The Nannying begins

This morning with a slight degree of trepidation and buckets of glee, we left Maya in the capable hands of one of her new part-time nannies, Collette. Unlike so many new people Maya's encountered in the last many months, she went to Collette like a famished camper to a delicious cheeseburger. Collette's WAY too qualified to be taking what we're paying her - her regular work is as an occupational therapist who also helps kids with developmentally-delayed needs. But she's excited to work with Maya who was especially charming and cute both during the interview last week and this first morning. So I'm now focusing on my writing and a number of other projects that have been put off recently. We can now look back and appreciate how much we really struggled in our attempts to find someone we both felt was qualified and would accept what we were offering. "Flexibility" was formerly our chief requirement, and I now think that's what screwed us so royally. With this round of screening and interviewing, we stressed warmth and tried to be much more solid in our scheduling. That seems to have made all the difference. Well, that AND the luck of finding two women with way more to offer than what we'd met previously. Just when I was beginning to doubt that Craigslist would work for this endeavour, we were surprised by the power of such listing services. I'm glad to be a true believer once more - the next time I see Craig Newmark (THE "Craig" who hangs out at my favorite cafe, Reverie in Cole Valley, where I can once again hang my hat part-time), I'll be sure to give him a bearhug and playful noogie in thanks.

As both Sarah and I kept half-an-eye on The Golden Globules last night, I was struck by how much more interesting celebrity-types are when they're drinking versus sitting sedately and trying to look engaged. No surprise there. My favorite throw-away moment was when Bob Hoskins (nominated for his role in "Mrs. Henderson") was shown drunkenly licking his lips as Penelope Cruz introduced his performance - he looked like the biggest lech imaginable. That and when Matt "I'm NOT Johnny Drama" Dillon prodded Queen Latifa to read off the cue cards with a loose approximation of "I think it's your line, hon." True Gold in the unintentional sense of the evening. Otherwise, I couldn't have cared less. George Clooney gets my award for the best subtly-political acceptance speech. Hugh Laurie had the funniest speech (LOVED him in "The Black Adder" series from years back on the BBC, haven't paid any attention to his cantankerous Doctor role on "House" for which he won). Didn't stay up for the big awards, but I know that gay cowboys are raising a healthy crop of gold this season. That pleases me immensely. Hope y'all ranch a similar bumpercrop from yer own events today. Rock on.