A Day Downtown

I don't think I've seen everything there is to see in Austin, but I think I've seen most of it. If I had grown up here and lived here most of my life, I'd probably say this is a great city. But as I've said before, I've been spoiled by living in L.A. most of my life. If there is one thing that I really do like about living here compared to L.A., it's the traffic. You can get to anyplace in Austin within a 30 minute drive or less. It's great. In Los Angeles, it can easily take you 90 minutes to drive from Long Beach to downtown, and on busier days it could be up to 2 hours or more. Driving anywhere in Los Angeles is such a chore, even on weekends.

So this past weekend we drove to downtown Austin again. It didn't take long to get there from where we live, maybe about 10 minutes. There's a second "Austin Museum of Art" downtown that we hadn't yet seen, and admission is free the first Saturday of every month. Thank God it was free, because this museum was no better than the last one we went to. I think we'll have to end up driving to Dallas if we want to see one of the better museums in Texas, Austin just doesn't seem to have any.

Later we had dinner at a restaurant in the downtown area called "The Spaghetti Warehouse", which seemed almost identical to "The Spaghetti Factory" that they have in L.A. It must be part of the same chain.

After dinner we went to Zilker Park once again, but frankly I don't think this is a very good park to take children. It's primarily a park where people take their dogs to run around free. There's very little grass to sit down on, as it's primarily dirt and rocks. We saw many boats out in the river, and I thought it might be fun if we rented one for an hour or so, but I couldn't find anywhere where boats could be rented.

(Pictures: 1. Christy and the babies outside the downtown Austin Museum of Art. 2. Christy and Kyle browsing the shops. 3. Sara showing off her homemade artwork. 4. The Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant. 5. Another view of Zilker Park, which you can see has no grass whatsoever.)

Another Day at the Park

Every now and then I like to go back and re-visit an old entry I made on my previous blog, "An American Teacher in Taiwan." This time, I was looking at an entry from April 30, 2008 called "A Day at the Park." Here's the link to the old one:
http://kenberglund.blogspot.com/2008/04/day-at-park.html

I didn't have to work on New Years Day, so Christy and I just decided to have an easy, relaxing day at the park with the kids. It was quite nice, and it reminded me of the last time we all went to the park together in Taiwan.

In Taiwan, it's not that easy to just have a peaceful day at the park. There always seems to be somebody who wants to either take our picture, or take a picture of the kids, or touch the kids, or who knows what. If you look different, the Taiwanese want to photograph you. I remember taking Sara to the zoo once in Taiwan and having to stand and pose with her for about 5 minutes while a gang of teenagers was snapping pictures of us. I could have just walked away, but I didn't want to be rude.

Of course, here in Austin, nobody gives a damn, and I love it!!

So here's a happier sequel to "A Day at the Park." Just like the old blog, there are pictures at the top, and a 1 minute video below.

New Years Resolutions

I generally don't make any New Years resolutions because after a couple of months I forget what they were. In the past my resolutions have been pretty typical: try to make more money, exercise more, try to lose another 5 or 10 pounds, learn more Chinese, more quality time with the kids, etc.

For 2009, Christy and I have a lot of the same resolutions as before, and a few new ones. First, and I think most importantly, we need to move into a bigger apartment. This is Austin, Texas, not Southern California or Manhattan, so we can definitely afford a two-bedroom apartment now. Sara has grown out of her crib, so now she sleeps on a mattress in what should be our dining room. When we got this apartment back in July, we were desperate for anything and fighting for survival, but that's just not the case anymore.

Also, we need to get out to California sometime this year to spend some time with my mom, and to let her have more time with her grandchildren. I, unfortunately, never knew any of my grandparents. Both my fathers and my mothers parents were all dead and gone by the time I was born. My only memory of them is from photographs. I'd really like my kids to know their "American Grandma" before it's too late. Luckily for us, it will be cheaper for us to fly to California now that we're back in the US. When we were living in Taiwan, it was costing us over $3,000 every time we came back for the holidays. This time it will be less than half that amount.

Barring emergencies, or if my friend David in Taiwan finally marries his longtime girlfriend Pi Chi, we don't have any plans to visit Taiwan in 2009. We're planning a big trip to go there in early 2010, for Chinese New Year. We'll also visit Tokyo for a week either before or after we see my wife's parents.

Christy told me her top priority this year is to save money. That used to be impossible when our salaries were going to the daycare center, but now it may be possible to actually save something.

We just finished watching the annual Tournament of Roses Parade on TV. Christy pointed out to me that for the past 4 years, once we watch that show, we know it's time to head back to Taiwan, since we've always flown back on either the 1st or 2nd of the new year after our holiday visit. Not this time, though. She's finally beginning to accept the fact that America is now her new home.

Graveyard Shift

This past Saturday, just as I expected, I had to work the dreaded "Graveyard Shift" from 6pm to 6am. I had never worked a 12 hour shift before, let alone a graveyard shift. It was something I hope I don't have to do again.

It takes a certain kind of person to work the graveyard shift: insomniacs, night owls, teenagers and twentysomethings hopped up on speed. These sorts of people can handle it. I can't.

As I clocked in at 6pm, I told myself "OK, just think of this as taking a long flight back to Taiwan."

To fly from L.A. to Taiwan takes nearly 14 hours, and when you're flying economy it's next to impossible to get some sleep. So I just resigned myself to the fact that I would be awake for quite a while, and that I'd just have to catch up on my sleep later.

By 8:00pm, I knew it was going to be a long night because I already started yawning regularly.

"Uh oh, this is not good. I've still got 10 hours to go."
At 10:30pm, I took a meal break and drove home, since I don't live very far from the hospital. I had to take a quick shower to refresh myself for the remaining seven hours that I had left.
By 12:00am, the place was as dead as a morgue. I hadn't seen any patients in quite a while and none seemed to be coming in. One of my colleagues advised me to page the supervisor, and maybe because it was so slow I would be able to leave early. So I paged her, and she called me right back.
"This place is pretty slow." I told her. "I've only seen about two patients in the last 6 hours."
"No, unfortunately we need you there." she replied in a drowsy voice, dashing my hopes of ending the night early.
I spent the next few hours reading newspapers, magazines, internet stories, and writing in my notebook. It just wasn't busy at all. Doctors, who also have to work long shifts, at least have the option of going to empty patient rooms and sleeping when there isn't any work for them. In my department, though, we can't do that.
At 2:30 a.m, Christy called me from home, telling me she couldn't sleep well because I wasn't there. Awww. That made me feel a little better.

By about 3:30a.m., things were getting bad. I had a headache. My wrist hurt, and for some reason my gums were aching. When a patient finally did come in, I had trouble typing simple commands into the computer. I was making mistakes and numerous typos. When I started to talk to a patient, I was forgetting things I needed to say, and I was slurring my speech. They probably thought I was drunk.
At 5:00a.m., I walked to the hospital cafeteria (which was closed) and I ate an egg sandwich that Christy made for me. It gave me just enough energy to make it through the final hour. By the time I got home, I was exhausted. I crawled straight into bed and went to sleep. I managed to sleep for about 6 hours, but was awoken numerous times by noisy kids (my own and others.)

It would take me two days to recover from this experience, just as it does for me to get over jet-lag. Having done it, I really have to admire those people who work these hours all the time. They're truly brave.

Christmas Eve

As a parent, I know that there are only a limited number of Christmas's that the kids will really enjoy before they become disillusioned. Right now Sara pretty much believes anything that we tell her. She thinks that Santa Claus will come down our chimney tonight and leave her lots of presents under the tree. She believes that she has to be asleep when Santa comes, or she won't get anything. These are probably the best years as a parent. Kyle is still a couple of years away from Sara's sense of wonder. Right now he'd rather knock the tree over and try to eat the ornaments.

Speaking of the Christmas tree, it's gone through all kinds of abuse these past few weeks. It's been knocked over countless times. Many, many ornaments have been destroyed. The tree used to filled from head to toe with ornaments, now I'd say only about 50% remain. And you just can't say "No, don't touch that!" to children. It doesn't work. They can't help themselves, they have to touch everything!

We made the decision early on to hide all the presents in the closet out of reach. Had we put them out earlier they'd be ripped open and the paper would be in shreds all over the floor. Tonight, Christy and I will assemble Sara's easel so she can start drawing right away tomorrow morning.

I have to admit that Christmas for me had lost it's excitement over the last several years. It seemed like every year I stayed at my brothers house, each year was worse than the last one. Last year, for example, I had to take Sara to the ER on Christmas day because she was really sick. Then there was my brothers wife who told us that we'd have to start staying in hotels if we want to visit again. That they couldn't make room for us in their two-story, 4 bedroom house. It was getting a bit sad. Now that Christy and I and the kids are celebrating the holidays as a family of our own, I feel a lot more excitement about Christmas. It will be a lot of fun to see them wake up tomorrow morning and see all the gifts under the tree. That kind of stuff is priceless.

(Picture: Sara posing by the tree.)

Month # 5 at the New Job

Unfortunately, I have to work on Christmas Day from 2 to 10:30pm (my regular hours.) I knew this was inevitable, as I've only been here for 5 months and I'm still considered "the new guy." I've been told that everybody has to work the holidays their first year here. I'll have Christmas off next year for sure, but that doesn't really make it any better. To make things a little nicer, Christy and the kids are planning to visit me during my lunch/dinner break at work, and we'll have leftover turkey, stuffing, etc. That should be nice.

Starting on Friday the 26th until Sunday, I have to go "on call." This is something that every employee has to do one weekend per year. I have to carry around a pager for 72 hours, and if they call me, I have to report to work right away, and at whatever time they happen to call. It's very possible I could work some God-forsaken shift like 6pm to 6am. It's entirely dependent on the other people that work here. If everyone shows up and works the shift that they're supposed to, I won't get called. However, this being the weekend right after Christmas, I'm expecting to get called, as this hospital is filled with slackers. Actually, I find it kind of amazing just how many slackers work here. (actually, no, I don't find it that amazing. I forgot I was back in America.) People are getting fired left and right for not reporting to work, and not calling in. They're just not showing up regularly. Frankly, I just don't get it. You would think that with the economy the way it is right now, people would be afraid of losing their jobs and be a little more responsible. Unfortunately, many here don't seem to give a damn.

After five months working here at this hospital, I've found it to be simply okay. It's not a great job, but it's not the worst I've ever had either. The pay is a lot higher than I expected to make in Austin. The hours are convenient. As I'm not a doctor or nurse, it isn't particularly high stress, and the patient load lately is pretty low, so I find myself with a lot of free time for reading, writing, or just going for long walks around the hospital grounds. So yeah, it could be a lot worse.

The negative side though, is the lack of having any time off other than weekends. We have what is called PTO, which is "Personal Time Off" that we accrue every pay period. We have to use these hours for sick time AND vacation time. They're not separate. Like I mentioned before, we have to ask for this time a month in advance. If something comes up, and you need a day off, and you haven't given the proper notice, you'll get written up. If you get written up 7 times in a year, you're terminated. I could really do without this type of management style.

I also have to deal with supervisors who like to micro-manage a bit too much. For the most part, they don't bother me, but I'll often get emails from them with ideas that are just not practical. I guess this comes with the territory. Once you enter the white-collar world of office work, you have to deal with irrational management. C'est la vie.

(Picture: this is the type of pager I have to carry around all weekend.)

Schlitterbahn

On Saturday we drove to a city called New Braunfels (about 45 miles south) to see a place called Schlitterbahn. In the summertime, Schillterbahn is a waterslide park, but in the winter, they turn it into a sort of a Christmas Winter Wonderland. In their advertisements, they promise "over a million Christmas lights!", "snow!" , "ice skating!" "sledding!" and much more. Most of it was true.

We arrived as the park opened at 5pm. Admission was $14.99 for me and Christy, and $12.99 for Sara (Kyle was free.) Luckily for us, Saturday was a warm day here in Austin. The temp got up to 82 degrees out here. (As I'm typing this now, the temp is only expected to be 48 degrees, with a low of 29, quite an amazing change from one day to the next. If it rains sometime today, we may even see some snow.) The place wasn't too impressive in the daylight, so I can understand why they don't open until close to sunset. Once it became dark, it was much more impressive. There probably was a million lights there, and the kids seemed to be in awe.

The "snow" that they mentioned wasn't actually real snow, it was a machine pumping out bubbles over everyone. Bubbles that looked like snow. I'm not really sure I liked this idea. The bubbles started to get into our drinks so we ended up throwing them away. Then the bubbles were in our hair so when we got home we had messy, sticky hair. Maybe they should just import real snow.

The "sledding" was true, but it wasn't slow sledding. It was simply riding a sled down one of the waterslides. They did have ice skating though, but it was so crowded and the line was so long that we didn't even bother with that.

One of the highlights was when Kyle and Sara got to meet Santa Claus. Sara seemed really excited to see him. She kept telling me that she was going to tell him all about the kind of toys she wanted for Christmas. Once we finally got up the Santa Claus, she freaked out and didn't even want to get close to him. Her excitement suddenly turned to fear and she didn't want to see Santa Claus. Kyle, however, didn't mind, and he posed for a picture with Santa. So this is the second year in a row I waited in line with Sara to see Santa and she chickened out at the last minute. Maybe next year she'll be able to handle it.

Overall it was a pretty fun time. After going to so many places that proved to be disappointing, this place was pretty nice.

(Pictures: 1. Schlitterbahn's. 2. The overcrowded ice-skating rink. 3. Klye meets Santa Claus for the first time. 4. Sara (with her new glasses) runs away from the park-mascot dog. 5. Klye walking through a tunnel of lights.)