Thanksgiving

As I write this, I am watching what is turning out to be a tennis duel between Spain's Rafael Nadal and France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Barclay Masters tournament in London, the final tennis tournament of the season at which the top eight players play each other in two groups of "round-robin" matches.  After each player in a group has played every other player in that group, the two with the top scores in each group will advance to the semi-final matches, with the winner of the semi-final in one group going on to meet the winner of the semi-final in the other group for the championship.

Incidentally, Tsonga is my neighbor here in Vaud, when he is not otherwise on tour.  The French like this part of Switzerland, so much so that another of the top-ranked French tennis players, Gael Monfils, also lives nearby.  So I must admit that when either one plays I usually root for them - unless, of course, my favorite player, Roger Federer, is their opponent.

Although Switzerland's Federer is currently ranked fourth, the three players ahead of him are having troubles in this tournament, most likely the results of a long and tough tennis season.  Britain's Andy Murray, ranked number 3 and in the same group with the world #1, Serbia's Novak Djokovic, withdrew after losing his first match against the 5th ranked player, Spain's David Ferrer.  This opened the way for another Serb, Janko Tipsarevic, ranked #9 and until Murray's withdrawal an alternate.  Unfortunately Tipsarevic lost his match yesterday afternoon with 7th ranked Czech, Tomas Berdych.  Meanwhile, the amazing Ferrer stunned everyone last night by thoroughly trouncing Djokovic, who has otherwise had an absolutely phenomenal year, including three Grand Slam titles.  Tuesday evening, Federer dispatched his perennial adversary, Nadal, in near-record time and ensured himself a place in the semis.  He consolidated his tournament front-runner status by trouncing the US's Mardy Fish this afternoon while I was teaching.  Mardy has had a pretty good year himself, breaking into the top 8 for the first time ever and is a fun player to watch.

Yes, I was working today.  Outside the US - and even for some in the US - today is not a national holiday but a regular workday.  As it happened, my friend J and a colleague at my workplace actually wished me a Happy Thanksgiving, but otherwise the day has been very low-key.  It has also been very cold.  I think that it's about time to cut back the lavender plants on the balcony.

The only real excitement I had was receiving a telephone call this morning from a young man who introduced himself as "Sam" and proceeded to tell me that "mumble-mumble" had been receiving messages that my computer had been downloading several viruses that was slowing down its performance.  He then wanted to know whether my computer was on.  Perhaps it was the distinct South Asian accent that put me on guard.  Perhaps it was the fact that both computers are equipped with excellent anti-virus software or perhaps it was because when my PC had actually sensed a virus several months back, the whole thing simply shut down on me altogether and did what computers do to fix themselves.  [I was terrified to turn it on again until I had consulted with HWMBO, who gave me several tips if it was truly infected (fortunately, it was fine!).  Nothing like that experience has ever been repeated.]  Whatever the reason, I told the gentleman that I didn't believe him and simply hung up.

As HWMBO has taught me, I ran a Google search to see whether this call may have been related to a scam.  Lo and behold, my search immediately brought up a couple 2010 articles from the Guardian, as well as a Q & A session from Microsoft.  All confirmed my feeling that the telephone call was a scam.  What I had heard as "mumble-mumble" was likely "Microsoft."  Otherwise the call went as described in the newpaper.   The Guardian reports that this scam has been going on since 2008.  People receiving the calls are often confused and worried, so they follow the caller's directions and unwittingly grant remote access to everything on their computer.

While authorities are fairly certain that all activities can be linked to one man in India, they are so far powerless to stop the activity.  As soon as sites are located and taken down, others spring up.  It's like the mythological Hydra and its many heads.  As soon as one was lopped off, others sprang up in its place.  Microsoft itself simply does not make unsolicited calls.  In comments following the article, one person noted cynically that Microsoft usually doesn't even answer if one calls them, so believing that they would actually be calling someone on their own takes a real leap of the imagination!

The comments following the Guardian article are actually a sociological study in and of themselves.  Some people actually string the scammers along in very creative ways on the theory that, if they keep the scammer talking - without actually doing anything they are instructed to do - they may save some other poor soul that the scammer would otherwise have called.  That really hadn't occurred to me this morning because I was quite busy at the time and more annoyed by the interruption than not.
My dinner tonight was not turkey, but a Moroccan style beef tagine.  I love a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings,.  But here even a small (actually, tiny!) turkey costs about CHF 50, so I will simply wait until I visit the US once again when HWMBO and I will share one.

No matter what my meal and my experiences have been today, I feel very fortunate and very blessed.  So long as everyone in the family, especially including HWMBO, is healthy and happy, Thanksgiving is not simply a holiday that comes once a year.  It is every day all year long.

I wish the same for all!

[Unfortunately, poor Rafa is having a day that he'd rather forget.  It looks very much as if he will lose this match too.  Correction:  I first said that J-Dub would meet Roger again in the semi-final.  That was wrong.  J-Dub will face David Ferrer in the semi-final on Saturday.  If he wins that match and Roger wins his semi-final match - against either Djokovic or Berdych - J-Deb and Roger could meet again in the final on Sunday.]

Letting It All Hang Out

Two days ago, Switzerland's federal appeals court (the court of highest instance here) ruled that Swiss cantons have the right to impose fines on hikers who prefer to practice that outdoor activity in the nude.  A news report about this story in more detail - and in English - can be found here.

The case concerned a hiker in his 40s who was hiking along a trail in Appenzell, a fairly conservative area in Switzerland, who crossed other persons along his way.  One of them, a woman, was so offended that she reported him to the local authorities, who basically found nothing wrong with the hiker's behavior in parading au naturel in a natural setting.  The supreme cantonal court, however, thought differently and found that the hiker should pay a fine of CHF 100.   The hiker, affronted by the contradictory verdicts, took his complaint to the federal level and voilà le résultat.   The Geneva Tribune did note that the verdict was not unanimous.  Although the majority vote carried the day, the fact is that the decision split 3-2.

Intrigued by this tale, I checked to see whether hiking in the nude is a common pastime.  After all, I am one who basically prefers to cover my own body - the more the better - not so much because I have a hang-up with nudity or find nudity indecent (as the offended woman apparently did) but because I would rather not inflict my body on the public.  There are just too many wrinkles, crinkles and, yes, flab.  My body is much better left to the imagination.

Even when I was much younger, thinner, and, at least in retrospect, better toned, I had difficulty with my own nudity in other than intimate settings.  In one instance I remember, HWMBO and I visited a nude beach during a holiday in St. Martin, where I went topless.  While I felt somewhat overdressed in the circumstances, I just could not bear to bare all.  But I do remember, not so much the nudity of that experience or any feelings of prurience, but simply the sheer beauty of most bodies there.  It was a wonderful thing.  For me, however, one visit sufficed to tick off the experience list once and for all.

Wikipedia, which seems to have information about every possible thing under the sun, informs that hiking in the nude is also known as "freehiking" and is a sub-category of a phenomenon known as social nudity.  Interestingly, the British Isles, the predominant source of my own ancestry, seem to be much more uptight about freehiking than the rest of Western Europe. An Englishman, somewhat notorious as "The Naked Rambler," was repeatedly arrested and released and even imprisoned for awhile in Scotland.  Hiking au naturel in the Alps has generally met with less resistance, except - as seen in this recent story - in conservative eastern Switzerland.

I doubt whether I will ever join the free hiking movement, especially in areas where my special banes - poison ivy and poison sumac - exist.  Even the thought practically brings on a rash!  Then there are the bugs, fleas, ticks and gawd knows what else.  I'll remain clothed, thank you!  I like protection between my flesh and the elements.

But, while I would not necessarily be affronted to meet a nude hiker along the trail, I would likely be quite startled, hopefully not enough to miss my footing so that I fall over a cliff! 

And Now He Is One!

This past weekend saw many events happen around the globe.  Notably, the Greek prime minister who took the financial world by great surprise (shock was not too strong a word!) last Monday and threw world stock markets into chaos when announcing that there would be a referendum held in Greece instead of simply going ahead with the bailout package worked out with and agreed to by other European leaders to help Greece survive its current financial crisis and still remain in the Euro Zone and who then was forced to backtrack, has resigned.  Whew!  That sentence could do with a rework, but will remain as is.

Also, the US joined the rest of the world by changing from Daylight Savings to Standard Time.  The rest of us did the same thing a week ago.  Locally, Roger Federer delighted an adulatory home town crowd in Basel by winning his first tennis title since January 2011 without breaking much of a sweat.  That brings him to within a few hundred points of regaining his No 3 ranking, which he lost a couple weeks ago to Briton Andy Murray - who has never won a Majors title.  HWMBO and I are still keeping our fingers crossed about the Great Roger's chances in the two remaining tournaments of the year.  Watching him play is almost like watching a skilled and artistic ballet dancer, somewhat reminiscent of the way that the great Steffi Graf used to float in a seemingly effortless manner around the court in the late 90s, albeit with a lot more power.  We are privileged to watch a legend in action.  Despite the many good, even great, players on the ATP circuit today, I can't imagine when the world will see such consistent greatness - as well as graciousness and courtesy - again.

But for me the major highlight of the weekend was realizing that little Prince Lightning's life is no longer just meaured in months. He has officially passed the one-year marker. He has come from this

and this

to this.

I haven't yet had word as to how the official celebrations went. They occurred this weekend when Prince Lightning had to share the birthday spotlight with his Uncle K, whom he adores, and with whom he posed in the spring.

But if he had half as much fun as his own celebration as he had at Big Bro's, then he must be one of the happiest toddlers in the world!

Happy Birthday, little Prince Lightning!  May you have many, many more and may they all be as wonderful for you as your first one has been!  

Happy Halloween!

I remember when HWMBO and I first arrived in Switzerland in 1994.  We could find no one who celebrated Halloween.  At my workplace, when I proposed organizing a Halloween party, no one even knew what I meant.  Nonetheless, our Halloween parties became popular events.  People seemed to enjoy dressing up in costumes just to enjoy themselves and some of the costumes were very creative.

Towards the late 90s, we noticed that little by little, the idea of Halloween was beginning to catch on over here, first in France, of course, and gradually in Geneva.  Costumes began appearing in the stores.  Still, almost no one ever came to our house for treat-or-treat candy.  Even my first year in this new apartment, when I had a few candies that I had brought with me from the US, only two children, my neighbors from the apartment downstairs, stopped by - and they came a day early, so that I had to rush around to find where I had stashed the goodies.  The second year, no one came at all and 2009 was the same.  Last year, however, I had a group of little ones accompanied by their mothers - also a day early.

But this year, I forgot to be ready yesterday.  Fortunately, no one came.  This afternoon, I got out my candy stash, brought a couple decorations up from the downstairs storage area and then went about my business.  Lo and behold, around 4:30 pm (16:30 hereabouts), the doorbell rang and there were some trick-or-treaters, a bit older than last year's group, but well-costumed.

And then they just kept coming ...

and coming ...

in waves.  Moms were present to ensure that no little one got too carried away with digging into the candy.

But it is too bad that the moms were so vigilant.  No one has come since and I still have candy left!

My students will get the remainder of the candy later this week, to help sweeten the results of their mid-term exams, I hope!  In the meantime, Happy Halloween!

Ride 'im, Cowboy!

Now that we are in full-fledged Fall, and just about ready to change from Daylight Saving Time back to Standard Time, which will shorten what remains of the evening light, it's time to look back at some highlights of Prince Tyger's eventful summer.

One day, he climbed into the family car and got buckled up for a family trip that would bring him lots of new experiences.

The Prince had no idea what was in store for him!

Lo and behold, it was his first pony ride!

The Prince took it all in stride, showing a distinct liking for tall blondes, especially the one who was accompanying him around the paddock,

even if she didn't appear too impressed by the little one who was dying to catch her attention.

Proud Grandmom will have to tell him someday that a self-respecting Montana cowboy would never "pull leather."

But she is proud of her little Prince Tyger no matter what!   He was, after all, only two at the time and he had to hold on to something!

Little Boys at Play

Prince Tyger was an only child for 2+ years.

Although he has many little playmates, he has also learned to entertain himself, even when the purpose of some of his "games" may be lost on random observers.

But now Prince Lightning is growing up and beginning to assert a personality.  He is no longer a mere household fixture. 

Prince Lightning is actually getting to the point of being interesting to Prince Tyger as a playmate.  Of course, it helps that Prince Lightning absolutely adores Big Bro.

Occasionally when they tussle about like puppies, little Prince Lightning may even get the better of Big Bro Prince Tyger.

However short-lived the situation may be, Prince Lightning is never too dissatisfied with the outcome!

Best of all, both seem to enjoy the horseplay.

Entertaining the "Grown-Ups"

Being a baby in the age of digital cameras is absolutely exhausting.  The minute that you sit down to examine a favorite toy, there is an adult nearby with a camera, asking you to smile and pose.

You're never quite sure what they want you to do.

You try for a smile, but they don't think it's just right and so they don't go away.

Then you try offering them the toy.  Hey, you'll play their silly game.  After all, they are pretty strange.

Well, they still won't go away - gotta think of something else ... .

Hmmm!

Omigosh, they're still there!  What on earth do they want?

Let's see ... maybe if I pull on this ribbon, something will happen to make them go away.

I'm trying as hard as I can and they're still there!

It's enough to drive a guy to drink!

And it's STILL not enough.  This is totally exhausting!

The Prince of Sand(boxe)s

It was in the summer of 2010 that Prince Tyger learned about sandboxes when he came to visit Proud Grandparents ....  He got "down and dirty" in the sandbox, surrounded by dump trucks, shovels and other equipment and toys.  We had a hard time convincing him to return to the house.

In retrospect, we may not have been thinking things out too well.  Turning Prince Tyger on to sandboxes has its downside.  Fast forward to this summer, for instance!  Now, the Tyger cannot spot a sandbox without wanting to visit it.  Such was the case when Proud Grandmom accompanied Prince Tyger, his parents and baby brother, Prince Lightning, for a visit to a local park.  We didn't have a set program of activities in mind.  That was fortunate, because once Prince Tyger spied a sandbox, he refused to go any further.  Into the sand he went!

Shovels and pails were there a-plenty.  There was even a little playmate - something Prince Tyger would have died for last summer before he was two.

But now that he was almost three, and a Big Bro, he couldn't be less interested in a playmate - and she was a cute one - only in what he could find to learn from this new sandbox experience.

Now what's this?

A butterfly net perhaps?

Prince Tyger is very interested in butterflies.  In fact, he and Proud Papa had a special cocoon-to-butterfly project this summer.  He could even say the word "metamorphosis."  So the net was fascinating.  And one could just about see the little wheels a-turning.  "Hmm ... how many butterflies can I catch with this?"

Meanwhile, Prince Lightning was perfectly content to watch from the sidelines while Sweet Momma H fed him his lunch!

First things first!  For Prince Lightning, the glories of sandboxes will have to wait.

Prince Lightning

It has been almost a year since Baby Prince Attani entered our lives - and what a little wonder he has proven to be!  With Big Bro Prince Tyger as a role model, our "baby" has grown by leaps and bounds and loves to try to imitate everything that Big Bro does.  While I was visiting in the US, he took his first couple steps at 91/2 months.  He also loved to spend a lot of time on his little haunches,

especially if the activity involved playing ball.

While I was there, he never moved beyond those first tottery couple steps - after which he would simply plop himself down on his well-padded little bottom and then continue crawling.  And oh, could he move!  He was a first-class crawler

and would be across the room in the blink of an eye, especially if it involved getting to one of Big Bro's treasured toys. 

If we put him into his little walker - which he would only tolerate for 5-10 minute periods of time, finding it generally too restrictive of his movements - he would literally streak from one end of the room to another.  Trying to catch a photograph of him resulted in several photos that were merely blurs.  But, oh, what fun he was having!

I believe that it's time to have a proper re-christening.  After all, our special baby is more than a "second" prince ("Prince Attani").  He is now a prince with his own identity.  In consideration of his growth and moving abilities over the past year, he has now become "Prince Lightning."

As such, he will surely be able to hold his own with Prince Tyger.

Princes Tyger and Lightning - they are both streaks of light in my universe!