They only care about the green stuff

I walk up to the bus stop awning and see George's smile, deepening the wrinkles around his eyes.

Over the past year we've gotten to know one another. We wait for our buses. He tells me about his job as a cancer researcher, visits to his mother-in-law, when his family is going back to China for a visit. He says I look Russian and I laugh. He asks about Ian, my job. We discuss classical music and hard work.

He scoots over so there's room for me. I sit between him and a woman in a teal hat and coat, hood lined with fur. It contrasts with her Revlon 31 dark auburn hair.

George tells me the schedule for the 52 has changed, but the 502 is still the same. He now has to wait for the 6:20 bus. The woman interjects a comment about the approaching 57, but I have a hard time understanding her unusually thick Boston accent. We weren't talking about the 57. Puzzled, I nod then turn back to George. We talk about the weather. It's supposed to start snowing tomorrow night. Over a foot, I've heard.

"What a day I'm having," the woman interrupts again.

My manners tell me to acknowledge her. "Oh?"

"I took my black coat to the cleanah's and asked them to fix the zippah. I picked it up today and paid. I get home and they cleaned it — I didn't want them to, and they didn't fix the zippah!"

"Can't you just take it back and ask them to fix it?" I ask.

"Yeah. But I didn't want to go out in the snow. That's why I picked it up today. Now I'll have to wait until Friday."

"Oh."

"You know they only care about the green stuff." She rubs invisible coins together between her fingers as her rings glint in the twilight. "Because they're Chinese."

I wince, even though George is no longer paying attention — his bus has just arrived and he says goodnight with a courteous bow.

I turn back to the woman. "He's Chinese," I tell her. I don't point out I'm half-Filipino and the only other person waiting for a bus is from Taiwan.

"Oh, I didn't mean to offend. You can't tell." She adjusts her jean purse and sniffs her prominent nose.

That's like saying you couldn't tell rain is wet, I think.

"Well, it doesn't matter," I say. "Anyone can be greedy. White people are greedy." I try to phrase this tactfully, instead of using the other words coming to mind.

"They should learn English. I can't understand them." She is defensive. Is this why she changed the subject?

I can't understand you, I think. Maybe it was her accent, not theirs, that left her zipper broken.

"If I lived in Floridah, I'd learn the language."

Florida is still in the States. Does she mean Spanish?

I mumble something about how hard it is to learn English.

"They just have to go to the library and get some tapes."

She tells me about her son's wife, who is Portuguese and lives in New Hampshire — she learned English and her son is bilingual. "Her English is beautiful."

The 502 pulls up, and I make sure to put several seats between us before I allow myself to chuckle at the absurdity.

MLK

photo from the Library of Congress

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

our twelve days of Christmas

We left Boston on Thursday before sunrise, snow accumulating on our suitcases as we waited for the T. We arrived in Denver to no snow.

The disappointment was mitigated with a hug from Ren, who picked us up curbside. We headed east to spend the next eleven days in all four corners of Kansas.

Corner of Kansas 1 preface
It was so good to see Dane, Micki and "the kids" Pfluff and Ming. Last time we saw Ming he was a tiny kitten, and now he's all grown up (and huge). He's not the sharpest crayon in the box, but he is the fluffiest.

We also witnessed the church building in action at the Christmas Eve service. Before we moved to Boston we helped with the construction, but left before they finished phase 1. It's kind of fun looking up thinking, "I installed all those canned lights while navigating a fully extended genie around carpentry equipment."

Corner of Kansas 2
After the Christmas Eve service, we headed south to Susan and Marilyn's. Lots of hot cider, hanging out, football, and fire stoking. Possibly one of the best moments of the weekend was Grandma Marilyn playing up and down the river.

Corner of Kansas 1 chapter 1
Sunday we headed back to spend a couple more days with Ian's family. We opened more presents, watched more football, and had fun in the kitchen. Grandma Judy came down, we played cards (Grandma Judy and I pulled off an incredibly high pinochle score), and made a three-generational coconut cream pie.

As luck would have it, Karen and Jeremy were on their way home from a skiing trip, and they stopped by. So we conned them into taking our family photo. Please note, Ian's yellow sweater is not a CU sweater. We love Ren, we do not love CU.

Corner of Kansas 1 chapter 2
Then it was on to spend time with my family. We watched and analyzed Inception, assessed Caleb's dreds (it looks like he has a giant tarantula on his head but he looks good), and relaxed together for a couple days before heading to Grandma's (catching Voyage of the Dawn Treader along the way).

Corner of Kansas 3
Friday night, we introduced Grandma to Mom and Dad's new Mac and Photobooth.

Caleb stayed up with Ian and I to watch Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark ring in the new year. I have now lost all desire to see this in person.

We woke up early the next day and made a quick trip to Manhattan to catch Jordan — we had breakfast a Bluestem and Steve made our drinks. It's like we never left.

Coleen, Eldred, Brian and Ellen arrived, and the next 24 hours were filled with epic uno games, ESPN's 30 for 30, Alice in Wonderland, spritz, potato sausage, Grandma thanking us for her "postcahds from Bahston," and Chaos (pronounced chay-ohs), the friendly barn cat who is trying to convince Grandma to let her move indoors.

Corner of Kansas 4
Monday morning we got up bright and early, said goodbye to Grandma, and my family drove us to Wichita. Thanks to a cancelled flight and ensuing rebooking through Memphis instead of Atlanta, we got an extra hour to grab Starbucks with Micki, Ren and Aunt Patti (spending a few days with Patti after their family Christmas take 2). With a twinge of homesickness, we said goodbye.

Home again, home again, jiggy jig jig.
Thanks again to our rebooking, we picked up some Memphis barbeque on the way back. I glared at Ian in first class (again, rebooking). We were home by seven.

It's hard to say goodbye not knowing when you'll see family next, but it's also good to be home, just the two of us. And Ian's excited to be back and using all our new Christmas presents. I got a lot of kitchen things, so he thinks I'll be cooking him lots of treats. Little does he know, he'll be using them all too.

Thanks to everyone for your hospitality and generosity. We love you and miss you all so much. Feel free to visit us — we'll leave the light on for you.

20 inches.

We're still catching up from our extended Christmas vacation. We have an apartment to clean, photos to upload, groceries to purchase, bills to pay, laundry to wash, a belated Christmas letter to write, thank you notes to mail, blog posts to edit. But in the meantime, it snowed.

The T was still running, so the office was still open. Even though a snow day would have been nice (see above), it meant we got to experience a beautiful snowfall.

And then there's today. Of all days to forget my camera at home. The puffed up doves sitting on a branch along the river. The brilliant white snow sliding off tree branches. The mountains of snow in every parking lot. The sleds leaned next to front doors.

Thankfully, there are loaner cameras at work. Because my 365 project has helped me learn my camera, using something else feels like driving an unfamiliar car. But it still gets you there. So I borrowed one and Ian and I spent lunch outside.

I'm enjoying the view while it lasts.

For more photos, click here.

Concrete Aspirations 2011

These 28 things are my concrete aspirations for 2011. This year I want to create healthier habits, learn more, and knock off some projects that require a little extra motivation. I try not to stress if I don't get everything done, but this year I've tried to make my goals more measurable so it's not easy to just put it off until next year. You can track my progress on the concrete aspirations page. (Italics are in progress.)

1. Go through the Tagalog Rosetta Stone lessons - do at least one a week.
2. Read 3 of Ian’s creation care books.
3. Write something for “Riding with Charlie” once a month.
4. Keep my inbox under a maximum of 25 email at any given time - I get stressed when it piles up.
5. Upload our professional wedding photos to Flickr for peace of mind.
6. Learn two quick, cute ways to style my new haircut.
7. Organize and clean up photos in iPhoto.
8. Make one new soup each month - most soups are healthy, right?
9. Make grandma’s cinnamon rolls, rolls, angel food cake, and potato sausage.
10. Eat fruit and veggies at lunch and dinner for one month (in theory this will turn into habit).
11. WiiFit 3x a week for one month - when I got my job and had less time I fell off the Wii-gon and want to get back on (again, in theory this will turn into habit).
12. Floss every day for 2 weeks straight (again, habit).
13. Make or get rid of all the recipes in my recipe box. And nothing new goes in without cooking/baking it first.
14. Only eat out one meal a week max (this means packing lunches regularly).
15. Read through the Bible chronologically again, this time in NASB.
16. Have date night with Ian once a month.
17. Call or e-mail one friend a week.
18. Write to Grandma once a month.
19. Go through Sacred Marriage and Celebration of Discipline with Ian.
20. Figure out my personal style and give away at least 10 items in my wardrobe that don’t fit that.
21. Do an at-home pedicure once a month.
22. Design personal cards and print them with moo.com.
23. Design and order/print a bookplate stamp/sticker/embosser. Between that and my dust jacket covers, I’ll feel like we have a library. Dream come true!
24. Curate the rest of the bedroom, then move on to the kitchen and bathroom so they all are as streamlined and simplified as the living room.
25. Figure out and implement a good system for our under bed storage.
26. Choose one evening a week to go without electricity-powered entertainment (read! play games!).
27. Paint and decorate the pink floral round box to match the living room.
28. Obtain a better aquarium for the frogs with a light and a filter.