The Narcissistic Somniloquist

Last Saturday, a couple of colleagues and I went up the Pinnacles, a park with soaring peaks and imposing monoliths. These rocks rise in the middle of the valley, remnants of an ancient volcano. The chaparral vegetation provides little shade from the sun and vultures circle overhead. If one is lucky, they might see one of the endangered condors carefully coaxed back from the brink of extinction.

We had previously done this hike a year ago, but this time, AR brought along a new gadget. It was a Magellan Explorist, and it kept a track log of the route we hiked. The trails were well marked, so we had no need for the Explorist, but it was still interesting to see the output of the GPS receiver.

The coolest thing was that the log can be converted (via GPSBabel) to a KML file - native format of Google Earth. The software shows a 3D rendition of the area and the route taken. Here is a shot:

The other thing that the GPS log helped with was the distance and altitude change. Knowing this will help gauge the difficulty and timing of future hikes. My own reckoning from last years hike was about 6 miles, but the GPS corrected this to actually 5.4 miles. Hmm… only 5.4 miles?

I’ve returned to Singapore numerous times after a stint abroad. First, it was studying in Australia, then working in Switzerland and now the Bay Area where my family and I have made our home for nearly a year. We arrived last night after a 20-hour flight from San Francisco - in one of SIA’s spanking new Boeing 777-300 ER (Extended Range) with 10 inch

Every return evokes scents and memories. The warm humid air makes one feel sticky almost immediately. The savoury tastes from myriad stalls in the hawker centre makes eating a true pleasure - we started with prawn noodles for breakfast this morning. We still have a list of a dozen eateries to visit during our stay.

The spacious apartment at Cavenagh Road reminded me of late nights working Sunnyvale hours while I telecommuted from Singapore. This was also where G spent his first three months - the long nights putting him to sleep and trying to comfort him. Endless hours of pacing the dining room and balcony lent a strange familiarity to these otherwise unremarkable spaces.

It’s July 4th, and Americans everywhere are celebrating Independence Day. In most towns, fireworks are the order of the day.

On the eve of the holiday, Stanford University had fireworks at Ford Amphitheater. The fireworks were not hard to find - just follow the crowds. The field next to Stanford Stadium was packed with families and kids with multi-coloured lights. Once darkness fell, fireworks lit the horizon - we found that this was an excellent location because the Hoover tower was also silhouetted against the pyrotechnics.

From California

On the 4th of July itself, we went to Shoreline Amphitheater, a huge outdoor arena capped with a huge white tent. There, the San Francisco Symphony performed musicals and entertained the crowd picnicing on the lawn. This was a much larger crowd - the Amphitheater itself can hold 20,000 people. The fireworks here was even better than the one at Stanford - here, the orchestra was synchronized with the fireworks and there we were just a hundred metres away from the lights.

One of the consequence of these fireworks is that they are very popular and since everyone drives here, the parking and traffic jam to get out was horrendous. We were stuck for 45 mins waiting to get out of Stanford and one hour getting out of Shoreline. Fortunately, Gabriel was asleep and did not make a fuss, so it was mostly an exercise of patience. Note for next year: park further away and walk!

Villa Montalvo in Saratoga lies amidst a posh estate estate of huge mansions. It is nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains and its grounds are popular of outdoor weddings and performances. The estate garden is charming - there are fountains and streams, gazebos and flower beds.

The grounds of Villa Montalvo also offers miles of hiking trails. These lead through lush redwood forests and climb up about 200m through the hills above the estate. The highlight of the trail is the lookout which offers one of the best views of Santa Clara valley, from Moffett Field to San Jose city.

Note: picnics are not allowed on the grounds. Trails are narrow, but clearly marked. Villa Montalvo is run by the County of Santa Clara - you can search their website here.

Two weeks ago (yes, I’m a little behind my blog), we put on a little party for Gabriel and his little posse of toddlers. We rented some tables at Rengstorff Park, which is about ten minutes drive from home, and invited Rosanna’s Las Madres 2006 friends over. We even had Val visit from Washington DC and Helen from Seattle.

It turns about birthdays for toddlers are quite simple. Since the babies can’t do very much, we bought a few party platters and everyone hangs out.

Here’s a recent mug shot - we’re doing more hikes and outdoor activites now in summer, and you’ll be seeing more photos of Gabriel in the sun.

How quickly children grow!

Today, Gabriel made some real progress. He started making a few unsteady steps about a week ago, and today he finally mustered the confidence to make real strides. He pulled himself upright, take several steps. Each endeavour sees him more confident and covering more distance.

OK, enough prose - here’s the real thing:

Gabriel turned 10 months yesterday. He is imbued with boundless energy and an insatiable curiousity. He has developed a quirky yet endearing three-limbed crawl which allows him to explore almost every corner of our small apartment.

He is now able to understand a few words - “Shake your head”, “No!”, “Gabriel” are among his limited comprehension. He also tries hard to pronounce some words. We think he has some capacity to say “Da, da”, and “Uh, oh”, but perhaps it’s wishful thinking.

Of his skills - he has developed quite a bit. He can climb down a sofa all by himself - a feat of which we are quite proud. He cruises effortlessly, and is able to play ball with us. He picks up Cheerios with his index finger and thumb, and is beginning to wave his hands.

Of his temperament - we can’t ask for more. He is generally good humoured and enjoys our company every bit as much as we enjoy his. He is easily entertained and loves playing with others. He rarely cries without reason.

Our only challenge today is that he sleeps in our bed at night. We are planning to wean him at the age of one year and after that to put him to sleep in his own room. That’s a task we’re not particularly looking forward to.

Shooting a video of a curious child is a big challenge. When G sees me holding a camera, he becomes terribly excited and tries in every way possible to get to the gadget. It takes a generous dose of patience to capture G in his natural element and here is a short clip of the highlights of February.

He is learning quickly in many ways and we are always delighted when he discovers a new skill.

Americans have a great way of arranging public holidays so that it falls on a Monday most of the time (except for certain holidays that are fixed in date - Independence Day, Christmas). This means long weekends are commonplace and most folks do their best to make use of breaks like this to get away.

For us, we spent the weekend at Fresno and took the opportunity to visit Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park. These two parks are the home of the giant sequoia trees, the largest living plants on earth. And since it was winter, we had the added pleasure of experiencing the Sierra forest covered in snow.

From Family

It was going to be Gabriel’s first trip in the snow so we dressed him appropriately - a friend in R’s mothers group lent us a snowsuit. Gabriel barely fitted - he looked like a stuffed doll ready to squeak. We took him on a short walk around the seqouia grove and realized he was too young to appreciate the majesty of nature when he fell asleep in his carrier.

R and I are trying out a number of things with Gabriel. At his age, we are told that there’s only a few activities worth trying - one of them is swimming.

We bring him once a week to the Betty Wright Swim Centre in Palo Alto - about 15 minutes away from home. It’s a nice warm indoor pool with lots of kids and parents every weekend. I normally take him for 30 minutes in the pool while R watches or runs errands.

From Gabriel's Fir…

The lessons are pretty simple - singing action songs around the pool with the main theme of dipping the child in and out of the water. Gabriel isn’t very keen in the water yet - he doesn’t exhibit any excitement, but we hope in time he’ll grow to be more comfortable. Right now, his biggest challenge is learning to blow bubbles under water instead of gulping water.

The pool insists that babies are “tripled up” before they go into the pool. This means a swim diaper, plastic pants and a swimsuit on top. The diaper is pretty hopeless since it gets wet the minute Gabriel steps into the pool. But last week, he did a “big one”, and the diaper actually managed to keep most of the mess in his pants. Now, that’s more about infant swimming than I’ll ever want to know.