My Desktop's The Best

The replacement part arrived today (thanks Gabriel and Shirin!) and Saeed kindly fixed my problem, so here I am on my desktop again. Why don't I just use my laptop you ask? Because then IT'S on my lap instead of one of my puddy tats! Just look at what Banu's been missing the last couple of weeks:

I wuv my mommy.

The computer is set up near an upstairs window, so in addition to snuggling on a warm lap there's a great view of birds, people walking their dogs, and kids on bikes.

My challenge is typing without full mobility of my left arm.

Banu periodically sees only just the tails of birds as they hang their bums out over the edge of the gutter...

... but let me tell you, it must be totally mesmerizing.

All that birdwatching is exhausting.

So, I hope to be blogging a bit more regularly again. Saeed and I are trying to exercise more, so time is at a premium and the blog must come second.

Still Waiting

Still waiting for the replacement part so I can access my photos again... be back soon, I hope.

I'm Back Up.... Temporarily

My wonderful Gabriel has figured out the problem with my computer - a part that needs to be replaced involving a fan. My computer is running now because I'm using that part from Saeed's computer which must be returned by tonight so he can use it tomorrow morning. Gabriel will send us the replacement in the mail, so I hope to be up and running again soon. So quickly, here's a run down of events including last weekend in Atlanta/Athens.

As you've probably read in Shirin's blog we went to Atlanta to visit Saeed's niece (who lives there) and nephew (who's visiting from England.) Here is Salar, meeting with his Uncle Saeed for the first time. It was heart-warming to watch these two men try to catch up on 30 years of life events, including stories about Salar's dad (Saeed's brother) when they lived together as college students in the 1960's in the US. Lots of laughs and a few sighs; Salar's dad died a couple of years ago.

Salar and sister Tannaz.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

Tannaz's husband, Masih, was the kitchen slave! Actually Tannaz and Salar's mom cooked us a most wonderful vegetarian meal. Somehow I didn't get a picture of her, but she was at our house at Thanksgiving if you want to look at those pictures.

We drove from Atlanta to Athens for a brief visit with Shirin and Gabriel.

I got to feel little baby Cyrus kick!

Happily (since our visit last weekend was so short) Shirin and Gabriel came home this weekend. Today Shirin and I chose to make a quick trip to the store together, but not before going out for some...

... Viet Namese food! You will never see Shirin happier than when she is eating some Asian soup. Saeed likes to put people in difficult situations and see how they squirm; I hope he never puts Gabriel on the left, and a bowl of Asian soup on the right, and tells Shirin to pick ONE!

We hope to watch the Superbowl together tomorrow but it starts so late that they may have to head back to Athens. We'll see. If I take any more pics I won't be able to blog them till later. At least I now know the problem and Gabriel can fix it. Yay!

Like Shirin...

... I've been busy and not blogging. I have some pictures from last weekend but they're still in my camera. My desktop is not sending information to my monitor and so I haven't been able to upload my pictures or use that computer for nearly a week. I need help!
Saeed.......................
Gabriel.....................
Help!
As soon as someone helps me out I'll be back up.

Obama Headquarters

I was on my way to work a couple of weeks ago when I saw a new sign on an old familiar street. Senator Obama has come to town! Apparently Hillary's campaign headquarters are in downtown Rock Hill but I rarely go downtown. For those of you who remember Ebenezer Road it's near the Fire Fox apartments. This stretch has seen other campaign headquarters in years past, most noticeably John Spratt (won) and Ralph Norman (lost.)

People were bustling around inside and coming and going from their cars. With the primary in four days I'm sure the pressure's on. I enjoyed reading the variety of bumperstickers on the cars in the lot but didn't photograph them; people may not want their license plates plastered across the web. Although we'll be in Atlanta this weekend we'll get up early Saturday morning and vote before leaving town. It's been fun listening to NPR and hearing interviews from across the state and yes, from Rock Hill specifically. I even recognized one of the interviewees. Rock Hill has had her moment of fame.

Azam Ali

For those of you who don't already know about Azam Ali let me introduce you to her. She is of Persian background, raised for a time in India, and has lived in the U.S. for a while now. She creates an ethnic kind of music that's not really easy to typify. For several of her albums she worked with Greg Ellis, an American percussionist who utilizes instruments from all over the drumming world. More recently she formed a group named Niyaz with a distinctly Middle Eastern flair. I like a lot of what she does and love some of it. If you surf You Tube you can hear the variety in her work, but what I really appreciate is the creative daring of someone creating something quite new.

The video embedded below shows Azam Ali in concert with her group, Niyaz. This song is music she composed around an old Persian poem called "The Hunt" that appeals to the animal lover in me. The hunter has fallen in love. As newly smitten lovers often do, he can't stop thinking about his new sweetheart. In every animal he is about to shoot he sees her and so of course is unable to harm the animal. Each verse gets longer as the list of animals he is unable to kill gets longer and longer. :-)

Snow!

Look what we woke up to this morning! More later... gotta get ready for work. (sun's not up - still dark outside)

Ok here are a few more pics (I took them this morning at about 5:45 A.M. in my PJ'S; I don't think my neighbors saw me!) It actually rained much of the day, but strangely, the snow did not melt very much. I guess it was cold enough for the snow to stay on the ground, not cold enough for things to freeze, and warm enough that the precip was rain. Very strange!

Tomorrow morning the forecasters are saying that we may wake up to "black ice," but I think they just like to be dramatic! Although the snow remains on the ground (yards, trees, bushes, etc.) the streets are pretty clear.

If I'm Fat Blame Lupe

There's not a lot that would motivate me to put up pictures of myself exercising, but I would like some witnesses to (one of) my excuses for not being able to do a good job on my step aerobics tape. Oh it starts out alright, but pretty soon I get so much "help" I might as well get in the car and go to Dunkin' Donuts!

Here Lupe is helping me set up.
We spread out the sheet to protect the rug and set out the step.
As we're doing that I notice Layli hiding behind the end table. Being spied on by two glowing eyes kind of creeps me out so I....

.... encourage her to come sit in her usual throned seat.

She settles in and away I go.

Pretty soon Lupe sits in front of the TV. I end up having to listen to the instructor very carefully because I can't see her very well; all I can see is a big orange blob.

Next are the arm weights. I look down and Lupe is right behind my right foot. Boy is she trusting!

Lupe comes around the side and starts to talk to me....

... "Aren't you about done with this part? My favorite part is when you do the stomach crunches... C'mon mom!"

Lupe is happy I'm finally to the stomach crunches...

... and this is why. So, do you think I expend more calories trying to do sit-ups with an 18 pound weight on my chest???

I grab a kiss and remove her from my front, only to have her...

... come around the back. In addition to preventing me from being able to bring my head all the way down, Lupe likes to grab onto my hair. Then I get to pull up a cat with my head every time I raise up - how comfortable!

Finally we're done and she gets a ride on the sheet as I pull it off the floor. I may not get an uninterrupted workout (can you imagine how thin I'd be without all the interruptions?) but she sure makes it a lot more fun!

Why My Uniforms Are Wrinkled

Do you remember my excuse for not keeping up with my mail? Well, I also have an excuse for not doing my ironing. Frosty's actually lying on my lab coat, pressing new wrinkles into it. Thanks Frosty.

Look down below Obi. It looks like he actually threw my iron off the board onto the floor and then tried to hide it with the cat bed, but I doubt he's that conniving.

Frosty's favorite position for napping is on his tummy, straddling something.

Obi proudly shows off his multi-toes footsies.

A stretching cat is a work of art.

Zzzzz.... have a good nap.

No, don't worry about me. I'll just wear a wrinkled hanky to work tomorrow.

Ishmael Beah

As my kitties were taking toasty naps I was reading a book Martha sent me that I would like to write about. "A Long Way Gone" was written by Ishmael Beah, a young man from Sierra Leone who was forced to become a child soldier in order to survive. At age 11 the civil war (basically rebels against a corrupt government) came to his village to kill everybody and burn everything down. He ran into the forest to avoid being killed and some time later joined the army as a way to survive. For more than two years he was drugged and brainwashed to perform horrific violence against the rebels and anyone who stood in the army's way. Ultimately he was one of the few boys to be selected for rehabilitation through a Unicef program, where he was then selected to speak at a UN conference in NY. It was here that he met the American woman who would ultimately "adopt" him (his entire family perished in the war) and bring him to the U.S. He finished high school here and attended Oberlin College and now, at age 27, works for several organizations to bring about awareness of the plight of child soldiers.

I found his story very moving and very well written. Moreover, when I finished the book I sought out interviews to get a better feel for this young man. It is hard to imagine this quiet, gentle, soft-spoken man doing the violent acts he so eloquently describes in the book. He explains that as a boy all alone with his family dead, his very survival depended on participating in and living with an organized group. It was either that or be killed by the rebels. The army also drugged the boys to keep them revved and showed them violent movies (such as Rambo) to keep them pumped. His mission now is to help others understand that these young boys need to be helped, that through patience and compassion they can have their humanity returned to them.

If you would like to see a few of his interviews I will provide you with the links to these now. Here is a YouTube video, here is a Jon Stewart Comedy Central video, and here is a CNN video. I really enjoyed Terry Gross's interview with him on Fresh Air on NPR; she asks the best questions!

As I was reading and listening to all these things I couldn't help but remember Anahita's job with the IRC, International Rescue Committee. I seem to remember her talking mostly about refugees from Somalia, but very likely there were participants from Sierra Leone as well. It was at about this time that Saeed and I saw, "Lost Boys Of Sudan," about young men trying to make it as refugees in the U.S. It made me want to bring them all home, but this is not the solution. People should not have to be refugees to lead safe lives; the best scenario is one in which each country's government makes having a decent life possible for all its citizens.