In Praise of Ms. G, her team, and LLGs therapists.

My daughter, Lovely Little Girl, finishes Kindergarten this week.  At her mainstream school.  And they are promoting her to first grade, not because they're nice, but because she earned it.

It's everything her mother and I wanted for her.  She's reading, thinking for herself, problem solving, and even learning to self-regulate.  We knew she'd be good once she started school, and this proves we were right.  It makes me want to go visit her first pre-school teacher who told us to lower our expectations and show her what she almost screwed up.  What if we'd been the type of parent who believed her?  Where would that put LLG now?  Certainly not reading, or even learning social skills to try and fit in with her friends.

While we deserve some credit for persevering (not perseverating, which is a different thing I've learned), a lot of the credit goes to Ms. G, her team at school, and her therapists.

Ms. G has been a god-send.  When we met her last year prior to LLG attending her class, we were scared and a little worried.  She'd never really taught someone like LLG (and let's be honest: there aren't many like LLG) and we didn't know how it would work.  The first thing she asked is if we had any books she could read on teaching children on the spectrum.  Boy do we!  She read all of them.  She even suggested LLG come to visit her prior to the school year opening so she could get used to her and the school.  She made LLG feel comfortable, and LLG started to blossom right there.  She took to Ms. G, and even stated she wanted to be a teacher when she got older.  (Not Hello Kitty, which is a miracle.)  When LLG returned from our month long vacation in September, Ms G even dressed up with Hello Kitty to make my little girl feel special.  It was awesome.  When some of the teachers in Grade 1 stated they weren't sure they wanted her in their class, she volunteered to move up with her.  In the end that didn't happen, because as LLG became known around school, the teachers realized she was something special.  Ms. G focused on her strengths, building up LLG's confidence and making her more a part of the class.  I wish every child on the spectrum had someone like Ms. G.

The teaching assistant, Ms. Suz, and the learning assistant, Ms. Beff, are also to be commended.  They help my little girl a lot, and without them she might not have made it.  Ms. Suz is moving up with LLG next year (after fighting with the other teaching assistants to do so) and Ms. Beff will be there as well.  Ms. Beff even set up a sensory room for LLG (which she calls her "Office") for when life is a little overwhelming.  LLG learned to ask to go there when it's too much.  I know Ms. Beff and Ms. Suz love my daughter, and want the best for her as well.  They are a part of our team too, and I also wish each child had people watching over them like my daughter does.

I'd be remiss not to mention her therapists here as well.  They are where LLG gets her therapies from in Johannesburg.  They have been fantastic to deal with, and have worked hand in hand with Ms. G to ensure they are reinforcing the same things so they aren't working against each other.  Most of our meetings with them now talk about how great she is doing, the small issues she has, and what we can do to move her forward.  It's refreshing, after dealing with some of the therapists in the states, to find a group so dedicated to helping our little girl.  Yes we're paying them, but you'd be surprised what we got from some of the therapists whom we paid previously.  Not good, let me tell you.

What I want to say is that my little girl will be starting 1st grade in August, and she, and we, couldn't have done it without help from all of these people.  This became a team working together for the best of my daughter.  She loves Ms. G, Ms. Beff and Ms. Suz, and the work that her therapists give her is very important to her development.  I'm much more optimistic about the future than I was a year ago, and it's thanks to these lovely people.  We'll miss Ms. G, but I know she'll keep track of my little girl.  LLG makes you do that once you've under her spell.

MILB - "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk

By now you've seen the commercials, and probably seen the billboards.  Daft Punk has a new album, Random Access Memory.  Great name for an album from a band that bills themselves as robots, and who did the soundtrack to Tron: Legacy.

I'm going to put this out here right now: I love Daft Punk.  "Da Funk" is one of the best dance songs released in the last 20 years.  Never fails to cheer me up.  "Around the World" is a bit weird, but it still isn't bad.  And I will forgive them for inspiring Skrillex to become a DJ instead of lead singer for an emo band and inflicting us with his tired music.  (Heck, how many bands say they were influenced by Zeppelin or Sabbath that stunk?  A lot, that's how many.)

Anyways, the hype for this release is huge, and the first song off it has a lot of things I like in a single.  1) Live musicians.  Always go for the real thing over the fake.  If you can get a good group, like Booker T and the MGs, you've got the makings of a fantastic song.  2) A wicked beat.  This is a pure disco beat updated for the 21st century.  Sometimes you have to take it back to go forward, you know?  Show your influences, but don't be overwhelmed by them.  And finally, 3) Pharrell Williams.  I'm a huge fan of NERD, and I think Pharrell is a pretty decent addition to any song.  ("Beautiful" by Snoop Dogg, I mean Lion, and his own hit "Frontin" are pretty decent examples, you know.)  Small fact: NERD was one of the groups that LEL and I agreed on when we first started dating.  She actually saw them in concert, and had Minnie Driver standing in front of her during the show.  LEL hates Minnie Driver now.

This song is all about bringing it back to basics.  Some are saying it's a disco album, which it does have that element to it.  However this song is more than that.  It's the thrill you get on the weekends when you're young and about to go out for the night.  You don't know what's going to happen, and you just want to have a good time.  Guys out on the prowl, girls out with their friends, and everyone just going crazy.  Reminds me a lot of the Sports Bar in Haymarket during the early 2000s.  Me and my friends out having a good time, and returning way later than we should have.

I actually had a chance to see them in 2007 when they went on their huge tour with the pyramid that most people who saw it talk about it in hushed tones.  Like when someone saw The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East.  However, we decided to leave the festival early and beat the traffic.  Sad, I Know.

Listen, I don't know if anyone actually reads these things, but go listen to the song.  It'll be one of those that you keep listening to until you figure it out.  I think it'll take a while for it to get old for me.

Bronchitis and Tonsillitis

"What are two things my lovely daughter has Alex?"

Yeah, Lovely Little Girl is sick.  She's had a cough for a bit now, but that could be anything to be honest.  With the altitude and the dry air of winter, we just thought it'd pass and she'd be ok.  And to be honest, it looked like she was fine.  She'd be ok for a few days and suddenly the cough would come back.  This pattern continued, until this Sunday.

LLG said she wanted mummy to go with her upstairs.  Usually that's to play with dolls, but mummy wasn't feeling well herself.  After about 20 minutes, I went upstairs to check on her and found her fast asleep in her room.  That's when I knew she was sick.  The only time she takes a nap is when she's ill.

Well, Lovely English Lass took her to the doctor and came out with the bronchitis and tonsillitis diagnosis.  (Not for nothing, LEL ALSO came back with a bronchitis diagnosis as well.)  So there are some very unhappy ladies in my house right now.  (A fact that Crazy Little Man either doesn't fully understand, or understands it and is just using it to make life miserable for his mother and sister.  We had to stop him numerous times on Sunday from waking LLG up, which would have been payback against her for all the times SHE's woken him up at 3 am.)

As my lovely wife wrote today, LLG is not your normal sick child.  Besides the Autism diagnosis, she has an ADHD diagnosis as well.  When she isn't on her ADHD medication, she just can't stop.  She's a whirl of motion and moves from one thing to another leaving the room looking as if a hurricane has hit.  She can't help herself.

Hopefully both of my girls start to feel better soon.  I made ice cream for LLG to help with her throat, and she licked the bowl clean so I think I did well.  LEL just needs rest, and hopefully I can get off work early today to get her some relief.  I see very early nights for the rest of the week, and a much closer watch on our health too.

The Foreign Service

You know, when I was growing up, and heard the word, Diplomat, I had very big ideas on what that meant. I pictured people like George F. Kennan, or Robert Murphy or even Dean Acheson.  Guys that shaped foreign policy, and looked for all the world like men of distinction that represented us to the world.  I also never dreamed I'd actually be one of them.  (When I was growing up I wanted to be a policeman.  Then, as I got older, a lawyer.  Then, as I was in college, an FBI agent.  I might have changed my name to Burt Macklin too, you never know.)

Still, when I joined the Foreign Service in 1999, it was still a simpler time to be there.  The Soviet Union was gone, the Balkan Wars were winding down, and it seemed as if the world was on the precipice of a new era.  (But the Department of State still was on guard. Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were in 1998, so terrorism had already struck the US.)

Here's what I've learned though: Kennan, Murphy and Acheson weren't unique.  They were part and parcel what the Department of State does.  They just happened to be at the right place and time to make a mark.  They were extraordinary diplomats, don't get me wrong, but they also were part and parcel of the whole.  I've met many people in the Department that day in and day out do amazing things, and don't get the credit they deserve.  Most of them don't seek it out.  It's just what they do.

You don't hear about the man or woman working in Kunar Province setting up centers and getting to know the populace to promote US foreign policy.  You don't hear about any of the people in the Central African Republic in the midst of a civil war trying to report what's going on because that's their job.  Or the DS agents out trying to find a man who killed a US citizen overseas because it's the right thing to do.

Listen, you don't hear much about us because there aren't that many of us.  The only time you hear about a Foreign Service Officer is when one of four things happens.  1) They get killed;  2) They get arrested for selling visas;  3) They get arrested because someone thinks they're a spy; or 4) They're used as a symbol in a Congressional Hearing about waste.  There's not much waste going on in the Department of State.  We don't have the budget to do waste any more.  Believe me, I'm a Management Officer, I'd know if there was waste.  There usually aren't Career Ambassadors in places like London or Paris because we can't afford to be Ambassador there.  The funds for representation, and believe me it's very important to do representation, are too small to use for representation in places like London and Paris.  And the places were Waste could come up are watched like a hawk by the auditors in Charleston and the Congressional auditors.  You won't find the $300 hammer here any more.

(Which reminds me of a great joke I heard told by an old Management Officer.  "The Ambassador at a post in Africa has just sent his DCM out on on Medivac back to the states.  He's looking for a temporary DCM for the next few months, and decides that he will call in all his officers to interview them.  He'll only ask one question: "What is two plus two."  He calls in the Political officer and asks his question.  The response is: "Well sir, first we have to consider where the first two is coming from.  If it's part of the ruling coalition, then the opposition won't be part of it, so once we figure out where the other two is coming from we'll have an answer for you."  The Econ officer says, "Is this a Macro or Micro question, because you'll come up with two different answers then."  The PAS officer says, "We'll commission a poll and ask the respondents of the country, we should get back to you in a month."  The AID officer says: "4.4, because 10% will have to go to the contractor."  Finally, the room is empty except for the Management Officer.  The Ambassador, bleary-eyed, asks his question: "What's two plus two?"  The Management officer looks at the Ambassador, quietly gets up, closes the door, moves his chair a little closer, leans over and says in a low voice, "Sir, what do you want it to be?")

Anyways, even though I complain about my job sometimes, and sometimes want to make a voodoo doll of the people in the travel section back in Washington, I do really like my job.  I like that my kids are seeing the world.  I like that I'm doing something good for my country.  And I like that when I walk the halls of Main State back in Washington, I think of all those who came before me who might have walked in those halls.  People like Tom Pickering or Robert Murphy or Chris Stevens.  People who were amazing Diplomats and that people still speak in a respectful tone when they mention their names.  Maybe one day I'll be one of those as well.  (Probably not.  I am a Management Officer, after all.)  I'm just glad I'm a part of "The Long Pin-Striped Line."

MILB - "Unsquare Dance" by Dave Brubeck Quartet

How do you follow up a masterpiece like "Time Out"?  Well, you release another album called "Time Further Out" that further explored complex time signatures.

"Time Further Out" was structured so that the songs went in order for their time signatures.  "Raggy Waltz" was of course in 3/4 time, "Charles Matthew Hallelujah" in 4/4, etc.  "Unsquare Dance" is in 7/4.

This song is 2 minutes of just goodness.  Mostly handclaps, a bass, and snare-drum rim, this song moves along nicely.  There is a great part for the piano, but the song definitely moves on the bass and handclaps.  This song always puts me into mind an early 1960s heist film.  You'd expect to hear it while guys in nice suits and hats walk down a street, being added to by other members of the gang, before splitting off to head to their positions prior to the job.  Of course, with Brubeck the musicianship is awesome.  Sadly no sax, but you don't miss it.  Joe Morello does more on the rim of his snare than most drummers due otherwise.  I mean, listen to this movement!

Eugene Wright is also outstanding.  His bass keeps it moving, and in 7/4 time no less.  This is a difficult one to do with handclaps being on alternate beats and the snare rim going in syncopated beats.  I'd get lost but Wright hits it correctly.

One of the funniest parts of this is the ending where Brubeck plays a snippet of "Turkey in the Straw" and ends it with "Shave and a Haircut... Two Bits."  Not really expecting it, which with the laughter of who I think was Morello at the end, they probably weren't either.

This song was featured on Wednesday for the 93rd Birthday of Saul Bass, and fit in perfectly.  In fact, I think I want this played behind me when I'm walking in Main State back in Washington.  I think it'd fit perfectly.