Reyko the nerd

My brainy sister sent an email of her GOOD NEWS, being accepted into Columbia University's PhD program. Now I think about it, I don't even know what she's going to be studying.... Better ask her next time we talk. I am so proud of her but I am also happy because that means that she will be living in New York for at least another 5 years. Which means that Terran will have an aunt and an uncle nearby while he grows up. It's selfish of me but that's what came to mind first when I got her email.

Reyko went to Cornell for undergrad, Princeton for masters, and will attend Columbia for PhD. I told my mom that they are lucky because they only paid tuition for Cornell, and got the other two as added bonus, like buy 1 get 2 free (she received full scholarship for both masters and PhD). Although Reyko doesn't seem to think much of them, the line of brand name school is something my dad can definitely show off to anyone willing to listen. Very proud of her!

family evolution

Within the last few years, family dynamics has changed so much for many reasons.
1. I got married and aquired a new set of parents
2. My sister got married to her classmate from highschool and so I have a new brother-in-law
3. Terran was born
4. Everyone's getting older, or should I say, more mature, especially our little sister
5. Mom comes to visit more because of the baby
6. I speak to my parents at least twice a week, thanks to skype (before it was once a month if lucky)
7. For the first time in 10 years, I live close to Reyko, so I get to see her more
8. I've always been physically close to Wako in the US but now, she is finally alone (and seems to be doing just fine)

Anyway, what went through my mind is that we've all become adults, even the youngest of the family. We've also gained 3 men, which seems to make my dad so happy (now it's even 4 female to 4 male). Now, I don't remember my point of writing this weblog. So I will finish.

Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers Market

I decided to go explore today. I found out that there's a Crate and Barrel outlet nearby! Yay! Can you hear the excitement in my voice? So I loaded up Terran and all our gear and set off. I was excited to go there because I love the Crate and Barrel Outlets I've seen in California. And they tend to have other shops nearby as well so I wanted to see what more may be there. It was about 30 minutes away on a road called "Half Acre Road". I should have known that as with any other New Jersey destinations, there was really nothing around. The name of the road was also misleading. It wasn't just a half acre of nothing. It was hundreds of acres of nothing, and suddenly, there was a huge shiny Crate and Barrel Outlet. I was shoked; it was huge and beautiful, in the middle of some field. It's by far the biggest I've seen. I can't believe I'm only 30 minutes away. The store had lots of stuff, especially nice rugs and furniture. After wondering around in the store for awhile, we decided to go on our expedition no. 2 to the Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers Market. The dutch farmers from Pennsylvania go there 3 days a week to sell their meats, vegetables, cheese, snacks, pickles, and other nick nacks. Most of the sellers were young, probably around my age or less. The women wore these sort of Dutch/ Amish looking outfits with white hat looking thing on their head. Most of the men had beard. Most of them were very pale and a lot of them were blonde. I don't know if they wear that everyday or it's their "farmers market" outfit but it was pretty unusual. I held Terran in a sling in front of me and he was twisting his head this way and that was way, taking in everything. I got a rack on baby back ribs for dinner tonight, which I know pat will devour in no time. I also got bread, and some vegetables and snacks. They had a to go food place in the front so I got a philly cheese steak for me for lunch but it was no good. The best philly cheese steak I've had so far was in Berkeley. But I must keep trying because there must be great ones out here. Off to philadelphia for furniture shopping tomorrow. It's about 50 minutes away and I am hoping that it won't start snowing.

not the easiest thing

After 7 months of becoming a mom, 2 months of moving to New Jersey, and almost 1 month of being a home owner, I realize these are not the easiest thing in the world. In the past week, I've gotten sick and as a result, passed it on to Terran. Now, we are both coughing up phlegm and Terran has snot running down his nose. I feel woozy and feel like calling in sick, but there's no sick days for me. Taking care of the little one is really a 24/7 job.
The new house has it's own quirks. Our laundry machine is upstairs and the first time I used it, it started to rain in our dining room. The problem is fixed but now we have some water stains on the ceiling that has to be dealt with. Last night, the furnace went dead. Thankfully, we had a small space heater, so we put that in our bedroom and all slept together. I kept on waking up Terran with my coughs at night and we slept terribly. We ordered phone service a month ago and still had no dial tone as of 2 days ago, so I called verizon to come take a look. Apparently, there was some problems with the phone box outside so they fixed that. Now, we have a dial tone down stairs but we found out that none of the jacks upstairs are working. I called Verizon again and found out that there's no wiring in the wall to connect the jacks to the actual line.... F*ck. Now, we either have to install new lines, or figure out a way to get the phone line (or maybe something wireless) up there so we can have internet. I also tried to order satellite TV (since we don't like comcast). It took 2 weeks for the installer to come out. Then, he told me that he can't install it because there are too many trees in the area and they will block reception come spring. So my only option is comcast.
After a month of being here, we still have no TV, no internet, and we are hardly settled in. I still need to buy lots of furniture. It's definitely not our home yet.
The house must know when owners change. Just like we need to readjust in different environment or around different people, I can feel that the house is taking its time getting used to us. I am sure that in due time, it will settle down and be more cooperative. I will feel better when we have TV and internet (currently, I am "borrowing" some unknown neighbors wireless line again. It's the only way....)