Now, more than ever, Li Li is full of herself but she is so darn cute. In the mornings now when Catherine is doing a crossword puzzle, Li Li likes to do her own puzzle as well. Either that or she is already shopping for her first car. We are doing well, the job search is moving along and I’m getting more time with Li Li – which is good for both of us.

She does have a winning smile, doesn’t she?

She enjoys her morning crossword puzzle as much as the next person.

Sometimes you just have to take a picture, even if it’s been done a million times before.

We’ll post again soon.

Many of you know that once again the vicissitudes of employment have seen fit create another career change opportunity for me. I’ve used some of my new found free-time to update this blog, I’ve also started twittering under the name @jobhuntin www.twitter.com. Logon and start following me. I’m also blogging on my professional web site www.thommitchell.com , so stop by and see if you find anything interesting.

I’ve been skeptical, and still am, of twitter because really who cares what someone is doing every minute of the day but as a haiku fan I think there is something worthy in a short-form message. The 140 character limit imposes discpline reminiscent of the inverted pyramid lede. I’ve found that the journalistic heuristic is a wonderful guide for twittering and it’s saved me far too often when sending a message in email, and now twitter. The rhythm of who, what, when, where, why and how is still useful over 20 years after I first put into practice for a newspaper.

I chose my user name for a specific reason – i’m @Jobhuntin so most of my twitters will be on that topic – or tangentially related to it. So I’ll try to make my posts worth reading – mostly the posts will be links to a story or blog entry worth reading – but some will track my path to my next career move.

In honor of that move, here’s a job search Haiku.

resume written
cover letters customized
only waiting now

I realize most of you only come here for pictures of Li Li, and rightfully so, therefore I’ll try to post one at least one picture a week in addition to my occasional musings. -t

This morning Catherine and I had a child-free morning because Li Li spent the night at Catherine’s parents house while we went to a play. Before Li Li, we never truly cherished sleeping in, going out for a leisurely breakfast or any of the options a married couple without kids can enjoy without thought. Now given our daughter’s penchant for waking between 6:15 and 6:30 – sleeping in a gift and even then it’s only a partial sleep. Eating out for breakfast is not even in the realm of possibility.

Of course Catherine might say that most of my mornings are child-free but can I help it that Li Li only wants to see her mommy?

Here are some recent pictures.

Catherine and Li Li enjoy a lazy morning in pajamas on the couch.

Li Li likes to peel her own oranges. “I do!”

Maggie is completed entertained with a jar of peanut butter and we don’t have to worry about any pesky salmonella.

For those of who who have spent any time with us, you know that proper english isn’t one of our highest priorities. It’s not that we don’t value said skill, it’s just that we can be a little casual with grammar, contractions, etc. Our daughter however is a different story. These are some recent quotes:

“shall we go downstairs?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“That would be fun”

The “shall we go downstairs” really threw us for a loop. We have watched her add words and phrases on a daily basis but the addition of “shall we” to her repertoire struck us as particularly incongruous. It’s just not something we use and aren’t sure where she picked it up. She sounds like a proper British character right out of a Merchant Ivory production. Given that she first used the phrase one morning about 7am, you can imagine just how gobsmacked we were. We simply burst out laughing.

On a related but different note, we are told increasing by a variety of native Chinese speakers that Li Li is speaking Chinese but we are still somewhat skeptical, if hopeful, because it’s so obvious that Catherine and I want Li Li to be able to speak Chinese and we fear that people are just being polite. Lately when I use a chinese phrase for something Li Li will more often than not translate it into English by saying “that means …..” with a big smile on her face. She hasn’t done any translations from English into Chinese yet but I imagine they are just a few weeks away as she works out what’s english and what’s Chinese.

For the record “high five” in English is roughly translated as “pa shou” in chinese which actually would be translated back into English as “hit hand”. -t