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Sunday, March 05, 2006

New nanny/Luxury box seats at Staples Center/Oscar night

Our new nanny Lorie watched Astrid for four hours today.

Our former nanny Laura was working for another family on a temporary/trial basis and when she told them she found a full time job, with us, they offered her a permanent position where she could work in the evenings, and be with her 3 year old son during the day. So she watched Astrid for a week until we could find someone to replace her.

Our new nanny Lorie is of Mexican decent but English is her native language (as she's a native Los Angelino). She's a 35 year old single mother of a 12 year old son (who is a straight A student and is in the gifted program at his elementary school), and lives with her father (who watches her son when he comes home from school). She has lots of previous nanny experience (and was also a preschool teacher), and is going to Pasadena City College in the evenings majoring in child development for her Associates degree. A big plus is that she lives really close by and has her own car (a mini SUV). I scheduled her to work a half day today so that Astrid could get acclimated to Lorie, and for Lorie to get a feel for what a day is like with Astrid. She will start full time on Monday.

After I showed her around the house (and to where everything was) and went over Astrid's schedule with her, Uwe and I went to the movies. We finally saw Capote, the movie about Truman Capote starring Philip Seymore Hoffman. What a great performance! I enjoyed the movie as well.

Then we rushed home, set the DVR to record the Oscars, got Astrid ready, and headed to Staples Center to watch the Clippers game.This was Astrid's first basketball game and first time at Staples Center. Putting your kid on your shoulders seems to be the "guy" thing to do. I see kids riding on their dad's shoulders all the time but I never see kids riding on their mom's shoulders. Why is that? It looks very cute though and makes for nice photos. =) Uwe and Astrid in front of the Wayne Gretzky statue.Both Uwe and I have been to Staples Center many times (for hockey games, basketball games, and/or concerts), but this was the first time we had luxury box seats. There's complimentary food: hot dogs, teriyaki chicken wings, hot chicken wings, sandwiches, veggies & dip, and crepe wraps. Complimentary desserts also: cookies, scones, and fruit. There's also a fridge with complimentary beer, and freshly brewed coffee.

While you're up getting food and/or a drink, you can watch the game on the TV. (You can see the TV above the fridge in the photo above.)Here's a better view of the TV, with 2 other smaller TV's on the side. (That's Eric, Uwe's coworker, in the gray jacket.)In the luxury box there's also a closet (for your jackets), a couch, a coffee table, and sofa chairs if you just want to lounge. When Astrid got a little antsy, I let her crawl around on the couch for a bit.

There's also a monitor (it's in the upper right hand corner of the pic above) if you're sitting on the barstools and want to get a close up view of the court.In front of the barstools are rows of leather seats with a birdseye view of the court. (The little girl is Leoni, Eric's daughter.) The front of the luxury box is encased in glass, so you can see out and people can see in, but the box can only be entered from the rear entrance with the proper pass, so it's completely private.Astrid holding her ticket.

The Los Angeles Clippers are playing the Memphis Grizzlies.

Uwe doesn't want me to take his picture.

Although Eric brought up a good point - Uwe doesn't like it, but he loves reading about it and seeing the pics posted on my blog. Hence the reason he hasn't confiscated or hidden my camera from me, because he likes the end result.So here Uwe is in shot #2, hamming it up for the camera.Trying to get Astrid to look at the camera. I've got this same expression in umteen shots.

Our view of the court.Students from a school (that won some prestigious award) singing the Star Spangled Banner.The Clippers score!The view from the barstools. Here you can see the monitor better in the upper right hand corner."This is exciting!""Did I say exciting? I meant EXCITING!"A side view out of the luxury box.The LA Clippers cheerleaders.

"Ra...Ra...Ra!"At least one person is watching the game (Uwe).

We left the game at half time so we could put Astrid to bed.

After we got the baby ready for bed Uwe and I sat down and watched the Oscars together. Having it recorded and being able to fast forward is the way to go.

And wouldn't you know it...Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Oscar for Best Actor, for his portrayal of Truman Capote. Uwe and I were both happy he won it. He's such a great actor and gives such a great performance in every role he plays. (His next role will be the villain in the next Mission Impossible movie. Normally I wouldn't bother going to see a Tom Cruise action flick, but I may just go see it because Philip Seymour Hoffman is in it.)

2 comments:

Trailhead said...

But have you seen Brokeback yet?

Rose said...

Yes, I did see Brokeback Mountain because of all the hype, and I was expecting to see a beautiful love story but I was very disappointed. The story development in the beginning was weak.