Watched The VP Debates

The most hyped debates in ...well, at least 4 years. :) Jeff had to watch them.

Watching them (streaming on NY Times' website) meant Jeff got up at 2:45 this morning (yes, 2:45 AM) to watch the debates from 3:00-4:30.
Thankfully, Maylia convinced him at 5 to come back to bed for a bit of sleep. [thank you, honey]

Was it worth it? Yes.
Looking forward to the 2 other VP debates? Yes.
Did Ella go to bed an hour earlier the night before? Yes.

Eric sent me a link to a documentary about debates. It's fun to watch.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/

Great clips from debates since 1976, such as...

• "Governor, there you go again."
• "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
• "I will not make age an issue for this campaign. I will not exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." (hint: speaking about Mondale!)
• "Are there personal differences? Well, my blood pressure's lower, my weight, my cholesterol. But I will not make health an issue in this campaign."
• "The man's practicing fuzzy math again."

If you need any reminder who said what, check out the documentary.

Update: Yes, Snickers, Too.

Sorry, Kit.
Sorry, Korea.
Sorry most of all to Korean Snickers, Jeff's all-time favorite treat.

An update to the earlier post.

Finally Jeff got worried and did some research. Sure enough, Jeff's digs around a few articles and finds out that even Korean-made Snickers are also considered unsafe. Damn.

The last paragraph in a recent article about South Korea's Food and Drug Administration:
"Popular food products branded by multinational companies and imported to other Asian countries have also been found to contain melamine. Indonesian food regulators said they found melamine in Snickers candy bars and M&M’s, both of which are made by Mars, Inc. The KFDA (Korean Food & Drug Adminstration) said that most of the Mars products imported into South Korea are believed to have been made at the same plants in China."

And just in case family back home may worry, Jeff selfishly keeps his Snickers stash away from Ella.
In fact, Ella has only once sampled a Snickers bar (documented September 2007. Pic below).










Tonight, Jeff will finish the rest of his Snickers stash, before they have a chance to fall in the wrong hands.

p.s. If a few readers are wondering "What on earth is Jeff talking about...he eats Korean Snickers in Czech Republic??" Yes. They've always rocked, always will (even with this supposedly dangerous melen-blah-blah in them). The Snickers Taste Test of May 2007.
Thanks to Kit, our dear friend and fellow English teacher, she regularly keeps Jeff stocked.
Kit - as much as I hate to say it, please send no more. (for now...heehee)

Snickers, Too??

Jeff passed his physical with flying colors, with no advice to lay off Snickers. But then Jeff noticed this CNN article:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/29/candy.milk.ap/index.html

Last month, news of the "China tainted milk scandal," or tainted baby formula scandal, first broke. The issue is "high traces" of the industrial chemical, melamine was found in baby formula and identified as the reason 4 kids have died (and more than 13,000 have been hospitalized).

Our hearts go out to any and all families affected. We cannot imagine the feelings a parent would go through, feeding what you trust to be simply good baby formula, only to bring on kidney stones to an infant.

And now, according to the article above, products such as Oreos, M&Ms and (oh-so-delicious) Snickers bars are being recalled and banned, since they, too, were manufactured using the tainted milk powder.

All seriousness aside, Jeff says poo-poo to this widely cast net of fear-mongering. "This is just a xenophobic ploy to cast doubt on an all-American treat, the Snickers bar!" Tonight for dinner, Jeff is having Snickers and he's going to enjoy it like it's his last.

Catching Up

Feels like forever and a day since we've written anything, so...a few lines to catch up.

• Got our shower tiled - looks great. Previous owners left it a mess. I and May's dad, Bill, each tried to fix, but both tries didn't last long. So, for just 5,000 Kc or ~$300, we got 2 Ukrainians to clean it up and tile it - (Ukrainians are comically-popular as contractors here). Great workmanship, esp. around faucets & we're very happy with the difference. Next post I'll put up before and after pics.
• We took 2 train trips outside the city these past 2 weekends. First weekend was to a small Czech village, Tabor. Very quaint, sweet square; important in old Czech religious history. How old? According to Wikipedia, the historical importance of the city ceased in 1452! Figured we should see it, and better late than never.
• The second weekend trip was to Karlstejn to celebrate Vinobrani (Czech Wine Harvest). Jeff's Mom & Dad will remember our local Vinobrani festival last year, when we drank 3 liters of "burchak" or cider. This stuff goes down so easily. This year, Maylia and I were responsible and split a liter between us.
• Ella's skolka (nursery school) had a parent-teacher conference last Thursday. Jeff drew the short straw and went for the Parkers. Yeah...Jeff caught about 5% of what was said. We may return for a 1:1 meeting with Kristyna soon.
• Mattias continues to laugh and poke at his big sister, who enjoys every minute of it. From the pics, you see he's one chunky monkey. Still really enjoys being on his feet (with help, of course).
• Despite chilly temps the past few weeks, this past weekend was warm, sunny weather and we recognize it's very likely our last for the year. We've unpacked the collection of gloves, scarves and hats.
• (In about 2 hours) Jeff visits the doctor for his first physical in ... several years. He'll hear results from bloodwork last week, as well as likely hear advice to stay off the Snickers and get on a treadmill. More to come later.
• Erin Reardon is coming a week from this Thursday. We can't wait for you, Erin!!!

Until later-


Summing up...

Final Wave of Vacation - New Hampshire

This is our third and final summer vacation post.

While our first two vacation destinations (Indiana and Nova Scotia) were centered on family, our last week (8 days in fact!) was spent purely with friends. It felt very "homey" as this was the only spot during our trip where we had actually lived together as a family. After 2 years away from our Manchester, NH roots, there was a lot of catching up to do and little time to do it in. We made the most of the 8 days - saw lots of folks (met lots of babies) and had lots of fun! Special thanks to our friends who took care of so much organizing on our behalf and also to friends who made such an effort to see us. We had travelers from NYC, Rhode Island and Vermont!

We parked ourselves at the Klein-Rosenthal household, otherwise known as Rocky's place. Ella and Rocky were soon back to being best buds.

The biggest get-together was at Clough State Park, where our friends had reserved a pavilion of picnic tables and ordered up tons of good eats (including S'Mac) for the Parker Party. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed swimming in the lake and basking in the sun while catching up with friends.

We also got to bask in the sun at Erin & Andy's place!

Of course, no visit to NH would be complete without seeing the Nobis crew. Unfortunately, we don't have any photos from our gathering at the Green Martini in Concord. It was great to see Maylia's co-workers, though! We also had a gathering with Jeff's former co-workers, hosted by the Zecchinos. As usual, the treated us like royalty and we had a stellar time. Ella especially enjoyed hanging out with the Zecchino girls. Here are the guys, reunited.




A big item on our agenda was having Mattias baptized. We chose the same church as we had for Ella - Brookside Congregational Church. However, this was a smaller affair with Catharine, Dave and Owen being the only guests able to make it. We were sorry to hear Pastor Bill had moved on, but happy to learn Carolyn Keilig had taken his place. (Her husband, Roger, actually hired Maylia at Nobis. Roger was kind enough to attend the ceremony as well.) It was a lovely service and we really appreciate Carolyn squeezing us in!




Eating was a major focus of our time in NH. There were numerous yummy dinner parties and brunches hosted by Michelle & Jeff, Catharine & Dave, and Erin & Andy.




We also ate at some of our fave haunts, Jewel and the Beanstalk...




Sara (which is sadly closing)...




Piccola Italia (where we surprised Michelle with a birthday bash)...




and La Caretta (the only place open on our chosen Girls night!).



Also on our list (Jeff's list) was to satisfy some serious sugar cravings before heading back to the land of $20 Oreos. While in NH (where sweets are cheap and plentiful), Jeff put away no fewer than 4 boxes of Swiss rolls, 2 boxes of Lucky Charms, 2 trays of Oreos (1 was double-stuff), and a box of Twinkies. Jeff's been catching up on sleep since coming back to Prague.

Of course, the most important part of our time in NH was just being with friends...




...and meeting new members of our crew!