Ovaltine

Yesterday I bought "European Formula" Ovaltine from Shaw's, the local grocery store chain. I think there was a huge markup; the price tag read $6.29. But I'd already looked for it at Shalimar, the Indian Grocery Store in Central Square here in Cambridge, and it was out of stock or they don't carry it. Even today, twenty-two years after my first Ovaltine memories, I sometimes still need incentive to drink my milk.

My mom's parents used to live in Nairobi, Kenya. We visited them when I was six years-old, and even though this trip included such exhilarating experiences as visiting the crowded public market in central Nairobi and traveling to Mombasa for a safari where I saw lions, zebras, rhinoceroses, giraffes, and other wild animals up close, my fondest memory was attempting to drink my milk every morning.

The old formula for Ovaltine was meant for hot milk, but I put it right on top of my cold milk. It didn't mix in very much and the malted chocolate powder would form small bubble-like morsels on the top of my milk. I would save these morsels for last as a reward for finishing the glass of milk, but since the Ovaltine only lightly flavored the milk I still needed additional encouragement to get to the end.

My grandfather, whom I called Daddy, was my cheerleader. Or my competitor? Coach? He made it into a game. He always had a cup of chai (tea) and he'd challenge me to see who could finish first. I knew he was just playing with me, that I could kick up a fuss and then game over. But I liked the game, between the feigned race (I would gulp, and he would sip), and I liked the chocolaty finish line.

I think I tried the American formula Ovaltine once or twice and I can't remember for sure if there was a taste or texture difference, but somehow I have the perception that the imported formula is more like what I had in Nairobi. I think that the American formula was designed to dissolve easily in cold milk, but several years ago even the formula for the imported version changed to favor cold milk. I have always mourned this formula change. Nevertheless, I buy a bottle of the imported version every once in a while and the taste always takes me back to Nani and Daddy's dining table in Nairobi. Even though it dissolves easily now I always try not to stir it too much so I still get some extra chocolate at the end. Mmmmm...

(Written on Thursday morning, August 28, 2008 between 9-10am in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shortly after enjoying a glass of Ovaltine. I think I'm going to go for seconds now.)

Time Zones

Okay I'm back sooner rather than later. But it's less than half an hour later so it doesn't really count.

One side effect of moving around is changing time zones all the time! I want things recorded in the local time, with a note about the time zone I was in at the time I recorded them!

When I change the time zone in my Google Calendar it adjusts all the meeting times. And in my last post, I noticed it had posted in Arizona time so I changed my settings to Eastern time. All the posts I'd written in Baltimore were restored to Eastern time, but the one post I'd written in Arizona is now in Eastern time too. Yeah, great, I know what time it was in "real time" but I feel like it is more meaningful to know what time it was when the story was written in local time. Especially when I post at ridiculous hours like in the wee hours of the night or first thing in the morning.

Well I will figure out a way around this, even if it means writing in my own time stamp at the end of every post. Or maybe I will lose my attachment to local time in favor of real time. Only time will tell.

Written on Sunday, August 24, 2008 in Cambridge, Massachusetts at 11:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

An attempt to start again...

I think about posting to this blog frequently. I write the posts in my mind, the topics ranging from my latest crisis of identity to reviews of local restaurants to clever analysis of my favorite movies to public attempts at improving my vocabulary. The reality is that my last post was over seven months ago, and the post before that was a year and a half ago. Well, here is yet another attempt. In my previous post, I had just moved to Phoenix. Now I've traversed the country again and live in Cambridge, Massachusetts - just a short walk across the river to Boston.

Right now I'm watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I was thinking about watching my DVD of the movie earlier today, and then this evening while flipping through channels it turned out to be on TBS. Had I seen ads for the movie on TBS earlier, and that's how it got into my mind? I don't remember seeing any.

What I'm supposed to be doing is writing cover letters. Not my favorite activity, so naturally this was the perfect time to resurrect my blog.

I can feel myself tempted to save this post for later... so instead, I'm going to click "Publish Post". Hopefully you'll hear from me again soon. Whoever you are.

Goodbye 2007, Hello Arizona

On January 7, 2007, I met the love of my life. We fell in love shortly after my last blog post eleven months ago. Since then, I've gotten engaged, set a wedding date, quit my job and left Baltimore, got married in Iowa, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Moving across the country, changing jobs, and getting married are all significant life events in themselves, and I did all three in 2007. Taxes are going to be fun. Today, I'm happily married and also happy that 2007 is behind me.

More to come on my thoughts on Phoenix or other stuff going on in my head soon.