We are in Beijing!

Wow - after many hours on airplanes today, we are all safely in our Beijing hotel. We have been on the go for over 24 hours so we'll keep this short and we will write more later. Everything about the travel was good -- the ANA flight was on time and not too crowded (because we were in business class). The food was great. The flight was not too bumpy. The flight from Tokyo to Beijing was also fine. Beijing is hot and muggy but we are all so happy to be here we don't care. We were met at the airport by Anli -- the Barker China travel coordinator. She had a bus waiting to take all of us to the hotel. Tomorrow we meet for breakfast at 8 a.m. to begin touring. We don't feel tired now (R noted that we are on our fourth or fifth wind). But I'm sure we'll be tired when the wakup call comes.

Here are a few pics we took in the airport today -- some at Dulles and some in Tokyo. You can see how excited we all are. You have to be excited to take photos in the Dulles airport! More later!

J and R

T Minus One Day

Only one day until we leave for China! We're feeling ready, although we keep saying, "how can we be so tired when we haven't even started the trip yet!?". Last night, I was totally dragging and had that fighting-a-cold feeling. I was thinking "feets don't fail me now! - I need another gear." But this morning, I'm feeling human again, so my hope is that this is like sports where you are sometimes tired heading into the big game and then the adrenaline kicks in. We don't have a ton of stuff to do today: R is going to get some tank tops because it has been so hot in China and she wants to stay cool. I just need to put all my stuff in the suitcase and go through the last items on my to-do list. We also have it sort through the huge pile of baby stuff and decide what we need to bring (what IS all this stuff?).

Last night we had an awesome dinner at our house with the adoption travel group -- Jim and Debbie Heverin; Scott and Elaine Sullivan and their daughter Kiran; and Etu and Eugenio (R's parents). I have posted a few photos -- including a really nice one of all of the girls in Jennifer Rose's room.

Jim and I immediately got into the computer geek stuff (I showed him the laptop I'm bringing to China and also the mini camcorder. He had his pile of tecky do-dads). Scott is also bringing a laptop and camcorder so we'll be pretty set as far as documenting the trip. After dinner, we all walked up to the pool and we hung out and relaxed while Kiran splashed around in the pool like a little seal. It was just such a nice, relaxing evening. Hopefully, the next time we're all at the pool it will be with the little ones! Ok - ready to sign off and begin the last push to complete the packing. I'm not planning on logging on tomorrow so the next post will be from China.

J.

T Minus 2 Days

Ok - we are in all-out packing mode. R was scaring me there for a few days since she did not start packing until last night. But she has her approach. She first goes into PURCHASE MODE -- including at least one massive CVS run in which she buys the entire row of the store that sells Advil, Pepto Bismo, Tums, Sudafed, and a bunch of other items that could enable us to open a small pharmacy here in Georgetown. Then she goes in search of the perfect purse or backpack. This include a review of online sites as well as stores. She settled on a really cool backpack that is decorated in what looks like leopard skin-spots -- very stylish, but what would you expect! Then she moves into massive LAUNDRY MODE. Everything gets washed. And I lose about 10,000 calories going up and down the stars from the laundry room to our bedroom as R does more and more laundry! Then she goes into IRONING MODE. This is a step this is not familiar to most guys -- ironing something before you put it in the suitcase!? Then and only then does she get into PACKING MODE. It appears that she has just made the transition from ironing mode to packing mode.

The other new mode that we have both gotten into is the DOWNLOADING MUSIC MODE. R went to I-tunes last night and downloaded "Jet Airliner" (Steve Miller Band) and she got a bunch of her other favorites that she has been cranking as we pack. Meanwhile, I'm up in the office typing on the computer we'll be taking to China and I'm listening to -- you guessed it -- Bruce Springsteen. R surprised me by downloading a Bruce tune last night from I-tunes -- the one with the lyrics that go "when I'm out in the street....I walk the way I wanna walk...". Meanwhile, I'm listening to the darker Bruce stuff (like the soundtrack from the movie "Philadelphia" or anything off of Nebraska or Ghost of Tom Joad).

One other random observation before I get out of the house to do some final errands. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I love sports metaphors. Hidden secret: I also like finance metaphors. Kind of embarrassing to admit. But sometimes, finance does a good job of describing philosophy. So here's the thought (humor me here, eh?): so much of life seems to be about what stuff you have achieved or collected. Kind of like a balance sheet on a company's financial statements. On a balance sheet, it lists all of the assets and liabilities at a point in time (usually the end of the calendar year) and if a company has built up a lot of assets relative to their liabilities, then they have a big net asset base. That's impressive. By contrast, the income and expense statement measures the company's revenue and expenses not at a point in time but over the course of a time increment (usually a year). So what does this have to do with life? It's that rather than always focusing on balance sheet measures (what you have achieved, how much you have accumulated), it's also important to look at the income and expense measures in life -- what you have done in a particular year regardless of whether the activity generates an increase in net assets. Ok - maybe the analogy doesn't work so well. :).

Then I started thinking about what the accounting treatment should be on things like incredible experiences. Can you monetize it just like a company can associate a value to their brand or to "goodwill"? This last few months in going through the adoption process has been priceless even though it has actually resulted in a drop in net assets on the balance sheet. Ok - I'm going to end this one before I beat it to death. Bottom line - we're feeling good. R is finally packing. I've got my pile of stuff on the couch that is ready to go in the suitcase. Or as I told my NY cousin Dan Margulies when we spoke earlier today, our packing staging areas are like the space shuttle: once you are ready for launch, the shuttle has to be moved from the hangar to the launch pad. Similarly, tonight I'll slowly move all of my packing stuff from the assembly staging area to the launch pad (suitcase). Ok - I got to stop with these metaphors. I'm off to the bank and then to get my haircut. More later.
J.

T-Minus 3 Days

Ok - only 3 days left until liftoff! So that you can keep track of us while in China, we have included our travel itinerary. We plan to post blog entries daily (even if we are sleep deprived!).

OUR ITINERARY

Monday, July 30
Leave Washington Dulles @ 12:20 pm for Beijing.

Tuesday, July 31
Arrive in Tokyo, Japan at 3:25 p.m. Depart Tokyo at 5:20 p.m. and arrive in Beijing @ 8:05 pm.

Wednesday, August 1
Summer Palace in the morning. Catch up on sleep in the afternoon!

Thursday, August 2
Temple of Heaven in the morning. Lama Temple in the afternoon. Catch up on more sleep!

Friday, August 3
Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City in the morning. Rickshaw tour to the old neighborhood of Beijing in the afternoon. More sleep after!

Saturday, August 4
Ming Tomb in the morning. The Great Wall in the afternoon followed by a Chinese acrobatics show.

Sunday, August 5
Morning flight to Nanchang. Afternoon, go to Jiangxi Adoption Center to meet Jennifer Rose!!!

Monday, August 6
Start paperwork and appointment with Civil Affairs.

Tuesday through Thursday, August 7-9
Paperwork, sightseeing and shopping. Probably no sleeping!

Friday, August 10
Finish paperwork. Late afternoon flight to Guangzhou.

Saturday, August 11
Baby's visa picture taken in the morning followed by a medical examination.

Sunday, August 12
Half day tour of Guangzhou.

Monday, August 13
Documents submitted to US Consulate.

Tuesday, August 14
Go to US Consulate to take oath. Pick up visa.

Wednesday, August 15
Depart in afternoon for Tokyo, Japan.

Thursday, August 16
Depart Tokyo in morning for flight to Washington Dulles

Thursday, August 16
Arrive Washington Dulles @ 10:40am!!

To say that we are excited would be an understatement. We are ready to begin this adventure!
J.

T-Minus 4 Days

Ok - so I'm procrastinating from packing and the best form of procrastination is listing to Bruce Springsteen ("Secret Garden" off of Greatest Hits) while rambling through the blog-o-sphere. We got a really nice e-mail from Thedie (aka Theda aka mom) today with another in her series of poems that she's writing to Jennifer Rose. She has 15 poems done so far. Here are the two that she has sent so far:

Three little girls from across the sea,

Jennifer, Caitlin, Kate all three,

Three little girls from Cathay.

Three little girls all from Cathay,

In China we would play all day,

Now we’ll play in the USA

Three little girls from Cathay.

These little poems bring a smile to my face. Here's the one she sent yesterday.

Jennifer Rose, Jennifer Rose,
Up into the air she goes,
With mommie and dad
And Etu and Gene,
She’ll be home before anyone knows.

Stay posted for more of these as they come off the presses.
J.

T Minus 5 Days

It's hard to believe that we are leaving for China on Monday! Although we've had a lot of time to get ready, it still feels like a rush to get everything done before we leave. One of the final items on the "to do" list was to get a car seat installed in R's car. So this morning before work, I showed up at the DC DMV inspection station where they help install car seats. It was a pretty simple process and it felt good to have it done. It was a strange feeling driving around with a car seat in the car -- it was like "what the heck is that thing doing in here?" Even after everything we have done, it still doesn't feel real. I think it will feel real once we touch down in China.

Right now, I'm on the new laptop and I'm listening to Bruce Springsteen's Greatest Hits -- a CD that I found while cleaning up last week. It's such a great album and it reminds me a lot of my first year at Berkeley (not sure why I was going through such a big Bruce phase then). Anyway, I love the album and R is not particularly fond of it. But she's fast asleep on the bed while I'm typing this so I'm free to tinker on the computer and listen to my favorite Bruce tunes.

I was thinking of another sports metaphor today. It had to do with Olympic acrobatic ski jumping of all things -- you know - the sport where they go down the steep ramp on skis and then do all kinds of flips and twists. It would also apply to Olympic diving. My question/thought was this: you can practice all you want. You can read all of the instruction manuals. You can get hooked up to a harness and experience what it feels like to do the twists and turns. But at some point, you're just going to have to go down that ramp or jump off that high dive and the only way to experience it is to do it. That's the way I feel right now with the adoption. We've read every book. We've gone to so many Adoption classes and conferences. We've been on listserves. We've been to waiting parent meetings. We know what to say and what not to say when asked about the adoption. We know what to pack and whether it's better to bring cash or travelers checks. We know that the baby seat has to be rear-facing since the baby will be less than 1-year old. We know all of this stuff. But at some point, the training is over. You just have to just do it. So, let's go off the high dive, shall we?

This Bruce is so good - I am going to drive R crazy in China if I'm listening to this all of the time!

More later.

J.

An Assessment of the Techy Purchases

As I noted in my July 1 posting ("Techno Geek Heaven"), we bought a few techy items in preparation for the China trip, including: 1) a small Dell laptop; 2) a really small camcorder; and 3) a laptop messinger bag. I thought I'd do a recap of the overall user experience for each of these items vs. my expectations. (warning: description of computer-induced frustration follows. Do not read if this will give you computer set-up flashbacks) Bottom line: I'm really happy with what we got but my fears were realized about the horrible experience of setting up new technology items. I don't know why I was disappointed with the setup process -- this experience was no different from most of the other times I have tried to set up new technology items. But I can always have my hopes and dreams, yes?

Here's the run down. First the laptop. It's a beautiful looking little thing -- it looks like Dell stole some design elements from Apple. The keyboard is a shiny platinum color and the overall look and feel is good. It feels much lighter than our other laptop. So far so good. Although I'm happy now, I must say that the "out-of-the-box" experience left a lot to be desired. Once I turned the thing on, I was bombarded by various set-up messages -- some from the MacAfee anti-virus program (the laptop came with 1 year free); some from Windows; some from Dell. I tried to stay with the various prompts and requests. If it asked me to accept terms of use, I accepted them. If it asked me to create a password, I created it. The new computer has the Microsoft Vista OS -- so I wasn't used to it. I had to go to the "help" section a number of times just to figure out where key features were (where's the e-mail application; where's the "My Computer" icon; how do I shut down?). It auto-installed an ugly lookng Dell Internet home page that I had to uninstall and replace with the clean Google News UI. It ran me through a few additional hassles -- like having me find the Microsoft Office disc among the materials shipped with the laptop and entering a 16-digit key in order to get Microsoft Word to work. But I'm not complaining! Just passing along a few observations.

I was very proud of myself that after only 5 tries, I figured out how to get the laptop to talk to our existing wireless router/DSL modem. There is a code listed on the bottom of the wireless router that I had to enter as part of my network setup. I also finally figured out that Microsoft Outlook Express is now called "Windows Mail". I struggled to configure the mail program and then I bumbled around for about an hour trying to get the mail set up properly (you need to know that the incoming mail server is "incoming.verizon.net" and the outgoing mail server is "outgoing.verizon.net". You also have to know to check the box under "tools/accounts/preferences/servers" that says "my server requires authentication". Without that, the mail won't work. I figured this out after a call to the Verizon tech help number. At one point, I was told to call a different Verizon help queue (the wireless Verizon #) to determing why the computer was not communicating properly with R's Blackberry device. After getting on that call, I was disconnected before the guy could help me. I think the Blackberry is working now, so I'll deal with that issue later if there are problems.

But don't let me sound bitter -- the main thing is that I did figure out what I needed to figure out and I'm happy with how the computer seems to be working now. But this little voice kept saying: does it have to be this hard. And I was thinking about those Apple advertisements on TV where the hip young guy mocks the older guy in the suit because his setup is so old fashioned and difficult.

As for the camcorder, it was basically the same lame out-of-the-box experience. Getting the thing to turn on and take movies was easy. Getting it connected to the PC was a royal pain. Turns out it is not compatible with the Microsoft Vista OS so I had to go to the RCA website and install a new set of .exe files. (I had no idea what I was doing -- I just kept randomly trying things until it worked - I think). I took a few sample videos yesterday and was able to view them on the computer so it appears to work fine. But I had some trouble figuring out how to share videos using e-mail or the box.net web interface. I also couldn't figure out how to publish a link to a video in our blog. I'll figure that out later, I hope -- maybe when Jim Heverin comes over on Saturday for our last pre-China travel get together. One other comment on the RCA camcorder -- although it's small and has good features, it looks like a cheap American product. Very different from the cool design that Apple does. But hey - what can I expect for $120. If the thing works and is so compact I'll actually take it with me, then I'll be happy.

Lastly, the Timbuk2 laptop messinger bag seems ok -- although I'm still not convinced a messinger bag is the most comfortable way to carry a computer and other equipment. I might be better off just going with a backpack or a wheelie laptop bag. But this isn't the fault of the messinger bag. It may be better for a trip to the local Starbucks than a trip to China with all of my carry-on items. But we'll see.

Overall, I'm HAPPY with the tech purchases. Just wish the out-of-the-box experience was better. When we get back from China and have a little more time, I do want to buy a Mac and compare the setup experience to see if Mac really is a lot better. Wouldn't it be cool if you could just take it out of the box, plug it in, and have it work?

Ok - signing off now. Tomorrow (Monday) is officially 1 week before we depart. We're ready.
J.

Let the Packing Begin

Ok - so we have these big empty suitcases and the question is: what to put in them. It turns out this is a topic of much obsession among the international adoption set. As an example, Jim Heverin found the following link (from Families with Children From China) that contains something like 15 different adoption travel packing lists! http://www.fwcc.org/packtips.htm. I looked at it for about five minutes and decided to wait a day to begin this. Too much info!

So I'm going to take the plunge and open up the laptop box instead of dealing with the packing list issue. I'll be back later with a report on whether the laptop works (same with the camcorder). And more to come on the packing issue. It seems pretty simple to me -- just bring enough stuff to carry you through 2.5 weeks including a 10-month old baby. But just remember that the authors of most of these packing lists are talking about more than just a packing list. They are talking about what the trip meant to them and are recounting their experiences. So I'll cut them a litle slack. But not much.

J.

Final Travel Itinerary for China Trip and Additional Sports Metaphors

We got an e-mail from Barker this week with the final travel itinerary for internal China travel. We are all really excited about it. Jim and Debbie Heverin did a nice job in their blog of describing the day-by-day plans so I figured I'd just link to their entry: http://heverin.blogspot.com/2007/07/we-have-travel-itinerary.html. Not much more I can add to that. We are totally psyched and are ready.

One funny thing that I've been thinking about on the itinerary relates to the choice of airline: we are flying ANA to Beijing via Tokyo. My brother-in-law David Cohen told me that he has flown ANA to Asia a few times and he said that in business class, they have unlimited Japanese noodle bowls. For some reason, I can't seem to get that out of my mind. I can just picture myself eating 3-4 huge noodle bowls over the course of the 19+ hour flight just to pass the time and then I'll either be feeling great or I'll feel like a sumo wrestler. And it's also a sorry fact that with everything to be excited about on this trip (you know, little things like meeting our daughter and seeing the Great Wall of China and the Imperial Palace), I'm thinking about how great it is that we get unlimited noodle bowls on the plane! People who like food will understand.

Separate from sharing news about the China travel itinerary, Rachel has been urging me to put in more sports metaphors to my blog posts. I think that's pretty funny because when I first posted the sports metaphor entry (scroll down to July 5 posting), R thought it was strange. But she said the she got good feedback from several friends on this. So I'm urged to do more. As I told her, you can't just do a perfect sports metaphor. It has to ripen like a good wine. But I have been thinking about this for a few days in particular because this weekend is the British Open golf tournament -- site of the famous 1999 Van de Velde meltdown where he choked off a 3-stroke lead on the 18th hole on Sunday. I have been thinking about two metaphors: one complex and one pretty simple. First the simple one: don't pull a Van de Velde. Van de Velde was ahead by 3 strokes and on the final hole he pulled out a driver instead of an iron or a 3-wood off the tee. Bad move. If he had picked an iron, he would have probably won the tournament. His driver shot put him in a bad spot. But with a 3-shot lead, he still could have recovered. Instead of laying up and getting back into a good spot to win the tournament, he tried to go for the green on his second shot. He ended up in the river and the rest is history. So I'm feeling a bit like we have a 3-shot lead these days. We got our referral. We got travel approval. We have suitcases. We have a few really cute baby outfits courtesy of R's shopping excursions over the past few weeks. We have notified work that we're leaving. We just need to make it through next week -- no drivers off the tee. Three wood up the middle. Keep the head down. Don't listen to the crowd noise. We've been doing this process for two-and-a-half years.

Or as my high school tennis coach (Mr. Wall) used to say, "We've been training hard for this, boys. Just need to execute like we did in practice." Not sure how that applies to waiting for the adoption, but it's funny to think about Mr. Wall and the Woodside High tennis team. Mr. Wall was a former marine and was a total hardass. He used to follow us in his car when we ran around Woodside hills and always had us in better mental and physical shape than the opponent. He once gave an impassioned speech in which he said: "This is a team. We need to act like a team. We need to think like a team. It's a team when we go to practice. It's a team when we leave practice. It's a team when we go to a match. It's a team when we are dismantling the other guys. It's a team. Are there any questions?" And every wise-ass bone in my body wanted to raise my hand and ask, "Mr. Wall - just one queston, sir, that I'm not so clear on. Is it a team?" Didn't have the guts to do that. He would have kicked my ass off the team (and possibly put me in the wrestling room and fired tennis balls at me with the ball machine like he would do on rainy days when we couldn't practice). But it would have been a great story and would have been worth it in retrospect.

The other sports metaphor I've been thinking about relates to football and applies to how best to respond when the other person (R, for example) is being what I might call irrational or unreasonable(disclaimer: hardly ever happens. And I do my share of freak-ons as well). In any case, when I get in one of those situations, I think about the hard count in football. You know - when a team is on fourth and inches and instead of trying to go for the first down, they try to draw the other team offsides by having the quarterback do a hard count (Hut..Hut.. Hut HUT etc.). Everyone on both sides of the ball knows this is going to happen. It's the oldest trick in football. So in the defensive huddle, all of the guys say "remember: nobody fall for the hard count." But then invariably someone falls for the hard count and the offense gets the first down as a result of the 5-yard offsides penalty.

So how does this apply to our situation? The simple fact is that with all of the stresses and pressures that come and go in life, there's always going to be some moment where the other person acts in a way that isn't 100% rational or calm. That's the hard count. You pretty much know it's going to come. You tell yourself it's going to come. And when it comes, the right thing to do is to be disciplined on defense and not fall for it. You just calmly wait there and the offense is forced to call time out and punt the ball.

The other part of not falling for the hard count is that you will fall for the hard count. That's just life. And when you do fall for it, just take the 5-yard penalty. Don't get caught on a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct call. It's not a question of whose fault it is. The game isn't always fair. They never get the guy who throws the first punch or steps on your head at the bottom of the pile -- just the guy who responds. So, rule for the day: don't fall for the hard count, and when you do fall for it, take the 5-yards and go back to the huddle.

Ok - enough sports metaphor pontification for one day.
J.

More Baby Shower Pics and Technology Thoughts

R was looking through the photos of the baby shower (see previous post) and saw a few other good ones that she asked me to post. So here they are. There's a really nice one of R with Debbie and Elaine and there's also on of Ademski and Talia helping R open presents.

We now have a room in our house that is "the shower presents room". Previously, that was the "moving boxes room" from when we moved 2 years ago! We are looking forward to putting the shower gifts to good use -- particularly the books and the clothes. It will be fun to pick out a book to read to Jennifer Rose and I'm sure R will be all over picking out the outfits.

So this weekend we are doing various things in the getting ready for China category. As I type, R is going through stuff in the room next to the baby room to get ready for delivery of a desk this morning. We are going to use that room as an office so we won't have to keep the laptop computer on the dining room table as we have been doing.

I'm also planning on opening the boxes of technology items that have arrived over the past few weeks. One box contains the laptop computer. Another contains the mini camcorder. Another contains extra memory for the camcorder. We always have the same ritual when new technology arrives. I try to set it up and pretty rapidly become flumoxed by the fact that computers basically suck. Then I spend 2+ hours on the phone with Dell or Verizon (or to be more precise, I spend time on the phone with Dell or Verizon's call center in Bangalore, India). I have no complaints against the friendly folks in Bangalore. I have found they really know their stuff. My issue is with computers in general and the fact that there is no party who accepts responsibility for the minor fact that THE COMPUTER DOESN'T WORK. Dell will say it's a Verizon problem and Verizon will say its a Microsoft problem and Microsoft will say it's a Dell and/or Verizon problem. So I always end up forking over additional money to Dell to take responsibility for all problems for a brief period of time. Last time, I paid for unlimited tech help to resolve "four incidents". So when I had the incidents, I really wanted to get my money's worth.

I don't want to be a pessimist and say that I'll have problems with the new computer setup. But I start to break out into a cold sweat when I think of trying to get the new laptop to talk to the wireless router/DSL modem (which I'm sure I can't find the password to). So I'll reset the password on that and the current laptop won't be able to talk to the modem/router anymore and will no longer forward mail to R's Blackberry. You get the idea. I know this sounds pessimistic but it's simply the way it has always worked. (ok Mac users, now's the point in time where you go into the comments section and type "why don't you buy a Mac - they work right out of the box!") I have been very tempted to buy a Mac but the Windows propaganda has me scared into thinking things like "maybe I won't be able to open a Word document". In any case, I'll try to think positive thoughts when I setup the new laptop.

Reminds me of the first time we got our Verizon DSL and wireless modem and a new computer. Our good friend and neighbor Martin Rofheart (PhD in electrical engineering and CEO of a wireless chip company) told us it was going to take us about 4 hours to get everything to work properly. I couldn't believe it had taken him that long given his tech expertise. But sure enough, when all of the equipment didn't work right out of the box, I had the 4+ hour investment of time with the folks in tech support. So if it took Martin 4 hours with the folks in tech support to get his computer to work, I don't feel too bad that it happened to me as well.

Ok - that's it for now. More later.

J.

Airline Tickets + R Baby Shower = This Must Be Real!

Ok - where to begin. As noted in the previous post, we got official travel approval. Then R huddled with the travel agent and we finalized the plane tickets. We are all flying ANA out of Dulles -- via Tokyo -- to Beijing. We depart DC on Monday, July 30 at 12:20 p.m. -- arriving Tokyo at 3:25 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31. We depart Tokyo at 5:20 p.m. and arrive in Beijing at 8:05 p.m. on July 31.

Then we have the rest of the week to get used to the 12 hour time difference and to see a few sites. We expect to fly to Nanchang on Saturday, August 4th or Sunday, August 5th (the internal China travel is being set up by Barker and we expect to have that finalized early this week). As noted in a previous post, we hope to have Jennifer Rose in our arms on Sunday, August 5.

We are departing Guangzhou on Wednesday, August 15 and will stay one night in Tokyo. We depart Tokyo on Thursday, August 16 -- arriving back in Washington, Dulles on August 16 at 10:40 a.m. I got tired just typing that! We'll provide more on travel once we have the domestic travel intinerary from Barker early this week.

What else has been going on? It seems like a lot. Rachel had a nice baby shower on Saturday at Rachel Burton's parents house in Chevy Chase, MD. Rachel Burton is a best friend from R's childhood and it was so nice of her to host the shower together with Morna, Diana, and Des. I have attached a few photos --one really nice one of R and R; and one of the cake. I can attest to its quality since I had two pieces. Or was it three? I spent the afternoon of the baby shower with Keith, Doug, and Chris while Keith and Chris were on baby duty. We had a good time having lunch at the Cheesecake Factory but then I got a chance to see the tail end of the shower when I went to pick Rachel up (thus the 2+ pieces of cake).

Rachel got some amazing baby things that I know we will be able to put to good use. It is such a wonderful feeling to have so much support and love from family and friends. It was also really cool to see Debbie Heverin and Elaine Sullivan at the shower. Debbie posted a really nice entry in her blog (see link here: http://heverin.blogspot.com/2007/07/wonderful-celebration.html).

Ok - I'll sign off now. I have an early flight tomorrow for a work trip to Atlanta on Monday, Chicago on Tuesday, and Dallas on Wednesday. Back in DC on Wednesday night. Then one more full week of work before we depart for China. Yikes - so much still to do! Deep breaths. Ok - will go pack now for Atlanta.

J.

Official Travel Approval

Ok - it's official. We just got the following e-mail from Tina at Barker:

"Hi all,

Great news! I received the emailed confirmation from the Consulate today. The appointment has been scheduled for Monday, August 13, at 9:00am. Please proceed and purchase your international airline tickets. Please forward your final itineraries to Emily and myself as soon as you purchase your tickets."

When we got the news, R made a happy noise that sounded like a mouse that had just run into a big pile of cheese. It was something like "eee eee eee". As we are getting ready for work this morning, we're both running around the house bumping into each other. I think I had too much coffee! R is going to work with the travel agent this morning to book our tickets. I'll go down my "to do" list again (it's two pages long!) and make sure everything is on track.

So we will depart Washington on Monday, July 30th for Beijing and we hope to have Jennifer Rose in our arms on Sunday, August 5th!

Did I mention we are excited?
J.

Getting Closer to a Travel Date

Ok - it's starting to get close. We got an e-mail from Emily at Barker Foundation today forwarding the following note from Tina (head of international adoption program at Barker) who is currently on travel in China:

"I have not received an email confirmation from the Consulate yet. I was able to get them to tell me verbally that the families were scheduled for August 13th. This means that the families will need to be in Nanchang on August 5th and they will be receiving their babies that afternoon. With this in mind, they could arrive in Beijing on August 2 or 3 to spend two or three nights in Beijing prior to flying down to Nanchang. On their way out, they can leave from Guangzhou on August 15.

Please tell the families not to purchase their tickets yet. I will let you know as soon as I receive a written confirmation from the consulate. Before they send out the email, they could still move people around."

On Monday of this week, we had received "travel approval" from China -- which enabled Barker to go ahead and request an appointment with the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. Confused yet? So just to review the bidding, we first got our travel visas approved. Then we got travel approval. Now we've gotten verbal but not written approval from the US Consulate in China. Once we get written approval, Barker will finalize our itinerary and we will be able to book our airline tickets.

Assuming the US Consulate date holds, we'll likely depart Washington Dulles on Monday, July 30th and arrive in China the evening of Tuesday, July 31st. After a few days in Beijing getting adjusted to the 12 hour time difference and seeing a few sights, we'll likely depart for Nanchang on Saturday or Sunday, August 4th or 5th. We are scheduled to have Jennifer Rose in our arms on Sunday, August 5th. We were so psyched to get this news today. August 5th is so close!

We had several exciting phone calls once we got the news -- first I called Etu from work and R and I spoke with her via conference call; then Rachel spoke with Elaine and Scott; then we both spoke with Jim and Debbie. We're all looking at taking an ANA flight via Tokyo but will wait to confirm once we get our dates confirmed by Barker. Things are really starting to fall into place. We just want to go to the airport now!

Speaking of going to the airport, when we got home, there were 3 suitcases in front of our door. R had ordered them online and they just arrived. They seem big. But I'm sure we'll fill them up. Name a time we ever left for a trip and didn't have enough stuff to bring there or take home?! So we're going to just start packing -- in part because it gives us something constructive to do and also so we can be smart about packing rather than pulling one of those "I have no idea what I packed" situations.

More later....
J.

Finding the Perfect Sports Metaphor

I have long thought that sports metaphors are a great way of describing non-sports events. So since we have been on this adoption journey, I have been looking for the perfect sports metaphor to describe it. Several weeks ago (before we got our referral), I turned to my good friend (and former Stanford and Berkeley classmate) Doug Steiger to help find the perfect sports analogy to describe the adoption waiting process. In particular, I asked Doug if he could think of cases where it took an athlete a long time to achieve his or her sought-after victory and whether the victory was more sweet as a result. I was thinking that maybe Phil Mickelson (golf) would be a good example because I knew it took him a long time to win his first major (although I couldn't remember which major he finally won and when that was). Doug is a big sports fan and I knew if anyone could come up with the perfect metaphor, Doug would. Here's Doug's e-mail response that he sent me on May 8 when I asked him about the Mickelson analogy:

"I think Elway might be more widely understood. Elway won the Super Bowl for the first time in his 15th seaon and then again in his 16th season. He'd lost three times in the Super Bowl before that, often badly (39-20 to the Giants, 42-10 to the Redskins, and 55-10 to the Niners). Plus, he's got that Stanford connection.

Mickelson? I think he played 41 majors as a pro before he won the Masters in '04, with 3 seconds and 5 thirds. (he was third in the Masters in '01, '02, AND '03 before he won in '04!). Here's what Wikipedia said:

'Despite these accomplishments, for many years Mickelson was often described as the "best golfer never to win a major." Mickelson often played well in majors: in the five-year span between 1999 and 2003 he had six second-place or third-place finishes. But victory always eluded him, for reasons that were ascribed to taking too many risky shots, missing too many short putts, or a general lack of what it takes to close out a big tournament. Undaunted, Michelson continued to refine his game and his course strategy and psychology. His first major championship win came at the 2004 Masters, where he won with a 20-foot final hole birdie putt, defeating Ernie Els in a Sunday back-nine duel in which the stars traded birdies and eagles back and forth.'"

I loved getting this note from Doug because during the long wait for our referral, I could just think to myself "it's just like what John Elway or Phil Mickelson had to face for all those years before they had their first big championship -- just keep working hard and good things will come." So it was nice to get another e-mail from Doug the day we got our referral congratulating us on the green jacket (another reference to a Masters victory). I told Doug we won't celebrate too much until we have Jennifer Rose in our arms (e.g., we are in the Butler cabin) and didn't want to pull a Van de Velde (as Doug reminded me, Van de Velde is the guy who blew a 3-shot lead going into the 18th green at the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie). See how carried away you can get with these sports metaphors?

Doug and I even got Doug's wife Morna hooked on using golf sports metaphors (and she doesn't even like golf!). So not only have I gotten Morna addicted to the Heverin blog (see previous entry in which Jim gives a shout out to Morna), I have gotten her hooked on bad sports metaphors.

J.

Posting Comments to Blog Entries

We have received a few questions lately about: 1) whether people can post comments to our blog entries and 2) how one goes about doing that if they have any interest in doing so. In answer to question #1, the answer is YES - absolutely. Posting a comment is fun for us and for others reading the blog. It tells us who is on the receiving end of this crazy form of communication and helps remind us that our friends and family are supporting us through this process.

As for question #2, the answer is: it's simple. You don't have to have a Google user name or password or anything. You just click the "comments" link at the end of the posting you want to comment on. Enter your comment in the space provided. If you don't have a Google user name, simply click the "anonymous" box. This lets you post your comment without having signing in. If you want us to know who the comment is from, just put your name at the end of your posting in the Comments section. It's as simple as that. Let us know if it's more complicated than that or if the system is giving you trouble. If so, I'll consult my tech expert friends at AOL or will ask Jim Heverin if he can explain it. So please, post those comments!
J.

Techno Geek Heaven

I have been having a running exchange with Jim Heverin and a few others as to what tech equipment we should bring to China. This is just the kind of topic that I enjoy delving into and thinking a lot about. Basically, we want to be connected to all manner of friends and family through e-mail, the blog, etc. But should we bring a laptop? Most of the big hotels have Internet access in them, but this may not be the case everywhere we will be. I have heard conflicting advice on this issue from friends who have traveled to China. Our friends Andrew and Michelle (check out their blog link in the "links" section) did bring a laptop and they had a good experience with that. But I believe that our friends Steve and Cathy did not bring a laptop and they did fine posting to their blog via the hotel business centers. After considering this one, R and I felt pretty good about bringing a laptop. The only question was which one.

After much research, and too much time on the Cnet and ZDnet websites, I opted to get the lightest Dell laptop that they sell. I just purchased it a few days ago and it should come in early July. It is called the XPS M-1210. (here's the C-Net review for you true geeks out there: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-xps-m1210-vista/4505-3121_7-32329097.html?tag=prod.txt.1 ). According to the reviews, it's got a lot in a small size and relatively low weight. We opted not to get the gaming and other fancy features. We just focused on the features that would allow us to easily access the Internet via wireless if possible. So everyone in our travel group can use our laptop if there is a problem getting computer access at the hotel business centers.

As a brief aside, I was not overly impressed with the Dell ordering process. This was the third Dell laptop I have purchased and the sales process seems to have gotten more complicated. When I finally got to the sales stage, I used their "chat with a sales agent online" feature to find out what kind of discounts they could provide. This ended up launching a bidding war of sorts between two different Dell sales agents competing against each other for my business. I guess it ended up being good for me in the end but it was a tad confusing. Also, Dell's process is so filled with tactics to upsell you on various extraneous items ("no thanks, I'm not interested in buying an extra television monitor with my laptop; thanks for offering me the latest educational software but no thanks; no I don't need extra storage; etc."). But I have yet to find a better deal than Dell and as much as I am tempted to make the leap to a Mac, I wasn't ready to do that for the China trip.

To cut down on weight, I went with a light but extremely cool (some would say too cool for my age and non-bike messinger status) "laptop messinger bag" carrying case from Timbuk2 that I custom built on their website (very cools site: check out the link here: http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/retail/catalog.htm). If you haven't heard of Timbuk2, they have the most amazing concept in customer ordering via a web interface. The website allows you to custom select the colors, sizes, inserts, and all manner of techy heaven dudads. And you can see a 360 degree image of your bag as it's being built (you can turn it around and open it up, etc. After I used the webside to build a custom laptop bag, I actually called the customer service department because I couldn't believe that going with a custom-built bag would be the SAME price and the SAME amount of time as buying one of the already built ones. The customer service rep (of course in San Francisco) said (and I'm not making this up): "Dude - chill out. Your bag has already been built and shipped." Tell me how an old fashioned store can compete with that? That even kicks Dell's butt and they are the king of custom-designed online techno-geek purchasing.

The next question was: to bring a cellphone or not to bring a cellphone. We are leaning towards not bringing a cellphone unless we get one thrown in via our international airline ticket purchase (some of the travel agencies have a special that includes the phone rental). Elaine and Scott Sullivan (also in our travel group) will have a cellphone with them so we can use that if absolutely needed.

The next techno gadget question was: to bring a camcorder or not to bring a camcorder. I was pretty sceptical on the need for any type of video recording equipment on top of our small Canon digital camera. We don't know of anyone who has brought a camcorder with them to China. At the same time, I was thinking: how cool would it be to have streaming video of parts of this trip -- even if it is just streaming video of Jim and me pontificating on the pros and cons of deep fried versus steamed chicken or video or R, Debbie, and Elaine playing with our little girls at the White Swan Hotel. So once the laptop purchase was complete, I couldn't resist cheking out what the camcorder offerings were. After looking at the high-end options, I was leaning against going with a really fancy camcorder mainly for space and weight reasons (I didn't want to lug around the laptop, regular digital camera, and full-scale camcorder). This morning, I happened upon this review on the Cnet site for the RCA EZ 201 camcorder and was tempted to look into it: http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/rca-small-wonder-ez201/4505-6500_7-32445372.html?tag=prod.txt.1

The above-mentioned Cnet site even has a streaming video review of the device in action and it is just the coolest little thing. And for a price (less than $120) and weight (3.5 ounces) that was just too tempting to pass up. The device is a very simple concept: it sacrifices everything for low weight and small size -- and assumes that the users are just looking to do up to 60 minutes of video to send to friends and family via e-mail or via a web page. It assumes that big camcorders are of no use of they are too big to bring with you and worry about. This was exactly what I was thinking. So I found a good deal on Amazon and quickly did the deed. This may end up being a really stupid purchase (or as Belushi said in Animal House "a really futile and stupid gesture"). If so, I'll give the device to my dad and he can put it the room in my parents' Menlo Park, CA house that is the graveyard of all of his no-longer-working but extremely cool looking Radio Shak telephones and other techy toys that he couldn't resist (I believe the Next machine is there somewhere next to the see-through telephone that never quite worked; both next to the electric leaf blower from Price Club). But for less than $120, if my new mini camcorder ends up being a stupid purchase, at least it's not such a costly stupid purchase.

While I was on the Amazon site, I also picked up an extra 2 GB SD Flash Memory card for $20 to get extra storage space (some of the consumer comments on the Cnet review site suggested doing this). And while I was at it, I picked up an extra 256 MB Compact Flash memory card for my digital camera so I won't run out of memory. Quick: someone fetch the dart gun and put me out of my misery! This is the just kind of damage that results when R leaves me alone in the house for an extended period of time on the weekend with too much coffee and a tech gadget shopping list. (She went to the Four Seasons health spa to get a massage with her friend Diana so I was justified).

So I have officially declared an end to the techno gadget buying season and will hope that I don't come to regret these purchases. Jim Heverin has cornered the market in all other manner of techy do-dads that we would need in China (including every possible outlet converter and all manner of card readers and other methods of storing, exchanging, and moving data around). And he's the one who actually understands this stuff and has backup-plan upon backup plan for ensuring that we can post to our blogs while in China (he even figured out a way to post to his blog via an e-mail which he showed me and I promptly forgot). I just know enough to be dangerous but Jim can show me how to undo my problems if I get into too much trouble.

You may wonder what I actually decided NOT to buy since I was not showing a lot of restraint on the above-mentioned items (with the exception of the cell phone). In my defense, there was one item I considered and decided not to get: noise-canceling headphones. One day when R and I were at the Tysons Corner shopping mall in VA, I checked these out at the Bose store and was TEMPTED. It's hard to resist technology that actually works. And I would have had no problem justifying a purchase of really nice headphones even if I didn't need to cancel out the sound of jet engines (or whatever the sales pitch is). So why didn't I get these? Because I can't picture the scenario on the way back from China with Jennifer Rose that I would WANT to cancel anything out even if R would let me. :) And on the way to China, I'm going to be so amped up that I really can't picture myself relaxing in noise-cancel mode with those airline black shade things over my eyes!

Ok - enough babbling for one day. This techno equipment pontification has been an interesting aspect of the adoption process -- probably something that we would have never considered if we weren't doing this in another country. I'll do another post when all this equipment comes and I have the pleasure of seeing whether any of it works. :)
J.

Shout Out From the Heverin Blog

For anyone who has been reading our blog, you will know that we make periodic references to the Heverin blog (see the link in the "links" section to Jim and Debbie's blog). It's a truly awesome blog both in the detail, bredth of topics covered, and the fact that it brings the adoption process to life. Based on the quality of Jim and Debbie's blog and the fact that we have been slow to post a lot of new entries, we have created a little following of our friends and family who regularly read the Heverin blog. This list includes my aunt Evelyn in NY as well as our good friend Morna (who dutifully reads the Heverin blog between important Congressional business on the House budget committee). It was Morna who called me one day a few weeks ago to note that Jim had missed a day in his pledge to do a post every day before we leave for China! In Jim's defense, he was on an aircraft carrier (or was it another type of large boat?) somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

So Morna and Evelyn will appreciate it that Jim has given a "shout out" to them in his recent entry. (I told him he had a following). Here's the link for anyone who is interested.
http://heverin.blogspot.com/2007/06/to-myumfans.html

This made R laugh out loud! :)

J.

A Very Special Package

On Friday night, R and I got home from the Barker China travel meeting and there was a package waiting for us. We opened the box up and inside was such an incredibly touching and special surprise. It was a letter, two beautiful fabric samples, and a wrapped gift from the Herskowitz family (Marion, Allen, and Ilissa).

We had chosen the name "Jennifer Rose" for our little one in part to honor and celebrate the life of Rachel's very close friend from NY -- Jennifer Loren Herskowitz. So we were so touched to open up the package from them and find the following letter:

Dearest Rachel and Joseph,

We've enclosed two fabrics for the quilt, one from us and one from Ilissa. Actually, she picked the Asian lanterns and then the decorator at the store told us he had recently done a nursery in that pattern for a family that had also adopted a Chinese baby girl. What a coincidence!!! He suggested that we send you a large piece so that you could center the pattern and if you needed some extra fabric you could use some of this material.

We are also enclosing a cuddly little dog for Jennifer Rose from Jennifer Loren.

We hope you will understand when we explain that Ilissa and Jenn were on a trip to Vermont and visited the factory where these are made. She loved the dogs so much that she bought a few as future baby gifts for some of her close friends. This is the last one that she was holding to welcome the next new baby. Therefore, we thought it would be very appropriate to send this little gift to Jennifer Rose as our Jenn cared so much for you and Joseph and would have been so happy for you.

Again, mazel tov and lots of love,

Marion, Allen and Ilissa

We were so moved by this letter. We immediately called Marion and talked on the phone for over an hour. What a special way to conclude the week -- especially after coming back from the Barker China travel meeting. I have enclosed a photo of the little dog. Also, when I went into the baby room this morning, I noticed that R had set up the dog on the changing table with two other stuffed animals that Jennifer Rose had received as gifts so I took a photo of that as well.

Between the China travel meeting and this wonderful package from Marion, Allen and Ilissa Herskowitz, I think I have finally allowed myself to realize that this adoption is really going to happen. Friday night, I had my first dream about Jennifer Rose. Although my memory of the dream is a bit fuzzy, I can recall from the dream that R and I were playing in the back yard with Jennifer Rose and we were all happy. What an incredible few days. The adoption process is truly an amazing experience and this one is unfolding in a really special way.

J.

China Travel Meeting at Barker Foundation

On Friday, we had a travel meeting at Barker with the Sullivans and the Heverins as well as Etu (R's mom). The purpose of the trip was to go over what we need to bring and also go over the expected itinerary. We still won't be able to get the exact itinerary until we get our travel date (espected some time in mid-July). If you want to get a good description of the travel meeting, check out what Jim Heverin wrote on his blog (which is still by far the best blow-by-blow account of the adoption waiting process that I have seen). Here's the link:

http://heverin.blogspot.com/2007/06/travel-meeting-making-final-plans.html

After the meeting, we all went out to dinner in Bethesda. As I have said in past blog postings, we are really lucky that we all get along so well and have become really close friends. It is going to make the China trip that much better.

I have posted a few pics of us, Etu, and the Sullivans as we are going into Barker for the travel meeting plus one of Tina (the head of International adoption at Barker) and Emily (the international adoption coordinator).

J.

Spreading the News

A few people have asked: so what have you guys been up to since you got the referral? I was going through a bunch of photos I took over the last few weeks and I came up with a few that pretty much tell the story: R on the phone telling her friends/family the great news about the referral. Notice photo of Little Miss Firschein sitting next to the computer! I love these pics because they capture the good mood we have been in.

Besides being on the phone or sharing the good news in person, we have done a few other things, including:

1) getting baby furnature delivered

2) cleaning out junk room(s) to get ready to get baby furnature delivered

3) converting junk room #2 into usable space for a guest room and office and getting sofabed delivered

4) going to Great Beginnings (massive baby store) and registering for a few car seats and other baby-related dudads.

5) sending baby gifts to Baby Jennifer Rose and to the caregivers at the orphanage via the Blessed Kids website (see links section)

6) buying a decent pair of walking shoes for walking around China in 100 degree+ heat

7) looking at Baby Jennifer Rose's photo a few hundred times

8) looking at the awesome fabric samples and notes that everyone has sent -- this has been the best part of waiting. In particular, the notes have been so wonderful and we are going to make a big scrapbook of them to give to Jennifer Rose when she's old enough to not eat it.

Aside from all of the above, life has been pretty much a blur and I don't have a lot of recollection as to what we have been up to. Speaking of not having a lot of recollection, I lost R's car keys. You may wonder how I did that. I honestly don't know. Last Sunday, after the dinner with our China travel group (see previous posting), I drove R to the airport for a work-related trip to Dallas and then came home and put her car in the garage. I didn't use her car again until she came home the following Wednesday. When she was ready to go to work on Thursday, she said: "can I have my car keys?" and I said: "um, I sort of, well....don't know where they are." I checked all of the usual places: the junk drawer; the key thingy on my dresser; next to the mail pile, etc. No sign of them. So either I put them in a really clever location that I haven't discovered yet, I threw them in the trash, or I accidently included them in the boxes of clothing that we donated to the National Children's Center last Tuesday. In any case, R is driving to work on the extra set of keys and I have the fun task of going back to the dealer this week to try to get another set of keys.

Ok - signing off now.

J.