Metadata

You may not know what metadata is, but I do. I use it all the time to find out things people would rather I didn't know. Frankly, I'd prefer to have the metadata than the data itself. What people say to each other is confusing, sometimes intentionally so. But who they say it to, that's much harder to spoof. Metadata doesn't lie, and guilt by association is easy to show and, for too many things, enough to convict.

Sleepwet? Ik ben tegen!

Terug timer

 

 
You may have wondered, What is this "Terug" timer counting down screen-left? [NOTE: The timer has now been removed as it finished its countdown, but read on for the explanation.] Curious, perhaps you translated--it means "back"--and calculated the end date: 30 June 2018. That was and remains my predicted date of departure for Schiphol, family in tow. Upon arrival the next day, 1 July thus, we will be again formally resident in the Netherlands.

But why? I've had my time living abroad, Talia too. We're deeply enmeshed in our lives in California, and already get to see our Dutch friends here and there, now and then. The prospect of moving into an even smaller house and facing all those stairs.... We don't need this, and we certainly don't need the expense and challenge of transplanting ourselves again. To be clear, we're not unhappy at the prospect, but we're not doing it for us. We're doing it for the kids.

Our boys live in a bubble. Rich, liberal, Marin. They breathe only rarefied air (mostly), eat only organic food. They know the nearby city as a place of playgrounds, museums, and Chinese food. Homeless people are glimpsed through a car window, environmental destruction is a phenomenon no closer than the Amazonian rain forest. They will benefit from variety and challenge, and they're going to get it. This is their year abroad.

And is this really going to happen? There's no reason to think it won't. My company is actively engaged in transferring me, the visa paperwork is all in order, we're well along with Dutch school enrollment (yes, public school, conducted in Dutch--variety and challenge), and hard at work addressing the many, many tasks required to leave our place here in good order. Talia continues to hone her language skills at work, the boys are spending time with Babbel, and my Dutch is about as good (or bad) as it's ever been. Yes, we're well past the imaginary, into the practical, headed, we hope, for the wonderful.

L. r. californicus

L. r. californicus in the creek! Not the first time we've seen it--we spotted one nabbing a squirrel a few weeks ago--but first time we've recorded it. Looks like we're in its territory, and it in ours.

The Family Christmas Letter, 2017

Welcome again to my annual (ha!) Family Christmas Letter, your best way of keeping up with us, short of any other means at all.  As with previous year, we'll take it person by person, but begin now with a quick summary of the last 12 months:  WTF?

TALIA:

Talia joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater where she premiered "Dances-with-Tents," for which she won the Nobel Peace Prize. No, not really, but almost as improbably she took a contract with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she encountered software that actually discourages you from working too hard (this explains why visa processes take as long as they do, were you wondering). In spare moments, Talia made VW buy back our cheatermobile, got the whole family to be strictly vegetarian for a week, and more than once slept in the barn.

GIDEON:

Yes, well, that happened, nor was this day, camping near Bodega Bay, the only such. As Gideon's pants attest, he continues to live life to the fullest, and then some. A second grader, he is knife self-certified and uses the word "hypocrite" correctly in conversation with my mother. When not disrespecting his elders, Gideon likes to ignore them. He's friends with a fish, a remarkably good rock climber (Gideon, not the fish), and wears glasses despite having perfect vision. Make of it what you will.

FELIX:

Felix, now in 5th grade, has discovered role playing games (shown here in character as a twelfth-level bouquet). This means he's happily entertained for a couple of hours each Friday night, and the rest of us get to hear about it in excruciating detail for twenty or thirty hours thereafter. A star student during the week, he continues to bring home worksheets with one, two, or even three gold stars on them. Having not paid much attention to his sports doings, I was surprised to find myself watching his team in finals, from which they emerged Champions of the World (or the part of it that calls the sport "soccer" anyway). Even more thrilling, he stood up on a surfboard for several seconds a couple of months ago.

ALEC:

This year Alec just gave up and let himself sink into it without further struggle. It's a relief. When not enmired, Alec is busy hunting pirates on the virtual seas and making infrastructure uncomfortable. For some reason he found himself floating down rivers repeatedly this year, which is a nice break from struggling against the tide.

THE HOUSE:

Speaking of sinking, our aged property likewise reached new depths, from which we are still trying to extricate it. Shown here, Talia attempting to levitate new drywall into place, just one of the many incidents that finally convinced us to get a roof. Also on our To Do list: doors, windows, insulation, and right angles. But first we must save the barn and the land upon which it sits from washing away downstream--there is a limit to how many rivers I wish to float down.

THE VACATIONS:

Faithful as always to the Christmas letter tradition, some pictures from this year's travel, of which there was a great deal. More to come in 2018, too. A crazy year for we inhabitants of planet Earth, but a wonderful one for us and, we hope, for you as well.

Hamual

Every year they get bigger, the hams and the boys alike.