Elements Combined

So I've been a bit busy lately. Baseball is starting up again soon, but most of my time has been taken up by the world wide web. I've just completed building a new site for a great cause that has the ability to inspire and depress me at the same time. As soon as they get all the information to me it will be all done, but until then, it's a-running. The district is also in the midst of a pressure run towards their new site going up which I am apparently making sure will happen. I'm being asked to push my actual job for which I was hired aside in order to get everything up and going in time. They want to launch on Feb 23rd. There are many many people in the district who are supposed to be editing their sites who have not even received training for this new site. So we'll see how that goes. I'm also prepping work for a site which my little bro is designing. I'm not exactly sure when that will be ready.

And yesterday I purchased my own little corner of the internets. I'm not exactly starting my own company, but I'm starting something. As the great MJ said, "Wanna be startin' something." So if you're curious to see what it is, which at this point is nothing more than an image I threw up with Fireworks. But if you venture over to sterlingfalcon.com you can see the wonders for yourself.

And because it's funny, you can see my daughter attempt to take off her shoe using only her foot. She spent about two minutes trying to get her first shoe off. This is a partial recording using my cellular telephone device to capture the second shoe's removal. And if you wanna see the other site I've been working on, go over to team-will.org.

Pancake

And now, as promised, T.H.W.'s Pancake Recipe

1. Put some pancake mix in a bowl
2. Add some milk
3. Stir it up
4. Sometimes I add cheese
5. A lot of time I add pineapples
6. Sometimes I add ham
7. Sometimes I put in tomatoes
8. A lot of times I put in peas
9. A lot of times I put in juice
10. And then I mix it up
11. Then I'm done!

And if you notice some vague similarity to a pizza? You're just crazy.

The Interview

I had my interview to become a manager last night at a local Straw Hat. I showed up a little before 7, as that was the time that it was to commence. There was one board member there, our of the five that were supposed to show up. The second guy showed up about 5 minutes late, at which point he handed me a sheet of paper and let me know that these were the questions that I would be asked. There were 8 questions and there only needed to be about 4, maybe 5. There were two questions about what I would do if we lost an important game (no score in T-ball) and a parent became verbally abusive. The second version of the question asked what I would do if the parent was from the other team. As they were reading me these questions, they were debating with themselves as to the quality of this particular interview system. They seemed to feel, as did I, that it was not the best way to evaluate incoming managers. It was more of a test to see what your emotional state would be instead of what you knew about the game. It would work fine if there were both. But there wasn't anything about what I would do to make the kids better players.

At the end of the 10 minute Q and A session, they informed me that I was going to get a team. Since I coached last year and was the 'coach-pitch fall ball' manager, it wasn't a problem. They also asked if I had a name picked out for my team. I don't. I'm going to do the same thing I did last year. I'm going to pull up some cool mascots from the Minor Leagues and let T pick which one he likes best. I also have my first managers meeting tomorrow night. At which point I'll get my team. Things are going to be a lot easier this year, mostly because I've done it once before now. But also because this time last year is when my wife started having a real hard time with the gallstones. Which we didn't know were gallstones quite yet.

So I'm well on my way to another adventure with the kids learning to play baseball. I'm looking forward to it and you can be sure that something exciting will be happening this year. T's playing as a 5-year-old now, and next year, Little E will be old enough to play if she wants to.

Join us later tonight when I'll post my sons pancake recipe. It's thoroughly enjoyable!

I Wanna Go Home

So my wife is now ready to try to come home on Sunday instead of Monday. They were not actually invited to the out-of-towner dinner that they were planning on attending, and let's be honest, there's not much to do in the middle of January in Spokane. I'm holding down the fort here pretty well, no major fires. I have no idea what we're going to do tomorrow. It's between the Oakland Zoo, the Sacramento Train Museum, or maybe the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. We can get into the zoo and the wildlife museum for free. So those are leading contenders. Perhaps we'll just take a ride to the top of Mt. Diablo. Little E's never been up there and T hasn't been in years. That may be fun?

Well, since I don't really have much else to talk about, and because this video is awesome. Here you go.

The game's awesome, too.

Leaving On a Jet Plane

My pretty little wifey is leaving for the wonderful snowy world of Spokane, Washington for a wedding. Which is directly following three overnighters she's working. Which means I won't really see her much again until the 20th. And because she's going with her parents (superfun!) and sister, I'm going to be taking care of the kids a lot and visiting my folks. It wouldn't be so bad if when I put Little E down to sleep, she stayed there. But instead it's a 90 minute to two hour ordeal of her popping out of her room with questions, concerns, and needs. It seems that she knows how long 7 minutes is, because that is about the time between her visits to the living room. I'll put her in bed, tell her to stay there. And about 7 minutes later she comes out with something. Sometimes she'll be to cold, other times to hot. Sometimes she needs water, or a sucker, or her blankie, or her dolly, or another story, or to ask where Santa went, or where our kitty Kooni went, or where Mommy is, or what I'm watching on TV, or about those pesky monsters, and then she's cold again, or Kooni's in her room, or where Mommy is. and it just goes on like that. With her coming out with something, I take her back to bed, she comes out and I keep taking her back to bed. The other night she got me so well trained that she came out once, just stood there until I came to get her, never said a word, but just held her arms above her head so I could pick her up and take her back to bed. So we started walking back to bed after that one. So anyhoo...

I'm also hopefully starting a few new sites. At least one is confirmed and the other two are nearing confirmation. Once I get control of those, I'll post some links so those who are interested can see some sites I make for people who aren't directly related to me in some way. (But seriously, if you like good salsa, try my Uncle's. It's amazing.)

Remind me later tonight and I'll post a picture that my wife took of Kooni stuck up in one of the trees in our backyard. She's becoming braver and more excited about being outside now, (the cat, not my wife) and is giving me great hope that in a month or so, she can become a full-fledged outdoor cat. Because, honestly, she'll drive me crazy if she stays inside all the time (again, i mean the cat).

What's Going on in Your World

Hiya folks! And now for your enjoyment, a lovely bullet list of exciting moments from the Wally household.

• Merry Christmas all!
• Happy New Year also.
• In contrast to what 'A Christmas Story' would lead you to believe, a football can make a very good Christmas present.
• I finally got a set of contacts that are almost perfect. It was a nifty early Christmas present from Kaiser. Or a birthday present that was delayed five months. You decide.
• In the late Christmas category, check this out...That's right folks, a full tank at 99 cents a gallon. Of course this was including a 80 cent discount at the local Safeway gas station. But hey, it was pretty neat-o.
• During a trip to the local sporting goods store. T had to pee, so while in the bathroom, he asked me, "Dad, how come every time I pee my butt pops?" And so in order to avoid the discussion on the finer points of the symbiotic nature of the pee/fart dynamic. I just said, "I'm not sure, let's ask your Mommy."
• T got a guitar from his Uncle, it's a full sized guitar and I thought it was a nifty gifty. However, the little five-year-old boy told his Uncle Adam, "This is not a good Christmas present. It's too big for me." Ah, to be five again.
• He also got a headlamp from his Aunt a la 'The Amazing Race', his reaction to that present was, "Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!" His grandma asked, "What is it?" His response was, "I don't know."
• Lego Indiana Jones is almost as cool a game as Lego Star Wars II. I likes it anyway.
• T's newest fav song is 'America the Beautiful' by Lee Greenwood. Ponder that one for a while.
• Being back at work after two five day weekends is like going back to school after Christmas break. It's not fun and it's really hard to get up in the morning

I'll see ya. Hopefully sooner that two weeks from now.