Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The unfairness of life

Last week when I "relaunched" Burpo Banter I talked about the family, and the woman in particular, who inspired me to start chronicling our life online again. Last night, Sarah Lopez passed away with her husband, Alan, by her side. Jeff believes that she was 39 - the same age that I am now. Alan will be raising their two boys, ages 8 and 10, alone now but as he has already noted, his angel Sarah will always be at his side.

Jeff and I spent some time tonight sitting together and just appreciating one another, and also reading again through some of Alan and Sarah's blog. We also looked through her Facebook page (she and Jeff were "friends") and saw the many wonderful messages and photos that friends and family had posted for - and of - Sarah. We "heard" Sarah's voice as she commented on old pictures from grade school and high school all the way up to pictures she posted of the present. And of course, we cried. While there are certainly both lovers and haters of the Facebook world we live in now, I can't imagine that Alan will be interested in taking down this page of memories and chronicle of the outpouring of love for Sarah anytime soon.

If there is a positive side to this story, it's that she is no longer suffering and can be at peace now. We sure are thankful for that, and sending thoughts of courage and support to Alan and his sons during this incredibly hard time for them.

Until I write again.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Santa saves the day - and it's not even Christmas!

Okay, so after I posted last night I was definitely feeling a little guilty about the whole not getting Ian either of the gifts he requested thing. But as I said, the Star Wars Legos were just out of the question right now (plus they all start at like age 7) and we really could not decipher what he was trying to tell us about this Cars thing. However, we had attempted to do another grilling in the car on the way home from the illegal Santa portrait session and got just enough information out of him that another Amazon search late last night pulled up what we believe he has been talking about: the Disney/Pixar Cars Playset Piston Cup 500 Track Set. (Just try and say that one five times fast!)

So, being the completely amazing parents that we are, we whipped out the credit card (so handy, those little cards are) and two seconds later we were selecting the "rush shipping" option so our son could have all his dreams come true on Christmas morning. And now Jeff gets to drive BACK to Costco (after he had made a special trip there just yesterday morning) to return what was supposed to be his big Santa present - a tabletop foosball game (actually air hockey was the original idea, but they were sold out) - so he can have his Disney/Pixar Cars Playset Piston Cup 500 Track Set instead. (PS - Do you think the person who named this product realized they used the word "set" twice in the title? Because it's kind of unnecessary, but that's just my opinion.)

I have to say, this Santa stuff is kind of exhausting.

Until I write again.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Sit on Santa's lap...check

Of course no holiday is complete without a visit to the local mall Santa where your kid gets to sit on "Santa's" lap and tell him about the iPod, iPhone and Wii Fit he wants for Christmas. Oh wait, maybe that's me. Anyway, a couple of years ago I was tipped off to a Santa at a large strip mall joint not too far from our house, which is, shall we say, a little less trafficked than Washington Square Mall. (See prior post for more information.) Maybe it's the Hello Kitty store...I mean, is Hello Kitty even still popular?

Still, with the big date fast approaching, we suspected that pretty much any Santa who is worth his weight in presents and reindeer would be quite popular today. So once again, we got strategic (we are a highly strategic group, we Burpos) and decided to head over shortly before Santa's quittin' time for the day. We strolled right up to a lovely woman who said, "Wow, you timed it just right...we've been running at least an hour-long line all day but now we're empty!" "Well lucky us!," I said as I peered over toward Santa who seemed to be stashing a clear bottle behind his chair. Probably some Perrier...I know Santa likes the fancy water.

So off Ian goes to share his biggest hopes and dreams for this Christmas with Santa - which consistently seem to be a Star Wars Lego set (not happening) and a "set" to go with his Cars stuff. Now, "Santa" may actually bring Ian a Cars "set" if "Santa" could ever figure out what he was talking about but since "Santa" (nor Mrs. "Santa") could not and have reason to believe that what he wants might only exist in his head, well, he's probably not getting that either. Of course he's getting plenty of other things - including two other Lego sets that do not feature Lego people shooting one another. (Besides, he has no real clue what Star Wars even is - he just heard about it from someone at school. This is why we need to get him that bubble we keep talking about.)

Truth be told, I hope he's not bummed out on Christmas morning when neither of these items appears under the tree because on the way home when we were asking him exactly what he and Santa conversed about up there, he said he told Santa that he wants these two particular items and "that's all I want for Christmas. Just those two things." Hmmm...well what about that damn "It's a Pillow! It's a Pet! It's a Pillow Pet!" I practically tackled someone for during the gift exchange at Jeff's holiday party and then had to lay down 20 smackers for one at Fred Meyer when they wouldn't give it up because apparently their kid wanted one, too??

Anyway, suffice it to say that all went very well with the Santa visit. Except Elena, who we quickly gathered wasn't into the large man in the red suit yet when she immediately started screaming bloody murder as soon as Jeff sat her down on Santa's other knee next to Ian. Of course it was actually kind of funny but just so as not to be contacted by CPS tomorrow, I suggested to Jeff that he scoop her back up and we just go ahead and take a pass on bro/sis Santa pic this year. Ian did take a couple of cute pictures with Santa, which the lovely woman was more than happy to sell us at the low, low price of $16.95 per shot - but I figured, why do that when I had slipped the ole' Canon PowerShot out of my coat pocket while the lovely woman was occupied at her camera. With that said, here's our official Illegal Mall Santa Shot of 2010. Enjoy!


Until I write again.

Justin Bieber does Washington Square Mall

Or at least that was the only explanation I could think of for the sheer and utter chaos I encountered when I so innocently decided to head out yesterday afternoon to wrap up a little Christmas shopping. Okay, either that or apparently a few other people had the same exact idea I did. Go figure.

I knew the second I entered the mall vicinity that I had made a bad decision. A very bad decision. But when it comes to the mall and shopping, I can not be intimidated. Even if there were 50 gazillion people whose job it was to try and intimidate me. Strategy #1: Instead of waiting in the line of about 156 cars trying to get to the spot next to the main door with my name on it, I immediately zipped into a vacated spot out in the North Forty. Good thing I had my comfy Franco Sarto Bocca flats on. (Love those shoes.) Strategy #2: No browsing allowed. Attack my mission with purpose. And knock down any 13, 15 or 17 year old who might be in the way. A tall order, indeed.

Okay, well here's where strategy ends and honesty begins. Of course I browsed!! But it was very minimal. I wasn't even going to go into Nordstrom at all because it wasn't high on the list of needs for the day but that just seemed like a crime so I kept it to about 10 minutes right at the end, which might be a personal record. I really did stay focused for the most part and within a couple of hours had achieved all of my shopping goals.

I could have kept it even shorter if I hadn't made a detour into a certain store for a large dose of slick marketing by that company that specializes in slick marketing. I won't name names but they sell computers (which I happen to be in the market for) along with a few other cool gadgets (some start with "i") and their logo is a piece of yummy fruit that can be red, green or yellow. And that's all I'm going to say about that for now. But stay tuned for potentially more on one of the great debates of our times...Mac or PC?

On tap today: Target with Ian so he can pick out a gift to give Elena for Christmas. And of course when I say "pick out," I mean attempt to strategically steer him toward the musical piano toy I've already identified for her. (Which I believe is the same one their Cousin Ellie has and loves, which means that we already have two-year-old validation that it's a great gift, so there you go.)

Until I write again. (And until then, I strongly recommend that you not go within five miles of a mall - or any shopping area - if you can avoid it.)