Fall is here; Xavi 14 weeks old

Fall/autumn officially commenced at 5.04 am on Friday, so the weather should start cooling off - but it has been more likely early August, wet and humid with a "RealFeel"of 30 deg C. Fall means pumpkins and they are already out everywhere ~ here we are at Union Square on Saturday. Xavi is getting good at reaching out to hold things. And as his posture improves it is more feasible to go jogging with him in Central Park (he needs a cardie in the mornings).

Xavier is 3 months old today

Weighs 6 kg, "talks", gigles, good neck strength, eats every 3 hrs, sleeps through night (almost). Still has never been in a car, and has not yet ventured off Manhattan

Annie & Gerard in NYC

It's been great having Gerard & Anne here the past 10 days after their holiday in New England. They had pretty good weather in NYC especially the latter half of their stay. They had a NYC Pass which sounded like great value and also allowed them to go to the top of the queue at the various attractions it covered. They also got out and sampled some of the local delicacies, as well as making the mandatory trip to the High Line, jogging in Central Park with our running pals, and the cycle around southern Manhattan. they are back home to Australia today, via Boston

Xavi update: 12 weeks old

9/11 Anniversary

After the earthquake and then the hurricane, now another very eventful weekend with all the mixed emotions of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and the risk of a terrorist attack, possibly car bomb or truck bomb. so there were roadblocks, sirens and helicopters buzzing over head 24/7 all weekend. there were a lot on Friday night near our place so we thought something was "on", but apparently not. You could only go to Ground Zero today if you were a VIP. it is open from tomorrow to the public but need a ticket and sold out for 2 months in advance. Here are some scenes from the day

Roadblock on Westside Highway at Houston St.


Motorcade to take Obama from heliport to the GZ site; saw the chopper fly in and land


Freedom Tower a.k.a World Trade Center 1


9/11 memorial at Battery Park: 3000-plus flags, one for each victim


Commerative fire engine

Hopefully business as usual tomorrow.

#326. Week 11 Update

Xavi is 11 weeks old today. No recent measurements but as these pics show he is growing and filling out. He is much more alert, looking at his hands and trying to put them in his mouth. He is starting to verbalize too. Neck strength and head control is improving. He is sleeping 6-7 hours at night now which is great but tends to cat nap for 30 minutes during the day, and would rather sleep in stroller or papoose than in cot.

#325. Down and Out at the Post Office

Lots of post mortems and political recriminations in the press about the hurricane/tropical storm at the weekend, like how could the forecasters get it so wrong and how much the Mayor over-reacted (having under-reacted on Boxing day with the blizzard), but this Editorial in today's NY Times made both interesting and sad reading:

Neither rain nor snow may stop the United States Postal Service, but will the abysmally divided Congress? The service is reeling toward default and urgently needs the Capitol’s help to modernize and pay its bills.

Congress allots no money to support the service. But lawmakers control its practices — particularly in shooting down repeated requests to eliminate costly Saturday mail deliveries. A combination of the recession and the public’s shift to e-mail and online bill payment has devastated the service. Amid steep declines in mail handling, deficits are running to $9 billion this year in a $67 billion budget.

To stay in business, the Postal Service is again calling for doing away with Saturday deliveries to save an estimated $40 billion across a decade. It also wants to cut more than a third of its work force — 220,000 jobs over three years — and study the replacement of 3,650 of its 32,000 post offices with locally contracted retailers.

The Postal Service has already maxed out on its borrowing limit and expects to default next month on a $5.5 billion prepayment for employee health benefits. There are proposals for a quick fix of more borrowing authority, but that hardly deals with the deepest problems.

Like any supposedly self-sustaining business, the Postal Service deserves a chance to modernize. The most controversial proposal would let it tap into a federal retirement fund that managers claim is far overpaid because of a faulty formula. That needs very careful review.

Both houses have bills at the ready and sponsors promising action, even as union forces vow to protect jobs and rural forces vow to protect their post offices. Congress needs to surprise the country and mount a swift and serious debate and then pass a reasonable menu of reforms. Americans want their lawmakers to work for the common good. And they want their mail delivered.