Who will mind the store?

Murray's nephew Dan and his girlfriend Kinsey will be staying at our place while we are away.  They are doing the relationship trial by fire that Murray and I did a few years ago.  Two people staying for an extended time in the 200 sq ft. of our studio in the back is tough.  Murray has a nice long list of rules to ensure a safe transition into the "big house".

We tried to find a renter, but insecurity with having non-family in the house seemed to ooze from Murray's pores whenever people would come to look at the place.  I would say it is generally say it is tough for Murray to frighten or intimidate people, but if you are visualizing her as your landlord while living in not a "house she owns" but her "home" full of her prized possessions...

Of course the healer who needed a quiet place to write up his bio-luminescent healing manual said it was the electromagnetic field strength around the house he was sensitive to, but, I think he was afraid of the MurMonster.

I used everyone as guinea pigs to test out my ideas about how to make black beans and rice with fresh cilantro, cheese, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper.  I used the microwave pressure cooker to get the beans soft enough in 25 minutes after soaking overnight.  I had leftover paella rice which is extra squishy and worked well.  I served it with lemon-cilantro pork medalions.  I thought it was awesome.  Pam made pears with nuts in a red wine/honey/cinnamon reduction, Dan made salad, and Kinsey had baked sour dough bread.

Murray thought the beans and rice were too mushy with the cook time and cheese, but what does she know?  Some of us find soft, warm foods comforting.  OK I promise not to turn this into a food blog. Just trying to explain why everyone was so happy in the picture.

Dressing for success

So packing has become the latest tension in Isaac style travel vs. Murray style travel.  Below is my attempts to get Murray up with the concepts of base layers and mid layers for hiking around northern Europe in Nov (which she refers to as deep winter cold).

She is insistent that my one black silk blend sweater is too worn for the sophisticated look we need in Europe and not nearly enough for the 2-3 high end meals we may be able to afford to dress for on the trip.  More of this type of tension to come.  Hopefully I can wend some of it into enough drama or humor to make your reading time worthwhile.  Isaac is not afraid of herculean challenges.

Murray in her wool base layer from REI 

(smiling because she knows I won't post this on my blog)

Ballet

For those who found it difficult to believe Isaac was taking a ballet class.

Planning for awesome

As you probably know Murray retired earlier this year and Isaac left his position at Sphero in September.  After helping launch of the new product, Ollie, http://www.gosphero.com/, it was time to to travel with Murray.  I haven't done very well with work life balance on a week to week basis, so I am trying to do it on a year to year basis, where I work for a few years and then take a year off.  The exploits from my last year off are here:  http://thepartialsabbatical.blogspot.com/

Why go to Europe in late fall and winter?  Because when the Murmonster and her sister make a decision, such an event is to be celebrated and respected.  They decided on the south of France.  Her sister is no longer going and we are no longer going to the south of France, but, we already have tickets for Stockholm with the general idea of heading south through Europe before it gets too cold and parking it someplace south.  So here we go.  Those who have experienced Isaac planning a trip will be familiar with the dreaded spreadsheet itinerary.  And here it is.

So other than taking a few ballet classes and swimming and trying to write some test firmware for a personal project and dealing with COBRA and FSAs and all, I spend too much time wondering if the extra $36 a night is worth it for the hotel with the waterfront views.  Its a tough life.

If you got this link by accident and by some freakish cognative process still find yourself at the end of this post reading, you can find out who isaac davenport is here:  http://www.isaacdavenport.com/