Our Two Girls 

Silly face 

Sick as a dog

My cold is not getting any better, so I think I'm going to go home early and rest. Otherwise I may not make it through the day tomorrow, since I'll be home with the Two Girls. I also have laryngitis, which is a new experience for me; I can't recall ever losing my voice before.

I'm going to try to take my laptop to bed and do some email from there. Not sure if the signal will reach up two floors. We shall see.

Welcome Margrethe

Margrethe is going to post on the Two Girls blog, so please welcome her.

I'll also get some more pictures up soon.

Home again

We're home from our annual Christmas trip and everyone is safe and sound. The trip back was quite smooth. Julia was pretty well-behaved and Dora was very good. She didn't have any tantrums or crying and only complained that she wanted to be home faster a few times. Since I agreed 100%, it was hard to be impatient with her. She enjoyed watching movies on Daddy's laptop quite a bit. I think we'll have to look into getting a portable DVD player for the future.

We all had a good time at Aunt Deborah and Uncle Robert's house. Dora says she misses her cousin and wants to go back. Of course, while we were there she said her cousin bothered her and she wanted to go home. There's no pleasing a three-year old.

Gaiters

For my niece:

The neck gaiter is a vital component of the cold weather comfort arsenal. It's basically a stretchy fleece tube that you wear around your neck. It's easier to use than a scarf, since it doesn't need to be wrapped and adjusted. It can be pulled up over your chin and nose for when it's really cold, yet isn't as bulky as a face mask or balaclava. It also doesn't look as geeky.

Here's some examples: http://www.rei.com/online/store/Search?storeId=8000&query=*&cat=40003633&vcat=REI_SEARCH

Raise

I got my raise today and it's pretty substantial. 13.8% (how do they come up with these numbers?) so I'm ahead of my sister-in-law, at least for the time being. This goes along with my promotion, so I am doing quite well there. I am also supposed to be on the list for an office of my own (I share at the moment) so we'll see how things go.

UPDATE:

I've actually figured out how my raise was calculated. The COLA is 3.8%, and the raise for my promotion is 10%. Not as mysterious as it would first appear.

Gonna be a cold one today

Whenever I'm asked where I grew up, and I respond that I am from California, I inevitably am told that I must have trouble getting used to how cold it is in Chicago. I usually don't explain how I am actually not that fond of California weather, and how I like having four distinct seasons. Still, it's a fair observation. How does a third-generation Californian cope with the cold?

The answer is that it really isn't that hard, once you learn a few tricks. You need a good coat, preferably a parka. And a hat. And you really need a scarf at least; a neck gaiter is better. Gloves are optional unless you're going to spend a long time outdoors, like shoveling snow.

I've also been working on a list of stages of cold, to enlighten those who live in warm climes.

Anything above 50 degrees is not cold.
In the 40s is when you first start to see your breath. This is required before you can claim that it's cold. No breath means it's only "cool."
In the 30s is when it starts to feel cold (assuming you have the proper gear. If you don't it's cold well before this.) Unless there's significant wind, though, it's not too bad.
Once it dips into the 20s it really starts to feel cold. Even with appropriate gear it can feel uncomfortable, especially with the wind. The ground starts to freeze a bit at this stage as well.
When it goes below 10 degrees is when you start to feel your nostril hairs freeze. This is a very strange sensation. I think sound is affected at this temperature as well. Everything seems quieter.
Below zero the landscape starts to feel alien, as if you are walking on another planet. Your nose freezes, sounds are attenuated, you are wearing the equivalent of a space suit; it's all very strange.

The coldest I've been in was last year, walking along Wacker drive by the Chicago River, when the temperature dipped to -3 with a wind of at least 25 mph. The wind chill must have been -30 or so. It was damn cold. I had not yet acquired long underwear (a necessity for extreme cold) so I was pretty miserable. Then I saw a guy walking between buildings with no coat on, going to get coffee at a Starbucks. I'm pretty sure he died right there. I smiled to myself and thought "he must be from California."

Christmas Shopping

I think this year will be the latest start to our Christmas shopping ever. We haven't even started and probably won't until this weekend. We had also planned on making a photo Christmas card this year, and I don't think that's going to happen. Where do people find the time?

Mea Culpa

Ok, so I'm not posting as often as I wanted to. Here's the latest.

I got promoted at work; my new title is Applications Data Architect. As one of my colleagues pointed out, I've realized my dream of becoming an architect, unlike George Costanza. I still don't know how this translates into more pay and benefits, so we'll see if it's a promotion or a "promotion". The notices go out on Friday.

Dora can recognize all the capital letters and most of the lower-case letters, although pqbd are confusing to her. She is starting to say "her" instead of "she" as the object pronoun, although the transition is by no means complete. Julia is getting bigger and looking cuter all the time. We're a bit concerned that the marks on her face and neck haven't faded. We may have to have her lasered eventually.

Had a good time in DC, although my trip was plagued by the guilt of leaving the wife to deal with the kids by herself. Good dinners though.

Hot List

I'm going to make my Hot List a more regular thing, so here's my latest list:

• Still loving EQ2. Actually, have been in withdrawal all week on this trip. May have to put in all-night session tomorrow.
• United - Got a first class upgrade for tomorrow's flight, first time they ever actually confirmed ahead of time.
• Slate magazine - Great writing, online, free. What more could you want?

Change in format

I realize it's been a long time since I last posted, so I've decided to open up the format a little bit and start posting more general thoughts. It's hard to come up with stuff that's focused on the Two Girls, cute as they are.

I'm in DC for the week, going home tomorrow. I've been attending a training for a software system that I have to use on a new project. My job is to figure out how it's going to talk to our other systems. I'm becoming more of a manager type, which is a good thing, but it's still a new role for me and is taking some adjusting.

More random thoughts shortly.