Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Author: fish1964

  • Excellent Atlantic Antic

    The Atlantic Antic has come and gone and it was fantastic. With two kids, we had a clear strategy. Skip breakfast so we’re nice and hungry (my wife and I, not the kids). Go to the Antic early and have an early lunch. The food tends to be somewhat ethnic and not always four year old friendly, so after we eat we’d split up. My wife would take Victoria home to eat and I’d take Danielle somewhere to eat and then go to the park. Then later in the day we’d reconvene for more.

    The plan worked to perfection. We were at the Antic by 11:00 am. The fact that it was out our front door helped. Going early is good because the crowds are much smaller. With two kids and a stroller that helps a lot. Plus the lines for food are short. By 12:30 I had eaten:

    • Beef Empenada
    • Bratwurst
    • Corn on the cob
    • Popcorn
    • Chorizo

    And perhaps a beer.

    We found Danielle a hot dog (and the popcorn) so she was in decent shape. She watched a juggler, a band, and joined in with a Spanish group playing in front of the Spanish church. She got a gigantic balloon with the Disney princesses on it.

    After all of that, Danielle and I went to her favorite park nearby (a block away) while my wife took Victoria home to feed her lunch. After playing for a while we went home via the Antic. Danielle watched a Middle Eastern belly dancer, a Caribbean drum group and a jazz band on the way home. In asking to watch the belly dancer, she said to me, “I want to watch the beautiful woman dancing”. When you mention belly dancing, some people think of Shakira. In this case it was more like Shakira’s mom.

    We chilled out at home for a while and then went out for round two, and early dinner. This consisted of:

    • Jamaican Jerk Chicken (the best food of the day)
    • Italian Sausage and Peppers.

    Plus some sangria.

    That’s what I call a good day.

    And to top it off, the Packers won to go 4-0…

  • Atlantic Antic

    I blog about this every year, but this year we live on Atlantic so this street fair will be right outside our door. It’s this Sunday. I can’t wait.

    Here’s a picture of everything going on. Great food, great music and plenty of good beer. What could be better?

    AtlanticAntic

  • Captain Crunch

    Like most parents, we have resisted the sugar cereals. Danielle started out only with Cheerios. Then we mixed in a few Fruit Loops (which today she still refers to as “rainbow Cheerios”). Finally we were visiting my wife’s sister and her boys (14 and 18) were eating Captain Crunch. So Danielle tried it.

    It’s all over.

    The problem is compounded by the parental convenience factor. In the morning we are typically scrambling trying to get Danielle ready for pre-school. She needs to eat breakfast. When it’s Captain Crunch, she doesn’t complain and eats quickly. We augment it with apples afterwards and make sure she brushes her teeth well, but let’s face it, the healthy breakfast just went out the window…

  • Alzheimer’s Woes

    Some of you know that my mother has Alzheimer’s. It is amazing how many people are dealing with parents having Alzheimer’s. It’s no fun.

    We moved my mom from her own apartment into an Alzheimer’s facility about six months ago. She clearly wasn’t safe living on her own, but it was hard to do. The place seemed good. It was in Appleton, Wisconsin, near where my brother lives.

    But she remembered enough to know that she didn’t like it there. She just wanted to be on her own. So she started sneaking out. I have to hand it to her, she’s very resourceful. The doors have alarms so she would remove a screen window and slip out (first floor windows, but still).

    This place ultimately told us that she had to be moved to a more secure facility. Luckily we were able to find a good one. Or so we thought. It was a bit nicer than the first place, more staff and they said they had experience with “wanderers”.

    It turns out salesmen are salesmen, even in Alzheimer’s facilities. This was a serious case of overselling.

    We visited her last weekend. She hadn’t seen Victoria yet and Danielle had been asking to see Nana. So we made the long trek to Appleton. My brother had told me that she was declining. It was very true. She knew who I was most of the time, but not all of the time. She seemed to know who Danielle was, but didn’t know her name. There was one point where she looked at my wife and had the following conversation:

    “Hello, where are you from”

    “New York”

    “My, what a long trip. Are you here visiting someone?”

    “Yes, you”

    “Oh, I thought you looked familiar”

    You have to laugh, otherwise you’d only cry.

    But we would later find out that Mom was escaping from the new place as well. They just weren’t always telling us. She had started to get a bit manic depressive. She could be happy as a clam and then suicidal a minute later. One time she escaped and tried to go to a street and go into traffic, apparently trying to get hit. She wasn’t taking her medication, but the place didn’t tell us that.

    So finally they recommended a short stay in a hospital that specializes in Alzheimer medications. They would observe her for 72 hours and try to get her on the right medication. But legally, we couldn’t just send her there. The Alzheimer place couldn’t just send her there. The only way for this to happen (short of getting her declared legally incompetent) was to let her escape again, call the police and have the police pick her up. The police could refer her to this hospital.

    So that’s what happened. Her medication has been shifted to address her manic episodes. And she has been moved to a new, more truly secure place. We’ll see how she reacts to that.

    But it was good to visit. Danielle got to see her Nana. Both my mom and my brother got to see Victoria for the first time (my brother will actually remember it). And Victoria is becoming a Packer fan…

    ToriPackersSmall

  • US Open, Tennis and Silence

    I was at the Women’s finals of the US Open on Saturday. The US Open is a great, if overpriced, event. No annual sporting event attracts more people than the US Open (it is two weeks long, after all). The American Express Gold Card gets you a shot a tickets a bit before the general public (but apparently after anyone with real connections) so we always try to go one night. The last two years we’ve picked the women’s final because it’s on a Saturday night.

    The night sessions are fun at the Open. They are much rowdier, and tennis needs a bit of that. I’m not a huge tennis fan. I enjoy it, and follow the majors, but that’s about it.

    This year’s women’s final was a bit lame. Henin simply stomped her opponent. At no point in the match did the outcome seem in doubt. And it always helps to have one of the Williams sisters in the final. Love them or hate them, they add a ton of buzz to the match.

    But the weirdest thing for a baseball/basketball/football fan about tennis is the total silence. In between points, one person can easily yell something and the entire stadium will hear it. Try that at Yankee stadium. Imagine if at a basketball game, the crowd had to be silent during a free throw.

    I was at a Yankee game with a friend of mine recently, and between cheering and general socializing we pretty much talked the entire game (ok, he’s a talker). At a tennis match you make whispered comments and only occasionally lest you offend someone.

    I’d like to see golf and tennis players have to deal with distractions. C’mon Tiger, hit a 40 putt with people screaming…

  • Turning computers into my grandfather

    A funny link from The Onion…

  • FDNY to the rescue

    We currently live in the top apartment of a duplex building (though we’re moving in a week). We have a very small roof deck. On that roof deck we have a Weber grill. For those that don’t know New York City, the buildings are right next to one another and in many cases it is possible to move from roof to roof.

    We’ve occasionally seen empty beer bottles around our roof deck. Presumably some kids are messing around. Recently we discovered a bit more vandalism. Nothing major, mainly stuff messed up. But we were missing the top of our grill.

    It took a while to locate it, because it was stuck in a tree. They must have launched it off the front of our roof. It was wedged in there pretty good.

    Aside from simply wanted the grill top back, we were afraid that it might fall and really hurt someone. So I called 311. New York City has a very comprehensive 311 hotline. You can pretty much get the answer to anything by calling 311.

    The 311 operator was very nice, but this was clearly something she hadn’t heard before (which in NYC is a statement in itself). She finally classified it a “hazardous location” which prompted a connection to 911.

    At first 911 tried to connect me with the police, but I had no interest in finding out who did it. I just wanted my grill top. So they said they could call the fire department, but that they wouldn’t always respond to a non fire.

    About 15 minutes later our doorbell rings. FDNY to the rescue. They actually thought it was a prank call when they heard the description, but they came anyway. They were cracking up. They said they had never seen this before. One of them went up in the ladder to get it. The others yelled wisecracks (“prune it while you’re up there”).

    The whole scene was hilarious. But I got my grill top back…

  • The not to do list

    Here’s a very worthwhile link. And a new featured song…

  • The Onion – The best news source around

    Check out this link. Note carefully the date…

  • Early Intervention Program

    With an international adoption, our pediatrician recommended the New York Early Intervention Program. I had never heard of it. Victoria has that thing that some babies have where their head tends to tilt to one side (there’s a real name for it, but I can’t remember it). It generally means that the tendons on one side are tight and need some therapy. Not a big deal, but something that should be addressed early.

    This is one of the many things that the Early Intervention Program is for. In New York City, this is an absolutely free program. They will evaluate your child and determine if he/she is eligible for services. Today we had an occupational therapist, and physical therapist and a speech therapist evaluating Victoria. The speech therapist indicated that Victoria was “age appropriate” so nothing needs to be done. The other therapists gave us some exercises to help work and stretch certain muscles. In her foster home, Victoria probably spent a lot of time lying on her back.

    Following all the evaluations (we have one more next Tuesday) we will get a full recommendation. It sounds likely that a physical therapist will come to our place twice a week for 30 minutes to work with Victoria. We’ll know after the final evaluations next week.

    Again, this is all free. Well, not exactly free because NY is a high tax state. But what a great service. Identifying young children (they work with birth to age three) to help early when it makes the most impact.