I am back in the hometown after a brief visit to see how the 'other' half lives. The 'other' half being the married-with-children-with-varied-schedules people. This married with children folks that I had the privilege to live with is my sister's family. She has two kids; one 7.5 year old that goes to second grade school and one 3.5 year old that goes to daycare. She goes to yet another school to teach a bunch of high-schoolers. After a week, I must say, Wow! Yep! a simple Wow!

All together, there appeared to be bursts of activity during the morning and evening hours with a peaceful dead-zone (for me, not for my sister) in between. It is a peaceful 5 AM to wake up to, no kitties jumping over me (hmm, I kind of missed that) to wake me up. Just past six am, my sister is up and about, shortly there after the kids are woken up. I have observed that all little ones crave mummy-time in the morning. Mummy-time is something similar to kitty-time. My kitties, simply jump on the bed (if they haven't been hanging out there already) squat on me or near my head, purring their head off. The next 15-20 minutes are completely dedicated to them, to tickle their bellies, scratch their heads, hold them and hug them. My two nephews needed exactly that.. mummy-time. By and by, breakfast, milk, coffee got made, breakfast got eaten, morning ablutions wrapped, kids got yelled, kids crying wrapped, kids got their crankiness out, kids dressed, everyone else dressed, everyone tumbled out to do drop offs.

I dropped the older one to school and my sister dropped off the little one and we switched the pickups. The school doors open at 8:25 AM. A late pass needs to be issued if the child is not inside the school doors by 8:45 AM. It is 20 mins of complete chaos in front of a school. The school buses unloading their cargos and going off to gather another cartload of kids. Parents, guardians and people like me, dropping off kids. Of course, all drivers want to park right in front of school, right at the door, probably at the classroom door! duh! What is the harm in parking a block away, getting out, walking ten (or more) steps to get to the school door. Perhaps I am beating up the droppers a bit too much. After I dropped off, I was heading home, while most people there were heading to work, trying to get there by 9:00 AM. I should really cut them some slack; after all, they were the ones that were on a more stringent timeline.

I spent most of the morning, lunch time and afternoon blissfully clickity-clicking on my computer getting work done, receiving emails, responding to emails, writing up instructions, doing demos, talking on phone and communicating on instant messenger. While I was happily typing on my computer, my sister is at her school handling lessons, reviews, talkative kids, grades, homework, teaching, doing demos and running around. Somewhere in all that she has her packed lunch and I have my bowl(s) of cereal, chips and soup.

... all was back to normal working day until 3:20 PM.

Around 3:15 PM outlook reminded me to pick the little one from daycare. Work went on hold for the next hour, whilst, I drove off to pick the little one. Picking a kid from day care was (is) not a matter of getting to the daycare, bundling the little one and driving back. 'It' is not a bag of potatoes or carton of milk that one drives to the store, purchases and drives back. It entails, spending 10-15 mins with the little one at the daycare, before the little one is prepared to head out. No sense in forcing a kid to drop their current train of thought, current book, current chat with friends, current fight, current crying or anything for that matter. I found myself enjoying my 15 minutes of hanging out with 'my' (my is in single quotes, because it my sisters little one, so indirectly mine) little one at the day care. Interestingly, if you hang around chitter-chattering with 'your' kid, random other kids gravitate towards you. One kid wanted something from other kid, and was not getting it, so was crying his head off. I happened to be around, and patted him saying: "There, there, play with something else". The next moment (to my utter astonishment), this bawling kid clung to me and cried even more. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the teacher(s) laughing heartily. All I could do was hug the crying one, which led to others coming over. Hug-Magnets, I say. By and by, everyone was sorted and I and 'my' little one were on our way home.

Back home, the little one was happy to be playing around until mummy brought the other one, and then everyone was home, exchanging news of the day. Over coffee, milk, snacks, and homework for kids, I was happily reunited with my computer to continue clicking meaningful sequences of alphabets and numbers and some odd special characters.

Almost 12 hours since we have been up, the family sits down for dinner with work for the day wrapped up, homework done, and computer shut down. In the next couple of hours, the kids have play time, reading time, fighting time, crying time, bath time, and bed time. The bed-time always came last, but all the other 'times' were in random order and many times repeated over in the same evening.

Around 9:00 PM, peace reigns once more, whence my sister goes to pack lunches, clear dishes, complete her work for the next day. Who knows when she does sleep, I am already in dream world, when she finally gets to bed.

All in all, at the end of the week, my sentiments are exactly as they were when I started the drop off and pick up schedule. A simple, WOW!

A perfectly gorgeous day finds me driving down to New York to my sisters place. I will be camped out at her house for a week. It is going to be a working week, since there are way too many things to get done for work. I have couple of deadlines to meet and couple of things to wrap up before we move onwards to other bigger items. But then that is work.

I have always wondered how do families manage two working careers and kids, and their schedules, drop offs and pick ups, homework and playtime and everything in between. I am about to embark on a week long introduction to drop offs and pick ups. I think it will be loads of fun, from new driving routes, one or more kids in the back seat, getting to school, getting to daycare, remembering access codes to drop offs, the procedure for pick ups. Wow! Already I have had the first day of pick up round with my sister navigating and me driving to do the pickups of one child from school and the other from day care. Earlier in the morning, I did a drop off for my brother-in-law at the train stop, which is near his college. In between all this drop off and pick up, we have all the ducks in the row for one deadline tomorrow. Awesome! This is wicked cool. But, of course, this is the first day. Talk me at the end of the week and I may be singing a completely different tune. But for now, life is good.....

Domaine René Bouvier, Le Chapitre Bourgogne Rouge, 2005 (France)
Picture coming soon!		Producer: Domaine René Bouvier. Notes: (From the internet! Sorry, forgotten where) The Bouvier family has owned vineyards in the village of Marsannay at the northernmost boundary of the Cote de Nuits for four generations. Over the years, each succeeding generation has added to the holdings that now comprise approximately 12 hectares spread over 15 "lieudits" situated in 6 different villages. The domaine is now managed by Bernard Bouvier, a thoughtful yet dynamic young man in his early thirties who is dedicated to marrying the traditions of Burgundy to the benefits of modern viticulture and vinification. Grape/Varietal composition: 100% Pinot Noir. My notes: This was my pick for celebrating the 2005 burgundy! Gosh, I could have picked almost anything from the options provided. 2005 (as they say) has been an incredibly great year for burgundy, bordeaux and others. I did not want to be left out, so I picked up 1/2 a case. Last year I opened this bottle and I was filled with joy at my choice. This is a deep ruby red, smooth (decant it!), well balanced and has loads and loads of strong berry fruits. (read somewhere: red-blue blueberries, raspberries, cherry etc). I loved this one and happy with it. Buy Factor: I am beginning to like what Rene Bouvier produces. I have no idea where you can get this one as I bought it as a wine future (that is paid for it about six months before it was actually bottled and shipped). Cost: $22 a bottle (roughly).

Pighin Pinot Grigio 2005 Grave del Fruili, 2006 (Friuli-Venezia Giuli, Italy)
Picture not available!		Region: Friuli-Venezia Giuli is a mountainous area tucked away in the northeast corner Italy, bordering on Austria and Slovenia. Grape varieties such as Pinot Grigio (Pinot Gris), Pinot Bianco (Pinot Blanc), Chardonnary and Sauvignon Blanc. Amongst reds Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon are widely grown Grape/Varietal composition: 100% Pinot Griogio or as the rest of the world says Pinot Gris. My notes: I had the opportunity to drink this wine, and it turns out to be quite crisp, citrusy (melony), and could go with almost anything. This paired well with seafood and chips. Buy Factor: It makes a good gift at around $20/bottle for almost any occassion that you pick off the shelf. Cost: $20.00

Last year April brought on my first orchid (See Orchid on my desk). Over the past year, I have become the orchid-collector and caretaker of the office. I have now five orchids on my desk that leaves very little space for anything else and I am happy about that. The one above is the latest acquisition. :) There are two others next to it that are budding! How exciting! I cannot wait for them to flower again. I have never had them re-flower.... well... this is the first time that I have really studied and taken care of them. The first orchid I bought was 10-years ago and I killed the poor thing in one week. I guess 10 years later I am older and wiser about orchids!

My desk and the three orchids!

You keep play-doh in front of me; the little child in me is going to insist I play with it. I must admit, I have plenty of play-doh at home and I use it. :) I use it to stimulate the creative side (if it exists!) of the brain, to do a temporary join of pieces of stained glass to see if they (glass color) go together, to use my fingers other than clicking on a keyboard, and mostly for just plain ole' FUN.

So, on this grand Friday, I find myself presented with bunch of play-doh lumps and I go to 'work'. After an hour or two, all I had done was kneed the different lumps into some thing resembling round balls. It wasn't very creative, nothing stimulating and fingers getting plenty of non-clicking workout. I started to make long earthworms from then on. But they were long spindles and still incredibly boring. But, what if, I arranged the 'earthworms' (which by the way happened to be green in color), like stalks. Hmm, how about stalks of lavender.... oh! oh! How about French lavender. I can almost smell them. Before I know it, we had stalks of lavender. The table next to mine had red and orange color lumps, which I rescued from their imminent boredom. While I was not looking some art patron walking left me yellow. Wow! Now we are in business. Flowers and buds just kept uncontrollably popping up. Arrgggghh.... no stopping this spring fever anymore...... 

Before you can sneeze ... bless you!

Werner Karl Heisenberg, a German physicist, Nobel laureate, and father of uncertainty principle (it is impossible to know exactly the momentum and location of a particle at the same time). Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist, Nobel laureate and father of complementarity (photon can be regarded as a particle and also wave). Between the World War I and II, the two shared a real mentor/protégé relationship. With the start of the World War II, Heisenberg stayed on in Germany to lead their atomic energy for peaceful purposes (possibly the atomic bomb), while Bohr in German-occupied-Denmark worked under severe restrictions. During the war, in 1941, Heisenberg and Bohr met on evening in Copenhagen. Post that meeting the relationship was irreparably broken. What transpired between the two during that evening has remained speculation for the longest time.

This play, by Michael Frayn, deals with why Heisenberg visited Bohr? What did Heisenberg say to Bohr and what was Bohr answer to create an irreparable rift between the two? Was Heisenberg there to gloat of his work? his countries achievements? to fish for allies nuclear programme?  It uses the two principles (uncertainty and complementarity) very effectively in the three characters in the play; Bohr, his wife and Heisenberg as it replays the drafts of what may have transpired.

I loved it. I have heard that the movie is considerably shortened from the play. I cannot wait to either see or read the play.

Pfaffenberger Gräflich Schoenborn'scher Eigenbau, 1998 (Germany)
		A perfect start to the Year 2008 with a 10 year old white Riesling called Pfaffenberger Gräflich Schoenborn'scher Eigenbau, 1998. When I purchased this wine (sometime in September, 2007), I knew nothing about this wine. But I had to try it so I bought it. {Edit: On second thoughts I think I bought it for the art work!} I did not have an occasion in mind, but ringing the 2008 in with this 10 year old, just made sense!  Grape/Varietal composition: 100% Riesling. My notes: White spätlese Riesling, smooth with a strong hints of apricots and grapefruits. It is a wonderful wine, but there are definitely better ones out there. Buy Factor: Bought this at Martignetti (Soldiers Field Road, MA) while on hunt for the Freixenet Cava. I am not going to search for this wine, there are better and others that I like to try out. Cost: $19.99