Signal Scares Baby Cord

I don't know how to express this really. I walked off the Sandlot today feeling an overwhelming sense of pride in my guys. At the end of the game, the other team thought they lost because of our team was cheering so loud. Did we win? Not if you count the runs.

Here is the run down of the game.


Top of the First:
2 outs, they have a runner on second. Somehow a switch is flipped and Signal goes crazy and throws the ball everywhere. They score 7 runs. We are saved by the "you can only have 10 batters a inning rule."

Bottom of the First:
We score 3

Top of the Second:
1 out, they have a runner on second. Kid hits the ball, throws the bat and hits our catcher, he is out, but only after a discussion with the umpire, somehow their runner on second scores. Don't ask me how I have no clue. Still workin' on that one. But anyway, we shut them down. Only 1 for them.

Bottom of the Second:
We score 3 again

Top of the Third:
2 outs, runner on second (sound familiar) and they hit a ball to the short stop. He tries to run down the runner headed towards third. When he realizes that he can't tag him five feet from the third basemen he launches it to him. Third baseman of course misses it and the runner heads home, the kid moves from first to second. We explain to our short stop not to do that again. The next batter, THE EXACT SAME THING!. The batter after that? THE EXACT SAME THING! Three plays in a row! Signal then goes into self destruct mode and is saved by the "you can only have 10 batters a inning rule." They scored 6 runs

Bottom of the Third:
3 up, 3 down

Top of the Fourth:
2 outs, runners on 2nd and 3rd. A kid that makes our runt (Haitham) look like a giant, jacks a line drive over our first baseman's head and scores the two runners. Next batter strikes out. We hold them to 2 runs.

So those of you doing the math know that it is now 16 to 6 in the bottom of the last inning. We are only allowed 10 batters, so every single one of our batters not only has to hit, but to score as well. We are sitting at our number 6 batter, meaning we are in the heart of the bottom of our stinky hitters. You can image the miracle it would take for us to tie.

Bottom of the Third:
We had gone through 6 batters and scored 5 runs before they got our first out. We ended the game with all 10 batters hitting the ball and leaving only 2 on base. So we scored 7 runs that last inning and they were saved by the "you only get 10 batters a inning rule!"

So take that! We lost, but we whooped some booty doing it!

Every single one of my kids hit the ball and almost all of them got to score. I didn't strike out a single one of them! After that 10th kid hit a double and scored a runner we were all cheering and yelling and shouting! The other team didn't know they had won the game!

So going into our final game next week against the first place team we are 1-8. I would like nothing better to give the first place team a black eye for the end of the season.

Smurfs, Tests, Parents, and Yul Brynner

I am realizing that I have been utterly pathetic at keeping you guys up to speed on life this week. I've been a bad blogger this week, so I apologize.

It's late Thursday night and I am sitting here reflecting back on the week, so I thought it would give you some updates on what's gone on.

These are in no particular order.

* Tonight I saw an Arab dressed up as a Smurf outside Pizza Hut. That's right, a Smurf. He was big and blue, with a white hat and white pants, but no shirt as most Smurfs don't have any use for them.

*We found a new apartment, so now we are going shopping for furniture. Do you know how many types of furniture are out there? I only wear jeans, because I have problems making decisions. I wore jeans yesterday, I wore jeans today, and I will wear jeans tomorrow. Picking out furniture is a foreign concept. Too many decisions.

*Today was Independence Day here. I asked a taxi cab driver why it was Independence Day. You know, was it because you won your independence from the British or from the Turks or from what? He didn't know. He said, "It's Independence Day, because we have independence." Makes sense to me. Why not?

*Tomorrow Signal plays again. My kids did well at practice, but my first baseman is going to be gone, so I have a hole to fill, but because it's a three day weekend I doubt I will have enough to play anyways.

*B and I started packing up the house. It's amazing how much junk you accumulate over 10 months. It's even more amazing how much junk you accumulate in a furnished house!

*My parents are coming to visit on Sunday. I am so stinkin' pumped.

*We got 3D pics of our kid this week. (See post below) My dad said he looked like Yul Brynner from the King and I. Is that a good thing?

*We have only two more school days left. I took my last two big tests. I made a 78 on my grammar test and a passing grade on my speaking. That means that they can't hold me back. I am moving on to the third semester the fall!


I am completely in awe about how boring this post is. I apologize for a lack of creativity. Once school is over, the parents leave, and we have furniture in our house I will have more time to blog, but then if I am not doing anything, then what am I going to post?

Baby Bull Pics

B and the BB are doing well. We went in for our 31 weeks check up. We were able to get 3D pics of the kid. Normally, I am not one to be putting up ultra-sound pics of my unborn all over the web, but these are pretty cool.

We were able to zoom in on his face and literally watch him yawn. I am sorry I couldn't get a copy of the video, but you guys can see the stills.

Here he is...

Here he is yawning....

So what do you think? Does he look like me? Does he look like B? Can you even tell its a baby?

Dubai Video

I apologize for the month delay on this video. I finished the Kenya video and then forgot about us in Dubai.
I apologize for the video as well. It's a bit long, so I had to drop the bandwidth down, so it may be a bit blurry.
That's it for the apologizing. The mall you will see in the video is huge, not to mention that the ski slopes you will see are in the mall!

Enjoy.

Dubai Video

Signal In Slump, Coach Clueless

Usually after a game where we loose I am able to look back as a coach and think about the good things that happened in the game and encourage my kids with that and tell them we can do better and we will get them next time.

The speech after this embarrassing 23-8 lose was simply: "Guys, I will see you at practice. If you don't come then you don't play next week."

My kids gave up. After the second inning they quit. They took the defeat and just didn't care anymore. They took on the persona of "defeated."

We've lost every game save one, and that game was a forfiet!

My kids just don't believe they can win.

Am I a bad coach? Do my kids just suck? What's the deal? What can I do to motivate them?

"Hey, kids if we win this next game I'll take you out for McDonalds?"

Any ideas?

Apartment Seeker Hangs Himself

I've been apartment hunting this week. It stinks. I will post more about it when I am not so discourage/angry/soar/tired/ and in a better mood. :)

Does anybody know why they try to charge foriegners 700 USD a month for a 200 USD a month apartment, the size of a big walk-in closet?

Signal Gets Beat Like a Red Headed Step Child!

The details are just too painful, but apparently we need to check Cozmo for steriods, cause they beat the snot out of us! 22-11.

If we hit good, they hit better. If we played good defense, they were vaccuums sucking up any ball that came near them.

But out of this industrious butt-whippin' we have one very funny story....

Haitham, the runt, is up to bat in the bottom of the first and hits a little dribbler down the first base line. The first basemen catches it and is waiting on the baseline to tag Haitham when he runs, so Haitham, now halfway to first, sees this and turns around and runs back to home, picks up his bat and stands back in the batter's box ready for another pitch. He wanted another try!

Poor kid!

The good news is next at bat he had he hit a dribbler to the massive, steriod taking pitcher and the pitcher over throws first, so Haitham got a double!

All that to say....

We just don't play good on Fridays.

What Music Should go on the Video?

So I can't tell you what I am going to wear tomorrow or what I will be doing next week, but I've been thinking about our son's "Coming Out Video" You know, the one where he is born and I post the video of him for all the world to see.
The thing is, I am trying to figure out what song to put behind the video. I know that it is a little over 2 months away but I am pretty excited. Anyways, B has shot down all my choices, so we are in a dilemma. She is his mother and will have carried him for 9 months and not to mention I love her, so my arms are tied. I have no choice but to submit.

It would have been easier if my son was a girl, then we could slap the name "Barbara Ann" on her and let the Beach Boys take it away! But, alas.....

anyways...

My choices were:
Come and Listen - David Crowder Band
Miracle Drug - U2 (dont' knock it, it's got great lyrics "freedom has a scent, like the top of a newborn baby's head" come on! that's one target! Bono's the man!)

B said they weren't "baby songs," so you have any ideas? I know between Isaac, JR, JCourt, and the rest of you guys you have a song database built up, not to mention Mom with your country favorites! I need some help here.

I'm Taking a Second Wife!

I wanted y'all to be the first to know that I am taking a second wife. I also want you to know that it wasn't by my choice. She is forcing me to marry her.

The rest of the story.......
So I was out visiting a friend in his home, and he has three daughters. The youngest daughter walks in sits in my lap and tells me she wants to marry her!

[information you need to know before you stop praying for us and request a mandate for us to come home: she is almost 4 years old]

Well, you can imagine my surprise. Here is our conversation:

W: I want to marry you!
Me: What did you say?
W: I want to marry you!
Me: Why?
W: Because I like you!
Me: Don't you think you are a little young for me?
Her Mother: Yeah, just a little! (I was glad, because I understood sarcasm in another language)
W: No, I like you!
Me: Well, what will my wife say?
W: It's okay, I will be your second wife.
Me: REALLY? (forgetting that is Islam you can have 4 wives) How about you wait and you can marry my son. He will look like me.
W: No! I want to marry you!
Me: Hmm... there is a problem because you are young. Ask your father!

W: Papa, I want to marry him
Papa: Please, take her! (he is laughing)
Me: What!?!
Papa: No, take her!
Me: Okay, how much will you pay me?
Papa: Nothing!
W: PAPA!!!!
Me: Umm...let's wait a couple 20 years and talk again about this.
W: PAPA!!!! (She leaves the room talking very fast in Arabic in an angry tone)

So as you can see negotiations are in the works and in B now has some competition!

House Hunting

I am fixing to hit the streets next week and start looking for a new apartment for B and I to rent. We've been making a list of things we would like for it to have.

1. Central Heating
2. 3 bedrooms
3. a porch or balcony (if not on the first floor)
4. no East/West sun exposure
5. control over our own hot water (i know that sounds weird,but believe me, it's important)

If you could have anything in a house/apartment what would you want?

Signal Bats Weren't Enough as Tempers Flare!

So we batted great, we just stink at defense. The concept of catching the ball and making a nice, good throw to first base hasn't caught on yet.

The encouraging thing is that we've lost every game in the bottom of the third, by one run. We always have the lead and just can't hold it. Yesterday was no expection. We are up 10 to 8 bottom of the third and they scored two, then loaded the bases with two outs. 10-10 bases loaded, so I called a timeout and explained to the team that if the guy on third scored the game was over, so no matter who got it, throw it home.

Well the kid hits a little drippler to the pitcher and it was a foot race to home and the runner beat our pitcher. Game over.

But, that is not what everyone will be talking about though. You see the rules are. The play is not dead until the pitcher has the ball standing on the pitcher's mound. Until that moment you can run all you want to. It is also a courtesy rule that since we all know that our catcher's don't really have a clue whats going on you don't send a kid home if the ball is in the infield. If it's an overthrown ball sure, send em, but if you have a guy second and the ball is hit to the pitcher and he throws it to first and the runner advanced from second to third then you assume if the first basement caught it, that in real baseball he could throw you out if you sent the kid on third home. That's the courtesy rule.

It is abused?.....heck yeah!! We send em home and so do the other teams! Shoot, in a league where you can score 8 or 9 runs in an inning and lose a lead that big just as quick, you send em' home baby! This ain't kid stuff! This is BASEBALL!!

Anyway, what happen was they had a kid on second and the ball was hit to the pitcher. The pitcher throws the ball to the firstbaseman, who catches the ball, but is bumped by the runner and trips over the bag, but holds onto the ball. The runner is out!

However, the runner on second safely made it to third and seeing that our first baseman, wasn't paying attention, but basking in the moment of glory, the coach sent the kid home. Of course he scores and they are happy. Good call Coach! I salute you.

Anyways, one of my dad's that is helping out on the field (This guy is really intense. He is like a marine or something) gets rubbed by this and starts yelling at the other coach. The other coach ignores it and is getting ready to pitch to the next batter. Well, the dad keeps on and finally the coach turns around and confronts him. So, I have not an assistant coach verbally attacking the other team's coach on the pitchers mound, but a volunteer dad. Who I asked to help out!

I go running over there to try to intervene and they are by this time yelling loudly at each other. I am not confrotantion! Well, I jumped in the middle of them and told the dad to lower his voice and we'll talk about this later. The umpire gets there and is asking questions, because he is from Holland and really doens't have much of an idea about the rules of baseball, and the dad finally sees he is fixing either to get thrown off the field by me or the umpire and says, "f&*^ it I'm leaving!"

The coach is still ticked so he begins giving me a piece of his mind and I agreed with him! It took a moment for him to calm down, but I finally convinced him we were on the same side of the issue and he needed to stop yelling in front of the kids.

Finally, the inning was over and I talked with the dad and told him that he had better check his super-competitive spirit at the gate next time he comes or he won't be watching his son play at all. Yeah, he didn't take me seriously. Figures.

So, all that said I had an angry parent on the sidelines the rest of game rallying the other parents for his cause. Then, we lose by ONE point. One point! So you know what he says to me at the end of the game, "yeah, thats the kind of crap I'm talking about."

I could've hit him. Good thing there were kids around, because if I had hitten him......he would have killed me.

Ending on a happy note: If you want to see more pics from the game check out our photo album to your right.

The Practice After a Defeat

I have been meaning to post this for three days, but everytime I get to it, it is late, or I forget it, or something else random happens.

So it is two days after it occurred, but it still is quite funny.

First, I walked into our practice field on Monday for the long, grueling practice after a defeat. The grass, well they were more like man-eating weeds, were knee and in some places waist high! It's in a walled in area, so it doesn't get much wind. I was in there maybe 5 minutes and my eyes started swelling and I couldn't breath. I ran across the street to the pharmacy and communicated that I was dying and anything she could do to assist me would be greatly appreciated. So I got some feel good drugs and headed back to the field.

The grass made it difficult to catch grounders and not to mention find the bases. We lost three balls during the course of practice.

Now, the story...

My runt (you may remember him from the one who when chased between the bases tends to flee to the outfield screaming or from him standing on the wrong side of the plate facing the wrong way) was playing pitcher for me. Well one of my girls hits a little dribbler down the first base line, so Haitham (runt) gets to it about the same time she is running by him. Instead of just reaching out and tagging her, which seemed logical to me, he throws the ball full force at her and beams her on the elbow. I guess that seemed logical to him.

So I have a girl laying on the ground screaming and Haitham jumping up and down, dancing, and screaming (in a bad Arab accent) Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah! because he thinks he got her out.

What was just as funny was all the American parents there, just about died laughing. All the Arab parents were confused that she wasn't out. We can only get better! Keep telling yourself that as you are placing your bets. We can only get better!

We are going into this match-up on Friday 3rd in the league of 4. Signal needs this game to create a tie for second place.

I'll keep you posted.