enough with the guns

 

It has been a week where crime is too close to home, which merits a follow up to my 2013 post, crime and cars in the Central District.

On Wednesday there was a 10:40 am (!!!) shooting at 2nd and Yesler, an intersection I walk through several times a week that is only a few blocks from home and work. 

After reading about it on Wednesday, I made the mistake of leaving the SPD blotter site open on my work computer so that on Thursday I looked at it again and learned of several other recent, gun-related crimes in the Central District.

These incidents can mostly be divided into gang/drug violence and thefts.

I can't do much about the former beyond (the obvious choices of) not buying, selling or using drugs or joining a gang. As for latter, it feels like a balancing act between taking reasonable precautions and not getting bogged down by fear. 

If I am ever targeted, it will most likely be a theft.  At a low moment this week I was considering that I should probably visualize myself compliantly handing over whatever material possessions are demanded, so that I don’t exercise some silly protective instinct that put me and mine at risk over a few hundred dollars (max) of stuff.

Sigh.

At times like this, looking at the street photos, brief interviews and comments on Humans of New York restores my faith in humanity.

Hawaii pictures

 

This is a belated picture-heavy post on our trip to Hawaii in early August. The three flights weren’t too bad.  We saw an 18 month old flying and made mental note to avoid travel at that age.

First we were on Oahu, for a lovely wedding.  Thankfully the double hurricane that was forecasted, turned in to a single tropical storm, so we just had a day or two of heavy rain and some emergency precautions in Honolulu.

D slept on a thermarest, which worked well in Boston at 6 weeks but not so well at 3.5 months.  He started rolling over and waking up angry and on his face.  That marked the unfortunate end of swaddling and the beginning of a tough sleep month. 

D seemed to enjoy the water and standing in the sand.

 

We had one very long day between our 10 am checkout and 10 pm inter-island flight.  We passed some time walking around Waimea Falls. There were some beautiful trees and flowers.

On Maui we went to the beach several times and visited Haleakala national park, which is a 10,000 ft high volcano.

 

We put a lot of (very natural) sun screen on D.  Keeping him out of the sun and spending a bit too much time in the car was rough.

We watched some impressive surfers and saw four big sea turtles.

On our last day went on a snorkel boat and had a great time.  We bought some underwater pictures they took, but managed to immediately lose them, so this is it.  You’ll just have to imagine how cool we looked under water.

We had a lot of fun, interspersed with a bit of baby-related stress.  My advice for next time (or for friends) is: 1) expect jet lag, even if you don’t think your baby has a strong sleep schedule 2) plan ahead for naps, especially when a hot parked car is not an option 3) minimize car travel.

daycare success!

'Tis the season of back-to-school and D started daycare today.  

Jack brought him in, I visited for a lunchtime snack and we picked him up together. He was put down for two naps by teachers and one by me.  At the end of the day he is happy and only a little hungry as the third bottle feeding didn't go down until I got there.  They have lots of fun toys and he gets to sleep by a noisy vent which functions as a white noise machine. 

I'm very pleased.