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Blogs from Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, North America
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Transamerica: A Feast of Family and Friends
Published: November 1st 2012North America » United States » Maryland » Silver Spring
October 3rd 2012
Some Background Info In 2010, my partner Jeff and I moved from Honolulu, HI to Silver Spring, MD for him to take up a job. Unfortunately, that job did not work out. To make matters worse, I had trouble finding a permanent job in the area and our foster son's behavior went downhill to such an extent that we asked him to leave our family (he was over 18 and technically no longer our foster child). After all that had happened, we asked ourselves: "Can we be happy if we stayed here?". The answer was no. With that, we decided to return to Hawaii. This blog entry chronicles our cross-country drive to Long Beach, CA from where we shipped our car to Hawaii. We planned this trip to last a week so that we could see ... read more
Joey comes Stateside!
Published: September 22nd 2012North America » United States » Maryland » Silver Spring
September 10th 2012
Today Drake was at school, Wesley at day care and Matt at work but Lora took the day off as they were expecting the building inspector to visit to check on some very minor building work they had done without permission...tut tut! Lora called him up and was told he wouldnt be arriving until 1pm so we went to Starbucks, they live off it here! However when we got back the inspector had already been but luckily he approved the work! We then took the rubble to the dump and then Lora took me to the bank to exchange my travellors cheques for real money. I then chilled out in the afternoon and awaited the arrival of my brother Joe! I also moved my stuff into Drakes basement room, which he had kindly vacated so me ... read more
Playing in the park
Published: September 22nd 2012North America » United States » Maryland » Silver SpringSeptember 9th 2012
Today I had a massive lie in and didnt really do too much all morning! I caught up with my blog entries in the afternoon for a bit and then helped Matt load Lora's car with some rubble from some yard work they had done recently. Matt and I then took Wesley to the park around the corner. He loved being pushed on the swing and Matt had a very childish chat with him, lots of baby talk! Matt absolutely adores Wesley which is very cute to watch! He wanted to have a go on the slide as well but as it was quite large Matt sat at the top and lowered him down whilst I caught him at the bottom! His elated expressions were adorable! Matt cooked dinner on the grill and we sat and ... read more
Returning to my second home!
Published: September 22nd 2012North America » United States » Maryland » Silver SpringSeptember 8th 2012
I landed at 7.30am and grabbed a super shuttle to take me to where my Dad's cousin Matt lives with his family. This time I barely had to wait as it was an internal flight so no immigration and the shuttles were better organised at Dulles than LA! By 8.30am I was crossing the threshold into what i like to call my second home, after the month I spent here working with Matt in 2010. Matt and Lora were up (as they had been to the gym already!), Drake was at american football practice and my 20 month old god son Wesley was running around as usual! It was great to see them all! Whilst Matt went to a class, Lora, Wessers and I went to grab a starbucks and a snack, we would be going ... read more
April 29th 2012
Left at 8:45 and went to Chinmaya Mission. After prayer and meditation there was Gita Chapter 11 lecture for one hour for the adults from 10:30 to 11:30 by swami dherendra. Left from there at 12 and went for lunch to Indique Heights. When we were about to finish our lunch started a discussion on KSM family lineage which we continued in the car. Dropped off Rasshmi at her college. Then we went to a Siva Vishnu temple. After that dropped off Kisshan at the academy. Before dropping him off went to a Bed and Bath store. Shanthi bought me an onion chopper and then picked up dinner for Kisshan at drive-in Burger King, coffee for GS and S and milk shake for us. When we reached Jayanthi's house it was past 6pm. Shanthi and GS ... read more
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Going Home Is Not Always Easy; Wheaton, MD
Published: October 5th 2009North America » United States » Maryland » Silver Spring
September 30th 2009
Check this off my bucket list: going home to Wheaton, Maryland. One of our local radio personalities, Van Harden, shared how he visited his elementary and high school a couple of years ago. So on my last trip to Washington DC, I did just that. A little back story might help. We came to the US from Trinidad in 1968. We settled in Wheaton, MD. I started school in third grade, skipped the 11th grade, graduated in 1977 and then joined the USAF in 1978. I lived in Idaho and since 1980, call Iowa my home. Let’s start with the family house at 12017 Centerhill Street; I think we called this a split house back in 1968. Today they would call it a Townhome. I haven’t seen this house since 1981, so it was nice to ... read more
July 21st 2009
NOTE: this part of the blog is about our ongoing kitchen renovation... if you want to know, start reading on July 18th.... 4 pm I haven't written anything today because nothing too interesting has happened -- we're just plugging along, trying to finish up with the belt sander before 7. Rhea's room got done around 2, and now we're finishing most of the kitchen and breezeway. We'll have the edger for 1 more day, time to do the rest of the breezeway and some smaller halls and maybe even the steps. 11:30pm blech, I'm all sawdusty !! ... read more
Getting down to the wood
Published: July 20th 2009North America » United States » Maryland » Silver Spring
July 20th 2009
8 am biked to Home Depot with Art for new scraper blades, but they don't have any, so I bought a new scraper. And knee pads. Now I've joined the big boys! 9:30 The new scraper works pretty well, but the knee pads hurt on bare skin. No more shorts. Sadly, my painting pants are all ripped at the knees 10:45 So, for those keeping score at home ... so far we tore up the self-stick linoleum in the kitchen, removed a thousand screws, then the quarter inch plywood under that, then a layer of Pennsylvania Dutch linoleum, then a layer of green linoleum, and now we're down to the black paper and adhesive. We can see the hardwood underneath! 11:15 am New plan-- spray, wait 10 minutes, scrape the upper layer off, repeat twice. I ... read more
July 19th 2009
11:15 am Today we're starting on the linoleum under the plywood. Sort of forgot about that. 11:45 am Wow, its really stuck, coming off in chunks the size of my hand. Arrrgh. 3:15 am Erin and I spent the morning on linoleum, now its finally up. Suspense... should we rent the equipment?? Erin is making long lists of sanding belts and disks. She is disgusted that the people at Home Depot have never heard of the red pad that goes under the sanding disks. 6:30 Broke a blade on my little saw while cutting out a bad board. 8:15 pm The belt sander and edger are here... 9 pm We tried sanding with 16-grit -- a sandpaper covered with stones larger than your average wedding ring -- but it clogged up within about 6 feet. If ... read more
July 18th 2009
12 noon Moving moving moving. Art and Jershon got the stove and sink onto the porch, and the tool bench and tool boards into the living room (cause we know what our priorities are!) Meanwhile I organized the our stuff in the housemate kitchen, and labelled the cabinets. 1pm Erin and Kiimara get back from Mayorga, and Erin and Art remove the dishwasher. It seems to be a simple process. 3:30pm Milkshakes! 5:30pm We are done removing the linoleum in the hall and mostly in the kitchen. Good riddance, I always hated that stuff. Jershon has removed (we estimated) close to 1000 screws -- 4 or more per square foot. 7:30 An early night, as Kiimara, Jershon, Bruce and Erin are going to see the new Harry Potter. ... read more
