What to Write?

I will go about my daily life and see things, or things will happen to me and I will say, "C, remember this and put this on the blog tonight." The problem is that I do most of my posting and blogging at night after Noah has passed out and B is trying desperately to get some sleep as well. So here I sit in front of the computer screen trying to remember the lessons of the day, or what cool thing I saw God do, or what Arabic word I tried to use that came out all wrong and actually meant something very bad, or so on.

So here I sit blank as the empty notepad document before me. Nothing.....nothing.......

Oh, on an issue of commenting. You guys are wonderful commentors. I get all of them and enjoy reading them as I am sure you enjoy reading each others. I am going to try to dialogue with you about what you comment. I stink at this, but I am going to try.

You know...L&A say, "Gee 3 Bulls, you should write about that time we tried to carve pumpkins for Halloween." Then I would comment back and say, "Yeah, L&A, that was a great time, remember how B's pumpkin was rotten on the inside and we all gagged."

That requires two things:
1. your comments
2. my comments

This means that you and I are accountable to keep the conversation going to one another. So after you comment check back on the post and see if I left you a comment.

On that note:
I was reading "Waking the Dead" by John Elderedge and in the book they talk about if you were a character in a movie or book, who would you be and why. This could be a good or bad thing. You know, I feel like so-and-so because I always do this and I never come through or do something awful, or it could be something more upbeat and positive. Your call.

Who are you and why? [choose from any movie or book]

What would you do?

Seeing how it is approaching 2AM and I've been up trying to remember if the Little League closing ceremony is tomorrow morning or not, so I am sending text messages back and forth trying to know whether or not to set my alarm for here in four hours or not, I thought you could wait on the text with me...

As school is starting and I am looking forward to May 31st and graduation, B and I have had several talks about what would we do if we could do anything. You know, if you could go back and get a degree in something you wanted, since now you've got a degree and looked into your field and decided you didn't like it, or what would be your dream job. Stuff like that.

I've always had a huge respect for a person who could start a business, school, or service and open it to the world and make it work. I've always been impressed with that.

I think I would want to do that if I could. Obviously we are dealing in the make believe world, because I have absolutely no business sense.

But seriously, B has always wanted to open up a little coffee/bookshop combo thingy. Which would be great for me, because I would get a discount.

I, on the other hand, have several things I would love to do. Have you ever thought, "Man, I think I could do that if I just had some training and the right situation?" Well I think that about a lot of things.

I would love to own a little restaurant. You know something that would fit a niche in a corner of the market. Like Katie's in Blanket, or the Taco Villa's in West Texas, or something with a really cool atmosphere that people come to eat, but stay because the free refills and the atmosphere. A happenin' little Italian place like on Return to Me or maybe a really good Chinese place.

[Do I have any idea about the food industry? No, but I keep them in business!]

Or another thing I would do is teach. University level. Something useful. I would love to get enough of a language and try to teach it. Spend the summers taking students around the (in this case) Arab world, showing them the language and the culture…..

Or I would love to do tourism, you know, live in a place, know the people and the places and bring in people and show them the ropes and operate a tourism business....

or maybe marketing, you know build up an item and try to sell it to people by the internet or design posters or something, but NOT a salesman. I couldn't sell water to a man dying of thirst!

[Okay, the text came back, just so you know, no closing ceremony tomorrow, so sleep in!]

What would you do? Would you open a business? Would you sit on the sea shore in Italy and write children's books? Would you go to work for MI6 and be a 008 secret agent? If all else fails for me, I am going to sit in B's coffee/bookshop and drink coffee and read the latest Dan Brown novel.

But tell me, what would you do?

Secret Bloggers Anonymous

As you have by no doubt already seen the picture of the chicken pox world map, I would like to direct your attention to the area containing the United States. Each of those red dots represents people seeing our blog. Now, I understand that some of you are faithful commenters and we enjoy hearing from you. Some of you are our close family or friends from good ol’ HPU (sting em jackets!), but as I’ve learned from various sources and phone calls that some of you are “secret bloggers.” Drifting in and out of the cyber world shadows undetected. That’s cool and all…

but guess what? You’re detected. I realize that you may be saying, “but nobody knows me and if some random Bubba or Mohammed, shows up on the comments, people are going to be asking who that is?” That’s okay, because we know you or someone who knows you.

Secret bloggers of the world, this is your time! Rise up and comment! Don’t hide behind the shadows any longer! Make yourself known! You may be a college student in Florida, and nurse in DFW, a rice farmer in Thailand or where ever that big dot in Southeast Asia is. The point is, introduce yourself. Let the people know you.

Leave a comment. Let us and everybody else know who you are and how you came to join the 3 Bull’s family.

Help us figure out who are all these dots.

Noah's First Alias

After yesterday's and today's efforts to get Noah his first passport, and thus his idenity, we thought it only fit that he develop his first alias. Meet Abdullah Kareem Ahmed Noah Abu Liil. He is a native of Saudi Arabia and lives in a Bedouin tent.

yes, I know, one of these days Noah will be attending counseling and blaming his parents for his idenity crisis, because they dressed him up in funny clothes and took pictures of him when he was young and helpless.

Noah's First Mug Shot

I never realized how hard it is to have an American citizen outside of America. I mean, if Noah was born in America then when he came out they would have slapped a "Made in USA" sticker on his butt and handed him a Social Security card and it's over. As of right now, at this very moment, Noah is nothing. He is a man without a country. Truly, he is an alien.

He is illegally in this country because in order to get him a visa he needs a passport to put it in.

In order to get a passport, he has to get a certified birth certificate in English.

In order to get a certified birth certificate in English, he has to get his one in Arabic translated into English.

But wait! He doesn't have one of those yet. He only has a birth record. Which basically says that he was caught at this time, on this day, at this place, by this doctor.

Oh, somewhere in there was a "gotta get a certificate of birth abroad." So Noah, mind you he is only 6 weeks old and can't even hold up his own head, has to appear before the consulate tomorrow and swear that all the information he provided was true and swear allegiance to the USA.

The cool thing about this whole thing is that Noah will have a passport before he has a Social Security card. Before Noah turns a year old, he will have possibly visited 5 countries. Three for sure. My kid will have his own baby passport!

That is cool! Anyways, here is his passport picture. They told us that he has to be recognizable in the photo. Wouldn't you say he was "recognizable?"

The Many Faces of Noah Benjamin

Enough Said...

Priceless...

Guy Time

Today B and I went to the mall so be could go shopping to find some clothes for her ever slimming figure. So she put Noah in the sling and I grabbed our "diaper dude" diaper bag and we headed out the door, hailed a cab and were off.

Well, after some tasty Hardee's Big Roast Beef n Cheddars from the Food Court, B headed downstairs to the clothing store and I headed to the computer store to get a web cam so the folks could see Noah on Video Skype.

Dilema: B usually takes N in the sling and I grab the diaper dude. No problem, but B couldn't try on clothes with a shorty strapped on her, so we switched. She took the bag and I took the kid.

It was so cool! A couple good lookin' guys out on the town pickin' up chicks. Well, considering the culture, my marriage and undying love for B, and his drooling problem; the chicks never did really come, but it was good having guy time. I got to tell him all about the different kinds of computers at the computer store and how to pick out the right one for him and how many gigs were enough for your hard drive and all about RAM. He was so interested that he fell asleep.

The best part about it was how Arabs took it. Arabs don't do slings. Most days the Arabs kindof look at B with this "thing" wrapped around her and peak in to see what is going on. When they see Noah they smile and walk off scratching their heads wondering why stupid Westerners don't just carry their kids. Well you can imagine how that multiplies when you see a guy wearing a sling by himself. I had all sorts of weird looks. I walked all over the mall and people just stared at me.

We gotta have guy time more often.

The pic above isn't the sling. It is a guitar case and has absolutely nothing to do with the post, just thought you would like it.

Nothing New

Nothing new. Noah managed to throw up on me today, again. Isn't it strange how babies can shoot things out of all their openings and it is cute?

It must be a good feeling to just lay there and spew when you need to and not worry about running to the nearest restroom. It must be a good feeling to be able to fill your diaper and make whatever noise you want while doing it.

007 Mania

For my birthday, I think it was for my birthday, was it for my birthday or for something else?

Anyways, for an unspecified occasion in my life my parents bought me a box set of the James Bond DVDs. I’ve always watched the 007 Marathons on TBS and other stations, but over here I didn’t get that once or twice a year Bond kick, so I got 7 Bond DVDs. I guess you could say I am a LTWFTO (Long Time Watcher, First Time Owner)

So, I just got time to watch them, and I realized something. The Bond movies are lame!

The theme never changes: British guy sleeps with at least two women, one of which has some truly ridiculous provocative name. He seduces them with these really bad pick-up lines which they buy. Then the movie ends with him and this girl in a secret lair that is self destructing, only to have them escape and then…. well…you’ve seen the movies.

I love it! I can’t stop watching them. Call me just another mindless American consumer. I don’t know why they sell and I don’t know why they are making new ones, but I love it. I want to get them all! (By the way, did you know the new James Bond is blonde?)

Am I alone here? Any other Bond fans? What was your favorite Bond movie? Your favorite Bond? You favorite Bond bad guy? Or if you think Bond is stupid and degrading to women then leave a nasty hate-post about it. Your call. Dialogue with me.

Scootchin' Video

Watch out folks! We've got a mover on our hands. One month down and he is ready for track. If you scroll down to the end of the page there is a petition to add "scootchin" to the Olympic summer games. Help us as we help Noah go for the gold!

(Please don't scroll down to the end of the page. That was a joke. You will feel bad if you do.)

But seriously, this little guy has wheels for a baby. Check him out!

Scootchin' Video

Family Photo

Here it is, the one you've all been waiting for...this is our family photo. Keep in mind it was taken at 5:30 AM so don't be too harsh.

Cruddy Blogger Alert!

So I doubt the video from the previous post does anything to appease the masses chanting, "Noah, Noah, Noah!" or the masses asking, “Why don’t he write?” I also seriously doubt that many of you committed readers have continued to check the blog. It will probably be days after this is posted before anyone notices, because of the lack of action around here from the past weeks. Even the buzzards got tired of circling and are now gone.

The sad thing is I've been so busy here of late that I haven't even really known that I was neglecting the blog. Isn't that bad? I feel dirty just typing that. I didn't realize that I had dropped out of the virtual blogging world until today, when several events grabbed my attention.

1. Today my parents called the computer three or four times and then call my mobile to make sure I'm okay.
2. Randall, my old roommate, calls my mobile to make sure everything is okay with me.
3. Andrea, a friend from Delaware/Rhode Island/London calls and in passing asks if everything is okay because the blog hasn’t been updated. I didn’t even know Andrea knew we had a blog! (Andrea, now everybody knows you are a “secret blog reader” so know you need to start leaving comments, no more of this 007 stuff and drifting in and out of the shadows reading blogs and not leaving comments.)

All that to say, “Don’t give up on me!” My kid is still cute, I am going to get more videos, I am going to be a better blogger, I am can change, and I mean it this time.

But seriously, Noah’s Scootchin’ Video should be coming up soon as well as some more pics. Don’t bail on us now.

Ukulele Video

Here is a video of a guy playing the Beatle's While My Guitar Gentle Weeps. I would highly recommend it.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps