Silicon Valley Moms Blog

My first seder at home

This weekend, I hosted my first seder. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that I'm not Jewish -- and no one in my family is! But I love seders and have been to about a dozen of them over the years -- thanks to opportunities at school, invitations to friends' houses, and once, during a work offsite that occurred over Passover. I love the traditions, the symbolism, the discussions, and of course, the food! And I wanted to share all of this with my family, and especially my children.

So I found a good book on how to run a seder, tapped the deep knowledge of close Jewish friends, and borrowed the haggadahs of a friend who was going to be out of town. The best advice I received -- keep the seder SHORT!

Friday evening saw me dashing around my local Safeway, picking up the staples. But alas, no matzah was to be found anywhere! The helpful store manager dissuaded me from trying other stores -- everything was sold out up and down the Peninsula. His suggestion was to substitute the matzah with gourmet flatbread. Saturday afternoon was spent assembling some great dishes -- a hit with the kids was the Passover "Mac & Cheese". Matzah ball soup was easy and delicious with the help of pre-made, jarred matzah balls and boxed organic broth. But alas, my kugel was absolutely inedible.

Taking a child on a business trip - a survival guide

I recently took my son (age 9) on a business trip for the first time and plan to do more with both of my kids (daughter is almost 8). The reasons: I'm embarking on a book tour and will be on the road quite a bit over the next few months and this is a way for me to see more of my kids. But more importantly, I wanted my kids to see me "at work" and a lot of what I do is public speaking. When I travel, I usually am with a client all day, and it wouldn't work to bring a child along. But if I'm giving a 45 minute speech, I figure it's a good learning and bonding opportunity.

So my recent trip San Diego was a trial run with my son. I was set to give a speech on a Monday morning, so we left SFO early on Sunday to squeeze in a day at Legoland. That was "the bribe", along with missing a day of school. In the morning, we checked into the conference at registration (they made up a badge for my son, which was a nice way to include him) and got set up. He saw the backstage and then I found him a seat in the second row, sitting next to a friend he already had met before.

And this is our key survival tip - Nintendo DS. The night before, we made a trip to Best Buy and got him a new game. It kept him happy and busy for most of the boring waiting around, although I did make him promise to watch me for at least the first part of my speech. Frankly, he fit in with most of the other techie guys (and they were mostly guys) in the audience huddled over their laptops taking notes (or checking their emails).

Happy 42nd Birthday To Me

There. I've done it - made it a matter of record how old I am. There's this long-standing tradition that people -- and women in particular -- don't discuss their age.

It feels great to come clean.

For a while, there was a good reason why I didn't discuss my age -- but it was because I was too young. As a businesswoman trying to establish a career in my 20's, it didn't do to tell clients that I was a 20-something, and on the nearer side to 20 than 30. Even throughout my 30's, I was still deemed "young" by my colleagues -- when asked my age, it was usually followed by a comment like, "But you're so young!"

And then I hit 40 and finally, I felt comfortable discussing my age because it connotes a sense of maturity and experience. . Silly, isn't it. At a time when I've become obsessed with wrinkles around my eyes and white hairs seemingly sprouting in every direction (which I diligently dye), I want to let people know how old I am.

Rinsing out the peanut butter

In the mornings, I usually stand at our kitchen counter pulling breakfast stuff together and serving it to my kids. Out come the milk, bread, eggs, peanut butter, apples,plates, glasses -- your normal morning paraphernalia.

Like in many of your households, I'm trying to do four things at once and was feeling pretty good about having things under control for a change. I made toast, spread peanut butter on them, turned to get the milk and grabbed a glass.

I then promptly poured the milk into the the open peanut butter jar.

Happy Birthyday LEGO!

Today is the 50th anniversary of the creation of the ubiquitous LEGO brick. Here's a link to a timeline and interesting facts about the Lego break. The most interesting fact: that three eight-stud bricks can be combined in 1,060 ways. That is the crux of what makes LEGO so wonderful -- they don't require instructions, just imagination.

Legos are a staple in our household -- our son (age 9) just repurposed them this weekend to remod a remote control car of his. We're on the second generation of Mindstorm robotics, and I have to admit, my geeky side has played with the set long after the kids are tucked into bed. We even invested in a stack of pink bricks for our daughters years ago so that she could build houses and cars with them. I find pieces them in purses, stuffed between car seats, and wedged into the fibers of my carpets.

My 15 seconds of fame on 60 Minutes

In December, I received a call from the producers of 60 Minutes, the longest running news program on broadcast TV. They were doing a segment on Facebook and wanted to know if I could provide background for the story. Leslie Stahl was going to be doing the interview.

The catch -- I had to fly to New York for the interview. I was planning to be there later in the week, but had to be home for an important teacher conference in between. But hey, this is THE 60 Minutes, the longest-running news program on television! Moreover, Leslie Stahl was going to be doing the interview. I had to do it.

So off I flew to NYC for the shoot. I got to CBS' studios and found my way to the 60 Minutes floor. There was camera equipment strewn everywhere -- nothing glamourous about it, all serious news business. The room for the taping wasn't the regular studio, just a small room filled to the gills with lights and cameras. When I arrived, the crew was busy stapling fabric and hanging pictures -- the camera angle never shows the bare walls just to the side of what you will see on the TV screen. Ah, the magic of television!

Pleo: A Geeky Mom's Review

When I first heard about the Pleo via in Wired magazine article a year ago, I thought I had died and gone to geek heaven. Pleo is the successor to Furby, a robotic baby dinosaur that responds and learns from your actions. I saw (and held) an early version of the Pleo over the summer at the Robogames in San Francisco, and it was love at first sight. Granted, it was going to be an expensive gadget/pet at $350, but I HAD to get it.

Moreover, as a typical Silicon Valley household, we have robotics and Webkinz crazy kids (ages 7 and 9) who are into hacking their way into video games. So the prospect of modifying Pleo's personality was especially intriguing. Then there's the mommy logic of Pleo. Imagine a pet that requires no food, no poop clean-up, no hair clinging to my dress pants. Our two real-life guinea pig pets were in for some serious competition.

How to get a Wii

As a parent, I've been privy to the burning question this holiday shopping season -- how do I get my hands on a Wii? I've had one for a while and can honestly say that it is by far the best console for a family with young kids. (Or even for a family where the only kids in the household are the adults!)

The reality is, Wiis will be nearly impossible to find before the holidays given the overwhelming demand and lack of supply. So unless you're willing to pay a 2X premium on eBay or Amazon, you're out of luck. But I have a family friend who is an expert on finding Wiis using a variety of technologies and techniques -- and I thought I'd share some of his techniques with you.

So herewith are my top ten ways on how to score a Wii in the next week or so, both online and in brick & mortar stores. (Shameless plug: I also have one on eBay as a charity auction.)

=====Online Approaches=====

1) Read Fat Wallet. Fat Wallet has an excellent discussion forum that talks about Wii availability. The very first page has some good general information on online/mobile alerts and general availability. Go all the way to the last listed page (it was #581 when I posted) to find the latest buzz. West Coast folks can really benefit, especially on Sunday mornings when some stores release Wiis. This is the groundswell at its best -- supporting each other on the search for that elusive Wii.

Live on Oprah

Last week, I was out on my morning walk and I got an email on my Blackberry (yes, I was reading my Blackberry while power walking. It had just one word in the sentence, "Oprah?". It turned out a work colleague had a ticket to Oprah's show and couldn't make it. I was slated to be in Chicago for a company event -- would I be interested in going with her friend?

OMG. I frantically messaged back, yes, yes, yes!

Now, I'm an admirer of Oprah, but far from being a devoted follower. So this was going to be interesting experience -- would I know what to do? What book was Oprah's book club reading now? But over the next few days, as I tried to get ready for my business trip where I was giving a keynote speech, one question dominated all others -- what the heck am I going to wear!?!

Dragging kids to witness history (seeing Bonds hit 756)

By happenstance (thanks to my son's Cub Scout troop's annual Giants game), my family scored tickets to the historic Giants game when Barry Bonds hit home run #756 (you can see my video of the home run at http://youtube.com/watch?v=gMgIkVb5zXM).

As the date got nearer and nearer, my husband and I realized in glorious anticipation that we may actually get to see the home run record broken. The kids were blissfully clueless, not realizing how historic the event would be if it happened. In fact, they had completely forgotten that we were going to the game and were disappointed that they had to be "dragged to a boring baseball game".

They eventually got into the spirit of the evening, and enjoyed the park, the crowd -- and of course, the churros, popcorn, peanuts, pizza, and garlic fries. But after the 4th inning, one child was asking to go home, the other was intent on scoring some cotton candy -- and forget about the fact that Bonds was stepping up to the plate for this third try of the evening.

So when Bonds hit #756, the fireworks went off and the crowd went crazy. My kids were excited, but still a little bemused about the fuss Did they really understand what was going on around them? This was history in the making!

This brought me back 33 years ago when I was myself 8 years old and watched Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth's record on the television. I definitely remembered it, and kept telling my kids that they would remember this evening for the rest of their lives.

I don't know what they will remember, or what value they will place on those memories. But I do know that I'll carefully put away the ticket stubs for a day when they can show their own kids these little nuggets of history, and recall the evenings. Perhaps they'll be lucky enough to watch the next home run king break Barry Bonds' record.

And upon reflecting on the evening, I realize now that the history being created tonight was not out on the baseball field, but in the stands with our little family. I hope my kids won't remember who the opposing team was, or the name of the pitcher -- instead, I hope that they will recall the glowing warmth of a shared family experience, our own personal family history in the making.