Elizabeth & Brendan

Not only is it a new year but it is a new era for Brendan. He begins his new job at Litmus in Cambridge.   We here in Medford are very excited.

While he started to look for a new job earlier this new year, he scrapped it for awhile (along with house hunting) since some other things (namely me) took priority.  However, in October he got the fateful call to come in for an interview. Interestingly, he got the call while we were tending to Eli who had JUST jumped out of a window. He had an interview and a week later, B had an offer. Not only can he dress casual everyday, he no longer has to drive to work – both of which are ideal for him.  And he will have a solid state hard drive – apparently that is really cool in the geek world.

The company is headquartered in Leeds, UK so we spoke to our resident UK employment expert Sarah about how to handle the negotiation process.  Lucky for us she was bored out of her mind in a hotel room with a newborn and jumped at the chance to play career helper.  The cool thing is that Brendan will be going to Leeds at least once a year and I hope to tag along much like he did in Switzerland.  But we will see.

However, I will miss our commuting together.  Driving to and from work afforded us the chance to talk about our day, things that needed to get done, random news stories, and other mundane things.  Though now I will be able to leave work when I want and not have to wait for B and get home sooner to my husband and pup.  So maybe it will all work out.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is our plan for 2010.  And give back actively rather than the passive giving we normally do.  We started to feel the need to do something while watching the Biggest Loser.  There is always a bit about the Pound for Pound challenege where if you lose a ound, they donate a pound of food to a local food bank.  This of course was usually followed by a commercial highlighting that 1 in 8 Americans go hungry.  Media worked.  It got us feeling guilty and interested in helping.  Because even after the trials and tribulations of 2009, Brendan and I are doing well compared to the average American. 

For the past year, we have been donating through Kiva.org.  It is a micro-finance site that allows for direct person-to-person lending.  (And since it is non-profit, you don’t make money on the loans, it is charity people.)  According to the website, “Microfinance is the supply of loans, savings, and other basic financial services to the poor.  As the financial services of microfinance usually involve small amounts of money – small loans, small savings etc. – the term “microfinance” helps to differentiate these services from those which formal banks provide.”

We found out about Kiva through a gift.  Jody and Katie gave us a Kiva gift certificate for our wedding and we have taken that giift and helped out four people (in Kenya, Ghana, Peru, and Tajikistan).   The premise being tht you take the money and as you get repaid, you loan it right abck out.  The one thing I wish is that they would post stories after the loan is repaid so you can check in and see how these people are doing.   

Which leads us to wanting to help out more in our own backyard and we plan to work with BostonCares, Somerville Homeless Coalition or some other organization. We have the applications, just need to feel them out and send them in.

“It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.”
Albert Einstein

Although, we need to replace the bottom of Eli’s crate since he broke it while he was left alone (we went to Jersey to visit with the whole C. clan and Eli had to stay at home for about 7 hours).  But I would take a broken tray to jumping out the window any day.  Overall Eli was great – he went to the bathroom on the leash like a champ.  He found his spot down on Shore Road and became quite predictable.  He did growl and bark a lot more but he was around more people this time. Eli was not into the wrapping paper and it may be because he was anxious in a new place. Prior to us leaving, Eli was all over the wrapping of gifts so it was odd.

He did great again with Grandma but was a bit terrorized by the kids.  Even grandma said, “Shhh – you are scaring the dog.”  And while the kids were scaring the dog, Grandma could have just said “Shhh” as she has enough political capital to get people to quiet down without adding the dog in there.  She is tough like that.

Eli got to sleep in bed with us as a treat and did not try to continue the trend at home.

When we got home, we gave Eli his stocking.  Here he is checking it out.

Happy birthday to Patricia, Aunt Betty and Aunt Stephanie.

Have a great holiday!

I love this video – not only is the poor dog getting slapped but he is forced to wear an argyle sweater vest.

So as you all know, the Northeast was blanketed with lovely snow. Here in Medford we got about 8-10 inches of very light, fluffy snow. It made it very easy to shovel.

Eli loves the snow. Loves to run in it, sniff it, eat it. Here is a video of him going to town in the backyard.

I leave you with a photo so awesome you should make it your screen saver.

Also I came home to find Brendan totally enthralled with “The Sing-Off“. He quickly proclaimed that we are watching the finale on Monday

He is now explaining to me why he likes the Beelzebubs (from Tufts right down the road).

Well I am back. It was a whirlwind trip full of a lot of meetings and decadent dinners. The highlight of my trip was the return flight. We had a two-hour delay at the Zurich Airport heading into London. It appears that a snowstorm and low temperatures were gripping Europe. The delay did not affect our connection in London; however, it did affect others. And thankfully so.

My friend Cory had put in for upgrades for us and what was once a full flight now had a bunch of free seats. So we got to go to Business class and it was amazing for a 6-hour flight. I loved it. One thing I learned about Business class is you get a ton of food and most of it is actually tasty (unlike the suckers in economy). Also I could watch my choice of movies which was also good because economy was getting “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and I haven’t read the book yet.

So I ate, slept, watched “Adam” and “Julie and Julia” and “Elf”. I don’t know how I am going to go back to economy but I know I will have to.

I am sitting in the Starbucks in the Zurich airport waiting for my boss and other work people to arrive. I took a more economical flight (read: not direct) and will now tackle the day with only about 2 hours sleep.

Before I traveled for work, I really wanted to do it. Then I realized it is not as fun as it seems. Ho hum. Woe is me.

Is it bad that I am already looking forward to going to bed?

Eli is quite the spoiled pup. And he doesn’t go to the bathroom while on the leash. He needs to be free to walk and smell and do things on his own schedule. This issue caused alot of anxiety when traveling with Eli. On the last day of our previous trip to NY, he went twice while on the leash. It was a happy day. We figured, if he has to go and has enough grass to roam on, he will go. We just have to learn to be more patient with him.

Then this week, Brendan came in from walking Eli and announced that Eli had just gone to the bathroom on the leash. Just like that. So I decided to try an experiment and rather than let Eli out in the back and then go for a walk, I took him out first. And miracle of miracles, he went to the bathroom on the leash while walking the Bike Path. I will try this again tomorrow morning and hopefully it means good things for our next trip to NY.

Fingers crossed.