As many of you might already know, Mark has recently become a "MacHEAD" (to quote a documentary I just dorkily watched). :) Anyway, the point of that is that I have inherited his Dell laptop and as a result I am able to write this post from my kitchen counter inbetween reheating leftovers for dinner. Yes, it's one of those nights. Iain is kneeling on a 2-step ladder by the counter while absent-mindedly eating a rice cake and playing with the top of one of my water bottles. Lydia just woke up from her nap and started crying. I guess this will be a short post.
For those of you with a YMCA in close proximity, I thought I'd share how much I love the Y!!! We are eligible for a discount which, combined with our Health Insurance discount means that if both Mark and I go 12 times a month, we pay a whopping $8 a month for our family. Yes, $8. Now, in reality, Mark doesn't go, but that's still just $28 a month for our family...and did I mention free childcare for up to 2 hours a day? Yep. Free. Wow.
If I'm not in stellar shape by my next birthday, I have NO excuse. ...don't quote me. ;)
Ok, hungry baby calls.
1 comment:
Hi Betsy
It being New Year and my having time to relax and enjoy life for once, I have been savouring your blog and also printing out your updates to give to Mark's Grandad tomorrow when we have the Archibald New Year get-together in Killearn, under the nearby snow-capped peak of Ben Lomond.
Well, I can't let the Y notice go past without pondering with you how to up Mark's gym attendance rate. Speaking as a Scot, or rather writing as one I guess, I am bothered that Mark's Scottish genes have become so diluted with Polish ones that he doesn't understand unmissable deals. Your Y one is one such. A true Scot would most definitely get along there three times a week so as to win the prize of incurring the reduced fee of just $8 a month. Moreover, a true Scot would be really churned up every time he got a cold or sore throat or cough and couldn't fulfil the quota.
So what can we do with the guy? I am wondering if I have stumbled on a valid theory, to do with the State where the two of you have chosen to reside. Is he succumbing to that Lake Wobegon effect I've read about on Wikipedia? To quote: "The characterization of the fictional location, where 'all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average,' has been used to describe a real and pervasive human tendency to overestimate one’s achievements and capabilities in relation to others [I suggest in Mark's case it is his fitness]. The Lake Wobegon effect, where all or nearly all of a group claim to be above average, has been observed among drivers, CEOs, stock market analysts, college students, parents, and state education officials, among others."
Amazing what my mind can turn up when allowed to go fallow and when we get - very unusually - snowed in here in our Edinburgh home...
Have a great 2010, and in it may Mark make it to the gym, if only to keep up with his Old Man back in the Old World!
And one more thing: hats off to you for getting along to the gym as you are doing. I admire you for lots of things of course, and this additional reason has been added to the long list.
Lots of love - to dear Mark as well as to you!
Dad
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