Snow Days

Today and yesterday I stayed home because the roads were impassable due to the 8" of snow that hit us. Last night we also got about an inch of sleet. So today teh City of Cincinnati declared today a Snow Emergency Level 3 meaning you could get ticketed for driving. The emergency level was downgraded to Level 2 at 4PM today. Level 2 means only drive if you have to.

The first picture was taken from our 3rd floor looking out towards the Ohio River. The next picture is of spouse shoveling the snow in front. The last picture is looking down Fort View ... I thought it was interesting b/c it shows the ice on the power lines and how it is weighing down the branches on the trees (a big problem around the city).

Yesterday and today I helped spouse shovel (my back is sore) but mostly I just embroidered and stoked the fire we had going all day. Yesterday I embroidered a bath towel for baby and today I embroidered pillow cases.

This afternoon spouse bought a tickeet for me to travel with him (business trip) in March to New Orleans the first week of March! So tonight I'm looking up stuff to do... as of right now I have found 4 museums that look interesting (Museum of Art, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Bishoff Sculpture Gardens and Contemporary Art Center). I've also found several interesting tours, French Quarter, Garden District as well as Katrina Recovery Tours. According to what I've read online the Katrina tours are not voyeuristic and actually residents welcome the tourism.

On Saturday March 7 spouse and I will drive about 3 hours to Brandon, Mississippi (near Jackson) to visit spouse's aunt and uncle.

Referral Chain

The 1st picture is of dossiers in China (CCAA) in line to be matched with babies. I copied this picture from one of the blogs I read.

The 2nd picture is of a the "referral chain" I made today and laid on our kitchen fireplace mantel. This chain has 77 links for the number of days of dossiers to be processed by the CCAA before they get to our dossier LID, which is May 18, 2006. As of last week the CCAA has matched through March 2, 2006. The last referral match was unbelievably small (only 2 days) ... possibly because of Chinese New Year which started today.

Anyhow... the yellow links are for the balance of March referrals, blue links are for the 30 days in April and pink links are May 1 - 18. You really can't tell from this picture but I made the blue links slightly larger and the pink ones distinctively larger.

This is the Rumor Queens (http://www.chinaadopttalk.com/) explanation of the Matching Room.

How the Matching Room Works.

First, they review the baby dossiers and make sure there are no issues with them. We are told that they then count up all of the baby dossiers that are eligible for matching that month and then look to see how far this stack will go in the parent dossiers without sending out a partial day, and they pull all of those parent files. That is the likely cut-off date. Sometimes something happens and they don't get this far. Sometimes something happens and they get farther.

Next they match orphanages up with agencies. This orphanage has six babies, this agency has six families. These two orphanages are in the same province and have a total of 12 babies, this agency has 12 families. When they are through with this is when (I believe) some agencies start to get information about the cut-off date. Or at least it is when they used to start getting information.

And then they start matching individual babies to individual families. At some point during this part of the process most agencies used to hear from their person in the matching room to let them know how many referrals they will be receiving and from what province(s). Some agencies shared this information with their clients. Some chose not to. Recently I've gotten the feeling that many agencies are still getting this infromation but they are being given orders by the CCAA to not share this information with the families.

Just as in the review room, each matchers is assigned certain agencies and is responsible for communicating with theri agencies. Some matchers tell their agency the cut-off date, some matchers tell their agency " you have X number of referrals arriving", some matchers give their agency a list of that agency's families that will be receiving a referral. And some matchers don't say anything at all to their agencies.

The next question that comes up is generally how the matchers match families and babies. I've heard from several people who have had the opportunity to speak with someone who works in the matching room. The various conversations seem to all agree that they first look for something that stands out: a matching birthday, a baby who looks a lot like a parent, or a baby who likes music and a parent who teaches music. Several matching people have stated they match by bone structure of the baby's face and the parent's faces (this is why they need our passport photos, so they can compare our mug shot with the baby's mug shot). Some have stated that they used Chinese astrology, also. Once they've matched the obvious matches they then start to look at things like age of child requested. The age requested is not a priority for them, they are matching families and not filling orders. And I have to say that they've done a wonderful job matching us and our Big Girl, and now I trust they will do an excellent job matching us with her little sister.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 7th, 2006.

Playhouse in the Park

The pictures above are our neighborhood's theatre, Playhouse in the Park. The black and white picture shows the original Thompson Shelterhouse (c. 1950) which seats 225. Now the playhouse has an additional theatre, the Marx Theatre which seats 626. Playhous in the Park is a professional regional theatre and has won 2 Tony's (1st in 2004 and again in 2007). For the past 16 years the Playhouse has produced at least one world premiere production each season. Last year it was Doubt.

Anyhow, we are so lucky this theatre is in our neighborhood (a 10 minute walk from our house). There is a lot of interest in moving to a bigger location... but I wonder if the economy may have dimmed that enthusiam. Spouse and I have purchased season tickets for the last 4 years and here is what we have seen.

2005 - 2006 season:

• Bad Dates written by a Cincinnatian Theresa Rebeck and described as " an irresistible comedy for anyone who likes to laugh and loves a killer pair of Channel pumps!" This was a one woman play and although good definitely not one of our favorites.
• Crowns which was promoted as "with a generous does of "hattitude", this joyous musical celebrates black women and their church hats." Tells the story of 6 African-American women. This was a favorite of mine and I think spouse too.
• The Underpants by Steve Martin, an adaptation of a Carl Sternham play. Described as "a bold, bawdy and sidesplittingcomedy filled with Steve MArtin's famous flashes of wit." The play is about a bored housewife from 1910 Germany whose underpants fall down to her ankles while she is watching a parade.

2006- 2007 season:

• Company a nationallly acclaimed musical described as "unconventional look at love and commitment of five married couples through the eyes of their bachelor friend Bobby weighing the pro's and con's of married life".
• Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck (this was my favorite of this season)
• Smoke on the Mountain play about a singing appalachian family
• Pure Confidence drama about slave era horse jockeys.

2007 - 2008 season

• A Sleeping Country "about sleep lost and hope found. A New York City woman with serious case of insomnia travels to Venice seeking help from a sleepless heiress who may be a relative." The write of this play has a Cincinnati connection as she lived her for 20 years when she was a copywriter for a local ad agency.
• Doubt a "fast moving suspense filled drama set in a Bronx Catholic school in 1964. The play centers around the hard edged principal Sister Aloysius who challenges Father Flynn whom she suspects of abusing a student." This play was made in to a movie starring Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius (she got an Oscar nomination for this role) and Philip Hoffman Seymour as Father Flynn.
• The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead a one woman play. The redhead is left by her husband. The main point of this play is how different perspecitives tell different stories (or truths).
• Ella "set in 1966 Nice France, Ella Fitzgerald reflects on her life" not such great history with men and family and lots of great music. I think this was my favorite of this season.

2008 -2009 season

• Travels of Angelica a time travel parallel stories play. One is set in 1657 when a writer and his daughter have escaped England (religous persecution) to start a new life with a new identity in Virginial The other story is set in 2008 with 2 grad students who come to Virgiinia to look for clues about the writer hoping to make a literary discovery. Spouse and I are going to this play next Wednesday.
• Last Train to Nibroc in April we are going to this play about a man and woman who meet on a train during World War II.
• The Foreigner another play we are going to in April. This one is a comedy about a shy Englishman who moves to a rural town in Georgia and fakes not being able to speak English. The comedic part comes out because of what the townspeople say infront of him thinking he doesn't understand.

This I Believe

About 1 1/2 years ago I went to a book signing @ Joseph Beth for This I Believe The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women Edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman(NPR). Dan Gediman signed my copy and wrote "To Rxxxxx, What do you believe". The book is really excellant and the talk was fascinating. Weekly I listen to ipod downloads of This I Believe essays which I find interesting and sometimes even surprising point of views. Recently I have read or heard personal philosophies at church or in reflections on the death of a family member. So I thought I'd just note some that I think are valuable to me. In no particular order:

• An attittude of gratitude is key to a life well lived.
• Work hard and work smart.
• Beware of people and institutions (ie political and religious) who seek to influence you through fear.
• Beware of the oversimplifiers.
• Never be a victim. You may not be able to control everything that happens in your life, but you can control how you react.
• Always be the best at what you do, no matter how trivial it is.
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. (events of 2008 proved this one to be true.)

and philosophies particularly relative to our impending adoption:

• Good things come to those who wait.
• When you travel to a dream, pack just enough wishes, expect delays and enjoy the journey.

Trip to DC

The first week of January spouse had to go to DC for work and I got to tag along. It was a short trip (oh I would have loved to have stayed longer) but I had so much fun. Lucky for me it was fairly warm one day so I got to walk around a lot. The rest of the time I spent in museums. The first couple of pictures of the White House and you can see the construction getting ready for the inauguration.

The 2nd night we were there we were able to have dinner with our friends and their 8 year old twins. We probably had not seen them in 4 years but it did not seem like any time had past (except the kids had changed a lot.) It was fun to catch up with them.

Picture of the fence off Mall looking toward the Washington Monument. The lawn is being restored and although this picture doesn't really show the need for repair it is bad in areas.

Next picture is of the Eisenhower Old Executive Office which is on the West side of the White House. Built between 1871 and 1888, French Second Empire, inspired by the Louvre in Paris (and much criticized for that when it was built). Many government offices are located here, including the Vice President's.

The Hays-Adams Hotel where the Obamas are staying until Inauguration Day. From this picture you can not see the security so much but it was extensive. This building (Itanlian Renaissance) was originally 2 adjacent homes built by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1885. The original homes belonged to John Hay (author) and Henry Adams (historian).

Museum exhibiting a Richard Avedon "Portraits of Power" Show. The Oceans Exhibit in the Natural History Museum. Love the Oceans Exhibit in this museum.

The beautiful artium of the Natural History Museum. My photos are really out of focus but I included them because I really love this building. I, of course, visited all the museum shops and was happy to see we buy from several of the same resources including one local Cincinnati author.

The Butterfly display at the Natural History Museum.

One of the naturalists was very excited to point out this Moth Butterfly so I took a picture.

Unfortunately my camera battery died before I got to the National Gallery and the American History Museum. But since spouse gave me a flip video for Christmas I had backup and got some video at the American History Museum which I will put on a separate post.

Next picture is of the Washington National Catedral (it's official name is Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul). I found it interesting that this church was financed entirely by donations and constructed of Indiana limestone. It is the 6th largest cathedral in the world, Gothic in style, welcomes all faiths and conducts Episcopal services. Many presidents funeral services have been held here.

I walked through Georgetown (picture of blue house). There is no Metrorail stop in Georgetown (apparently this was on purpose as residents did not want to be easily accessible to metro riders) so closest stop is Foggy Bottom. I saw Grace Church and many interesting homes, but unfortunately not the one Jackie O lived in before moving to NYC.

The next picture is of some interesting homes on Conneticut Avenue on my way to the Zoo.

The Chinese Embassy ... I did not think it was too attractive.

A statue on the street as I got closer to the Zoo.

Typical zoo animals not doing much mid morning. When I worked at our Zoo we (employees) always felt we saw the animals at their best (ie. most active) which was really early or late as opposed to general public hours.

DC Zoo has a lot of construction going on currently as they are building a big elephant expansion. I'm thinking (based on what I know about the Cincinnati Zoo) this expansion is for breeding purposes, not to mention the popularity of this animal.

The elephants in their temporary home.

An orangutan relaxing. And the Zoo entrance.

I'm putting videos on a separate post.

2008 Year in Review

January 1, 2008 spouse and I met Hurricane (college nickname) and her husband @ Willie's Sports Bar to watch bowl games. They have 3 year old triplets and live in Pennsylvania so we don't see them often. It was fun. 2008 was an eventful, tumultuous year. Here is some of the events that happened (source = Wikipedia). 1/2/08 Crude oil shot to $100 / barrel. (Peaked at $146 / barrel on 7/11/08 and back to $40/ barrel on 12/29/08). 1/3/08 China allows academics to own patents. 1/21/08 2008 stock market downturn. "Stock markets around the world plunge amid growing fears of a US recession, fueld by the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis." 1/28/08 Inflation in Zimbabwe rises to about 150,000% making their currency "essentially worthless." 2/3/08 Super Bowl XLII NY Giants defeat New England Partriots. 2/7/08 Paintings by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet are stole from a museum in Zurich. 2/13/08 US Senate passes legislation to ban CIA from using certain interrogation methods including waterboarding. 2/16/08 Brown Pelican delisted from endangered list. 2/19/08 Fidel Castro retires as President of Cuba after 49 years in office. 2/24/08 Oscars: Edith Piat wins Best Actress for La Vie en Rose, Daniel Day-Lewis wins Best Actor for There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men wins Best Movie and the Coen Brothers win for Directing. 2/27/08 Earthquake hits England, 5.2 on richter scale. 3/2/08 Russian voters elect Dimtry Medvedev President of Russia. 3/5/08 Forbes Magazine names Warren Buffett richest man in the world. 3/7/08 US Dept. of Labor reports US econmy lost 63,000 jobs in February 08. 3/8/08 Vietnam bans ownership of pet hamsters. 3/12/08 The last veteran of WWI, Lazare Ponticelli (Italian) died at 110 years old. 3/12/08 Governor Eliot Spitzer resigns amid prostitution scandal. Replaced by David Patterson. 3/23/08 US military casualties reach 4,000 in the Iraq War. 3/24/08 Olympic Flame of 2008 Summer Olympics is lit in Olympia, Greece. 4/2/08 George Bush supports bids by Georgia and Ukraine to become members of NATO. 4/2/08 Cuban citizens now have access to former "tourist only" hotels and cellphones. 4/11/08 President Raul Castro allows thousands of renters to gain title to their own homes. 4/14/08 US begins occupying it's $736 M embassyin Iraq, one of the largest in the world. 4/18/08 A magnitude 5.2 earthquake occurs at 4:37 CST in Illinois. We felt a small shaking in Cincinnati. It felt like someone was walking on our roof. 4/29/08 S&P index announces US home prices dropped about 13% from Feb 07 to Feb 08. 5/2/08 Olympic flame reaches Chinese soil. 5/3/08 Big Brown wins 2008 Kentucky Derby. Eight Belles (sole filly in race) collapes after finishing 2nd and is euthanized. 5/6/08 Cyclone Nargis hits Myanmar (formerly Burma) killing 49,000. 5/12/08 Sichuan is hit with 7.9 richter earthquake. 88,000 killed and 5M displaced. 5/25/08 New Zealander Scott Dixon wins Indy 500. 5/26/08 China relaxes its one child policy to allow parents of children kill in 2008 Sichuan earthquake to have another child. 5/28/08 Engineers announce Leaning Tower of Pisa has been stabilized for 1st time and will remain stable for next 200 years. 5/28/08 NY Governor Patterson directs NY State agencies to recognize gay marrriages performed in other jurisdictions (ie. Canada, CA & MA) 6/9/08 McDonalds stops serving sliced tomatoes on its burgers in US following salmonella outbreak thought to be linked to tomatoes. 6/11/08 Cuba introduces wage systems where workers are paid on productivity rather than job description. 6/11/08 Norway legalizes gay marriage. 6/13/08 Nouri al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq, states talks with US on long term security have reached "a dead end". 6/15/08 Harmid Karzai (Afghanistan President) warns Taliban he will send forces into Pakistan in order to pursue militants. 6/16/08 Tiger Woods wins 2008 US Open 6/17/08 Boston Celtics defeat LA Lakers to win 2008 NBA Finals 6/25/08 China reopens Tibet to foreign tourist as a ban imposed during the Tibetan unrest is lifted. 6/27/08 Bill Gates (Microsoft co-founder) leaves company to start full time philanthropic work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 7/2/08 Ingrid Betancourt, held captive by FARC guerillas for 6 years is rescued in an operation by the Colombian government. 3 American hostages also rescued. 7/5/08 Venus Williams beats her sister Serena to win Wimbledon 7-5, 6-4. 7/6/08 Rafael Nadar (Spain) wins 2008 Wimbledon Men's Final. 7/10/08 The Capitoline Wolf, a statue once thought to be Estruscan (one of the icons of the founding of Rome 5 BCE)is not. Radiocarbon dating shows probably 13th century. 7/10/08 Salman Rushdie ears Man Booker Prize for Midnights Children. 7/11/08 Chinese restaurants in Beijing are told not to serve dog meat during 2008 Summer Olympics, but the can continue to serve Donkey meat. 7/12/08 Tony Snow (b. 1955), American Political Commentator dies. 7/27/08 Carlos Sastre of Spain wins 2008 Tour de France. 7/29/08 The IOC lifts its ban on Iraqi athletes participation in the Beijing Olympic following assurances from the government of Iraq about the independence of Iraqi Olympic Committee. 7/30/08 US FDA finds cause for salmonella scare was serrano peppers from one farm in Mexico. 8/1/08 US unemployment hits 4 year high of 5.6%. 8/8/08 Beijing Olympics begins. 8/8/08 Russia brings tanks to border with Georgia (2008 South Ossetia War) 8/23/08 Russia says it pulled out os Ossetia 8/24/08 Summer Olympics concludes. 8/26/08 - 8/30/08 Hurricane Gustav hit Haiti, then Jamaia, then Cuba and heads toward New Orleans. 9/7/08 Hurrican Ike destroys 80% of Turks & Caicos islands. 9/7/08 US governmetn places mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in conservatorship. The Fereral Housing Financing Agency will manage the companies on a temporary basis. 9/8/08 Roger Federer wins US Tennins Open for a record breaking 5th consecutive time. 9/9/08 Bush pledges sending 4,500 troops to Afghanistan in next coupld months and orders 8,000 troops home from Irag by Feb 2009. 9/11/08 Officials order evacuation of Galveston, TX before Hurricane Ike makes landfall next week. 9/13/08 Ike hits Galveston (Cat 2) and Bush declares it a disaster zone. 9/15/08 Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. 9/15/08 Bush tells Americans they will feel a "pinch" from rising costs due to Hurricane Ike. 9/18/08 The SEC declares on emergency ban on short selling financial-sector stocks. 9/22/08 Radiocardon dating estimates Stonehenge was constructed around 2300 BC. 9/24/08 Bush warns Americans that the US faces a "long and painful recession" if the Paulson Plan is not passed. 9/24/08 Senator John McCain postpones his presidential campaigns and wants to cancel 3rd debate to return to DC to work on Paulson Plan. 9/26/08 Paul Newman (b. 1925) American Actor dies. 10/1/08 US Army General David McKiernana, NATO Commander of forces in Afghanistan, says greater military prescence "needed as quickly as possible." 10/2/08 Gwen Ifill moderates 1st and only scheduled debate between US VP candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. 10/3/08 Bush signs $700,000,000,000 bailout bill after it passes in the House. 10/9/08 NATO commander US Army Bantz Craddock asks member countries for authority to target drug trade in Afghanistan. 10/10/08 Fears of a global recessions send Asian stock markets tumbling. 10/14/08 Indian novelist Aranid Adige wins the Man Booker Prize for The White Tiger. 10/15/08 US retail sales dip 1.2% in Sept 08 for the 3rd consecutive month in row. Further evidence US is in recession. 10/16/08 Earthquak (6.5 richter) hits Guatemala and Mexico. 10/27/08 Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens is found quilty on all 7 counts of lying on US Senate financial documents. 10/27/08 Washington DC Metro announces it will randomly search backpack, sgym bags, and any other container that riders carry on the bus and rail systems during periods of increased threats. 10/28/08 Philadelphia Phillies win 2008 World Series. 10/31/08 Studs Turkel (b. 1912) American Author dies. 11/4/08 US elects Barack Obama 44th President of the United States and Joe Biden the 47th Vice President. 11/7/08 A doctored photo of North Kroea King Kim Jong-il, release a day earlier renews speculation about the leaders health. 11/11/08 The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on last voyage from Southampton UK to Dubai, UA. She will become a floating hotel. 11/20/08 Global Crisis of 2008: Auto Executives (Ford, GM and Chrysler) testify before Congress for a bailout package. 11/21/08 Malaysia bans the practice of yoga by Muslims. 11/24/08 Citigroup receives $32B bailout money. 11/26/08 At least 80 people killed and over 250 wounded in coordinated terrorist strike across Mumbai, India. 11/29/08 2008 Mumbai Attacks: death toll rises to 160 with 327 people still missing. 12/9/08 Democrat Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is arrested by FBI at his Chicago home on allegations of corruption and pay-to-play regarding replacement for President-elect Barack Obama's senate seat. 12/10/08 White House and Congress agree on $15B bailout package for big three auto companies. 12/12/08 The United Nations Security Council finds that Rwanda nad Republic of Congo are using child soldiers to figt a proxy war (when 2 powers use 3rd parties as substitutes for fighting). 12/27/08 Israel launches Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in the Gaza strip, killing at least 271 people and wounding at least 800. 12/31/08 Israel rejects a proposed stoppage of Operation Cast Lead that would also have stsopped rocket attacks from Hamas so that humanitarian aid could be delivered. Tonight in a report 2008 on the News Hour tonight experts stated the following recap: 1. Predict the future American economy will not be driven by borrowing and consumption as it has in the past 50 years. 2. Who is to blame? Lots of people... regulators, credit raters, lenders and individuals who borrowed more than they could afford. We were all living beyond our means. 3. One of the lessons we have learned we can not trust the markets to self regulate and our whole attitude of financial risk will be forever changed. 4. There was somem disagreement on the predicted global implications. One expert felt this will increase protectionism (possible tariffs, etc.) and that we may be 1/2 through the recession and should expect markets to improve 6-8 months before end. 5. One expert pointed out this is the first economic crisis made in America and spread to the rest of the world. Obviously weakening democracy stance. 6. Many believe the US Presidential Election was decided the 1st 3 weeks of September when Americans became more concerned with the economy. Earlier the wars and national security were believed to be Americans biggest concern.