Ava @ toddler time

On my furlough day, J. and I took Ava to the toddler playtime at Jefferson Community Center. There are similar playtimes at community centers citywide, which are great for getting the little ones (and their stir-crazy parents) out for a little fun with other kids and parents.

Ava had a blast pushing the toys and trying the tunnel and slide for the first time. If I was not working, I'd be spending more time at these with her.

Mad sandwich skills

I guess if push comes to shove, I can always fall back on my mad sandwich-making skills learned running the high volume deli cart in the cafeteria at Harborview Medical Center back during high school and college. As this picture and J.'s kudos can attest, I still got it. I can't wait to do Ava's lunches for school. They're going to ROCK.

Times are hard on the boulevard

In an example of how hard times are out there, Tacoma Public Utilities recently advertised a job that drew more than 1,400 applications. Of those, 1,300 were invited to take a test for the job and more than 800 showed up for the exam. Was this some six-figure, perk-laden position? No: meter reader. Story here.

Seattle Times recently wrote a short piece on a recent job fair at Qwest Field. 2,000 more people than expected showed up for a smattering of jobs that were being offered. 

J. is looking for a new gig too and checked this one out. His two word summary? A waste. He reported that most of the positions were starter-level and not really geared at mid-career professionals. To add insult to injury, when he inquired about a couple jobs with the TSA, the representatives stopped suddenly and said, "Wait, how old are you? 39? Cutoff for these positions is 37." 

Wow. It's not like he showed up to the event on a walker with tennis balls on the back legs and an oxygen tank. Imagine how harrowing it is out there for folks in their 50s and 60s who still want or need to work. The hunt continues. Meantime, he'll continue coaching basketball and training basketball playing clients.

A is for Ava

I took several pictures of Ava trying out her new magnetic fridge letters. I think she's spelling out 'I need personal space.' And today marks her 1 year and 5 month birthday (17 months). Two days ago she added the words "nice," "bus" and "what" to her vocab, the latter of which is kind of funny to hear because she'll repeat it when you say it, creating a "who's on first"-style conversation. The fun times continue.

Sony Vaio P: tiny, sexy beast

What's this? Has Sony branched out into ladies leather goods? Is that a Sony-branded clutch for your next evening out? Nope, it's the new Sony Vaio P ultra-compact laptop. 

Dynamism, the tech site with all the best hardware goodies from overseas that haven't quite made it to the states yet, lists these specs:

Processor	Intel Atom processor Z540 1.86GHz Intel Atom processor Z520 1.33GHz
Display (Internal)	1600 x 768 8.0" XBRITE-ECO
Memory	2GB DDR2 SDRAM
Communication - US Models (VGN-P5XXX models):	- Bluetooth Technology - Integrated Stereo A2DP Bluetooth Technology (2.1 + EDR) - Atheros 802.11 b/g/n - Integr ated mobile broadband - GPS
Graphics	Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
Storage	60GB Hard Disk Drive 64GB Solid State HD 128GB Solid State HD
Display (External)	via VGA : 1600—1200
Integrated Ports	1x Headphone Jack 2x USB Port (2.0 compliant) 1x I/O Port
Physical Features	9.65"(W) x 0.78"(H) x 4.72"(D) 245mm—19.8mm—120mm 1.4 / 1.5 lbs 588g/758g

Like most Sony products, it looks great and they clearly put a lot of resources into design. In fact, I'm still quite happy with my current four year old Sony Vaio VGNTX-650P, which is a sexy, lightweight workhorse in its own right, albeit more mature. Sort of like Julianne Moore compared to Reese Witherspoon or Angela Bassett compared to Jada Pinkett Smith.

I still love it, even though I just had to replace the hard drive, which was a monumental saga of wasted trips, shady tech stores (yeah, you Computer Sonics in Tukwila, which assured me that a USED hard drive sold at nearly full price was the right one. Yeah, if I was running a Mac.), and inept sales staffers (Hi Worst Best Buy!). I finally gave in and paid Sony to fix it for me, which they did with aplomb, although it took a little longer.

But if I could buy another laptop, like a super sexy "travel laptop" and not have J.'s head explode over me getting yet another tech gadget, this would be the one. It's beautiful, portable, and pretty nicely equipped for a backup (not main) device, which is pretty much what reviewers like the experts at Gizmodo are saying about it. I'll have to hit the Sony Style store in University Village and get some hands on  time to pant and drool soon. Hey: you know who could really use a laptop this size? Ava. I mean, shouldn't she start getting used to computers in time for preschool? Hey, J., guess what?