My Big Fat Cuban Family: A Cuban-American Blog

My (Super) Hero

A few months ago, my son, Jonathan (16) breathlessly runs in.

"Mom, you've got to see this!" He then proceeds to show me the following movie trailer:

Explosions! People in peril! ! MARVEL SUPERHEROES ! ! (Win.Win.WIN!)

He knows (because I've told him repeatedly, as I have all four of my kids) that I was a nerdy comic-book-loving kid. That's right. Little known fun fact.

{WARNING: Over-sharing-Uber-nerd Alert!}

My dad used to take me to the local drugstore on weekends and let me pick out 3 or 4 comic books every week. It's how I learned to read in English. This probably flies in the face of all kinds of English as a second language research, but, whatever....

I would very carefully choose a variety of comic books, from the Harvey classics, like Richie Rich to the "teen" comedy, Archie (for the record, I was always very pro-Betty, but that's not important right now). I also really loved the action/adventure Marvel comics.

Thor was my favorite of the Avengers. Mostly because he said cool things like:  

"WE'LL NEVER BE BEATEN! FOR WE ARE...THE AVENGERS!"

(By the way, the only time you should EVER use the Comic Sans font is in a comic book. There. I said it.)

Back to the Avengers. And specifically to Thor. The Mighty Thor. I loved Thor. He had the hammer. The cool Viking vibe. When I was in high school we were The Mighty Vikings. It like one big cosmic Thor Love-fest.

In fact, when Adam was three, I dressed him as Thor for Halloween. I did. I swear. (Excuse me while I go dig up some proof.....)

Ta-da!

Hey! Superheroes come in all sizes (and my son has since forgiven me). But that's not important right now.

As I got older, my comic book consumption diminished, but my love of all things Marvel did not. In the late 70's, I religiously watched Bill Bixby/Dr. Bruce Banner turn into Lou Ferrigno/The Incredible Hulk . (Who didn't?)

So back to Jonathan and The Avengers Movie Trailer....

1. I am thrilled that my 16 year old and I have such awesome common ground.
2. We are out-of-our-skin excited to see the film. In theaters everywhere on May 4th.

Were doubly excited that the makers of LEGO are also aboard the Avengers-train. Embrace the awesomeness:

And so is Target. This is seriously the cutest ad ever. Watch. And love.

We are definitely going to be following the Awesomeness that is The Avengers on Facebook. And counting down to May 4th. (Thanks, Disney Pictures!)

I don't know about you, but in our family, nerdiness does not skip a generation.

So, any other uber-nerds out there? I know there are. Come on. Talk to me.

May the 4th Be With You

In 1977 when I was young and adorable (This is NOT a lie), a film was released that changed my personal perseption of movie making forever. (This is NOT a lie, either.)

It was only playing on a few screens and there was no advertising for it. It was completely word of mouth. We had friends who dragged us to this screening. Apparently everyone was dragging friends. The friends had no idea what the film was about and it was too hard to explain, so the dragging was happening en masse.

Star Wars. Episode IV. A New Hope.

We didn't call it that back then. We just called it Star Wars. I still am a bit unsure as to the number and official titles of the films, but that's not important right now.)

Happy Star Wars Day!

This is the kind of stuff we uber-geeks live for. May the 4th be with you! *salutes appropriately*

So today I'm in touch with my inner-Star-Wars-geek and I am all about The Force. Or in this case The Fourth. May the Fourth. May the Fourth Be With You. Get it?

Just for today I will endulge my inner-geek. And I'll post a few star wars related videos and links.

And even a photo of Darth Vader that I took on Hollywood Blvd. last week.

Yes. I caught him while he was texting. How cool is that?

Sweet, right?

Here's more Vader for your entertainment pleasure. Here's the one where he's being a jerk:

And here's the one where he's failing the tom-tom gps ad:

I could do this all day long.... (and maybe I will..)

Here's the Star Wars Help Desk...

And of course, the Darth Vader Volkswagen ad.

If you're Star Wars Uber-Geeks, (like we are) you must have a favorite line from the movie, like:

"That's no moon." or "The Sand People are easily startled but they'll soon be back, and in greater numbers." 

What's your favorite Star Wars quote? (Dig deep!) Please share it.

If you get stuck, cruise over to Wookipedia today and get your fair share of Star Wars trivia.

And, oh yes....May the 4th be with you.

(Thanks for playing with me.)  =D

V.Reader Techno-book Winner

Thank you all for your wonderful responses. As a serious bibliophile, I was thrilled to see so many of you share my same love for all things print. (Even the techno variety.)

As I read through your responses, I remembered so many books that I loved, too. Some of you who are younger reminded me of books I loved to read to my kids when they were little. (But that's not important right now.)

Seriously, though. Go back to the last post and read the responses. What a jog down Memory Lane.

I chose a winner by going to Random.org and typing in the number of responses. The random number generator gave me this...

Which makes the winner... the 7th person who commented....

*****************************************************

Andrea said...

My favorite book was The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

*****************************************************

Oooh! Good choice! I love The Very Busy Spider, too.

Congratulations, Andrea!

Please send me an email with the subject line: MARTA, I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG!

Include your full name and snail mail address so I can forward to the great folks at VTech so they can send you this fine product. 

For those of you who didn't win, you may consider picking one up at Target. Your munchkin will thank you. =D

"When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does."
                                        ~from the movie, You've Got Mail

Reading in the 21st Century - A Very Cool Giveaway

We are voracious readers in our family.

Seriously voracious.

As I write this, four out of five of the people living in this house right now have a book in hand. I am personally in love with the Kindle for iPhone app, but that's not important right now.

So I was delighted when the makers of the new V.Reader for kids by VTech asked if I would review their product.

(In the interest of complete disclosure, I was given a V.Reader by VTech for my review. I was allowed to keep the product, but the opinion I am sharing remains my own. Well, with some help....read on...)

I got the V.Reader, turned it on, pressed the buttons, heard the story. I thought how incredibly cute it was and how I wished it had been available when my kids (who are now teenagers) were young. I totally would have purchased this product. So, my personal opinion was that I loved it.

An animated storybook? What's not to love?

But I knew I needed to get a real expert in here.

Here's my grand-nephew, Ben, who just turned five. His mom (my niece, Helen) has been reading to him since he was a baby. He loves books. 

"Here, Ben, try this."

He quickly typed in his name: B-E-N. Chose an avatar. A robot (Duh!). And it took him no time at all to figure out how to turn the "pages" on his "book."

 

He became immediately engrossed in the story and was quickly asking for more. "What else can I do? Are there more stories?"

 

The V.Reader is available at Target stores and so are the other book titles. (On hearing there was a new Toy Story 3 V.book, my niece left here and headed right over to Target to pick that one up.)

The final verdict according to my in-house expert and the general consensus from everyone here, the V.Reader is "Awesome!"

Here comes the very cool part....

VTech has generously offered to send out a V.Reader to one lucky MBFCF reader. (I know. Shut up!)

So, let's do a comment giveaway. (How much do I love this?)

Go to the comment section of this post and tell me ....what was YOUR favorite book as a child?

I'll choose a winner on Monday, July 5th at 11:00 am Pacific Time.

Mine was The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss.  (That explains so much, doesn't it?) =D

How To Throw a Virtual Birthday Party

My daughter, Amy Kikita, spends a lot of time online.

Today is her birthday (27) and I wanted to do something special to celebrate. "No time," she said. "I have a ton of work to catch up on."

Fair enough. I guess it's good that she has a work ethic at all....

But I also know that in between uploading and downloading and keywords and doing the online internet marketing stuff she does, she also checks her Facebook Page.

*insert lightbulb over head here*

I got excited when her other Facebook friends agreed to play along. 

So, this is an example of what she found when she logged on this morning.

 

I think we made history today. This is the Very First Virtual Birthday Party I've ever thrown.

Thanks everyone for participating (I will keep loading photos through the day if you want to send them to me or post on Facebook).

So, Happy Birthday, Amy Kikita! Enjoy your party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
  

 
 
  

For the record, I'd like to mention that the clean-up after this party is a snap! =D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMY!!

Where are you now, Gaspar, Melchor, & Baltazar?

Back in the day, (that would be Cuba, 1961. After Castro, but before he canceled Christmas) my family, like most other Cubans (and Puerto Ricans and others of Hispanic descent) celebrated El Dia de Los Tres Reyes Magos on January 6th.

The Day of the Three Kings.

The evening of January 5th, we kids would get ourselves to bed early and look forward to the magic that awaited us the next morning. You see, it was not Santa Claus who brought us gifts, it was these three.

I still remember the haul we would awaken to on January 6th (Feast of the Epiphany, established by the Catholic Church).

And these guys were KINGS. And there were THREE of them. And they had CAMELS! Which meant they could carry that much more loot. (Shut up. I know it's shallow. I was five, okay?)

We knew them by name and sang of songs of fervent praise to them, too. We loved those three: "Gaspar y Melchor y el Rey Baltazar..."

(Read more about the history and story of the 3 Kings here.)

In early in 1961, when we left Cuba, The Three Kings apparently didn't get the memo that we had changed our address and were never to be seen or heard from again in my family. (*deep childlike sigh*)

Santa Claus took over the present delivery and I guess it seemed simpler to my parents to just embrace the Christmas traditions in this country. Although, for years, we still gave credit to "Los Reyes" for bringing our presents.

Sorry Santa! =(

And because I often wax nostalgic and I'm a little distracted and creative, I started wondering what it would look like if the Magi still delivered gifts to us on the morning of the Epiphany.

I think it might look something like this:

Happy Three Kings Day, Everyone! =D

(H/T Melek. Thanks for the wonderful reminder!)

Mac Scarecrow Syndrome or If I Only Had an iBrain

I am a lover of all things Apple.

Ever since I first worked on a little Mac Plus back in the 80's, I have been hooked.

Right now I work on a Power Mac G5. A big and powerful beast of a tower with an external hard drive that has 1 terabyte of memory. (Okay, so I'm not exactly sure what a terabyte actually is, I just know it's a lot.)

I love my Mac. It speaks my artsy-right-brain language.

So imagine my absolute delight when my fabulous husband decided to buy me an iPhone 3GS last week. (Insert angelic chorus here.)

Oh sure, I got a lot of grief from the various members of my big, fat, Cuban family who all work for Verizon, and in the interest of full disclosure, I have been very happy and extremely satisfied with Verizon and my little LG phone, but that's not important right now.

But just look at this beauty:

 

And the apps! (That's techno-jargon for applications or "stuff it can do." You're welcome.)

It syncs up to my iTunes and has an iPod feature which lets me play all 2000+ songs from my music library. Or I can watch tv, or YouTube videos. This feature makes me totally happy.

 

The GPS feature tells me where I am at all times and gives me directions to where I want to be all from typing in a keyword.

 

Isn't that amazing?

I can surf the web and read my favorite blogs. =D (Either vertically....)

 

Or horizontally... (just by turning it in the palm of my hand! I know. Shut up!)

 

I can even post to my Facebook page or Twitter account from my new iPhone.

 

And I can play skee ball! (You know how much I love skee ball....) It makes the wooden rolling ball sounds and everything!! (<--- Yes, so much excitement, I needed two exclamation points!)

 

And of course, I can text, and take photos and video....

 

I have already learned so many tricks on how to use it thanks to my BFF, Pam who has been coaching me from afar. (Thanks, Pam!)

And I'm a quick learner, too. Even if I do say so myself. 

I love this phone so much I want to marry it! (I know. Some serious gushing going on here.)

In fact, so far, I've only encountered one teensy, oh-so-minimal glitch with this fabulous techno-marvel which I have aptly named Marta's Magical iPhone.

And I noticed it when I got my first... incoming call.

And, umm.... I didn't know how to answer it. (I know. Shut up.*blushes*)

But did I mention it takes great pictures? =D

 

(Thanks, Carrie, for not hanging up.)

What uber-geek heaven looks like...

I know I'm a complete uber-geek and techno-junky, but this is the coolest, most fun program EVER.

It's called Rollip and  you can create your own Faux-Polaroids. How cool is that?

Go. Do it. Right now. You know you want to. ;-)

For all the world to see

First of all, thanks to all of my blog readers/friends/family for the wonderful anniversary wishes.

Eric and I are truly blessed to have you all in our lives. (Our cyber-lives?)

I love being able to just write from my heart about whatever is going on in our world. That you guys find it entertaining is just icing on the triple layer cake that is my life. =D

So I was thinking earlier (as I uploaded a bunch of pictures of Eric and me up on Facebook) how our lives are pretty much on display and then, well, I started feeling a little vulnerable.

Moments later I received an email from MBFCF reader, Daisy A. with this attached....

Wow. There we are. On display.

It completely took my breath away.

I don't know what app she used to do this, but isn't it just too amazing and coincidental?

It instantly made me feel better about what I do.

In fact, it made me feel kind of accidentally cool. ;-)

(Thanks, Daisy! Te la comiste!)

How to Cha-Cha

You know those uber-dorky people who have a dictionary and an atlas sitting near the dinner table so that they can look stuff up when they start arguing during dinner about ways to pronounce words, or the capital of someplace, or what exactly a rhombus is?

We are those people.

By the way... In geometry a rhombus or rhomb is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. The rhombus is often called a diamond, after the diamonds suit in playing cards.

Yes. Us uber-dorks argue about this kind of stuff. And I'm Cuban, so arguing is like breathing to me. ;-)

When I was growing up it was that same way. The dictionary and the atlas were staples of our meals much like black beans and rice. We eat this stuff up!

But now that we are post-modernists living in the 21st century, we've added the cell phone, which is usually off-limits during meals, but that's not important right now, because now there is Cha-Cha.

And Cha-Cha knows EVERYTHING.

How it works: You text 242242 and ask your question. ChaCha texts back the answer super quickly.

In the past couple of days Cha-Cha has given us the following information:

(I was having a disagreement on the costuming for our upcoming Bye, Bye Birdie show with someone when they suggested the girls wear poodle skirts and I argued <there I go again!> that poodle skirts were pretty much gone by the time the Ed Sullivan show was happening. I was right. =D)
The Ed Sullivan Show aired from 1959 to 1967. Ed Sullivan died in October of 1974. Thanks for ChaCha'ing!

And we also learned this fun fact as I argued (of course I did!) that Alice Cooper was not his real name...
Alice Cooper had his name legallly changed from Vincent Damon Furnier in 1975. ChaCha!

So, we're arguing and ChaCha'ing and arguing and ChaCha'ing and I'm thinking..

"What could be more Cuban? Arguing and ChaCha-ing!" .... My dad would have LOVED this! =D

Playing catch-up

I have been doing some spring cleaning here at MBFCF (and at home too, but that's not important right now).

I've been making some slight changes that I've been meaning to get to for a while now.

• I made the body of the posts static instead of fluid - so the photos and type don't move around depending on the size of your screen anymore.
• I added a color (it should look sepia in your browser) to the background.
• I created a cute little favicon to the top tab. (it says MBFCF in a little brown heart - how cute is that?!)
• I changed the color of the type in my lists (on the sides there...)
• And last, but not least, I added a little widget called Linked Within.

I especially love that last feature.  I mean... I've written over 750 posts!  That's a lot of posts! You might as well benefit from all of that writing. =D

So if you scroll down to the bottom of each of my posts (like this one, for example) it will say the following...

You might like these stories:

And then it links you to 3 other posts within my blog.  Isn't that genius?
That way, on a day like today, while I'm still catching up with the week's laundry and looking for creative inspiration, you can amuse yourself by reading stuff I've already written.

Genius.

Let me know what you think. I'll be folding socks and tshirts and sheets and towels and....

*SIGH*

Since I was already playing on my computer and procrastinating because I have so much stuff to do that I really don't want to...

I also Simpsonized myself.... 

Meet Martica. The Simpsons' new Cuban neighbor.  ;-)

(Disclaimer: I don't watch this show, but someone sent me the link and I couldn't resist...)

 

I know. Shut up.

Learning to do advanced geometry

One of the beautiful things about home education is that I get to learn stuff alongside my kids. 

Seriously, I think back to when I was in high school and learning Algebra and Geometry.  Well, "learning" might be a bit of an exaggeration. 

I showed up. I kind of did what I was told to do. I parroted answers that I had stored for the moment when I'd have to regurgitate them and quickly forgot what I had been "taught."  Besides, I was busy learning the things I wanted to learn.  I read voraciously. I taught myself to write.

It wasn't until I started researching homeschooling that I began to see where my own education had broken down. I was never taught how to think.

In fact, although I did well in Geometry (because I was a visual learner, a term which I'm sure my teachers back in the late 60's and 70's had never even heard of) I never quite understood Algebra.  It wasn't until I had to teach my own kids that I learned how to even do Algebra. 

Painful Flashback Memory:  I got a "D" in Algebra my freshman year of high school from Mrs. Gremmer, bless her heart.  It was a gift, really, because I think she felt sorry for me because I was trying so hard and maybe because I kissed up to her just a little, but that's not important right now. All that to say this: I just didn't get it and nobody cared.

So now I'm learning right along with them. And I couldn't be more delighted. I feel like I can learn anything. (Italian is next on my list. =D)

We're the type of family that has a dictionary at the dinner table at all times to contest a word or a spelling or a meaning of something.  (It's a lot more fun in real life than what I'm making it sound like here....) 

I once mentioned that one of the church worship leaders had a quavery voice and Eric challenged, so out came the dictionary which of course proved me correct.  =D

qua•ver (noun)
A shake or tremble in a person's voice.
Derivative: qua•ver•y (adjective)

So this week when I had some leftover picadillo and was going to make a combination emapanada/samosa, I looked to geometry to help me solve the problem.  (I know. Shut up. Go figure!)

I call them Empanadosas.

Just to prove that yes, you can use the things I'm teaching in real life. =D

I'm challenging you to do some Advanced Geometry to make these Empanadosas. 
Following this chart (which I created with Amy 's help):

Thanks Amy Kikita for your invaluable help.  The recipe is over at Babalú blog today. (I hope you're impressed.)

The truth is that this is really more my speed:  =D

It's about TIME

Much to my Jonathan's great sadness, I read somewhere that Bill Gates only lets his kids play video games for about forty-five minutes a day.  And because even though we homeschool, I don't want my kids to grow up to be total Social Retards, (I know you were thinking it!) we have Gaming Rules.

So the rules state that they can spend as much time as they need or want on their computers doing creative stuff (ie. writing, making films, editing pictures) or doing research.  We have four stations set up in our office/studio/homeschool area and we can all see each other's monitors at all times (but that's not important right now).

But when it comes to the game playing thing, they are limited to 45 minutes a day, with exceptions occasionally on weekends.
That's right. 45 minutes.

Say it with me, "Because I'm the mom and I said so."  =D

Left to his own devices, this is how Jonathan would choose to spend his time:

So the 45 Minute Gaming Rule remains.  He'll thank me much later when he gets A Real Life. ;-)

[The show is called The Big Bang Theory. We saw this episode on an airplane and I still laugh every time. I know Uber-Geek Humor. =D]

My hero.

I've mentioned before how we don't choose to have cable and therefore don't get tv channels here where we live.  So, my kids don't get to watch tv (I know... poor, losery homeschooled kids... shut up.).

They are allowed to watch some movies, especially on our outdoor big screen, and certain approved tv shows. And yes, we do own lots of dvds. =D

So, tonight I was in the kitchen slicing up onion and peppers and garlic for dinner when I accidentally stabbed myself with one of my extra sharp kitchen knives.

I called out (or maybe I made a sort of in-human guttural noise, but that's not important right now =D) and Jonathan quickly came running.

"What happened, Mom?"

I explained about the accidental finger stab as I was putting pressure on it to make it stop bleeding.  It was a pretty deep stab and I'm a big baby, but I had my Brave Mom face on, even though I thought for sure I was going into shock and was already mentally going into an explanation to the imaginary paramedics before I slowly slipped out of consciousness... (okay, so maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but it was a pretty deep puncture.)

When I explained what had happened, Jonathan jumped into action.  He dug in the drawer where I keep the steel thing that sharpens my knives.  He quickly opened the freezer and plunged it into the ice cube bin.  He was reassuring me the whole time and telling me to maintain the pressure on the wound.

After about a minute, he asked to see the place where I had stabbed myself.  It started to bleed again and was still painfully throbbing. 

This is the part where I was left a little dumbfounded.  He reached into the freezer and pulled out the now icy steel-knife-sharpening-thing and placed the ice-cold steel on the wound. 

Within a minute it had cauterized, was completely closed up and was no longer hurting! 

Amazing. Seriously. Just amazing.

I was stunned.

"Where on earth did you learn how to do that??"

He looked at me sheepishly and answered: "MacGyver."

I looked him in the eye and simply said: "My hero."  (and no, I didn't mean Richard Dean Anderson.) ;-)

YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP!

Since my parents went on vacation, my Dad needed to borrow my laptop.  Seeing as how I need a computer and internet to work (and so does he), it made sense for me to stay at their house while they're gone.  This way I can work and feed the cats and water and make sure Adam doesn't get into too much trouble. ;-)

(yes, it's me, Kikita)

Anyway, day one was going pretty smoothly.  I had fed the cats and was throwing myself into the long work day I had ahead of me.  Dad and I will instant message each other about work related stuff because it's faster than making a phone call.  In this day and age, I'm sure you understand.

So I'm quietly plugging away when POP! 

An instant message from Dad: Amy, I need a favor . . .

No problem, he needed some notes off of his desk (which is where I happened to be working).

A little while later . . . POP!

(I think the little pop sound the computer makes to let me know I have an IM is kind of fun)

Amy, I need another quick favor . . .

No problem, he needed an email address for a new contact of his.

Back to work I went because I had a lot that needed to get done.

POP!

HOLA! MAMI HERE!

She just wanted to chat . . . which was fine.  I can chat and work at the same time.  Besides, Dad is really cool and has two monitors (which makes chatting while working much easier).

POP! POP! POP!

(That pop sound is kind of stupid, who thought of it anyway?)

Now they are both going.

Dad is asking work related things, Mami is sharing about the Thermometer.

Dad is having me check something while Mami wants me to check the blog for the Thermometer picture.

POP! POP! POP!

And I'm starting to go kind of crazy and am suddenly curious as to how they are both capable of IM-ing me at the same time . . .

POP! POP! BUZZ!

WHAT NOW?!?!

My phone phone is vibrating because Mom is texting me (on top of instant messaging) . . . so I thought. 

It was Lucy, sending me a picture.

Apparently, my parents were playing Battleship . . .

 

and I just happened to get caught in the cross-fire.  =D

The game's afoot...

I'm on vacation. Truly I am. We're swimming and relaxing and I'm even doing some scrapbooking and lots of reading. Yes. A perfectly relaxing vacation.  However, I'm still connected to the world because we inhabit a world of super-techiness (is that a word?).  So, I'm sitting today by the pool and I receive a text from my friend, Gene, Pam's husband, with a picture:

"We're at  the opening of Toy Story Mania. It's phenomenal. Hoping to see you.
Where are you?"

Hmm.... unexpected. My friends are at Disneyland and California Adventures and I'M NOT.

So I reply:
"Big Bear. On vacation. For the rest of the week. So sorry we missed you."

Moments later I receive another text, this time from my niece, Helen, with a picture:

"Just got off the new Toy Story ride. No wait - was amazing. Where are you??"

Ummm, here I go again... Helen and Daisy are my tried and true Disneyland buddies. And they are there WITHOUT ME?

"Big Bear. On vacation. For the rest of the week. So sorry we missed you."

This was starting to take on the characteristics of a conspiracy! I'm apparently the last Disney pass holder on the planet to ride on the new Toy Story ride. And no, I'm not jealous. I'm not. I swear...... heck, I'm on vacation! (and having a wonderful time, but that's not important right now) But the plot thickens and it's my own fault because I was the one who started the Scavenger Hunt in the first place, but that's not important right now either...

So now I'm texting with Gene and I'm texting with Helen when Gene suddenly wants to know where the thermometer is. In my original Disneyland Photo Scavenger Hunt there is a thermometer which reads 40 degrees. I took the picture in the doorway of the Coca-Cola Corner - Here's proof:

Gene and Pam are getting frustrated. No Thermometer. So I enlist Helen (after all, she was with me when I took the photos and she's already done this scavenger hunt) to help Gene and Pam find the Thermometer.

"On which side of the park are you? The Thermometer is MIA." 

It's not at the Coke Corner, she says, in fact, she's sure it's at the Carnation Cafe. I finally give Gene, Helen's number and vice versa (trying to extricate myself from the proverbial loop - I'm on vacation here, people!) but the texts kept coming:

"Not there. The Employees have never seen it before. yada yada. and you're delusional."

What?? This hunt wasn't that long ago.... (I start feeling a bit worried and responsible and a bit crazed when I'm supposed to be relaxing - did I mention that I'm. on. vacation! sigh).

Helen and Daisy let me know that they are now on their way to Main Street and the Carnation Cafe. Surely they'll find the bloody Thermometer - how hard can this be???  Okay. I admit it's a pretty difficult hunt - not for the faint of heart.

So now I get poetic: "Your Sacred Quest - FIND THE THERMOMETER."

They play right along with me: "No quest is too dangerous for the unstoppable duo of Daisy & Helen!"

By this time we're getting ready for dinner. The texting has been going on all day. My family is kind of tired of The Impossible Thermometer Quest. Gene and Pam apparently are tired of it too because they are resting and they think I'm lying and they've given up. (sorry, guys!)

Last text from Helen, way into the evening now:
"There is a nail hole, people!"  Mystery solved.

"Our Disneyland Scavenger Hunt has been sullied. The thermometer is gone, baby, gone!"

SIDE NOTE: When I send text messages with my friends we don't use text-slang (ie - CU L8TR which always sounds like bad vanity plates,but that's not important right now), we use punctuation, upper and lower case letters, and capitalize proper nouns. I know!

It cracked me up that they were furiously texting me all day over this Case of the Missing Thermometer and that yes, even though I'm on vacation.... I still got to play along!  And that makes me uber-happy! But I'm sad that my scavenger hunt is spoiled now.

I guess that only means one thing: I need to start working on a new one. (sigh. A creative-Disney-loving mother's work is never done.)

From the (allegedly) vacationing Marta - Peace out. =D

"Elementary, My Dear Watson there was a NAIL HOLE."

Excuse me, Mr. Google?

Hello, mi gente!  It's Amy again.

I'm having issues.  I need help.

The other day, I was talking with my Mom and I was messing with her a bit when out-of-the-blue and for the first time in my life she exclaimed, "San Apapusio, baja!"

Umm . . . what?? who??

Obviously, she was frustrated and asking for a particular Saint to come down . . . I understand that part, but most Saints are famous for something and that's why you call on them.

So, what is San Apapusio famous for?

Before admitting to her that I didn't know what she was talking about, I did what any modern-day Cubana would do.  I asked Mr. Google and guess what?  HE DOESN'T KNOW!!!!

El Señor Google left me hanging.  So I went to the next best source, Abuela.  But, you won't believe this, she said, "It's just something we say when someone is being difficult and we're frustrated.  I don't know why.  Ask Mr. Google."
Great.  This Mr. Google guy has only been here a couple days and already he's letting me down.

Not ready to admit defeat, I called my one Cuban friend who has only been here a couple years.  He started laughing at me and said he had no idea who it was.

Ay, caramba!

WHO IS THIS SAN APAPUSIO?!?!?

ANYONE? ANYONE?

(you get extra points if you can link him to Kevin Bacon)

Señor Google is in da house!

Hello everyone!  It's Amy.

I've been living with my Abuela for almost 3 years now and she has never had internet.  Because, really, what would a 90-something Cuban grandmother need the internet for?

(Yes, it's been hard on me, but - when I can no longer live without it - I just go to Mom's house.)

Anyway, my Abuela is slowly learning about the "in-ter-neh."  She'd heard it mentioned, but didn't really try to understand it until the whole "Depende" thing started happening to her in Miami.

What "Depende" thing?

Every time someone says the word, "depende," everyone else in the room interrupts with a loud, "DEPENDE DE QUE?"

After a year of people doing this to her, she asked me why everyone always said it the same way.  How do you explain talking eggs and bongos?  Ugh.  I promised her that, one day, I would show it to her and we left it at that.

But then, someone (not sure who) attempted to explain the concept of Google to her.  It didn't quite work.  So she started saying, "Pregunta al Señor Google."
("Go ask Mr. Google")

Yes, MISTER GOOGLE.  She thinks there is a little man sitting at a computer who is just waiting to answer people's questions and help with with their searches.  Obviously, "El Señor Google" is a very busy man.  And a good friend of "Señor Internet."

Well, now that I'm working for my Dad and most of our work is web-based, it only made sense for me to have internet at home instead of commuting the whole 10 minutes to Mom's house everyday.  ;-)

So I told my Abuela that "El Señor Internet" is coming to our house this week.  Monday morning, the Cox Cable guy arrives with a modem and gets me all set-up.  I'm sitting at the table in the kitchen letting him work when Abuela turns to me and says, "Oye, pero el Señor Internet es muy guapo!"
Great, my Abuela (who is more aware of my Single-status than I am) is thinking I should make a pass at the cable guy (who she thinks is Mr. Internet).  Mrs. Amy Internet?  I don't think so.

After the cable guy left, I told my Abuela there was someone I wanted her to meet.  I took her to Google and then typed in "huevos cubanos" as my search and we watched the following cartoon:

Her favorite is the one with the broken bongo.

Meanwhile, I'm on Yahoo Messenger IM-ing with Mom, but I have so many windows open that you can't see the whole word "Yahoo."  So Abuela asks me, "Porque dice 'Ya?'  Eso significa que ya se acabo algo?"  (For our English Only readers, "ya" in Spanish means something along the lines of "done, no more, finished."  Abuela wanted to know if my computer was telling me that Internet time was over.)

She also wanted to know why I was touching all the little buttons so much.  (She was talking about the keyboard.)  When she understood that I was talking to Mom, she told me to ask if Mom had received the pictures from some cousin.  Mom said she would forward the pictures to my email.

Once the pictures arrived 30 seconds later, my Abuela decided she wanted the laptop on top of her lap, because "that's where it's supposed to go, right?"

After she finished looking at the pictures and Mom's blog and everything else, she called everyone she knows to tell them that "El Señor Google esta en mi casa."

That's right, Mr. Google is in da house.

For Uber-Geeks only

Today is Albert Einstein's Birthday. Happy Birthday, Al!

Albert Einstein's name seems to always be connected with the word, "genius." Would it surprise you to learn that Einstein was educated at home?  He couldn't make it in public school.  He was just (by his own description) "too curious."  (I can't help but wonder what the California courts would have done with a quirky, curious kid like him, but that's not important right now.)

It also happens to be Pi Day. (Yes, Pi, but it's pronounced -  "PIE".)

Pi, Greek letter () is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.  Pi = 3.1415926535
Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. Which is today.

You're probably wondering what our Einstein's Birthday/Pi Day celebration consists of.

Well, there's chocolate, apple, and of course, pizza!

(I think Albert would have been proud. =D)

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." ~Albert Einstein

 

When life gives you lemons. . . Go to the Happiest Place on Earth!

Completely distracted. Completely. Because I'm in mourning. Or maybe I'm in denial. They say you do crazy things when you're in denial. . .

My PC has died an ugly, bloody death.  Here is his carcass, sitting impotently on my floor.

I did call someone to come and retrieve my documents and memory, but it's still pretty dead.

I don't know why I found that so funny.  I laughed and laughed in a kind of high-pitched maniacal cackle that gave away my frenetic state of mind.  Then I just turned it into a Monty Python sketch in my mind and it became tolerable.

'E's passed on!

This PC is no more!

He has ceased to be!

'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker!

'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace!

If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies!

'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, '

e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!

THIS IS AN EX-PC!!

What was I to do? I was so unhappy. And it was raining to boot.  It was as if the universe had conspired to ruin my day.  And because the day was already shot, well, heck, let's just call the cousins and make an adventure out of it. 

So we went to Disneyland. (this is flawless logic to a crazed person, but that's not important right now.)  It was pouring rain. And it was the Best Day Ever!  It was not even a little crowded because of that whole rain thing, but hey, I was so over any fear of getting soaked to the skin. Besides, I was in a frenzy of denial over the death of my beloved PC.

So long, beloved PC!  I mourned your passing.  I celebrated your life.  But my life must go on.

I'm heading to the Apple Store now to ease my pain.  (now that's really the Happiest Place on Earth!)  ;-)