivers and passengers gorgeous views of both sides of the town. As we were leaving the city, the capitol building greeted us, a beautiful dome rising above the river. I really wanted to stop and walk around the city. I have to admit, I can’t wait to drive back this way in a week. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so surprised going someplace (sorry if there are any West Virginians reading this; I mean no offense). It was seriously one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever taken.

What I learned: Despite it's reputation, West Virginia is at least a beautiful state to drive through.