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Adventures with my little ones

We’re fortunate to have in-house childcare during my work hours, so when MJ went away on a work trip last week I wasn’t left completely alone at home with the kids for four days. But solo parenting is still tricky when you have built everything up around having two parents participating in the childcare formula. […]

A rodeo, 4 pounds of cherries, and “antiques”

I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite things about living here downtown in Castro Valley is getting to enjoy the smattering of annual events that take place just a couple blocks from our doorstep. It’s no San Francisco, but they’re charming events that connect us with the area in a way that I thought […]

I bought a record player, twice

In the 1970s and 80s my parents had an AM/FM stereo system with a cassette, an 8-track, and the quintessential record player on top. When I was a teenager in the 1990s my parents replaced it with a much smaller system that had a 9-disc CD changer and I got to put the old stereo […]

Childcare, anniversary, trucks, and antiques

We participate in the Au Pair program. It’s an exchange program overseen by the State Department that matches families who have childcare needs with young people who are looking to spend a year in another country and take some classes abroad. We started with it when Adam was just a few months old and have […]

Passover, Tidbyt & TrainTrackr, and gardening

When our flight from Philadelphia landed in San Francisco a few weeks ago, it was cool and very dark. We don’t usually take such late flights, but the timing and cost worked out that way this time. It had been a bit of a rough flight due to the boys missing naps too, but at […]

Crafts, goats, and the rest of our March visit to Philly

I had a delightful time at the typewriter shop while we were in Philly, but unfortunately the two subsequent weeks didn’t go as planned. We all ended up dreadfully sick, with fevers, coughs, and it got so bad that the whole family went to urgent care to rule out some of the most worrisome things […]

We went to a typewriter shop in Philadelphia!

My new found fascination with typewriters is a bit unusual. I’m a computer-focused tech enthusiast and while I’ve always held a special place in my heart for the mechanical, it wasn’t until I had an old manual typewriter sitting on my desk every day that it blossomed into something a bit more. I don’t use […]

Friends, Purim, and libraries

Pre-COVID, I’d say the majority of my social interactions came while I was traveling, and I was a bit of a hermit when I was at home. I didn’t see my local friends a whole lot, in spite of the tremendous amount of value I placed on them. Now with things opening up, but my […]

Trees, flowers, and a lake with the kiddos

Losing Caligula has been hard. I keep finding cat toys tucked behind doors and under furniture. This particular grief is definitely going to take some time to resolve, it’s been years since I’ve lived without a pet, and he was so incredibly special to me. Earlier this month was the Jewish holiday of Tu BiShvat, […]

Wet/dry January, old/new tech

It’s now the second month of 2023, and I can confirm that the arbitrary changing of the calendar year has not, in fact, made our immune systems better at fighting off every random bug that Adam brings home from preschool. At the beginning of January it was a brutal stomach bug, and we are now […]