I used to be pretty flexible, but I don't think that I could do this! They're a dance troupe called Pilobolus and they also did a little stint on the Oscars. They remind me a little of Cirque du Soleil.
So last weekend, we had a lovely weekend. It was like 75 degrees out. On Saturday, I had a Northwestern alumni event in San Mateo on Work/Life Balance, so Edwin went for a bike ride with Jamie while I attended the event and then we spent the rest of the day with the Schneiders. The seminar was pretty interesting in that she talked about how things have changed and how 13% of women are opting out of the workforce to stay home with kids. She also talked about how men are also staying home with kids. She mentioned that companies are now offering more paternity leave and flexible work options, but men are not using them- mainly because of the stigma that they will be seen as "soft" or not a teamplayer or not as dedicated to work. She said that they are starting to do more research on alternative families where gay couples are adopting. Frankly, I feel that they should be doing more research on families in general rather than focusing on such a small population. Like I want to know if children are happier/more successful when a parent stays home or when both parents work. Or if there are differences in parenting based on the age of the parents. Perhaps researchers are "bored" with the average family. Alternative familes are more of a "new ground" for them. So I guess I can understand why they might be looking for something new or different.
Jamie and Kaori helped us to do a little housing research on the peninsula. It was utterly depressing. However, it did spark some discussion between me and Edwin. We have always felt that we wanted to have one of us stay at home with the kids. (Which one of us will be staying home is still up for debate, but given that I'll probably be breastfeeding...) So given that, we started talking about how we don't think that we would be able to afford the house that we want without 2 incomes. So there's our conundrum. The areas that we were thinking of living, we can't afford on one income. So we are thinking of revising our strategy. We were hoping to get a 3 bedroom house in an area with good schools. However, we are now thinking of downgrading to a 2 bedroom in an area that may not have good schools, but has housing we can afford on one income with the intention of moving in the next 5-6 years to an area with better schools. The first thing we need to do is figure out how much we can afford for a house. Then we need to figure out which areas might fit our criteria. One potential area is Emeryville. We don't know which other areas might work. Any suggestions? Then, we will start looking at real houses. Maybe in the next month or so.
2 comments:
Every time I hear about that dance troupe I giggle, since, Pilobolus is a fungus that grows on cow dung. One of the things that somehow I will always remember from plant bio in school. Good luck with the house search.
Never knew that there was a technical term to refer to fungus that grows on cow dung. Will have to file that away somewhere in the memory banks! LOL!
Post a Comment