tfl: The Flatiron Life

We were visiting Indiana the last 4 days. We had a good time with family for Thanksgiving, shopping, and Jonah’s first birthday, a few days early.

I am thankful for many things this year: my faith, my wife, son and extended family, my health, my liberty, my readers to this two-bit-blog.

My job at Orbitz is also one of the many things I am thankful for. Before coming to Orbitz, I had three jobs I had voluntarily left in four years. I have now been at Orbitz for two and a half years, the longest by far. Recently I was moved to a different team. I think this will be a great opportunity and it is the first time I have changed groups at an employer. I am under no illusion that this will be my last job. I am sure something better will come up or I could be laid off, but for now it is great.

Over the break a colleague sent out a Thanksgiving message to all Orbitz employees. His message of why he is thankful for Orbitz really rang home for me and I asked him if I could reprint it. Here it is:

All,

Today I find that I have much to be thankful for.

I’m thankful that I work in a culture that supports open sharing of ideas and passions, things mundane and of great import, and that through your willingness to be open and share I’ve found commonality and friendship.

I’m thankful that I work in an environment rich with truly challenging problems, and that when I offer my time and energy towards their solution, I’m never turned away.

I’m thankful that I sit next to people I trust; trust to do their best work, to care about the details and how they fit in the bigger picture, to keep me on my toes and help me improve – even when that means telling me that I’m dead wrong (yes, it’s happened).

I’m thankful that when people leave Orbitz they usually send out a goodbye email, expressing how much they’ve enjoyed working here, and encouraging us to keep in touch… and that there’s usually a group of people that get together for drinks and stories on their last day.

I’m thankful that as I sit down to dinner tonight, there are trusted captains at our central command keeping watch over the system, and that if there were an emergency, many of us would respond.

I’m thankful that the work we do helps families come together on days like today, and that at the end of a long day at the office I can come home and be proud of what we’re all doing.

I’m thankful for each of the many people worldwide that make up OWW, and keep it a great place to work. Thank you. May each of you have a warm and memorable Thanksgiving.

- Jason

We haven’t posted much recently, but not without reason.

First the illnesses, Jonah has been a little ill. He was running a fever on Thursday and that prevented him from getting his flu booster shot. The doctor said we should expect off and on fever for a few days, but he was pretty much normal on Friday. Now, he has some pretty bad congestion that we are attributing to the continuing saga of teething.

I have also been sick. I had a terrible headache Monday evening. This turned to flu like symptoms overnight and I was useless yesterday. I am feeling 80% today so far.

Being useless yesterday really made for a great anniversary. Thankfully we had already celebrated with a little vacation to northeast Indiana. We spent two nights at Potawatomi Inn in Pokagon State Park near Angola, IN. It was a great time of hiking, puzzling, and relaxing. We will have a few pictures later this week.

Finally, we have been making plans about our future. I think these plans will make for interesting posts also, and perhaps even their own spin-off blog.

Zara Paris

When we honeymooned in Paris, there were just two places Jos really wanted to go shopping. Galleries de Lafayette and Zara.

Zara is like an upscale H&M. Nice place if you are into shopping and I had fun people watching while Jos shopped.

Now we only need to go to Skokie to visit Zara and 2 location are coming to the city next year. According to the Wikipedia there are 36 US locations, but it will remain a honeymoon memory for me. (I cannot believe that was just 2 years ago.)

I found a new definition for Tomaw today:

“The name on the window is Rosie Bea’s Sweet and Savory. Rosie was my mother and Bea was Judy’s mom,” Mrs. Becker said. “Our corporate name is ‘TOMAW,’ - an acronym for Tired Old Men And Women.”

I wonder how they pronounce it.

Joscelynn and I returned late last night from Jamaica. It was a great trip. Robert and Kavitha were successfully wedded.

We have been to Indiana today to reunite with our growing boy. Jonah had a great time at his grandma’s house.

After this great start to the season, the whole Tomaw family is ready to have a great summer.

Pictures from Jamaica will be coming soon.

As part of my final and mega group work project quarter, I’m working on part of a paper and presentation about Merv Griffin as an entrepreneur. I came across this video and I woke up this morning wanting to watch it for the third time, so I share it with you now.

He reminds me of Conan in a way. I just can’t figure out how he makes those facial expressions.

After sleeping 4 different bed over the last 11 nights, I am looking forwards to the next several nights in our bed. I am also looking forward to not un- or re-packing the car any time soon.

Jonah has met everyone I can think of, except his Grandpa Tomaw. Most of these people freaked him out a bit. His Grandmas (particularly my mom) and Great Aunt Chris were the clear exceptions; they could calm him down very quickly.

It has been amazing to see how much he has changed in 11 days. I feel like we have brought home a different little boy than the one we took to Indiana. He can now clearly focus on things and tonight was the first time a saw him care if his mobile turned. Also tonight while I watched him and Jos slept, I was able to let him tire himself out with the mobile and pacifier sucking (he just fell asleep). 2 weeks ago I had to spend 15 min swinging him in his car seat before he would sleep.

Several folks have been curious how George has been holding up with the baby. I am pleased to say he is doing well. The first few days he was very quite. This was probably due to him thinking we had abandoned him for three days.

He has been curious about Jonah, but not up in his face. George looks into the play yard and paws at it, but has yet to make an effort to get in. Yesterday, Jonah was kicking at the wall of the yard and George seemed a lot more interested. We are going to make sure to place Jonah a bit more centered from now on.

The last couple of days have been the first times I have picked up old Georgie for a while. When I first held Jonah I thought he was heavy. Now that I am used to him, George is huge. You can really tell that he is twice Jonah in nearly every dimension.

The initial quiet period has run out of George. The last two nights he has been back to his crazy self. He is running races back and forth through the apartment and hiding under the Christmas Tree. Aw, the pitter-patter of little feet.

It is amazing what can be done with only one arm!

This morning, Jos woke me to take for Jonah. I took him so she could sleep. He was not very fussy, just active and not sleeping. In a football hold, Jonah is still small enough to be controlled and I have one hand free.

The first thing I needed to do was pee. Can I do this one handed? Easily!

I was still tired and knew Jos might be back to sleep for a couple hours. I needed coffee. Can I fill the coffee pot, change the filter, and grind beans with one hand? A cinch!

Jonah was a little more agitated, so we walked around, rocking and shushing, for a while. He eventually fell asleep but not so soundly that I wanted to put him down.

I just sat and stared at him for a while. One of his farts snapped me out of it and I decided to read my news feeds. I am glad I know the keyboard shortcuts in Google Reader. If I had to do a lot of mousing I would not have been able to read the 150 items I did with him in my arm. When one arm grew tired I switched.

I also answered some email and am getting pretty good at one hand typing. It might help that I am not a very good typist with two hands.

What else should I try one handed? I think cooking is out. I am not that crazy.