Michael Jackson Death has Put My Wife into a Funk

I must admit, I was very saddened by the recent passing of Michael Jackson as well as Ed McMahon and Farah Fawcett. I loved Michael's music and when I was a kid, ran out of the room screaming to my mom about how amazing the Thriller video was. If I heard Ed McMahon announce, "heeeeeere's Johnny, I knew it was past my bedtime and Farah Fawcett was my first ever crush on a girl.

So it's amazing that they all died during the same week. Most especially, Michael's death has caused my wife to enter a depressed funk. She now plays his music at any given opportunity and the other day, I simply started up the car only to be met with a blaring, pre-80's Jackson Five tune. The entire situation, combined with a terrible train crash last week in DC during my commute, have made things a little sorrowful in the Matambo Neilson household.

Luckily, we took advantage of the recent stellar weather and held our little one's second birthday en plein air. You could not have picked a more pleasant, crisp and blue day. It kind of made up for the tragic week and my wife's moping. Additionally, the US Soccer team very nearly won the Confederation Cup so that was a spirit booster.

Some people are secretly pleased by the week's tragic events, however. Take that nasty Governor Sanford from South Carolina who ran off to Argentina to visit his mistress. He, I'm sure, is happy that some of the heat is off him now. Jon and Kate are probably somewhat pleased they are no longer making headlines. But I'm sure these folks will re-surface again.

I noticed some of our overseas friends were less sympathetic to Michael's death but that is no surprise. It's hard to understand how America was affected by Michael's music unless you grew up with it. He really did push down many barriers and ushered in a new era of pop. Despite his misgivings, I will miss him.

photo: our mild summer is a plus following a horrible week

Outings in Maryland

Ok, for those of you who are not familiar, many people in the Washington, DC area live in Maryland or Virginia. The District of Columbia (DC) is a type of diamond shape that sits squashed between these two states (actually Virginia is a commonwealth...look it up).

So many of us say we live in DC but in reality, we live in Virginia or Maryland. I have actually never lived in the District itself (pricey and sub-par housing unless you are vastly wealthy). I actually prefer the quieter surroundings of Maryland but the nice thing is that quiet does not mean boring suburbia. Both Maryland and Virginia have thriving communities of their own and their outdoor festivals are the best (one pictured here is in Maryland).

I used to get teased by my District friends about living outside of the "cool zone" but then, they wouldn't dare walk home alone to their apartment on U street without fear of incident. Plus, who really wants to live in a high-rise where you must take an elevator just to go for a stroll or where your front door leads out to a busy street...no thanks.

Just to clarify, the "cool zone" usually means somewhere within the I-495 Beltway but you become uber cool if you live "on the Hill" which means Capitol Hill. Other hipster areas (but rather kid-unfriendly) cool zones are U-street, Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. In these zones, you can stroll out your door and into the hipster clubs which is neat but the general population tends to favor the younger, more single crowd.

To each his own but give me green avenues, bike paths and baby-stroller friendly streets any day.

photo: a decidedly unhip but enormously fun day in Maryland

Jon and Kate Plus 8 episode

Wow, just watched the season premier of Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Tambi and I are wondering if the show has been cancelled. It seemed like a type of finale wow. The tension between the two was about as palpable as you can get.

Of course, I am on Jon's side and Tambi on Kate's but that's no surprise. I will actually miss that little family if they do, in fact, decide not to continue. Both are looking nice and tan at least. As you can tell, we are enjoying being back in the states!

Our Ultra Cool Quinny from Jakarta

I get stopped in the street by other parents who are simply in awe of our cool little Quinny stroller that we acquired in Jakarta.

We have used it since birth as it had a feature that allowed the car seat to be inserted into its frame. Now, it acts as our city/mall stroller due to its compact size. Brilliant!

Our little one can even fall asleep in it as you can see here. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe this type is only sold in Asia?

Bus to New York and Using the Internet

Technology is a wondrous thing and such is the case with my location now. You see, I'm en route from Washiongton, DC to New York on a luxury coach equipped with wireless internet. Neat eh? If you see some typos not to worry as it's a bit shakey.

Today, I will be covering the NY Auto Show for Examiner.com and decided to save a full USD60.00 by taking the luxury bus instead of the train. There is a regular service that runs from downtown DC to NY every day (NY2DC).

Look out for more live blogs coming soon!



photo top: hellooooo, it's a rainy, cold day on the East Coast and I'm bloggin live baby!


photo bottom: yes, it's a wee bit crowded but ever so comfy

Sesame Street: Jay Leno Prepares for a Ride

I credit Sesame Street (Elmo more specifically) with helping our little one quickly learn the alphabet at just a year in a half. I, like many Americans growing up, watched Sesame Street nearly every day and I am amazed at how little it has changed and stuck to its core goal of providing educational programing that is entertaining to children (with no commercials hurrah!).

How nice to see Jay Leno, we car guys' hero, hamming it up a bit with Big Bird. If you are overseas and want to continue viewing Sesame Street, I recommend you join the YouTube channel to ensure safe viewing. It also allows you to receive updates of when new videos are posted. And like with Jay Leno, there are always celebrities making appearances. The best I have seen so far is Andrea Bocelli singing a lullaby to Elmo. The worst, is the Backstreet Boys attempting to be fun with Elmo but ending up looking completely stupido.

100,000 dollars is all I need

I was musing the global financial crisis the other day and tried to figure out how much money I would need to basically lounge for a few years. You see, all this globe trotting has worn me out a bit and I would really prefer to stay in one place for awhile. I do not necessarily want to lounge mind you (my free time is spent hiking, biking, swimming, pubbing, artsing you name it) but I would, indeed, enjoy focusing on nothing more than playing with my daughter, planning my next car modification and generally being a house dad.

To do this, I estimated that I would need roughly USD100,000 to pay off debts (oh dear the student loans, you have no idea) and get settled for a few years of intensive writing and lounging. I would immediately bring over ALL of my wife's Zambian family and get them settled here (yes, I actually like my in-laws). In turn, they could help watch the little one while I train again for triathlons and try to chase my dream of being a brilliant and famous writer! Easy write?

Well not exactly. You can save a 100k for retirement which is one thing but it's quite another to have 100k to simply spend. I was wondering what I could do to instantly earn it! Some wild thoughts entered my mind none of which were particularly distinguished (porn actor, gambling, lottery etc). There must be an honest to goodness way to earn a quick 100k by someone who changes the channel at the mere mention of a stock market report (so don't suggest the stock market please).

I would welcome any ideas from our readers by the way. The more original the better please. Otherwise, I guess I will keep my focus on this writing business and "international relations" which quite frankly, does not reach the US CEO salary scales for which I was hoping.

photo: my dream job: Lexus spokesman